The young Berlioz

President: Professor Jacques Barzun

Patron:  Sir Colin Davis CH


The Berlioz Society is a Registered Charity
No. 1124443

The aged Berlioz  

LSO APPEAL - SIR COLIN'S CHALLENGE

Congratulations to Sir Colin Davis, the Berlioz Society's Patron & President of the London Symphony Orchestra;
peerless champions of Berlioz's music down the last 50 years. 2009 marks Sir Colin Davis's 50th anniversary with
the LSO. To celebrate this milestone, Sir Colin has made a generous gift to the Orchestra and is now challenging
audiences and supporters to raise £1million for the LSO Endowment Trust. As a token of our appreciation of his
magnificent performances of Berlioz, which have done so much to raise the profile of the composer in recent decades,
the Society would like to support the LSO Appeal and ask Members to consider making a donation. 'I have been very
privileged to share 50 years of extraordinary music-making with the LSO. It is my personal commitment to ensure that
this Orchestra continues to work on its task of making the best music available to everyone. Please join me in my
challenge and help secure the future of the LSO' - Sir Colin Davis.
The LSO needs to raise long-term funds to push the boundaries of its work and building the LSO Endowment Trust is
critical to ensure that the Orchestra can continue to grow and develop for years to come.

For more information:    Click here.

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Gramophone Magazine selects new Symphonie fantastique as May recording of the Month!

A new CD disc of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, performed on period instruments by the chamber-scale Anima Eterna Brugge under the baton of
Jos van Immerseel, has been declared Recording of the Month in the May edition of the Gramophone magazine. The Bruges ensemble's choice of historical
instruments includes the earliest form of  "modern" double bass, shrieking "omnitonic" clarinets, pre-Boehm-system flutes, valved horns with crooks, ophicleides,
an Erard harp, timpani with a central screw played with the sticks Berlioz specifically called for and two Erard pianos eerily used instead of bells in the
"Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat", a practice endorsed by Berlioz in cases where it proved impractical to employ large church bells on stage,
reviewer Mike Ashman writes in the magazine.

Symphonie fantastique; Le carnaval romain Overture/Zig-Zag Territoires Label ZZT100101

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Death of Blanche Thebom;  a personal appreciation

It was very sad to read, in the Daily Telegraph’s obituary notices on May 14 2010  of the death on March 23 of the renowned
operatic mezzo-soprano Blanche Thebom, at the age of 94. She will live always in my memory for her superb performances as Dido in
Sir John Gielgud's 1957 production of Les Troyens at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Paired with the most excellent Jon Vickers
as Aeneas, they made a truly wonderful duo. Her impressive stage presence and vital singing, coupled with his heroic stance and vocal
declamation, yet deep tenderness in ‘the’ love scene, made for truly unforgettable Acts III and 4. I fear we may not
see their dual like again - if we are to, it hasn't happened yet! Upstream of the 1957 performances of this unfamiliar work, the
newspapers (who then would devote attention and space to opera) did not know what to write in expectation, so gave much coverage to
Blanche Thebom’s striking appearance, especially her exceptionally long hair – not cut for over a decade and reaching well
below her knees. The DT obituary still mentions that distinguishing feature, complete with photograph, as well as mentioning her
unconventional professional history and going on to list the major roles she performed, all it seems to universal acclaim. It even
remarks on the "attentions" she got in 1957 from the Covent Garden flower market porters on her way to and from the Opera House!

In 1957 I was but a penniless chemical engineering research graduate at nearby UCL, but saved up enough to get a seat in "the gods"
for one of these performances. Already totally hooked by Berlioz, the whole opera made the most tremendous impact on me and I have
yearned ever since for a performance with a hero and heroine of their stature. At concert performances nowadays (and some live opera
ones!), I still play across closed eyelids my private remembered “video-clips” of this ROH performance, for which
Sir John gave every attention to trying to honour Berlioz’s stage directions, and where realism was faithfully attempted.
It included a magnificent wooden horse – higher than the proscenium arch.   If only a visual recording had been
made then. But we have to be content with just fuzzy sound tape recordings made (probably illegally) off-air when the BBC broadcast
one performance on the Third Programme (remember that?). It has recently been made available on Testament CD for improved listening."

Harold Hughes May 17th 2010