Customer Reviews

Berlioz: Overtures, Opp. 1,3,4,9,21,23,27

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...on the Louis-Hector Berlioz Bicentennial, and I'm already more than three months late for the start of the celebratory bash. And what better way to start it than with this splendid album of curtain raisers by Berlioz?

Sir Colin Davis is surely one of our most authoritative Berlioz specialists living today, now celebrating his own 75th year by a year full of Berlioz performances. (The oldest Davis/Berlioz recording in my own library dates from 1961: his recording of "L'Enfance du Christ" on the L'Oiseau-Lyre [London] label, many years before he was knighted, but likely not to be his first Berlioz recording despite its age.)

In this album, Davis has put together what must be the definitive collection of overtures by Berlioz. It is virtually complete, lacking only the early "Rob Roy" Overture, and the selections are not "diluted" by any of Berlioz's incidental music from his larger works that often gets included in such anthologies. At over 75 minutes, it is a very "full" album; there wouldn't have been room for "Rob Roy," or any incidental music, for that matter.

Berlioz gets - and deserves - much credit for revolutionizing music in the first half of the 19th century. Aside from being "the first true Romantic," we can number among his contributions the enlarging of the Classical-period orchestra to the Romantic-period orchestra (something resembling the modern orchestra we know today), the addition of a number of instruments to this orchestra, the concept of "programmatic" music, as well as other ideas and developments that were to be absorbed by, for example, Liszt and Wagner. But Berlioz has also been criticized by some for being undisciplined and wilful and unorthodox - even "primitive" - in his understanding and implementation of music structure - particularly counterpoint - and harmony. That much of this unorthodoxy often resulted in unique, often "surprising," music is largely beside the point. In a sense, this bicentennial couldn't come soon enough, from the perspective of reconsidering and reassessing his uniqueness. One can hope that such a thorough review and traversal of his works through this year (2003) will at last bring him more into the mainstream, rather than continuing to be considered a "fringe" composer; even a musical "dead end."

Well, no need to worry about such matters where these overtures are concerned. Their relative brevity - as compared, for instance, with his larger "dramatic" works - largely guarantee that the "waywardness" too often attributed to Berlioz is for all intents absent. Yet the overtures manage to capture the mercurial fleetness and brilliance of both composition and orchestration that set his music apart from that of his contemporaries.

These works span Berlioz's entire composing career, from the early "student" work "Les Francs Juges" to the overture for his final staged work, "Béatrice et Bénédict" (based on Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing"). In a sense, they offer "time travel" over his working career, and in fact if listened to in chronological order of composition give a sense of how his compositional artistry developed over his adult life. (Those of you having programmable CD players who are interested in hearing the overtures in this order should program them to play the tracks in the following order: 1 [1825], 2 [1828], 3 [1831], 7 [1836], 4 [1843], 6 [1844], and 5 [1862].)

There is not a one of these overtures that is less than interesting and a marvel in its own right in terms of Berlioz's mastery of orchestration. But of course each of us is entitled to have his or her own favorites. Aside from "Le Carnaval romain" (without question his most popular overture), my personal favorites are "Béatrice et Bénédict," "Le Corsaire," "Benvenuto Cellini" and "Les Francs Juges." In fact, this last one (his early "student" work), seldom heard in the concert hall these days, is fascinating to me in terms of how much it initially reminds one of a Beethoven overture in its opening pages (at a time in Berlioz's life when he was yet to hear his first Beethoven work), but - soon enough after these opening bars - is full of novel thematic and orchestrational ideas that could only come from Berlioz's pen.

All of these works, thanks to their idiosyncratic thematic, rhythmic, dynamic and instrumental workings, require a sympathetic "master's touch" if their brilliance and uniqueness are to be properly rendered. Sir Colin Davis is clearly a master in this regard; he, like few others, captures what we might call "the essence of Berlioz."

While Davis has been long associated with the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Boston Symphony Orchestra as principal guest conductor, he also has long held tenure at the Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra as an honorary conductor. And the Dresdeners really outdo themselves in these overtures, playing with a security and a finesse not normally associated with a German orchestra in such obviously French repertoire. The recorded sound (from the Lukas-Kirche in Dresden) is simply splendid; some of the very finest I've heard in recent years on the RCA Victor Red Seal label.

Truly, a great "first pick" in celebrating the Berlioz Bicentennial Bash. Recommended without reservation!

