Berlioz: Harold en Italie / Nuits d'été / Symphonie fantastique

"The disc is unmissable, however, for the account of the song cycle by Degout, conceived for four different voice types, but usually sung by a soprano or mezzo. His beauty of tone and immaculate diction make an eloquent alternative to the irreplaceable Régine Crespin with Decca." (The Guardian 'Harold')

"Les Siècles use woodwind and brass instruments from the middle decades of the 19th century, which, combined with the gut strings, create busy, buoyant textures over which Tabea Zimmermann's solo viola can soar with ease, though there is no lack of tonal weight when the orchestra takes centre stage, as it does increasingly through the course of the work…[Degout's] delivery of these songs is impeccable." (Sunday Times 'Harold')

"This superb recording further confirms, if it were necessary, that performing such music with contemporary instruments, but strings and no vibrato anywhere is far more than an exercise in scholarship. What the result may lack in weight and density is more than made up for by the gain in clarity and élan. François-Xavier Roth is particularly attentive to the latter, not stinting on the sforzandos." BBC Music Five Sta (Symphonie)

"The success of this account is not just through the conductor's close study of the autograph manuscript. Roth seems to have an emotional hotline to Berlioz, alive to every twist and turn of the composer's fevered passions." Gramophone 2020 Finalist - Orchestral(Symphonie)