Description
In Keiko Abe’s *Prism Rhapsody*, the exceptional percussionist Vivi Vassileva demonstrates just how much poetry there is in percussion. The press hails her as an artist who “doesn’t just play the drums, but makes them sing.” On her marimba, she creates a dazzling spectrum of light and rhythm—ranging from virtuosic and subtle to a fireworks display of archaic primal forces. Berlioz provides the dramatic counterpoint with his *Symphonie fantastique*—a milestone in program music. Driven by his obsessive, unrequited love for the actress Harriet Smithson, Berlioz poured his longing into music. He invented the “idée fixe,” a musical motif that haunts him through dreams, ballroom nights, and all the way to an intoxicating witches’ sabbath. A masterpiece about suffering and madness that changed the symphonic genre forever.

