There is no straightforward answer to the question of which of the five versions of Berlioz's dramatic symphony listed above is the outstanding recommendation. One, at least, can be dismissed without much regret; Gardelli's set is rather tame, with a 'safe' slow opening tempo that misses the tension where all the others are prepared, in varying degrees, to take risks; and his Love scene is half-hearted. There is a general sense that the enterprise has not been strongly enough controlled, perhaps actually under-rehearsed.
Not so any of the others. Ozawa is precise and glossy, lacking nothing in sensationalism but missing much in sensitivity. All his virtuosity at the start turns in on itself, as being about virtuosity rather than the desperate enmity of the two warring houses, and when he comes to the Prologue, and Berlioz's careful display of the manner and content of what is to come, he simply plays it as a kaleidoscope of effects. The opening Allegretto of the Love scene is very well done, though, with Ozawa's control of line holding the moment of line holding the moment elegantly; but the oboe in ''Romeo seul'' is oddly dull. The strophes are also well done, with nice singing from Julia Hamari, and Jean Dupouy is brilliant in his Queen Mab scherzetto. The recording is not outstanding, though it comes up well enough on CD.
The only two recent recordings are those listed as comparative CD versions, having come out within a month of each other 18 months ago. Lionel Salter found Muti's reading for EMI one reflecting ''the rounder, more romantic atmosphere of the tragedy's Italian setting'', Dutoit's for Decca having ''the more pointed, lithe and incisive flavour of Berlioz's music'', and though he warned us of the over-facility of such generalizations, I find them apt. Muti's performance is splendid demonstrative, eloquent; Dutoit has acuter poetic perceptions, in such places, for instance, as Juliet's funeral cortege. Though Muti has the advantage of Jessye Norman, his casting of the admirable Simon Estes as Friar Laurence has not worked well, Dutoit has Tom Krause.
That leaves Sir Colin Davis, whose version is now a classic almost 20 years old. These years inevitably show a bit. The hectic, urgent pace of the opening is exactly right for the music, but there are some sacrifices in clarity to be made. I have myself no difficulty in making them for the sake of all that is to be found in this marvellous performance, and really they are negligible. Anyone trying the discs out and not bothered by the start will be happy; and surely to listen to that opening is to be caught up in the work's excitement and indeed in the energy and passion of Davis's response to it.'