Not only have I heard Berlioz’s music in concert and rehearsal but I’ve come to know this composer quite well, in my opinion the foremost of our time (in his genre, to be sure), and I have become his friend, so far as it is possible to be a friend of such an eccentric character. / It seems to me that in the domain of fantasy no one has more colossal inventive faculty, and his works, in addition to their other merits, are absolutely original. Breadth in the total structure, development of detail, compact harmonic tissue, and that tremendously powerful orchestration – unheard-of up to now - these are the characteristics of Berlioz’s music. In drama, carried away by his fantastic temperament, he wanders off, lacks naturalness, and does not ring true. Among his works that I’ve heard, the ones I like best are the Overture from Les Francs-Juges, the Scherzo of Queen Mab from Roméo et Juliette, the Pilgrim’s March from Childe Harold, also the Dies Irae and the Tuba Mirum from the Messe des morts. All these pages produced an indescribable effect on me. << less