Credits:

Berlioz (1803-1869)

Description:

A sequel to his masterpiece "Symphonie fantastique," Berlioz composed "Lelio, or Return to Life" based on his own experience of lost love. 1830 saw the premiere of this work, which not only incorporated several of his earlier compositions, but also required a narrator, solo voice, and chorus, unlike the instrumental-only Symphonie fantastique. The first piece, "The Fisherman," was composed in 1830. However, the composition is unique in that in the first piece, The Fisherman, the orchestra does not appear, but a tenor sings with piano accompaniment, and all but the narrator performs behind a curtain (since it is all Lelio's fantasy) until the sixth piece, The Fantasy, begins. Because of this, the actor in charge of the narrator is required to have a high level of expressiveness, and because Berlioz specified that the performance should be continued with the Symphonie fantastique, it has not been performed very often. In this live performance by Gielen on December 7, 2000, the narrator was Joachim Bismeier, a famous actor born in Germany in 1936. Although the sung parts are in French, all the narration is in German, which, together with Guillen's tight conducting, gives an interesting impression of solidity to the entire production. Naxos Japan