Hector Berlioz News
French Romantic composer
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- flageolet, flute, guitar, saxophone
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2022-05-27
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2022-05-12 06:06:00
Stokowski Spectacular! (CD mini-reviews)
[…] for Chorus and Orchestra (Devotional/Spiritual/Hymns) Norman Luboff Choir/New Symphony Orchestra of London; CD2 Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade/London Symphony Orchestra (LSO); CD3 Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition/New Philharmonia Orchestra (NPO); CD4 Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake & Sleeping Beauty Selections/NPO; CD5 Vivaldi: The Four Seasons/NPO; CD6 Wagner: Orchestral Music from “The Ring”/LSO; CD7 Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5/NPO CD8 Handel: Messiah Excerpts/LSO & Chorus; CD9 Mussorgsky: Night on the Bare Mountain; Stravinsky: Firebird Suite/LSO; CD10: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9/LSO & Chorus; CD11 Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique/NPO; CD12 Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet; Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov Symphonic Synthesis/L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; CD13 Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture; Borodin: Polovstian Dances; Stravinsky: Pastorale/RPO; CD14 Beethoven: Symphony No. 5; Schubert: Symphony No. 8/London Philharmonic Orchestra; CD15 Debussy: La Mer; Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe; Ives: Orchestral Set No. 2; Messiaen: L’Ascension/LSO; CD16 Franck: Symphony in D Minor; CDs 17-18 Sixtieth Anniversary Concert (Wagner, Brahms, Debussy Glazunov, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Chopin, Byrd, Clarke, Duparc, Rachmaninov/LSO); CD19 Elgar: Enigma […]
2022-05-11 08:44:50
Christophe Honoré chooses not to tell a story in his production of Berlioz’s opera for Bayerische Staatsoper
2022-05-10 06:53:37
Boulevard des Italiens: tenor Benjamin Bernheim explores Paris' long love-affair with French composers
[…] the instrumental Prelude and the recitative (throughout the recital, the approach to recitative is admirably full). Spontini's La vestale from 1807 played an important role in moving French opera from the 18th century tragedie lyrique to more 19th century forms (and his 1809 Fernand Cortez would play an equally important role, prefiguring as it does the historical grand opera of Auber and Meyerbeer). For La vestale we combine classicism (Spontini's music was much admired for this quality by Berlioz) with romantic passion. It is a balance difficult to get right. Bernheim makes the music dramatic and stylish, with a sense of sturm und drang alongside the classical style. We then return to Verdi, to Jerusalem his major French recasting of I Lombardi. The two are sufficiently different to be almost different operas. Here we get Gaston's Act Two recitative and Air, 'Je veux encor entendre ta voix'. Here we have Verdi using drama and […]
2022-04-02 00:00:00
Paul Hindemith Der Dämon (1922) Herodiade (1944) Kammermusik No. 1 Op. 24 No. 1 for 12 Solo Instruments (1921) Kammermusik No. 2 Op. 36 No. 1 for small orchestra (1924) Florian Henschel piano Gisela Zach-Westphal recitation Ensemble Varianti Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Live recording: Schloss Schwetzingen Rokokotheater 18 May 1995 HÄNSSLER CLASSIC HC16014 Flac, digital download, covers The late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was more than just an outstanding lieder singer and an great operatic artist; he was also a phenomenally gifted conductor, certainly the best “singer-conductor” I’ve ever heard. His performances were characterized by a strict attention to the score, clarity of texture, liveliness of tempi and (of course) a singing quality that permeated everything he led. Yet Fischer-Dieskau was remarkably stingy in his podium excursions. He made but three commercial recordings as a conductor: the Brahms Symphony No. 4, Schubert Symphonies Nos. 5 and 8, and Berlioz’ Harold in […]
