This is a Composer’s Brain on Drugs

This is a Composer’s Brain on Drugs Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique twists together strange percussive effects and a recurring, meandering melody to depict the story of a young artist’s opiate d ream. The music waltzes, marches and dances maniacally as the young man obsesses over the woman he loves, murders...

By Katie Womack

May 22, 2014

Audio By Carbonatix

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This is a Composer’s Brain on Drugs Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique twists together strange percussive effects and a recurring, meandering melody to depict the story of a young artist’s opiate d ream. The music waltzes, marches and dances maniacally as the young man obsesses over the woman he loves, murders her in a fit of rage, marches to his own death by guillotine and then watches from above as witches and goblins dance over his grave. You can hear this symphonic trip performed by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra on Friday, May 23rd at Bass Hall (525 Commerce St., Fort Worth, TX, 76102). In addition to Berlioz’s opium-inspired symphony, the orchestra is performing composer in residence Donnacha Dennehy’s The Vandal, a piece he originally composed in 2000 and then reworked in 2014, “vandalizing,” as he puts it, his own ideas. This performance marks the premier of the reworked version. Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth performs trumpet concerti by Haydn and Arutiunian to round out the program. Tickets range from $12 to $71 and can be purchased by calling the box office at 817.665.6000 or by visiting the orchestra’s website at fwsymphony.org.
Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., May 25, 2 p.m. Starts: May 24. Continues through May 24, 2014

Katie Womack

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