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Old age brings some bitter blows, but Berlioz finds lightness and laughter in his final work. With Donald Macleod.

Berlioz burst onto the musical stage of 19th-century Paris, determined to break the mould of France’s elegant and refined classical style. He wanted to create music that could be bombastic, barbaric and grotesque, as well as sentimental, scintillating and sorrowful. In this, he was inspired by writers as much as fellow musicians. He was captivated by stories and crowded his imagination with the tales of Virgil, Scott, Goethe and, most of all, William Shakespeare. This week, Donald Macleod traces the tangled literary connections in Berlioz’s life and music, including the profound spell cast by Shakespeare over the composer’s art and personality.

Today, Berlioz had built his reputation as an artist capable of the grandest gestures, so we might be surprised at his choice of subject for his next opera. The project was destined to be his last creative act as a composer, and a worthy tribute to the poet and dramatist who’d sustained him all his adult life.

Béatrice et Bénédict: Act 1, Entracte, Sicilienne
Béatrice et Bénédict: Overture
Béatrice et Bénédict: Act 2, Trio, ‘Je vais d'un coeur aimant’ & Chorus, ‘Viens! Viens, de l'hyménée’
Sylvia McNair, soprano (Hero)
Catherine Robbin, mezzo-soprano (Ursule)
Susan Graham, soprano (Beatrice)
Choeurs et Orchestre de l’Opera de Lyon
conducted by John Nelson

Roméo et Juliette: Part 6
Roméo et Juliette: Part 7
David Soar, bass (Le Père Laurence)
´óÏó´«Ã½ Symphony Orchestra
´óÏó´«Ã½ Symphony Chorus
conducted by Sir Andrew Davis