Royal Albert corridor,London
This complex Shakespearean symphony gained a sinister edge by the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique under John Eliot Gardiner, with glowing choral singing throughoutThe French romantic association of Shakespeare with the collapse of classical tradition and the freedom to experiment with multiple genres within a single work reaches its apogee, or perhaps,with Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet. He called it a “dramatic symphony”, though it resists classification. Orchestral movements rub shoulders with songs, and motets and choruses both large and small. The finale,in which Friar Laurence reconciles the feuding Montagues and Capulets, is pure grand opera.
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Source: theguardian.com