The Orchester Métropolitain and its conductor Yannick-Nézet Séguin gave a moving concert at the Maison symphonique on Saturday evening, offering a Soviet symphonic monument and a concert that has everything it takes to become a permanent part of the repertoire.
Published at 1:50 am. Updated at 6:00 am.
Exceptionally (and happily), the fourth program of the OM season was presented to a sold-out audience, both on Friday at the Maison de la culture d’Ahuntsic and on Saturday at the Place des Arts. Surprising for a concert that presents an unknown concerto and a long and demanding symphony.
The life leader of the orchestra definitely has an aura that allows for anything daring. As if reminding listeners at the beginning of the second part to cough more discreetly, even if the pandemic is over, so to speak.
If this is self-evident in normal times, it was even more so on Saturday when cameras and microphones immortalized the performance for Deutsche Grammophon’s Stage+ channel, but also for the documentary Opus 28 by the Canadian Sofia Bohdanowicz on the rediscovery of the Violin Concerto Op. 28, by Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935).
Yannick Nézet-Séguin recalled the astonishing circumstances of this find. After the Norwegian, himself a virtuoso violinist, heard the violin prodigy Kathleen Parlow (1890-1963) from Alberta play in Oslo in 1908, he decided to compose a concerto for her, which she premiered in the Netherlands the following year.
PHOTO DENIS GERMAIN, PROVIDED BY ORCHESTRA METROPOLITAIN
Chef Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Despite the enthusiastic reception by audiences and critics, the concerto was put in a drawer by the composer at the end of his life and probably burned. We owe its preservation to the dedicatee, who buried it in her archives until its rediscovery in Toronto in 2015. The work has since been the subject of at least two recordings.
Royal sound
Deutsche Grammophon’s new darling, the young Andalusian violinist María Dueñas, gave herself body and soul to this athletic score of just over 20 minutes. From the dazzling opening cadence, it captivates us with its eloquence and regal sound. Both the bass and treble are admirably projected and have undeniable richness.
It must be said that the score, whose very lyrical style is not far removed from that of Grieg, also offers plenty of food and drink to any soloist with fewer resources.
As an encore, the musician played Veslemøy’s song, which Halvorsen had transcribed for Parlow for violin and orchestra.
PHOTO DENIS GERMAIN, PROVIDED BY ORCHESTRA METROPOLITAIN
Violinist María Dueñas and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Complete change of mood after the break with the “Leningrad” Symphony No. 7 in C major by Shostakovich, which Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted at the Lanaudière Festival five years ago.
As he had promised at the start of the second part, the Maison symphonique was entitled to its share of decibels, with the fortississimo section of the first movement being of great power in both dynamics and expression.
The Montreal conductor managed to maintain a real dramaturgy in this roughly 80-minute work, which, as he also recalled, features a certain amount of – deliberately – dead time.
All desks experienced their shining moments and walked away with all honors.
The strong audience reaction at the end did justice to this performance.