It was a pity that I could not attend the previous week’s 2009-10 gala, in which the MPO played Beethoven’s Symphony No 5 under Claus Peter Flor. Repeat performances of symphonic masterpieces under Flor always beg comparisons with previous MD Kees Bakels. This concert (10 October 2009) entitled “French Devils, Games & Fantasies” brought out the best in the MPO in an exhilarating performance of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. It was one of the very best interpretations of Berlioz’s masterpiece that I have ever heard in concert or on disc.
There was a very precise idea of what the piece meant to Flor. There was a moving tenderness when the “idée fixe” appeared in the first four movements. The ballroom scene (the second movement) was swift and elegant, with lovely cornet playing from principal Jon Dante. Usually Dante’s trumpet tone is too bright for my liking, but his cornet tone sounded aptly warm and rounded that night. The fourth movement was full of menace as the hero was taken to the scaffold. The fifth and final movement was full of spooky sounds and the MPO dispatched the piece with gusto. I played my usual favourite CD versions (Sir Colin Davis and Marc Minkowski) of the piece after the concert and my memory of this MPO concert came up trumps. Congratulations maestro Flor and the MPO!
The concert opened with Auber’s Fra Diavolo Overture (a premiere performance in the DFP) but this paled by comparison to Paul Paray’s fantastically energetic CD version on Mercury. Debussy’s Jeux with its complex rhythmic patterns had many moments of uncertainty amongst the MPO players but they redeemed themselves with that fantastic performance of the Berlioz.
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