Berlioz's L’Enfance du Christ

Berlioz’s oratorio shows the composer at his most tenderly evocative – a ravishing retelling of the Christmas story with echoes of Bach’s Passions.

Angel choirs and teeming hordes of devils, scenes of peaceful domesticity and episodes of violent tension – Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ, combines the ‘celestial’ beauty of an oratorio with operatic flair and dramatic instinct to create one of the composer’s most exquisitely lovely works, home to the much-loved ‘Shepherds’ Farewell’. Edward Gardner conducts a superb cast and continues the birthday celebrations of the brilliant BBC Symphony Chorus.