{"id":394683,"date":"2019-10-04T15:59:39","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T19:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myscena.org\/?p=394683"},"modified":"2019-10-07T14:18:20","modified_gmt":"2019-10-07T18:18:20","slug":"critiques-de-concert-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aapadmin2.myscena.org\/fr\/la-scena-musicale-team\/critiques-de-concert-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Critiques de Concert Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

Op\u00e9ra de Montr\u00e9al<\/strong>
\nTchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What you missed<\/em><\/h4>\n

One of the best-cast and least-tampered-with Op\u00e9ra de Montr\u00e9al presentations in recent memory. Australian soprano Nicole Car was admirable in every way as Tatyana. It said something about the intensity of her tone and truth of her acting style that we forgot during the Letter Scene that we were in big, cavernous Salle Wilfrid Pelletier of Place des Arts. Canadian baritone Etienne Dupuis applied a virile and vibrant tone to all of Onegin\u2019s music. Fans of mezzo-sopranos had an array of firm sonorities to choose from in Christianne B\u00e9langer as Larina, Stefania Toczyska as the nurse and Carolyn Sproule as Olga, who must seem the gayer of the two sisters with the darker voice. All acted well. Tenor Owen McCausland believably embodied the frustrated Lensky and (after adapting to his surroundings in Act 1) sang with pathos and ringing tone. Bass Denis Sedov, the lone Russian in the cast, portrayed Prince Gremin with a gravelly voice that seemed of a certain age \u2013 quite in keeping with the character. Adding a limp to the old general\u2019s deportment was an inspired touch. Spencer Britten, a light tenor from the Atelier lyrique, performed a little magic show as Monsieur Triquet. The OdM chorus as prepared by Claude Webster was hearty.<\/p>\n

Gripes<\/em><\/h4>\n

The directors could not resist deploying a few clich\u00e9s of modern stagecraft, notably the use of silent senior-citizen Doppelg\u00e4ngers who view their younger selves with sadness. All this does is drain the plot of its natural suspense. And there was surely no need to turn the chorus into a mob, abstractly persecuting Onegin and pointing at the audience. Presumably the Orchestre M\u00e9tropolitain strings got their act together for performances after the premiere of Sept. 14. (Wind standards were high.) A conductor of big gestures and no baton, Guillaume Tourniaire manipulated tempos to dramatic effect in the Letter Scene. The polonaise, on the other hand, was brittle and fast. AK<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Toronto Symphony Orchestra<\/strong>
\nBrahms and Strauss<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One might almost characterize the evening (Sept. 17) as a contrasting pair of concerts despite the common thread of German romanticism. Brahms\u2019s Symphony No. 3 came first and got the once-over-lightly treatment. Guest conductor Donald Runnicles decreed a quick tempo in the first movement. Woodwinds eked out some lyricism in the second theme despite the conductor\u2019s apparent indifference to the\u00a0grazioso<\/em>\u00a0indication. To be sure, there were flickers of light and shade in the middle movements and something of an awakening in the finale, with its smack-on sforzando chords. But on the whole, we felt we were hearing the Third Serenade Brahms never wrote rather than the Third Symphony he did.<\/p>\n

Richard Strauss\u2019s\u00a0Death and Transfiguration<\/em>\u00a0was given a different orientation entirely, starting with a larger complement of strings. In this score Runnicles let phrases rise and fall with arch-romantic largesse and derived full value from the orchestra in front of him. Every hero on his deathbed needs a heartbeat, which timpanist David Kent supplied. The horn chorale at the start of the final sequence was warm and solemn. The climax was powerful because it was balanced.<\/p>\n

Strauss\u2019s Oboe Concerto of 1945 featured TSO principal Sarah Jeffrey as soloist. The long lines of the opening minutes often sound like run-on sentences. My appreciation, as usual, increased in the playful development. There could be nothing but praise for the exquisitely autumnal tone of this player in the Andante and the delightful articulation of the finale. Cadenzas spoke with the human quality for which the instrument is renowned, at least when played like this. A burly southpaw with a big beat, Runnicles elicited much tender detail from the orchestra, reminding us of Strauss\u2019s total mastery of this dossier. AK<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nagano\/OSM Opening Night<\/strong>
\nShostakovich and Rachmaninoff<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shostakovich\u2019s Symphony No. 13 \u201cBabi Yar\u201d was a brave choice for an OSM season opener. Cast in five movements, it runs the gamut from sorrowful to scornful, confines itself vocally to males and makes many of its musical points at a sustained fortissimo. The Yevgeny Yevtushenko text refers to a Nazi massacre. The hourlong-plus experience can be onerous for a gala crowd, unless the performance is as inspired as it was under Kent Nagano on Sept. 17 in the Maison symphonique.<\/p>\n

