The Biblical story of David and Bathsheba has a lot of present-day relevance. In this story individual emotions interact with political actions and their consequences....

The Biblical story of David and Bathsheba has a lot of present-day relevance. In this story individual emotions interact with political actions and their consequences. From the opening bars Kleiberg's music establishes a very particular orchestral and harmonic colour one effect of which is to 'place' the events beyond our reach.