John Nelson conducts Berlioz opera in live performances with a substantially Francophone cast and a terrific amount of style
★★★★★ FINANCIAL TIMES He [John Nelson] has a live-wire grip on the score and gets detailed playing from his orchestra
★★★★★ THE TIMES Whether it’s the lower strings thumping out a baleful counterpoint to Cassandra’s warnings, the trilling woodwind scampering through Berlioz’s delicious genre dances, or the heavy brass depicting the flatulent bellows of the ‘serpents monstrueux’, the Strasbourg Philharmonic sounds wonderfully engaged and idiomatic in a supportively resonant accoustic
★★★★★ GUARDIAN This is now unquestionably the version of Berlioz’s masterpiece to have at home
PRESTO CLASSICAL personally this is one of the triumphs of the year – if not the decade
SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE MAGAZINEÂ Nelson‘s organic unfolding of the sensual “African forest” act is wondrously evocative, with superb playing.
BROADWAY WORLD Under John Nelson‘s careful baton.. it was a marvel of style and vocal thrills, with the mounted forces of three choruses and two orchestras making the performance sound monumental.