Hector BERLIOZ (1803-1869)
Harold en Italie (1834) [42:48]
La mort de Cléopâtre (1829) [20:40]
Antoine Tamestit (viola); Karen Cargill (mezzo)
London Symphony Orchestra/Valery Gergiev
rec. live, Barbican, London, 1 and 12 November 2013. DDD/DSD
LSO LIVE LSO0760 SACD [63:09]
I didn't come to this disc with high expectations. After all, the first volume in Gergiev's LSO/Berlioz
cycle had left me distinctly unimpressed. This one was a lot better than
I was expecting, however. That's in no small part due to the playing
of viola superstar Antoine Tamestit. More than most, he persuades you that
the viola is actually acting a part here. His first entrance with
Harold's theme, for example, suggests a personality that is
reflective, responsive and warm, but at the same time a little withdrawn,
and this level of characterisation continues throughout the piece. I loved
the way, for example, he instantly shades back his playing in the
theme's second appearance so that it sounds much more shy, and is
then almost carried away by the grandeur and ecstasy of the mountains in
which he roams as the first movement proceeds. He is then steadily affected
by the different contexts in which it appears. Harold seems not only
contemplative, but also rather confused and even a little conflicted in the
presence of the pilgrims. He is carried away by the local colour of the
Serenade, and his playing of the recollections at the start of the finale
seems to bid a fond farewell not just to them but to the soloist's
role in the piece. He is very fine indeed, and elevates this performance to
something above the mediocre.
Gergiev isn't bad, either. He controls the opening fugato in a way
that is brooding and mysterious without ever sounding too gloomy, and the
gathering excitement of the rest of the first movement comes across very
naturally in his hands, backed by exciting playing from the orchestra every
step of the way, with a conclusion that is suitably headlong. The
pilgrims' march also unfolds steadily like a great arch, with a
persuasive lilt to its main theme, and the winds enjoy themselves enormously
in the third movement. Unsurprisingly, Gergiev is most at home during the
helter-skelter of the Brigands' scene, which he enlivens with all the
red-blooded tension you would expect of him, lightening things for the
interludes so as to provide just enough contrast. Colin Davis need fear
nothing from the comparison, but this Harold isn't at all
bad, and is worth checking out for Tamestit alone.
Things improve still further when Karen Cargill arrives for Le Mort de
Cléopâtre. She impressed me mightily when she recorded this scene for Linn, and she is every bit as
impressive here, perhaps even pushed to still greater things due to the
scale of the orchestra that accompanies her. There is fear combined with
resignation in her opening, but there is wounded dignity, too. This
Cleopatra is like wounded lion, and the high notes, which Cargill crests
with ease, only underline the queen's grandeur which is undiminished
in her suffering. Terror then sets in with her address to her ancestors, but
resolution as she determines to take her own life.
The orchestra responds in kind. At the opening the strings sound as though
they are reeling, having lost their senses, and the conception is much more
symphonic, even operatic than in Cargill's recent recording with the
Scottish Chamber Orchestra. I loved the sense of an orchestral procession at
Grands Pharaons, as Cleopatra imagines the shades of her ancestors
appearing before her, the repeated rhythmic pizzicati underlining the
queen's terror. The string shudder before Dieux du Nil is
very evocative, and leaves you in no doubt as to what is going on. The final
passage, ebbing away to nothing, reminds you of just how original Berlioz
was, and how daring he was being when he submitted this for the Prix de
Rome, and serves to underline what a great performance this is.
So while no one will get rid of their previous versions, this one is an
interesting alternative.
Simon Thompson
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