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