Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini

Gregory Kunde (Cellini)
Laura Claycomb (Teresa)
Darren Jeffery (Balducci)
Peter Coleman-Wright (Fieramosca)
Andrew Kennedy (Francesco)
Isabelle Cais (Ascanio)
Jacques Imbrailo (Pompeo)
John Relyea (Pope Clement VII)
Andrew Foster-Williams (Bernardino)
Alasdair Elliott (Cabaretier)

London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis (conductor)

LSO Live LSO0623 (two CDs)


Huge orchestras, mighty works with passionate agendas, stormy love affairs, bitter professional rivalries, a Blackadder-like autobiography celebrated for its caustic wit - Berlioz was the great larger-than-life Romantic.

This was his first completed opera. In true Romantic fashion, it died a death. Paris ignored it after its premiere in 1838; it was too rough and ready, and too hard for the orchestra to play. Liszt championed the work, but it never took off. In the various attempts to make it box-office, Berlioz produced three different versions of the score. The rare recordings and performances have various choices for their source, therefore. In this case, Sir Colin Davis, who knows as much about Berlioz as anyone alive, and who conducted one of those few previous recordings in 1972, has chosen a kind of hybrid score, which includes a few chunks of French dialogue. You'll almost certainly skip over these when playing the CD.

The recording comes from a memorable live concert performance at the Barbican in June 2007. Two of the singers were late replacements. One was Gregory Kunde, in the title role, so we can forgive his sometimes tired-sounding tone and flagging vibrato. But that's being picky: he was mostly magnificent, full of power and spirit, coping extremely well with the numerous high Bs and Cs. Isabelle Cais, in the trouser role (ie, a woman playing a man) of Ascanio, impressed mightily with her full and rich mezzo; on the night she occasionally battled to be heard over the orchestra (such as in her solo Mais quai-je donc), but comes across better on the recording.

The pick of the major principals is Laura Claycomb, whose beautiful soprano is technically secure and utterly moving; she copes admirably with Berlioz's sometimes over-the-top writing. Darren Jeffery, the other late replacement, is a young singer of great promise, though on this occasion the role required a more mature singer and actor, and didn't do him too many favours.

Among the other parts there are some outstanding performances and one wonderful cameo. Peter Coleman-Wright, as Fieramosca, proves himself an outstanding acting singer and singing actor, while the magisterial bass-baritone of John Relyea, as the Pope, is awesome. Jacques Imbrailo's part as Pompeo is small but perfectly formed, another delight to listen to.

There is some excellent singing from the chorus, who cope with their high-octane set-pieces magnificently. The orchestral playing throughout is wonderful too: Berlioz, the great orchestral innovator, knew how to coax the most vivid colours out of his instrumental ensembles, and the LSO's players exploit this to the full.

The LSO Live series has proved itself chock-full of bargains, and this is no exception. With generally fine singing, superb playing, and a masterful sense of direction from Davis, this is a version of Berlioz's troubled early masterpiece that every fan of Romantic opera will want to have on their shelves.


Ian Mortimer