Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Nicolo Umberto Foron - Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique; Boulanger: D'un soir triste (2025)

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Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Nicolo Umberto Foron - Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique; Boulanger: D'un soir triste (2025)

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When Deutschlandfunk and Musikfest Bremen first approached me to produce a CD with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, I faced the unique challenge of choosing a programme that resonated strongly with me and had a significant historical connection. Although I am half German and half Italian, I was quickly drawn to the personal ties I have with French music.

I wanted to present works by young composers that had a strong impact on the history of music and pieces that offer the audience a rich, diverse soundscape. Therefore, I chose two French composers who are personally significant to me for various reasons.

Lili Boulanger’s "D’un soir triste" was one of her last compositions, written just before the end of her life at twenty-four. Having struggled with chronic illness for most of her life, she died on 15 March 1918 of complications related to tuberculosis—just ten days before Claude Debussy, who had been one of her strongest supporters. In 1913, at only nineteen years old, she became the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, France’s most prestigious composition prize, awarded that year to her cantata Faust et Hélène. Boulanger had initially entered the competition in 1912 but was forced to withdraw due to illness.

After choosing the piece by Boulanger, I wanted to pair it with another French composer who marked a significant change in my development as a musician. When I first worked on Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, I found its sound palette abundant and excessive. Over time, however, I came to appreiate its emotional depth and rapid changes of mood.

When I conducted the Symphonie fantastiquen the finals of the London Symphony Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in 2023—a perfor-mance that led to me winning the first prize—I felt that the piece had finally become “my own.” It is also fitting that when we recorded this CD with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, I was the same age as Berlioz when he wrote the work: twenty-six (= the current age of the conductor Nicolò Foron!)