The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra opened their season, as usual, back in September, but I missed the first programme because I was in Europe. So this is my first musical outing of the season!
The programme consisted largely of Beethoven and Mozart. The Beethoven contribution was the least-performed of Beethoven's concerted works, the Triple Concerto in C Major for piano, violin, and cello with orchestra. This work, so rare on concert programmes generally, here makes a welcome return appearance, having last been played by this orchestra as recently as 2012. And I for one am not complaining -- I happen to be very fond of this piece.
But I'm also very fond of Mozart's Overture to "Don Giovanni" and his "Linz" symphony, which rounded out the programme. So this night had all the makings of a musical delight.
Guest conductor David Danzmayr won my heart right in the first 10 seconds of the evening by proving he could count. Unlike every other conductor of every other live performance I have ever attended, he held the strict tempo through the two great rolling chords that proclaim Don Giovanni's downfall, including the rests between them. The impact of that doom-laden opening absolutely depends on the proper length of those rests.
The remainder of the slow introduction marched along with an appropriate sense of menace, and when it came time for the allegro, Danzmayr chose the tempo with care to give a light-hearted, carefree feeling while not getting fast enough to blur the notes. The tailored concert ending was used.
The concerto featured pianist Stewart Goodyear, as a pendant to his complete piano concerto cycle with this orchestra in the fall of 2015. With him on the platform were two of the orchestra's section leaders, cellist John Helmers and concertmaster Bénédicte Lauzière.
Beethoven's approach to this unique work also was unique in giving the cello the lead on nearly every theme or melodic tag played by the soloists. More than anything, this concerto represents the master in a genial, almost unbuttoned mood such as you will find in few of his major works. The net effect of this piece is of a concerto for piano trio and orchestra, and the solo playing often reflects that -- with the three soloists playing together as a group almost in the manner of a baroque concerto.
So, the balance among the three is critically important, and was beautifully achieved. Danzmayr kept the scale of the orchestral playing light too, so that the whole concerto came across with clarity and wit. These qualities will elude those who try to treat it like the Emperor Concerto! It's true that the outer movements get stretched out a little by accommodating the three soloists, but this was a fine performance and our interest was consistently sustained. Particularly beautiful was the cello melody of the slow movement, and the elaboration of it from the violin and piano.
After the intermission, we heard a very unusual contemporary work, Within Her Arms, by Anna Clyne. Written for a group of 15 solo string players, this work resumes a tradition of string writing that largely disappeared during the latter half of the twentieth century. The idea of a work for a group of solo strings harks back to the Metamorphosen of Richard Strauss, while the tone colours and textures call to mind the string fantasias of Jacobean times and the Tallis Fantasia of Vaughan Williams.
But Clyne's work is really like none of those points of reference. It's constructed (I use that word deliberately) out of several related melodic fragments, short, beautiful, and frequently repeated in close polyphony. The result is a mostly quiet, sometimes-dense texture of chromatic collisions which occasionally land on a clearly diatonic chord. In the final pages, the music opens up in a moment of glowing radiance, beautifully achieved on this occasion, before dwindling away again. Although it was beautifully and expertly performed, I wouldn't particularly want to hear this piece again. Of all instruments, the strings are among the best at performing sustained legato lines, and I felt that Clyne's choice to restrict her instruments to these little 4-note fragments short-changed both her abilities and her audience.
The concert concluded with Mozart's Symphony # 36 in C Major, K.425. It's subtitled the "Linz" symphony for the best of reasons. Mozart composed it when touring in that Austrian city in 1783. Only a genius could be asked on Friday by an important patron to give a concert with a symphony on Tuesday, realize that he didn't have a score of any of his symphonies with him, and create an entirely new one -- including writing out the orchestral parts -- in 4 days!
Under Danzmayr's direction, the orchestra gave this work a crisp, energetic performance. The energy wasn't so much a result of playing quickly, as of playing alertly. Tempi, in fact, were all central to the tradition -- nothing hectic in this interpretation. The slow introduction achieved pathos without portent, and the succeeding allegro remained bright, perky, and engaging. The lilting 6/8 slow movement brought delectable playing in the oboe/bassoon duet as well as a light touch in the unusual appearance (in such a movement) of trumpets and timpani. The minuet of the third movement was nicely balanced so that it remained emphatic (a definite plus) without becoming heavy or ponderous. The finale sparkled and fizzed along, gaining weight at just the right moment in the coda.
