Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique, op.14

In November 1976, one year after his triumphal performance of the Berlioz Requiem in September 1975 (also recorded by Unitel), a bearded Leonard Bernstein returned to Paris to conduct the Orchestre National de France. In two highly publicized concerts given at Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, he conducted Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" and "Harold in Italy", in addition to two works by Darius Milhaud, Bloch's "Schelomo Rhapsody" and Schumann's Cello Concerto, the latter two featuring the celebrated cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. The concerts were unanimously hailed in the press, both for the dynamism and brio of a conductor at the peak of his artistic powers, and for the unmistakable signs of rejuvenation of the Orchestre National de France.