Audition - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique - DG, BSO/Ozawa
Audition - Berlioz : Symphonie Fantastique - DG, Boston Symphony Orchestra Pentatone SACD We forget, perhaps, how well paired Ozawa and the Boston orchestra were in his reign as Music Director between 1973 and 2002. Ozawa had a very special touch as light as a feather and an even finer ear for texture. And it was these qualities which responded well in his conducting of French music - Ravel especially. But in the vast variety of French music Berlioz was something extra special. It requires the tensile force in both his pictorialism and highly dramatic narrative. The Boston orchestra play beautifully but a little carefully. Ozawa maintains his sharp eared reputation for characterisation in all sections and especially the percussion . The first three movements are so wonderfully lyrical and filled with detail that you might say it’s typically French. But as the bucolic moves into something more visceral the orchestra seems a bit underpowered. The last two dramatic movements are...
