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Berlioz: L'enfance du Christ [digital download] – LSO Live

Berlioz: L'enfance du Christ [download]

  • Catalogue Number LSO0606
    UPC 822231160625

    James Mallinson producer
    Jonathan Stokes and Neil Hutchinson for Classic Sound Ltd balance engineers

    Recorded December 2006, Barbican, London

    DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording
    Notes in English / en français / auf Deutsch
    Includes complete libretto with English translation
    Sung in French

  • Financial Times’ Disc of the Year

    New York Times’ CDs of the Year

    The American Record Guild’s Critic's Choice 2008

    The Independent’s Classical CD of the Week
    ‘If ever a conductor lived the works of a composer, it’s Davis with Berlioz. The London Symphony Orchestra play with delicacy, the Tenebrae Choir are immaculate, and there’s an impeccable set of soloists.’

    Performance: ***** Recording: ***** ‘Beuron, probably today's finest lyric tenor, gives the performance an essential idiomatic core in his narration ... [Tenebrae are] dramatically alert and glowing as stained glass, the angelic messages skin-pricklingly ethereal.’
    BBC Music Magazine

    ***** 'Sir Colin Davis worked his magic with Berlioz yet again.'
    Sunday Telegraph

    ‘Life-enhancing.’
    The Times

    ‘[Sir Colin Davis's] revisitation of this truly classic score is utterly and totally compelling.’
    International Record Review

    ‘Under Davis’s loving direction, the spirit is wonderfully right, and all the soloists, the fine Tenebrae Choir and the hypersensitive LSO combine in an interpretation of extraordinary tenderness.’
    Sunday Times

£9.99

Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra


Described as a ‘sacred trilogy’, Berlioz’s oratorio L’enfance du Christ began as a short piece called Shepherds’ Farewell. It tells the story of the birth of Jesus and the journey of the Holy Family as they escape Bethlehem and head across Egypt to the city of Saïs. Unlike many of the composer’s more flamboyant works, it is an exquisite and gentle composition scored for relatively small forces.


Composer   Berlioz
Conductors   Sir Colin Davis, Nigel Short
Performers   Tenebrae, London Symphony Orchestra
Soloists   Yann Beuron, Karen Cargill, William Dazeley, Matthew Rose, Peter Rose

Track list
Disc 1
1. L'enfance du Christ - Part I, Le Songe d'Hérode: Prologue - Dans la Crèche, en Ce Temps
2. L'enfance du Christ - Part I, Le Songe d'Hérode: Scene 1 - Marche Nocturne
3. L'enfance du Christ - Part I, Le Songe d'Hérode: Scenes 2 & 3 - Toujours Ce Rêve!
4. L'enfance du Christ - Part I, Le Songe d'Hérode: Scene 4 - Les Sages de Judée
5. L'enfance du Christ - Part I, Le Songe d'Hérode: Scene 4 - Les Devins Font Des Évolutions
6. L'enfance du Christ - Part I, Le Songe d'Hérode: Scene 4 - la Voix Dit Vrai, Seigneur
7. L'enfance du Christ - Part I, Le Songe d'Hérode: Scene 5 - O Mon Cher Fils
8. L'enfance du Christ - Part I, Le Songe d'Hérode: Scene 6 - Joseph! Marie!

Disc 2
1. L'enfance du Christ - Part II, La Fuite en Égypte: Ouverture
2. L'enfance du Christ - Part II, La Fuite en Égypte: L'adieu Des Bergers a la Sainte Famille (The Shepherds' Farewell)
3. L'enfance du Christ - Part II, La Fuite en Égypte: Le Repos de la Sainte Famille (The Holy Family At Rest)
4. L'enfance du Christ - Part III, L'arrivée À Saïs: Depuis Trois Jours
5. L'enfance du Christ - Part III, L'arrivée À Saïs: Scene 1 - Dans Cette Ville Immense
6. L'enfance du Christ: Part III, L'arrivée À Saïs: Scene 2 - Entrez, Pauves Hébreux
7. L'enfance du Christ - Part III, L'arrivée À Saïs: Scene 2 - Trio for Two Flutes and Harp
8. L'enfance du Christ - Part III, L'arrivée À Saïs: Scene 2 - Vous Pleurez, Jeune Mère
9. L'enfance du Christ - Part III, L'arrivée À Saïs: Epilogue - Ce Fut Ainsi Que Par un Infidèle
10. L'enfance du Christ - Part III, L'arrivée À Saïs: Epilogue - O Mon Âme

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