Charlotte Symphony Performs Symphonie Fantastique

Berlioz composed his “fantastic symphony” in 1830, following a tortuous infatuation with an English actress. Subtitled “Episode from the Life of an Artist,” the five-part symphony chronicles the “artist’s” hallucinations about his beloved. As the fantasy unfolds, the “artist” imagines that he has murdered his sweetheart – and thus falls prey to the guillotine – after which he finds himself at a diabolical witches’ orgy. The Charlotte Symphony performs this wild orchestral masterpiece on October 31 and November 1.

Since October 31 is, of course, Halloween, what could be more perfect than the raucous celebration of a coven of witches? But November 1, All Saints Day, gets equal billing in this concert of French music both sacred and profane. The program opens with Gabriel Faure’s 1888 Requiem, a gentle musical expression of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead, performed by the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte.

“It has been said that my Requiem does not express the fear of death, and someone has called it a lullaby of death,” Faure wrote. “But it is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience.”

Scott Allen Jarrett, Director of the Oratorio Singers, calls Faure’s work “one of the most tranquil and thoughtful settings of the Requiem text.” Faure originally composed the Requiem for the famous Church of the Madeleine in Paris, setting it for a smaller chamber orchestra, suitable for the size of the choir loft. He later orchestrated the piece for full symphony orchestra, and it is this version that the Symphony and Oratorio will perform.

“This is a rare opportunity to experience this masterwork in the larger, more opulent orchestration with the full forces of the Charlotte Symphony and the Oratorio Singers,” says Jarrett.

Leading this exciting concert is Swiss conductor Thierry Fischer, the second candidate for the position of Charlotte Symphony Music Director to appear this season. A child of missionaries, Fischer spent his first decade in Africa.

“My first experiences of music were the sound of African women's voices, especially in celebration,” Fischer said in an interview several years ago. “When I was a teenager I didn't really know what to do in my life. Suddenly I realized that sounds could give me a kind of hope. I remember very well just making a decision, saying to myself ‘I will be a musician.’ Making music was something very special for my own energies and my own way of dealing with sadness or happiness.”

Fischer is now Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Chief Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan. “You have to be in the energy of the music,” Fischer says. “I hope my enthusiasm will help people to spread the word and help people enjoy the concerts.” -- www.charlottesymphony.org