Berlioz: Les Troyens. - Regine Crespin, Guy Chauvet, Orchestra and Chorus of the Theatre Nationale de l'Opera - sound recording reviews

National Review, July 9, 1990 by Ralph De Toledano

Les Troyens Like another Hector, Hector Berlioz is said to have perished under the walls of Troy--more specifically in Les Troyens, his last work. This, of course, is nonsense. No composer so full of the joie de vivre and the joie de combattre would have languished because of his critics. (They had assailed him before without sending him into the wings on his shield.) Highlights from the opera, in a Paris recording, demonstrate that Les Troyens is vintage Berlioz.

Both Regine Crespin as Cassandra and Guy Chauvet as Aeneas, with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Theatre National de l'Opera de Paris, performing in the more subtle French style, acquit themselves with honor. And that it is highlights, rather than the complete opera, is for me at least a plus. I am second to no one in my love of Berlioz, but the full operas defeat me. Now, if the record companies give us Norrington conducting the Harold in Italy and the Enfance du Christ with the brilliance that he brought to the Symphonie Fantastique, we will sing our hosannas. (Angel/EMI CDM 763480 2.)