Whatever happens during the second evening of the finals of the Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM) this Thursday, Wednesday evening alone would provide the Violin 2023 edition with the possibility of two very worthy winners.
Logically, the report of the first evening of the CMIM final should have been entitled “The overwhelming musical confession of Dmytro Udovychenko”, as the 1er Concerto by Shostakovich of the Ukrainian violinist was overwhelming. But to focus attention on one of the candidates in this way would have been very unfair to the Israeli Michael Shaham, who gave us a Sibelius of great beauty, in which appeared the first quality that we expected of him: a sonic charm radiating.
Only the members of the jury, from a very fine equalization, also taking into account the previous tests, will be able to decide between such candidates.
supreme among all
Dmytro Udovychenko gave us the greatest 1er Concerto of Shostakovich from the history of the competition. Knowing that some have won (admittedly wrongly) the CMIM with this work, this situates things, whatever happens now at the level of the final result.
“Greatness” has nothing to do with formal perfection, it comes from the intelligence of the heart and the soul and we understood it from the start of the interpretation down to a small detail. Udovychenko limited the vibrato to make the beginning a very linear and gray lament. That’s exactly it, and only great artists understand that. This color stands in total opposition, as the young soloist did, to the other lamentation, flooded with tears (and therefore vibrato) of 3e movement.
Udovychenko showed that the violin is not just antics (we’ll hear that on Thursday with the most caricatural, the 1er of Paganini), but it is also the “grain”, the management of the incarnation and of the sound and musical presence in the passages piano And pianissimo. This was heard both in the 1er movement than in cadence. And Udovychenko responds quite present in the surly passages, even if everything was not ideally perfect.
Like in 2010
The embodiment of fine shades distinguishes Udovychenko from Nathan Melzer. THE Concerto in memory of an angel of the American was a unique experience, which does not really allow us to judge him for anyone who has not attended the previous events. Melzer favored an ethereal approach, but to excess, to the point of sound erasure and passivity. From this point of view, the interaction (or rather the hiatus) with the management of Payare was quite spectacular, the leader having a much more embodied view of things. In short, Melzer plays very well, it has a mellow sound. What else ? We do not know anything. His Berg is not ours and we will leave it at that.
Michael Shaham is the son of Hagai Shaham, violinist and renowned teacher. He played a splendid Sibelius which immediately brings to mind that of another winner: Benjamin Beilman in 2010. If it will be difficult to decide between Udovychenko and Shaham on the basis of the concerto, it is also difficult to decide between Shaham’s Sibelius and that by Beilman: same sound quality, same foundation, same seriousness, same absence of bravado. That is to say, there too, the level. There were a few little hiccups that Beilman didn’t have, that’s all.
A final comment to note the quality of the outfit of the three candidates on stage and, above all, the exceptional involvement of Rafael Payare at the head of a committed OSM. We had “real” concertos on Wednesday evening, like for a real concert, and the conductor animated Berg like a magician and energized Sibelius with poignancy.
We can’t wait to see if the second night maintains the level.