Search - Berlioz :: Berlioz: Les Troyens [Highlights]

Crespin Triumphant

Stephan L. Burton | 10/16/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Regine Crespin towers over her surroundings, here. The tenor, Guy Chauvet, and the conductor, Georges Pretre, are perfectly competent, but Crespin is simply the grandest Cassandra/Dido on disc. And she completely dominates the proceedings: she sings on every track except the "Royal Hunt and Storm" and Aeneas' "Inutiles regrets" - adding up to more than an hour of one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century in two (!) of her greatest roles.



It almost makes up for the fact that she seems never to have recorded the work complete.



Unfortunately, the selections end with "Je vais mourir...Adieu, fiere cite." For the finale, one needs Janet Baker's much more limited but equally distinctive set of excerpts, also on EMI."