To mark the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) in 2024, the BR-Klassik label is releasing previously unreleased recordings of noteworthy concerts for the first time. Hector Berlioz’s passionate Symphonie fantastique, the almost revolutionary symphonic masterpiece by the great French composer, was performed by Colin Davis with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra at Munich’s Philharmonie im Gasteig on January 15 and 16, 1987.

In his Symphonie fantastique, subtitled Episodes from the Life of an Artist, Berlioz combines the structures of the musical symphony with the form of a five-part classical drama. With the help of a leitmotif (an idée fixe), he tells the listener about the beloved woman of his dreams. The Symphonie fantastique thus paved the way for the symphonic poems of the Romantic period as well as the leitmotif method in Wagner’s music dramas.