Bob Zeidler

If you have feared that complacency or advancing years have weakened Davis' place as a major Berlioz champion, hear this disc as soon as possible! With the Dresden Orchestra achieving both crystalline textures and blazing power, he illuminates this volcanic but finely-wrought music as brilliantly as he ever has. The Corsair Overture has everything: rhythmic swagger,steady yet flexible pacing, ,transparent winds and strings, and electrifying ( but affectionate) brass playing. The sound also successfully balances sharp detail with a powerful resonant glow.

This seems silly. RCA already has (arguably) the greatest Berlioz conductor in this music with an orchestra that creates a much more authentic French sound than this fantastic, but most German of German orchestras. Similarly, Davis has already recorded this music to acclaim for Phillips. Thus, it seems RCA is twice shooting itself in the foot, competing with itself and with the conductor. And these interpretations, while quite fine, certainly do not rise up to the level of either Munch or Davis earlier, not to mention many of the other fine performances of these overtures scattered throughout the catalog.

That being said, Davis's interpretations here are as solid as ever, and the Dresden Staatskappel follows his every move. Both are best in the opera overtures. Beatrice and Benedict is light and buoyant and playful, really capturing the essence not only of Berlioz but of Shakespeare as well. Benvenuto Cellini is probably the best of the lot, really played to the hilt. The brass work is quite fine, the winds idiomatic, and the strings dispose of the many dangerous passages with ease. The central climax has the necessary weight while the coda is bombastic, over-the-top, and appropriately big.

That being said, the orchestra at no time sounds French, especially in the heavy strings and the antediluvian German percussion. This makes the portentous opening of King Lear sound less BIG than just heavy and plodding. Benvenuto Cellini lacks the lightness of touch in some of the faster passages. The Huguenots similarly lacks that last ounce of idiomatic flair.

The biggest surprise, however, is the particularly lifeless Roman Carnival Overture. There are plenty of beautiful moments throughout, especially the English horn work and the following slow music. But the opening fanfare is anything but exciting while the heaviness of the brass gives the illusion that the orchestra is struggling when really everything is smooth sailing. The blame clearly lies at Davis's hands for making this music sound as festive as the title suggests.

All in all, a release that fans of either this orchestra or this conductor will enjoy, and Berlioz fans may well want to hear Davis's most recent thoughts on these works. Similarly, it is nice to have a one-stop-shop for the overtures. But those that have the time and energy can certainly compile a better set.

As a side note, it is interesting to note that Davis enjoyed high praise at the beginning of his career. But when one looks at his revered London Symphony Cycle, his great Dvorak, wonderful Mozart, and reference Sibelius cycle, one realizes that the orchestras with which he worked (the Concertgebouw, the Dresden Staatskappel, and the Boston Symphony), he really did not have much to do in order to generate top-tier performances. Is it necessarily surprising that his two subsequent Sibelius cycles with the LSO and his Dvorak with the same orchestra were less good than his performances with the BSO and the Concertgebouw respectively?

Davis had a long tenure in Bavaria and made a lot of recordings for RCA during that period. But he was often slack and uninvolving in his music-maing, to the point that one wondered why he stayed on. Now that he is back with the London Sym., Davis sounds much more his old self, though he still lapses into fits of sleepwalking.

This collection of Berlioz overtures is careful and detailed, and in very good sound. But who cares? Without fire and passion Berlioz simply isn't Berlioz. Go back to Davis's ealaier CD of overtures on Philips, dating from the Sixties and Seventies when he was younger and much more energetic. This collection is second-best at best.

One of the early LPs that I bought as a teenager was a collection of Berlioz overtures conducted by Colin Davis. This much played disc has not been replaced in my collection by this CD that hold many favorites and one unfamiliar work.

With the popularity of Berlioz today, It is easy to forget that Colin Davis was a pathfinder for the composer's music in the 1960's and 70's. Then, Berlioz was treated as the author of bizarre and grotesque music so thoroughly had his name been tarnished by critics. Colin Davis did a great deal to rehabilitate Berlioz with his famous cycle. I recall reviews that noted that Davis conducted these overtures with a slower tempo than he had in the past. However, as Stravinsky remarked to Maestro Davis, the tempo is only the beginning to understanding how a piece is to be played and not the sole determining factor.

The CD includes many favorite overtures: Le Franc Judges, Waverly, Le Carnaval romain, Beatrice et Benedict and le Corsaire. The overture to Benvenuto Cellini has been a favorite of mine from listening to the complete opera recording from the Colin Davis cycle. The less familiar overture, at least for me, was Le Roi Lear, which has a sunnier outlook that one might expect from a dark tragedy. The Staatskapelle Dresden plays the overtures with depth of feeling, conveying the emotion of the music perfectly.