Customer Reviews

Berlioz: Les Troyens

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I own all three complete CD versions of this magnificent opera. This set, Sir Colin Davis' first recording of "Troyens", remains the finest of the lot. Vickers may not be as smooth or as tender as Lakes or Heppner, but he expresses Aeneas' pain with a chilling intensity that neither his later rivals equal. Veasy is unequalled in warmth and pathos. Partidge is richly elegant, his mesmerizing "Blonde Ceres" aria simply incomparably done. The list goes on. Above all is Davis, more urgent and thus more in connection with the drama than his later "live" recording. Dutoit is good as well, but no rival for Davis in impetus and epic sweep. What really sets this album apart from the others is the recorded sound. Neither of the digital rivals come close to capturing the depth and richness of this analogue original. The balance, perspective, and acoustical ambiance are perfect. (The later Davis captures the deadly dry acoustics of the Barbican all too well.) Good as the later sets are, this first "Troyens" remains the finest.

For much of the 19th and early 20th century the music of Berlioz was considered an in joke in musical circles. Outside of the Symphonie Fantastique and perhaps Harold in Italy, most of the composer's works were relegated to the dustbins of history. This was especially true of his operas, which were considered old fashioned and failures. But around 1960 the tables began to turn. Sir Colin Davis and a small group of other conductors spearheaded a Berlioz revival in Britain and America, rescuing many of Berlioz' greatest works from oblivion. Perhaps the biggest feat of rescue was this seminal recording of Berlioz' masterwork, Les Troyens.

Berlioz had a life long love affair with Virgil and particularly with his Carthaginian heroine Dido. Les Troyens is his paean to Dido and to classical civilization in general. The opera is in the traditional French five-act form. The first two acts concern the downfall of Troy and center around the figure of Cassandra, the prophet who is given the gift of second sight but the curse never to be believed. From the outset, Berlioz is a master of the dramatic set piece. The opera opens with Trojans rushing to the plain in front of the city, celebrating the seeming retreat of the Greeks. The music is jubilant and even a little vulgar....so that the dramatic entry of Cassandra and her powerful aria is all the more highlighted. Cassandra is a vocally terrifying role. She only is present in the first two acts, and yet she dominates these acts completely. Berit Lindholm is phenomenal in the role, her voice powerful and yet capable of the tender turns of phrase the role requires when Cassandra remembers her husband Corebus.

The last three acts concern the love affair between Dido and Aeneas. Much of this music is grand, in the best French sense. Court scenes abound, there is a fourth act ballet, the justly famous Royal Hunt and Storm, and long, aching love duets between the principals. Once again, the female role dominates, Though Aeneas gets a wonderful, dramatic and musical treatment by the incomparable Jon Vickers, it's Dido with whom you feel sympathy....the composer did as well. Josephine Veasey is a wonder, simply breathtaking.

The opera is expertly conducted by Sir Colin Davis and the Orchestra of Covent Garden. Davis is one of the least appreciated conductors of his generation. He does not have the charisma of a Karajan or a Bernstein, but he makes up for it in taste, balance, and a fierce and self-effacing dedication to the composer's intentions. Les Troyens has become increasingly popular in the last 30 years, and there is some competition, particularly on DVD. The Met production from 1983 is quite good vocally, though the staging is uninspired at best and laughable at worst. But even with the likes of Tatianna Troyanos and Jessye Norman, that production doesn't hold a candle vocally or musically to Davis' original. Even Davis' own newer recording doesn't compare vocally. This is the version of this masterpiece to get. Berlioz' world in this piece is unique and beautiful and will give you endless hours of enjoyment.

A word to the wise consumer...EMI has packaged Les Troyens with Berlioz' two other worthy operas as well and sells them for a cheaper price in total. You don't get libretti, which can be a problem in this repertoire, but otherwise, the deal is far better than springing for each opera separately. It is not available currently at Amazon.us but can be ordered easily from Amazon.uk. I would recommend that to those who just can't enough Berlioz. It's a real deal!

There is a reason that this recording is in Gramophone's 100 greatest classical recording of ALL-TIME!! I find that list to be uncannily accurate, unfaililngly precise in identifying the best recordings in the classical catalogue. In the case of Les Troyens, I have listened to this set, the Decca Dutoit set, the Davis LSO Live series - the 3 top contenders for the title of "Best Les Troyens on Record".

