Tag Archives: Symphonie Fantastique

Toronto Symphony’s new Berlioz CD

Did they know when they programmed the Toronto Symphony Concert for September 2018 featuring Berlioz works conducted by Sir Andrew Davis that it was going to make a good recording? Here I am now thrilled to be able to listen … Continue reading

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A new start with the old guy

A very long time ago I was a Toronto Symphony subscriber watching Andrew Davis conduct the TSO. We’re both much older now. Tonight’s concert at Roy Thomson Hall was the launch of a new season with a new leader stepping … Continue reading

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Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique & the fork in the recreational road

I’m responding as much to the serendipity of timing as anything else. Recreational marijuana becomes legal in Ontario next month. The Toronto Symphony are about to begin their 2018-19 season with Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Is there a connection? I think … Continue reading

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Music minus one

I write a lot about transcriptions possibly because they’re so much fun. Sometimes I can manage to play them, sometimes they’re too difficult but still fascinating to explore.  One plays a piano piece while imagining an original from another context, … Continue reading

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From Troyens to Tristan

December seemed to be a month obsessively occupied by Hector Berlioz, particularly Les Troyens in versions onstage at the Met, the High Definition transmission, DVDs, plus the score at home.  It’s January, and Berlioz is still echoing through the corridors … Continue reading

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