It is hard to describe in words the mix of horror, irony and humanity that the composer calibrates so exactly in music. Babushkas lining up at a grocery store might seem suspect material for great art, but the quietly resonant OSM lower strings seemed to embody the soul of the people as well as the quotidian tasks at hand. The huge climax toward the end of this Adagio was entirely coherent as a tapestry of sound. It is indicative of the authenticity of Shostakovich\u2019s egalitarian impulses that his tribute to the women of Soviet Union is expressed so convincingly by men alone.<\/p>\n

The stellar quality of the OSM Chorus as prepared by Andrew Megill was apparent in the opening movement, in which Yevtushenko\u2019s condemnation of anti-Semitism \u2013 no less in the Soviet Union than elsewhere \u2013 is most explicit. A bass of remarkable richness and intensity, Moscow-born Alexander Vinogradov was able to add a touch of soft idealism to his tone in the sequence evoking Anne Frank. (Vinogradov was ill on the second night and had to leave the stage, putting Nagano in the curious position of finishing the symphony with no soloist.)<\/p>\n

Soloist, chorus and orchestra were exactly coordinated, a situation we could attribute both to the dedication of the participants and Nagano\u2019s thorough comprehension of the score. The Scherzo (in which personified Humour finds his severed head stuck on a pike) was both ghastly and rhythmically vibrant, while the Largo communicated the fear of life under the regime with original orchestral colours (including a tuba solo) that were fascinating in their own right. The concert started with in an upfront and well-articulated performance of the latter by the Russian pianist Denis Matsuev. AK<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Montreal Baroque Festival<\/strong>
\nIl Cortegiano<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cConcert\u201d does not quite do justice Il Cortegiano<\/em>, a show presented by the Montreal Baroque Festival on June 23 in Le Ch\u00e2teau, a former movie palace near the Jean Talon Market. As well as vocal and instrumental selections, we had period dance and a little fencing presented in a dramatic framework that cast the five members of the (vocal) Ensemble Alkemia as easy-going, cellphone-consulting hipsters and the multi-talented actor Renaud Paradis as a comic master of ceremonies who reads prescriptions from the aforementioned Renaissance handbook and is then required, with generally amusing results, to practise what he preaches.<\/p>\n

All the fun would have been of no avail without high performance standards. There was nothing slipshod about the singing in robust 16th<\/sup>-century Italian madrigals by Girolamo Conversi and Andrea Gabrieli or earlier, more austere Flemish numbers by Josquin des Prez and Guillaume Dufay. Polyphony was clear and equitable. Soprano Doroth\u00e9a Ventura provided a burnished top. Tenor Philippe Gagn\u00e9 was an expressive advocate of a monody by Giulio Caccini. Even Paradis (who sometimes joined the Alkemians) had a modest solo, reportedly derived from a bas-relief at the ducal palace of Urbino (the court profiled in\u00a0Book of the Courtier<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Singers in causal garb often ignored the fourth wall of this proscenium theatre by hanging around on (or in front of) the apron. The costumed and formal dancing of Les Jardins chor\u00e9ographiques made for an agreeable contrast. An onstage group comprising members of Fl\u00fbte Alors! and the Bande Montr\u00e9al Baroque (including a harp rather than a harpsichord) provided spirited backup. Vincent Lauzer of the former group sounded so pure and articulated so beautifully he was almost a problem. Margaret Little traded her bass viola da gamba for a treble instrument to play a cover of the late-medieval setting of\u00a0O rosa bella<\/em>\u00a0by Johannes Ciconia. AK<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Festival d\u2019op\u00e9ra de Qu\u00e9bec<\/strong>
\nWagner\u00a0: Le Vaisseau fant\u00f4me<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cette ann\u00e9e, le Festival d\u2019op\u00e9ra de Qu\u00e9bec dirig\u00e9 par Gr\u00e9goire Legendre r\u00e9ussit l\u2019exploit de pr\u00e9senter, en premi\u00e8re mondiale, la production du Vaisseau fant\u00f4me<\/em> de Wagner mise en sc\u00e8ne par Fran\u00e7ois Girard, celle-l\u00e0 m\u00eame qui partira en tourn\u00e9e \u00e0 New York, Amsterdam et Abou Dabi.<\/p>\n

