Berlioz Making of Artist

Not many versions of the Symphonie fantastique rival Myung-Whun Chung’s in conveying the nervously impulsive inspiration of a young composer, the hints of hysteria, the overtones of nightmare in Berlioz’s programme. He makes one register it afresh as genuinely fantastic. Some may well prefer the more direct, more solid qualities that you find in the new Mehta version, also well played, and recorded with satisfying weight, but the volatile element in this perennially modern piece is something which Chung brings out to a degree I have rarely known before, and that establishes his as a very individual, sharply characterized version with unusually strong claims.

The Berlioz Te Deum has been relatively neglected on disc in comparison with his other major works. This latest version has John Nelson as an incisive, understanding conductor of Berlioz, revelling in the weight of choral sound, balancing his forces beautifully. He's helped here by fuller, more detailed digital sound than on previous versions.

Berlioz - Harold in Italy and Other Orchestral Works (2018) {Hyperion CDA68193}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 247 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 164 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 76 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2018 Hyperion Records | CDA68193
Classical / Romantic / Orchestral

This is a sensational disc - an exploration of Berlioz such as few others offer. The viola sound of Lawrence Power has a lot to do with it - it is such a beautiful sound, so close to actual singing, that as soon as he plays it is as if Harold himself is expressing his feelings directly; added to this, the orchestra is of unusual brilliance under Andrew Manze's direction. The range of sounds is thrilling, bringing together all these landscapes as vividly as any art can. Harold en Italie is an amazing score, but one that has suffered a certain neglect, even though viola concertos from the 19th century are so thin on the ground.

This fabulous five disc set is replete with some of those old Stokowski warhorses all recorded in absolutely mind boggling Phase 4 sound, overblown perhaps but astounding for its time. Decca's remastering is absolutely magnificent and the discs are jam packed with almost six hours of music. This is another fine memorial to a great conductor who remained astonishingly vital until the very end of his life.

Violin virtuoso and composer Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst was well known to audiences and musicians in the middle of the 19th century. At first he was a slavish follower of Paganini, whom he followed from place to place; often, by listening to the Italian master, he was able to reproduce his new works before they had been published or disseminated. But there is a kind of elegant artistry in some of his music that displays his own personality, and Joseph Joachim, the violinist most closely associated with the Beethoven/Brahms line of musical thinking, called Ernst the greatest violinist he had ever heard.

This set presents the Complete Recordings made by Constantin Silvestri for EMI. The microphones offered this “fanatical idealist” the most favourable circumstances to let his particular talent blossom.

The dynamic mezzo-soprano Tatiana Troyanos was born into a singing family; her Greek father was a tenor, and her German mother a soprano. Born in New York, Troyanos studied at the Juilliard School with Hans J. Heinz, while singing occasionally in the New York area (she was a member of the original chorus for the Broadway production of The Sound of Music). In April 1963 she made her operatic debut with the New York City Opera, in the New York premiere of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. She remained with the City Opera for two years.