Forgotten Suite – Wiener Zeitung Online

"This work must be performed immediately after the Fantastic Symphony, its end and its end," wrote Hector Berlioz in "Lélio or The Return to Life", and that's what happened at the Musikverein this week-end. The symphonic musicians played the rare piece with the complex intrigue led by Philippe Jordan – and rather well. Already in the "Fantastic Symphony", he meets the ideal speed in each movement. The waltz floats in the hall with a well-conducted melodic bow and the necessary levity; in the Allegretto too, the speed with which the musicians gallop to accompany their game is right. Here and there, the transitions are bumped, but you forgive Jordan, who retains the violin missions again and again, only to let them out at the right moment, thus increasing the tension enormously.

In "Lélio" can also play for this purpose, the lighting technician a little and darkens the room. Markus Meyer recites the narration of words in German in an exalted manner, which is all the more exaggerated if one has the realistic but poetic recitation of Gerard Depardieu, for example.

Mixed performance

Apart from the Viennese Singverein, the singers are only partially convincing: the tenor Cyrille Dubois is constantly listening, the voice does not support the great registers, the baritone Florian Sempey is more confident. Jordan, however, also directs with sensitivity. He is enthusiastic applause in the end.