Clair Obscur (Alpha 727), dedicated to German lieder with orchestra, explored the antagonism between light and shadow. Reflet conjures up the nuances and transparencies of French melodies. There is in reflection the idea of an echo, the shadow of a disquieting double, of a plural, diffracted sparkle… A clash of deceptive mirages, a kaleidoscope of senses and flashes of light, it interweaves in strange parallels the score of our lives, adorned with gold and illusions", writes Sandrine Piau. Berlioz, Gauthier, Britten, Hugo, Verlaine, Baudelaire, Duparc, Koechlin, Ravel, Mallarmé... the encounters between these composers and poets"create in me a firework display of colours and shimmers", concludes the French soprano, who is making her 14th recording for Alpha Classics.

REVIEW:

Here is a whole album that makes up a single, sublime musical utterance. One feels that every note is almost foreordained as the program opens with classic orchestral songs from Berlioz, Henri Duparc, and the less common Charles Koechlin, proceeding into darker, more mysterious realms with Ravel’s Three Mallarmé Songs, and ending with the youthful ebullience of Britten’s Quatre chansons françaises. Piau’s voice is delicate, soaring, and richly beautiful; one of the miracles of the current scene is its durability and versatility. Her support from conductor Jean-François Verdier, leading the Victor Hugo Orchestra, is confidently smooth, never intruding on the spell Piau weaves.

 

-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

When 23-year-old Hector Berlioz saw Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" on stage for the first time in 1827, he was deeply moved by the experience, probably not least because of the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, who played Juliet. She became Berlioz's wife in 1833, and another six years later he completed his chorus-symphony "Romeo et Juliette", Op. 17. "Romeo et Juliette" is by no means intended as an attempt to transpose Shakespeare's drama as faithfully as possible; not a single verse of Shakespeare's text was included in the libretto, which was written by the poet emile Deschamps based on Berlioz's drafts. When the Prologue refers to Shakespeare as the only person who knew the highest secret of poetry, it is clear that the listener is deliberately placed in Berlioz's perspective, whose imagination is ignited by Shakespeare's genius. As in the case of the "Harold" symphony based on Byron, Berlioz adapts the original very freely. In both cases, he develops entire movements from episodes that are of only minor importance in the poem and adds scenes that do not appear there at all. The present live recording from 1982 showcases Gary Bertini at the peak of his career, conducting the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra of the SWR. An exquisite cast of singers - Alfreda Hodgson, Philip Langridge and John Shirley-Quirk - as well as internationally renowned choirs like the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the SWR Vokalensemble (known until 1998 as Sudfunk-Chor) accompany him in the performance of one of the most complex symphonic works of the Romantic era.

Originally issued on the 2LP set Nativity in 1976, this classic Vox recording is a fine example of Robert Shaw’s expertise as a choral conductor. The album features a selection of carols, choral works and orchestral Christmas favourites performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Produced by the legendary Elite Recordings team of Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz, and newly remastered from the original analogue tapes in high-definition.

On the occasion of conductor Georges Prêtre's 100th birthday in August, the label SWRmusic will release an 8CD box-set containing a wonderful collection of representative orchestral works by eleven composers, thus showing the fruitful collaboration between the French conductor and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO). Most of the recordings are being released for the first time, with the exception of the works by Maurice Ravel and Richard Strauss, which have previously been released by this label.

The Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1945 and has developed into one of Germany’s most important musical ambassadors over the following seven decades. World-renowned conductors, as well as some of the world’s greatest soloists, have been guests of the Stuttgart RSO, including Carlos Kleiber, Ferenc Fricsay, Karl Böhm, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Hans Knappertsbusch, Sir Georg Solti, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Kurt Sanderling, Gary Bertini, and Herbert Blomstedt, as well as Maria Callas, Mstislaw Rostropowitsch, Maurizio Pollini, Yehudi Menuhin, Alfred Brendel, Hélène Grimaud, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Elina Garanca, Rolando Villazon, Hilary Hahn, Sol Gabetta, and Lang Lang, to name just a few.

