Hector Berlioz

[TheGSMoeller]

Found a Used - Like New copy of Benvenuto Cellini for $7. Ka-ching!

Good on ya, mate!
Next, look for a good deal on a copy of Béatrice et Bénédict, pure delight right there.

[snyprrr]

Why does everyone rate Berlioz so highly? I'm not being cheeky, just seriously asking. Is he the link between LvB and Wagner? Is he the first true Romantic? What is it in a nutshell?

[Karl Henning]

Why does everyone rate Berlioz so highly? I'm not being cheeky, just seriously asking. Is he the link between LvB and Wagner? Is he the first true Romantic? What is it in a nutshell?

I like him for who he is, not for a 'tweener.

[North Star]

I like him for who he is, not for a 'tweener.

+1. There's no-one quite like him, really. Although, of course, he did blaze trails. But the music is what matters, not it's influence. I mean, you couldn't seriously blame Berlioz for Mahler!
             

[TheGSMoeller]

Why does everyone rate Berlioz so highly? I'm not being cheeky, just seriously asking.

Because he wrote music we enjoy. I consider it lovely, kick-ass music.

That's too simple, I know, but I have a headache so I can't concentrate enough to write more.

[xochitl]

i just heard the munch/bso recording and holy crap

time to get back into this personally neglected composer

[Karl Henning]

Fantastic, Karl! To me this piece heads the list of criminally underrated works. Which recording is it?

This 'un:



Of which our own weirdears wrote:

I must admit, with the advent of the Berlioz Bicentennial I�ve become Berlioz mad! So needless to say, this is going to be a rave review of the composer�s least known and least performed work. But it is one that I think is deserving of such a review. Berlioz to me represents the absolute best in French opera, uniting the forms and dramatic innovations of Gluck and Spontini to music that is rich, colorful and beautifully written. As Jacques Barzun claims, Berlioz is emerging as perhaps the key and quintessential figure of the Romantic period before Wagner. As such, his output is worth getting to know for the serious listener.

Unlike the stereotype most people have for Berlioz, based on the Symphony Fantasique and the Requiem, the composer is quite a comedian. Benvenuto Cellini was the composer�s first opera and has an almost Shakespearean wit, at least in the music. Based loosely on the life of the Italian sculptor, the work centers on events leading to the casting of Cellini�s most famous work, the Perseus. Cellini is in love with Teresa, the daughter of the Papal treasurer, Balducci. Balducci is angry that Cellini has been commissioned by the Pope to create a statue, when Balducci is partial to another sculptor, who will incidentally work cheaper. Balducci wants his daughter to marry the other sculptor, Fieramosca. Cellini and Teresa plan to elope during the Shrove Tuesday fair in Rome, but Fiermosca and a friend attempt to foil the escape. In the ensuing scuffle, Fiermosca�s friend is killed in a duel. Balducci and Fiermosca then determine to denounce Cellini as a murderer and a fraud to the Pope himself. The Pope agrees to reprieve Cellini if he can finish the Perseus statue in one day. Though threatened with disloyal assistants Cellini triumphs. When informed that there is not enough metal for the casting, Cellini throws all of his previous artwork into the crucible and melts it all down for the new statue. The statue is unveiled before the Pope and Cellini and Teresa are free to marry.

Benvenuto Cellini was a terrific failure when it first appeared in 1838 and was a major blow to the composer�s career. The failure almost certainly had more to do with an anti-Berlioz claque than with the work itself. It�s hard to imagine how a work so light in touch and inventive in spirit could have alienated French audiences otherwise. But the Parisians were mad for Italian opera at the time and since the opera is so radically removed from Rossini or Donizetti it is in retrospect not so surprising. The opera is not radical in structure. But the instrumental details are. The use of the orchestra in the Carnival scenes and the casting scene in particular is stunning. The orchestra becomes in Berlioz� hands, another character in the drama. Though the musical interest remains with the singers, this greater orchestral role would have profound ramifications in later opera.

Berlioz also packs a punch when it comes to vocal melody. Teresa�s opening cavatina is rapturous. The duets between Cellini and Teresa are some of the finest love duets in the French repertoire. The score is also driven by an almost Mendelsohnian energy and lighthearted drive. From the first notes of the justly famous overture, the predominant mood is of a scherzo, making it one of the most lively Berlioz scores until the late Beatrice et Benedict. This opera is missing the stark drama of Les Troyens and the chiaroscuro of the Shakespeare opera, and is perhaps not quite at the level of those two masterpieces, but it is a wonderful opera all the same and deserving of a place in the repertoire...certainly more deserving than many operas that are currently performed ad nauseum.

The performance here is very good. Colin Davis is a terrific conductor and champion of Berlioz. In fact, he almost single-handedly initiated the current Berlioz revival in Britain rescuing the operas from obscurity. Davis� virtues are solid and understated, but make him one of the supreme conductors still on the world stage. He is not a showy conductor. A Davis performance is about the music, not about the interpreter. As such he is outside of either the dominant Toscanini or Furtwangler traditions. He just sits back and lets the music do the talking, always giving a careful ear to orchestral balance and leaving room for the singers to project their characters. Nicolai Gedda is in fine voice as Cellini and one could not imagine a better one. Christiane Eda-Pierre is good as Teresa though there are some moments of unsure pitch, particularly in her arias. Jules Bastin and Robert Massard as Balducci and Fiermosca respectively are in the best buffo traditions, particularly Bastin, who�s gruff voice gives just the right edge of the comic to the self-important Balducci.

