Search - Hector Berlioz, Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra :: Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastiqe [Germany]

Desert Island Quality

Marion | 03/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This version is just the one you want when you're stuck on a desert island. I do understand the recording was 'enhanced,' but I have enjoyed this over any other version of this work. The bells just move you beyond any 'standard chimes.'



Highly recommended from an unsophisticated listener...makes any car ride eventful when you pull up next to some with their cd blasting with this in your sound system!



Seriously, this is a CD fantastiqe...

"

Sleek and inert - a misfire on all cylinders

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 09/24/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"During his tenure with the Philharmonia Orch. in London, Karajan made a vigorous, involved recording of the Symphonie fantastique in mono. This 1965 stereo remaake from Berlin comes from his best period, but it's a total miss. The sonics are distant and allow for little impact; the recessed harps at the beginning of the seond movement shouldn't have passed any engineer's check, or the conductor's for that mattter. Karajan swings between whispering pp's and ear-shattering ff's for no reason in the score. He begins the Scene aux champs so limply you can't believe it's him. But the melodic line goes slack in other movements as well. In sum, a reading with no personal involvement at all -- no amount of finesse and power from the orhestra makes up for that."