22nd November 2011 – Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Most symphonies have a different theme for each movement, but here Berlioz uses an idée fixe – a fixed idea – to represent the young woman. This theme returns in each movement and is gradually altered and made more grotesque as the artist’s slips into his hallucinating nightmares. A thorough programme for the complete symphony can be found here on the Hector Berlioz website. The first movement lasts for nearly 15 minutes and so is split across two parts, conducted here by Leonard Bernstein with the Orchestre National de France.
BBC4 is currently running a series called Symphony in which Berlioz featured in episode 2 of 4. The final episode is on this Thursday at 9pm and all previous episodes are available on iPlayer for another 10 days. I would recommend you watch them!
