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Berlioz: Les Nuits d'été & Harold en Italie
Michael Spyres (baritenor), Timothy Ridout (viola), Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, John Nelson
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 18th November 2022
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Male Singer of the Year, Solo Vocal & Conductor of the Year
This is special. Two extraordinary masterpieces...Two outstanding soloists thoroughly immersed in Berlioz’s music, partnered by an orchestra and conductor with an unsurpassed pedigree in the...
Berlioz: Les Nuits d'été & Harold en Italie
Michael Spyres (baritenor), Timothy Ridout (viola), Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, John Nelson
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 18th November 2022
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
-
Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Male Singer of the Year, Solo Vocal & Conductor of the Year
This is special. Two extraordinary masterpieces...Two outstanding soloists thoroughly immersed in Berlioz’s music, partnered by an orchestra and conductor with an unsurpassed pedigree in the...
About
Continuing Warner Classics’ multiple-award-winning Berlioz cycle (Les Troyens, La Damnation de Faust) with conductor John Nelson and the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg.
Berlioz’s orchestral song cycle on a libretto by Théophile Gautier, Les Nuits d’été, is sung by superstar (bari)tenor Michael Spyres. This is the first ever recording of the original 1856 version by one single voice – Michael Spyres sings with a bass, tenor and baritone voice.
Featuring the young British viola player Timothy Ridout in Berlioz’s Harold en Italie.
“... the terrifically talented Timothy Ridout, one of the BBC’s recent New Generation Artists.” – The Times, April 2021
Contents and tracklist
Spotlight on this release
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Berlioz's Les nuits d'été & Harold en Italie from John Nelson in Strasbourg
Vocal shape-shifter Michael Spyres tackles the song-cycle in the original orchestral keys, whilst viola-player Timothy Ridout is a warmly collegiate soloist in Harold on this clear-eyed, affectionate recording from Strasbourg.
Awards and reviews
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Presto Recording of the Week18th November 2022
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Presto Recordings of the YearFinalist 2022
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Opus Klassik Awards2023Nominated - Male Singer of the Year, Solo Vocal & Conductor of the Year
Christmas Issue 2022
This is special. Two extraordinary masterpieces...Two outstanding soloists thoroughly immersed in Berlioz’s music, partnered by an orchestra and conductor with an unsurpassed pedigree in the composer.
January 2023
[Spyres] is mellifluous in both registers and this is an excellent rendition…[Ridout's] warm, silky chestnut tone is beautifully polished.
18th November 2022
There’s something about Nelson's affectionate but refreshingly clear-eyed approach to this music that often wins over those who generally find it febrile, overheated and overstuffed..In the opening ‘Villanelle’, Spyres sounds every inch the classic French lyric tenor, but the transition into baritone mode for the radiant ‘Spectre de la Rose’ is so convincing that you’d be forgiven for thinking a second singer had taken the reins…and in Harold Ridout always feels fully integrated into the bigger picture.
