The Virginia recording just isn’t as immediate or as clear less detailed in some high-lying choral passages especially. Louis Hector Berlioz (b.1803, d.1869) the French Romantic composer, was widely acknowledged for his works of Symphonie fantastique and Grande Messe des morts (Requiem), Berlioz played a major part in the modern orchestra with his writings on Instrumentation and by his application of huge orchestral forces for his music, sometimes reaching 1,000 performers. Enjoyable as this must have been in the hall, on disc it faces formidable competition, in particular Colin Davis’s two versions and Paul McCreesh’s extraordinary recording with authentically huge forces. Not that she underplays the brass effects, siting the antiphonal chorales around the hall as prescribed, with the tenor soloist in the Sanctus, it seems, somewhere ethereally above – though Robert McPherson sounds a touch light. Falletta brings this out beautifully not only in the sombre orchestral sonorities but equally in the complex choral textures, well sung here by the VSO Chorus (not as large as Berlioz’s original, but few are). Amid all the brass and choral thunders of the Rex Tremendae, the work’s real spirit is quietly contemplative, progressing from the pain of the Kyrie to the ultimate consolation of the Agnus Dei. Conducting the Requiem for the first time, she makes a fine interpreter, characteristically dynamic but well aware that, for all its scale and spectacle, this isn’t as overtly dramatic as Verdi’s. Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s (VSO) director, JoAnn Falletta, is already celebrated both in the US and abroad. He also conducted most performances of his own works, not trusting this responsibility to anyone else.This concert was a major highlight of the Virginia Arts Festival, on America’s East Coast. His ideas were quite grand his Requiem uses an orchestra of 190, four additional brass and percussion ensembles, and a 210-voice chorus! Berlioz' new style of musical composition led directly to the Romantic era.Īlthough he wrote several major musical works, Berlioz was better known in his lifetime as a music critic than as a composer.

Still, through hard work, various musical successes and study at the Paris Conservatory, Berlioz achieved his ambition to be a composer.īerlioz was noted for his orchestral writing and is credited with creating the modern orchestra. Furious, his father cut off all financial support. While in Paris studying for this degree, however, he became very interested in opera and started taking composition lessons.

At his father's wish, he enrolled in medical school instead. Louis-Hector Berlioz was not a child prodigy, did not start serious study of music until he was an adult, and, unlike most other composers, never learned to play the piano or any other instrument.

Berlioz requiem youtube