The present collection commemorates the long-standing cooperation between Gary Bertini, born in today’s Republic of Moldova, and the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, beginning in 1978 with Hector Berlioz’ 'Symphonie fantastique'. Their last recording featured on this box was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor, performed in 1996 in Tokyo. Bertini conducted several Israeli orchestras for many years. Even though he had never wanted to set foot in Germany, he was convinced to travel to Hamburg by the offer to conduct the 1971 premiere of the opera Ashmedai by Josef Tal. He later became chief conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, then director and highest-ranking conductor at the Frankfurt opera and in 1998 went on to serve as artistic director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

On the occasion of Cambreling's 75th birthday the label SWR Classic releases a 10-disc boxed set of recordings made by SWR between 1999 and 2011.

Sylvain Cambreling was the chief conductor of the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden and Freiburg between 1992-2016. When he took up his position at the broadcasting corporation Südwestrundfunk, he knew only too well that he was the successor to charismatic colleagues such as Hans Rosbaud, Ernest Bour, and Michael Gielen. He met with an orchestra that was young, efficient, and enthusiastic, and whose members were eager and willing to fulfill the task the broadcasting corporation had set: a strong commitment to New Music.

Cambreling was and still is enormously hard-working, curious about anything new and complex, displays a versatility that is without competition, and is a great communicator: therefore, he was the ideal cast for this orchestra and its tasks. The hymns of praise, specifically those of the foreign press, regularly (and not without envy) point out the qualities and possibilities of the orchestra and also the apparently reliable sponsorship from the broadcasting corporation. Just as reliable were the invitations from Salzburg, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Lisbon, Lucerne, Aix-en-Provence.

Following Sony Classical’s 16-CD release of Artur Rodziński’s New York Philharmonic recordings, here is the label’s eagerly awaited 13-disc collection of his complete recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra, which Rodziński headed from 1933 to 1943. The fiery, volatile Polish conductor (1892–1958) – whose lean, propulsive style emulated that of his idol Toscanini – earned a reputation as a builder of great orchestras: he led and developed the Los Angeles Philharmonic before taking up his position in Cleveland. In 1935, he brought nationwide attention to the midwestern orchestra when he conducted it in the US première of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. During his tenure in Cleveland, Rodziński moulded its orchestra into a brilliant ensemble which his successor, George Szell, would then elevate to international pre-eminence. Meanwhile, Rodziński was also active in Europe, becoming the first naturalized American to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival. There Toscanini admired his work and in 1938 picked him to train his new NBC Symphony Orchestra. In Cleveland between 1939 and 1942, Rodziński conducted a number of important recordings for Columbia Masterworks, all of them contained in this new set.

With dedicatee Louis Krasner as soloist, he made the first studio recording of the Berg Violin Concerto. His other acclaimed 78-sets include the Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade (“among the finest statements ever given this incorrigibly popular score” – High Fidelity), Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, the Fifth Symphony of Tchaikovsky (“Remarkable here is the tension of the second movement and the heroic close to the first” – Gramophone) as well as those of Sibelius and Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet (“Unsullied excitement” – Gramophone), Debussy’s La Mer and the orchestral “scenario” from Jerome Kern’s Show Boat – plus a previously unreleased recording of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Nathan Milstein. Until now, most of these albums have only been released on 78s and reissued on LP. Thus Sony Classical’s meticulously transferred and mastered 13-disc collection of Rodziński’s Cleveland recordings fills a large gap in this still widely admired conductor’s CD discography.

