Few conductors are actually fully comfortable in all areas of the classical repertoire and Karajan despite his prolific recording career is no exception. The sound of the orchestra is essentially the same as in all Karajan/Berlin recordings of German repertoire. What Karajan fails to realize is that Berlioz requires a completely different approach, not least because of his unique orchestration and its demands on orchestral color, phrasing and ensemble playing. The BPO have proven themselves more than capable of mesmerizing performances of French repertoire under other conductors. But this recording is disappointing not only because of Karajan's failure to connect with the score, but also because of an unusual (for the BPO) amount of imprecise and messy ensemble playing and bad balancing.