French composer Hector Berlioz wrote a number of ‘overtures’, many of which have become popular concert works. They include true overtures, intended to introduce operas, but also independent concert overtures that are in effect the first orchestral tone poems. One of these is ‘Le Corsaire’ (‘The Corsair’), an overture composed while Berlioz was on holiday in Nice in August 1844. This energetic overture is nowadays still one of Berlioz's most popular orchestral works.

Belgian arranger Yorick D...