16.02.19 - Berlioz 5 essential works in must-have recordings

[Richard Tarleton]

Beatrice et Benedict; Baker et al/LSO/Davis

...inc. one of my favourite Berlioz moments, Ursule and Héro's duet "Nuit paisabe et serène" [Berlioz good on nuits - d'ivresse, d'été etc...] - sung gorgeously here by Helen Watts and....Christiane Eda-Pierre, not a name I've come across in any other context.

[pastoralguy]

Hardly 'essential' Berlioz but I've always loved the little 'Reverie and Caprice' for violin and orchestra. There are at least two outstanding recordings from Yehudi Menuhin and Itzhak Perlman.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I agree - the Marche au Supplice is a little slow (RN's reasons for his chosen tempo are flawed:!

Well, if all other conductors play this fast, of course he will do the opposite.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Goodness! Hard choice! One work by Berlioz which I think won’t be included, is his Symphonie Funébre et Triomphale. A rather neglected work,which should be better known.

The first record I ever had was a 45 rpm single of Roman Carnival. A present from my dad.

The first I bought myself was the Saga Symphonie Funébre et Triomphale. I think it was the only available version at the time, but I played it again and again.

[Bryn]

I agree - the Marche au Supplice is a little slow (RN's reasons for his chosen tempo are flawed: I don't know any Timpanist who couldn't perform a one-handed setuplet rhythm faster than the speed he choses) but it doesn't half take on a sense of inexorable doom as a result!

Whatever the rationale, he has stuck to his guns. The later, live, Stuttgart recording is marginally slower. The LCP recording was the first HIPP version I got. I get on much better with the JEG. The pianos in the Immerseel may be 'authentic' but I'd much rather have a bell, or Bernstein's metal plate.

[BBMmk2]

My five would be

Symphonie Funébre et Triomphale
Beatrice et Benedict
La Damnation de Faust
Grande Messe de Requiem
Romeo et Juliette

[Conchis]

Difficult to think of another major composer with so many flawed masterpieces.

Mine -

Symphonie Fantastique - RPO/Beecham (I have also heard the JEG HIP recording, which is useful for illuminating what Berlioz and his audience had to put up with way back then)

Les Troyens - ROHO/Davis

Lelio, ou la retour a la vie - jose Carreras/John Constable

La Damnation de Faust - OSdM/Dutoit

Requiem - OdP/Bernstein

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Difficult to think of another major composer with so many flawed masterpieces.

Oh, I'm sure that you, of all people, will manage to come up with several with just a little effort, Conchis.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Oh, I'm sure that you, of all people, will manage to come up with several with just a little effort, Conchis.

[Conchis]

Oh, I'm sure that you, of all people, will manage to come up with several with just a little effort, Conchis.

Not that these things matter, but Daniel Barenboim is in total agreement with me.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Oh, I'm sure that you, of all people, will manage to come up with several with just a little effort, Conchis.

I recall playing in a performance of Les francs-juges Overture. The orchestra didn't seem terribly enthusiastic about it, wondering why so many people persisted in playing Berlioz. One of the violinists came up with the theory that they did so because "there must be something good about it, so we'll keep playing it until we find out".

[Conchis]

I recall playing in a performance of Les francs-juges Overture. The orchestra didn't seem terribly enthusiastic about it, wondering why so many people persisted in playing Berlioz. One of the violinists came up with the theory that they did so because "there must be something good about it, so we'll keep playing it until we find out".

:)

Wagner was a big fan of HB, claiming that his music made him feel 'like a schoolboy'.

[Stanfordian]

:)

Wagner was a big fan of HB, claiming that his music made him feel 'like a schoolboy'.

Havergal Brian!

[mahlerei]

Requiem - Davis (Philips and Profil)
Te Deum - Davis (Philips and Profil)
Benvenuto Cellini - Davis (Philips)
Symphonie fantastique/Lelio - Muti (CSO Resound)

[cloughie]

I recall playing in a performance of Les francs-juges Overture. The orchestra didn't seem terribly enthusiastic about it, wondering why so many people persisted in playing Berlioz. One of the violinists came up with the theory that they did so because "there must be something good about it, so we'll keep playing it until we find out".

Isn’t there some music that audiences like more than the orchestral players do. I remember one discussing with an orchestra viola player how much I liked Sibelius tone poems and his response was to the the efffect they were quite tedious to play. I guess musicians may spend quite a bit of their time playing stuff they rather wouldn’t choose to.
Back to Berlioz I still feel after many years that the Sym Fant was a very inventive pieice, years ahead of its time.