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Berlioz: Les nuits d'été; Harold en Italie
5054197196850 (Erato, CD)
FIRST RELEASE (18 November 2022)
Playing time: 72'39"
Tracks: 10
Booklet pages: 16
℗ 2022 Ascanio's Purse
© 2022 Parlophone Records Ltd
Main country of recording: France
Country of manufacture: Germany
Reviewer: Gerald Fenech
Review of Berlioz: Les nuits d'été; Harold en Italie published on 3 December 2022
Michael Spyres, tenor (tracks 1-6)
Timothy Ridout, viola (tracks 7-10)
Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg
John Nelson, conductor
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869):
Les nuits d'été, Op 7 (1856 version)
1 Villanelle
2 Le Spectre de la rose
3 Sur les lagunes
4 Absence
5 Au cimetière
6 L'île inconnue
Harold en Italie, Op 16
1 Harold aux montagnes: scènes de mélancolie, de bonheur et de joie (Adagio – Allegro)
2 Marche des pèlerins chantant la prière du soir (Allegretto)
3 Sérénade d'un montagnard des Abruzzes à sa maîtresse (Allegro assai – Allegretto)
4 Orgie de brigands. Souvenirs des scènes précédentes (Allegro frenetico – Adagio – Tempo I)
Erato's multi-award-winning Berlioz cycle - Les Troyens, Damnation de Faust with conductor John Nelson and the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg - continues with the composer's orchestral song cycle on a libretto by Théophile Gautier, Les nuits d'été, sung by recent Gramophone-Award-winning baritenor Michael Spyres – the first ever of the original 1856 version recorded by one single voice - bass, tenor and baritone. Outstanding British viola player Timothy Ridout also features in Berlioz's Harold en Italie.
Recorded 12–15 October 2021 at Salle Érasme - Palais de la Musique et des Congrès, Strasbourg, France.