Essential Berlioz discs.

[rauschwerk]

Berlioz was a wild eyed Revolutionary...

He was a great deal more than that! He revered Gluck as well as Beethoven, and the counterpoint in his Requiem was admired by Bruckner. His handling of form in the Fantastic Symphony has been much admired. A good Berlioz interpreter should be aware of all those things and more

[Barbirollians]

He was a great deal more than that! He revered Gluck as well as Beethoven, and the counterpoint in his Requiem was admired by Bruckner. His handling of form in the Fantastic Symphony has been much admired. A good Berlioz interpreter should be aware of all those things and more

I didn’t like that Harding extract at all - great sonorities but sluggish otherwise. Meanwhile, Louis Langree managed somehow to make the introduction to the Spectre of the Rose boring .

[Cockney Sparrow]

Interesting that the Nelson recording of Les Troyens was chosen over either of the Colin Davis options. I have not listened to any of them yet, but the three completed operas are all represented in the Warner Complete Works box by Nelson recordings.

I will listen on iPlayer - I heard that section (only) and have just posted how the recording and PDF booklet for the box set can be found on Naxos Music Library, for those who have access. #31 : http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...-library/page3

[vinteuil]

I find The Damnation of Faust Berlioz' most intense and concentrated work and one of his finest achievements, the inspiration of the mature disillusioned composer compared with the youthful fantasy of the Symphonie Fantastique. It reflects his continuous fascination with Goethe's interpretation of the Faust legend (but only the first part, not the mystical, philosophical and redemptive Faust Part II). Here are savage harmonies, driving rhythms, the diabolical tritone forbidden by medievals, poetic and elegaic reflection in the later arias of Marguerite and Faust, as well as the sense of the pre-revolutionary and nationalist fervour in Europe of 1845-6 when the work was composed. John Warrack's comments (quoted in David Cairns' fine biography) aptly sum up the work's character: "[it is Faust's] own devouring solitude that precipitates the characters and events of the Damnation, so that these come to seem not a string of lurid or touching vignettes but a dramatization of the soul's condition, a nightmare progress from frustration at the failure of learning, of easy companionship, of God, of nature, of love, into an ever more terrible isolation, whipped by the devil who cannot be escaped because he is within, until journey's end is reached in the total dullness, the numbing of all sensation and the exclusion from any hope, that is hell." There is no salvation by the eternal feminine for this Faust.

My two favourite recordings are firstly the fiery and idiomatic 1959 Markevitch with the Orchestre Lamoureux and soloists who I think would mostly be unknown today, and secondly the modern one by Kent Nagano and the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon with a fine cast including a superb Mephistopheles in José van Dam (Nagano has also recorded Busoni's Doktor Faust). The Nagano recording is available very cheaply as a download on Prestoclassical.

... the 1959 Markevitch is included in this extremely interesting box -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00J3FKAKI

and the Kent Nagano recording is the Damnation of Faust chosen for inclusion in the new Complete Berlioz box -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07JZB1VWN

.

[Barbirollians]

I don’t agree with the revisionism re Colin Davis .

I think the 1974 Cgebouw Fantastique deserves its classic status , all three Harolds are outstanding especially the Menuhin and Zimmermann versions - also the LSO Live Troyens, Beatrice and Benedict, the digital Overtures disc and the different singers Nuit d Ete.

[Pulcinella]

The cover CD for March's BBC MM, which dropped through the letter box this morning, is an all-Berlioz one:
Waverley overture (BBCSO/McGegan, Glasgow 2006)
Harold in Italy (Lise Berthaud/BBCSO I assume; booklet is not specific/Seal, London 2015)
La mort de Cléopâtre (Ruxandra Donose/BBCSSO/Volkov, Aberdeen 2011)

Probably not essential, but for me likely the only recording I will ever have of these works, Berlioz not being high up in my list.

[verismissimo]

Interesting that the Nelson recording of Les Troyens was chosen over either of the Colin Davis options. I have not listened to any of them yet, but the three completed operas are all represented in the Warner Complete Works box by Nelson recordings.

