Berlioz the pioneer A new aesthetic calls for new forms: such is the challenge the composer set for himself in the two works presented here. In Les Nuits d’été, Berlioz pioneered, well before Mahler and Ravel, a song cycle for voice and orchestra. In Harold in Italy, scored for large orchestra and solo viola, he experimented with the symphonic genre. These period-instrument performances by Les Siècles, led by François-Xavier Roth, with violist Tabea Zimmermann, also feature Stéphane Degout in the vocal cycle, heard here in the composer’s own version for baritone. File under: out of the ordinary. Tabea Zimmermann plays a viola by Paolo Maggini, Brescia 1610<
HECTOR BERLIOZ [1803-1869] Harold en Italie, Op. 16, H. 68 · 1. Harold aux montagnes. Scènes de mélancolie, de bonheur et de joie. Adagio (15'10) · 2. Marche de pèlerins chantant la prière du soir. Allegretto (7'48) · 3. Sérénade d'un montagnard des Abbruzes à sa maîtresse. Allegro assai (5'57) · 4. Orgie de brigands. Souvenirs des scènes précédentes. Allegro frenetico (11'34) Les Nuits d'été, Op. 7, H. 81B · 1. Villanelle (2'10) · 2. Le Spectre de la rose (6'36) · 3. Sur les lagunes, Lamento (5'41) · 4. Absence (5'42) · 5. Au cimetière, Clair de lune (5'37) · 6. L'Île inconnue (3'33)
