#232 The Smell of Crudeness

It's raw and crude and ill music, no doubt. So wild, furious, and choleric. how it bites and claws, how it kills.

Gardiner with ORR is mysterious here. Jut the bells themselves would be enough but he goes very much beyond that. The timpani! The whispering strings at 8'29''! This is sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll, in its original form.

Composer: Hector Berlioz
Work: Symphonie fantastique, IV. Songe d'une nuit de sabbat
Recording: Orchestre révolutionnaire et romantique, John Eliot Gardiner

#104 The Smell of Dead Child

From the very first moment, here comes an irreversible tragedy of splendid power. The total passing of father and son, non-acceptance turned to non-existence. Primary narrative, sonorous, deafening.

Anne Sofie von Otter is magnificent in four different roles. She augments the predestination: The winner is known.

Composer: Franz Schubert, arr. Hector Berlioz
Work: Erlkönig
Recording: Anne Sofie von Otter, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Claudio Abbado

#75 The Smell of Puppet Theater

This is the very first BSO recording ever, from October 1917. The sound is so cute, it's like looking through tilt-shift lens. Miniaturized players with their Lego instruments and animated movements.

Muck's drive is almost removed, there's little drama (some of it at 2'25'' or 2'53''). The real drama happened in the real life: Swiss citizen Muck was arrested as a German alien. Without any trial or charge, Muck was deported at the end of the war. The issued discs had his name removed from the label, and BSO went for French conductors (Henri Rabaud and Pierre Monteux).

Composer: Hector Berlioz
Work: The Damnation of Faust, Rákóczy March
Recording: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Karl Muck

#11 The Smell of Restlessness

After twenty-four years being together and another eleven years being separated, my parent are getting divorced today. Romeo and Juliet sounds appropriate for such a day. The introduction is unstable, like off the beat, waiting for something to happen. When the Prince arrives, it's only pretending it's calm. The end in strings is restless, and although the contrabass exhales for the last six bars, the rest of the strings is getting nervous again.

Then plainly know my heart's dear love is set
on the fair daughter of rich Capulet.

Composer: Hector Berlioz
Work: Roméo et Juliette
Recording: London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis