Berlioz is one of the best composers of the romantic period, using fabulously sized orchestral forces to put together his magnificent opus “Symphonie Fantastique.” The orchestral forces are highly colorful and somewhat dubious. The light echoing of the strings that come in right at the beginning in a luscious C minor really give the piece a flow and a shape. I love how the piece starts out small but then grows. At first, it seems as though it is just a string orchestra piece, but slowly, one by one, groups of the orchestra come in and color up the symphony fantastically.
The gracious color of the instrumentation is superbly miked up and you could hear various amounts of woodwinds and mid-range brass enter about halfway through the first movement. What strikes me more is the amount of empty space between the many themes of the work. How these empty spaces add drama and highlight different sections and super-impose on different keys adds to the highly picturesque nature of the work. All of this picturesque stuff and it’s only the first movement. You can hear various elements of previous composers like Beethoven in there but you can also sense immense invention in how the piece is constructed both harmonically and chromatically in some areas.
The second movement shines with the woodwinds taking charge and giving way to the idea fixe which is a melodic motif that keeps coming back throughout the work. It’s as if you’re in an altered state of consciousness, going in and out of sleep. In the main character’s sleep, the idea fixe keeps coming back to haunt him. Who knows what this is?
The third movement of the work is in C Major. There are several mini-passages that go back and forth from C major to F major and back again with fleeting chromaticism in most parts.
The work as a whole is string heavy, which to this reviewer’s ears is perfectly fine. The finale of the work is a fantastically large ending that will leave you breathless in applause. If you want a great last gasp of the Romantic era of classical music, this is one of the pieces of utmost classical literature to stand the test of time.
