September, 2005 - Nr. 9
Peter Oundjian Embarks On His Second Season
in "SYMPHONIC FANTASY"
Peter Oundjian, conductor
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September 21 & 22, 8 pm
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September 24, 7:30 pm
Roy Thomson Hall
Toronto, Ontario – The Toronto Symphony Orchestra began a new era last season with Peter Oundjian taking the helm as Music Director; brisk tickets sales, extraordinary artistry, and a couple of surprise violin appearances marked his first TSO season a grand success. Now, his second season kicks off with a concert exploring the fantasy form: Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice; Martinů’s Symphony No. 6, “Fantaisies symphoniques” (September 21 & 22 only) and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.
Maestro Oundjian is excited to return to the TSO podium for his second season. "Firstly, I have to thank the Toronto audiences for such a warm welcome during my inaugural season. To work with such extraordinary musicians in the orchestra, and soloists of world-renown is a highlight, but to receive such an enthusiastic response from music lovers is icing on the cake!"
If it weren’t for Walt Disney’s film "Fantasia", Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice would not be the beloved and popular piece it remains today. Written in 1897, it foreshadows the public’s current fascination with magic (Harry Potter comes to mind) and the story details a young boy, a magic apprentice, who gets in over his head by trying to skip his chores and using magic instead. What started out as a simple task of mopping the castle floor winds up a catastrophe of epic proportions, with thousands of brooms and buckets of water flooding the castle, and a very angry sorcerer giving him a thump on the backside – but a second chance at his apprenticeship.
A dreamer in the purest Romantic-era sense possible, Hector Berlioz was absolutely sure he wanted to be a composer, despite a lack of childhood training. Whereas most musical giants displayed prodigious gifts as youngsters, Berlioz didn’t learn the piano or violin, although he eventually mastered the flute and guitar. His life, as written in his dazzling memoirs, is classical music’s Byronic epic, and Symphonie fantastique is an epic work in scope and creativity. The work is staggering, especially considering it is Berlioz’s first symphony, completed at age 27. Written in 1830, only three years after Beethoven’s death, this 60-minute, five-movement masterpiece pushed the envelope. The idée fixe was introduced – a single melody that reappears in different guises throughout the work. This concept was not only developed by Wagner and Richard Strauss, but continues in modern times, as in the music of Star Trek and Star Wars, by Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams, respectively. Mythologizing Berlioz’s own neurotic obsession with actress Harriot Smithson, the "plot" of the Symphonie Fantastique is an opium-induced phantasmagoria, in which the hero imagines the torrid progress of a love affair that ends ultimately in his execution for the murder of his lover. Heavy stuff! Berlioz supplies sub-titles to explain events: Reveries – Passions; A Ball; Scene in the Country; March to the Scaffold and Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath. The idée fixe runs chillingly through each movement and reaches its gruesome climax when it is coupled with the terrifying Dies Irae plainchant – Romanticism’s ultimate musical theme.
September 21 sponsored by Mitsui Canada. September 24 part of the BANANA REPUBLIC Casual Concerts Series.
Tickets:
Wed: $115, $88, $82, $72, $63, $48, $40, $34.
Thurs Mat & Sat: $68.50, $61.50; $57, $53, $49, $39.50, $32, $26.50.
Call the Roy Thomson Hall box office at 416 593 4828
or order online at www.roythomson.com.
Mon-Fri, 9-8. Sat, 12-5. Sun, 3 hrs prior to concert start. VISA/MC/AMEX.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
#550 – 212 King Street West, Toronto, ON, M5H 1K5
Marketing fax: 416 593 8660
www.tso.ca
