If you don’t have anything planned this Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m., go and listen to some music! Canadian conductor Jordan de Souza made a very convincing debut at the OSM, Wednesday evening, in a diversified and remarkable program given again this Thursday at the Maison symphonique.
It doesn’t seem like much. But it’s unusual. To tell the truth, we would never have imagined having the privilege of hearing such a Mozart in concert again before our death. This 31st Symphony out of time was literally mind-blowing, as if Karl Böhm and Rudolf Kempe came back to earth, joined hands and merged into one mind.
The worst thing is that you would almost have to justify yourself for liking it and, at the very least, explain that “Karl Böhm” in Mozart is not a pejorative concept. “Karl Böhm” does not mean heavy. It means elegant, distinguished. And Rudolf Kempe? Readable, transparent and balanced. Trumpets that fit perfectly into the orchestral fabric (I), the optimal sound alliances of horns and flutes (II), limpid countermelodies.
The spiritual fusion of it all? A kind of ecstatic happiness in love with music whose miracle lies in the fact that everything is relaxed while the obsession, for more than 3 decades, of “historical accuracy” by stretching the tempos and tensing the phrasings has made Mozart a stressed in the image of our world.
A great Ravel
Look at a score and smile, aim for beauty for beauty’s sake, elegance for the spirit of finesse that it conveys and assume the symphony (an even more opulent workforce than Payare in the 29th Symphony, with 5 double basses and the rest to match): this is what de Souza dared. And that’s what he magnified.
What followed was just as stunning and of the same generosity of heart, expression and gesture, with one of the best Concerto in G experienced by Montreal. The soloist-conductor harmony was perfect. Both underlined the jazz dimension of the concerto. In terms of accompaniment to this emblematic concerto, we’ve had about 15 years of failed fake jazz in Montreal. Wednesday evening we were repaid by real successful jazz, cheeky but fair sounds and accents in place. Within a very elaborate accompaniment we heard several highlights of the violins in the 3rd movement.
The pianist Francesco Piemontesi delivered an exceptional 1st movement, light, lively, swaying, perfectly accentuated. His touch is admirable (2nd half of the 2nd movement) and his taste remarkable.
For the order placed by the OSM with Simon Bertrand, we were probably not the only ones to regret having the program somewhere in PDF in an electronic medium that we had not had the time and then no longer the right to consult. . The little post-covid sleight of hand, on the part of certain institutions (however well endowed), to offload the production of paper programs is a plague. For those who lacked explanations, “The work is based on an alternation between major and minor. From the beginning, a gravity sets in, then heterogeneous sound elements appear in a chaotic way. As the piece progresses, these elements connect in a fluid and organic way to create meaning and lead us to a climax,” the program read. In fact, we heard brassy blocks on low strings. A cell of 5 notes is repeated on the strings and sparkles (flute, harp, trumpets) oppose the bases of the basses. It’s well done and richly orchestrated, but the philosophical ambitions are not evident.
A tour
After the 9th by Shostakovich by Alexander Shelley and the NAC at Carnegie Hall, Jordan de Souza and the OSM portrayed a vision that was a little less tragic and dark, more opulent in the workforce, very impressive in the quality of production. Detaching the snare drum to the left of the stage would undoubtedly have given it even more impact. Admirable performance by Paul Merkelo, in great form on the trumpet and superb bassoon solo, with an admirable transition from the gloomy mood to the sarcastic tone of a Final which could have been even more caricatural and “vulgar”. In this regard, the presence as concertmaster of Richard Roberts did not go unnoticed. Not to mention the lack of tone that her presence induces at the head of the whole orchestra, the 9th Symphony by Shostakovich includes a violin solo in the 1st movement which has, once again, proven instrumental arrangements which do not call for any further comment, but leave one speechless on the part of a holder of such a position.
This exciting concert calls for many more. It would already be interesting to know even better how Jordan de Souza directs French music.
Note that the OSM announced last week a tour that comes in addition to the concerts given in Korea in July. From October 21 to 28, the orchestra will play in Zagreb, Budapest, Vienna, Brussels and London under the direction of Rafael Payare. Vikingur Olafsson, Bruce Liu and Augustin Hadelich will be the soloists and the repertoire will include The Preludes of Liszt, the Concerto for piano in G of Ravel, the Symphony No. 10 by Shostakovich, Scorpius by R. Murray Schafer, Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini by Rachmaninoff, My mother the goose of Ravel, and the Violin Concerto No. 2 by Prokofiev. To this already very diversified menu will be added that the concert in Vienna will include Nanie and Schicksalslied of Brahms, sung by the Wiener Singakademie, which Brahms once conducted, followed by the Symphony No. 5 by Mahler.