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Kelly-Marie Murphy: Darkish Stars, Vibrant Nights, Huge Universe; Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto no. 2; Jacques Hétu: Symphony no. 5 – Nationwide Arts Middle Orchestra (NACO); Orchestre symphonique de Québec (OSQ); Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Alexander Shelley, conductor; Kevin Chen, piano. Grand Théâtre de Québec, Feb. 28, 2024. (Repeats March 2 in Toronto; March 7 & 8 in Ottawa)
It took over a 12 months of preparation: the approaching collectively of two notable orchestras and one of many nation’s largest choirs. The end result was a night of music making of the best order which introduced the viewers to its toes.
The Nationwide Arts Middle Orchestra (NACO) and the Orchestre symphonique de Québec (OSQ), joined by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, launched their joint three-city tour Wednesday night with a sold-out live performance on the Grand Théâtre de Québec. They are going to subsequent carry out on March 2 at Roy Thomson Corridor and conclude with two evenings at Ottawa’s CNA on March 7 and eight.
Carried out by Alexander Shelley, musical director of the NACO, the 110-piece orchestra and 100 voices supplied thrilling performances of Kelly-Marie Murphy, Saint-Saens Piano Concerto no. 2 with younger prodigy Kevin Chen, and Jacques Hétu, to nice acclaim.
The live performance opened with a chunk by Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy, Darkish Stars, Vibrant Nights, Huge Universe. Commissioned by the NACO as a companion piece for his or her upcoming recording of Strauss’s Don Juan, the piece grew out of two sources of inspiration: Van Gogh’s Starry Night time, created in 1889 like Don Juan, and the beautiful profession of astronomer Williamina Fleming (1857-1911), who found the Horsehead Nebula. The scintillating piece makes good use of devices just like the harp, vibraphone, windchimes, flute and solo violin to evoke the shining stars, whereas massive tuttis plunge the listener into the darkish vastness of the universe. The assembled orchestral lots have been spectacular each within the delicate and within the massive passages.
After the primary piece, 18-year-old Kevin Chen stepped as much as the piano for the Second Piano Concerto by Camille Saint-Saens. Chen has not too long ago burst onto our levels as a younger award-winning piano prodigy. His taking part in within the Saint-Saens confirmed his status, as he dazzled the viewers with near-flawless technical ease. Crystalline arpeggios tumbled from his fingers, and his lithe contact was match for the Mendelssohnian lightness of the second motion.
For all his technical proficiency, Chen doesn’t possess an imposing piano sound. One wonders whether or not chopping one or two desks from the string sections may not have been an fascinating possibility, to not scale back the quantity of the orchestra per se as a lot as its texture, which was barely too opaque.
The second half of this system was devoted to Jacques Hétu’s Symphony no. 5. Accomplished only some months earlier than the composer’s demise in 2010, the symphony depicts Paris throughout the Second World Battle. Within the first motion, solo devices play a craving melody, whereas the orchestra interjects with episodes of vigorous exercise. The second motion, titled “Invasion”, is brutal and loud, giving the brass and percussion a chance to launch the complete blast of their energy. The third motion, “Occupation”, creates an oppressive environment corresponding to Shostakovich, but with totally different means. Within the finale, the choir sings Paul Éluard’s ode to freedom Liberté, which was printed on leaflets and parachuted from Allies planes down on the inhabitants of Paris to spice up their morale.
Hétu was a grasp orchestrator, and the joint forces of OSQ and NACO appear to relish taking part in his opus magnum. The strings sound superbly lush, brass and woodwinds spherical and full. The refrain, expertly ready by Dr. Jean-Sébastien Vallée, doesn’t waver throughout its 22-minute contribution: it stays easily in management, together with in a number of attractive a cappella passages.
The overlapping counterpoint of the choral writing doesn’t enable an unhindered appreciation of Éluard’s significant poetry, even with the choir’s wonderful pronunciation. The total poem is printed in this system booklet, however supertitles would have been useful, even in French-speaking Québec. Let’s hope this help has not been uncared for within the different two halls.
An occasion of such wonderful high quality and apparent comradery ought to depart a hint: fortunately, the three ensembles will document Hétu’s symphony for the Analekta label earlier than going their separate methods.
- Tickets to the March 2 Toronto live performance can be found HERE.
Submitted by Béatrice Cadrin — Interim Metropolis Editor (Montréal), in collaboration with Ludwig-Van Montréal
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