'Disc of the Year' - Financial Times 07 - 16.12.07

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.

Sir Colin Davis conductor
London Symphony Orchestra / Tenebrae Choir
Yann Beuron The Narrator/Centurion
Karen Cargill Marie
William Dazeley Joseph
Matthew Rose Herod
Peter Rose Father/Polydorus

CD Reviews:
Disc of the Year
Financial Times, 15 December 2007
Disc of the Week
BBC Radio 3 CD review, 27 October 2007

‘This set is instantly recommendable for Yann Beron’s Narrator. He is quintessentially French and sings with a directness and innocence that suit the story perfectly … Davis’ understanding of Berlioz’s layering of sounds remains unsurpassed … when Berlioz strips the orchestration almost bare the effect is hypnotic. The Tenebrae Choir sings brilliantly at all dynamic levels and with absolute clarity, and in the most pious moments the effect is positively heavenly.’
Artistic Quality 10 / Sound Quality 10
ClassicsToday.com, October 2007

‘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.’
Performance ***** / Sound *****
BBC Music Magazine, September 2007

‘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’
Classical CD of the Week
The Independent on Sunday, 29 July 2007

‘Sir Colin Davis worked his magic with Berlioz yet again … Sir Colin assembled a fine cast of soloists … and choirs and orchestra sing and play superlatively’ *****
Sunday Telegraph, 19 August 2007

‘life-enhancing … The Narrator’s strengths leap out immediately. He’s Yann Beuron … Plus he’s French: an obvious boon in a language where inflection means so much. Here, the chamber choir Tenebrae excel themselves: wonder radiates from every securely focused, cleanly voiced chord. They’re the performance’s rock … nothing here, not a growl, not a rasp, ruins the magic of L’Enfance du Christ’
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

’... the combination of Davis, his responsive orchestra, and the French composer whose works he has done so much to champion, is irresistible … This is undoubtedly another benchmark recording from LSO Live’
MusicalCriticism.com, August 2007