Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique remains one of the Romantic era's most audacious and imaginative works. Roger Norrington and the London Classical Players approach this masterpiece with historically informed performance practice, using period instruments to reveal the transparency and orchestral detail often buried in modern recordings. First premiered in 1830, the symphony tells a vivid programmatic story with five movements depicting a young musician's opium-induced dreams. The music swings between passionate intensity and delicate lyricism, the famous idée fixe returning throughout like an obsession. Norrington's interpretation brings clarity and vitality to Berlioz's revolutionary orchestration.