This enjoyable performance combines a strong trio of soloists with the emerging classical sound of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, soon to be rebranded as the Minnesota Orchestra. The conductor, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, was a recent defector to the US from Poland, where he’d established himself as a rising star as conductor and composer. This artist later gained a solid reputation for his classical recordings, including the complete symphonies of Bruckner and Beethoven. This performance highlights his distinctive approach to Berlioz’s demanding work, lush and romantic when supporting the vocalists and showing a manic approach to orchestral sections. Shifts in volume and in tempo are often jarring, but add an Orff-like modernist tonal sound to the romantic’s experimental scoring. The famous Rákóczi March is so over the top that it forebodes Faust’s ride into the abyss of Hell. In quieter parts, however, Skrowaczewski draws beautiful tone from both vocal and instrumental soloists. Recorded sound is outstanding, clear with good balance of vocals and orchestra and almost no background noise. Valletti, though on the verge of retirement, brings golden tone to his lines, along with brilliant high notes, especially in the love duet. Horne gives an unexpectedly dark tone to Margarita’s music, and her two arias are musical treats. Souzay, though more noted for his work with lieder/art song, brings drama and a clear dramatic sense to the part of the diabolical tempter. The only weak part, as noted in reviews below, is the choral work, credited elsewhere to the Macalaster College Choir. True, Berlioz sets his chorus a daunting challenge: they must enact drunken students, peasants, and unearthly creatures, and, at the climax, both demons and angels. (A recent recording fielded five different choral companies to cover all these roles.) The group here sounds pretty much the same every time they appear and clearly have trouble projecting into the concert auditorium. This issue likely accounts for the many heavy cuts made in the choral parts of the score. That aside, this is still an interesting performance worthy of repeated listening.

I posted a comment while I was still on vacation, and since then I have the recording and have listened to it. It's interesting to compare the recording to my memory (albeit from almost sixty years ago) of the performance. At the performance Souzay and the young Horne were definitely received by the audience as "stars", and Valletti was an also-ran, despite the elegance of his performance. The large hall (the pre-remodeled Northrup Auditorium at the University of Minnesota, where the orchestra played before its present hall was built) was not kind to him and his voice simply didn't have the presence in the room that Horne's and Souzay's did. Souzay also had a more flamboyant performance personality going for him, quite suitable to the Devil, and was clearly having a lot of fun--the Devil always has so much fun! It's interesting that on the recording Valetti (for me) comes off far the best, and Souzay's personality (and even some of his voice) doesn't come across, at least compared to my memory of the performance. To whomever did this recording, many thanks (and to Opera Depot). I was young and full of eagerness, and to get to sing in the chorus on stage with these soloists and orchestra was wonderfully exciting, and a strong experience in my then very young musical life. I had no idea the performance existed in a recording, and it's a real treasure for me to have.

I haven't bought this yet but I will when I get back from vacation. I can answer some questions the previous reviewer posed. Yes, it was in Minneapolis, and I was a ringer in the chorus tenor section, called at the last minute as we're other ringers, because, the chorus was too light. It was the Macalester College Choir plus those of us who could be found and trusted to sing the piece with only the final orchestra reheasal.

The sound is excellent. The singingin is excellent from all soloists. The beauty and flexibility of Cesare Valetti’s voice is truly wonderful. Marilyn Horne is approaching her zenith as an artist and the voice is rich and perfectly controlled. Her expressiveness is not as evident in this kind of vocal repertoire, so the feeling is somewhat distant from the kind of emotional involvement which would really carry us away. Very wonderful on her own terms. Gerary Souzay is a fully committed and it is special to hear a French artist in home territory. A bit light of voice for my tastes, a bass-baritone or bass would be wonderful in this role for the nastier weight that could bring, yet there are no complaints for the wonderful assumption here. The chorus is not quite strong enough for this work, as the end of part 2 is drastically cut, due to the level of the chorus, perhaps. It’s a sudden cut and for those knowing this work comes as a bit of a shock. Lenus Carlson sang the role of Brander and the voice in part 4 when I had the opportunity to help manage a production of Damnation for Sarah Caldwell in 1978. Amazing to find him here in 1967! The orchestra and chorus are not identified. Another site listed it as Minneapolis, which Skrowaczewki had lead around this time. Sound is quite excellent. The only qualms about this performance is the reserve of the conductor mostly throughout. It is very measured and after a while seems to impead the flow of the music to the point of enervation of intent. It didn’t seem to really serve the overall impact of the work well, though the orchestra plays very well. Odd that the vocal accompaniment was slow in pulse and then the dances for the sylphs taken at breakneck speed so the quality of the dance sequence was totally lost. The famous March which ends part 1 was slower and loud. Expression lost here too. So, the singing is wonderful, you would really enjoy it. The conducting would be to listener taste.