William Primrose Collection, Vol. 4

Burkhard Fritz, Laurent Naouri, Brindley Sherratt, Mikhail Petrenko, Maija Kovalevska, Philippp Stoezl, and Kate Aldrich star in this Vienna State Opera/Vienna Philharmonic production of the Berlioz opera conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

BERLIOZ: Requiem, Op. 5

After completing her training as a concert pianist and gaining her diploma, Vesselina Kasarova went on to study singing at the Music Academy of Sofia. She has since then given concerts and recitals throughout Europe, the USA and Japan. Ivor Bolton is chief conductor of the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, with whom he has appeared annually at the Salzburg Festival since 2000, and on tour (including at the 2006 BBC Proms in London), and with whom he has already built up an extensive discography including a critically successful series of Bruckner Symphony recordings. The Sinfonieorchester Basel, rooted in the nation's northwest, is one of the oldest and most important orchestras in Switzerland. Of Madness and Love features vocal and instrumental works of Hector Berlioz inspired by the words of William Shakespeare.

BERLIOZ: Harold in Italy / Les Francs-Juges

Directed by Andy Sommer. Starring Orchestre de Paris, Berlioz, Christoph Eschenbach.

In the history of recording, there have been literally dozens and dozens of recordings of Hector Berlioz's monstrous masterpiece "Symphonie Fantastique", a work that is arguably the first musical masterpiece of terror. Judging by the performance given here on Naxos by Yoav Talmi and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, plenty! With the recording quality as high as it is, and the recording itself very well priced, this version of Berlioz's nightmarish masterpiece has much to show, including the piece de resistance, the "Witches Sabbath" in the fifth movement, with the use of the ancient chant "Dies Irae" ringing out in the trombones (a chant that would find it's way into the music of such chilling movies as A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Poltergeist).

HUNGARIAN FESTIVAL

Berlioz: Damnation De Faust (La) (The Damnation of Faust)

Classical Music

Classical Music

Berlioz: Nuits D'Ete (Les) / Chausson: Poeme De L'Amour Et D