Not All Bombast !

The April edition of BBC Music magazine had a free cover disk of rarely performed Berlioz. Despite a printing error on the jewel case ( corrected within the actual magazine ) it was simple enough to discern that the first piece was the Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale, taken from a live 2009 Proms concert performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Thierry Fischer and with the highlighted solo trombone part of Donal Bannister. The lengthy first movement is a most impressive funeral march with unique use of heavy percussion emphasis. I did not previously know the piece at all and so can make no comparitive judgement on the performance but it seems a fine one to me. The Triomphale aspect of the work that is the finale appeals less to me, seeming to prefigure the pomp style of an Elgar. But it is a work I am glad to have heard. The other piece is equally substantial, Berlioz's Te Deum, also taken from a live Proms concert of 2009. The performers here are the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Susanna Malkki with notable solo contributions from organist Simon Preston and tenor Jorg Schneider. The chorus is enormous, comprising the BBC Symphony Chorus, the Crouch End Festival Chorus, the Choristers of St Paul's Cathedral and the Trinity Boy's Choir. Chorus masters were respectively Stephen Jackson, David Temple, Andrew Carwood and David Swinson. The orchestra is equally large with multiple forces in many areas and the whole seems an attempt to forge a link between sacred music and theatrical spectacle on a grand scale. Within it though are moments of calm and reflection, it is certainly not all bombast. Berlioz remains a composer with whom I am struggling to come to terms but I am finding more there gradually. I don't think I am alone on this journey for those who never "got" this composer immediately.