Here we go with another of my favourite composers, of which there are many. On this occasion it is Hector Berlioz whose music I was ipodding on the train this morning.
HB can vary wildly. Bombastic is a word quite often used to describe his output. Grande Messe de 
Morts, massed choirs, orchestras, etc etc is a crashing bore. Well, I think so but am prepared to be excoriated for this. His Te Deum is just totally over the top. I do love this piece however, as it was the very first thing I sang when I joined a choir many moons ago. Full of gorgeous tunes and a lovely solo for a tenor and in rehearsal with a piano it all sounded fairly understated. Then we met up with the orchestra at the Albert Hall and heard the full force of the orchestral playing backed up by the Albert Hall organ (remember we were sitting in the choir so the thundering and shaking of the organ reverberated through the ground beneath our feet). We had been told there was a boy's choir joining in as well. Turned out the be the Haberdasher Aske choir, very well known and very good, and when they came in with the most amazing sound I have ever heard every collective hair stood on end.
I also remember with this piece that we did an extra performance in a large cavernous church somewhere in London and it was so cold we were all numb. I ended up wearing tights, trousers over which went a long velvet skirt, a black polo neck sweater and a waistcoat and gloves. Of course, by the end of the performance when we were singing away and had warmed up layers of garments were shed by the bucket load. I have a great fondness still for the Te Deum however, even if I find it difficult to listen to now.
And you should hear his version of the Marseillaise which I also sang in concert. HB threw in everything but the kitchen sink, pretty sure if I had looked I would have found it there. Love this picture I found entitled 'A Berlioz Concert' which just about sums it up really.
Not all HB is loud and bombastic however. L'Enfance du Christ quite wonderful; the Romeo and Juliet tone poem, particularly the balcony scene, totally ravishing and his song cycle Nuit D'ete which is what I had on my journey into town today. La Spectre de la Rose particularly beautiful.
My favourite Berlioz is the Symphonie Fantastique. This has five movements and tells a story. First movement, Reveries, is the lover thinking of the woman he adores; second movement is At the Ball when he sees his love dancing with another, a simply gorgeous waltz tune here; third movement In the Country, he is lying on a hill musing and he sees her pass by, in the distance a rumble of thunder presaging unease and menace is heard (very very eerie moment); fourth movement March to the Gallows, he has killed his lover and is being marched to his execution, the drums roll and just before the final crashing of the guillotine the theme, the idee fixee, of his lover is heard. Final movement is a demonic Witch's Sabbath after his death and is a tour de force for the orchestra culminating in a shattering finale where the sound of the orchestra feels as if it is being dragged out with giant like rumbling sounds.
Many moons ago I was present at a performance I will never forget. I have mentioned before how, sometimes, you can attend a concert, opera whatever and there is a moment when the conductor raises his baton and he knows, the cast/orchestra knows, everyone in the venue knows that suddenly there is going to be magic. I have heard seasoned conductors be interviewed about this and saying that it is 
unexplainable, they do not know when it is going to happen, but when it does it is unforgettable. This occasions was such an one. I was standing in the arena at a Prom concert at the Albert Hall back in 1968, and I was literally some ten feet from the orchestra. It was a Saturday night and the hall was packed as there was a visiting orchestra, Amsterdam Concertgebouw conducted by Bernard Haitink. He raised his baton, flicked a glance over the orchestra and a hush fell and we knew it was going to be one of THOSE occasions.
Suffice it to say the effect was simply sensational. From the Reveries through to the Witches Sabbath, with a chilling drum roll in the March to the Gallows, the audience was transfixed. I found myself at the end standing on tip toe and clasping both my hands tightly together and when the final brass resounded throughout the Hall the audience as one, leaped to their feet and simply yelled. There was such an explosion of sound that members of the orchestra at the front were, literally, knocked backwards. The applause went on and on and on with the orchestra laughing in delight and sheer amazement at their reception and even after the stage was empty and they had all left, nobody had moved. In the end Bernard Haitink came back on stage, clutching a whiskey, tie undone and looking shattered and made the most delightful little off the cuff speech to the audience. We all ended up singing For He's a Jolly Good Fellow and he finally exited, almost in tears.
Outside, it was a beautiful warm summer's night and the coaches taking the orchestra back to their hotels had to slowly make their way between rows of cheering shouting Promenaders. I went round to the stage door and waited and gradually the crowds thinned out but I still waited. Ended up with just half a dozen of us when after an hour out came Maestro Haitink himself. He must have been exhausted, but he stayed and talked to us for about 15 minutes and thanked us for the tremendous reception and how wonderful it had all been, signed progs etc. Lovely man and I have adored him ever since.
The following Sunday on Omnibus (these were the day when the Beeb regularly showed Proms on the popular channels) they showed this performance. I had wondered if its extraordinary intensity would come across on the screen but it did. I remember the commentator, Richard Baker, saying how difficult it was to convey to the TV audience 'the incredible feeling that was in the Hall' so it obviously affected everyone.
An evening I have never forgotten as you can see and later on I went to a concert where I heard Bernard Haitink conduct Mahler 2 which I had never heard before and another love was born. But that is for another day.....
