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| Philips (Full price) (CD) 411 425-2PH. Also issued as (Cassette) 7300 313. Digitally remastered from 6500 774 (3/75). |
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| NYPO, Mehta (3/83) 400 046-2DH. |
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| Chicago SO, Abbado (5/84) 410 895-2GH |
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This version dates from 1974 and has been re-mastered from analogue tapes. The September edition of the Gramophone Compact Disc Catalogue lists five different versions of the Symphonie fantastique of which only two have so far been reviewed in these columns. The more formidable contender of the two is the most recent from Abbado and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (DG) and as I sang its praises relatively recently there is no need to go over the same ground again. Mehta and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Decca) receive the most vivid recording but the reading is short on character and distinction.
The merits of Sir Colin's 1974 version are well known and both artistically and in terms of sound remains a pretty clear first choice even in the new medium. I compared the CD with a slightly later copy of the LP than the original (the one included in the Philips box 6747 271 whose surface in the passage I sampled was impeccable) but the CD has just that greater firmness of focus and clarity of detail. Much though I appreciate the DG account, their recording does not do as much justice to detail of texture as the Philips balance—and, I have to say, the Concertgebouw acoustic. Both conductors use the cornet part, first recorded by Klemperer in the 1960s and observe the first movement exposition repeat.
RL