In recent years the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg has made an impact with its recordings for Warner Classics and Erato: of major works by Berlioz and Janáček, and of a wealth of shorter showpieces captured in Dolby Atmos immersive sound for digital playlists. Now the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg performs two of Tchaikovsky’s best-loved masterpieces, the Fate-driven Symphony No 5 and the surgingly passionate tone poem Romeo and Juliet.

”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’ Roméo et Juliette and the ‘lyric scene’ La Mort de Cléopâtre 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’été. Joyce DiDonato, his unforgettable Didon and Marguerite, returns as the suicidal Cléopâtre and she is joined in Roméo 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 Opéra du Rhin.

Gina Bachauer trained with the Rachmaninov at the beginning of her career. Here, she performs the old composer's second piano concerto, with its beloved Adagio, along with the solo Preludes.

For more than two centuries, the Paris Conservatoire has maintained a glorious cello tradition, which since 2003 has been upheld by Marc Coppey. As a tribute to the spirit of his predecessors, he now presents three of the most famous nineteenth century cello concertos by Camille Saint-Saëns, Édouard Lalo and Léon Boëllmann, all united on one album.