Andriessen: Miroir De Peine - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

This third album released by philharmonie zuidnederland contains works by the Dutch composer Hendrik Andriessen and Hector Berlioz. A highlight of Andriessen's French-influenced output has been chosen, the song cycle Miroir de peine (Mirror of suffering, 1923), with its texts by Henri Ghéon sung in highly expressive fashion by the mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn. The coupling is the Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz, written at the end of a period of 'mental overheating' in his obsessive love for Harriet Constance Smithson. This resulted in a musical gem, officially called Épisode de la vie d'un artiste, Symphonie fantastique en cinq parties (Episode from an artist's life, Fantastical Symphony in five parts), in which he used every technique to get through to his audience. Here Berlioz leaves nothing to the imagination.