London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Antonio Pappano

Hector Berlioz had a soft spot for programmatic music. He loved staging stories with the powerful sound of a large orchestra. This is how his concert overture »Le corsaire«, after the book of the same name, The Corsair, by Lord Byron, enthrallingly recounts a wild pirate on a stormy sea. And Berlioz’s legendary »Symphonie fantastique« sends a young musician in love from his first happy infatuation via a rousing ball into an ecstatic hell-ride to the Last Judgment – had Berlioz lived later, he might have become an inspired film music composer.

The romantic extroversion of Berlioz frames a programme of contrasts: two works for ensemble by Pierre Boulez, which plunge into intimate soundscapes. In »Livre pour cordes« (Book for Strings) for string orchestra and »Mémoriale« (Memorial) for solo flute and ensemble, Boulez spins delicate threads of sound through the musical space of possibilities and, full of relish, invites you to hear around the corner.