Friday 13th The Royal Danish Academy of Music held a concert at their present stage, the former DR/Danish Broadcasting Corporation concert hall. By chance I got a ticket to the sold out concert. I can't think when I last visited this concert hall, so this was an experience in itself.The acoustics were amazing and the musical skills of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra were indisputable. The concert included a dark programme: Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre, Liszt: Totentanz, and Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique. Sinister? Dark? You betcha!
French conductor and pianist (1835-1921) Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre is set at All Saints' Eve/Halloween - where the souls come out from their graves and have a bit of fun. The Macabre Dance. If you've seen your generation's version in Michael Jackson's Thriller video, you're up to speed. In Danse Macabre, however, it is not the funky beat, but the solo violinist on the E-string that kick starts the dance - in the so-called Dies Irae (Day of Wrath/Day of Judgement) motif. Now, much like Michael Jackson, Saint-Saëns wasn't just any mainstream musician. He had his dark sides. He was somewhat of a pessimist, made concerts for solar eclipses, was occupied by the occult - and was seen as a forerunner for the later Existentialist movement in the 20th Century.
Solo pianist Olga Kern (Russian born with family ties to both Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff) then made her entrance in her spectacular red silk gala robe. To perform Totentanz (Dance of the Dead) by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (Ferencz Liszt, 1811-1886, a collegue and friend of both Saint-Saëns' and Berlioz'). Kern's handling of the grand piano was as spectacular as was her dress. I've seldomly seen a pianist boxing away at the piano as she did during this performance. With professionalism and skill. With energy and virtuosity. And with a couple of encores for little show pieces. After an intermission, then a close friend of Saint-Saëns', French composer Hector Berlioz (1802-1869) finished off the ball. Being a Romantic character, occupied with sadness, death, and unattainable love, Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique is said to have been inspired by his muse, Irish actress Harriet Smithson in order to impress her. In five movements, Daydreams, A Ball, Scene in the Country, March to the Scaffold, and Dream of a witches' Sabbath his torments are played out.
Although the real story begins with his muse refusing Berlioz' passionate courting, the story ends in merriment: His love was actually returned and he was later married to Harriet Smithson, they got a child and lived happily ever after. His music had been recognized and played all along, but as a true, passionate Romatic absorbed with the notion of refusal, his famous last words is said to have been: 'Enfin, on va jouer ma musique' ('So finally, they will play my music').
Although the real story begins with his muse refusing Berlioz' passionate courting, the story ends in merriment: His love was actually returned and he was later married to Harriet Smithson, they got a child and lived happily ever after. His music had been recognized and played all along, but as a true, passionate Romatic absorbed with the notion of refusal, his famous last words is said to have been: 'Enfin, on va jouer ma musique' ('So finally, they will play my music').
So finally, Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique was performed. With all of the orchestral maneuvres (in the dark) in play. From the violins and violas/tenor-violins, the cellos, the English horns, the harpes, the oboes, the tubas, the trumpets, the cymbals, the kettle drums - and gongs! And although these five movements were all spectacular, well-performed, and impressive from a musical point of view - perhaps the concert as a whole would have made a hugher impression and been more convincing if it had all played out on the designated night of Halloween. Not with several weeks of delay. So paradoxically, an otherwise professional concert appeared somewhat misunderstood as it played out with plenty of musical muscles - but with delayed spooks.