Lorin Maazel & The Cleveland Orchestra - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite (1981) [2004 SACD]

The Cleveland Orchestra under Lorin Maazel made all too few recordings for Telarc, a Cleveland based company which offered sonics far superior to the orchestra’s other American label, CBS. The repertoire tended toward orchestral showpieces, doubtless intended to show off the then-new digital recording technology.
Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique was an ideal candidate to show off Telarc’s sonics. As an added gimmick, Telarc’s engineers rigged a microphone hookup to a nearby church, substituting the church’s bells for the usual orchestral chimes in the Witches Sabbath movement. The bells were recorded in real-time with the rest of the orchestra, the player being cued via a closed circuit television. Recording considerations aside, Maazel sticks to the straight and narrow, eschewing repeats, with generally brisk tempos. This performance, while brilliant, lacks the grinding power of Boulez’s later version with the same orchestra or Munch’s two Boston versions.
The Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Suite is performed along the same lines (minus the church bells, of course). Pseudo-intellectual snobs like to dis Tchaikovsky as a hysterical hack who wrote gushing, over-orchestrated garbage. But the Nutcracker continues to charm, both as a ballet and as pure music. I can’t think of any better composer of ballet music, only Stravinsky comes close. (Beethoven’s score for The Creatures of Prometheus pales by comparison.) Maazel and the Cleveland Orchestra give a straightforward rendition, with many of the tricky rhythmic hurdles handled with almost insolent ease.
In the 1980s, it would have been hard to imagine these recordings sounding even more spectacular, but Telarc have outdone themselves. If you’re looking to show off your sound system or the incredible playing of the Cleveland Orchestra, these recordings are a good fit.

Tracks:

Berlioz – Symphonie Fantastique
1. Dreams. Passions: Largo-Allegro Agitato E Appassionato Assai-Tempo I-Religiosamente
2. A Ball: Valse: Allegro Non Troppo
3. Scene In The Country: Adagio
4. March To The Scaffold: Allegretto Non Troppo
5. Dream Of The Witches’ Sabbath: Larghetto-Allegro-Allegro Assai-Allegro-Lontano-Ronde Du Sabbat-Dies Irae

Tchaikovsky – Nutcracker Suite
6. Miniature Overature
7. March
8. Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy
9. Russian Dance
10. Arabian Dance
11. Chinese Dance
12. Dance Of The Mirlitons
13. Waltz Of The Flowers

Personnel:

Conductor – Lorin Maazel
Orchestra – The Cleveland Orchestra