Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique (Vinyl) – Colin Davis

Sir Colin Davis’s 1974 recording of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique with the Concertgebouworkest has long been regarded as one of the great Berlioz recordings on disc. Originally recorded in quadraphonic sound for Philips, it remains a benchmark interpretation and one of the defining recordings of Davis’s celebrated Berlioz legacy.

For this release, Rainer Maillard at Emil Berliner Studios utilised the original four-track quadraphonic master tape to create a new stereo mix sent directly to the cutter head, maintaining a fully analogue signal path throughout. The Philips engineers of the 1970s would similarly have mixed the four front and rear channels before cutting, but this would have resulted in a two-track stereo copy for mastering. Here, the lacquer is cut directly from a live stereo mix of the original quadraphonic master.

“This is one of the most tantalising records I have had to review… here at last is the version of the Symphonie fantastique we have all been waiting for from our, and the world’s, principal Berlioz conductor.” — Gramophone