Berlioz: Overtures

Hector Berlioz (Composer), Yoav Talmi (Conductor), Sheila Sterling (Performer), Elizabeth Green (Performer), San Diego Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)

Product Details

• Performer: Sheila Sterling, Elizabeth Green
• Orchestra: San Diego Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Yoav Talmi
• Composer: Hector Berlioz
• Audio CD (November 29, 1994)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B00000141R
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #146,326 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The San Diego Symphony Orchestra no longer exists, unfortunately, having succumbed to financial pressures after a troubled history. It's a pity, for they were good, as this excellent budget-priced collection of overtures proves. This is, in fact, the most comprehensive collection of overtures by Berlioz currently available, and at Naxos's budget price, it's a very good deal. Yoav Talmi keeps the music moving with a sure sense of rhythm, and there's some particularly fine solo woodwind playing in the music's quieter passages. Anyone looking for these pieces can invest in this disc with complete confidence. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful find!, September 23, 2001

By	richard mullany "[e-mail]" (waynesville, north carolina United States) - See all my reviews

This is just the sort of collection I had been looking for and even though it lacks some that I'd hoped for I'm happy with it. I must offer my sympathy to the audience; the orchestra is defunct so I understand, and a fine group it was. Berlioz is not the easiest composer to negotiate in matters of tempi; this band romps through the "Overture to Bennevuto Cellini" with precision and dash. The brass sounds properly Berliozan as do the winds. Back in the fifties there was a Columbia release on the Epic Label of these overtures played by the City of Birmingham SO and this cd reminds me of that recording, taut and brilliant playing with "elan". Highly recommended.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprise! A Berlioz overture colleciton to rival Davis and Munch, October 7, 2005

By	Santa Fe listener - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Yoav Talmi? A now-defunct San diego Sym. that at the best of times was trying to keep afloat in a sinkhole of culture? But they pull it off. This CD surpasses Dutoit from Ontreal and the latter Colin Davis from Dresden in terms of exctiement and genuine Berlioz volatility. the sound is fine, the orchestra much better than Naxos's usual Eastern European state orchestras. Only the early Davis colleciton on Philips and the classic one under Munch on RCA is in the same league.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fitting homage to the defunct San Diego Symphony..., February 27, 2006

By	vmzfla "vince819" (Orlando, Fl.) - See all my reviews

Israeli Cond. Yoav Talmi and the San Diego Sym. give us an electrified" swan song" to remember the financially strapped orchestra by. Standards in performance and engineering are higher than on most of the Naxos Eastern European projects. You get a generious 75mins. of seven Berlioz overtures. His genius
touched every aspect of the Romantic Era, through color and instumentation and the transfer of literature to music. The good program notes included will guide you through each. Don't pass this one over!