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Toronto Symphony Orchestra. George Walker: Sinfonia No. 2. Lutosławski: Concerto for Orchestra. Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1. Wednesday Jan. 10 at Roy Thomson Corridor. Repeats Thursday Jan. 11 and Saturday Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. Tickets right here.
Headline soloists, together with pianists of Russian beginning, are identified for his or her skill to undertaking music robustly to the gallery. Daniil Trifonov, showing Wednesday evening with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, confirmed an reverse aptitude for drawing the multitudes into the non-public conservatory of his thoughts. Seldom has Roy Thomson Corridor felt extra like a salon.
The unlikely automobile for this intimacy was Brahms’s grand Piano Concerto No. 1. In Trifonov’s studying (ably seconded on the rostrum by Gustavo Gimeno) the Adagio was actually and in any other case the centre of the rating. Delicate filigree intersected with delicate strings to create an environment similar to that of one of many composer’s late piano intermezzi. Woodwind traces, easy as they had been, spoke volumes.
This type was much less naturally suited to the considerably tragic first motion, marked Maestoso however right here rendered (quite rapidly) as a paradoxical Maestoso non troppo. One thing in grandeur was lacking. Nonetheless, there have been many beauties and Trifonov’s technical execution was impeccable. Such clear octaves!
Sounds from the orchestra additionally had been very superb. By favouring stability over quantity (exuberant timpani excepted) Gimeno uncovered particulars that always go unnoticed. Each pianist and conductor paid cautious consideration to complement within the finale. The fugue went properly. For as soon as the left-right division of violins did some good.
Introspection can lead to well mannered applause. After this efficiency there have been cheers, to which Trifonov (sporting a jacket and tie quite than tails) responded with an much more subdued solo encore: the Allemande from Rameau’s Suite in A Minor.
The music earlier than intermission was all in regards to the TSO. Witold Lutosławski completed his Concerto for Orchestra in 1954, earlier than he bought avant-garde faith. It’s a sensible piece, if not the equal of its namesake by Bartók. Arms aloft, Gimeno oversaw a efficiency of admirable transparency. There have been climaxes, to make certain, however a lot of the virtuosity was of the quiet quicksilver selection that’s not really easy to carry off.
Enjoying was no much less completed within the 16-minute Sinfonia No. 2 of the late American, George Walker. Right here virtuosity was of little avail. There have been some fascinating layered brass textures on this three-movement work of 1992. The freeform center motion sports activities a prolix flute solo accompanied by decrease strings and guitar. However general, the impact was of grim ahead movement within the face of thematic hunger.
We will want our American associates godspeed of their quest to broaden the American repertoire however there is no such thing as a cause for us to affix within the hunt. There are various, many Canadian works of larger benefit than this. Gimeno ought to get busy and discover some.
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Arthur Kaptainis was classical music critic of the Montreal Gazette from 1986 to 2022 and wrote for the Nationwide Submit from 2010 to 2016. His articles seem in Classical Voice North America and Gramophone in addition to Ludwig Van. Arthur holds an MA in musicology from the College of Toronto. He’s president of the Music Critics Affiliation of North America.
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