Many microphones are suspended above the orchestra for this concert while no camera is filming. The coupling of theheroic opening by Johanna Müller-Hermann andA hero’s life would it be in the crosshairs of the artistic department of the OSM to become the second disc of the orchestra? It would not look out of place, in any case, with the 5e Symphony by Mahler.
Originality of the program, theheroic opening by Johanna Müller-Hermann (1868-1941) is a composition from 1916 which sums up well the impasse of post-Romantic composers after Mahler. Where to go, in terms of musical language? The opening of the Viennese composer who has disappeared from the programs is very dense, quite pompous but well orchestrated with a very effective coda. The work of composition has its eye on chromaticism, but Franz Schmidt, also in Vienna, will push research towards other shores. There 2e Symphony by Schmidt is from 1913 and it is really something else.
Esoteric Mahler
A strange experience followed: Rückert-Lieder by Mahler with Sonya Yoncheva, undoubtedly one of the best, if not the best specialist in Italian opera of the great repertoire of the moment (genre Traviata, Tosca, etc). She sings norma in New York right now. It’s hard to listen to these Rückert-Lieder without prejudice, wondering if, really, all the artists should perform all the repertoires.
When we don’t understand anything, in the seconds that follow, we feel the artist’s abnegation in the pronunciation. Despite these efforts, despite the formidable voice, it does not work: Yoncheva designs the Rückert-Lieder more like vocal lines than poetic lines. From time to time, she lets herself be won over stylistically by emotional undulations. Thus, at the very end of ” Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen “, it looks like ” Vissi d’arte » (Tosca). The Mahlerian song, which emanates from the German Lied, is much straighter, hieratic. It is reminiscent of this recent sentence by Lorraine Vaillancourt: “I come from a school where it is we who work and the people who are moved”.
Montserrat Caballé and Leontyne Price recorded the Last Four Lieder of Strauss, so Sonya Yoncheva took a break norma by being Montreal to welcome it in Mahler. It was our all esoteric musical moment.
The temptation is very strong to imitate Claude Gingras to talk about the low-cut dress in the context of these texts on death and others. But we will resist poking fun at the sartorial aspects, except to recall that legendary Christa Ludwig masterclass where that singing legend taught that no item as inept and futile as a misplaced piece of clothing should distract onlookers in the discipline of the German Lied. Incidentally, Christa Ludwig is the standard meter in the Rückert-Lieder.
Huge interpretation
The highlight of the evening was Ein Heldenleben by Strauss, work for which we are spoiled since François-Xavier Roth had made an excellent impression during the selection process. But nothing to do with what we heard on Tuesday evening. Strauss is to be added to Mahler and Shostakovich among the names of composers that our conductor masters with passion, and when we hear such a fusion between Payare and a transfigured OSM, we wonder if we haven’t hit the jackpot with this nomination.
Not only was the “Battle” epic and monumental, but this score’s miraculous moment, its most sublime phrase about four minutes into the “Hero’s Retreat from the World” episode, marked ” molto espresso by Richard Strauss had all the “creamy” flavor of Viennese or Dresden interpretations. This is what is marvelous with Payare: the musicians are no longer afraid to let go and, in doing so, they show all their qualities. The woods in the cackle episode of the Hero’s Opponents were jaw-dropping. Same for Andrew Wan and the horn section. Same for everyone, basically.
What we heard yesterday is what we hear on record with the greatest. We add the exaltation and the fact of sharing this in the room. It’s more than precious, it’s blessed bread, almost unbelievable.