Hector Berlioz was only 26 years old when he wrote his "Symphonie fantastique" and scored a coup with it. The work was unusual in every respect: with its unusual mix of sounds, but above all with the programme that Berlioz provided for it. The music tells "the story of an artist's life", it says, and of course it is also about love. Incidentally, the woman characterised by a musical "idée fixe" really did exist: her name was Harriet Smithson - and she later married Berlioz.
Our clarinettist, Florian Walser, plays us an excerpt on his E flat clarinet and tells us more about this exciting work.