The golden age of singing may not be dead (there are many outstanding singers today who can hold their own with singers of the past). BUT .... the golden age of Heldentenors IS dead. And nobody, absolutely nobody, not Domingo, not Cura, not Heppner, not Lakes, not Seiffert, not Alagna ... there is no great Heldentenor today. And certainly, none can take the unique position that Jon Vickers commanded. That great Heldentenor can always penetrate to the heart and soul of any role that he undertakes, whether it be Florestan, Otello, Radames, Tristan, Parsifal, Samson.... you name it. In the case of Enee, Jon Vickers again takes top honors. Seldom ever has any Heldentenor achieved such simultaneous peaks in German (Tristan, Siegmund, Parsifal), Italian (Radames, Otello) and French (Enee, Samson) and British (Grimes) repertoire. Vickers sings with ringing heroic tone, his emotions unforced and singing impassioned.

Veasey and Lindholm are glorious in their respective roles. they sing with passion, beauty of tone, and drama. That greatest of all Berlioz conductors, Colin Davis, conducts a reading that is, to put it short, the greatest of all-time. Linked to 'live' performances at Convent Garden, the 'live' frisson comes across consistently from the first note to the last in this recording.

Truly, this is one of the greatest 100 classical recordings of all-time, you are poorer if you have not heard this glorious performance.

Cet enregistrement de 1969 a fait date à l'époque et il continue à être une référence de nos jours malgré la sortie de l'intégrale de 1994 avec Françoise Pollet en Didon. Son principal inconvénient est que la distribution est majoritairement anglophone ce qui aboutit à un régulier massacre du français en général et des vers de Berlioz en particulier -Jon Vickers est imbattable sur ce terrain. Néanmoins Didon (Josephine Veasey dont le nom est mal orthographié sur la pochette) est superbe d'expressivité, et si on la compare à Françoise Pollet, parfaite phonétiquement mais plus terne par ailleurs, on fait rapidement son choix. Et puis l'avantage d'une inégrale est de nous donner le merveilleux cinquième acte dans toute sa splendeur.

It's not completely out of print! Yes! This is considered by many THE version of Les Troyens to own. I agree. The cast is amazing and the sound is very good. Each time I listen to this set, I'm touched by the amount of dedication to this oft neglected opera. Lightning was caught in a bottle during this performance, and its sparkling beauty deserves your attention. Hear it while it's still available!

What can one write about an opera that was literally ordered by a princess under the threat that Berlioz might never call on her again if he refused, an opera that Berlioz felt unable to write and took three and a half years to complete, and an opera that has been hailed as one of the greatest opera pieces ever written. You can say, thank you to Philips for re-releasing this masterpiece on CD again under the brilliant conductorship of Sir Colin Davis. This 1969 performance at Covent Garden with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, and a superb cast headed by Jon Vickers as Aeneas, Josephine Veasey as Dido and Berit Lindholm as Cassandra, is to the best of this writer's knowledge only the second time it was performed in its entirety, and the first time that it was fully undertaken as the composer intended when he wrote it between 1856 and 1858. The score is magnificent, the libretto sweeping in its scope, and the performances throughout, the embodiment of perfection, all captured on 4 CDs that take in the five acts of this impressive opera. The performance captures the romance, the adventure, the epic sweep of the lives and times of its principle characters, and delivers it all with the sound quality that only a digital recording can match. This must have been a prodigious undertaking when it was first recorded; it is an event today that deserves to be heard without interruption - but it might take two evenings to accomplish that feat. But it is well worth it. What you will likely enjoy most about this piece is that it was written to be enjoyed, meaning that Berlioz wrote in a period when it was understood that the public mattered and that an opera telling a story as grand as this must have music that would involve and move the listener along with the emotional depth and immediacy of the libretto. Speaking of the libretto, the booklet that comes with this CD package leaves something to be desired, like a synopsis of the opera, bios on the singers and any details on the historical context of which there is much to be said, but wasn't. This is unfortunate, given the fact that so much obvious effort was put into reproducing the music in such glorious digital quality.

