Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique.The French composer bled his personal problems all over this extravaganza, which chronicles his passion for the Irish actress Harriet Smithson in the form of a drug-induced fantasy, culminating in a witches' sabbath.

Beethoven: Eroica.Dedicated to Napoleon for the first year of its existence - until Beethoven discovered that the revolutionary hero had had the impudence to crown himself Emperor of the French, whereupon he scribbled over the name "Bonaparte" so hard that he made a hole in the title page of the manuscript score.

Tchaikovsky: Pathétique.Tchaikovsky has become something of a gay icon of late, and his final work is notably offbeat, with its waltz in five-beat time and heart-rending finale. Nine days after the premiere he deliberately drank a glass of unboiled water and died of cholera four days later.

Liszt: Dante symphony.Musical portrayal of the Divine Comedy, complete with a chorus of angelic voices - and a lively depiction of the fires of hell.

Messaien: Turangalila symphony.The title refers to two Sanskrit words, turanga and lila, which translate (roughly) as "love song and hymn of joy, time, movement, rhythm, life, and death". Based on the story of Tristan and Isolde, it runs to a whopping 10 movements and demands a massive orchestra including five percussionists, a piano and an ondes Martenot.