Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79 Orchestre National de Lyon & Leonard Slatkin

• Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869): Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 1:
• 1 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 1: No. 1a, Introduction 04:50
• 2 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 1: No. 1b, D'anciennes haines endormies 05:00
• 3 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 1: No. 1c, Premiers transports que nul n'oublie! 06:31
• 4 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 1: No. 1d, Bientôt de Roméo la pâle rêverie 00:26
• 5 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 1: No. 1e, Mab! La messagère fluette et légère 02:45
• Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 2:
• 6 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 2: No. 2a, Roméo seul 07:29
• 7 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 2: No. 2b, Fête 05:46
• 8 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 2: No. 3a, Ohé, Capulets! 03:00
• 9 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 2: No. 3b, Scène d'amour 16:31
• 10 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 2: No. 4, La Reine Mab, ou la Fée des Songes 08:13
• Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 3:
• 11 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 3: No. 5, Jetez des fleurs pour la vierge expirée! 08:40
• 12 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 3: No. 6a, Roméo au tombeau des Capulets 01:24
• 13 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 3: No. 6b, Invocation 06:33
• 14 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 3: No. 7a, Quoi! Roméo de retour! 01:24
• 15 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 3: No. 7b, Je vais dévoiler le mystère! 02:58
• 16 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 3: No. 7c, Pauvres enfants que je pleure 04:36
• 17 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 3: No. 7d,Mais notre sang rougit leur glaive 04:10
• 18 Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79, Pt. 3: No. 7e, Jurez donc par l'auguste symbole 04:31
• Béatrice et Bénédict, H 138:
• 19 Béatrice et Bénédict, H 138: Overture 08:11
• Le roi Lear, Op. 4, H 53:
• 20 Le roi Lear, Op. 4, H 53: Overture 15:14
• Total Runtime 01:58:12

Info for Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79

Immensely influential, the remarkable Symphonie fantastique was composed while Hector Berlioz was suffering an intense and unreciprocated passion for the Irish actress Harriet Smithson. Its autobiographical tale describes a young musician's opium-poisoned nightmares of jealous despair and fatal justice following the murder of his beloved. Berlioz wrote a second movement cornet solo into a subsequent revision of the score, here included as an optional extra. He wed his sweetheart actress but, recuperating in Nice, wrote Le corsaire after the final breakup of their marriage. Internationally renowned conductor Leonard Slatkin began his tenure as Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the 2008-2009 season. He was recently named Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lyon, beginning with the 2011-2012 season. He completed his twelfth and final season as Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in June 2008, and finished his three-year commitment as Music Advisor to the Nashville Symphony Orchestra in June 2009. Slatkin continues as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

"The playing is remarkably refined, from an orchestra which has a strong tradition in Berlioz. String playing is cultured, catching the yearning in the first movement and an appropriate glassy quality in the finale." (Mark Pullinger, International Record Review)

"There's plenty of atmosphere... in a notably vivid, spacious recording, from which an elegant movement especially gains... excellent playing and recording still gives this disc a respectable place in a crowded market.' 4* --Michael Scott Rohan, BBC Music Magazine October 2012 'Leonard Slatkin's new post as music director of the orchestra National de Lyon yields up this polished performance of Berlioz's hallucinatory masterpiece, preceded by a suitably dashing Le Corsaire overture as curtain raiser... one of [the disc's] admirable qualities is the lucidity of playing that responds well to the particular palette of sonorities that Berlioz envisaged." (Geoffrey Norris, Gramophone)

"This new, magnificent recording... represents a glorious launch to Leonard Slatkin's new musical directorship of the Orchestre National de Lyon... This is the full-fat Symphonie Fantastique, marked by meticulous organisation.... [the] textural clarity is extraordinary. The orchestra is sumptuous... a seriously classy recording of a suave, stylish and enthralling performance." (Michael Tumelty, Sunday Herald)

Orchestre National de Lyon
Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Orchestre National de Lyon
Offspring of the Société des Grands Concerts de Lyon, founded in 1905, the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL) became a permanent orchestra with 102 musicians in 1969, with Louis Frémaux as its first musical director (1969-1971). From then on the orchestra was run and supported financially by the City of Lyon, which in 1975 provided it with a concert hall, the Lyon Auditorium. Since the Opéra de Lyon Orchestra was founded in 1983, the ONL has devoted itself to symphonic repertoire. Taking over from Louis Frémaux in 1971, Serge Baudo was in charge of the orchestra until 1986 and made it a musical force to be reckoned with far beyond its home region. Under the leadership of Emmanuel Krivine (1987-2000) and David Robertson (2000-2004), the ONL continued to increase in artistic stature and to receive international critical acclaim. Jun Märkl took over from him in September 2005 as musical director of the ONL. Leonard Slatkin has been musical director since September 2011.

Leonard Slatkin
Internationally renowned conductor Leonard Slatkin is currently Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and of the Orchestre National de Lyon and Principal Guest Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He is also the author of a new book entitled Conducting Business. His previous positions have included a seventeen-year tenure with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, a twelve-year tenure with the National Symphony as well as titled positions with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the New Orleans Philharmonic. Always committed to young people, Leonard Slatkin founded the National Conducting Institute and the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and continues to work with student orchestras around the world. Born in Los Angeles, where his parents, conductor-violinist Felix Slatkin and cellist Eleanor Aller, were founding members of the Hollywood String Quartet, he began his musical studies on the violin and studied conducting with his father, followed by training with Walter Susskind at Aspen and Jean Morel at The Juilliard School. His more than 100 recordings have brought seven GRAMMY® Awards and 64 GRAMMY® Award nominations. He has received many other honours, including the 2003 National Medal of Arts, France’s Chevalier of the Legion of Honour and the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton for service to American music.

Booklet for Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79