This is even worse than the lacuna in theatre-going to which I referred last month. It's only this week that I have finally gotten to my first Toronto Symphony concert of the 2018-2019 season! Reasons: I exchanged one concert that didn't appeal to me, missed one because I was out of the country, and missed another one due to a misconnected flight in Chicago. That last one was especially galling because it could be a long time before another opportunity arises to hear a live performance of Britten's intensely moving War Requiem.
Despite these obstacles, I finally made it this week, and the event was worth the wait. German maestro Gunther Herbig, who was the TSO's Music Director from 1988 to 1994 returned for a long-overdue reappearance in Roy Thomson Hall. During his tenure as head of the orchestra, Herbig brought his signature understated podium presence to the central works of the19th-century German-Austrian repertoire which were the heart and soul of his musical personality. This focus on one particular area of repertoire was counted as a weakness by many, but when he took the stage for the works of such composers as Beethoven or Brahms, his performances were authoritative, thoughtful and deeply-felt. I recall in particular an intensely moving Brahms German Requiem.
This week's programme brought a pairing of works firmly in that central line, works which both were left incomplete at their creators' deaths: the Unfinished Symphony of Franz Schubert and the equally incomplete Ninth Symphony of Anton Bruckner. Schubert abandoned his work without finishing it, although there are sketches of a scherzo, and the B minor Entracte from the incidental music for Rosamunde has been cited as a possible candidate for the honour of being the symphony's finale -- dramatic, intense, and in the classically correct key. Exactly why Schubert left this glorious music unfinished will never be known for certain.
Bruckner's final symphony continued to occupy him until his death, but he was unable to complete the last movement. It's known that Bruckner suggested his Te Deum could be used instead as a choral finale. Although the C major key centre of the Te Deum is completely different from the D minor of the symphony, it's likely that he thought of it because so many of his sketches for the finale are dominated by the plunging tonic-dominant-tonic figurations already heard in that majestic cantata.
Bruckner's final symphony continued to occupy him until his death, but he was unable to complete the last movement. It's known that Bruckner suggested his Te Deum could be used instead as a choral finale. Although the C major key centre of the Te Deum is completely different from the D minor of the symphony, it's likely that he thought of it because so many of his sketches for the finale are dominated by the plunging tonic-dominant-tonic figurations already heard in that majestic cantata.
Hans-Hubert Schönzeler's moving assessment of the three completed movements in Bruckner's Ninth -- "so utterly complete in their incompletion" -- applies equally well to Schubert's surviving pair of movements.
Herbig's performance of the Schubert was marked by great clarity. Tempi were brisk but not rushed, a desirable point with this symphony. The repeated syncopations in the strings remained distinct and crisp at the chosen speeds. The first movement was taken in a single continuous sweep (with the exposition repeat not observed -- pity), and only the slightest nudging of tempo at key points in the structure altered the flow. The second movement had a little more flex and give to it, and the gentle slowdown in the final cadence was all one could ask. In both movements, Herbig gave great emphasis to the sudden changes in dynamics which generate so much of this music's power and drama.
In the Bruckner, Herbig's reading was both powerful and thoughtful, a performance which highlighted equally the beauties and the agonies of this remarkable score. Felicitous examples abounded throughout of Bruckner's terraced dynamics and block orchestration (similar to the registration changes on an organ). Extremes and contrasts of loud and soft were pinpoint-sharp. The many moments of dissonance and chromaticism were all allowed to tell, with no attempt made to beautify the raw clashes of sound.
Speeds in all three movements were near to ideal. If the tricky accelerando in the scherzo found the ensemble less than unified, it was the only notable trouble spot. All the other examples of Bruckner's requests for tempo changes were handled with care and precision. The performance culminated in a shattering, apocalyptic final climax in the Adagio. So gripping was this climax that not even a cough disturbed the long silent pause before we were enveloped in the celestial balm of the quiet coda.
Maestro Herbig gave a performance of these two masterpieces that will, I think, be long remembered by those who were present as an exemplar of how these works ought to be performed.
Herbig's performance of the Schubert was marked by great clarity. Tempi were brisk but not rushed, a desirable point with this symphony. The repeated syncopations in the strings remained distinct and crisp at the chosen speeds. The first movement was taken in a single continuous sweep (with the exposition repeat not observed -- pity), and only the slightest nudging of tempo at key points in the structure altered the flow. The second movement had a little more flex and give to it, and the gentle slowdown in the final cadence was all one could ask. In both movements, Herbig gave great emphasis to the sudden changes in dynamics which generate so much of this music's power and drama.
In the Bruckner, Herbig's reading was both powerful and thoughtful, a performance which highlighted equally the beauties and the agonies of this remarkable score. Felicitous examples abounded throughout of Bruckner's terraced dynamics and block orchestration (similar to the registration changes on an organ). Extremes and contrasts of loud and soft were pinpoint-sharp. The many moments of dissonance and chromaticism were all allowed to tell, with no attempt made to beautify the raw clashes of sound.
Speeds in all three movements were near to ideal. If the tricky accelerando in the scherzo found the ensemble less than unified, it was the only notable trouble spot. All the other examples of Bruckner's requests for tempo changes were handled with care and precision. The performance culminated in a shattering, apocalyptic final climax in the Adagio. So gripping was this climax that not even a cough disturbed the long silent pause before we were enveloped in the celestial balm of the quiet coda.
Maestro Herbig gave a performance of these two masterpieces that will, I think, be long remembered by those who were present as an exemplar of how these works ought to be performed.
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