Berlioz : Les nuits d'été, Harold en Italie

Description

It is once again an exceptional interpretation that Michael Spyres offers us with Berlioz’s Les Nuits d'été, in continuity with the recordings that John Nelson dedicates to the composer with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg. This is the first time the original 1856 version has been presented, which transposed the melodies for several types of voices. Here they are all sung by our “star” with his multiple tenor, bass and baritone voice! The concert he gave in Strasbourg was greeted with a memorable ovation. Also featured on this recording is Harold en Italie, performed by the young English violist Timothy Ridout, distinguished by the BBC as a “New Generation Artist”. The internationally renowned “baritone” Michael Spyres masters the roles of high tenor and baritone with the same brilliance and ease — in both vocal ranges “the opera world is at his feet,” enthuses Gramophone Magazine. For Berlioz’s art song collection Les Nuits d'été, the exceptional singer now uses his entire spectrum and appears as a bass for the first time; this makes the recording a unique recording in the world. The melancholic love lament appears on the album Berlioz: Les Nuits d'été - Harold en Italie, recorded by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg under the direction of John Nelson. The eighty-year-old American conductor John Nelson is considered one of the most important interpreters of Berlioz’s work. With this new album, he adds two more works to his multiple award-winning Berlioz cycle: in addition to Les Nuits d'été (in the 1856 orchestral version), there is also the viola symphony Harold en Italie. It was written by Berlioz for the devil violinist Paganini. ... Romantic indulgence is interpreted by “the extremely talented Timothy Ridout, recently voted one of the BBC’s New Generation Artists” (The Times, 2021).