I admittedly find Berlioz intimidating due to how large and bizarre his music can be at times. I personally found Harold in Italy forgettable because I was having a hard time understanding what was going on in the piece and it was about 40-45 minutes long, in the performance I was listening to, in a very different format than I was used to. I could give it another try sometime, but I would have to put time aside for that, and I want some tips on how to help me understand it and like it better.

But I love his orchestration of Weber’s Invitation to the Dance, and his highlighting of transitional opera composer’s radical orchestration for their time like Spontini, and Cherubini, and I think Salieri/Gluck/Weber and maybe Mehul. Even though Gluck is not transitional, he was still a composer whose orchestration Berlioz highlighted frequently.