Roméo et Juliette

"Recommended: It is a score for solo voices, chorus and orchestra that is often overlooked whilst by contrast the popularity of the composer's earlier Symphonie fantastique goes from strength to strength ... With this superb live recording of Roméo et Juliette from San Francisco Symphony everything feels just right. Tilson Thomas has selected his team of soloists adroitly, as they do full justice to the demands of this challenging work. The performance of American Grammy award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke is delightful; she is in such fine form, revealing her assured and secure voice ... There is consistently satisfying singing from San Francisco Symphony Chorus ... they make a deeply significant impact ... This outstanding album from San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas of Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette is beautifully performed and recorded".

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"It has taken a lifetime of listening to get to grips with The Trojans, but Romeo and Juliet still just tops my list of favourite works by the great French master. This new issue from Chandos, magnificently recorded in the excellent acoustic of the Fairfield Halls Concert Hall, should be considered for purchase no matter how many recordings one already possesses".

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"Critic's choice: Berlioz's very personal conception magnifies certain moments, such as the lovely "Convoi funèbre de Juliette" (Juliet's funeral procession), with its muted, distant choral refrain, "Scatter flowers for the virgin now deceased." Davis and the BBC, along with the sound engineers, create a sense of the cortège moving through space; it's a reverent and atmospheric reading. Overall, the BBC chorus takes the prize here for range of dynamics, clarity, warmth and suave sound. Davis finds tenderness in the textures, particularly from the strings; the performance emphasizes blend and sonic luxury. Samuel Boden's flexible tenor brings liveliness and wit to Mercutio's Mab solo, and the breathless ecstasy of Juliet's reawakening in the tomb is vibrant and excitingly edgy".

"In this present performance, the first of the soloists that we hear is Joyce DiDonato. She has the wonderful 'Strophes' to sing. I greatly admire the fullness of tone and the expressiveness she brings to this touching music ... John Nelson is well served by his combined choirs ... while the members of Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg offer distinguished and highly disciplined playing. Nelson conducts with authority ... Admirers of Joyce DiDonato, amongst whom I include myself, will be glad to see that the set includes a significant bonus in the shape of Cléopâtre ... Joyce DiDonato gives a searingly dramatic reading, full of commitment ... John Nelson is one of the foremost of today's Berlioz conductors and this set shows why he's so highly regarded. Berlioz devotees who have yet to discover his work would find this a good place to start".

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"Tilson Thomas has long been a committed explorer of the Romantic highways. His San Francisco forces provide a typically well-prepared and fluent account of Berlioz's score, slightly (deliberately?) on the cool side, which seems wholly in keeping with the work's intentionally distanced take on the story. The choral singing is well-rounded, just lacking the last degree of familiarity and French fizz that European choruses can bring".

"If [others] lack a varnish of immediacy, Robin Ticciati and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra have it in their very core ... Ticciati from the first, explosive bars finds tauter drama ... With more than acceptable soloists in Katija Dragojevic, Andrew Staples and Alastair Miles, those seeking a vivid, headier companion to Colin Davis would do well to try this".

"The vocal contributions are perhaps less important here than in his other vocal works. That's not to say that John Nelson, continuing his acclaimed Berlioz serie for Erato, hasn't cast it luxuriously. Frequent collaborator Joyce DiDonato over-emotes in her strophes ... but Cyrille Dubois is light and stylish ... and Christopher Maltman sings Frère Laurents with firm, urgent tone ... But it's Nelson and his Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra who are the stars here ... The Strasbourg strings have a warm, glowing sound, the woodwinds blending well".