Search - Boston Symphony Orchestra :: Charles Munch Conducts Berlioz (Sony Classical Masters)

"Sony Classical is pleased to announce another ten releases in its increasingly comprehensive series of Classical Masters. These new budget-priced CD box sets contain classic recordings, many of them newly remastered, by some of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century.

The new release brings together the complete RCA Berlioz recordings of Charles Munch conducting the Boston Symphony, including both the mono and stereo versions of the Symphonie fantastique and Roméo et Juliette as well as the hard-to-find Nuits d été with Victoria de los Angeles. ClassicsToday neatly articulated the special Munch-Berlioz affinity: This Alsatian-born conductor s mercurial temperament was uniquely suited to the composer s stark, abrupt changes of affect, which juxtaposes passages of febrile intensity with others of simple, aching lyricism. He effectively plays up the pictorial variety of Berlioz s brilliant orchestral palette ... Yet Munch s most singular asset may well have been his instinctivegrasp of the irregular shapes and quirky curves of a Berlioz phrase ... As most collectors already know, he always was at his best in Berlioz, and no doubt these performances will continue to hold a position of honor for many years to come. "