# Berlioz Symphonies Fantastique



## DavidA

Extraordinary to think this incredible work was written by a 27 year old Frenchman just three years after the death of Beethoven. I'm listening to this at the moment - great performance - Fantastique in every way - and have quite a few others on my shelves.









However I'd love to know what are your own particular favourites?


----------



## Bulldog

One of my favorite symphonies - Abbado is my favored recording.


----------



## Becca

Four of them with the choice depending on my mood

Roth - Les Siecles - A brilliant new recording using original instruments
Martinon - Orchestre National de l'ORTF - Has the optional cornet part but it is way too prominent, otherwise excellent
Klemperer - Philharmonia - The first commercial recording using the optional cornet part, but done right!
Barbirolli - SWR Symphony - Live performance. A delightful 'Bal' with a real Viennese swing. A tad slow in the last 2 movements but it makes them seem more like those slow-motion nightmares.


----------



## Merl

I've got a big soft-spot for this one.


----------



## Josquin13

I agree with you about the Bernstein performance. I also like Bernstein's "Harold in Italy" with violist Donald McInnes and the Orchestre de Paris on EMI, which was made around the same time. If you've not heard that performance, you might enjoy it: 




https://www.amazon.com/Berlioz-Haro...harold+in+italy&qid=1579992055&s=music&sr=1-3
https://www.amazon.com/Berlioz-Symp...harold+in+italy&qid=1579992055&s=music&sr=1-5

Otherwise, I've most liked Sir Colin Davis' recordings of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, especially his earliest recording with the London Symphony Orchestra and the later one with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, both for Philips; as well as Charles Dutoit in Montreal, and Riccardo Muti in Philadelphia, among other top favorites.

Sir Colin Davis:





https://www.amazon.com/Berlioz-Coli...ie+fantastique&qid=1579991477&s=dmusic&sr=1-1

Riccardo Muti:









https://www.amazon.com/Berlioz-Riccardo-Muti-Philadelphia-Orchestra/dp/B000TGXIOU

While historically, my top pick would be one of Igor Markevitch's three recordings, and here the choice comes down to either Markevitch's 1955 mono recording on DG: https://www.amazon.com/Berlioz-Symphonie-Fantastique/dp/B00DY9WYDU/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8, or his 1961 stereo recording for DG: https://www.amazon.com/Berlioz-Orch...ie+fantastique&qid=1579991556&s=dmusic&sr=1-1.

Markevitch:


----------



## Kiki

Merl said:


> I've got a big soft-spot for this one.
> 
> View attachment 129374


I like the Ticciati very much.

Also like the two live recordings from François-Xavier Roth.
















Otherwise it's Dutoit/Montréal and Beecham/RTF that have cast an lasting impression on me. Strangely enough, I'm not so crazy about Norrington's nor Gardiner's.

My soft spot is reserved for Daniel Harding's.


----------



## Rogerx

Sir Colin Davis Royal Concertgebouw orchestra / Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis/ Muti/ Orchestre Lamoureux, Paris, Igor Markevitch/ Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray.
Paray being No1


----------



## Becca

About 15 months ago I ran a blind comparison of the Symphonie Fantastique where the 5 performances were...

A - Sir John Barbirolli / SWR Symphony (concert performance)
B - Riccardo Muti / Chicago Symphony (concert performance)
C - Charles Munch / Hungarian Radio Symphony (concert performance)
D - Sir Thomas Beecham / French Radio Orchestra (ORTF) (studio performance)
E - Rafael Kubelik / Bavarian Radio Sympony (concert performance)

You can read the various comments here...

Blind Comparison - Symphonie Fantastique


----------



## DavidA

This is a shatteringly exciting version from Munch and the Boston Symphony









Now in a remastered edition. Some of these old stereo versions are simply amazing


----------



## david johnson

Thankfully, there are several grand recordings of this. My favorites are with Ormandy/Philly (60's Sony and newer RCA), much because he uses very low-pitched tolling bells in the finale. Such atmosphere is generated.


