Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique / Nezet Seguin

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra; Yannick Nézet-Séguin,conductor; Anna Caterina Antonacci, soprano

Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique (1830) / Cléopâtre, scène lyrique (1829)

Wholenote Discoveries - March 2011
Can you think of a large-scale work that embodies the spirit of French early Romanticism better than Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique? Completed in 1830, the symphony marked the 27-year-old composer’s first major success, hailed as truly revolutionary both in size and in concept. And who better to undertake such a monument than supernova conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin with the Rotterdam Philharmonic on this BIS label SACD? Nézet-Séguin’s career has catapulted to stratospheric heights in a very short time. After studying in his native Montréal, he made his European debut in 2004, and within four years had succeeded Valery Gergiev as Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic. He was recently named Music Director Designate of the Philadelphia Orchestra commencing in the 2012-13 season. From the opening notes – a series of repeated Gs - the listener senses something magical about this performance. Nézet-Séguin approaches the music with a deep-rooted sensitivity, carefully shaping it at all times, and easily capturing the multi-faceted moods contained within. The orchestra – particularly the winds and strings – respond with a warm and resonant sound. The second movement Valse is light and elegant, while the fourth movement, the March to the Scaffold is given the dramatic intensity it deserves. The finale - the Dream of a Witch’s Sabbath, in which the hero finds himself surrounded by ghostly figures, is all at once bombastic, grotesque, and terrifying. Not surprisingly, the music is adeptly handled by a perfect pairing of conductor and orchestra, who bring the mad frenzy to a rousing conclusion. An added bonus on this CD is the short cantata La Mort de Cléopâtre written two years earlier for the Prix de Rome. Soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci gives a dramatic and sensitive performance, thus rounding out this most satisfying disc, easily among the best currently available. Richard Haskell
In a very short time, Yannick Nézet-Séguin has become one of the most sought-after young conductors in the world, popular with orchestras and audiences alike. Recently named as Music Director Designate of the Philadelphia Orchestra, he succeeded Valery Gergiev as Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, and has since then taken the orchestra on acclaimed tours to Asia, the USA and his native Canada, as well as making a high-profile appearance during the BBC Proms in London and undertaking a residency at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. For the first of four projected discs with BIS, Nézet-Séguin and his Rotterdam players have recorded Hector Berlioz' masterpiece Symphonie fantastique, in a full-blooded and luxurious performance which at the same time respects the work's classical proportions: the conductor himself has described the work as being the last Classical symphony as well as the first Romantic one. The first performance of the largely auto-biographical Symphonie (originally entitled 'An Episode in the Life of an Artist') formed the composer's great break-through, and was applauded by luminaries such as Franz Liszt. In his Memoirs Berlioz relates how the closing movements, March to the Scaffold and the Witches' Sabbath, in particular caused a sensation. The work is here followed by the 'lyrical scene' Cléopâtre (often referred to as La Mort de Cléopâtre), composed shortly before as Berlioz' entry in the competition for the prestigious Prix de Rome. The dramatic potential of the text - Cleopatra's farewell to the world before committing suicide by snakebite - led the young composer to write music of the highest possible drama, which thoroughly scared off the academicians of the Prix de Rome-jury from awarding it a prize. Performing - or rather embodying - the part of Cleopatra is the electrifying soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci, in one of her rare appearances on disc.

Price: $28.98

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