Charles Munch - Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique / Brahms: Symphony No.1 (1968) [2018 SACD, DSD64, Hi-Res]
![Charles Munch - Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique / Brahms: Symphony No.1 (1968) [2018 SACD, DSD64, Hi-Res]](https://www.dibpic.com/uploads/posts/2021-02/1613340835_folder.jpg)
BAND/ARTIST: Charles Munch
- Title: Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique / Brahms: Symphony No.1
- Year Of Release: 1968 [2018]
- Label: Erato / Warner [WPGS-10048]
- Genre: Classical
- Quality: DSD64 image (*.iso) | DSD64 (*tracks) | FLAC (24bit/96 kHz)
- Total Time: 97:29
- Total Size: 2,5 GB / 2,2 GB / 2,1 GB (+3%rec.)
- WebSite: Album Preview
Acclaimed conductor Charles Munch leads the Orchestre de Paris in this stunning performance of Berlioz’s masterpiece, Symphonie Fantastique Op.14. The work has been highly praised for its remarkable sound quality. Munch commands the orchestra in an illuminating & spellbinding performance noted for its lush instrumentation. The choice of Brahms’s 1st Symphony for these inaugural recordings of the Orchestre de Paris shows once more its centrality in the Munch repertoire & gives the set a certain valedictory quality: Berlioz & Brahms, topped his list of career-long favourites.
Many people say one should not combine German & French music in the same programme, but considering his background it seems perfectly valid to me: I’ll leave you to decide. The Paris Orchestra was newly formed at the time of this, it’s 1st recording, but the performance is miraculous considering that an orchestra ensemble is not something that can be refined overnight. The engineering values of these Voix de Son Maître/EMI recordings, with the same team that made the great recordings of the Société des Concerts & André Cluytens (René Challan & Paul Vavasseur) are very strong, though the greater reverberation tends to mask some details that are clearer in RCA’s Living Stereo approach, where the acoustic of Symphony Hall in Boston figures prominently. Each of these accounts is in its own way haunting, together leaving an apt portrait of the artist Charles Munch had become since Boston. The Fantastique is, like its leader, contagious in its enthusiasm. Compare the precise woodwind playing from Boston as heard in the difficult last 60 seconds of the Fantastique with the results from Paris—a good juxtaposition of the French esprit with Bostonian savoir faire.
The Brahms’s 1st Symphony leaving the sensation, in the long introductions of the 1st & last movements, of a soliloquy suspended over the passage of time: all lyric, with very little beat & almost no footfall at all – so drawn out as inevitably to suggest the conductor’s unwillingness to bid the work a last farewell. The outer movements are noticeably longer than the BSO versions. The famously sentimental close of the 2nd movement features violinist Luben Yordanoff in his prime. Munch probably over-slows the “alphorn call” toward the beginning of the 4th movement, but flutist Michel Debost responds in a way that confirms an icy stasis. The warm C-major theme begins slowly, too, but the heroism is soon straining to get loose.
Tracks:
01. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op.14a : I. Reveries - Passions
02. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op.14a : II. Un bal
03. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op.14a : III. Scene aux champs
04. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op.14a : IV. Marche au supplice
05. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op.14a : V. Songe d'une nuit du sabbat
06. Brahms: Symphony No.1 in C minor Op.68 : I. Un poco sostenuto - Allegro
07. Brahms: Symphony No.1 in C minor Op.68 : II. Andante sostenuto
08. Brahms: Symphony No.1 in C minor Op.68 : III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso
09. Brahms: Symphony No.1 in C minor Op.68 : IV. Adagio - Piu andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio
Personnel:
Charles Munch: Conductor
Orchestre De Paris
![Charles Munch - Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique / Brahms: Symphony No.1 (1968) [2018 SACD, DSD64, Hi-Res]](https://www.dibpic.com/uploads/posts/2021-02/1613340838_front_small.jpg)
Many people say one should not combine German & French music in the same programme, but considering his background it seems perfectly valid to me: I’ll leave you to decide. The Paris Orchestra was newly formed at the time of this, it’s 1st recording, but the performance is miraculous considering that an orchestra ensemble is not something that can be refined overnight. The engineering values of these Voix de Son Maître/EMI recordings, with the same team that made the great recordings of the Société des Concerts & André Cluytens (René Challan & Paul Vavasseur) are very strong, though the greater reverberation tends to mask some details that are clearer in RCA’s Living Stereo approach, where the acoustic of Symphony Hall in Boston figures prominently. Each of these accounts is in its own way haunting, together leaving an apt portrait of the artist Charles Munch had become since Boston. The Fantastique is, like its leader, contagious in its enthusiasm. Compare the precise woodwind playing from Boston as heard in the difficult last 60 seconds of the Fantastique with the results from Paris—a good juxtaposition of the French esprit with Bostonian savoir faire.
The Brahms’s 1st Symphony leaving the sensation, in the long introductions of the 1st & last movements, of a soliloquy suspended over the passage of time: all lyric, with very little beat & almost no footfall at all – so drawn out as inevitably to suggest the conductor’s unwillingness to bid the work a last farewell. The outer movements are noticeably longer than the BSO versions. The famously sentimental close of the 2nd movement features violinist Luben Yordanoff in his prime. Munch probably over-slows the “alphorn call” toward the beginning of the 4th movement, but flutist Michel Debost responds in a way that confirms an icy stasis. The warm C-major theme begins slowly, too, but the heroism is soon straining to get loose.
Tracks:
01. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op.14a : I. Reveries - Passions
02. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op.14a : II. Un bal
03. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op.14a : III. Scene aux champs
04. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op.14a : IV. Marche au supplice
05. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op.14a : V. Songe d'une nuit du sabbat
06. Brahms: Symphony No.1 in C minor Op.68 : I. Un poco sostenuto - Allegro
07. Brahms: Symphony No.1 in C minor Op.68 : II. Andante sostenuto
08. Brahms: Symphony No.1 in C minor Op.68 : III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso
09. Brahms: Symphony No.1 in C minor Op.68 : IV. Adagio - Piu andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio
Personnel:
Charles Munch: Conductor
Orchestre De Paris
Year 2018 | Classical | FLAC / APE | HD & Vinyl
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