PRINTEMPS DES ARTS

In 1830, the creation of the Symphonie fantastique was like a bomb. Having given the power to evoke the dream of an artist to an orchestra, it became the manifesto of French Romanticism. It is what Berlioz aimed for by creating a program describing the “different situations of an artist.” Filled with the “waves of passion” a young musician think of his beloved. This thought obsesses him and returns throughout the symphony. He imagines a ballroom scene and an “evening in the country” before sinking into a nightmare during which he is led into torture in a diabolical frenzy. Michael Jarrel’s concerto presents itself as a distant echo of Berlioz’s orchestra: the oboe is not so far from the English Horn of the Fantastic Symphony’s Field Scene. Although it is impossible to yet say how this creation will sound, we do know that the Swiss composer’s talent will create worlds that play on energies first contained, then released, guided by an exceptional soloist who will give his oboe a sense of absolute freedom.