Berlioz - Les Troyens

The Guardian 100

John Nelson, Joyce DiDonato and a carefully assembled cast never let the pace slacken in a stylish recording full of tremendous dramatic commitment

Though it is one of the landmarks in 19th-century French music, and one of the grandest of all grand operas, new versions of Les Troyens, Berlioz’s vast Virgilian epic, come along all too rarely. John Nelson’s magnificent recording, based on a pair of concert performances he conducted in Strasbourg earlier this year, is the first complete version to appear on disc since Colin Davis’s live recording with the London Symphony Orchestra in 2001.

This performance easily stands comparison with Colin Davis's 1970 classic, and ​some ​in some respects surpasses it