Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 (episodes in the life of an artist)

For Théophile Gautier, the flamboyant figures of Berlioz, Hugo and Delacroix formed a “trinity of Romantic art”. The young Berlioz’s first masterpiece, the Symphonie fantastique, is one of the key works in the history of the Romantic movement and was much admired by Schumann. It was completed and first performed in 1830, and according to the composer it was written “with great difficulty in certain parts, with an incredible facility in others”. Berlioz was then in the throes of an “infernal” passion for a young Irish actress, Harriet Smithson, who he was to marry in 1833. He described the programme of this “instrumental drama” as an evocation of the “reveries” of a young artist who idolises a woman who does not return his love. In despair, he attempts suicide, and then dreams of being present at his own execution after having killed his beloved. The beloved is represented by an “idée fixe”, a kind of leitmotif that crops up in all five movements of the symphony, each of which is conceived as a poem in its own right – to the artist himself (“Rêveries-Passions”), to the dance (“Un bal”), to nature (“Scène aux champs”), to love and to death (“Marche au supplice” and “Songe d’une nuit de sabbat”). The last two movements are truly grotesque, dark and violent – qualities that are highlighted by the strikingly original orchestration. The young hero is led to the scaffold to the accompaniment of the theme of the Dies irae.

This monumental work of French Romanticism is one of the essential landmarks in the career of any conductor. The quality of Berlioz’s orchestration and questions of timbre and the ideal instrumental forces lie at the core of the approach of Jos van Immerseel and Anima Eterna Brugge, who are increasingly drawn to French composers and especially to their precise, shimmering orchestral textures.

Surprisingly enough, it was the influence of the master orchestrator Rimsky-Korsakov on Ravel that made Jos van Immerseel want to tackle such pieces as Bolero and La Valse in a recording singled out by the press in 2006 for its hypnotic power and the quality of the timbres and phrasing.

Over long months of preparation, the musicians steeped themselves in Berlioz’s music, his Treatise on instrumentation and his Memoirs, and gradually formed an image of the construction of this masterpiece in which poetry, imagination, lyricism, rhythmic invention and evocative power form the basis of a purely Romantic language of great subtlety.

The choice of period instruments (double basses from the period just after the instrument was modernised, French ‘omnitonic’ clarinets by Müller, ‘ordinary’ flutes from before the invention of the Boehm system, valved horns with crooks to avoid transposition, an ophicleide, an Érard harp, timpani with a central screw played with the sticks specifically called for by Berlioz, two Érard pianos to provide low harmonics in imitation of bells in the Dies irae of the Songe d’une nuit de sabbat), familiarity with Berlioz’s Treatise on instrumentation and Pierre Baillot’s L’Art de jouer du violon (notably with respect to vibrato), and respect for the composer’s dynamics constitute the principal bases for the sound world of this interpretation, which is at once refined in its Classical style and haunted by the pungent timbres of the brass and of those diabolical clarinets, abyssal bells, and rattling death-march timpani.

‘The result may be regarded as surprising and unexpected. Every moment of the performance testifies to the musical and technical mastery of the interpreters and their understanding of the grammar of this music, but also reflects their passion for and fascination with it.’ Jos van Immerseel

This issue brings together Berlioz’s greatest symphony – the fantastique – and grandest choral work. The former was inspired by his wish to impress the actress, Harriet Smithson, with whom he had become infatuated seeing her as Juliet as well as Hamlet’s Ophelia. He invoked her in all five movements by employing a theme – an “idée fixe” – in this autobiographical work which has become not only well known and extremely popular. The “Grande Messe des Morts” or Requiem requires such enormous forces to make its full effect that performances are necessarily rare events. With the main orchestra and chorus occupying the centre Berlioz employs brass bands to the left, right, behind and even behind the conductor giving the Tuba mirum section in the Dies Irae a spectacular effect on the listener. Parts of the Requiem, however, are handled with extreme delicacy thus when the full forces come together their impact is even more thrilling. André Previn and his London Symphony Orchestra clearly revel in the opportunities offered by both works; the Requiem, with the London Philharmonic Choir, was recorded in the vast space of Walthamstow Town Hall to imitate the vast acoustic space of “Les Invalides” in Paris where it was first performed.

Having championed Russian and German repertoire in their first three releases of 2008, Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker turned to French music for their latest CD, specifically the Symphonie fantastique and La mort de Cléopâtre by Hector Berlioz. The Grammy-Award winning mezzo-soprano Susan Graham is featured in La mort de Cléopâtre.

Not long ago, Rattle said of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s sound: "It's like an enormous heat source that comes at you, and you feel as though you can burn in it." The orchestra bring the intensity Rattle describes directly to bear on Berlioz’s work, undaunted by the fire in late May 2008 at Berlin’s Philharmonie that resulted in a last minute change of date and venue to Berlin’s Jesus Christ Kirche for the recording of this album.