And so it is with the new recording of Berlioz’s most famous composition. This is a valuable addition to the catalogue, for you are unlikely to have ever heard it played before in this fashion. The work has lent itself generously over the last 150 years to huge orchestras and ambitious conducting. Not any more, and a greater contrast with our comfort zone experiences could not be imagined.

Much of it is a great improvement. The steely strings, the drier woodwinds, the edgier brass playing, contribute to a more effective nightmare than we usually get. This approach de-romanticises the score very effectively. Similar treatment for Mahler’s 4th Symphony with Roger Norrington and the Stuttgart orchestra, robbed the work of feeling. Curiously, this does not apply to this work, couched as it is in cold dreams and night sweats.

However, it must be said that there are times, primarily towards the end of the last two sections, where a more voluptuous orchestral sound is needed, as the performance rattles a bit at the end of those sections. This is more of a problem with the overture, Roman Carnival. Immerseel clearly has no idea what makes the piece work and it goes nowhere. This highlights the problems with many academic approaches to music. Musicologists don’t always make the best conductors, and at this carnival, the lights have been turned off.

 
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