The back-to-school concert by the Orchester Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin on Saturday featured the program played next March at Carnegie Hall. It was also the opportunity to continue the complete Sibelius with the recording of the Symphony no 2. The high level reached by the ensemble and the complicity with soloists Bruce Liu and Chris Derksen must have largely satisfied the Quebec conductor.
We can imagine that the publisher Atma, which has collaborated with the Orchester Métropolitain for twenty years, will do everything to publish its Symphony no 2 by Sibelius at the time of the concert at Carnegie Hall. To give the sound a little more breathing space, the canopy had been raised slightly. Unlike previous records, no curtains had been drawn, because the room was packed.
Meticulous
It was a very beautiful and premeditated performance of the symphony, entirely in line with what has governed the production of Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s cycle to date: an admirable respect, and without expressive overflows, of Sibelius’ indications. There is no longer any post-Tchaikovsky here, but a specific Sibelian symphonic thought, which unfolds in swellings and undertows.
The art, when we don’t add it in “expressive adrenaline”, is to perfectly stage the increases in power, to manage a fluid complementarity of the winds, to make the indications very subtle pp Or dpi and very biting the sudden changes in dynamics. Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Metropolitan organized all this in a remarkable way. The fact that, in the slow movement, the flute solo does not respond to the same level of intensity as the trumpet solo will undoubtedly balance the disc.
Furthermore, we will never tire of thanking Yannick Nézet-Séguin for having found (on the first day!) the perfect arrangement of the double basses on this stage. In the Second by Sibelius, this paid off at several moments, for example in the texture at the beginning of 2e movement (where, although aware of the stakes of the record, coughers took part in an entrance competition to the local sanatorium), but even, also, at the beginning of the final coda, where, something rare, we heard their pizzicatos torn off.
Impossible to distinguish one music stand rather than another: moving oboe, impeccable trumpets, perfect horns, timpani providing a splendid and always in tune framework. We can’t wait to hear this again on disc to check if, from the musical mechanics, atmospheres are born that are as palpable in the first two parts as in the last two.
Tribute to a great
Bruce Liu has achieved immense success in the 2e Concerto by Rachmaninov. With reason. A cultivated pianist, he cast the shadow of the giant Emil Gilels over his encore by choosing Siloti’s transcription of Prelude in B minor by Bach, one of Gilels’ favorite encores, played with all the required sparkle. Bruce Liu’s vision of 2e by Rachmaninoff strongly reminds us of that of Denis Kozhukhin this summer in Lanaudière.
It is interesting to hear this young generation of pianists respect Rachmaninoff and his intentions, in a much more sober way, without making circumlocutions to make the point their own (listen to many elders, for example Richter). Kozhukhin was more massive, where Liu is more feline without losing his stature (see the march of 1er movement). Magnificent moment of the interpretation of Liu and Nézet-Séguin: the 3e movement with contrasts of tempos, generous flights and, above all, a perfect dosage of horns in the last three minutes, which is as obvious as it is rare.
When Fabienne Voisin, CEO of OM, announced to us in English at the end of her keynote speech that she was leaving us “ in God’s hands ” and that on this fact Yannick Nézet-Séguin appeared, the latter notably taught us that OM now established a tradition of opening its seasons with a work by an indigenous composer. Two-spirit artist Cris Derksen composed Controlled Burn for his amplified cello and orchestra. It is an effective score around distinct, eloquent (crackling fire), melodic and spectacular episodes, the amplified cello being able to accompany, combat or color the orchestra. Having no preconceived ideas, we were simply surprised to discover that indigenous music had so much in common with Hollywood scores composed by Howard Shore or Patrick Doyle. Minimal change of scenery, guaranteed efficiency.