Idil Biret wanted to record the many waltz transcriptions of Godowsky and others. Chief among these was the transcription of the Johann Strauss' waltz Kiinstlerleben by Godowsky which she had performed at many concerts in the l 970s and the Blue Danube Waltz. However, there was another project scheduled before that; four Haydn Sonatas, some of the most beautiful among the many he composed. When Idil suddenly fell ill in 2021 both projects were abandoned. Then, miraculously a stupendous recording of her performance of Kiinstlerleben in New York in December 1975 surfaced on the internet which led to reembarking on the project in a somewhat different way. The result is this CD, a compilation of Biret's past performances of Waltzes and Dances from many composers including Bartok, Berlioz, Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Ravel, Stravinsky and, of course, Leopold Godowsky - his piano transcription of the Strauss waltz Kiinstlerleben "Metamorphosis on Themes from Artist's Life"

Star conductor Herbert von Karajan is best known today for his studio recordings. However, although as a media pioneer he recognised the technical possibilities for creating recordings, he always considered the live concert to be the ideal, the radio recordings with the Berliner Philharmoniker, which were made in Berlin between 1970 and 1979 and which we present to you in this edition.

It was more than just breathing together in the music that made this relationship so extraordinary: Seiji Ozawa earned the respect and affection of the orchestra from the very first time he met the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1966. The young Japanese conductor knew exactly what he wanted on the podium and knew the scores down to the smallest detail. Nevertheless, the always polite and approachable conductor never imposed his views on the orchestra. The result was a partnership on an equal footing, which was not only rewarding on a personal level, but above all enabled music-making in which there was always room for freedom and spontaneity. Our edition is a tribute to this special friendship with Seiji Ozawa, who the Berliner Philharmoniker made an honorary member in 2016.

Throughout her fifty year career Barbara Hendricks has shown herself to be one of the greatest champions of French song. This has always held a special place in her repertory and in her heart, as have German lieder, Scandinavian and Spanish songs (not to mention jazz and blues); her musical world has no limits. For this new recording made in 2016, the Swedish soprano pays homage both to her singing teacher and mentor, the great American mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel, and to the creative genius of Hector Berlioz. If the Nuits d’été have long formed part of her repertory, the two cantatas Herminie and Cléopâtre are new.

When Berlioz's revolutionary milestone is paired with ballet music by Toshiro Mayuzumi from 1962, unexpected similarities in sound, power and inspiration emerge. Andrea Battistoni conducts the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in this enigmatic performance

Gennady Rozhdestvensky (1931–2018) was one of Russia’s greatest conductors along with Yevgeny Mravinsky; Kirill Kondrashin and Yevgeny Svetlanov. Like them; he was a supreme interpreter of his country’s leading composers –notably Prokofiev; Shostakovich; and Tchaikovsky – but he was also more versatile and always in search of new challenges far beyond Russian and Soviet repertoire; from Benjamin Britten to Carl Nielsen and much more.

SOMM recordings is delighted to release Frankly Speaking with Leopold Stokowski, which gives rare insight into the legendary maestro through live recordings of a performance, a rehearsal, and an interview. The CD features Stokowski conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and soprano Gloria Lane in a performance of El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla at the Royal Albert Hall on 15 September 1964; a rehearsal of El amor brujo and Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra at the War Memorial Opera House on 19 December 1952; and a Frankly Speaking BBC Home Service interview with Stokowski answering questions put to him by John Bowen, Reginald Jacques, and George Scott at the BBC Studios in London on 25 August 1959. Leopold Stokowski's unorthodox seating arrangements, his flexibility regarding free individual string bowings, his emphasis on vibrato and tone, and his idiosyncratic baton-less conducting technique, were some of the practical elements that defined his popularity and his uniquely lush sound-coupled with allowing himself free reign to alter details of the musical text in his performances. Yet there remains a highly elusive element in the art of a great conductor. The rehearsal presented on this release provides a glimpse into Stokowski's creative process. One the one hand, he was fastidiously detailed and precisely demanding to the point of being draconian, but he also admired and encouraged an element of spontaneity, and even improvisation, within the framework of his extreme insistence on precision. The performance of El amor brujo-one of Stokowski's favourite compositions-was recorded at a BBC Promenade concert, and provides a stellar example of the effect that he was able to achieve through his singular and charismatic approach to making music. The extended interview, heard here for the first time since it's original radio broadcast in 1959, illustrates the brilliant repartee, levity, and charm of which this extraordinary musician was capable. Through the breadth of his public success-including his appearance in the film Fantasia and, even more significantly, his recordings as the Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he led from 1912 to 1936-Leopold Stokowski reached a more wide-ranging audience than was typical for classical music in his day, and did much to debunk the perception that classical music is "elitist." Together, Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra racked up international sales figures that were unprecedented for orchestral discs, attracted a far-reaching following, and captivated an audience that ranged from classical music newcomers to some of his most celebrated fellow musicians.

