Performers
Programme
What on earth has he thrown in? Berlioz's “Symphonie fantastique” is about a man who becomes increasingly twisted because his love is not reciprocated. Grotesque dreams, death bells, a guillotine, an orgy with witches - everything can be heard vividly in this truly fantastic symphony. Berlioz called his masterpiece of head cinema an “episode from the life of an artist”. And this artist is on a truly weird trip: first a bit of reverie and waltzing at a ball, all good. But then he has thoughts of murder, he is sentenced to death, you hear a gloomy march to the executioner. The protagonist has a vision, everything becomes increasingly wild and orgiastic, the percussionists in the orchestra are rarely allowed to treat their instruments in such an appropriate manner. What Berlioz has set to music here is dark, chilling romanticism, dazzlingly staged with extreme sound effects. This symphony deserves its name, even with the clearest of minds.
(hr-Sinfonieorchester - Frankfurt Radio Symphony)
