Imagination to spare (Berlioz: Complete Orchestral Works)

Member Name: Pingu

Product:	Berlioz: Complete Orchestral Works
Date:	30/06/00 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful moments....

Disadvantages: ...sometimes well hidden

Berlioz's was a composer with a truly huge imagination and not enough technique to realise his ideas. This wasn't all his fault. He continually banged heads with the authorities in French conservatoires - who were too set on preserving tradition - until he found it rather difficult to gain proper training in harmony and counterpoint. And when he did have access to training he wasn't always listening.

In many ways though, his weaknesses are also his strengths, since he developed a truly personal approach to harmony. This seems to have been to take a note of the melody and then harmonise it using almost any acceptable chord into which that note fits. This results in some very quirky progressions, almost Debussy like but not as deliberately so, which tug at the tonality in some delightful ways.

But his biggest achievements were in orchestration, and he is generally regarded as the father of colourful Romantic orchestration. The delicacy of some of his textures is incomparable. On the other hand, he could use brute force like no other; e.g. the Tuba Miram of his Requiem has fortissimo rolls for seven timpani simultaneously, as well as four brass bands blaring away. The Symphony Fantastique is more or less a catalogue of new orchestral techniques for aspiring composers.

Berlioz' music can be delightful, and it can be maddening. Sometimes he is way too pedantic. Sometimes he likes his own ideas too much, and repeats them till you want to slit your throat.

I recommend you listen to the Symphony Fantastique, which everyone needs to hear, then decide how much you want to explore Berlioz' music. There are some truly remarkable works to discover.

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