What makes Hector Berlioz such a great composer?, asks conductor John Nelson. "In one word, originality... He broke all existing traditions of orchestration, structure, harmonic language and storytelling. Even today, his music is fresh, surprising us at every turn with inexpressible beauty." Nelson now adds two more astonishingly original works by Berlioz - the 'dramatic symphony' Rom�o et Juliette and the 'lyric scene' La Mort de Cl�op�tre to his Erato discography. He continues the fruitful relationship with the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, his choice for the recordings of Les Troyens, La Damnation de Faust, Harold en Italie and Nuits d'�t�. Joyce DiDonato, his unforgettable Didon and Marguerite, returns as the suicidal Cl�op�tre and she is joined in Rom�o et Juliette by tenor Cyrille Dubois (who was Iopas in Les Troyens), baritone Christopher Maltman, and the choruses of the Lisbon-based Gulbenkian Foundation and Strasbourg's Op�ra du Rhin.
