BaL 29.11.25 - Berlioz: Harold in Italy

[Pulcinella]

3pm
Building a Library. Music writer and historian Flora Willson assesses recordings of Berlioz's Harold in Italy and makes a top recommendation.
Berlioz's Harold in Italy grew from a commission by superstar violinist Paganini, who was keen for a new work to show off his newly acquired Stradivarius viola. Paganini was disappointed with the finished work, however, which is not the virtuosic concerto he was expecting. Berlioz was inspired by Lord Byron's poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: 'My intention was to write a series of orchestral scenes. By placing it among the poetic memories formed from my wanderings in the Abruzzi, I wanted to make the viola a kind of melancholy dreamer in the manner of Byron's Childe-Harold.'

Presto link to currently available recordings:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/works/29697--berlioz-harold-en-italie-op-16/browse

The BBC MM CD release (Volume 27, Number 6) features Lise Bertaud, and (I think) the BBCSO (the liner notes aren't clear) under Michael Seal, in a live recording in Studio 1 at Maida Vale Studios, London, on 13 November 2015.

Top choice:
Tabea Zimmermann (viola)
London Symphony Orchestra / Colin Davis (cond.)
LSO Live LSO0827

But see Retune's post the thread for other issues of this recording.

[Pulcinella]

This Wiki link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_en_Italie

includes the following list of recordings, which should make a good start for our discussions.
(Two posts as too many characters for just one.)

• William Primrose, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, 2 January 1939 live broadcast
• William Primrose, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky, 1944
• Gunther Breitenbach, Vienna Symphony, Rudolf Moralt, 1950
• William Primrose, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Beecham, 1952
• Carlton Cooley, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, 1953
• Frederick Riddle, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hermann Scherchen, 1953
• Joseph de Pasquale, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, 1954
• Ladislav Cerny, Czech Philharmonic, Vaclav Jiracek, 1955
• Frederick Riddle, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham, 1956
• Heinz Kirchner, Berlin Philharmonic, Igor Markevitch, 1957
• William Primrose, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, 1958
• William Lincer, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, 1961
• Yehudi Menuhin, Philharmonia Orchestra, Colin Davis, 1963
• Klaas Boon, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, 1963
• Georg Schmid, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelík, 1964
• Rudolf Barshai, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, David Oistrakh, 1964
• Walter Trampler, London Symphony Orchestra, Georges Prêtre, 1969
• Joseph de Pasquale, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, 1970
• Claude Ducrocq, Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, Alain Lombard, 1974
• Nobuko Imai, London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis, 1975
• Daniel Benyamini, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta, 1975
• Joseph Suk, Czech Philharmonic, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, 1976
• Donald McInnes, Orchestre National de France, Leonard Bernstein, 1977
• Pinchas Zukerman, Orchestre de Paris, Daniel Barenboim, 1977
• Robert Vernon, Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel, 1977
• Yuri Bashmet, USSR State Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev, 1981
• Lubomir Jaly, Czech Philharmonic, František Jílek, 1981
• Milan Telecky, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Onderj Lenard, 1982
• Wolfram Christ, Berlin Philharmonic, Lorin Maazel, 1985
• Douglas McNabney, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Simon Streatfield, 1985
• Pinchas Zukerman, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit, 1988
• Yuri Bashmet, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Eliahu Inbal, 1989

[Pulcinella]

• Gérard Caussé, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Michel Plasson, 1991
• Gérard Caussé, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner, 1994
• Laurent Verney, Orchestre de l'Opéra Bastille, Myung-whun Chung, 1996
• Bruno Pasquier, Orchestre Philharmonique Regional Montpellier, Cyril Diederich, 1996
• Bruno Giuranna, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Maxim Shostakovich, 1996
• Rivka Golani, San Diego Symphony, Yoav Talmi, 1996
• Gérard Caussé, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, Jean Fournet, 1997
• Mikhail Tolpygo, USSR State Academic Symphony Orchestra, David Oistrakh, 1997
• Csaba Erdélyi, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Marc Taddei, 2001
• Tabea Zimmermann, London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis, 2003
• Naoko Shimizu, Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, Kazuhiro Koizumi, 2007
• Jean-Eric Soucy, Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sylvain Cambreling, 2009
• Antoine Tamestit, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski, 2011
• Stefano Passaggio, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Milan Horvat, 2011
• David Aaron Carpenter, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy, 2011
• James Ehnes, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis, 2014
• Antoine Tamestit, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Eliahu Inbal, 2018
• Timothy Ridout, Orchestre Philarmonique de Strasbourg, conducted by John Nelson CD Erato 2022

[smittims]

Menuhin and Primrose /Beecham are enough for me. The Menuhin used to be coupled with Berlioz' delightful little 'mini-violin-concerto', the Reverie et Caprice.

