The Canadian National Arts Center Orchestra (NAC) and the Orchester symphonique de Québec (OSQ) will join forces to present the 5e Symphony by Jacques Hétu during concerts at the Grand Théâtre de Québec on Wednesday, in Toronto on March 2 and in Ottawa on March 7 and 8, where the work will be recorded. The idea comes from the music director of the NAC Orchestra, Alexander Shelley, and opens up many possibilities for collaboration between Canadian orchestras.
“The idea emerged from a strategic plan linked to the mission of Canada’s National Arts Center in the post-pandemic period. There was a desire to get the music sector to open its eyes and seek as many collaborations as possible, in terms of experience, knowledge and capabilities. It could simply be about helping each other, supporting each other. We have tried to implement this in various ways. We already have an exchange relationship with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, we are creating a new resident conductor program for Canadian conductors, starting in the 2024-2025 season. They will go for a week to Toronto and a week to Montreal. These are the types of partnerships we work on,” says Alexander Shelley at Duty.
Furthermore, projects have been developed that are “out of the ordinary” and “this is one of them,” adds the musical director of the NAC Orchestra. “We rarely went to Quebec, so we said to ourselves: ‘It’s important for the NAC Orchestra to have a stronger relationship with the national capital of Quebec. Can we find a unifying musical project with the OSQ?” There 5e Symphony by Jacques Hétu emerged very quickly due to the size of the work, but also by the fact that it has not been performed so often since its creation. »
A great score
Created in March 2010 in Toronto, under the direction of Peter Oundjian, one month after the death of Jacques Hétu, the Symphony no 5 is the swan song of the great Quebec composer, a 45-minute work with a choral finale, like the 9e Symphony by Beethoven, on the poem Freedom by Paul Éluard.
The symphony describes Paris before, during and after World War II. The context allows Jacques Hétu to summon his two heroes: Mahler, in the 3e movement, describing the German occupation of Paris, a moment of great tension, whose frictions evoke the 10e Symphony by Mahler, and Shostakovich, whose shadow hangs over a wild scherzo (2e movement) and which gives him the idea, at the beginning of the work, of using a recurring musical motif, a process used by the Russian at the end of his final symphony.
Alexander Shelley sees in the finale on Freedom of Éluard “the literal meaning in the context of his writing, the Second World War, but also allusions to all the freedoms that we must preserve in our world”.
It was after contacting the Mendelssohn Choir of Toronto that the project was able to be set up with concerts in the three cities. “The Toronto Symphony is our partner; he is the sponsor of the work he created and he was delighted to see the work performed again,” rejoices the conductor.
Here, the Quebec creation of 5e Symphony took place in July 2010 at the Lanaudière Festival by the Quebec Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Yoav Talmi. Jean-Marie Zeitouni then conducted it in Edmonton in 2017, and Jean-Michel Malouf in Saguenay in April 2019. Yannick Nézet-Séguin presented it at the National Arts Center and the Maison symphonique in February 2020.
A young soloist
Chance once again brings together Clemens Schuldt, music director of the OSQ, and Alexander Shelley, music director of the NAC. “We were together at the Conservatory in Dusseldorf, Germany. I was a student there from 1998. He arrived in 2001. I had formed an ensemble, the Schumann Camerata, and he came to play violin in the ensemble. He started conducting when I was finishing my studies and thus took over certain concerts with my ensemble that I could not conduct. Then my career took off and we haven’t seen each other since. It’s been 20 years since we last greeted each other, but the coincidence makes me very happy, ”recalls Alexander Shelley.
Does this camaraderie suppose that the partnership of the coming weeks, which will also lead to the recording of an album at the end of the concerts given in Ottawa, is the leaven of numerous other associations? ” I would not know how to say it. We need to build meaning for this type of project. I hope for success, because the music is fantastic. We have to see what doors this can open. We can continue this collaboration or imagine others, and not necessarily in eastern Canada. »
It is therefore not excluded that the format which brings together the CNA Orchestra and the OSQ today could bring together the CNA and the OSM or the CNA and the Toronto or the Vancouver Symphony tomorrow. Converselywe could imagine a solidified CNA-OSQ partnership, with reciprocity alternating Alexander Shelley and Clemens Schuldt at the desk.
Surprisingly, Alexander Shelley, who sparkles with ideas, does not seem to have any preconceived artistic plans when asked what the next collaborative avenues might be: “Honestly, I haven’t thought about the future. I want to see what’s going on there, the positives and the limitations. There are several options in musical collaboration. Large events of this type, as well as things on a smaller scale, even joint commissions to explore new creative ideas: I am open and promise that I hide nothing from you! »
During the concerts of this tour, the 5e Symphony by Jacques Hétu will be associated with a recent work, Dark Nights, Bright Stars, Vast Universecommissioned by the NAC Orchestra from Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy premiered in Ottawa in 2023, captured on video and available on YouTube.
The concerto part of the program will be particularly interesting, with the Piano Concertoo 2 by Saint-Saëns by Kevin Chen who, at the age of 18, will perform for the first time with an orchestra in Quebec, Toronto and Ottawa. Chen, a native of Calgary, is this new piano phenomenon in Canada, who won first prizes successively at the Geneva International Piano Competition in November 2022 and at the 17e Arthur Rubinstein competition in Tel Aviv in March 2023.
“We want to show Canadian artists. We’ve heard of him, but with his young age, he hasn’t made a name for himself here yet. This tour is therefore a fantastic opportunity for him. I also wanted Canadian music to open the concert. We chose the work of Kelly-Marie Murphy, because it will be a very interesting contrast to Jacques Hétu to celebrate Canadian creativity,” explains Alexander Shelley.
Happy coincidence of the calendars, and a little balm in the hearts of Montrealers, the prodigy Kevin Chen will be in recital in Montreal on Sunday, February 25 at 3 p.m., at the Salle Pierre-Mercure, guest of Pro Musica. He will interpret the 28e Sonata, op. 101 of Beethoven, the Fantasy op. 28 by Mendelssohn, The waltz by Ravel, in an arrangement by the composer, as well as sonnets 47, 104 and 123 of Petrarch And Norma’s Reminiscences by Liszt.