Friday 26 September 2014

Beethoven Nine at Roy Thomson Hall

This marks the third time since I began this blog that I have reported on a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, the famous "Choral" Symphony.  Along the way I had to miss two more, one last year at Roy Thomson Hall and one this summer at the Festival of the Sound.  It says much for the power and universal appeal of this work that, even after the contributions of Berlioz, Liszt, Mahler, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Havergal Brian, and others, to the literature of symphony with chorus, this work is still known everywhere as the "Choral" Symphony.  

If you want to read and make comparisons, another concert review can be found here:

A Fine Nine

And then there's this review of my favourite DVD version of a truly historic live concert:

Concert For New Year's Eve -- Sort Of

It's not the season opener for the orchestra, but it is my first TSO concert of the season.  I have always been a fan of major works for orchestra, chorus and soloists -- and this one in particular.  Indeed, I actually had the privilege of singing the Ninth twice during my short tenure as a member of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir back in the 1970s.   There's one interesting offshoot of that experience.  As a baritone, I was always seated immediately adjacent to the string bass section of the orchestra, and it's impossible to miss the hard work they have to do in a couple of passages of the scherzo.  To this day, when I listen to the symphony, I hear the string bass parts in that movement sticking out like a sore thumb.  And at a live performance, I automatically find myself looking at them during those passages without even meaning or intending to do so!


And if all that isn't enough, the concert opened with a substantial bonus:  Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, which is actually a piano concerto in all but name.


So: how was the concert?  Well, for starters, Music Director Peter Oundjian did something that I have only seen done previously by guest conductors with this orchestra: he adopted the European style of seating the first and second violins to the left and right of the conductor respectively.  This was the standard layout for most of the nineteenth century, so it's a safe bet that all the great Romantic masters wrote their orchestral music with such a layout in mind.  And the proof is definitely there -- in passages where the two violin sections alternate notes or phrases with each other.  With this seating layout, there's a definite stereo dimension that would be lacking in the North American configuration.


The Rachmaninoff Rhapsody was marvellous, in a very unusual way.  "Subtlety" and "finesse" are not words usually associated with Rachmaninoff's music, but these qualities do in fact exist in plenty in this score, and the entire team realized that and gave it shape and form in sound.  Pianist Daniil Trifonov (making his TSO debut) played much of the work more quietly than many pianists, but with his powerful technical skills he was able to play much more incisively than many, which more than made up the difference.  It was actually a refreshing change to hear the work played by an artist who commands more than two volume settings ("Loud" and "Louder").  Oundjian kept the orchestra well in scale, and only once allowed Rachmaninoff's heavy-duty orchestral writing to swamp the pianist completely.


The Beethoven was far more impressive than the last time I heard Oundjian conduct it (almost a decade ago).  The first and third movements were taken at flowing tempo, without undue haste but also without dragging the anchors.  If that third slow movement at first seemed too rapid, it was well within bounds.  Oundjian more than compensated by not pushing and pulling the tempo nearly as much as some better-known conductors, and that gave the orchestral movements uncommon unity.  The solo horn part in the slow movement was delivered with rich, velvety tone and great assurance.


By way of contrast, the scherzo movement was taken at a slightly more relaxed pace than one often hears.  If it wasn't as fierce or ferocious as some performances, it certainly had energy to spare, and a clarity that can go missing at higher speeds.  The tricky acceleration from the scherzo to the trio went off without a hitch.


The same could not be said about the equally dangerous opening of the finale.  There was a brief scramble to get everyone on the same beat, only a second or two, but noticeable.  After that, things went much better through the variations for orchestra (again, at a more relaxed speed than often heard). 


Tyler Duncan opened the vocal part of the work in a way that really made my ears go up.  True, he had a rather heavy vibrato (perhaps forcing the tone?), but I have never heard the words of the opening baritone solo delivered with such a strong sense of the meaning of the text!  Soprano Jessica Rivera and tenor David Pomeroy both mastered their parts with clarity, diction, and verve.  Mezzo-soprano Andrea Ludwig had trouble making herself heard along with the other three, but sounded equally fine when she was audible -- perhaps hers is a more chamber-scaled voice.  Pomeroy's account of the march variation was as neat and accurate as any I have heard -- and that's saying a lot!  Many famous tenors have come to grief on the big leaps in that solo!


The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir reconfirmed their long reputation for choral excellence with powerful singing, and no sense of strain even in some of the cruelly high passages Beethoven wrote.  Since the last time I heard them at Roy Thomson Hall, the choir has adopted a mixed seating layout instead of sitting in voice sections.  This has advantages and drawbacks.  Certainly the sound in full-choir passages is more blended, and comes across more powerfully.  Oddly, though, the reverse is true any time one section sings alone -- especially when it's a section entry.  Then the sound comes across thinner than before, as you no longer get the emphatic hit from one direction of the compass!  It's all a matter of swings and roundabouts, really.


Taken overall, a very good performance of Beethoven's late masterpiece.  Mind you, it wasn't the best one I've ever heard -- that would have to be one of the times I sang in it, of course!


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