Berlioz Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Hector Berlioz
Label: Telarc
Magazine Review Date: 11/1991
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 74
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CD80271
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Symphonie fantastique |
Hector Berlioz, Composer
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra David Zinman, Conductor Hector Berlioz, Composer |
| (Le) carnaval romain |
Hector Berlioz, Composer
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra David Zinman, Conductor Hector Berlioz, Composer |
| (Les) Francs-juges |
Hector Berlioz, Composer
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra David Zinman, Conductor Hector Berlioz, Composer |
Author: John Warrack
The best quality of this record is the actual sound. The Baltimore orchestra has some mellifluous players, among them a sweet-toned cor anglais, some comfortable-sounding trombones for the Francs-juges solemnity who can also produce a sonorous blare in the symphony, a squeaky clarinet for the ''Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat'', woodwind who can manage a true glissando—much else that is smooth and well turned. What is lacking is the dramatic fire to put all this to good service, so that everything comes to seem about sweetness and warmth of sound, and safe, predictable phrasing, rather than Berlioz's odd, unpredictable, sometimes necessarily harsh dramatic ideas.
The accompaniment to the Teresa melody near the start of the Carnaval romain Overture is plain and virtually unphrased, which matches too well the bland line of the cor anglais, but also gives it less of a chance to bring meaning to the music. The ''Marche au supplice'' has no real kick to it, and the ''Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat'' is a very mild party. The ''Scene aux champs'' goes rather better, though the undertow of sinister melancholy is absent; best of all is the pretty elegance of ''Un bal''. There are other performances on record which are less smoothly played, but contain more of the music.'
The accompaniment to the Teresa melody near the start of the Carnaval romain Overture is plain and virtually unphrased, which matches too well the bland line of the cor anglais, but also gives it less of a chance to bring meaning to the music. The ''Marche au supplice'' has no real kick to it, and the ''Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat'' is a very mild party. The ''Scene aux champs'' goes rather better, though the undertow of sinister melancholy is absent; best of all is the pretty elegance of ''Un bal''. There are other performances on record which are less smoothly played, but contain more of the music.'
Berlioz Orchestral Works
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