----------



## jegreenwood

I know I've said this before. I never "got" the piece - although I'd owned recordings by Davis and Munch among others - until I heard Paray.

I picked up the Abbado recently, as part of his CSO box set, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I shall do so.


----------



## elgar's ghost

It's a work I enjoy very much. I love how graphic at all is - I imagine a deranged, wild-eyed Berlioz stomping about in his riding boots tearing at his cravat ha ha! That said, I've only the one recording - Colin Davis/Concertgebouw - and this has always sufficed.


----------



## starthrower

I don't really have a favorite. I have Munch, Klemperer, Boulez, and Maazel/Cleveland on Telarc.

I've thought about picking up the cheap Bernstein box of French music. Maybe later in the year. I bought a ton of stuff over the past two months.


----------



## Heck148

Both Soltis are outstanding - '72 and '92...
so is Abbado/CSO

Mitropoulos/NYPO '56 is an all-time favorite - really creepy, he gets into the macabre flavor of the final 2 mvts...

Don't care too much for Munch, who recorded it many times...he tends to take the March too fast.....who would race to the guillotine?? the dotted rhythm figures break down. Also, Munch liked spontaneity, which is ok, but it often results in some sloppy execution....might have been exciting in live performance, but on recording, it becomes noticeably negative...


----------



## starthrower

It probably doesn't rate with the obsessives at this site but I listen to my Telarc CD the most.


----------



## DavidA

Another great performance. We are spoiled for choice


----------



## brahms4

Monteux`s 1930 recording with the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris is one that needs to be heard by every music lover at least once before they leave this planet!Monteux learned a lot of details from Edouard Colonne while playing first viola in his orchestra as a young man.Colonne knew Berlioz and had heard him conduct his works.Monteux was never able to duplicate his great interpretation in his later recordings of this work.His heavily marked score was taken,with many of his other possessions,by the Nazis in Paris.For modern sound,and stunning sound at that,Paul Paray`s Mercury recording is my favorite.


----------



## Becca

From the Hector Berlioz Website...

_"One of the unknowns of Colonne's early career is what contacts if any he had with Berlioz - Colonne's name is nowhere mentioned in Berlioz's extant correspondence or any of his writings. Colonne must have had opportunities to see if not meet Berlioz and to hear his music (he could for instance have attended some of the performances of Les Troyens à Carthage in late 1863), but there does not appear to be any concrete evidence. It is noticeable that when later (in 1875) Colonne started to attempt larger works by Berlioz he turned initially for advice to Ernest Reyer, a close friend of the composer."_


----------



## DavidA

brahms4 said:


> Monteux`s 1930 recording with the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris is one that needs to be heard by every music lover at least once before they leave this planet!Monteux learned a lot of details from Edouard Colonne while playing first viola in his orchestra as a young man.Colonne knew Berlioz and had heard him conduct his works.Monteux was never able to duplicate his great interpretation in his later recordings of this work.His heavily marked score was taken,with many of his other possessions,by the Nazis in Paris.For modern sound,and stunning sound at that,Paul Paray`s Mercury recording is my favorite.


I remember Paray's performance as I had it on a very cheap LP when I was a boy


----------



## Merl

starthrower said:


> It probably doesn't rate with the obsessives at this site but I listen to my Telarc CD the most.


Nowt wrong with the Maazel Telarc disc, ST. It's a great account. And if that's your preference stick to your guns, anyway (but it is one of the better ones ). It had an SACD re-release a few years back which I believe is very impressive.