The recording of this Chanson du vent is a celebration of Adolphe Biarent. This greatly neglected composer emerged from the shadows thanks to three album releases by Cypres. The cycle of Huit mélodiesfor mezzo-soprano completes this process aiming as it does to highlight an exceptional musical personality through world premiere recordings. Such an action can only work when based upon the total dedication of thoroughly committed performers who enhance a program inspired by the musical Orientalism, or artistic fascination with Middle Eastern, North African, and Turkish cultures, in vogue at that time.

When Deutschlandfunk and Musikfest Bremen first approached me to produce a CD with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, I faced the unique challenge of choosing a programme that resonated strongly with me and had a significant historical connection. Although I am half German and half Italian, I was quickly drawn to the personal ties I have with French music. I wanted to present works by young composers that had a strong impact on the history of music and pieces that offer the audience a rich, diverse soundscape. Therefore, I chose two French composers who are personally significant to me for various reasons.

The Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal and it's Music Director Rafael Payare explore Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique and Le carnaval romain - two works that reveal the composer's flair for drama, colour, and psychological intensity. In Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz charts the delirious inner world of an artist undone by passion, hallucination, and obsession. From dreamy reveries to a diabolical witches' sabbath, the symphony is a milestone of musical storytelling. Paired with the exhilarating Le carnaval romain, this album captures Berlioz at his most imaginative and uncompromising. In a special touch, the performance of Symphonie fantastique features OSM's two newly acquired carillon bells - G and C - that expand the orchestra's sonic palette and bring striking brilliance to Berlioz's original vision. After their acclaimed PENTATONE recordings of Mahler's Fifth Symphony (2023), Ruckert-Lieder and Strauss's Ein Heldenleben (2024), and Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande & Verklarte Nacht (2024), Payare and the orchestra continue their compelling exploration of Romantic repertoire with this vivid Berlioz program.

The BR-KLASSIK label is now commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) in 2024 by releasing previously unreleased recordings of concerts worth listening to on CD and as a stream for the first time. Hector Berlioz's passionate "Symphonie fantastique," the nearly revolutionary symphonic masterpiece by the great French composer, was performed by Colin Davis with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra at Munich’s Philharmonie im Gasteig on January 15 and 16, 1987.

In his "Symphonie fantastique", subtitled "Episodes from the Life of an Artist", Berlioz combines the structures of the musical symphony with the form of a five-part classical drama. Using a leitmotif (an "idée fixe"), he narrates to the listener the story of the beloved woman of his dreams. The "Symphonie fantastique" thus paved the way for the symphonic poems of the Romantic period as well as the leitmotif method in Wagner's music dramas.

"I am still unknown," wrote Berlioz in June 1829 at the age of 25 – but he was certain that he could achieve resounding success with the idea of a major instrumental work. With his "Symphonie fantastique", he created a new kind of programmatic music. Berlioz was inspired by the works of Goethe and by Beethoven's symphonic music – and also by the fascination he felt for the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, whom he saw play Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Odéon Theatre in Paris on September 11, 1827. The "Idée fixe", the main theme, represents the artist going through his life story in various inner states of mind.

A classic recording of a classic pairing of French song cycles. Composed some 60 years apart, Berlioz's Les Nuits d'ete and Ravel's Sheherazade both visit romantic, mysterious and exotic locations, evoking a wealth of moods and sensations. Janet Baker, an irresistible storyteller, is accompanied on her journey by Sir John Barbirolli, conducting the New Philharmonia Orchestra with sensitivity and imagination.

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.

Classical Music

Classical Music

William Primrose Collection, Vol. 1

Classical Music

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: Romeo et Juliette / Les Troyens a Carthage

BERLIOZ: Overtures