The Orchester Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin presented their holiday concert this weekend at the Maison symphonique, a colorful and rhythmic program with Mélissa Bédard and Kim Richardson. It was chosen by Radio-Canada for its year-end programming.
“Caramba! Failed again! The formula will resonate in the ears of “tintinophiles”. It’s the one that the parrot to the knife thrower Ramon repeated tirelessly in the album The broken ear. With Yannick Nézet-Séguin, a distant cousin of the bird should practice saying “Caramba! Successful again! »
Because Yannick Nézet-Séguin has just attempted a redefinition of the Christmas concert while launching his Orchester Métropolitain into the ” crossover with jazz. And, presto!, now it works the first time.
It’s a delirious crowd, from which even burst out “thank you!” », who hailed the spirit of celebration and communion emanating from this programme, the idea of which was basically very simple.
Curiously, despite our proximity to the United States, we absolutely did not import the spirit or the culture of the ” pop concerts “. These should not be confused with the “Pop” type concert, where a symphony orchestra accompanies a popular music group or singer.
The discipline of ” Pops is to place the orchestral universe at the service of various genres with popular resonances: film music, cartoons, Christmas music. We have a wide range of them in the box devoted to the passage of John Williams at the head of the Boston Pops published this year by Universal.
Happy francization
The OM concert was part of the tradition of these ” Christmas Pops with, in addition, a Francophonie challenge. Because if the repertoire is not lacking, as all the outlets on this market are American or English-speaking, there was an immense danger that such a concert would take on the appearance of an imported product. The Orchester Métropolitain steered clear of the risk, but we felt the efforts made not to succumb to it. It even earned us a translation of “ Joy to the World “. This “Joy in the world”, we still had to go get it!
Vibe ” cool thus, festive, warm, relaxed, with orchestral medleys of Christmas themes (Morel and Coleridge-Taylor); of the ” medleys » songs with choir (impeccable work by arranger Antoine Gratton) and two unbridled soloists, the excellent Mélissa Bédard and Kim Richardson; a nice balance with a jazz trio around the pianist Taurey Butler (who provides the concerts “ Charlie Brown Christmas at Bourgie Hall); jazz adaptations of Nutcracker signed Duke Ellington. In the middle of all this, great classics (Midnight Christians by Mélissa Bédard) were served with fervor, the crowd being carried away by Oh Happy Day and at the end, Glory Hallelujah.
To all those who liked the concept, we would wholeheartedly recommend listening during the holidays to Dallas Christmas Gala (irresistible medleys tracks 7 and 14) directed by Andrew Litton at Delos. It will come as no surprise that Radio-Canada, which is not reluctant to evacuate any scrap of classics from the air, leapt at this opportunity, replacing the tales of Fred Pellerin which allowed Kent Nagano to preserve a part of the essential. It remains to be hoped that, “give and take”, against this ” show », Yannick Nézet-Séguin will convince who has the right to grant some cultural compensation elsewhere.
Christian Tetzlaff on Medici.tv