"Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage, a modern retelling of The Magic Flute, is one of the major 20th-century operas. The music is tuneful, lyrical, bursting with energy, and wholly personal to its composer. The libretto is completely nonsensical - a jumble of myth, Jungian psychology, and operatic clichés, and yet as with all the best operas, the silliness of the words matters not a whit in the face of such magnificent music. The two are inextricably bound and each justifies the other. It could be no other way ... Conductor Edward Gardner proclaims his dedication to Tippett's music in a very sympathetic booklet note, and it really shows ... The fact that the orchestra managed this rhythmically tricky and often awkward music so confidently in one go is frankly pretty amazing ... The cast consists primarily of young British singers, and there really isn't a weak link among them ... I can't exaggerate the importance of this release ... A joy from start to finish".