HR-SINFONIEORCHESTER

It was a departure into a new world, both romantic and fantastic. The “Symphonie fantastique” has an artist's life as its program, the audience is up close and personal. And they experience a rush of sound that had never been heard before, so vivid, so powerful and drastic. This artist has fallen in love with an adored woman, sees her waltzing at a ball, seeks peace and quiet on a country trip, has visions of his execution while intoxicated with opium - and finally dreams of his burial, accompanied by witches and grimaces, death bells and a parodied “Dies irae”. Black Romanticism with all its demons enters the music of its time - another merit that Berlioz deserves with his truly fantastic symphony. Before this, the soloist in Béla Bartók's second violin concerto wanders through different worlds - in the elegiac middle movement, whose variations have a narrative character, as it were. Christian Tetzlaff will be the wanderer here, and he too experiences an intoxicating, bucolic finale. The sensual aspect of this music, says Tetzlaff, is simply fantastic.
(hr-Sinfonieorchester - Frankfurt Radio Symphony)