Venue: Orpheum Threatre
Date(s): 22 September 2001
Reviewer: JH Stape
Season openers are normally festive and ritual
occasions. The Vancouver Symphony's opening concert of the 2001-2002,
by force of circumstance, had an element of drama as well, the
performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor being dedicated to
the memory of those who died in the tragic events in New York City and
Washington, DC, of 11 September.
After a moment of silence, the Vancouver Bach Choir gave a
full-throated, and extraordinarily stirring rendition of "The
Star-Spangled Banner," followed by a more than usually robust "O,
Canada," the latter emotionally sung by the Choir and audience under
Maestro Tovey's direction. Music, as he reminded us, quoting Leonard
Bernstein, must in the face of violence be ever more a force for
humanity, triumphing over darkness.
The rituals continued with the programming of a Canadian composition to
open the season--Toronto composer Gary Kulesha's "Symphony," first
performed in 1998 by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. This was a
courageous bit of programming as Kulesha's complex score makes few
concessions to popular taste.
Dauntingly intellectual, conducted by two conductors in its first and
second overlapping movements, richly scored for significant solos,
punctuated by intensely introspective moments alternating with more
public and grand ones, Kulesha was clearly not aiming to be an
immediate crowd pleaser. Audience comment during the interval suggested
that the symphony had startled a number of the conservative patrons
who had come for "The Ninth" and nothing but "The Ninth."
As he explained in a charming dialogue with Maestro Tovey before his
"Symphony" was performed, Kulesha score drew on autobiographical
elements, and tidal waves of strident sound alternated with moments of
chamber-like intimacy of great delicacy and intensity. Poetic insight
clashed with cacophony, and was at times bolstered by lyricism. The
finale, to my mind the most successfully communicative of the movements
, was powerful and compelling, overcoming the hyper-intellectualism of
the opening.
This is not to suggest that the whole remained very much a matter of
parts, but the writing is of such complexity and technical brilliance,
and of such private intensity, that at times the music seems to get
lost in itself as the work moves towards its ambiguous climax. The work
merits--indeed demands--more than a single hearing, and Tovey's
championship suggest something of its further fortunes in the more
adventuresome Canadian concert halls.
From Kulesha to Beethoven is a long leap, indeed, and we had but a
short intermission to jump from modern neurotic energy to arrive at one
of the most glorious, self-confident, and bold noises ever made by
humanity. However much a cliche on the concert scene, however much done
to death in Japan at Christmas, however often robbed for banal
television commercials, the utterly spellbinding writing remains simply
enthralling--a continual unfolding of wonder upon wonder as theme and
variation weave and interweave to close in complete grandeur.
The orchestra rose singlemindedly to the occasion and showed itself to
be in fine form after its summer hiatus. Tovey's reading was more than
predictably energetic: well-prepared, carefully thought out, and
lovingly detailed, the performance was shaped so as to throw new light,
eliciting exciting sounds from all sections, in particular the cellos
and basses.
The Bach Vancouver Choir sang at white heat, proving again how rich
Vancouver is in fine choral ensembles. Bruce Pullan's painstaking
preparation was evident in the refinement of the singing and the tight
ensemble work especially in the forte sections. The soloists made
competent contributions, never overshadowing the sense of a unified
whole.
In short, this was a glorious and ambitious beginning to a new season
and showed the symphony very much on its mettle.
© 2001, J.H. Stape