Berlioz: Dammnation du Faust; Debussy: Damoiselle élue

Advantages: Colourful and always exciting
Disadvantages: absolutely none

...in his career to offer any great consolation. Always a great recycler of his own music he made many sets of collections of music written at different periods and published under one title. He revised and included his early set of songs after Faust into his dramatic legend "La damnation de Faust," among other pieces and, at the other end of the scale, he wrote the unbelievably beautiful "L'Enfance du Christ," a work that is difficult to believe is by Berlioz. In 1848 he wrote his famous "Mémoires" (updated in 1865) that is a fascinating read of this often exaggerating and always unique writer/poet/composer. After the death of his second wife in 1862 and of his beloved son Louis in 1867, Berlioz became a shadow of his former self, finally dying in 1869 a broken man. © berlioz... Read review

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Advantages: Amazing pianistic performances
Disadvantages: I can't play like that

...There are so many interpretive problems involved with playing Debussy, not least that there is a very recognisable idea that only a Frenchman can express his idea properly. So having been working with my very English duet partner on Debussy's 6 epigraphs antiques recently we reached a point in our preparation where listening to a professional recording would help, who else would we consider but the Labèque sisters? The Labèque Sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque were bought up on the Basque coast and would travel to Paris to the conservatoire, which incidentally was where Debussy himself studied. The Labèques have always liked to explore a very eclectic range of music and will happily perform a huge variety of genres, from Bach (mid-late 18th Century) to a recently adaptation of Beatles music that Katia has been working on... Read review

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Advantages: Great performances of popular favourites and some rare gems
Disadvantages: Barely none, with perhaps slight issues with sound.

.... As is appropriate, there is quite a lot of Berlioz included, for he is one of the greatest orchestrators that ever was and his music really defines what "colour" in music is. There are two selections from the "dramatic legend" La Damnation de Faust (a strange cantata-opera-symphony hybrid), beginning with the "Ballet de Sylphes," a light and fairy-like little waltz, giving ample proof that Berlioz could write music subtle as wind when he wanted to. The following "Menuet des feux follets" is likewise sweetly light, but features little surges of drama appropriate in a witches' sabbath, which allows the good humour of drunken dancing to sweep the section to a close. To cap off the sensitive Berlioz, there is the subtle and magical "Queen Mab Scherzo" from his "dramatic symphony" Roméo et Juliette that is filled with quicksilver movement, magical feeling... Read review

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