The Philharmonia Orchestra’s 2nd disc with Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Esa-Pekka Salonen, shifts dramatically in tone from the first, exploring Berlioz’s evocative sonic dream Symphonie Fantastique, alongside Beethoven’s Leonore Overture. Since September 2008 Salonen has been Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra. In his first season in this role he devised and led City of Dreams, a nine-month exploration of the music and culture of Vienna between 1900 and 1935. The project, which presents the music of Mahler, Schoenberg, Zemlinsky and Berg in its social and historical context, has travelled to 18 cities across Europe, culminating in semi-staged performances of Berg’s Wozzeck, with Simon Keenlyside in the title role, in October 2009.
Symphonie Fantastique - Un bal: Valse allego non troppo
Symphonie Fantastique - Scene aux champs: Adagio
Symphonie Fantastique - Marche au supplice: Allegretto non troppo
Symphonie Fantastique - Songe d'un nuit de Sabbat: Larghetto, Allegro, Ronde du Sabbat
Overture, Leonore No. 2
June 2010
****
“there's a passionate restraint about Salonen's readings that is far more telling than many more overtly histrionic versions...clearly prioritising musical imperatives over mere pictorialism, yet with no shortage of electricity in the air, either emotional or elemental.”
20th June 2010
****
“In the symphony, Salonen gives the orchestra its head while balancing the textures meticulously...The mighty Leonore No 2 (the first composed) is an apt coupling...and it is played with immense force and eloquence.”
November 2010
****
“The Philharmonia gives its all in a performance that relishes the manic contrasts in Berlioz's groundbreaking score as well as emphasising its symphonic sweep - as witness the March to the Scaffold, with its galvanising sense of inevitability.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
Symphonie Fantastique - Reveresl Passions: Largo, Allegro agitato
