Opera

Editor's Choice Gramophone
Choc Le Monde de la Musique
Recordings of the Year Opera News
Best Recordings of 2008 Classic FM Magazine

Classical CD of the Week ‘Conductor and tenor are the joint heroes of this exhilarating release ... Davis remains the supreme Berliozian of our day, brilliantly evoking the mercurial wit of the comic repartee ... anyone who doesn’t own this fabulous score should snap it up’ Sunday Times

'Berlioz’s unconventional opera “Benvenuto Cellini” curiously mixes the heroic and the farcical. Still, the composer thought it one of his most original scores. Colin Davis is a renowned Berlioz interpreter, and this new recording, taken from live performances with the London Symphony, makes the strongest case for this fascinating work' The New York Times

‘As with previous instalments of the LSO’s Berlioz cycle, this recording outshines Davis’s version of 40 years ago in sound quality and maturity of interpretation. Berlioz’s flamboyant portrait of the Renaissance goldsmith impresses with its sheer vigour and conviction, thanks to Davis’s inspiration of orchestra, chorus and a cast led by Gergory Kunde Laura Claycomb ... this is a bargain’ Financial Times

‘No conductor today excels Sir Colin Davis in Berlioz’s music and this performance of perhaps his most brilliant opera finds him in sparkling form. The American soprano Laura Claycomb is excellent in the coloratura role of Teresa, dominating the performance with her charm and vivaciousness’ Sunday Telegraph