Berlioz: Les Troyens

Probably your first choice:
I haven't heard the remastered version of this but it's probably a doozy. Fussy opera buffs nitpick over this recording (just look around) and some recommend the newer live Colin Davis over this. I don't. The conducting--at times--may be more exciting and some of the vocalists have their merits but the recording is flat and lifeless and not properly balanced. The chorus sounds distant and has little impact which is a near-fatal flaw in this work. This fine old Philips issue will wow you, no problem, and unless you're the type who really gets down and dirty about vocalists you won't be disappointed in this performance. I find it to be overall quite excellent and that's astonishing given that this was really the first studio recording of the work. Then again, the same can be said--an overall top ranking giving--to Solti's Ring Cycle and that was the first stereo recording. If you're just getting into opera don't take these reviews too seriously and pay more attention to the positive reviews that don't gush too much (you'll find that problem with Callas fans)and no attention to the reviewers who rant about this or that famed opera singer as not being able to sing. After all, who are we anyway, just a bunch of schmucks with too much free time on our hands, and not music professionals. After reading bushels of these Amazon reviews I sense there are a lot of tin ears out there. Also, pay close attention to new younger conductors doing Berlioz (Myung-Whun Chung comes to mind). Berlioz was treated poorly for years and some bad ideas entered into performances--one being that he didn't know what he was doing. Even Davis, a man credited with reviving Berlioz, seemed to gloss over details in scores, details that really shouldn't be missed (Lately I'm learning that Davis often specialized in missing important details). The newer conductors don't. The recordings may not have the spirit and panache of some older ones (I'm thinking of Munch, Markevitch, or Monteux here) but they present the music without performance tradition presumptions. This is why with composers like Berlioz, Schumann, Brahms, and Beethoven, even though I own mostly older recordings, I tend to pay close attention to what Harnoncourt, or the sadly little-known Thomas Fey or Florian Merz have to say. Merz's Schumann set, for example, on EBS and available through Amazon, is utterly, wildly, fantastically, insane (so much so I keep it locked up in the same drawer with my pistol and copy of the US Constitution) and yet compelling and convincing--Schumann in a parallel universe that may well be the right universe for Schumann. \oI'm really glad no one has reviewed this unique set but me because the results would be ugly and painful to read\c

casting problems:
I ATTENDED NEARLY ALL BRITISH PERFORMANCES OF THE TROJANS IN THE LATE SIXTIES AND EARLY SEVENTIES. GOOD AS THIS RECORDING IS, IT WOULD HAVE HAD TO HAVE MORE THAN FIVE STARS IF JANET BAKER AND RONALD DOWD HAD BEEN CONTRACTED BY PHILIPS INSTEAD OF VEASEY AND VICKERS. HAVING SAID THAT THIS IS AN IMMORTAL CLASSIC RECORDING AND IS WORTH THE PRICE FOR THE ROYAL HUNT AND STORM AND DIDO'S LAST UTTERANCE OF "ROME ROME IMMORTELLE"

La référence:
Cet enregistrement de 1969 a fait date à l'époque et il continue à être une référence de nos jours malgré la sortie de l'intégrale de 1994 avec Françoise Pollet en Didon. Son principal inconvénient est que la distribution est majoritairement anglophone ce qui aboutit à un régulier massacre du français en général et des vers de Berlioz en particulier -Jon Vickers est imbattable sur ce terrain. Néanmoins Didon (Josephine Veasey dont le nom est mal orthographié sur la pochette) est superbe d'expressivité, et si on la compare à Françoise Pollet, parfaite phonétiquement mais plus terne par ailleurs, on fait rapidement son choix. Et puis l'avantage d'une inégrale est de nous donner le merveilleux cinquième acte dans toute sa splendeur.

Best available, unfortunately!:
It appears that there are no good recordings of this opera. This is certainly not one. Colin Davis may have been instrumental in reviving an interest in Berlioz in Great Britain, but he consistently failed to live up to the great force and beauty of this composer's music. His reading is simply boring. Further problems with this recording are that it includes very inadequate singers. Berit Lindholm as Cassandra is the worst. Her voice is ugly, and so is her diction. It appears that there was no French coach during the rehearsals, as poor diction is symptomatic of the entire cast. The Clair de Lune duet between Didon and Eneas, probably the most beautiful in the entire opera, is poorly performed. At one point, Jon Vickers even sounds like he is yawning! The two stars I am giving this item are due to Josephine Veasey and Ian Partridge. The Berlioz Bicentennial came and went, and no new, and better, recording of this, his signature opera, was released. It's too bad!

A Real Classic:
Introduction: This was the first complete (and now there is an even MORE complete Davis recording) set of this wonderful opera. Before Beecham and Davis recorded it, this opera had to undergo a very large-scale demystification process. The myths surrounding this opera were bigger than the opera itself, and nowhere half as noble. Rumor had it that the opera was "impossible". It is not impossible, and it is certainly not as difficult to stage as any of the Wagner operas. But Berlioz had few real champions, while Wagner had legions. So the "impossible" was really a prejudice, and it took conductors like Beecham, Munch, and Davis to bring Berlioz back from the crypt of obscurity. And what we rediscovered was a titan of music. The singers: Jon Vickers is wonderful as Aeneas; opulent and strongly voiced, without being thick. Berit Lindhold and Josephine Veasey are great as well...though admittedly some moments have them in thick voice. They sound confident and strong, but sometimes consternated. The chorus sounds brilliant. The direction: Colin Davis brings the Royal Hunt and Storm to life...orchestral declamations, and chorus telling Aeneas to leave Carthage. It's a very colourful and dramatic scene that never fails me. It makes for a great listen as a single orchestral piece -just like Ride of the Valkyries does...but both these famous scenes are far better with the voices. The sound: As far as sound goes, there is nothing to complain about. There are a few instances of certain persons being placed far back in the sound, but in these instances it is dramatically appropriate to do so for the opera's sake. The music: I like to equate the difficulty level of this opera with Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg". Wagner's longest single opera was the first opera I got really involved with. I've found myself surprised that many people find it his toughest opera...for me it is his easiest. But the thing about Berlioz's Les Troyen, and Wagner's opera is that they both require you to delve into the libretto. Final thoughts: I suggest listening to this opera often. Listen to certain scenes at a time, if it suits you. If you find it hard to listen to because of the length, I especially recommend working at it in this way. After you've familiarized yourself with it, no doubt you will agree with me that it is par with any Wagner opera.