Berlioz Rediscovered

John Eliot Gardiner

Decca 483 4687; 8 CDS + DVD

Sir John Eliot Gardiner is a former Davis disciple whose own period- instrument recordings are often revelatory, at their best rendering crystal clear the lurid colours and brilliant imagination of Berlioz’s orchestration. Davis’s fourth recording of the Symphonie fantastique in the LSO set is a tour de force, but Gardiner’s is like encountering it anew: raw emotions conjured by the grainy beauty of the strings, the desolate solo wind exchanges in the central pastorale, the savage edge to the brass in the 'March to the Scaffold'. This sense of rediscovery applies just as much to a revelatory Messe solennelle, while this is one of the finest Romeo and Juliet Symphonies bar none, with superb choral contributions. Harold in Italy with viola player Gérard Caussé is the perfect period instrument alternative to Davis on LSO Live with Tabea Zimmermann, although the performance of The Damnation of Faust with the Lyon Opera Orchestra is less compelling...stick with Davis here.