Notes and Editorial Reviews
BERLIOZ
Symphonie fantastique. Herminie
1
•
Marc Minkowski, cond; Aurélia Legay (sop);
1
Les Musiciens du Louvre; Mahler CO
•
BRILLIANT 93808 (80:41
Text and Translation)
When this surfaced first in 2002 on Deutsche Grammophon,
Fanfare
’s reviewer noted (in 27:6), “Coming from Minkowski—a heretofore-reliable provider of crackling Rameau
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and zesty Offenbach—this finicking
Fantastique
is a surprising curiosity. Playing nearly an hour, it is among the longest on disc—bass heavy, every rest pregnant with portent, every part parsed as if it possessed contrapuntal import, every climax crushingly overloaded, its constant lingering rubato stultifying élan: there is hardly an oddment of the score untouched by this prim precision.” I believe he meant
precisian
—one who is precise. “Perhaps it was intended to convey an exquisite delirium, with every detail shaped to savor. The upshot, however, resembles less Furtwänglerian divination than a respiratory therapist’s prolonged ministrations—only in the final movement, carried away by its terrific impetus, does the treatment ‘take’ and the music begin to breathe on its own. How odd!” Envy’s an ugly sentiment, but—gee!—I wish I could write like that! “Herminie, on the other hand, comes across as the suspenseful balance of academic formulae and genuine passion that, as a prix de Rome cantata by Berlioz, it is—whipped up and dressed down with a crisp flair agilely crowned by Aurélia Legay’s thin, bright soprano. Sound is slightly recessed in a spaciousness wallopingly filled at climactic moments, while detail even in quieter passages looms with skin-tingling palpability. But for the acknowledgement that this is a live recording, you’d never guess. All told, perhaps this is something better than a mere curiosity, if less than consistently compelling. How curious are you?” Couldn’t have said it better, myself! The news is that this peculiar reading has been revived on bargain-priced Brilliant for an economical second hearing.
FANFARE: Adrian Corleonis
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Works on This Recording
1.
Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 by Hector Berlioz
Conductor:
Marc Minkowski
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Mahler Chamber Orchestra,
Les Musiciens du Louvre members
Period: Romantic
Written: 1830; France
2.
Herminie by Hector Berlioz
Performer:
Aurélia Legay (Soprano)
Conductor:
Marc Minkowski
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Mahler Chamber Orchestra,
Les Musiciens du Louvre members
Period: Romantic
Written: 1828; France
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