Two days before the OSM’s grand season opening on Tuesday, the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club, Montreal’s most venerable musical organization, held the first concert of its 132e season. Ottawa violinist Kerson Leong, now 26, proved himself worthy in every respect of the honor bestowed upon him.
There is a form of dizziness to imagine on this scene, in this context, Kerson Leong, whom we knew between childhood and adolescence. It is not that the Pollack Hall is Carnegie Hall or the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, but when a concert company bears witness to a history of more than 130 years, the violinist who plays the Sonatas Nos. 4 and 5 for solo violin by Eugène Ysaÿe plays them in a series of concerts which hosted the composer himself in 1895!
Implacable fatality
Ysaÿe was obviously not able to play these works, which he only composed in 1924, but we can measure the charge of history and the sense of values in this context. This brings us to the first consideration: it is ultimately very rare to see child prodigies as flamboyant as Kerson Leong become such accomplished and interesting artists as adults.
What happened to the pianists Dimitris Sgouros, who recorded for EMI on 3e Concerto of Rachmaninov with the Berlin Philharmonic at 14, or Helen Huang, protégé of Kurt Masur and Warner, when she was prepubescent? And Gianluca Cascioli, launched by DG in Schoenberg Ligeti and Boulez at 17 in 1997? Anne-Sophie Mutter is a rare counter-example of this inevitability of an intractable musical world.
At 12 years old, Kerson Leong was astonishing, dazzling. It became impressive and intense. The question of its legitimate presence in the history of the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club does not even arise for a second. His outfit on stage is singularly rigorous. He looks like a monk who has come to teach a philosophical lesson. This lesson focuses on sound and we are struck by how extraordinary the pair formed by the violinist with his Guarneri del Gesu on loan from the Canimex Foundation (patron Roger Dubois).
Sound culture
In fact, Leong shaped his art and language around his violin. When he addresses the Sonata No. 4 d’Ysaÿe, he takes the time to make a string of ground (severe) striking. This quest for sound saturation dictates the tempo, just as the differentiation of sound textures marks the interpretation of the 3e Sonata by Brahms, with a 2e movement where it really widens the vibrato, while it lightens as much as possible the 3e shutter.
His Ysaÿe Sonatas are even more beautiful than on disc, a critically acclaimed release. The comparison with the very clever, but smoother version by Hilary Hahn, which has just been published by DG, is very indicative (for example in the 5e Sonata) of the sound incarnation of Kerson Leong, which also works wonders in a Sonata of incandescent Franck, notably a 2e movement, Allegro, lightning.
If Kerson Leong and his partner Jessica Osborne concluded with, as an encore, a transcription of the Cribs by Gabriel Fauré, their excellent 1D Sonata by the French composer was not the most memorable part of the concert due to the lack of sound shots, shadows and lights. It is true that Jessica Osborne really likes the somewhat systematic coating with a generous pedal, which is not suitable for every occasion. She is, however, a pianist who “delivers” solidly. The perilous Final of Franck’s Sonata, very well mastered, amply proved this.