Saturday night Toronto Summer Music closed out with a final concert in Walter Hall showcasing the many and various aspects of the festival.  It’s a pretty good solution to the problem of how to wrap up such a diverse set of programmes.

So, we got a few numbers from the Community Choir.  There was some nicely sung Vivaldi and Brahms and an arrangement by Kathleen Allan of “Come and I Will Sing You” that was firmly  in the more fun to sing than to listen to genre.

Nicole Percifield and Steven Philcox gave us “Sabbath Morning at Sea” from Elgar’s Sea Pictures. (a nod to the last night of the Proms?).  It was really nice.  Percifield has a really nice dark mezzo and is quite dramatic.  I would have been happy if they’d gone full Janet Baker oi n the whole set.

Richard Wang from the community piano programme gave a pleasant account of Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 in F minor but was, inevitably, overdhadowed by a bravura performance of an arrangement of the Blues from “An American in Paris” by Eric Abramowitz on clarinet and Phil Chiu at the piano./. Abramowitz really is versatile!

The festival staff got to do their party piece; “Abendsegen” from Hänsel und Gretel.  I don’t think this got a lot of rehearsal time but it was quite charming.  Then it was movements from various chamber pieces displaying the talents of assorted fellows and members of the community programme.  I get it but it did feel like being at a student recital for the parents!

Then there was a surprise.  The world première of Imam Habibi’s Haft for chamber ensemble.  It’s quite an interesting piece.  It’s dense and fairly romantic in vein.  It’s essentially tonal but somer extended technique from the three string players does do a kind of dialogue with clarinet, horn and bassoon in places.  It’s really quite inventive and long enough to be quite complex without outstaying its welcome.

The evening closed out with a very well played Allegro from Mozart’s String Quintet No. 3 in C Major played really well by fellows from the Chamber Music Institute.

So that’s a wrap on TSM for another year.  Highlights for me were the unusual take on The Fairy Queen, a predictably excellent recital from Sarah Connolly and Joseph Middleton and the rather exciting new band Schmaltz and Pepper.  It’s become a pretty important part of the summer in Toronto.

Photio credits: Lucky Tang