Introduction:
This was the first complete (and now there is an even MORE complete Davis recording) set of this wonderful opera. Before Beecham and Davis recorded it, this opera had to undergo a very large-scale demystification process. The myths surrounding this opera were bigger than the opera itself, and nowhere half as noble. Rumor had it that the opera was "impossible". It is not impossible, and it is certainly not as difficult to stage as any of the Wagner operas. But Berlioz had few real champions, while Wagner had legions. So the "impossible" was really a prejudice, and it took conductors like Beecham, Munch, and Davis to bring Berlioz back from the crypt of obscurity. And what we rediscovered was a titan of music.
The singers:
Jon Vickers is wonderful as Aeneas; opulent and strongly voiced, without being thick. Berit Lindhold and Josephine Veasey are great as well...though admittedly some moments have them in thick voice. They sound confident and strong, but sometimes consternated. The chorus sounds brilliant.
The direction:
Colin Davis brings the Royal Hunt and Storm to life...orchestral declamations, and chorus telling Aeneas to leave Carthage. It's a very colourful and dramatic scene that never fails me. It makes for a great listen as a single orchestral piece -just like Ride of the Valkyries does...but both these famous scenes are far better with the voices.
The sound:
As far as sound goes, there is nothing to complain about. There are a few instances of certain persons being placed far back in the sound, but in these instances it is dramatically appropriate to do so for the opera's sake.
The music:
I like to equate the difficulty level of this opera with Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg". Wagner's longest single opera was the first opera I got really involved with. I've found myself surprised that many people find it his toughest opera...for me it is his easiest. But the thing about Berlioz's Les Troyen, and Wagner's opera is that they both require you to delve into the libretto.
Final thoughts:
I suggest listening to this opera often. Listen to certain scenes at a time, if it suits you. If you find it hard to listen to because of the length, I especially recommend working at it in this way. After you've familiarized yourself with it, no doubt you will agree with me that it is par with any Wagner opera.

This is a fine recording of LT. The vocalising and acting are generally good, especially by Vickers and Veasay. The big drawback is diction: it's poor. You can tell these singers are not French, which takes away quite a bit since a big part of the appeal of French opera (to me, at least) is the French style. Too bad Vickers and Veasay weren't French, or this would really be a 5 star recording.

I haven't heard the remastered version of this but it's probably a doozy. Fussy opera buffs nitpick over this recording (just look around) and some recommend the newer live Colin Davis over this. I don't. The conducting--at times--may be more exciting and some of the vocalists have their merits but the recording is flat and lifeless and not properly balanced. The chorus sounds distant and has little impact which is a near-fatal flaw in this work.

This fine old Philips issue will wow you, no problem, and unless you're the type who really gets down and dirty about vocalists you won't be disappointed in this performance. I find it to be overall quite excellent and that's astonishing given that this was really the first studio recording of the work. Then again, the same can be said--an overall top ranking giving--to Solti's Ring Cycle and that was the first stereo recording.

If you're just getting into opera don't take these reviews too seriously and pay more attention to the positive reviews that don't gush too much (you'll find that problem with Callas fans)and no attention to the reviewers who rant about this or that famed opera singer as not being able to sing. After all, who are we anyway, just a bunch of schmucks with too much free time on our hands, and not music professionals. After reading bushels of these Amazon reviews I sense there are a lot of tin ears out there.

Also, pay close attention to new younger conductors doing Berlioz (Myung-Whun Chung comes to mind). Berlioz was treated poorly for years and some bad ideas entered into performances--one being that he didn't know what he was doing. Even Davis, a man credited with reviving Berlioz, seemed to gloss over details in scores, details that really shouldn't be missed (Lately I'm learning that Davis often specialized in missing important details). The newer conductors don't. The recordings may not have the spirit and panache of some older ones (I'm thinking of Munch, Markevitch, or Monteux here) but they present the music without performance tradition presumptions. This is why with composers like Berlioz, Schumann, Brahms, and Beethoven, even though I own mostly older recordings, I tend to pay close attention to what Harnoncourt, or the sadly little-known Thomas Fey or Florian Merz have to say. Merz's Schumann set, for example, on EBS and available through Amazon, is utterly, wildly, fantastically, insane (so much so I keep it locked up in the same drawer with my pistol and copy of the US Constitution) and yet compelling and convincing--Schumann in a parallel universe that may well be the right universe for Schumann. [I'm really glad no one has reviewed this unique set but me because the results would be ugly and painful to read]

Les Troyens is a French blockbuster!! It is as long as Wagner's Die Meistersingers. Magnificent music and a stunning realization of the genius of Berlioz. It is a compulsory purchase for all opera lovers.