Berlioz: Huit Scènes de Faust

Alain Duguay (Performer), Philip Cokorinos (Performer), Francois LeRoux (Performer), François Roux (Performer), Hector Berlioz (Composer), Jean-Paul-Gilles Martini (Composer), Charles Dutoit (Conductor), Susanne Mentzer (Performer), Maren Nelson (Performer), Montréal Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (Orchestra), Susan Graham (Performer), Béatrice Baillargeon (Performer), Caroline O'Dwyer (Performer), John Mark Ainsley (Performer), Michel Dubord (Performer), Gordon Gietz (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Alain Duguay, Philip Cokorinos, Francois LeRoux, François Roux, Susanne Mentzer, et al.
• Orchestra: Montréal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal
• Conductor: Charles Dutoit
• Composer: Hector Berlioz, Jean-Paul-Gilles Martini
• Audio CD (November 11, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B0000B0A0D
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #455,925 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Francophiles take note!, September 10, 2005

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Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Berlioz: Huit Scènes de Faust (Audio CD)

This is a recording meant to rejoice in the French spirit. Charles Dutoit leads Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Montreal Symphony Chorus, and soloists through a spectrum of works by Hector Berlioz that range from the sublime to the mundane. The juicy programming ends in a 'make the audience stand' version of Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle's 'La Marseillaise' for full chorus and orchestra!

Along the way there are 'Huit Scénes de Faust, for solo voices, chorus, orchestra & guitar' which benefit from the luxurious singing of Susan Graham, Suzanne Mentzer and some other fine vocalists. Dutoit coaxes a thoroughly French sound (!) from his forces and the result is ravishingly beautiful. Also included on this disc are lesser known works such as 'L' impériale, cantata for double chorus & orchestra', a mildly out of context excerpt from 'Les Nuits d'été' (Sur les lagunes) sung by a male (François Roux) which gives a different slant to the cycle, 'Le Chasseur danois, for baritone & piano (or orchestra)', and a lovely rendition of the ever-popular 'Plaisir d'amour' by Johann Paul Aegidius Martini effectively sung by François Roux.

It is a mixed bag but the good moments far overshadow the lesser ones. If for nothing else the collectors of Susan Graham's recordings will most assuredly want to add this CD to their collection! Grady Harp, September 05

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Berlioz's ambitious Op. 1 is well worth hearing, March 11, 2006

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Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Berlioz: Huit Scènes de Faust (Audio CD)

Berlioz was fired up by reading Goethe's Faust in its first French translation, and the result from the 25-year-old was his Op. 1, Eight Scenes from Faust. It deals almost not at all with the events in the Damnation of Faust, which would follow 16 years later. Instead, Berlioz set various dances and poems to music for chorus and soloists (choosing a different combinaiton for each scene). Even at this stage, however, his Faust music is evocative and sounds fully like Berlioz, if somewhat simplified. Various melodies that would appear in the later Faust treatment make their first appearance here. Since the composer withdrew the work soon after publication, recorded versions are rare. Neither Munch (RCA) nor Colin Davis (Philips) included it in their extensive surveys.

A charged-up conductor like Munch could make more of this music than the somewhat phlegmatic Dutoit. But as usual, Decca gives him gorgeous sound and the choral and orhcestral forces from Montreal are expert. Of the four soloists Susan Graham is the standout; her voice in 1995 was at its freshest. Everyone else is good to very good. The remainder of this 68 min. CD, roughly half, is devoted to individual vocal pieces that Berlioz orchestrated, including one song from Les Nuits d'Ete (interesting for being sung by a baritone rather than a higher femaile voice) and Berlioz's grandiose arrangement of the Marseillaise. In all, a very satisfying detour into Berlioz's minor works, worth a listen or two.

5.0 out of 5 stars Music, Artistry, and Sound make this a winner, July 1, 2009

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Samuel Stephens "aka "Hector"" (TN, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Berlioz: Huit Scènes de Faust (Audio CD)

This is another of those off-the-beaten-path CDs containing a lot of Berlioz oddities that most people don't know (or generally care) about. It's also one of the best Berlioz CDs you can get. The combination of unusual-but-rousing repertoire, playeed by Dutoit and the Montreal Orchestra, with superb sound...it's too good to be true.

But it is---for those willing to seek it out. The "Huit Scenes de Faust" was Berlioz's first published opus. It is "La Damnation de Faust" highlights, essentially. The only weak spot in it is the tenor who sings Mesphistopheles in the Serenade. The cantata "L'Imperiale" was a popular piece when Berlioz conducted it in his lifetime---within France that is. It's rousing, with its male choir and brass writing. The Montreal chorus is wonderfully French-sounding and harmonious. "Le chasseur danois" has its strongest interpretation here (I know: I have four versions)---and that is saying something special. In other hands the song can seem cumbersome, but here it is swift and strong. The Montreal brass really shines in this song.

Further, you have Berlioz's famous orchestration of Rouget de Lisle's "Marsellais," an orchestration that so impressed the anthem's composer that he planned to work with Berlioz on other projects (alas, he died before it could happen).

In short this CD contains choral mastery, brilliant playing from the orchestra, and some of the finest Berlioz conducting ever from the composer's greatest voice on North American continent.