Fast on its way to becoming a modern classic, Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte was inspired by a performance of Haydn’s String Quartet Op 77 No 2. The music makes clear use of shapes from baroque and classical music while apparently looking at the whole history of the string quartet from the Classical era to Romanticism, modernism and minimalism.
After hearing from the winner of the Norwegian Soloists’ Prize, Joshua Weilerstein takes the orchestra through a true classic and one of the staples of the orchestral repertoire.
One night in 1827, from the back of a theatre, the French composer Hector Berlioz fell in love with an actor on its stage. He set about thrusting all his feelings into a yearning, heartfelt symphony that would declare his love for the woman he had never met and persuade her to marry him. Berlioz’s untouchable, captivating musical language was born – and with it the iconic Symphonie fantastique.