Star-Ledger praises ‘stirring’ Winter Festival opener
The Star-Ledger writes:
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's two-weekend-long Winter Festival kicked off Friday night with a stirring account of Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique."
The nearly two-centuries-old orchestral piece, written by a very young, very in-love 27-year-old Parisian, still thrilled this night at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, with fluttering woodwind notes to open the piece and dreamy strings to welcome the main romantic theme of this 53-minute symphony.
Luckily, NJSO's outgoing music director Jacques Lacombe showcased genuine aptitude for the piece. His tempi were firm — the piece rarely lagged — and Lacombe elicited finely detailed playing from both his harps and cellos throughout, not to mention the entire string section in the extended pizzicato passage in the adagio.
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Long before Hollywood embraced sequels, Berlioz realized he had a hit, and two years after "Symphonie Fantastique," he premiered "The Return of Life," which after some revisions would eventually be renamed "Lélio."
Those who braved the coming storm Friday heard the revised version after intermission — complete with actors in costume to recite the spoken sections and a full chorus on hand, and to provide the evening a coherent visual flair.
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All in all, the orchestra brought a sense of passion to "Symphonie Fantastique," and Lacombe showed a master's sense of the piece, carefully bringing shape to the work as a whole.