The Orchester Métropolitain did not call on just anyone to replace, in the Concerto noh 5 “The Emperor” of Beethoven, pianist Nicholas Angelich, a regular in the orchestra, who died suddenly 11 days ago at the age of 51. Briton Paul Lewis, one of the best Beethovenians around, was more than a consolation prize.
Posted at 7:30 p.m.
Speaking of the unexpected, her compatriot the conductor Jane Glover said in French that she was about to get on the plane to come and conduct the orchestra two years and a month ago, before you know what points the tip of its nose.
From the initial program, it kept the Symphony noh 31 in D major of Mozart, which she judiciously prefaced with the pretty Symphony in G majoropus 11 noh 1 by Joseph Bologne de Saint-George, a freed Guadeloupean slave who became a figure celebrated both for his music and for… his skills as a fencer. The two works, in three movements, were both composed in 1778 for the Parisian public, who moreover valued Saint-George more than Mozart…
Dame Jane Glover, a recognized Mozart specialist (she has already been at the head of the London Mozart Players), is totally in her element here. She does not indulge in the occasional excesses of so-called “historically informed” performers.
No sound roughness (despite the horns present in Mozart), no unbridled tempos with the conductor and musicologist.
One always has the impression of hearing the ideal speed of execution, except perhaps in the slow movement of Mozart’s symphony, which she chooses to do in a slow 6/8 rather than fast, therefore making something bit to lose the “lively” side requested by the composer.
And what a pleasure to see a precise, firm direction, which avoids the hodgepodge of certain conductors… The musician therefore admirably set the table for what was to follow after the break. Because Paul Lewis had prepared a whole “Emperor” for us.
Not a first
The pianist is far from his first visit to Quebec, he who has played with the Orchester symphonique de Montréal, in addition to performing at the Domaine Forget in Charlevoix and at the Festival de Lanaudière.
“Commander of the British Empire” (a rank below his colleague), Lewis became known in particular for his remarkable complete Beethoven sonatas and his recordings of Schubert.
The pianist, who is turning fifty in three weeks, does not weigh Beethoven down. The first line of the introduction is brilliant to perfection. The pianist does not forget that the XIXand century was to be that of piano virtuosity. Liszt was born just a few months after the premiere of the work in 1811.
One can deplore occasional hardness in the strongbut the musician is also capable of piano of anthology, as at the end of the cadence of the first movement.
But, above all, throughout the concerto shines a true joy of playing, far from the head of burial of Yefim Bronfman in the Concerto noh 3 by the same composer last fall at the OSM.
No encore at the end, but a conquered audience!