Robin Ticciati & SRSO - Berlioz: Romeo et Juliette - Hi-Fi News

Sound Quality: 90%

Robin Ticciati’s R&J or the Andrew Davis/Chandos [HFN Feb ’17]? The Swedish brass is leaner than the BBC SO’s and Chandos made more of the antiphonally set second violins. But the Linn has more dramatic light and shade, and a natural concert hall balance. Listen to the precision of rapid tenor/chorus/orchestra interchanges in the scherzetto [track 4], and it comes as a surprise to read that this is a live recording – although producer Philip Hobbs achieves an atmospheric off-stage chorus effect in Nuit sereine [trk 7]. The 30-strong group, like the BBC’s, doesn’t sound truly idiomatic in their French but Ticciati has finer solo singers: English tenor and bass (Andrew Staples, Alastair Miles) and a Swedish soprano, Katija Dragovic, quite wonderful in her long narrative passages. The Grande fete… [trk 6] has all the brilliance and colour of a great fireworks display.