Pairing Berlioz’s Harold en Italie with his song cycle Les Nuits d’été is so obviously a good fit I’m surprised it hasn’t become more of a concert and recording staple. Props then to Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth for doing so on their latest release, and for engaging violist Tabea Zimmermann and baritone Stéphane Degout to pull it off in style.

A viola concerto in all but name, Harold en Italie is here performed with real warmth and grace by Zimmermann. In commanding voice, she doesn’t allow herself to be subsumed by the overall sound-picture yet retains a lyrical line that carries her through even the more sudden shifts in mood. She steers a commendably delicate course through the...