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Wed, 21 May 2003 19:02:38 -0400 |
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Richard Pennycuick wrote:
>I notice that Philips has released a monster box containing all the
>Berlioz Davis recorded for them, probably including only one Symphonie
>Fantastique.
I'd like to put in a plug for an infrequently mentioned recording of B's
*Symphonie Fantastique*.
It's Oskar Fried's performance of Berlioz' symphony with the USSR Symphony
Orchestra, recorded in 1937, but don't let its age deter you.
Fried, a conductor of prominent German orchestras, including the Berlin
Philharmonic, of whom I have recordings of Beethoven's Ninth and Mahler's
Second, among other orchestral works, was, as a non-Aryan, forced to
leave Germany and eventually settled in the USSR, where he died in 1941
under circumstances the liner notes describe as "mysterious".
I'd heard his performance of Berlioz' *Symphonie Fantastique* taped by
a friend from a radio broadcast, and it has been my favorite Berlioz
performance ever since. It sounds as if it had been newly discovered
by the players, enthusiastic and vigorous. I was therefore pleased to
obtain this from Berkshire (www.broinc.com) on the LYS (LYS280) label
for US$5.99 a few years ago.
Walter Meyer
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