Can't seem to be able to establish the 5 chosen must-haves, except this Nelson Trojans, which I happened to hear live. Will I have to listen to the whole RR broadcast, or does someone know? (Having a BBMk moment.)

[BBMmk2]

I don’t agree with the revionism re Colin Davis .

I think the 1974 Cgebouw Fantastique deserves its classic status , all three Harolds are outstanding especially the Menuhin and Zimmermann versions - also the LSO Live Troyens, Beatrice and Benedict, the digital Overtures disc and the different singers Nuit d Ete.

Concur about those LSO Live recordings, which I have. I will listen to some today.

[Conchis]

There seems to be a general lack of enthusiasm for Berlioz on this thread.

I think he was a great ideas man/conceptualist and an important composer but it's difficult to think of a single work of his that doesn't outstay its welcome (and I do include S.F. in that).

The operas are a good case in point, as I don't think any of them are successful stage works and suffer from huge sections of unmemorable music in-between the 'set pieces'. I would argue that his rarely-performed opera Beatrice et Benedict does improve on its source material, though.

[BBMmk2]

Can't seem to be able to establish the 5 chosen must-haves, except this Nelson Trojans, which I happened to hear live. Will I have to listen to the whole RR broadcast, or does someone know? (Having a BBMk moment.)

A BBMmk moment?

[vinteuil]

Can't seem to be able to establish the 5 chosen must-haves, except this Nelson Trojans, which I happened to hear live. Will I have to listen to the whole RR broadcast, or does someone know? (Having a BBMk moment.)

... I share your exasperation : ca'n't find the chosen five on the bbc website.

I think there was :

the Symphonie Fantastique with Daniel Harding
Romeo et Juliette with Charles Munch
I don't know which performers for les Nuits d'été *
Béatrice et Bénédict with Colin Davis, the philips recording [ no : it was Benvenuto Cellini (thanks, Howdenite...) ]
and, yes, the Nelson les Troyens .



* The Nuits d'Été was with Veronique Gens, with Louis Langrée & Lyon Opera [ ... thanks, LeMartinPecheur and ostuni.]

.

[LeMartinPecheur]

... I share your exasperation : ca'n't find the chosen five on the bbc website.

I think there was :

the Symphonie Fantastique with Daniel Harding
Romeo et Juliette with Charles Munch
I don't know which performers for les Nuits d'été
Béatrice et Bénédict with Colin Davis, the philips recording
and, yes, the Nelson les Troyens .

.

vints, the favoured Nuits recording was by Veronique Gens. Your other four match my recollections.

[ostuni]

The Nuits d'Été was by Veronique Gens, with Louis Langrée & Lyon Opera. Nice, but it hasn’t displaced my own favourite: Brigitte Balleys and Herreweghe.

That latter recording is on period instruments, of course - which would normally be my first choice for Berlioz. But I very much enjoyed the sound of Harding's (modern, but distinctly HIP-tinged) Swedish Radio SO in the Symphonie Fantastique; on Qobuz, so shall listen to the full version soon.

[Mal]

Anyone rate Symphonie Fantastique Davis/VPO? I compared it to the Concertgebouw and LSO-Live performances on Amazon Unimited, using audiophile headphones, and thought the VPO sound was easily the best. Concertgebouw wasn't bad, but LSO-L seemed to be suffering from bad Barbican acoustics. The rough guide make VPO their top choice and suggest it has "the advantage of superb sound and excellent playing".

[visualnickmos]

Anyone rate Symphonie Fantastique Davis/VPO? I compared it to the Concertgebouw and LSO-Live performances on Amazon Unimited, using audiophile headphones, and thought the VPO sound was easily the best. Concertgebouw wasn't bad, but LSO-L seemed to be suffering from bad Barbican acoustics. The rough guide make VPO their top choice and suggest it has "the advantage of superb sound and excellent playing".

Yes - I rate it very highly, for the reasons in th eguide, and I agree about the LSO live recording, unfortunately.
But - he made a much earlier LSO recording in 1963 (Philpis Duo) which is a real stunner - MVHO, at least !