Berlioz overtures - recordings compared

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes, but what I'm looking for are the finest recordings of individual overtures.

You mean....to download/stream individually, build your own Berliozian playlist/"mixtape", or....?

[rauschwerk]

You mean....to download/stream individually, build your own Berliozian playlist/"mixtape", or....?

Yes, that or something very like it.

[Barbirollians]

Boult

[cloughie]

Download or stream, sir...?

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/london-philharmonic-orchestra-the-1956-nixa-westminster-stereo-recordings-vol-2-adrian-boult/5060216340036

Or order direct.... (and view the notes for free...)
https://firsthandrecords.com/product...s-3-cds-vol-2/

Thanks for links Jayne - no joy with ordering CDs - they are out of stock. Qobus seems a complicated organisation - do I have subscribe - not really interested in streaming or can I just buy downloads ?

[jayne lee wilson]

Thanks for links Jayne - no joy with ordering CDs - they are out of stock. Qobus seems a complicated organisation - do I have subscribe - not really interested in streaming or can I just buy downloads ?

You do have to register to buy downloads but you don't need a streaming subscription.... assuming you already have a media player for the downloaded files, the full guide is here.... (it's not as complex as it looks, honest...!)

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/info/qobuz-vous/how-to-buy-and-download-albums-on180070

Or you could just hit add to basket on your choice and follow instructions from there...

[Lordgeous]

Le Corsaire

I really only want to listen to performances which violate the composer's intentions in one crucial place. A few bars before the recapitulation, the music sounds as though it's winding down. The entry of cellos and bassoons, mf then crescendo, energises the music. Beecham, however, plays this forte, with a big accent on the first note (one reviewer likened this to 'dogs attacking a rat'). Ever since I heard this, it's the way I want the music to go, and however many times I hear it, I'm on tenterhooks waiting for it.

Berlioz's metronome mark for the Allegro looks very scary to me, and I wonder if any orchestra could play it that fast with tidy rushing quavers and syncopations. The fastest performances take around eight minutes, and I'm not really interested in anything much slower. Like Beecham, Munch is very fast and he speeds up in the coda once the quavers are out of the way. Beecham's control of pace is more subtle and one is hardly aware of it - just the excitement.

Andrew Davis seems to have taken several leaves out of Beecham's book, not least his overall timing and the cellos + bassoons entry. His orchestra are well up to the task and the recording is excellent. Previn takes half a minute longer than the others, and for me the effect is a bit too laid back. So I choose Andrew Davis (modern) and Beecham (historical).

Beecham's still sounds so fresh and exciting. Heard it first as a schoolboy and still knocks the socks off me! Great recording too - 'historical' seems somehow to do it an injustice!

[BBMmk2]

Been hearing Sir Roger Norrington and the London Classical Players recording. My goodness! Never heard anything quite like it!,,

[cloughie]

You do have to register to buy downloads but you don't need a streaming subscription.... assuming you already have a media player for the downloaded files, the full guide is here.... (it's not as complex as it looks, honest...!)

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/info/qobuz-vous/how-to-buy-and-download-albums-on180070

Or you could just hit add to basket on your choice and follow instructions from there...

Now sorted via download from 7digital, Jayne. Thanks for your effiorts. Will burn my cdrs later! Cloughie the Backwoodsman.

[vinteuil]

Download or stream, sir...?

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/london-philharmonic-orchestra-the-1956-nixa-westminster-stereo-recordings-vol-2-adrian-boult/5060216340036

Or order direct.... (and view the notes for free...)
https://firsthandrecords.com/product...s-3-cds-vol-2/

.... sadly, as cloughie has indicated, firsthandrecords no longer have this in stock in CD format.

If, like me, you were more interested in the Berlioz than the Schumann, these dutton discs of Boult with the BBCSO might prove a happy succedaneum :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000ECWY8K

.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000JLPNMK

.

[rauschwerk]

Les Francs-Juges

I really don't know what possessed Beecham (1954) in this piece! He plays not only the slow intro under tempo (most conductors seem to), but also the allegro - crotchet about 110 against the marked 160. Of course, the marking in the Eulenburg score might not be authentic, but even so! He takes a full two minutes longer than Previn, who is excellent here.

[gurnemanz]

I see the new Warner "first-ever complete Berlioz edition" has three Boult/LPO Overtures on CD1. On Spotify

[Bryn]

I see the new Warner "first-ever complete Berlioz edition" has three Boult/LPO Overtures on CD1. On Spotify

And a spiffing Les Francs-juges from the LCP/Norrington as its opener.

[Pulcinella]

The free sampler has Benvenuto Cellini (ONF/Nelson).

Otherwise, all I knowingly have, apart from items on some BBC MM CDs, is
Roman Carnival (RCO/Jansons), which is part of the coupling to Bernstein's FNO Symphonie Fantastique (HMV)
and
Le Corsaire (Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire/Munch (Great Conductors series).

[Bryn]

The free sampler has Benvenuto Cellini (ONF/Nelson).

Otherwise, all I knowingly have, apart from items on some BBC MM CDs, is
Roman Carnival (RCO/Jansons), which is part of the coupling to Bernstein's FNO Symphonie Fantastique (HMV) . . .

Also to be found on disc 1 of the Warner Complete Works set previously mentioned.

[pastoralguy]

I'm listening to a cd that's just arrived of the late André Previn and the LSO playing Berlioz Overtures. Absolutely fantastic playing from a vintage London Symphony Orchestra and very 'fizzy' conducting from the maestro.

Fantastic music making.