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There was a video production loaded on YouTube, Charles Dutoit conducting the NHK Symphony in Berlioz' Symphony Fantastique..... Performed in Salzburg in 2013..... I think this was from a European broadcast. The credits listing at the end were in English.
This was very close to the best "Fantastique" I've heard..... "A Ball", "Scene in the Fields", and "Witches Sabbath" were borderline definitive... "Reveries" was excellent, just missing the magic of the Solti/Chicago studio performance on RCA. The only reason why I'd give Solti/Chicago the edge overall was the "March to the Scaffold" was somewhat rushed, a common failing. The "somber" and "horrific" character was lost (Solti was definitive here). But the performance otherwise had all the horsepower and drama of the great Solti performance. The NHK was superlative, even with the few "B" players in the wind section.
The sound in the uploaded video was *badly* saturated. The loud passages were very distorted. (The video's "aspect ratio" seems to vary with browser as well.) But if you like this oft-performed Berlioz work, and just take in the performance and bear the recorded sound, it's close to as good as it gets.
An encore of "Farandole" from Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suite #2 was then performed.... After the encore, during the final applause, Simon Rattle was in the Salzburg audience, spotted on camera.
Follow Ups:
Solti made some excellent opera recordings, but I cannot think of a single recording of orchestral music by him that I'd classify as "definitive." I do own this LP you refer to. I find it similar to other recordings by Solti that I've owned. He has a penchant for excessive pointing and overblown theatrics, coupled with a charmless demeanor throughout and an amazing lack of insight into the music itself.
As for the Dutoit NHK YouTube -- audio is integral to any recording. There are so many recordings of this music featuring very good to excellent audio. I quit after just a few minutes. Why must I inflict this upon myself?
There is so much great music out there, and the number of hours remaining in my life decrease by the day. Life is too short for poor quality YouTube stuff.
I appreciate your continuing promotion of the NHK and YouTube in general. And you've pointed us to some pretty decent YouTube videos in the past. But really, would anybody by choice seek out this particular recording if it were not just sitting there free on YouTube?
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
"There are so many recordings of this music featuring very good to excellent audio. I quit after just a few minutes. Why must I inflict this upon myself?"
In my opinion, there have been so few great performances in recent time, I'd be willing to bear horrible audio if one of those rare performances were to come forth under such circumstance.
"I do own this LP you refer to. I find it similar to other recordings by Solti that I've owned. He has a penchant for excessive pointing and overblown theatrics, coupled with a charmless demeanor throughout and an amazing lack of insight into the music itself."I guess we'll agree to disagree on this one. I think Solti understood the underlying story to the "Fantastique" like no other....
A great example of this is the brief clarinet call prior to the "Scaffold" (guillotine) coming down..... The clarinet in that performance "wails" in Berlioz' final apologetic call to his beloved, the "Harriet Smithson" theme that occurs throughout the work. In most other performances, the clarinet merely plays the notes, with seemingly little purpose.
Edits: 04/27/15
Berlioz!
Described perfectly. :-)
Bruce Jenner
Bruce Jenner is what he uhhh she is........ I have no opinion otherwise.
The Solti/Chicago "Fantastique" was on London LP, not RCA. (I don't think it was ever released digitally. There is a different Solti/Chicago performance on YouTube, but doesn't have the "fire" of the out-of-print vinyl performance.)
Available on Amazon used for just a few bucks
More likely this one, as the one above is a live performance from the 90's and this one from the 70's.
The one from the 1970s is the definitive one.... I could never find a CD of this performance, you may have found it.
A few years back, Dutoit led the San Francisco Symphony in Berlioz's Fantastique in what I would have to say is one of the best orchestra performances I've yet to witness.
OK, Abbado/Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin would be number one. ;-)
But still, even in the cheap seats, 'Fantastique' indeed!
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