Berlioz: Romeo et Juliette
July 2006 Reviewed by: Wes Marshall Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Hector Berlioz subtitled this work "Symphonie Dramatique." Rather than follow the tried-and-true sonata-allegro, and scherzo format, he would take a story known to all and use the orchestra to tell it. The singers would describe or comment on the action, talking all the while about love, passion and fate and offering the audience guideposts to where they were in the orchestra’s story. His idea was nothing less than the complete re-creation of the central form of orchestral music.

If the idea of an English conductor leading a German orchestra in French music sounds like it could be a hopeless goulash, don’t worry. Singers, orchestra and chorus are all spectacular. In chapter 4 of the DVD, Hanna Schwarz, generally a Wagnerian belter, performs a duet with harp and sings about the first gush of love with impossible beauty. Philip Landridge’s short solo in the DVD’s chapter 5 is a master class in concert singing, beautifully enunciated and finely acted. In chapter 13, Peter Meven is a powerful, wall-shaking bass who brings his righteous indignation down on the noble houses of Italy.

Most important is the opportunity to watch Sir Colin Davis, the finest Berlioz interpreter of the recorded age, in the best documented performance he has ever given of the work. Davis has always been known as a specialist -- Tippett, Mozart, Sibelius and most of all, Berlioz. But until his appointment at the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich, he spent most of his career leading the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He stayed in Munich from 1983-1993 and during his tenure, he took the orchestra from a good reputation -- the prior 30 years had seen Rafael Kubelik and Eugen Jochum as conductors -- to international standing. In return, they gave him the opportunity to spend more time in the orchestral repertory, and lucky for us. For proof, go to chapter 8 on the DVD, Berlioz’s musical consummation of the young couple’s love, "Scene d’Amour." Davis draws out a 16-minute climax that perfectly catches the juxtaposition of spiritual and sensual beauty.

Romeo et Juliette is recorded at a well-chosen distance, without the dreaded spot mikes required by conductors, orchestras and engineers who need a safety net for flubs. Instead, we get a sound with wonderful balance, blended yet distinct. There is no recording date given, but based on the age that Sir Colin appears and the fact that the sound is in PCM stereo, I’m guessing it was shot while he was still in Munich. Except for the intrusions made by those in the audience who can’t control their coughing (would that they’d use menthol cough drops or codeine -- or else stay home!), the sound is plush and sumptuous. And the picture is just fine, in a PBS sort of way. As usual with ArtHaus, there are no extras.

As near perfect a Berlioz as we’re likely to see in this lifetime.

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