This disc makes the best case imaginable for Cellini as a real French opera masterpiece. Unfortunately, though this CD was released in the 60s, and since then Les Troyens has gone on to become a staple of several international companies, Cellini still seems to remain obscure. Hopefully the Met premiere of the work later this season will accomplish for this piece, what the 1983 Met premiere of Les Troyens did for that one, make it safe to program in any large house. Very few neglected operas are as deserving as this one.

One further note...if you are a Berlioz fan I highly recommend Phillips� boxed set of the complete Berlioz operas. For the price of one of the operas, you can get all three in the classic Davis performances. This is an incredible deal actually. The one drawback is that the boxed set does not include the libretti, but they are available online at the Berlioz Homepage. The boxed is not carried by amazon.us but can be obtained at the amazon.uk site for a steal. I highly recommend this set, as all the operas are terrific and the performances couldn�t be better.

[Karl Henning]

Next, look for a good deal on a copy of Béatrice et Bénédict, pure delight right there.

Oh, the LSO Live recording of that was one of my very first Berlioz purchases, back ahead of the Centenary!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

This 'un:



Of which our own weirdears wrote:

Nice. It's the one I have too. Hope for an update once you've listened to it.

Thanks for pasting the weirdears review from Amazon. Nice read and absolutely right on the money.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Why does everyone rate Berlioz so highly? I'm not being cheeky, just seriously asking. Is he the link between LvB and Wagner? Is he the first true Romantic? What is it in a nutshell?

For me it goes back to what I wrote in the opening post of this thread:

What first struck me about the piece [Les Nuits D'été] was its unorthodox construction. Seemed kinda 'loose' compared to some of the more stricter classical forms. Though before long I jettisoned any preconceptions about form and took to basking in the wondrous sounds.

Not to mention as I listened on an overarching sense of architecture began to take shape. What first appeared formless began to take on perfect symmetry. And I've come to enjoy this quality most in Berlioz: his "formlessness" begets the most dizzying of architectural designs.

No prejudices. No preconceptions. No trying to "place him". He's strictly his own man and his position is unique in the stratosphere because of this.

[TheGSMoeller]

i just heard the munch/bso recording and holy crap

Holy crap is a fine phrase that I've used many times over while listening to Berlioz.
This classic Bernstein (get it if you're a tuba fan) from the 60s and Solti/CSO from the 70s were the two fantastique recordings to really open my ears to the sheer brilliance of this composer's talent. Still my favorite symphony after all these years of listening.

[mszczuj]

Why does everyone rate Berlioz so highly?

Check the Love Scene.

[TheGSMoeller]

Check the Love Scene.

Absolutely.
I normally like to offer the final 15 minutes of Faust, Berlioz own musical depiction of a descent into hell followed minutes later by an ascent into heaven.

[Scarpia]

I don't know if my experience is at all typical, but for some reason, modern, musically and technically immaculate recordings of Berlioz leave me feeling quite bored.  I find myself having a lot more enthusiasm for the music of Berlioz when listening to some of the older recorded performances from the French tradition.  A perfect example is a recording of Le Corsaire by Albert Wolff conducting l'Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris.  This is a mono recording from 1956, released by Decca/London as LL-1297.  I've never seen a release on CD (although a few other Wolff recordings from the same era have appeared).  There is a wonderful panache and energy to this performance.



Here is a bare-bones transfer of the LP (complete with authentic pops, clicks and whatnot).

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?hiht2tdugnunhqx

Media fire statistics seem to indicate that no one has downloaded this track.  Final notice before I take it down to free up space.

[Scarpia]

Media fire statistics seem to indicate that no one has downloaded this track.  Final notice before I take it down to free up space.

Now mediafire indicates several people have downloaded, so I'll leave it up a while in case more are interested.  I have files for the other tracks on the album which I can put up if there is interest.

[Sergeant Rock]

Media fire statistics seem to indicate that no one has downloaded this track.  Final notice before I take it down to free up space.

I missed your original post. Glad you posted a reminder. I have heard some Wolff/Conservatoire performances but no Berlioz. I have this CD:

[asin]B000094YFJ[/asin]


Sarge

[Scarpia]

I missed your original post. Glad you posted a reminder. I have heard some Wolff/Conservatoire performances but no Berlioz. I have this CD:

[asin]B000094YFJ[/asin]


Sarge

I have that CD too.  The original Massenet LP was released back-to-back with the Berlioz LP.  Too bad the Berlioz disc hasn't been given a CD edition yet.

[snyprrr]

Thanks everyone for your answers!

Did anyone ever write a 'Berliozian' String Quartet?

[Mirror Image]

Why does everyone rate Berlioz so highly? I'm not being cheeky, just seriously asking. Is he the link between LvB and Wagner? Is he the first true Romantic? What is it in a nutshell?

Why does everyone rate Berlioz so highly? I guess you missed the memo, but Berlioz isn't exactly a composer conductors are storming across the globe to perform. I don't see Berlioz on any concert programs in Atlanta. A work like Symphonie Fantastique still hangs on the fringes of mainstream concert repertoire whereas to see a work like Romeo et Juliette live you would just have to count your lucky stars. I don't look at him as a link between anyone. He composed music after Beethoven and before Wagner that's a fact, but this doesn't mean there's some kind of connection. Berlioz was always his own man with a unique compositional voice. As for Berlioz being the first true Romantic, I don't think so. Beethoven would have to be counted as the guy who finally broke free of convention and did his own thing.

Anyway, I suppose this question could be thrown back at you: why did you feel the need to even ask such a question?

[Karl Henning]

Inquiring minds. Don't be slammin' on the questions! Questions make us all think.