Bernstein Century - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, etc.

Bernstein Century - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, etc.

Bernstein Century - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, etc.
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Composer: Hector Berlioz
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra: New York Philharmonic
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-05-18
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
  1. Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14 (Episode de la vie d'un artiste): I. Reveries - Passions
  2. Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14 (Episode de la vie d'un artiste): II. Un bal
  3. Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14 (Episode de la vie d'un artiste): III. Scene aux champs
  4. Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14 (Episode de la vie d'un artiste): IV. Marche au supplice
  5. Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14 (Episode de la vie d'un artiste): V. Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat
  6. 'Berlioz Takes A Trip': Leonard Bernstein Explores The Symphonie Fantastique With Musical Illustrations By The New York Philharmonic

Music reviews of Bernstein Century - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, etc.

Music Review: Bombastic Mess
Rating: 2 Stars

Listening to this work makes me pine for Mendelssohn -- particularly his string symphonies. This work is the child of that most unfortunate combination in an artist; an overabundance of sentiment married with a underabundance of technical wherewithal.

Let's take the final movement, the Dream of the Witches' Sabbath, for an example of what I'm talking about. Because he has no real genius for the transformation of his thematic material (which is the end of symphonic writing) Berlioz resorts to three tricks to deceive the ear into perceiving development; reorchestration of the theme; second, contrasting episodes; and last, a (relatively weak, and uninspired) fugato. For the first trick, the main theme of the movement is stated in the upper strings, then in the basses, then moved over to the woodwinds (that passage of "cackling" oboes, flutes, and bassoons). Second, the contrasting episode is that hoary old Romantic cliche, the "Dies Irae". Last, and least objectionably, there is a fugato towards the end of the movement, but even this ultimately only serves to show that Berlioz is no contrapuntalist.

And it was during this fugato that I found myself pining for Mendelssohn, for the massive fugal technique he wields so easily in his string symphonies, and mature works like "Elijah", or "St. Paul". Mendelssohn's works -- particularly those just mentioned -- have had to endure much relative obscurity by comparison to the "Symphonie Fantastique", simply because his lavish technique curbs emotive excess at every turn. Mendelssohn's string symphonies will forever be regarded as curiosities, or prodigious juvenilia, simply because they are so well-made, so refined in expression. Much modern taste is given over to the bizarre, the extreme, the overwrought, so Berlioz's tam-tams, his piatti, his side-drum, his col legno bowing, the opium-riddled backstory, prevail in the concert hall, and in the teeth of good taste.

For those who would defend Berlioz's approach in the "Symphonie", by pointing out that he is writing to a program, after all, and therefore an episodic (and not a symphonic) technique is preferable, let us not forget that it is Berlioz himself who titles the work "Symphonie." He could have, for instance, called the piece a Suite, or a tone poem, or even more appropriately, Overture. By denoting the work "symphony," and adhering to its structural outline, he obliges himself to the form's demands.

Furthermore, previous symphonists (going as far back as Dittersdorf) were able to compose to programs without sacrifice of technique. Beethoven's Sixth Symhony is perhaps the high-water mark of this sort of thing, although Haydn's "Military" symphony achieves similarly brilliant "impressionist" effect (albeit to a weaker program). Subsequent symphonists achieved the same sort of thing, as well; cf. Raff's "Lenore" symphony, as well as his four "season" symphonies, or Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" and "Manfred" symphonies.

Nothing in this review, by the way, should be taken as a critique of Bernstein, or his orchestra. Bernstein is more than equal to showing this work off to as much advantage as possible, and the performers under him are just as well-equipped for meeting its challenges. If you really wish to understand Bernstein's genius, try some of his Haydn recordings. Haydn's music (like Mendelssohn's), with its dry wit and measured, careful design, offers a purer experience of Lenny's musicianship.

Ed. Note: Some time after adding this review to Amazon, I discovered the following quote from Joseph Fetis (1784-1871). Fetis, a composer, teacher, and ethnomusicologist of no small repute, had this to say about Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" at the time of its premiere in 1835:

"[Berlioz] had no taste for melody, and but the feeblest notion of rhythm; his harmonies, formed by heaping up piles of tones in the most monstrous way, still managed to be flat and utterly boring."
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