[Barbirollians]

Flora Willson means I won't be listening to this one. We clearly have very different ears . As shown by her choices for Das Lied and the Magic Flute.

[oliver sudden]

There’s also Tabea Zimmermann and Les Siècles, spinning here at this very moment.

[Pulcinella]

There’s also Tabea Zimmermann and Les Siècles, spinning here at this very moment.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8535324--berlioz-harold-en-italie-les-nuits-dete

Reviewed in 2019, so within the timescale of Wiki's list, even if the list has not been updated recently.
I wonder if Roth has been 'cancelled'?
The page was last edited earlier this month.

[oliver sudden]

As far as I can tell from the edit history, nothing so dramatic… just looks as though no one ever bothered to add it. (People seem to edit by adding single recordings here and there rather than by trying to make the list comprehensive.)

[richardfinegold]

I learned this from DFD and Suk but that LP is long gone. I bought Zuckerman/Barenboim after hearing them in concert. I like the piece but have never felt obligated to collect multiple releases.

I think I heard Primrose/ Beecham once on the radio

[Pulcinella]

I learned this from DFD and Suk but that LP is long gone. I bought Zuckerman/Barenboim after hearing them in concert. I like the piece but have never felt obligated to collect multiple releases.

I think I heard Primrose/ Beecham once on the radio

I had to check who was conducting and who was the soloist, thinking at first that DFD was somehow singing the role of Harold.

https://www.discogs.com/release/14556968-Hector-Berlioz-Josef-Suk-Dietrich-Fischer-DieskauCzech-Philharmonic-Orchestra-Harold-En-Italie

[vinteuil]

I had to check who was conducting and who was the soloist, thinking at first that DFD was somehow singing the role of Harold.

... phew, I was not alone!

[Darloboy]

Previous BaL recommendations:

Stephen Dodgson (Mar 1979): McInnes/Bernstein

Roger Nichols (Nov 1990): Wolfram Christ/Maazel + Bashmet/Inbal as also recommended

[CallMePaul]

I have the Zimmerman/ Davis recording. I was surprised to see that it is now (in single disc form) on the Alto label, as mine is on the LSO Live label. I assume that it is included in the bargain-priced set of all Sir Colin's Berlioz on LSO Live, but this is "out of stock" on Presto (may be in stock elsewhere).

[Retune]

I have the Zimmerman/ Davis recording. I was surprised to see that it is now (in single disc form) on the Alto label, as mine is on the LSO Live label. I assume that it is included in the bargain-priced set of all Sir Colin's Berlioz on LSO Live, but this is "out of stock" on Presto (may be in stock elsewhere).

And that's today's winner, well deserved from what I heard in the excerpts.

I wondered if the Alto was the same recording, but checked their site and it is (Barbican 2003, licensed from LSO live, different couplings).

https://www.discogs.com/release/9374697-Berlioz-Sir-Colin-Davis-Tabea-Zimmermann-London-Symphony-Orchestra-Harold-En-Italie

https://altocd.com/product/berlioz-harold-in-italy-op-16-beatrice-et-benedict-royal-hunt-and-storm/

It is indeed also in the LSO Live 'Berlioz Odyssey' box.

https://www.discogs.com/release/14275620-Berlioz-London-Symphony-Orchestra-Sir-Colin-Davis-Berlioz-Odyssey-The-Complete-Sir-Colin-Davis-Recor

[Pulcinella]

The website gives only the LSO Live label details:

Top choice:
Tabea Zimmermann (viola)
London Symphony Orchestra / Colin Davis (cond.)
LSO Live LSO0827