Think "Berlioz" and you think “orchestra." Indeed, the name of this eccentric, idealistic, supremely individual composer, has become fairly synonymous with the unrivaled flamboyance and grand gesture of his best known works, monolithic structures like Symphonie fantastique, Les troyens, and the Requiem. One would not expect such a blustering romantic to be drawn to the intimate genre of song, but Berlioz was. Not only did he compose in the song form from earliest days (his first lyric efforts date from 1818, and continue until about 1849, well into his forties), but he was largely responsible for liberating the French art song from the rhythmic, melodic, and harmony bondage of its ancestor, the foursquare salon romance inherited from the troubadours. Though it is not often acknowledged, it is with Berlioz that the important period of French art song begins.

—Cori Ellison

Track List

Les nuits d'été Op. 7
1. Villanelle
2. Le spectre de la rose
3. Sur les lagunes (lamento)
4. L'Absence
5. Au cimetière (clair de lune)
6. L'île inconnue

7. La mort d'Ophélie Op. 18, No. 2

8. La captive (orientale) Op. 12

9. Le jeune pâtre breton Op. 13, No. 4

10. Strophes, from "Roméo et Juliette, symphonie dramatique" Op. 17

11. La belle Isabeau (Conte pendant l'Orage) Op. 19, No. 5

12. Le coucher du soleil (rêverie) Op. 2, No. 1

13. Élégie en prose Op. 2, No. 9

14. La belle voyageuse (ballade) Op. 2, No. 4

Total time: 65:37
Release date: August 31, 1993
UPC: 053479012821

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