Music Alive
Starts at 8:00 pm on Thursday, 28 June 2012
Fantastique: Body, Mozart, Berlioz
Direct from the Auckland Town Hall
Michael Endres (piano), Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by John Nelson
Music Alive crosses to the Auckland Town Hall for a concert, “Fantastique”, from Michael Endres (piano) and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO) conducted by John Nelson. Included on the programme is a new work by the APO’s Composer in Residence, Jack Body, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 26 (Coronation) and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.
Symphonie Fantastique is a well-known fact that Berlioz loved Shakespeare.
Together with Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet was the first Shakespeare play Berlioz saw in Paris in 1827 and his violent love affair with the English playwright was accompanied by an equally tempestuous affair with the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, who played the part of Juliet. Ever since this discovery he waited for an opportunity to express his love and admiration in musical terms.
Berlioz’s experiences of unrequited love for Harriet provided the emotional background he needed for his Symphonie Fantastique. His romantic obsession is manifested in the famous idée fixe, a theme that recurs throughout the whole symphony, though it is gradually transformed.
The music symbolises Harriet and Berlioz’s feelings for her. On a purely personal level, jealousy soon took the upper hand, which naturally affected the musical portrayal and in the final movement the idée fixe appears in a grotesquely distorted form.
(Source: APO)
This concert will be broadcast direct from the Auckland Town Hall by Radio New Zealand
