Browse: SACD, Berlioz (composer)
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Offer, Berlioz: La damnation de Faust
Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano), Bryan Hymel (tenor), Christopher Purves (baritone), Gábor Bretz (bass)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Guildhall School Singers, Tiffin Children's Chorus, Tiffin Girls' Choir, Tiffin Boys' Choir, Sir Simon Rattle
Hymel’s Faust is the most convincing soloist. But it’s the vivid detail Rattle conjures up, the brilliant playing and the force and intensity of the choral singing that give greatest satisfaction. — More…
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Sasha Cooke makes a radiant Mary opposite Roderick Williams’s tenderly solicitous Joseph…The Melbourne Symphony, meanwhile, sound very warm and plush, perhaps a bit too much so for some tastes... — More…
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[Cargill] has a remarkably beautiful voice, full of sunny delicacy and warmth but also capable of Wagnerian dramatics...Ticciati's chamber forces do make a difference from the sound we're used... — More…
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Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini
Gregory Kunde (Cellini), Laura Claycomb (Teresa), Darren Jeffery (Balducci), Andrew Kennedy (Francesco), Isabelle Cals (Ascanio), John Relyea (Pope Clement VII), Peter Coleman-Wright (Fieramosca), Jacques Imbrailo (Pompeo)
London Symphony Chorus & London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis
The combination of technology and the conductor's unimpaired élanmakes for glowing textures and shattering climaxes. — More…
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Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts, Op. 5 (Requiem)
Bror Magnus Tødenes (tenor)
Choir of Collegiûm Mûsicûm, Bergen Philharmonic Choir, Edvard Grieg Kor, Royal Northern College of Music Choir, Eikanger-Bjørsvik Musikklag, Musicians from the Bergen Philharmonic Youth Orchestra & Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner
[Gardner] has the measure of this work – of its pacing, its contrasts and, not least, of its idiosyncrasies. Among my favourite moments here is the momentous hush before the final ‘mors stupebit’…Achieving... — More…
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Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette
Sasha Cooke (mezzo), Nicholas Phan (tenor), Luca Pisaroni (bass-baritone)
San Francisco Symphony & San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Michael Tilson Thomas
There is much to admire: buoyant energy, sparkling lightness (in the Queen Mab Scherzo), mostly well-balanced textures and acceptable if not quite native French. Yet after one hearing I felt... — More…
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Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17
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Olga Borodina (mezzo-soprano), Kenneth Tarver (tenor), Evgeny Nikitin (bass)
London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus & Guildhall School Singers, Valery Gergiev
Gergiev, in this live account, inclines towards operatic fire and pace, occasionally headlong, but with a clarity and hushed, atmospheric pianissimo finely captured by the spacious SACD recording. — More…
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Berlioz: L'Enfance du Christ, Op. 25
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Véronique Gens (Marie), Alastair Miles (Herod/Ishmaelite Father), Yann Beuron (Narrator), Stephan Loges (Joseph)
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Robin Ticciati
Beuron, still probably France's finest lyric tenor, a compelling Recitant with open, ardent tones and warm delivery...Miles is a splendidly anguished but restrained Herod and benign Ishmaelite,... — More…
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the playing here is satisfyingly mellow and vibrant, with warm strings and sturdy woodwind, yet also refreshing and translucent. This is aided by Andrew Davis's tempos fairly spacious and unforced... — More…
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Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts, Op. 5 (Requiem)
Barry Banks (tenor)
London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus & London Philharmonic Choir, Sir Colin Davis
The St Paul's acoustic is something to be reckoned with...and it is striking to observe how careful Davis is to allow for the famous echo...There's some lovely orchestral detail...The chorus... — More…