Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op.14

[madaboutmahler]

My overall favourite, which I am not sure if it has been mentioned or not here yet, is Sir Colin Davis' with the Royal Concertgebouw on Phillips. What an amazing orchestra, and a very exciting, enjoyable interpretation. My other favourites would be Gardiner, Rattle (surprised no one has mentioned him!) and Beecham.
I also think that Nézet-Séguin's are well worth the listen!

Daniel

[karlhenning]

My overall favourite, which I am not sure if it has been mentioned or not here yet, is Sir Colin Davis' with the Royal Concertgebouw on Phillips.

Oh! I've got that one . . . .

[madaboutmahler]

Oh! I've got that one . . . .

What do you think of it, Karl?

[karlhenning]

What do you think of it, Karl?

Haven't heard it in a while, Daniel . . . offhand, I think I remember a Muti/Phila, and both the Munch/BSO recordings, being a bit more vivid;  but I am sure I have no quarrel to Sir Colin.

[Que]

My overall favourite, which I am not sure if it has been mentioned or not here yet, is Sir Colin Davis' with the Royal Concertgebouw on Phillips. What an amazing orchestra, and a very exciting, enjoyable interpretation.

An amazing orchestra, yes indeed. But that recording was the first of the Symphony fantastique that I got, and it was rather a dissapointment to me. Many years later I got Markevitch and the BPO, rediscovered the piece and I never looked back...

Q

[Brahmsian]

My overall favourite, which I am not sure if it has been mentioned or not here yet, is Sir Colin Davis' with the Royal Concertgebouw on Phillips. What an amazing orchestra, and a very exciting, enjoyable interpretation. My other favourites would be Gardiner, Rattle (surprised no one has mentioned him!) and Beecham.
I also think that Nézet-Séguin's are well worth the listen!

Daniel

I've got Sir Colin Davis with the LSO (it is fantastique - pun intended!).  That's my favorite version.  I also have Charles Dutoit/Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, but don't enjoy it as much as Davis/LSO.

[madaboutmahler]

An amazing orchestra, yes indeed. But that recording was the first of the Symphony fantastique that I got, and it was rather a dissapointment to me. Many years later I got Markevitch and the BPO, rediscovered the piece and I never looked back...

Q

That's a shame! But yes, the Markevitch is certainly amazing!
Oh yes, Munch is certainly excellent, I agree Karl! Have not heard the Muti though, will have to take a listen.

I've got Sir Colin Davis with the LSO (it is fantastique - pun intended!).  That's my favorite version.  I also have Charles Dutoit/Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, but don't enjoy it as much as Davis/LSO.

haha I rather like that Davis LSO recording as well.

[MishaK]

Top ones in my mind would have to include:

Markevich/BPO
Rattle/BPO
Jansons/Concertgebouw

[DavidW]

Munch, Beecham and Davis are my favs.  Minkowski is on my to listen list because I haven't tried PI Berlioz.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Minkowski is on my to listen list because I haven't tried PI Berlioz.

As far as PI Berlioz, if you get a chance try Gardiner's recording of Romeo and Juliette. It's one of the best things I've heard from Gardiner:




[asin]B0000069CM[/asin]

[Scion7]

   image clickage



This is the USA edition of this 1967 recording - good recording but not one of EMI-Angel's best pressings - which usually left something to be desired.
Munch died in 1968 while touring this symphony and other works, about a year after the album was made.  Munch has a unique take on Berlioz here -
a more faithful and arguably better version of Berlioz's work is the 1991 John Eliot Gardiner with the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, for example.

I would have loved to have found a mint copy of the European edition back then in the early Seventies (pre-CDCDCD and nope won't go looking to find one now) -
nicer cover if nothing else - and I'm sure the surfaces would have been better:



Many critics preferred his earlier (mono) version with the Boston Symphony.

One of the interesting things about this recording is that a direct comparison is possible by obtaining (if you can find it) the CD issue of Munch's 1967 recording of the same piece with the Orchestre de Paris (released in Europe on EMI 737222, not generally available here. I found a copy in "Street Side Records" in their "Imported discs" bin. That company has since gone bankrupt.) Anyway, it was on LP, too. That performance is a good recording, though a bit cavernous. I sometimes feel it has a more sensual texture than the RCA recording. It also has less adrenaline, however, coming in almost three minutes slower than the Boston Symphony Orchestra recording. This is not just a matter of speed.
            and
This is particularly sad in the case of this Munch/OdP reading of the Symphomie Fantastique. It's a marvellous reading, but has long lived under the shadow of the earlier Living Stereo with the Boston Orchestra, as well as being marred by early teething problems and some iffy playing with the brand new Paris orchestra.

There is a recent SACD version of the 1967 version with the 'Paris - AVOID.
By all accounts the mastering is horrible, and there have been questions of mis-management about the production of that release.

[bigshot]

I like a wide range of classical music, but there are a few scattered works that I've butted my head up against through multiple versions and just haven't connected with it. First and foremost among these problem pieces is Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. I have at least nine different versions, and I can't make any sense out of it.

Another one of my problem pieces was Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. The work seemed disconnected to me, with rapid changes in mood that feel like whiplash, even knowing the programmatic elements involved. Some conductors took an overall approach, wallpapering over the join with a thick orchestral sound that made the orchestration like a densely packed tangle of thorns. I've never heard a version that picked out the parts in the arrangement and presented them clearly, and at the same time presented the strong emotional contrasts with natural transitions between them. Until today... Stokowski's version on Decca is amazing. It feels unified, while still playing up the Technicolor mood swings... kind of like Strauss' best tone poems. I'm happy with the piece now.

I'll keep butting up against Bartok. I love his stuff based on folk songs, so there's hope.

[xochitl]

szell's recording of the bartok really cleared it up for me

[snyprrr]

VICTORY!

[bigshot]

I'll look for Szell. I generally like his stuff. Thanks for the tip!

[Karl Henning]

Wasn't it Szell made a cut in the Concerto for Orchestra?

[Todd]

Wasn't it Szell made a cut in the Concerto for Orchestra?

Yes, and it is most unfortunate.  I'd recommend a pretty wide array of recordings before Szell: Reiner (RCA), Fricsay (DG), Dorati (Mercury), Fischer (Philips), or Kocsis (Hungaroton), for instance.

[mahler10th]

Another one of my problem pieces was Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique...I've never heard a version that picked out the parts in the arrangement and presented them clearly, and at the same time presented the strong emotional contrasts with natural transitions between them. Until today... Stokowski's version on Decca is amazing. It feels unified, while still playing up the Technicolor mood swings...

There is an old version of Berlioz Fantastique by Dimitri Mitropoulos with the NYPO 1958 which has the same kind of fabulousness...

[ibanezmonster]

Wasn't it Szell made a cut in the Concerto for Orchestra?

Szell is the one I have... I don't remember hearing extra material from browsing other performances on youtube, but that would be funny if I wasn't listening to the whole thing all along.

[Daverz]

There is an old version of Berlioz Fantastique by Dimitri Mitropoulos with the NYPO 1958 which has the same kind of fabulousness...

Is that a Japanese issue?  I've never seen a Sony CD of this.  I agree that it is fabulous.

EDIT: Ah, here it is:

[asin]B009GN7992[/asin]

At those prices, I'll stick with my Lps.

It's listed at Amazon.jp as having been released last year, but I don't see it at HMV.jp.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B009GN7992

and cdjapan has it:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=SICC-1600

Looks like some other good Mitropoulos recordings are available, too, though I wish Sony would issue a Mitropoulos box.

...and I ordered it from cdjapan.  Not riduclously expensive, since the Yen has fallen against the dollar recently.