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Hector Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette is a rare example of a work whose radicalism has endured from its own day down to ours. There isn't anything quite like it. It is not an opera, nor incidental music to Shakespeare's play, and the roles of Romeo and Juliet are voiceless, taken by the orchestra, with the vocal parts representing smaller characters (Mercutio, Friar Tuck), a contralto narrator, and the clashing families in a double chorus. Shakespeare's actual words aren't present; Berlioz spoke no English, but he grasped the play anyhow when he saw it performed in that language. It is an orchestral drama mapped onto traditional symphonic form, and it is, by Berlioz's own admission, extremely difficult to perform; he put his orchestra through sectional rehearsals, a novelty at the time, before bringing them together. This is a wonderful performance. When the history of symphonic recordings in the early 21st century is written, the Berlioz albums of conductor John Nelson ought to get their own little chapter. The Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg is not the Berlin Philharmonic, but both the passion and the detail of Berlioz's score are here, and one senses that this is a performance the composer would have loved: vivid and imbued with the score's sense of straining at orchestral boundaries. The soloists are quite strong, and the presence of soprano Joyce DiDonato is a double bonus because the album concludes with the rarely performed Berlioz cantata Cléopâtre, an unsuccessful Berlioz entry in the Prix de Rome competition. This work has been sung by both mezzo-sopranos and contraltos, and it is right in DiDonato's sweet spot; she delivers an exceptionally persuasive reading. A Berlioz recording to keep and treasure, the album landed on classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2023.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-soprano Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet - Cyrille Dubois, Tenor Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Coro Gulbenkian, Chorus, FeaturedArtist - Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Chorus, FeaturedArtist
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-soprano Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet - Cyrille Dubois, Tenor Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Coro Gulbenkian, Chorus, FeaturedArtist - Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Chorus, FeaturedArtist
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet - Cyrille Dubois, Tenor Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Coro Gulbenkian, Chorus, FeaturedArtist - Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Chorus, FeaturedArtist
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet - Coro Gulbenkian, Chorus, FeaturedArtist - Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Chorus, FeaturedArtist
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet - Coro Gulbenkian, Chorus, FeaturedArtist - Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Chorus, FeaturedArtist
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet - Coro Gulbenkian, Chorus, FeaturedArtist - Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Chorus, FeaturedArtist
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet - Christopher Maltman, Baritone Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Coro Gulbenkian, Chorus, FeaturedArtist - Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Chorus, FeaturedArtist
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet - Christopher Maltman, Baritone Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Coro Gulbenkian, Chorus, FeaturedArtist - Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Chorus, FeaturedArtist
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Emile Deschamps, Poet - Christopher Maltman, Baritone Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Coro Gulbenkian, Chorus, FeaturedArtist - Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Chorus, FeaturedArtist
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-soprano Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Pierre-Ange Vieillard, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-soprano Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Pierre-Ange Vieillard, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-soprano Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Pierre-Ange Vieillard, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-soprano Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Pierre-Ange Vieillard, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg, Orchestra - Hector Berlioz, Composer - John Nelson, Conductor, MainArtist - Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-soprano Vocals, FeaturedArtist - Pierre-Ange Vieillard, Poet
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited Under exclusive license to Parlophone Records Limited. A Warner Classics/Erato Release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio's Purse
Album review
Hector Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette is a rare example of a work whose radicalism has endured from its own day down to ours. There isn't anything quite like it. It is not an opera, nor incidental music to Shakespeare's play, and the roles of Romeo and Juliet are voiceless, taken by the orchestra, with the vocal parts representing smaller characters (Mercutio, Friar Tuck), a contralto narrator, and the clashing families in a double chorus. Shakespeare's actual words aren't present; Berlioz spoke no English, but he grasped the play anyhow when he saw it performed in that language. It is an orchestral drama mapped onto traditional symphonic form, and it is, by Berlioz's own admission, extremely difficult to perform; he put his orchestra through sectional rehearsals, a novelty at the time, before bringing them together. This is a wonderful performance. When the history of symphonic recordings in the early 21st century is written, the Berlioz albums of conductor John Nelson ought to get their own little chapter. The Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg is not the Berlin Philharmonic, but both the passion and the detail of Berlioz's score are here, and one senses that this is a performance the composer would have loved: vivid and imbued with the score's sense of straining at orchestral boundaries. The soloists are quite strong, and the presence of soprano Joyce DiDonato is a double bonus because the album concludes with the rarely performed Berlioz cantata Cléopâtre, an unsuccessful Berlioz entry in the Prix de Rome competition. This work has been sung by both mezzo-sopranos and contraltos, and it is right in DiDonato's sweet spot; she delivers an exceptionally persuasive reading. A Berlioz recording to keep and treasure, the album landed on classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2023.
© James Manheim /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 22 track(s)
- Total length: 01:51:45
- 1 Digital booklet
- Main artists: John Nelson Joyce DiDonato Cyrille Dubois Christopher Maltman Orchestre Philharmonique De Strasbourg
- Composer: Hector Berlioz
- Label: Warner Classics
- Genre: Classical
A Warner Classics/Erato release, © 2023 Parlophone Records Limited A Warner Classics/Erato release, ℗ 2023 Ascanio’s Purse under exclusive licence to Parlophone Records Limited
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