D\u00e8s l\u2019ouverture, les projections vid\u00e9o, sign\u00e9es Peter Flaherty, nous plongent dans les profondeurs aquatiques, l\u00e0 o\u00f9 Senta a d\u00e9j\u00e0 rejoint le Hollandais volant pour l\u2019\u00e9ternit\u00e9. L\u2019animation visuelle ressemble \u00e0 une constellation d\u2019\u00e9toiles filantes qui forment tant\u00f4t des courants, tant\u00f4t des creux de vagues, tant\u00f4t le m\u00e2t et les voiles du redoutable vaisseau. Premi\u00e8re ing\u00e9niosit\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Deuxi\u00e8me ing\u00e9niosit\u00e9\u00a0: Fran\u00e7ois Girard et son \u00e9quipe, avec notamment John Macfarlane aux d\u00e9cors, ont imagin\u00e9 un ensemble de cordages immense qui tombe sur la sc\u00e8ne comme un rideau. Cet ensemble rappelle, bien s\u00fbr, les cordages d\u2019un navire, mais aussi le m\u00e9tier \u00e0 tisser sur lequel travaillent les jeunes filles du village. In\u00e9vitablement, l\u2019entrelacement des cordes \u00e9voque des images symboliques, entre \u00e9touffement et d\u00e9sir d\u2019\u00e9treindre.<\/p>\n

De cette production, on garde aussi en m\u00e9moire les apparitions terrifiantes du Hollandais. L\u00e0 encore, les animations de Flaherty et les \u00e9clairages de David Finn servent le propos magistralement. Projet\u00e9e sur la toile de fond, l\u2019ombre du capitaine \u2013 et, plus tard, de son \u00e9quipage \u2013 traduisait parfaitement sa pr\u00e9sence fantomatique. On peut toutefois regretter que les mouvements de Gregory Dahl, dans le r\u00f4le principal, n\u2019aient pas correspondu exactement au reflet de son personnage, ce qui a \u00e9t\u00e9 par moments une source de distraction.<\/p>\n

N\u2019emp\u00eache, le baryton canadien s\u2019est d\u00e9marqu\u00e9 par sa forte pr\u00e9sence physique, bien plus que par sa voix. Techniquement, Gregory Dahl a livr\u00e9 une bonne prestation, mais il lui manquait le souffle et la puissance de Daland, incarn\u00e9 brillamment par Andreas Bauer Kanabas. De son c\u00f4t\u00e9, Johanni von Oostrum (Senta) a montr\u00e9 une image exactement invers\u00e9e \u00e0 celle de Dahl\u00a0: tr\u00e8s grande personnalit\u00e9 vocale, mais une pr\u00e9sence physique plut\u00f4t r\u00e9serv\u00e9e. En t\u00e9moigne son jeu sc\u00e9nique pendant l\u2019ouverture, redondant et sans v\u00e9ritable aura.<\/p>\n

\u00c0 souligner, la tr\u00e8s grande prestation du Ch\u0153ur de l\u2019Op\u00e9ra de Qu\u00e9bec, tant chez les hommes que chez les femmes, notamment lors de la sc\u00e8ne de f\u00eate (d\u00e9but de l\u2019acte III). C\u2019est aussi dans ce type de passage \u00e9nergisant que l\u2019Orchestre symphonique de Qu\u00e9bec, sous la direction de Jacques Lacombe, s\u2019est le mieux illustr\u00e9, avec une grande homog\u00e9n\u00e9it\u00e9 entre les cordes et les cuivres<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Op\u00e9ra de Montr\u00e9al Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin What you missed One of the best-cast and least-tampered-with Op\u00e9ra de Montr\u00e9al presentations in recent memory. Australian soprano Nicole Car was admirable in every way as Tatyana. It said something about the intensity of her tone and truth of her acting style that we forgot during the Letter Scene<\/p>\n

Continuer<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2814,"featured_media":394747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"rating_form_position":"","rating_results_position":"","mr_structured_data_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17036],"tags":[22821,22778,23886,23997,36474],"class_list":{"0":"post-394683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-critiques-de-spectacles","8":"tag-festival-dopera-de-quebec-fr-6","9":"tag-festival-montreal-baroque-fr-17","10":"tag-opera-de-montreal-fr-15","11":"tag-orchestre-symphonique-de-montreal-fr-77","12":"tag-toronto-symphony-orchestra-fr","13":"type-article-fr","14":"volume-volume-25","15":"issue-vol-25-issue-2-fr","16":"section-critiques"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"multi-rating":{"mr_rating_results":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aapadmin2.myscena.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394683"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aapadmin2.myscena.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aapadmin2.myscena.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aapadmin2.myscena.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2814"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aapadmin2.myscena.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aapadmin2.myscena.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aapadmin2.myscena.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aapadmin2.myscena.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aapadmin2.myscena.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aapadmin2.myscena.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}