TRACKLISTING
Symphonie fantastique, op.14
Épisode de la vie d’un artiste
1 I Rêveries — Passions: Largo — Allegro agitato ed
appassionato assai
2 II Un bal: Valse: Allegro non troppo
3 III Scène aux champs: Adagio
4 IV Marche au supplice: Allegretto non troppo
5 V Songe d’une nuit du Sabbat — Ronde du Sabbat:
Larghetto — Allegro — Poco meno mosso
La Mort de Cléopâtre
Scène lyrique
6 C’en est donc fait!
7 Méditation: Grands Pharaons, nobles Lagides

ABOUT THIS SACD
Valery Gergiev's latest orchestral release is a timely live recording of Berlioz's best-known work, the Symphonie fantastique, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and issued to mark the Berlioz Bicentenary. As an unusual but appropriate coupling (both works concern the fate of celebrated beauties, the Shakespearean actress Harriet Smithson being the unnamed heroine of the Symphony), the disc includes a rare recording of Berlioz's early dramatic scena, La Mort de Cléopâtre, in which Gergiev is joined by his long-term artistic colleague, Olga Borodina.

The Symphony, in particular, benefits from the surround sound capability of SACD, being mixed in full 5.1 surround, with some of Berlioz's most striking effects (distant oboe and cor anglais, and bells) being presented in a true 'surround' context. Add to this the greater fidelity of orchestral and vocal reproduction, the sense of presence and immediacy that surround brings the listener, and the release becomes a worthy successor to Gergiev's previous Vienna Philharmonic SACD release - Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

As with all Decca and Philips SACDs, this release is a 'hybrid' SACD - that is, it also contains the CD recording and is playable on all CD players.