The great American conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, 77, whose appearances on stage will wither in the short term, gave the second of his three concerts at the OSM in front of a room not even half-full.
This must have been Michael Tilson Thomas’ moment. A unique and precious gift that this great musician offered us by maintaining his participation in this series of concerts despite the announcement, on March 2, of his glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive type of brain cancer.
A precious gift
“I had an operation to remove what was visible and I had radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Now the cancer is under control. But the future is uncertain, because glioblastoma is a devious adversary. Its recurrence is, unfortunately, the rule rather than the exception,” the chef wrote at the time. We understood that he would honor his collaborations planned for this season and the next, if health allowed him, then wishing to “compose, write and […] plan more time to marvel, take walks, cook and spend time with loved ones — on two or four legs. »
It is part of the rest of this “precious life”, in his terms, that he offers us in three concerts this week in the 9th Symphony of Schubert, this work which crowned Kent Nagano king, here, in Montreal. Not realizing the eminence of this gift by ignoring such a concert is spitting in the face of a great artist. And even if “MTT” isn’t sick, when one of the world’s great conductors comes to Montreal to conduct one of the most legendary symphonies in the repertoire, what’s the problem? That there is not marked “Nagano” on the ticket? Ben, gentlemen, ladies, Nagano we will have to come back…
So, instead of talking about this donation, of thanking the OSM for bringing “MTT” back to Montreal, this week there was only talk of a 20-year-old post-kid, a collateral victim, alas, of the invasion and massive bombardment of the civilians of a sovereign country by an aggressor country. His.
The Malofeev case
The OSM judged in its “soul and conscience” that “Mr. Malofeev’s presence in the orchestra this week would not allow the OSM to fulfill the precious mission of ‘carrying the universal message of music that brings cultures and peoples together in a spirit of peace, fraternity and human solidarity” but, rather, would contribute to increasing tensions within the community itself” says the institution.
The OSM was vilified from all sides, all sides on social networks for this decision. That is. The position is delicate and opens a Pandora’s box. That is. Because if cultural institutions start playing political arbiters, where will the line be drawn? Are we no longer going to receive Lang Lang because Uyghurs are mistreated in camps?
We will come back in another article, later, on the substance of this question. What interests us here is above all that on the Facebook page of the Homework 2700 people found themselves to have an opinion on the OSM’s decision and 1600 to comment on it, without counting the opinions and comments resulting from 235 shares. The question posed by the view of the room on Thursday is: all these people who are so interested in the OSM and in music and who were more than 1,800 out of 2,700 (completely legitimate opinion, obviously) spit on it, where are they when the music starts? Did they even realize that the presence of Malofeev was only an epiphenomenon of this concert whose salt and object were different?
Embossed strings
The illness that affects Michael Tilson Thomas has not altered his musical lucidity. The musician didn’t take the applause for himself: he wanted to direct it mainly to the strings, interrupting the audience to tell him that the Symphony by Schubert comprised 47,917 notes!
It is true that the strings were the centerpiece of the concert with an intense sonic density in theTragic openinga touching diaphanous sweetness in last spring de Grieg, impeccable articulation and sharpness in the 9th Symphony by Schubert.
Brahms’ approach to the opening was very balanced, relying on color saturation more than energy. An extension to the Fourth Symphony of Zubin Mehta in a way.
Schubert’s 9th Symphony released, in movements I and IV, the strange sensation of tracing Kent Nagano’s vision very closely, a little as if MTT had said to the orchestra: “Play your Ninth »: same choices, in the same places, not to do certain covers, same types of phrasing, same brassy balance in the 1st movement. At the end of the work MTT, too, does not observe the decrescendo. Notable differences are a Final not very “vivacious” and a surprisingly lively 2nd movement, almost frolicking and turning its back on the soft, sylvan and nostalgic poetry usually conveyed.
We wouldn’t say the 9th by Schubert is “the” core repertoire of Michael Tilson Thomas. His approach seemed above all determined not to get lost in romantic wanderings.
There remains a chance, Sunday afternoon, for Montrealers to understand that the objective of this concert is to pay tribute to a conductor who accompanied our life as music lovers with musical visions of the first magnitude.