Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique

In 1897, the French piano manufacturer Pleyel came up with an attractive solution to the practical problem of presenting music for two pianos in a formal concert setting. Two-piano repertoire, whether original or arranged, was the height of fashion in Parisian salon music circles, so why not, the company reasoned, allow hosts to save space by incorporating two grand pianos and two keyboards into one instrument? The result was a handsome, roughly 2.5 metre-long rectangular contraption that allowed players to face one another, with each keyboard given its own independent action and strings. In the event, just 74 of these were made. The one heard here was built as late as 1928, and is now housed in Paris’ Musée de la Musique. Although this arrangement of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique was made by one of the performers, Jean-François Heisser, it’s typical of the kind of repertoire that would have been heard performed on two pianos (or even an instrument like this) at one of many soirées hosted by Paris’ great and good. These performances of transcribed orchestral works were essential in the days before the advent of recording, when the chance of hearing even a celebrated symphony would otherwise be rare. Whether for these soirées, or for general domestic and concert use, composers transcribed such works for two pianos for maximum textural effect, the resulting sonorities at least starting to do justice to the originals. Performing this music in a piano arrangement had the added benefit of clarifying and opening up the orchestral textures for audiences. The same is true with this recording—in the opening movement in particular you can hear Berlioz’s countermelodies and melodic embellishments in extraordinary detail. It’s also interesting to hear how an arranger showcases various orchestral effects—in the final movement, chiming bells are captured in dissonant chords that brilliantly mimic their complex harmonics.