Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique Overtures; Roman Carnival; Beatrice and Benedict (RCA Victor Basic 100, Vol. 24)

Charles Munch was the outstanding Berlioz conductor of our time. He responded instinctively to this composer's peculiarly French combination of emotional insanity allied to fanatical orchestral precision, and in the Boston Symphony he had the world's greatest "French" orchestra. All of his Berlioz performances are memorable, nowhere more so than in this outstanding Symphonie fantastique, recorded in the mid-'50s but still sounding as vivid as anyone could hope for. Munch has a particularly satisfying way of building tension through the whole performance, until the "Witch's Sabbath" explodes in a final orchestral frenzy. It's so much fun that you almost feel guilty when it's over. --David Hurwitz