On this CD of music for voice and orchestra by Berlioz, Swiss mezzo-soprano Brigitte Balleys delivers a somewhat diffident and underpowered performance of the great song cycle Les Nuits d'été. She has a lovely, light tone and exemplary technical control, but she fails to convey either the languid sensuality or fiery passion that the songs require, and thereby misses the emotional and musical variety of the piece. Her performance of Villanelle, which should be an effusion of pleasure at the warmth of the new season, has only a little more energy than the more reflective movements. Part of the fault lies with the elegant but reserved accompaniment of Philippe Herreweghe, leading Orchestre des Champs-Elysées. It is tricky to maintain an appropriately limpid tone while at the same time providing a sense of purposeful momentum, and Herreweghe doesn't quite bring it off. Herminie, the cantata for which Berlioz was finally awarded the Prix de Rome in 1830, is a more conventional work, and it has been recorded relatively infrequently. The performance, by French soprano Mirielle Delunsch, though, is the highlight of the CD. Her voice has a gleaming brilliance and power, and she easily soars over the orchestra, bringing a thrilling sense of dramatic intensity to the cantata. The histrionic narrative offers a framework that allows Herreweghe to cut loose with an urgent and propulsive reading of the score. The sound is clear and clean, but in the song cycle the volume level is usually low, except in several passages, when it is inappropriately explosive and surprising.