Hector Berlioz’s well-known Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14, is a showpiece in a serious way, the kind of work that orchestras take on tours to highlight all the virtuosic bells and whistles of their playing.
But Thursday evening, in the first of a set of three concerts by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, that masterwork was also a good gauge of the ensemble’s state early in the 2025-26 season and its burgeoning relationship with Klaus Mäkelä, its music director designate.
Lots of questions remain about Mäkelä, many of which will not be answered until a few years after his tenure begins full force in September 2027. But what was made clear Thursday evening is that the musicians, who played a major role in hiring, are committed fans of the 29-year-old maestro, and they play like it.
There were no short openers, no quick musical palate cleansers. Instead, the CSO presented a heavyweight program — the kind in which Mäkelä was laying down a marker and really beginning to establish a place in the long history of notable conductors who have led the orchestra.
Glimmers of what the Mäkelä version of this orchestra might be like could be seen during this program: one built around his youthful verve and marked by energy, exuberance and a kind of spunkiness.
In a commendably creative bit of programming, Mäkelä paired the Symphonie with another Berlioz work that was written just four years later, “Harold in Italy,” Op. 16. These two complementary pieces can almost be seen as two chapters of the same musical book, both programmatic works that highlight this composer as a romantic, storyteller and innovator.
It was all almost too much of a good thing — two sprawling works that each run more than 40 minutes in length, with a gamut of moods and emotions and musical treats galore. But the evening was undeniably involving, and, yes, fun. And the audience’s reaction was clear: sustained, unusually fervent cheers after each selection.
Berlioz liked to break the rules, giving the Symphonie five movements instead of the customary four, and creating in “Harold in Italy” something that falls between a symphony and a concerto, with the solo viola more a star player than a full-fledged soloist in the usual sense.
The latter work (last performed by the CSO in 2012) is based on the wondering, disaffected hero of Lord Byron’s narrative poem, “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,” (1812-18), as well as Berlioz’s own travels in Italy, with each movement having a long, highly descriptive title.
The first movement is subtitled “Melancholy, Happiness, and Joy,” and Mäkelä and the CSO delivered rich helpings of all three in what was one of early high points of this concert, with a zesty emphasis on the joyousness.
Antoine Tamestit, one of few full-time viola soloists in the world, returned after making his CSO debut in September 2024, and he seemed completely at home in this work, delivering vibrant, nimble playing throughout with a handsome, lighter-than-expected sound.
In a clever and surprising bit of stagecraft, Tamestit entered from the rear of the orchestra after the work had begun and strolled around the stage during the piece, showing a few acting chops as he did his best impression of the wandering poet of the work’s title.
After a long ovation, he returned to the stage for a quick encore, a propulsive, eloquent take on a viola transcription of the well-known, first movement Prelude of J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007.
Mäkelä and the CSO offered a bright, involving, wonderfully variegated take on the Symphonie, with the maestro conducting by memory, a choice that seem to come less from hubris and more from a desire to move more freely on the stage. By doing so, he connected with the musicians in a way that he couldn’t with the podium in the way.
Berlioz was an imaginative orchestrator, and there were all kinds of surprising moments in these two works. Examples include the quiet, intimate duet between the solo violist and harp in the first movement of “Harold in Italy,” strikingly realized by guest harpist Emily Levin of the Dallas Symphony and Tamestit (standing right next her), or the striking sight of four percussionists performing on eight timpani at the end of the third movement in the Symphonie.
There was fine playing in every section of the orchestra, but the brass sounded particular on point with new principal trombonist Timothy Higgins and the return of principal trumpeter Esteban Batallán. Among the many notable solo turns were those of English hornist Scott Hostetler and guest flutist Herman van Kogelenberg of the Munich Philharmonic, who was superb all evening, drawing an appealingly warm sound from his unusual grenadilla wood flute.