Topic: Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op.14

[aukhawk]

I have not heard the Paray either. We on GMG once did an epic blind listening game of the Symphonie, but as I recall, none of the really thrilling recordings (e.g. Bernstein or Munch) made the final round, with the result that it became Davis/Concertgebouw vs. Martinon. I could be wrong. It didn't really help change my favorites...but now Paray I must find...

Paray was joint 2nd (out of 18) with Davis/CO, in that blind listen.
https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,21089.280.html

I remember finding the dated sound rather hard to take - even though it's from Mercury's golden age and I'm a big admirer of those recordings.  I note HDTT have remastered it, but in general I've been unimpressed with their 'improvements'.

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

You could decorate a man cave with fine-to-excellent recordings that Herb-wits finds "dull."

[André]

Hurwitz feels that all the Bernstein recordings are too "sober".  (Sorry, very embarassing senior moment, I got that wrong; it was some other work where Bernstein's recordings were to sober, I can't recall what it was at the moment.  Bernstein's Fantastique was actually one of his recommendations.)  I was a bit taken aback by that.  Also, that Davis is dull, a more familiar opinion.  I wonder what these French critics would make of Les Siècles.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/9dLB1M2DvlQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/9dLB1M2DvlQ</a>

Quite interesting, thanks. I think he’s a bit harsh on Davis, but he dislikes all british conductors, so no surprise there. I agree with his opinion on Karajan II, it really is in a class of its own. I must explore Janowski and MTT.

[Brian]

Not sure that comment on being harsh on all British conductors is true; he's had a great deal of praise for Andrew Davis' Teldec recordings, a bunch of stuff on Lyrita, and arguably one of his favorite conductors ever is Alexander Gibson. And there are 14 reviews of 10/10 on his site for Colin Davis, plus a few "historic" 10/8s and 10/9s. (One of the 10/10s, an LSO Elgar 2, begins, "When Colin Davis is on form, he’s as engaging, exciting, and convincing as any conductor living or dead.")