Absolutely Gorgeous! | Berlioz - Nuits d'été · Herminie / Balleys · Delunsch · Herreweghe

All the other reviewers here are right! | Berlioz - Nuits d'été · Herminie / Balleys · Delunsch · Herreweghe | Hector Berlioz, Philippe Herreweghe, ...

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	• Berlioz - Nuits d'été · Herminie / Balleys · Delunsch · Herreweghe Hector Berlioz, Philippe Herreweghe, ... Harmonia Mundi Fr., 1995 average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Of all the "Nights"... superb

There are many wonderful recordings of the Nuits d'été - I own most of them. But this CD is something special. The Nuits d'été have never before been given such an intimate and superbly realised performance as that delivered by Brigitte Balleys, a mezzo-soprano of a pure and light voice that negotiates the notes with ease - moreover, she infuses her singing with so much meaning that I was staggered the first time I heard this recording.

As if that were not enough, the superb soprano Mireille Delunsch sings a powerhouse performance of the cantata "Herminie" on the CD. It's incredibly focused, lyrical, dramatic in the best sense of the word... this work is unquestionably an ideal vehicle for this extremely fine voice.

I recently saw Delunsch in the DVD of Monteverdi's "L'incoronazione di Poppea", where her lovely voice once again enchanted the audience. It's a magnificently controlled instrument, too - I look forward to many more recordings and DVDs of her performances.

The listener of this CD cannot fail to be enthralled by the singing and perfectly realised interpretation of both the cycle and the cantata on this recording.

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Absolutely Gorgeous!

I have listened to this CD almost every day since buying it. Brigitte Balleys' voice is SOOO beautiful! Why hadn't I heard of her before?! This is true musicianship!

I haven't heard the Anne Sofie von Otter recording. I can't imagine it would be anything less than wonderful. I also can't imagine it being any more perfect than this one!

Just buy it and enjoy!!

note: it is also available in Harmonia Mundi's "Selection" series...at a lower price too!!

Again, just buy it!!

All the other reviewers here are right!

The performances here are sublime. And the orchestral sounds are addictively gorgeous - those clarinets!!!

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Singing and interpretation of the highest order

I have several versions of Berlioz's Nuits d'été - Jessay Norman, Véronique Gens, and the one by Von Otter (my favourite mezzo). Whilst all these renditions are also of a very high standard, the one by Herreweghe and Balleys is in a different dimension. It is the only version that can literary move me to tears. Listen to Le spectre de la rose and Sure les Lagunes and you'll understand. The angelic purity of Balley's voice with her very subtle use of vibrato simply flows together with the brilliant orchestral support of Herreweghe to create a spiritual experience that touches you soul. It simply surpasses all other renditions I've heard. If you buy only one version of Nuits d'été, make sure it's this one, or you may never truly discover the emotional power of this music.

Brigitte Balleys must be the most underrated and under-recorded artist of this caliber and I fail to understand why.

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a gout for berlioz

Now thats the way to do it: thoughtful, musical, flowing. Brigitte Ballyes scores (along with my other 2 favourites in this, von Otter and Crespin, still classic) in having not-such-a-great voice, but keen diction, a sense of the text and emotional resources (I nearly cried hearing Sur les Lagunes). Herreweghe is most sympathetic and attentive. The orchestral sonorities are ear-pricking. The Herminie is a real bonus. I totally agree with the other reviewers here in finding a complete adn pleasant surprise in Mireille Delunsch - she is a real Falcon. She has the voice, the manners, the instinct of the true artist - she certainly makes the music her own. I was angered and dissappointed that Hamonia Mundi did not seem fit to record La Mort de Cleopatre as well, with her... I just heard a radio transmission of her doing Iphigenie en Tauride with Minkowski - and needless to say, she is the best, terrfically conducted btw. I daresay she sould prove a fantastic Octavian as well...

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Tracks
Les Nuits d'?t?, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra), H. 81 (Op. 7): Villanelle. Quand viendra la saison nouvelle | Les Nuits d'?t?, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra), H. 81 (Op. 7): Le spectre de la rose. Soul?ve la paupi?re rose | Les Nuits d'?t?, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra), H. 81 (Op. 7): Sur les lagunes (lamento). Ma belle amie est morte | Les Nuits d'?t?, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra), H. 81 (Op. 7): Absence. Reviens, reviens ma bien-aim?e! | Les Nuits d'?t?, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra), H. 81 (Op. 7): Au cimeti?re (clair de lune). Connaissez-vous la blanche | Les Nuits d'?t?, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra), H. 81 (Op. 7): L'ile inconnue. Dites, la jeune belle! | Herminie, cantata ('sc?ne lyrique') for soprano & orchestra, H. 29

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