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Tarfumes.com - Bernstein Century - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, etc.
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List Price: $11.98
Our Price: $8.99
Your Save: $ 2.99 ( 25% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Sony
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0074646096826
Label: Sony
Manufacturer: Sony
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: 1999-05-18
Studio: Sony
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Editorial Reviews:
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Track 6 features Bernstein's narrated tour through this eccentric, groundbreaking symphonic masterpiece. Sadly, the conductor's pithy analogy between Berlioz's musical depiction of opium-inspired visions and the dangers of a contemporary trip ("brilliance without glory") remains as timely now as it was in 1968. Brilliance and glory, however, characterize the conductor's 1963 recording, reissued here for the first time on CD. The orchestral execution is not as fluid or well-oiled as it would be for Bernstein's 1968 remake, but slightly closer micing reveals a wealth of color, nuance, and dynamic differentiation absent from the original LP. Passages leap from your speakers with sparkling clarity. The conductor illuminates the composer's innovative orchestral combinations with a kind of urgency that lapses into bombast only in the frenzied final measures. And why not? An absorbing, excellently remastered release. --Jed Distler
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Berlioz and Bernstein...could it get any better?
Comment: Ok, I may be biased, but I think this is a fantastic production/recording of Hector Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique! Not only is the music itself a monumental work of art, but it is Bernstein conducting this glorious piece! This cd will capture your soul for the entire time that it is playing. Leonard Bernstein was a master at getting the orchestra to play as energetic as possible, and he does not let us down here! His lecture at the end (at least I assume that it is Bernstein) is actually quite informative, but I like that kind of stuff.
The seller was true to his word!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
Comment: I am an admirer of Bernstein and I have always wanted a copy of Symphonie Fantastique. I was very pleased to have both the music and one of my favorite conductors. What I did not expect was a audio reproduction from one of his Sunday Concert specials reviewing the music he would be conducting. The lecture is about 15 minuets, very informative yet I would have rather had music after the playing of the Berlioz symphonie than a lecture. I wish I had known what I was getting. I am holding on to the CD and will remember the lecture if ever the time arrrives when it can be used.Bernstein Century - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, etc.
Customer Rating:
Summary: BERNSTEIN + BERLIOZ = CONFUSION
Comment: Leonard Bernstein recorded the Symphonie fantastique three times over a relatively short period: 1963, 1968 and 1976. The first two, with the New York Philharmonic, were for Columbia Records (CBS/Sony), the third try was with l'Orchestre national de France for EMI. He left multiple recordings of other works, but none over such a short time-span.
The easiest way to tell them apart is by checking the timing for the 3rd movement,"Scene aux champs" :
1963 = 17:14
1968 = 15:09
1976 = 16:32
All three recordings have been issued on CD. The EMI recording is easy to find. Unfortunately, CBS has confused the situation with the two New York recordings.
In 1990, the 1968 version was issued as part of the "Great Performances" series (MYK 38476)
In 1992, the 1963 version was issued as part of the silly "Royal Edition" (SMK 47525). IT WAS MISLABELED AS THE 1968 RECORDING.
In 1999, the 1963 version was issued as part of the "Bernstein Century" series (SMK 60968). It was mislabeled as "FIRST RELEASE ON CD of the 1963 version."
Personally, I prefer the 1968 version, even though it is only available on an early "Great Performances" CD transfer with no fillers.
The 1963 version sounds the same on the "Bernstein Century" as it did on the "Royal Edition". The former is coupled with 2 overtures and a march, the latter with a 15 minute talk, "Berlioz Takes a Trip," (recorded in 1968 with musical examples taken from the 1968 version).
Which brings me to my all-time favorite performance of this symphony by Bernstein. It's from 1969, but it's not on CD. It's a DVD, part of the 10 DVD set, "Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts" released by KULTUR (D 1503). It's not as expensive as it sounds - about $90 (new) on Amazon. The May 25, 1969 broadcast is "Berlioz Takes a Trip," an hour-long version of the 15 minute talk on the "Bernstein Century" CD. It does not include a full performance of the symphony, except for the last movement, but all the juicy parts are there, and Lenny was always more fun to watch and listen to than to just listen to.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Bells
Comment: Have only owned this record for one day now so it's hard to sound sensible but let's face it this is lights out! I retired early on purpose last night and listened to the entire symphony in bed with the curtains drawn at about half past nine--nodded right off eventually I did after this frankly loco chapeau de la nuit. Talk about all five movements though. 1830 too is the date the dude says and afterwards I was much heartened to know that then in fact was when this was. The nineteenth century. There's God's own hoard of moments recorded during the eighteen hundreds. Take a page from 1878. A Saturday in November on Egdon Heath, twilight. Here's what Thomas Hardy sez--overhead remember the hollow stretch of whitish cloud clearly marking the horizon: "In such contrast the heath wore the appearance of an instalment of night which had taken up its place before its astronomical hour was come; darkness had to a great extent arrived hereon, while day stood distinct in the sky." Without having to even think twice about it I'd say that sentence right there is a showstopper. And this is only page one! Or Moby Dick from 1851 which I just read recently while not smoking cigarettes during Lent. Forty five days I lasted but cracked finally on Good Friday. This book by Melville though I have to say I finished with a sense of gladness and wonder--the fella could assuredly write and was more generally I'm beginning to think that rarest of birds, the flawless American eccentric. My latest ATM receipt, 1850 and 83 cents. Golly now. Berlioz himself, born December 11, 1803. This the public record now. Near Lyon by all accounts. Hector's old man was a sawbones--science and such all the rage even back then. The public record. FM and the like. The March to the Gallows is always on the radio on its own but when you put it back into its proper place in this strangely alluring fantasia of strings, wind, percussion--bells I'm almost sure I heard tolling in there--the whole plastic fantastic quincunx creates and contradicts an atmosphere of impending excitement. That's a quote that is. People actually say things like this about the music they bung in their Toshibas. Isn't that a larf? A young man too sez Bernstein of Berlioz when he fashioned this conceptual platter of pork roll egg & cheese--twenty-six if you can believe it. Nice one in any case. Tastes good on the bun. Or better yet, baguette. Getafix I remember cured all Gaulish ills with a cup of tea! History plays along just fine I'm feeling with Hector Berlioz on the soundtrack. Again I'm saying this is only one day after the first night but still this five-alarm instrumental drama sounds to me vraiment comme un grand morceau de Camemberlioz.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Berlioz gets it right the FIRST time!
Comment: Magnificent rendition of one of the great compositions of all time. Berlioz's one-hit wonder! Added bonus of Bernstein verbal afterword will help inform those who are not familiar with this work. If ever there was a plug for getting stoned in order to release genius, this is it! I particularly like the part where the tubas perform the Death March.
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