Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique, Brahms Symphony No.1 - Charles Munch - Orchestre De Paris - Erato WPGS-10048 (2018)
SACD rip via PS3 to iso (3.93GB) | Originally Warner Classics 1968 | Only 2ch single-layer | DR13 | Classical

   Analogue recording by EMI, I suspect it uses the Abbey Road 24/96 remaster for the Berlioz.

These recordings were also issued as EMI (Japan) TOGE-15027 & in 2012 a remaster TOGE-15015, & the Brahms WPGS-10048. The Berlioz was remastered by Esoteric (ESSE-90049) in 2010, but it didn't get rave reviews.

Acclaimed conductor Charles Munch leads the Orchestre de Paris in this stunning performance of Berlioz’s masterpiece, Symphonie Fantastique Op.14. The work has been highly praised for its remarkable sound quality. Munch commands the orchestra in an illuminating & spellbinding performance noted for its lush instrumentation.

Many people say one should not combine German & French music in the same programme, but considering his background it seems perfectly valid to me: I'll leave you to decide. The Paris Orchestra was newly formed at the time of this it's 1st recording, but the performance is miraculous, considering that an orchestra ensemble is not something that can be refined overnight. The engineering values of these Voix de Son Maître/EMI recordings—with the same team that made the great recordings of the Société des Concerts & André Cluytens (René Challan & Paul Vavasseur) are very strong, though the greater reverberation tends to mask some details that are clearer in RCA’s approach, where the acoustic of Symphony Hall in Boston figures prominently.
Each of these accounts is in its own way haunting, together leaving an apt portrait of the artist Charles Munch had become since Boston. The Fantastique is, like its leader, contagious in its enthusiasm. Compare the precise woodwind playing from Boston as heard in the difficult last 60 seconds of the Fantastique with the results from Paris—a good juxtaposition of the French esprit with Bostonian savoir faire. The choice of Brahms’s 1st Symphony for these inaugural recordings of the Orchestre de Paris shows once more its centrality in the Munch repertoire & gives the set a certain valedictory quality: Berlioz & Brahms, topped his list of career-long favourites. It is a captivating achievement, leaving the sensation, in the long introductions of the 1st & last movements, of a soliloquy suspended over the passage of time: all lyric, with very little beat & almost no footfall at all—so drawn out as inevitably to suggest the conductor’s unwillingness to bid the work a last farewell. The outer movements are noticeably longer than the BSO versions. The famously sentimental close of the 2nd movement features violinist Luben Yordanoff in his prime. Munch probably overslows the “alphorn call” toward the beginning of the 4th movement, but flutist Michel Debost responds in a way that confirms an icy stasis. The warm C-major theme begins slowly, too, but the heroism is soon straining to get loose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfI9da_bwXY

   Tracks:

1 Rêveries - Passions 13:39
2 Un Bal 6:10
3 Scène Aux Champs 5:05
4 Scène Aus Champs 9:40
5 Marche Au Supplice 4:21
6 Songe D'une Nuit De Sabbat 9:45
   Time: 48:40

1. Un Poco Sostenuto - Allegro 14:45
2. Andante Sostenuto 9:51
3. Un Poco Allegretto E Grazioso 5:06
4. Adagio - Più Andante - Allegro Non Troppo 18:21
    Time: 48:03


    Musicians:

Charles Munch: Conductor
Orchestre De Paris


Recorded:
At Salle Wagram, Paris:  Engineer Paul Vavasseur,  Producer René Challan
23rd October 1967 Tracks 1 to 5
8th & 12th January 1968 Tracks 6 to 9

http://www.filefactory.com/folder/f04326aaeab9a328
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Checksum for iso:
MD5: fe1ef187f93fefab353f452ae54197aa *Charles Munch - Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Brahms Symphony No.1.iso
SFV:  Charles Munch - Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Brahms Symphony No.1.iso 3A611C71