----------



## Joe B




----------



## DavidA

David again live


----------



## Dirge

After a decade or two away from _Symphonie fantastique_, a work that never really "clicked" with me, I did a casual comparison of a dozen or so well-regarded recordings and came away strongly favoring Munch/BSO [RCA '62, not '54]. It turns out that much of my indifference to the work stems from the Davis/Concertgebouw [Philips '74] recording that I've had since my early listening days: it's a beautifully played account to be sure, but it's so reined-in, composed, and polished that it effectively squelches the spirit of the work for me. Munch/BSO, on the other hand, is the _Mr Toad's Wild Ride_ of _Symphonie fantastique_ recordings, threatening to burst apart at the seams here and there in the final two movements but managing to hold together. The rather bright and clean-toned (tubular?) bells will be the Achilles' heel for many listeners, however, as they bear little resemblance to large church bells chiming/pealing ominously in the distance.

Of the other recording that I listened to, I like Beecham/ORTF [EMI '57, not '59] and Bernstein/NYPO [CBS '63, not '68], and I found Davis/LSO [Philips '63] much more to my liking than Davis/Concertgebouw-the interpretation is similar but the playing is grittier and more intense.


----------



## Machiavel

Three recordings of Monteux symphonie fantastique. The 1930 is there. All three are top notch. On Spotify

Both munch but the 1962 is better in ever way. Only the 1954 is there. The 62 is high definition I think

I would recommend Rene leibowitz. On Spotify with Monteux conducting Roméo et Juliette .

Markevitch

I would put Davis last.


----------



## Sgfnorth

DavidA said:


> Extraordinary to think this incredible work was written by a 27 year old Frenchman just three years after the death of Beethoven. I'm listening to this at the moment - great performance - Fantastique in every way - and have quite a few others on my shelves.
> 
> View attachment 129371
> 
> 
> However I'd love to know what are your own particular favourites?


Munch

Roth - lovely colours but not quite enough abandon for me

Minkowski (not a great recording but bags of enthusiasm and fantastic handling)

Markevitch

And most recently Karajan DG 1975 - which is actually terrifying in a way none of the others are.


----------



## Kreisler jr

Machiavel said:


> Both munch but the 1962 is better in ever way. Only the 1954 is there. The 62 is high definition I think


the 1962 on CD might be easier to find as a "filler" for Munch's Stereo R&J



> I would recommend Rene leibowitz. On Spotify with Monteux conducting Roméo et Juliette .


Is this on Westminster? Never heard it, unfortunately. Leibowitz is almost never without interest.
There is also an interesting recording by Scherchen (Nixa, not sure about availability)


----------



## fbjim

For some reason I've never liked the "actual" bells-makes me think I'm listening to a cowboy movie all of a sudden, hah.

I think Karajan had the best "first half" of this one, he couldn't be more at home in the waltz movement and it's just a wonderful bath of string sound when the first two movements get into the accelerando bits. Very good rendition of the tricky third movement too-"a lovely walk in the fields accompanied by a psychotic break" is not the easiest programmatic note to pull off.

Munch's second Finale is still the best, though.


----------



## fbjim

Machiavel said:


> Three recordings of Monteux symphonie fantastique. The 1930 is there. All three are top notch. On Spotify
> 
> Both munch but the 1962 is better in ever way. Only the 1954 is there. The 62 is high definition I think
> 
> I would recommend Rene leibowitz. On Spotify with Monteux conducting Roméo et Juliette .
> 
> Markevitch
> 
> I would put Davis last.


The 62 Munch is on Spotify in the complete "Munch conducts Berlioz" box, it's the second one on the track list.


----------



## Granate

I have more to mention, but these were my top recordings from my SF challenge (+100 recordings)










































Karajan BPO 1975
Munch Orchestre de Paris
Maazel Cleveland Orchestra 1977 (Columbia)
Bernstein NYPO Columbia
Roth Les Siècles - HM 2019 Recording


----------



## CnC Bartok

I do like the Fantastique, but it isn't among my very favourite works, I'll be honest.

My favourite recordings are probably either Beecham or the older Colin Davis. But I am going to really annoy those who love this work more than I do, and admit I really admire Norrington's recording on EMI. Ophecleides should fart, and with him they do!


----------

