Sonic spectacle was the name of the game at last night's Toronto Symphony Orchestra concert.
Some of my closest friends might take that to mean that Mahler was on the programme, but oddly enough that was not the case.
The concert opened with the overture to William Tell by Rossini. This one joins the list of works I have heard twice in a short time period. It's just a few years since the Teatro Regio of Torino brought a concert performance of the (somewhat) complete opera to the Roy Thomson Hall stage.
On this occasion, though, our own orchestra was conducted in this work by Simon Rivard, resident conductor of the TSO and conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. Rivard gave pleasing shape and nuance in the two quieter sections of the overture. The opening Dawn prelude highlighted the splendid tone of the cello section. The thunderstorm built up a massive yet still musical climax. The concluding March of the Swiss Soldiers was given at a properly lively tempo, with crisp articulation of the repeated notes and pinpoint sforzandi.
Of course, someone always has to mention that the March was used as the theme music for the television series, The Lone Ranger. Kind of ironic, considering that the series went off the air 62 years ago.
The remainder of the concert was conducted by interim Music Director, Sir Andrew Davis. After the Rossini, the orchestra was joined by soloist Louis Lortie for the Piano Concerto # 4 in C Minor, Op. 44, by Camille Saint-Saëns. Although the solo part is filled with breathtaking virtuoso acrobatics, the concerto as a whole is written in such a way that the soloist is often expected to play quietly, adding the lavish decorative flourishes while the orchestra propounds the main thematic substance. Lortie proved an ideal pianist for this unusual work, playing throughout with a lightness of touch and discreet use of the sustain pedal that lent clarity and distinction without weight and overpowering volume.
Not that his playing lacked power when it was needed -- far from it. But the finest moments of Lortie's performance (there were many) came in the quieter passages where the music took on a real air of ethereal fantasy under his fingers.
The orchestral part (it's definitely not an accompaniment) was shaped by Davis with great care for balance, and played with appropriate gravitas in the opening pages, leading to sparkling wit in the scherzo and a light-hearted account of the finale, rather faster than any of the recordings I own. That rapid tempo had the curious effect of tilting the centre of gravity in the work closer to the beginning, where a more sedate speed brings the work into a balance poised around the central scherzo. Not a bad thing by any means, but it did materially alter the character of the concerto. At any rate, it was a delight to hear this work performed live for the first time!
After the intermission came the premiere of a new work by Canadian composer Jordan Pal, Colour of Chaos. This was my first encounter with this composer's music, and I came away with mixed reactions. On the one hand, this work had a definite, clear rhythmic profile -- something which can be a rare privilege (or non-existent) in much contemporary music. On the other hand, most of this 10-minute piece was loud. Or louder. Or -- well, you get the idea. I was reminded of a violinist I know who complained that the Mahler Eighth Symphony gave her nothing to do but endless pages of tremolandos -- because that's what the TSO's violin section was mainly faced with. Meanwhile, the brasses, winds, and extensive percussion section were engaged in a good deal of what another friend of mine refers to as playing blastissimo.
None of that in and of itself is necessarily a weakness, but in the end I felt that Pal was busily engaged in repeating notes rather than adding any musical substance after about the 4-minute mark. For me, then, this was a work with some elements of strength but I was left with no desire to hear it again.
The concert concluded with Ottorino Respighi's showstopper tone poem, The Pines of Rome. Davis and the orchestra captured the sense of playful jollity in the Pines of the Villa Borghese, and the brooding solemnity of the Pines near a Catacomb. The moonlit half-tones of the Pines of the Janiculum hovered gently in the air. The work concluded with a splendid, full-throated account of the Pines of the Appian Way, the march building to more and more thunderous heights with the six extra brass players positioned in the organ loft to give their playing even more oomph. The final immense chords were discreetly underpinned by the organ pedals for even greater power. An exhilarating end to a concert full of pageantry and spectacle, but also well-stocked with poetry and subtlety.
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