Beethoven had just finished writing his symphonies when – in 1830 – a young Frenchman created a sensation with his completely novel and exuberant orchestral music. Based on classical music form, Berlioz composed his »massive instrumental composition« as a five-movement musical drama. Such a stroke of genius, in which the ego and grief thereof are described, had never been heard before in the French Romantic period.

Berlioz employs a very large orchestra with a big timpani section, four bassoons and military brass to present the young artist – an autobiographically motivated character – who dreams his way through the various episodes, hallucinating and frenzied. Here it is clear that it is Berlioz’ declared intention to express the artist’s visions radically and unmistakably in music – beginning with the ever-recurring delusional ‘idée fixe’ via a terrifying opium intoxication and ending up with the nightmare of his own burial.

Of the many high-quality, often highly impassioned performances, this particular one by Dimitri Mitropoulos is certainly a benchmark recording. The great conductor makes the rhythms pulsate; he skilfully mixes the wealth of sound colouring, and blends the orchestral instruments so subtly that one notices previously unheard details with every listening.

• 180 gram LP w/ Standard Sleeve
• Recording: February 1957 in New York

Columbia MS 6030 -Artist-Dimitri Mitropoulos, Hector Berlioz

• Released: 8/28/19
• Format Detail: LP Black
• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Classical

As described in our Privacy Policy, we collect personal information from your interactions with us and our website, including through cookies and similar technologies. We may also share this personal information with third parties, including advertising partners. We do this in order to show you ads on other websites that are more relevant to your interests and for other reasons outlined in our privacy policy.

Sharing of personal information for targeted advertising based on your interaction on different websites may be considered "sales", "sharing", or "targeted advertising" under certain U.S. state privacy laws. Depending on where you live, you may have the right to opt out of these activities. If you would like to exercise this opt-out right, please follow the instructions below.

If you visit our website with the Global Privacy Control opt-out preference signal enabled, depending on where you are, we will treat this as a request to opt-out of activity that may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information or other uses that may be considered targeted advertising for the device and browser you used to visit our website.