An Early Evening Stroll

‘Une soirée chez Berlioz’ is what you could call tonight’s broadcast. It is also the title of a CD released in 2019 featuring chamber music by this great French 19th-century composer.

Of course, Berlioz is often associated with great symphonic and vocal works with, for that time, radical instrumentations. But there is also the Berlioz who accompanies himself on the guitar and sings during family gatherings in his birthplace La Côte-Saint-André, or during evenings with friends in Paris.

This Stroll features chamber music by Berlioz himself, by composers who made arrangements of his music, and by composers Berlioz admired.

Playlist

1. Jean Paul Martini: Plaisir d’amour. Stéphanie d’Oustrac, mezzo-soprano; Tanguy de Williencourt, piano
2. Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti: ‘Le Désir. Variation’ (from Six Mélodies nocturnes originales). Thibaut Roussel, guitar
3. Jean-Antoine Meissonnier: ‘Le Sentiment d’amour’. Stéphanie d’Oustrac, mezzo-soprano; Thibaut Roussel, guitar
4. Jean-Antoine Meissonnier: Quatrième Rondo pour lyre ou guitare. Thibaut Roussel, guitar
5. Hector Berlioz: ‘La Captive’ (from the poem Orientales van Victor Hugo). Stéphanie d’Oustrac, mezzo-soprano; Bruno Philippe, cello; Tanguy de Williencourt, piano
6. Hector Berlioz: ‘Le Jeune Pâtre breton’, H 65C (from Fleurs des Landes, Op. 13; lyrics by Auguste Brizeux). Stéphanie d’Oustrac, mezzo-soprano; Lionel Renoux, horn; Tanguy de Williencourt, piano
7. Hector Berlioz: ‘Fleuve du Tage’, H 5. Stéphanie d’Oustrac, mezzo-soprano; Thibaut Roussel, guitar
8. Hector Berlioz: ‘Élégie en prose’, H 47 (from Neuf mélodies irlandaises, Op. 2; based on the poem by Thomas Moore;). Stéphanie d’Oustrac, mezzo-soprano; Tanguy de Williencourt, piano
9. Franz Liszt: L’Idée fixe, LW A16b. Tanguy de Williencourt, piano
10. Hector Berlioz/Franz Liszt: ‘Danse des Sylphes’ from La Damnation de Faust. Tanguy de Williencourt, piano
11. Hector Berlioz/Franz Liszt: ‘Marche des Pèlerins’ from Harold en Italie. Tanguy de Williencourt, piano
12. Hector Berlioz: ‘Songe d’une nuit de sabbat’ from Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14 (arrangement for two pianos by Jean-François Heisser. Jean-François Heisser & Marie-Josèphe Jude, piano