Leonard Slatkin, the conductor, has won seven GRAMMY® Awards and received over sixty GRAMMY® Award nominations for his more than one hundred recordings.
Composition History
Paganini, the virtuoso violinist, was so impressed by 'Harold en Italie' when he finally heard the complete work that he knelt before Berlioz, kissed his hand, and gifted him 20,000 francs.
Composition History
The great violinist Paganini commissioned Berlioz to write a viola concerto to showcase his Stradivarius viola, but initially rejected Berlioz's 'Harold en Italie' for not being a 'true concerto'.
Performer Biography
Lise Berthaud, the violist on this recording, was shortlisted as 'Revelation of the Year' by the Victoires de la Musique Classique in 2009.
Composer Biography
Hector Berlioz, the composer, initially studied medicine at his father's insistence before abandoning it for music.
Composition History
Berlioz's 'Harold en Italie' was inspired by Lord Byron's 'Childe Harold' and his own experiences in Italy as a winner of the Prix de Rome.
Composition History
The overtures 'Le carnaval romain' and 'Benvenuto Cellini', as well as 'Rêverie et Caprice', are all derived from Berlioz's opera 'Benvenuto Cellini'.
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