Leonard Bernstein was one of the most recorded conductor/composers in history and whereas most of his work was released on CBS (Sony) and Deutsche Grammophon, during the 1970s several notable EMI recordings came out of his association with the Orchestre National de France (including Berlioz’s Harold in Italy).

EMI had recorded Orchestre National de France (also known as Orchestre National de l’Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF)) for many years under its chief conductor Jean Martinon. However, largely as a result of the concerts he gave at the time, Bernstein immediately struck up a rapport with the orchestra and the result was magic: “The French orchestra play beautifully for Bernstein, and they also sense the ebb and flow of tempo which he imparts to the music.” as the GRAMOPHONE wrote in 1977.

Recorded in the famous Salle Wagram, Paris, the Berlioz Fantastique was produced and engineered by John Mordler and Paul Vavasseur respectively.

Cut at Abbey Road Studios from the original stereo analogue master tapes with the Neumann VMS80 lathe fed an analogue pre-cut signal from a specially adapted Studer A80 tape deck with additional playback head.

Pressed on 180g vinyl to audiophile standards

Featuring the original album artwork

In the original 1977 review of the Mussorgsky John Warwick in the GRAMOPHONE wrote:
“This is excellent… One necessary ingredient of a true performance of the Fantastic Symphony is the sense of virtuoso conductor responding to virtuoso composer; but Bernstein also holds fast to the essential point that the virtuosity is of imagination as well as expression… I would regard this as the most interesting performance of the symphony now on record. It has a character individually its own; it is reflective and exhilarating; it is exquisitely played; it is sensitively recorded.”