What went into choosing the music for "Fantastique?"

Pam Hahn, Vanja Gjumar Nikolovski

Here are Maestro Nikolovski's thoughts on "Fantastique."
Q:  This first concert celebrates French music, although each piece has a different character. What do you feel are the key challenges in each of the three - La Vie Parisienne Overture, Ballet Music from Faust and Symphonie Fantastique?

A:  It is very interesting to observe the difference between the three French pieces. “La Vie Parisienne” is a typical entertainment music piece, requiring fast pace, rapid movements of the dancers, very precise rhythmic accuracy of the orchestra. “Ballet Music” from Faust is an episode in the opera dedicated to the dancers, originally written for band, with beautiful melodies and very contrasting movements. “Symphonie Fantastique” is definitely one of the most famous of Berlioz’s pieces, with introduction of the "idée fixe” as a structural foundation, which musicians need to understand very clearly in order to deliver it to the audience for better comprehension and connection throughout the whole symphony.

Q:  Berlioz certainly outdid himself in scoring Symphony Fantastique, using four bassoons, six timpani, two harps (I read he originally wanted eight!) and huge string sections. Do you think he was going more for complexity of tonality or just sheer volume?

A:  Berlioz made a huge score for his symphony for many reasons but one is certainly his desire for different orchestral colors and combinations between the instruments. To be able to describe his unsuccessful love for a woman, Berlioz was using many instruments to depict his obsessions, tenderness, disappointments, visions, happiness, despair. The whole story is sort of his self-portrait.

Q:  If you could sit down to coffee and macarons with any of these composers, which would you choose, and what would you want to talk about?

A:  I will definitely not sit down with Berlioz and his messy, complex character, but will do so with Offenbach. It would be a joy to talk about his comic, humorous, and satiric characters in his compositions.