Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique Sir Colin Davis & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

• 1 Rêveries. Passions (Largo - Allegro agitato ed appassionato assai) 15:18
• 2 Un bal (Valse: Allegro non troppo) 06:16
• 3 Scène aux champs (Adagio) 17:09
• 4 Marche au supplice (Allegretto non troppo) 06:51
• 5 Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat (Larghetto - Allegro - Ronde du Sabbat: Poco meno mosso) 09:53
• Total Runtime 55:27

Info for Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

In the Symphonie Fantastique, the borders between dream and reality, between art and life itself, become blurred. Berlioz viewed his life through a romantically magnified and 'fantastic' lens. He was the first composer to bridge the chasm between art and life, to translate life into art, and thus also to introduce the category of the 'characteristic' into the genre of the symphony. The Symphonie Fantastique represents all the highs and lows of love, not excluding the vulgar and the trivial. In its entire programmatic and musical design, the work is oriented entirely to the effect it has on the listener.

One of several recordings of this favourite work, Davis’s 1974 version (originally 6500 774) with the Concertgebouw is a wonderfully realised, rounded interpretation (there are recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra also).

When it appeared in the Philips Solo series (446 202-2), two excerpts from Roméo et Juliette acted as fillers. One has to ask, therefore, where they have gone, for 55 minutes makes for a low playing time these days, no matter what the stature of the interpretation.

Davis' affinity with Berlioz is now the stuff of legend, reaffirmed in the light of the recent LSO Live series (see various reports of the concerts themselves in the Seen and Heard part of this site). His understanding of Berlioz’s unique compositional practices is amply demonstrated in this Concertgebouw Symphonie fantastique. All of the individual qualities of Berlioz's orchestration are unapologetically realised: the grotesqueries of the final movement are tellingly presented (listen to the clarinet’s bizarre distortion of the motto theme, for example) as are the macabre festivities of the ‘Marche au supplice’ and the threadbare lines and narrative structure of the ‘Scène aux champs’, revealing a held back, repressed emotion. If one is to quibble, only the Valse is perhaps not quite abandoned enough towards its conclusion (which would have thrown the contrast to the opening of the third movement into sharper relief).

None of this is to demean the positive qualities of this performance. The recording is excellent, displaying, especially, tremendous clarity in the bass. (Colin Clarke, MusicWeb-International)

Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Symphony Orchestra)
Sir Colin Davis, Conductor

Recorded in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam in January 1974
96kHz, 24-bit Super Digital Transfer

Sir Colin Davis - Conductor
The traditional road to success for a conductor used to be an apprenticeship in an opera house as a coach, playing the piano for singers in rehearsal. Colin Davis chose another route, partly by necessity. Unable to play the piano, he was not allowed into the conducting course at the Royal College of Music in London. So, he achieved an important international career by taking the initiative to form ensembles and conduct for friends at first. Early successes included the founding of the Chelsea Opera Group, a company which to this day gives performances of little known operas in concert.

Davis was soon working with professional orchestras including the BBC Scottish Symphony. His first 'break' was at Sadler's Wells in 1958 when his conducting of Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio began a lifelong connection with that composer. The Edinburgh Festival followed along with Glyndebourne. His concert career blossomed in the mid 1960's alongside his opera work and his other passion for Berlioz began to bring him to the attention of record lovers. He has recorded all the major works of Berlioz, including the first complete (and still regarded as the landmark) recording of Les Troyens.

Davis has enjoyed a career-long affiliation with Philips Classics, recording along with Berlioz, Mozart, the complete symphonies of Sibelius (while he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Boston Symphony in the 1970s) and much more.

Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, or, as it is often called, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, was founded in 1888, its first concert taking place on November 3 of that year. Concertgebouw means concert hall in Dutch, and the ensemble adopted that name from the lavish site where it has been based since 1888. The building, known for its splendid acoustics, houses a large auditorium (the Grote Zaal) and a small one (Kleine Zaal).

The Orchestra's first conductor was Willem Kes, who enforced a common etiquette on Dutch audiences previously unobserved: eating, late arrivals, and talking during performance were banned. Kes built the orchestra into a fine one, even if it still fell short of world-class caliber. Upon Kes' departure in 1895, the legendary Willem Mengelberg was appointed music director. He would serve for nearly 50 years in that capacity, molding the orchestra into a first-rate ensemble and making many famous recordings with the group.

During his reign Mengelberg took sabbaticals to conduct other orchestras in Europe and America, including the New York Philharmonic. During his absences, other conductors were engaged to serve as substitutes, including Pierre Monteux and Bruno Walter. While Mengelberg was highly respected and his orchestra widely admired, the repertory tended to be somewhat narrow, focusing largely on the Germanic sphere, especially on Beethoven and Richard Strauss. But he conducted works by Gustav Mahler, and the orchestra featured appearances by Rachmaninov and Prokofiev in performances of their works.

During World War II, Mengelberg sided with the Nazis, and after 1945 was banned from conducting the ensemble for six years. That same year Eduard van Beinum was appointed his successor. He broadened the repertory and maintained the orchestra's high performance standards during his 14 years on the podium. He died in 1959 during a rehearsal, and for the next four years, leadership of the orchestra was shared by Eugen Jochum and Bernard Haitink. Haitink was appointed chief conductor in 1963 and served in that capacity until 1988. During his tenure, the orchestra made numerous highly acclaimed tours and recordings.

Haitink's successor was Riccardo Chailly, who further broadened the repertory of the orchestra, and like his predecessors, produced a spate of critically acclaimed recordings. In 2004, Mariss Jansons was appointed conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Today the ensemble consists of 120 players and is widely considered one of the finest orchestras in the world.

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