SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE

Mason Bates (b. 1977):  Philharmonia Fantastique
First performance:  October 2021:  Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Cohn, conductor

The Program Notes for this work are provided by Mason Bates, from his website (www.masonbates.com):

“A truly magnificent achievement…In the art of marrying music with animation, Philharmonia Fantastique is the biggest step forward since Fantasia itself.” – John Williams

“An orchestra tunes – and immediately, a sense of anticipation and wonder ripples through the room.  As this super-instrument brings its marvels of engineering together into a single pitch, we are witnessing both art and science.  The same orchestra that explores our emotional depths is also our finest example of interactive technology.‍ ‍

The ‘making of the orchestra’ that has occurred over centuries continues into the present day with Philharmonia Fantastique, a concerto for orchestra and animated film.  Only recently in its spectacular evolutionary history has the orchestra incorporated digital sounds and projection screens, offering the perfect medium for a kinetic exploration of musical instruments and how they work.  Guided by a mercurial Sprite, we fly inside a flute to see its keys up close; jump on a viola string to activate the harmonic series; and zip through a trumpet as its valves slice shafts of air.

‍Inspired by a desire to offer my own kids a fresh guide to the orchestra, the piece was created with director Gary Rydstrom and animator Jim Capobianco during visits to Skywalker Ranch, George Lucas’s campus of creativity north of San Francisco.  With their extensive film experience – Gary won Oscars for his dinosaur sounds in for Jurassic Park, Jim wrote the story for Pixar’s Ratatouille – they helped solve many of the film’s unique puzzles:  namely, how to introduce the many facets of the orchestra without using words.

Sometimes accompanying me to the Ranch were my kids and a posse of their friends, playing the role of a slightly suspicious focus group.  They responded best to an exuberant piece of art, not a didactic piece of pedagogy, that has elements of mystery and darkness.  Equally important is the Sprite, whose journey of self-discovery brings a crucial emotional angle to the story.  The Sprite is formed in the work’s opening minutes from a primordial soup of abstract animation, with its arms and legs representing the four ‘families’ of the orchestra:  woodwinds, strings, brass, percussion.  Represented by a simple yet harmonically wandering piano melody, the Sprite soon dives into the orchestra to explore the instruments from the inside out.

Each family speaks its unique language:  noir-ish jazz for the woodwinds;  bending lyricism in the strings;  dark techno for the brass;  and drum-corps in the percussion.  Having presented themselves separately, their attempt to play together fails so spectacularly that the Sprite shatters back into the primordial darkness.  Only through learning each other’s languages do the different instrument families – as different as the races on earth – fuse together to resurrect the Sprite and become The Orchestra, one of the greatest human creations.”

‍The instrumentation for Philharmonia Fantastique includes a full woodwind section including several auxiliary family members, full brass, timpani, percussion, harp, piano, celesta, and strings.

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Hector Berlioz (1803-1869):  Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14
First performance:  December, 1830:  Paris Conservatoire, François-Antoine Habeneck, conductor.

One of the earliest examples of what came to be known as program music, Hector Berlioz’s quasi-autobiographical Symphonie fantastique has been capturing and holding the imagination of audiences since its premiere nearly 195 years ago.  Dedicated to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, the work was inspired by the composer’s love for (obsession with??) Irish actress Harriet Smithson, whom he married in 1833.  It is scored for a very large orchestra that includes woodwinds in pairs plus two extra bassoons, a full brass section including cornets and an extra tuba, timpani, percussion, two harps, and strings.   One of the most striking things about Symphonie fantastique is the detailed programme that Berlioz provides, and the brilliant manner in which he uses musical gestures to reinforce the imagery:  There are six paragraphs that describe the piece—the first being introductory (a series of dreams, visions, and hallucinations brought about as the result of an opium overdose taken due to the despair of unrequited love:   Leonard Bernstein entitled his Young Persons presentation “Berlioz Takes A Trip.”  That was NOT an accident!!), then one for each of the five movements (the programme was revised twice, once in 1845 and again in 1855:  See http://www.hberlioz.com/Scores/fantas.htm?zoom_highlight=Symphonie+fantastique+programme+1855).  The idée fixe—the melody representing the beloved (Harriet)—appears in each movement, changing character as the piece progresses, but always recognisable (the instrumentation and/or the rhythm may differ, we may not hear the whole melody as originally depicted—but we ALWAYS get the first eight notes of it!!).  Here’s a brief overview of some of the musical gestures to listen for:

‍I.  Reveries, Passions:  This movement’s introduction is the slide of our young composer into a quasi-comatose state, recalling “the uneasiness of spirit, the indefinable passion, the melancholy, the aimless joys” he experienced before the beloved one first appeared to him.  The idée fixe is then heard for the first time (violins and flute) as he recalls his sudden love, his anguish and jealousy, his tenderness, his religious consolation.

‍II.  A Ball:  “In the midst of a brilliant festival, he encounters the loved one again.”  This movement’s introduction is based on the waltz, possibly the most popular dance of the 19th century, and features two harps;  it is the only movement in which they play.  The idée fixe occurs as a secondary theme (oboe), with another fragment (clarinet) reappearing right before the movement’s boisterous conclusion.

‍III.  In The Country:  Thoughts of love and hope are first highlighted by a pair of shepherds calling across the fields to each other in a ranz des vaches, a beautiful duet between the English horn and the oboe (the latter is offstage to give a sense of the distance between the two).  Sadly, his sense of disquiet returns as he wonders if she will remain faithful:  It is at this point that we hear phrases of the idée fixe (oboe) alternating with an agitated countermelody (cellos and double basses, eventually joined by the violas).  He eventually calms down, and the English horn resumes the movement’s opening melody.  But, instead of the original duet, we hear a thunderstorm gathering in the distance (two sets of timpani in alternation), and the movement ends with a sense of foreboding, “…solitude…silence…”

‍IV.  March To The Scaffold:  He dreams that he has murdered his beloved, and has been tried, convicted, and condemned for the crime.  This is the march to his place of execution (in France at this period in history, the means of execution would have been the guillotine).  Lots of interesting scoring here:  A downward scale passage (cellos and double basses, with a countermelody highlighted by FOUR bassoons) alternates with a brass fanfare.  The place of execution is reached, and he has one last thought of his beloved (the opening eight notes of the idée fixe, played by the clarinet), before the death blow (loud chord in the orchestra), and the bouncing of the head as it hits the ground (pizzicato lower strings).  Justice has been served,…

‍V.  Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath:  If there’s a “Halloween” movement, it’s this one!!  He dreams of his funeral—which is being attended by all matter of horrid creatures (I always think of the Three Witches from Macbeth at the opening!!),…and guess who turns out to be one of the “guests” in attendance??  It is SHE (his beloved), represented by the idée fixe (E-flat clarinet), which is no longer “noble and shy,” but has been transformed into a “trivial, vulgar and grotesque” dance tune!!  Soon, the funeral bells toll, and we hear the Dies irae (Day of Wrath:  first played by the bassoons, tubas, cellos and double basses, then repeated in a brass chorale,…and then parodied by the upper woodwinds and pizzicato upper strings in what will become the rhythm of the Witches Dance!!).  [I’m sure the church fathers had plenty to say about Berlioz’s use of the Dies irae (the traditional plainchant used in the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead) in this piece—especially the Witches Dance parody!!].  The last half of the movement is a fugue based on the Witches Dance, which is eventually combined with the Dies irae.  At one point in the proceedings, the upper strings are required to bounce their bows on the string instead of using the hair (col legno—with the wood);  this represents the dancing skeletons!!