The musical director of Symphony New Brunswick, born in Montreal, conducts her first concert at the head of the OSM this week. She savored every moment of it, with sculpted and patient interpretations.
The musicians and administration of the Orchester symphonique de Montréal had decided to dedicate this concert to the Ukrainian population and “to all those affected by this tragedy”. Marianne Perron, director of programming, and Stéphane Lévesque, president of the musicians’ committee, spoke tactfully about this, announcing to the public the performance, before the concert, of the Ukrainian anthem and then asking for a moment of contemplation. . An individual, on the mezzanine it seems, then began to belch “Ah no! We didn’t pay for that! “, immediately contradicted by almost all of the public who stood up and applauded the initiative of the orchestra. There was no scandal afterwards.
Patient and decanted
We found Mélanie Léonard in front of these many musicians as we had left her in our memory in front of the twenty or so instrumentalists of Les Violons du Roy: with beautiful clarity and sobriety of gesture. It is very nice to see her conducting and she is a serious, relevant and interesting musician.
With a program associating Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Hannah Kendall in a work on texts by Lemn Sissay, in the first part of the New World Symphony, we tick all the boxes “equity”, “diversity”, “equality” and “duty accomplished” in the end-of-year report in the chapter “New programmatic dogma”. In this context, the choice of Coleridge-Taylor and Kendall is fortunately good. The first is a real pioneer in the use of “African-American” idioms in music (the quotation marks are due to the fact that he is Afro-British), the second is very skilled in the musical translation of flames or sparks (we’re talking about making matches here) through the use of syncopated rhythms.
The Spark Catchers is undoubtedly a formidable piece to put in place. One wonders how much rehearsal time had to be invested for this and therefore in the end if this investment is worth the candle for the pleasure of a conceptual programming “on paper”, timidly counterbalanced by such a small success of valued.
In the opening Hiawatha, Mélanie Léonard clearly clarified the structure and the musical lines and allowed the colors of the OSM to flourish. One day we will be played an overture or a symphonic poem by Dvořák. They are very beautiful and memorable, them — especially Holoubek, The Wood Pigeon.
In the New World Symphony, punctuated by applause between the movements, Mélanie Léonard gave the music time to develop, as if she were savoring the moment and the beauty of the colours. She truly sculpted the 2nd movement, in which Pierre-Vincent Plante stood out on English horn, despite a somewhat clunky entry. At this tempo, Mélanie Léonard did not miss the sobbing sigh effect of the violas.
While the conductor is very interested in violins, the aggressiveness coming from the lower strings was a bit lacking. The cellos had a more decorative than motor role, which was sometimes awkward in the first part. It’s a matter of interpretation, but it can also be the acoustics (which doesn’t favor the bass) or the desk, which is a bit bland.
Even if the orchestra did not applaud its guest, it served her well, especially the energetic 1st violins led by Olivier Thouin, positively unleashed in the 4th movement.
All in all a lovely evening, with a New world pictorial and nostalgic, intelligently played by the trumpets and trombones, but sometimes strangely backfiring on the timpani in relation to the class and overall outfit.