A voice teacher and early music fan
George Peabody | Planet Earth | 10/20/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"RE-RELEASE OF A SUPERB 1965 ANDRE CLUYTENS RECORDING FEATURING LEGENDARY SOLOISTS.
Hector Berlioz's (1803-1869) sacred triligy started life as a brief organ piece written by the composer at a party while playing cards. This became the now famous 'Sheperd's Farewell', and over time it was joined by the Overture and the tenor's narrative describing the Holy Family's arrival at Sais, a Roman city. The three items became 'The Flight Into Egypt, Part Two of the eventual 'L'Enfance....'which was completed in spurts over a period of four years.
'L'Enfance Du Christ' is intimate in character. The orchestration often inclines towards the pastoral, with the clarinet, cor anglais and horns alternately signifying calm, nature and nobility. The string writing, too, is markedly different - the textures are lucid, reminiscent of 'chamber music'. Vocally, the composition adopts a highly vivid operatic style for the soloists, but the choral passages are often similar to the orchestral writing in clarity; shunning the tendency of th epic stage that works towards the grand gesture.
The work is in three parts with four major soloists: narrator,tenor-Mary, Mezzo sop.- Joseph, baritone - Herod, bass-baritone, and a four-part choir. The work takes one from the birth of Jesus to the arrival of the Holy Family at Sais. Part One (Herod's Dream) depicts the agony of King Herod as he views the Child that will bring about his downfall, the result of which motivates the destruction of the first born children in the land. The final scene of Part One shows the Angels instructing Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt to save Jesus. Part Two shows the gathering shepherds by the Manger bidding the Holy Family farewell, while the final part describes the anguish of Mary and Joseph upon arriving in Sais and struggling to find refuge.
This recording of 'L'Enfance du Christ', directed by Andre Cluytens, dates from 1965 and has become a Classic, the performance of which shows Cluyten's great admiration for the work. Indeed, he had brought forth four of the best known international soloists of that era for this recording! They are: Victoria De Las Angeles (Mary), Nicolai Gedda(narrator),Roger Soyer (Joseph) and Ernest Blanc (Herod). Along with the 'Orchesre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire', we have excellent performers.
The second CD presents the orchestral music from "Romeo ed Juliette, op17" recorded by Conductor Carlo Maria Giulini made with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1969, who also add their excellence to this two CD package.
The liner notes include the program with a brief synopsis of each part, but there is no complete text in either language, French or English."
A tender L'enfance that sounds truly French
Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/29/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"EMI's Gemini reissue is such a bargain that I thought I'd repeat my original review.
It's strangely rare to encoutner performances of French masterpieces actually performed by French forces. Berlioz's sweet and gentle retelling of the birth of Jesus has been recorded no less than three times by Colin Davis (the first one, on Decca, being the freshest, although all are very fine) and by another Englishman, Matthew Best, whose smaller-scale reading is just as good, although it features no star vocalists. For the most excitable rendition, one can turn to Charles Munch and the BSO, a first-rate performance in every regard except the amateur chorus.
If you want the true Gallic timbre, however, which is always special in Berlioz, there's this highly appealing set from Andre Cluytens and the Paris Conservatoire orchestra. True, two of the major solo parts are sung by international opera stars--Victoria de los Angeles as Mary and Nicolai Gedda as the narrator. But both are so heart-warming that it's hard to complain, and they are surrounded by a Parisian chorus adding the perfect inflections to their parts, as well as two notable French baritones, Roger Soyer and Jules Bastin, undertaking the roles of Herod and Joseph.
Cluytens isn't nearly as dramatic in his approach as Munch, but he has more panache than his English rivals--this may be a religious subject, but Berlioz turns it into a confection as luscious as any patisserie could turn out in the form of a buche de Noel. The recorded sound is fine. Highly reocmmended as a holiday pick me up."
Remastering?
George L. Friend | 12/25/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Whenever I see a recording that has been "remastered" the first thing I want to know is whether it has been improved over previous masterings. It's interesting that no one informs us of this vital information. I own the forte recording of this work as well as many others from EMI with this same claim. Has the sound been improved sufficiently to justify a repurchase?"
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1