BEING A PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS, ONE HAS TO CROSS MANY ANGRY SEAS, DESERTS AND CLIMB THE HIGHEST PEAKS. “LA VIE D’ARTISTE” IS NOT FOR EVERYONE… IT HAS MANY PITFALLS, MOMENTS OF DESPAIR AND PECUNIARY PROBLEMS, EXCEPT FOR A FEW. WE OFTEN ASK WHAT IS ART?…

AS WE HAVE EXPLORED ON THIS SITE MANY TIMES, FROM THE CLASSICAL PAINTERS, ACTORS AND MUSICIANS, TO THE LATEST NIHILISTIC WORKS, OUR ARTISTIC LIFE IS DEDICATED TO EXPRESS, ENTERTAIN OR SHOCK… IT DEMANDS A STYLISTIC CONVICTION THAT WE BECOME SURE WHEN WE ARE DOUBTFUL AND FORCEFUL WHEN ARE SHY… I GET ANNOYED THAN SOME ARTISTS DO NOT GO BEYOND THEIR OWN NAVEL-GAZING, WITH A HOPE THAT THEY WILL BE NOTICED, AS THEY FALL IN THE “ARTS AND CRAFTS” SKILL-FULL BASKET, WITH UNEVENTFUL RESULTS AND A NON POLITICAL BLANCMANGE. 

THEY DO NOT SHAKE THE POSSUM SO TO SPEAK. THEY ARE NOT CRAZY ENOUGH... BUT CRAZY ISN'T ENOUGH...

ARTISTS AND CARTOONISTS NEED TO RATTLE THE CAGE: THE HUMAN CONDITION… AND ART OFTEN GETS CONSTRAINED BY TRADITION AND ALWAYS BY ACCEPTANCE. 

UNLIKE PAINTING WHERE THE EYES CAN WONDER FROM VARIOUS PLACES, MUSIC IS LINEAR… EXCEPT SOMETIMES THE MUSIC IS AN INTERLACE OF LINES… MUSIC BECOMES A MESSAGE.

Amongst the many great musical works, one stands alone at the peak of mastery and expression, and the control of a multiplicity of lines. One sees colours, space, arcane future, present day dreams, storms, death and love — and a question: why?… If by the end of the performance, the musos are not completely exhausted and the conductor has not gone crazy, it was not pushed to the max…

Gus loves Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique… it is a love story, a “cri du coeur”, a magic spell in which musicians are actors, soloists and musclemen who perform a grandiose letter to a lady that rejected Hector [Berlioz]… It’s romantic, expressionistic, existentialist, introverted, extroverted, and travels amongst the stars…

There is a moment when your electric kettle stops singing then starts singing again… till it boils and cuts off… the temperature raised nonetheless to the maximum… there is no sadness, but bubbles rising with complex chaotic lines… which have been mapped by harmonic contradictions and strong bursts.

The first movement is about dreams and passions… and one can feel this question “why” over and over. It oscillates between complex calmness and anger to end in smooth acceptance… 

The second movement is a ball, the music of which makes our modern “dancing with the Stars” feel like cardboard. Berlioz dances across the universe, in a slow/fast waltz that takes elegance for granted — and demands our imagination to take the fleeting steps towards the air, above the earth.

The third movement, a stroll in the countryside, starts and ends with an eerie slow cry of, one can imagine, a bird to which another far away bird responds… it’s nature, peaceful, that becomes stormy amongst the fields of wheat, till the storm fades away and calmness returns to the heart…

The March to the Scaffold is a complex fourth movement with a slow march, a horse parade, a run of the curious crowd, a guillotine and a falling blade… the hurrahs from the crowds, then people returning to their mundane world… The March to the Scaffold is glorified gore. it’s the power of the state. Justice is a murderer.

If this has not taken your breath away yet, the final is a visit into the full blown arcane… It’s the vision of witches dancing, laughing and throwing spells — the Sabbat — an assembly of witches, devils, and sorcerers for the celebration of rites and orgies… and love entangles to become the sorcerer… 

So who was this composed for? Berlioz was in love with an Irish actress, Harriet Smithson, who did not want to know about him… Eventually, she was encouraged to hear the music and fell in love with Hector. They got married… Thereafter, Berlioz music, though still very personal, became closer to the traditional mould… more gentle yet still demanding…

And despite the APPARENT crazyness of the symphonie, it is EXTREMELY PRECISE... This is genius in action...

          GUS LEONISKY.

PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….

PICTURE AT TOP: Harriet Smithson

THERE ARE MANY INTERPRETATION OF THE SYMPHONY AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE...

FOR GUS THE BEST SO FAR IS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqVojmQB_4s&list=RDBqVojmQB_4s&start_radio=1