Search - Gerald Finley, Robert Poulton, Hector Berlioz :: Berlioz: L'Enfance du Christ

Hardly anyone can say they've actually heard a complete performance of Berlioz's remarkable oratorio, "The Childhood of Christ." That's unfortunate, because the three-part work for soloists, choir, and orchestra contains some of Berlioz's most colorful and expressive music. A contemporary poet and frequent critic of Berlioz's other scores declared that in this work, the composer had achieved "a masterpiece of simplicity." Indeed, the music and scoring invokes descriptions such as tenderness, elegance, and economy. The work begins with Herod, tormented by a recurring dream, ordering death for all newborn children. The second part concerns the scene at the manger, in which we hear the work's most famous music, "The shepherds' farewell to the Holy Family." The third part depicts Mary, Joseph, and the Christ child's flight into Egypt. Of the three or four most recent recordings, this one from 1994 enjoys the strongest cast as well as benefitting from excellent sound. --David Vernier