Guest conductor David Danzmayr won my heart right in the first 10 seconds of the evening by proving he could count. Unlike every other conductor of every other live performance I have ever attended, he held the strict tempo through the two great rolling chords that proclaim Don Giovanni's downfall, including the rests between them. The impact of that doom-laden opening absolutely depends on the proper length of those rests.
The remainder of the slow introduction marched along with an appropriate sense of menace, and when it came time for the allegro, Danzmayr chose the tempo with care to give a light-hearted, carefree feeling while not getting fast enough to blur the notes. The tailored concert ending was used.
The concerto featured pianist Stewart Goodyear, as a pendant to his complete piano concerto cycle with this orchestra in the fall of 2015. With him on the platform were two of the orchestra's section leaders, cellist John Helmers and concertmaster Bénédicte Lauzière.
Beethoven's approach to this unique work also was unique in giving the cello the lead on nearly every theme or melodic tag played by the soloists. More than anything, this concerto represents the master in a genial, almost unbuttoned mood such as you will find in few of his major works. The net effect of this piece is of a concerto for piano trio and orchestra, and the solo playing often reflects that -- with the three soloists playing together as a group almost in the manner of a baroque concerto.
So, the balance among the three is critically important, and was beautifully achieved. Danzmayr kept the scale of the orchestral playing light too, so that the whole concerto came across with clarity and wit. These qualities will elude those who try to treat it like the Emperor Concerto! It's true that the outer movements get stretched out a little by accommodating the three soloists, but this was a fine performance and our interest was consistently sustained. Particularly beautiful was the cello melody of the slow movement, and the elaboration of it from the violin and piano.
After the intermission, we heard a very unusual contemporary work, Within Her Arms, by Anna Clyne. Written for a group of 15 solo string players, this work resumes a tradition of string writing that largely disappeared during the latter half of the twentieth century. The idea of a work for a group of solo strings harks back to the Metamorphosen of Richard Strauss, while the tone colours and textures call to mind the string fantasias of Jacobean times and the Tallis Fantasia of Vaughan Williams.
But Clyne's work is really like none of those points of reference. It's constructed (I use that word deliberately) out of several related melodic fragments, short, beautiful, and frequently repeated in close polyphony. The result is a mostly quiet, sometimes-dense texture of chromatic collisions which occasionally land on a clearly diatonic chord. In the final pages, the music opens up in a moment of glowing radiance, beautifully achieved on this occasion, before dwindling away again. Although it was beautifully and expertly performed, I wouldn't particularly want to hear this piece again. Of all instruments, the strings are among the best at performing sustained legato lines, and I felt that Clyne's choice to restrict her instruments to these little 4-note fragments short-changed both her abilities and her audience.
The concert concluded with Mozart's Symphony # 36 in C Major, K.425. It's subtitled the "Linz" symphony for the best of reasons. Mozart composed it when touring in that Austrian city in 1783. Only a genius could be asked on Friday by an important patron to give a concert with a symphony on Tuesday, realize that he didn't have a score of any of his symphonies with him, and create an entirely new one -- including writing out the orchestral parts -- in 4 days!
Under Danzmayr's direction, the orchestra gave this work a crisp, energetic performance. The energy wasn't so much a result of playing quickly, as of playing alertly. Tempi, in fact, were all central to the tradition -- nothing hectic in this interpretation. The slow introduction achieved pathos without portent, and the succeeding allegro remained bright, perky, and engaging. The lilting 6/8 slow movement brought delectable playing in the oboe/bassoon duet as well as a light touch in the unusual appearance (in such a movement) of trumpets and timpani. The minuet of the third movement was nicely balanced so that it remained emphatic (a definite plus) without becoming heavy or ponderous. The finale sparkled and fizzed along, gaining weight at just the right moment in the coda.
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