Hector Berlioz, France's greatest Romantic composer, exemplifies the spirit of his age - yet his genius was also ahead of it's time. Reflecting his colourful life, his music is astonishing for it's originality and ambition, and for orchestration of groundbreaking brilliance. « J'ai la passion de la passion. » « L'amour et la musique sont les deux ailes de l'ame. » Berlioz "I have a passion for passion." "Love and music are the soul's two wings." Berlioz
Davis... magnificently crowns his whole career as a Berlioz interpreter, generally outshining even his pioneer version of 30 years earlier... Petra Lang is superb, firm, rich and intense, investing every phrase with emotional power, instantly establishing her dominance... Ben Heppner excels himself (Penguin Guide ROSETTE). Gramophone Awards' Best Opera; Academie Charles Cros' Grand Prix du Disc, Opera News' Recordings of the Year; Grammy Opera of the Year Award 2001
Yet again Sir Colin Davis demonstrates his supreme mastery as a Berlioz interpreter... especially fascinating is to compare this latest Harold en Italie with earlier versions - the biggest contrast is the extra tautness of Davis's interpretation, with speeds consistently faster... The textures are sparer, sharper and lighter - bringing extra incisiveness all round. One other benefit is that the magnificent Tabea Zimmermann, is balanced as part of the orchestra. The beauty of her tone, with it's nut-brown colours on the C-string, is never masked, but the balance allows pianissimi of a delicacy never achieved by the 1975 version. In the introduction there is a repeat marked 'pianissimo possibile' - just what you hear in magic tones. (Gramophone)
The choral versions of La mort dOphélie and Sara la baigneuse may be relative rarities on record but both are vintage Berlioz, short and striking, which should be much better known. Yet further incentive to acquire a terrific account of the Symphonie fantastique.
Way ahead of his time, misunderstood, and a rebel. It is difficult to believe, as we hail Beethoven's achievements, that the great German composer had only been dead three years when Berlioz wrote the erotic Symphonie Fantastique. It was not progress, it was a quantum leap forward for music. Yet he was often shunned, the size and scope of such operas as The Trojans totally alien to those who were still trying to come to terms with the comparative conservatism of Beethoven's Fidelio. Just imagine Brahms was not yet born! This disc is the ideal way to appreciate just how great and significant was his music. From the boisterous Roman Carnival Overture, to the chilling March to the Scaffold, here is the very best of Berlioz. It is presented in outstanding performances, many from the partial cycle of Berlioz made for Naxos by the virtuoso orchestra from San Diego. And it even contains a novelty to titillate those who think they know a lot about Berlioz, with the Rêverie et Caprice, a work of stunning beauty for violin and orchestra.
Berlioz's L'Enfance Du Christ is probably known primarily due to it's famous "Shepherd's Chorus" but it is a piece that once listeners discover it, they realize a true golden gem has been found. It is primarily a choral work which tells the story of what are called the Infancy Narratives in the New Testament. Scenes of the work are taken from both the scriptures and legends and include Herod visiting a soothsayer which predicts the birth of the Messiah, the Annunciation (Mary learning of the birth of Jesus), the birth itself, and the flight into Egypt. This recording by the Orchestre National du Lille under the direction of Jean-Claude Casadesus captures both the beauty and scope of the work.
