Essential Berlioz discs.

[teamsaint]

Just name your favourites please.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Just name your favourites please.

Instant reaction: Les Troyens - either of Colin Davis' recordings: the LSO LIVE, if pushed.

[Petrushka]

Sir Colin Davis has to be there with his 1974 Concertgebouw disc of the Symphonie Fantastique, a true classic of the gramophone. Davis' Te Deum and Requiem have also been recommended versions for many years though I like Abbado and the EUYO in the former and Munch and the Boston Symphony in the latter.

I wish that there were more recordings of the orchestral movements from Romeo and Juliet. I could only find Giulini and the Chicago SO (annoyingly split over 2 CDs) but it's such wonderful music and should be heard in the concert hall more than it is.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm also a great enthusiast for this bargain box (although it was a lot cheaper when I bought it five years or so ago):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00008GQFG

... I'd never encountered Inbal as a Berliozean before his Grandes Masse des Mortes was selected on a BaL: he's very, very good.

[Richard Barrett]

Hmm. JEG's Symphonie fantastique and Harold en Italie for a start.

[vinteuil]

Paul McCreesh, the 1837 Grande Messe des Morts

F.-X. Roth, les Siècles - Symphonie Fantastique

I wd also want les Nuits d'été

The 11 CD brillant box with Eliahu Inbal is a pretty good starting place for any Berliozian pilgrimage.

Plus you should read David Cairns *.

And if you're an addict, a visit to La Côte-Saint-André is called for...

* http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0233979948

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0713993863

[ ... and also the Man Himself - http://www.amazon.fr/dp/2914373716 ]



.

[MickyD]

If I remember correctly, top choice on CD Review for Les Nuits d'Eté went to Brigitte Ballys and L'Orchestre des Champs Elysées and Herreweghe. I still have yet to acquire it - and I also want to get hold of that McCreesh Grande Messe which Vinteuil mentions.

[Beef Oven!]

Trojans/Colin LSO Live (no brainer).

[rauschwerk]

Previn made a splendid and wonderfully engineered lp of overtures in the late 70s. He is particularly fine in Les Francs-Juges , but excellent also in Roman Carnival and Beatrice and Benedict. It didn't make a well filled CD, which presumably is why it didn't survive long in the catalogue.

In Le Corsaire, Beecham reigns supreme as far as I am concerned.

[makropulos]

My essential Berlioz discs: Symphonie fantastique x 2 – Paray (Mercury) and JEG (Philips).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Hmm. JEG's Symphonie fantastique and Harold en Italie for a start.

- JEGgers is a superb Berlioz conductor; his earlier ERATO recordings with the Lyon orchestra (including an especially good set of Melodie) as well as the OR&R (originally on PHILLIPS) - with the latter, the Romeo & Juliet is a particular favourite of mine.

There used to be a Video of the Symphonie Fantastique performance, but I can't find if it is still available on DVD. I see that there is a Blu-Ray of his Troyens, which I didn't know about.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Buying the Philips Colin Davis 24(?) disc box set means I have all the Berlioz I could ever ask for. Sir Colin gave so much for the music of Berlioz.

[richardfinegold]

Symphonie Fantastique, Paul Paray/Detroit Symphony, Mercury Try the un bal movement for starters

[Beef Oven!]

Symphonie Fantastique, Paul Paray/Detroit Symphony, Mercury Try the un bal movement for starters

Symphonie Fantastique, JEG ORR. Try the Reveries - Passions movement for starters.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Let is not forget the early days when LPs invariably contained a side change in the middle of the 3rd movement.