On Sunday evening OPUS Chamber Music and the Canadian Chamber Orchestra joined forces at Eglinton-St. George’s United Church to present an all Shostakovich programme.  It was really, perhaps surprisingly, varied.

Two waltzes; Lyric Waltz and Jazz Waltz No. 2 opened the programme.  Waltzes perhaps but very Russian and very sad.  Next came the Two Pieces for String Octet Op. 11.  The first is very lyrical while the second is a wild scherzo demanding great virtuosity especially from the violins.  By this point I was realising just how good the young players of the CCO are. Closing out the first half was one of Shostakovich’s greatest works; Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor Op. 35.  This is scored for piano, trumpet and strings and the orchestra was joined by Kevin Ahfat on piano and Renata Cardoso on trumpet.  The piece demands extreme virtuosity from both soloists and it got it and then some.  It’s one of those pieces where one needs to watch the pianist to fully comprehend how much is going on.  Just brilliant.

After the interval came some lighter pieces for two violins (Luri Lee and Kun Yan) and piano (Kevin Ahfat).  This made an excellent prelude to the second really weighty piece on the programme; the Chamber Symphony Op. 110a, which is an arrangement by Rudolph Barshai of the great String Quartet No. 8 Op. 110.  This five movement work was written during a visit to Dresden in 1960 and represents a fairly low emotional point in thecomposer’s life.  It’s almost like he’s writing his own musical obituary with quotes from many other works including the first and fifth symphonies, the cello concerto and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.  There’s also use of the DSCH signature motif throughout the work.  It’s a complex, introspective work and shows off everything the composer is capable of; deep emotion, great sadness, sardonic humour and surprising twists and turns.  And, again spectacularly well played.

The final piece was a couple of excerpts from the music for the film The Gadfly of 1955 which is definitely at the fun end of the Shostakovich spectrum and  meant we didn’t have to head out into the snowy wastes of mid town totally broken.  And so concluded a very intelligently curated programme showing off. many of the aspects that make Dmitri Shostakovich such a towering giant of 20th century music.  It also showed how much fantastic young orchestral talent Toronto has.

On a personal note, this was first time at this venue.  It’s not the easiest or most pleasant to get to by transit on a freezing winter evening but it’s a gorgeous interior with really rather good acoustics.  I don’t know that I’d pick it for a smaller ensemble but for chamber orchestra it worked really well.

Photo credits: Stefi Kopp Photography