Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

A world might seem to divide the unbridled Romanticism of Berlioz from the highly controlled art of Rameau, standard-bearer of the French Late Baroque. And yet, at a distance of less than a century ('Hippolyte' was premiered in 1733, the 'Fantastique' in 1830), the same passion links two works more similar than their stylistic divergence might suggest. There is the same audacity in the orchestration, combined with an innate sense of drama that springs repeated rhythmic and harmonic surprises. The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs here a task requiring unusual versatility under their Music Director, Daniel Harding, establishing a dialogue between two very different pioneers. Daniel Harding is also Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and Music Partner of the New Japan Philharmonic. He takes up the baton at the Orchestre de Paris -the first British maestro in the orchestra’s history - this September, 2016. He is Conductor Laureate of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for life.