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Berlioz - Grand Messe des Morts, Symphonie Fantastique | EMI - Gemini 2642992

Berlioz - Grand Messe des Morts, Symphonie Fantastique

New Item

Label: EMI - Gemini

Cat No: 2642992

Barcode: 5099926429922

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 2

Release Date: 2nd March 2009

This product has now been deleted. Information is for reference only.

Contents

Artists

London Philharmonic Choir
London Symphony Orchestra

Conductor

Andre Previn

Works

Berlioz, Hector

Grande Messe des Morts (Requiem), op.5
Symphonie fantastique, op.14 H48

Artists

London Philharmonic Choir
London Symphony Orchestra

Conductor

Andre Previn

About

This issue brings together Berlioz’s greatest symphony and grandest choral work. The former was inspired by his wish to impress the actress, Harriet Smithson, with whom he had become infatuated, seeing her as Juliet as well as Hamlet’s Ophelia. He invoked her in all five movements by employing a theme in this autobiographical work, which has become well known and extremely popular.

The “Grande Messe des Morts” or Requiem requires such enormous forces to make its full effect that performances are necessarily rare events. With the main orchestra and chorus occupying the centre, Berlioz employs brass bands to the left, right, behind and even behind the conductor, giving the Tuba mirum section in the Dies Irae a spectacular effect on the listener. Parts of the Requiem, however, are handled with extreme delicacy, thus when the full forces come together their impact is even more thrilling.

André Previn and his London Symphony Orchestra clearly revel in the opportunities offered by both works. The Requiem, with the London Philharmonic Choir, was recorded in the vast space of Walthamstow Town Hall to imitate the vast acoustic space of “Les Invalides” in Paris where it was first performed.

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