Orchestre de Paris

Worthy of the presence of two fabulous new stars of bow and baton, lyricism and passion preside over the union of the famous Violin concerto by Sibelius, with its transcendent virtuosity, and the monumental Symphonie fantastique of Berlioz, an orchestral pillar of French romanticism.

Trained as a violinist but forced to abandon hopes of a career after injuring his shoulder, Sibelius would inject into his Concerto the best of his lyric passion. With its three brilliant and virtuoso movements, including the daunting Finale –a "polonaise for polar bears", as one critic quipped – the work displays a sumptuous neoromanticism that is the key to its unwavering popularity. In contrast, the colossal Symphonie fantastique deploys a formidable sonic profusion of currents and colours. Jointly inspired by Goethe and Shakespeare, the two great gods of his literary Pantheon, Berlioz created a "novel in musical form", in which the amplitude of means is only equalled by the intensity of the musical drama. A single idée fixe federates the illustrative orchestral pages: the romantic hues of Rêveries et passions; the scintillating irreality of the waltz in "Un Bal"; the Beethovian contrasts of the Scène aux champs; the frightening visions and relentless accents of the Marche au supplice, which terrified audiences in 1830; the sarcastic whirling of the Songe d’une nuit de sabbat; the chant of alternatively solemn and parodying accents of the Dies Irae.

∴ Please note: the date of the concert has been changed, and is now scheduled for the 3rd of March at 8 p.m. ∴

Orchestre de Paris
Conductor Klaus Mäkelä
Violin Janine Jansen

Jean Sibelius
Concerto pour violon en ré mineur, op.47

Hector Berlioz
Symphonie fantastique op.14