- Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor: Charles Münch
- Composer: Hector Berlioz
- Audio CD (May 10 2011)
- SPARS Code: DDD
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: RCA
- ASIN: B000003GBQ
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #61,516 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Details |
Track Listings
| 1. Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14: Reveries: Passions |
| 2. Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14: A Ball |
| 3. Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14: Scene In The Country |
| 4. Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14: March To The Scaffold |
| 5. Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14: Witches' Sabbath |
| 6. Romeo et Juliette, Op. 19: Love Scene |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
It was simply a matter of time before Munch's feverish, go-for-broke 1954 recording of the Symphonie fantastique showed up on RCA's Living Stereo reissue series. The stereo that lives on this disc is primitive to be sure, with noticeable tape hiss and some weird resonances from the timpani, but for character, panache, and sheer abandon the interpretation is hard to beat. The filler, 13 beautiful minutes from Romeo et Juliette, was recorded in 1961 and shows the BSO with a good deal more polish, still glowingly expressive. --Ted Libbey
Chronique amazon.fr
Charles Munch, tout comme Pierre Monteux, représenta pendant de longues années l'école française de par le monde. Véritable prophète, il mettait toute son énergie et tout son talent à inculquer aux musiciens du monde entier tout ce qui fit le génie de Berlioz. Il enregistra sept fois la Symphonie fantastique ! Cette version à la tête de son Boston Symphony Orchestra atteint des sommets d'équilibre, de souffle, de couleurs et de climats. Charles Munch se révèle ici le plus grand interprète de la musique de Berlioz. --Marc Aigneaux
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
avoid this disc,
By
This review is from: Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique/Roméo Et Juliette (Audio CD)
When they taped this recording in 1955, they must have somwhow "muted" the entire percussion section, as a result the cataclysmic drum outburst in the beginning of the 4th movement cannot be heard at all, and what a letdown that is in an otherwise idiomatic performance by Munch and his BSO.No wonder in 1962, when he decided to rerecord this symphony, he made sure that those drums are there to be HEARD, and how vivid they can be heard in this later preformance which to my mind is superior in details and atmosphere as well...terrorizing in the last movement indeed. So avoid the 1955 disc and go for the 1962 rendition, which I understand is not yet available on the Living Stereo series yet.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Horrible!,
By Christopher Losee (Bronxville, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique/Roméo Et Juliette (Audio CD)
I've heard almost all of the versions of Symphonie Fantastique, and this one was probably the worst. I've heard middle school bands that have better brass sections than this orchestra. The entire Boston brass section on this recording is horrible - especially the low brass. The percussion is not together witht he rest of the ensemble, and there are really strange sounds coming from the timpani. I don't know what people are hearing to rate this any higher. If you want to get a good performance matched with great recording quality, then get the version done by Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. That's the best version out there right now.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A note on the recording,
By
This review is from: Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique/Roméo Et Juliette (Audio CD)
This is, to my mind, one of the truly great Berlioz interpretations. This is not really disputed by earlier reviews, but there have been comments on the sound. It is worth noting that the recordings made by RCA from '54 to '56 were really experiments with no clear intent to market the results. As John Pfieffer, the producer, noted in any number of interviews, the stereo recordings were made while commercial monaural sessions were going on. In some cases, they did not even continuously monitor the stereo as it was being laid down on tape. The biggest problem, since they were using a two- or three-mic setup, was finding the ideal position to produce a good balance between direct and reverberant sound. Boston Symphony Hall is much more reverberant than Chicago Symphony Hall and caused more problems of the type noted by some listeners, but also ended up producing some of the most spectacular results once the sweet-spot was found. The Munch: Saint-Saens 3rd Symphony is a good example.Many of these recordings were not even released in stereo at first, having to wait until this CD series was created in the mid-90's. I think this one was, though, first on stereo reel-to-reel tape and then on LP. I do recommend that anyone interested in this great performance snap up the CD while it is still available. As many know, BMG has a much lower commitment to the classics than they used to and are axing many titles as they sell out. And the great John Pfieffer and Richard Mohr are no longer around to protest. Happy listening.
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