Beginning a weekend of commemorating the 150th anniversary of the death of Berlioz, the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales open proceedings with a performance of Berlioz's monumental oratorio L'enfance du Christ, the first concert of a host of performances from the BBC Orchestras and Choirs and the Ulster Orchestra across the weekend.
L'enfance du Christ marked a change for Berlioz, not necessarily in his writing but in the extremely favourable reception of the French public - which tended towards frosty. This reaction was probably due to the music, which Berlioz himself called 'naive and gentle', although he insisted that it was stylistically no different from any of his previous work. Although not himself a man of faith, the oratorio is steeped in his love of religious music, telling the story in three parts of the massacre of the innocents following the birth of Christ, the flight of Jesus, Mary and Joseph into Egypt, and finally their arrival and refuge in the town of Sais, all performed here without an interval.
