Artist: Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Album: Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
Genre: Classical
Release Date: 1962/2022
Audio Format:: FLAC (tracks) 24 bit, 192 kHz
Duration: 49:01
Total Tracks: 5
Total Size: 1,86 GB

Tracklist:

1. Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra – Daydreams – Passions (13:57)
2. Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra – A ball (06:24)
3. Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra – Scene in the Country (14:55)
4. Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra – March to the Scaffold (04:27)
5. Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra – Dream of a Witches Sabbath (09:15)

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…Munch and his orchestra are utterly persuasive in their view of the work and thanks to HDTT, they are with us again in wonderful, near-analogue sound. Incidentally, this 1962 version is rarely seen on a reissue, the 1956 version is the one thats almost always used….…In any event, it became and has remained one of the most popular orchestral works in the classical repertoire. In the hands of Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the acknowledged mid-twentieth century leaders of French music performance, it is predictably clear, light, airy, and utterly refined. In this superbly engineered transfer from a four track RCA analogue tape (1962) made in Boston’s Symphony Hall, even in its richest instrumental sections, it literally floats before us, naturally warm and breathy. Low strings are especially present, well-defined, and full, grounding the work but without raising any Dionysian issues. This is an early nineteenth century fantasy, Munch reminds us: Freud is not yet on the scene. The famous “March to the Scaffold” takes place in splendidly bright, brass-lit sunlight. And the “Dream of the Witches’ Sabbath” is a manic olio of puckishness, melodrama, and brio, ending in one of music history’s most fulsome conclusions. It is all seemingly composed to show off the virtuosity of the orchestra, which it does in spades. It is a veritable guide to the orchestra, precursor of Britten’s nearly a century later.