The relative merits of the three front-runners in this field—Davis (Philips), Muti (EMI) and Abbado DG)—were well rehearsed by JW only last October, so I shall not go over that ground again, save to say that I am still bowled over by the Davis each time I hear it. The Munch version, to be frank, is nowhere near this league at all. It was the first recording ever made (in 1967) by the Paris orchestra, which had yet to settle down: its evident ebullience was not enough to compensate for some ragged playing, and Munch's shallow reading, full of emotional excesses, contentious tempos and unnecessary rubatos, is no more acceptable now than it was then. Add to this a tonal coarseness in loud passages which not even the CD could smooth out, and it is difficult to understand why it was now decided to resuscitate this performance.
It is a different matter with the Karajan version (his second with the BPO); it was always a quite impressive reading, and the sheer tonal beauty of the orchestra remains as striking as ever. I don't, however, think it's the recording (which is extremely satisfying) that is responsible for dynamic levels often higher than those asked for by Berlioz: Karajan is not always exact in his observance of pp—for example in ''Le bal'', in which also, 16 bars after the F major repetition of the theme, the violas are suddenly hoisted into the foreground for three bars before dropping back. (If it comes to that, Karajan also refuses to wait for a whole three-bar silence in the first movement.) I feel, too, that his initial introduction somewhat lacks forward impulse, and that Davis makes the first movement cohere better without the changes of speed he finds necessary. An unusually restrained tempo is adopted for the Witches Sabbath (which includes tolling by a marvellous graveyard-sounding bell): this contrasts with the febrile quality of his waltz and march (in which latter I should like to have heard more of the trombone's sinister pedal-notes). Berlioz enthusiasts will regret that Karajan makes no repeat in the first movement or the march, and does not include the cornet part the composer later added to ''Le bal''.'