The young conductor Nicolas Ellis made his Mahlérian debut at the Maison symphonique on Wednesday evening during a gala for the benefit of three charities which brought in $ 270,000, a musical evening that was overwhelming in more ways than one.
It is difficult to calmly comment on a 3rd Symphony of Mahler at the end of a chaotic 2021-2022 season. Because of the distancing and the choirs, we had so integrated the fact of not being able to hear such a monumental work for a long time that to see it exist again “in real life” in front of us was an almost indescribable shock.
Sum of talents
Shocks, there were many. First, the quality of execution by the Orchester de l’Agora, reinforced by musicians from professional orchestras from all over Quebec, from Rimouski to Sherbrooke via Trois-Rivières. It was absolutely not a “Metropolitan Orchestra in disguise” (despite the presence of a few members of the OM), but a real mosaic of musicians from all over.
By hearing these brass instruments, for example, the hold of the trombones and trumpets until the last bars, or these horns, certainly a little heterogeneous at the beginning, but voluntary and willingly playing the high bell, by discovering this marvelous group of oboes, too, or these flutes, we said to ourselves that Quebec is full of talent to resell whose extent and quality we do not know. For a 3rd by Mahler staged with an orchestra made up of 90% reinforcements, the corps and team spirit were remarkable, as were the balance and cohesion.
As such, the choirs were just as impeccable, marvelously tying up a high-flying vocal part. Star in this chapter, Marie-Nicole Lemieux sings German more and more like a German and her voice is ideal for Mahler. The particularity of his performance in Mahler’s 3rd movement is his way, in the 5th movement (the one with chorus), of adding volume and color compared to the more reflective 4th part. His performance was glorious.
And what about Nicolas Ellis? If he had been born Finnish, he would already be musical director of a large European orchestra. The talent of this musician is a blessing, just as we are blessed to have conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Bernard Labadie, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Jordan de Souza and perhaps Francis Choinière if he continues his momentum. . Ellis interpreted this monument with strength, logic and clarity and great organic coherence. He did movements 4, 5 and 6 well as prescribed by Mahler (at 79, and with all his experience, Zubin Mehta had forgotten to do it at the OSM in 2015). The off-stage postilion horn of the 3rd movement was also perfectly measured and the tempos of the central movements (II and III) perfectly chosen.
Moreover, the dreaded Final was a miracle of intelligence, for he sang (“gesangsvoll”) and flowed naturally. Ellis observing the nuances, the phrases and transitions follow each other logically and the hymnic power is born with force in an exhilarating musical intermingling.
Concert not necessarily always perfect, but extremely moving, because fair and human. It was filmed: so much the better.