Harold en Italie, La Mort de Cleopatre : Tamestit(Va)Cargill(Ms)Gergiev / London Symphony Orchestra (Hybrid)

Violist Antoine Tamestit and mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill join forces with the London Symphony and Valery Gergiev in the latest installment of their Berlioz exploration. Taking inspiration from Lord Byrons Childe Harolds Pilgrimage, Harold en Italie is among the most poetic of Berliozs oeuvre, its ingenious use of solo viola charting the dreamy Harolds wanderings throughout the Italian countryside, and the characters encountered along the way. La mort de Cloptre is a monumental work, grand in drama, orchestration and vocally challenging. The scope of the piece is huge, not only emotionally it has a vocal range of over two octaves within only a few pages, ultimately quite operatic in delivery. Pacing the work is a huge part of performing it, allowing the character to recollect, reflect and ultimately act. The death scene is so wonderfully written, so simple and real. (Karen Cargill) Antoine Tamestitbrought a strong, forthright personality to the hero of Harold en Italie. (Financial Times) Cargill sang with superb diction and a marvelously rich upper register. (Bachtrack)