Tag Archives: tso

Mild und Leise… occasionally

Posted on by
Reply

The TSO’s program last night was too tempting to miss; Adrianne Pieczonka singing Strauss and Wagner and a Beethoven 7th plus Gianandrea Noseda conducting.  So I went.

_DSC5922Things started off with Casella’s Italia.  This is a sort of mash up of Pucciniesque bombast and Neapolitan popular tunes.  I’m surprised it never featured in a Warner Bros cartoon.  Perhaps it did.  In any event Nosada is probably the ideal conductor for it; infusing it with a kind of manic energy.  Next up were the Strauss Vier letzte lieder.  Here manic energy is exactly what’s not needed and Nosada seemed to have some difficulty adjusting.  Too often Adrianne Pieczonka’s beautiful singing was covered by an over loud orchestra.  Roy Thomson Hall is tricky but George Benjamin showed exactly how to manage the acoustic last weekend.  Nosada wasn’t so successful.

Continue reading →

Addicted to purity and violence

Posted on by
2

In George Benjamin’s Written on Skin The Man, The Protector, is described as “addicted to purity and violence”.  One could perhaps say the same about the score.  Seeing it presented in a minimally staged version at Roy Thomson Hall last night perhaps emphasised those aspects compared to watching a fully staged version (review of Katie Mitchell’s production at the ROH here).  Being able to see the conductor and orchestra made the combination of a traditional orchestra with older instruments; viola da gamba, glass harmonica etc (and lots of percussion) more obvious.  The music can be very violent but it can also be incredibly quiet and it’s a measure of Benjamin’s skill as a conductor that through these extreme changes of dynamics he rarely, if ever, covered his singers.

2.boyandprotector

Bejun Mehta, Christopher Purves and Barbara Hannigan in the ROH production

Continue reading →

In like a lion

Posted on by
2

7796132196_c04e8013c3_zGood heavens it’s March already!  There’s lots coming up in the Toronto vocal music scene.  This Saturday sees George Benjamin’s Written on Skin in concert performance with the TSO at Roy Thomson Hall.  Chris Purves and Barbara Hannigan from the original cast are singing with Bernhard Landauer coming in for Bejun Mehta as the Boy.  The composer conducts.

Continue reading →

More upcoming events

Posted on by
Reply

1097-4243-Barbara-Hannigan-High-Res-7---credit-Elmer-de-HaasThere’s a 15% off offer for Christian Gerhaher’s 26th February recital at Koerner Hall.  Use Code CHRISTIAN15 on line or at the box office.

March 2nd at 2pm Barbara Hannigan is doing a workshop at UoT focussed on Hans Abrahamsen’s new work Let me tell you.  It’s at Walter Hall and it’s free.  The work itself will get its North American premier on March 4th with Barbara and the TSO at Roy Thomson Hall.

Continue reading →

Toronto Symphony 2015/16 season

Posted on by
Reply

The Toronto Symphony announced its 2015/16 season line up this morning.  From a choral and vocal music perspective the items of most interest were:

  • A “semi-staged” Mozart Requiem to be directed by Joel Ivany.  That’s scheduled for January 21st to 23rd next year with soloists Lydia Teuscher, Allyson McHardy, Frédéric Antoun and Philippe Sly.  Bernard Labadie will conduct.  I’m very curious to see what Joel does with this.
  • Handel’s Messiah in the extremely non-baroque Andrew Davis orchestration.  He will also conduct.  The soloists are Erin Wall, Liz DeShong, Andrew Staples and John Relyea.  This one is being recorded live for the Chandos label.  It runs December 15th to 20th this year.
  • Barbara Hannigan appears as both soprano and conductor.  On October 7th and 8th she has a program of Nono, Haydn, Mozart, Ligeti and Stravinsky.
  • Russell Braun shows up with Erin Wall for a performance of Vaughan-Williams Sea Symphony on October 21st and 24th and again during the New Creations Festival where he will sing Brett Dean’s Knocking at the Hellgate.
Barbara Hannigan 05 - copyright Musacchio Ianniello Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Barbara Hannigan – copyright Musacchio Ianniello Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Continue reading →

Mozart fragments

Posted on by
1

Last night, at Roy Thomson Hall, the TSO presented a two part Mozart program.  The first half consisted of pieces from two abandoned opera projects; the buffa Lo sposo deluso and the Singspiel Zaide.  The second half consisted of the better known, but incomplete, Mass in C Minor.

L to R: Guilmette, Fortier-Lazure, Bintner, Tessier. Photo - Malcolm Cook

L to R: Guilmette, Fortier-Lazure, Bintner, Tessier. Photo – Malcolm Cook

Continue reading →

Moving into January

Posted on by
Reply

helmetI wrote “2015” on a cheque today.  Scary.  Anyway, what’s on in Toronto as the new year dawns?  Quite a lot as it happens.  Here are my picks.

December 9th sees Anne-Sofie von Otter in recital at Koerner hall.  She’s not doing opera anymore and who knows how many more chances there will be to see her in Toronto?

Continue reading →

Comfort ye my people

Posted on by
Reply

‘Tis the season to Hallelujah in Toronto and Handel’s Messiah is everywhere.  Last night was the first performance of the biggest of them all, the Toronto Symphony and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at Roy Thomson Hall.  Traditionally this is Toronto’s equivalent of John Barbirolli and the Huddersfield Choral Society so I was surprised to see a set up for a rather small orchestra.  In fact about thirty instrumentalists were used, playing modern instruments of course, with about 150 choristers.  It was something of a sign of things to come as conductor Grant Llewellyn took us through the piece quite briskly and rhythmically with even some ornamentation in the da capo repeats.  It’s becoming more common I think for conductors to get something approaching an HIP sound out of a modern orchestra as we’ve seen with Harry Bicket  in various opera houses.  The orchestra and chorus responded pretty well to the less staid approach with the sopranos sounding particularly spritely and incisive.

TSO Messiah_Allyson McHardy (Malcolm Cook photo) Continue reading →

Upcoming events

Posted on by
Reply

127-recitals-at-rosedale-2014-2015This Sunday sees the first of the season for Recitals at Rosedale.  Entitled A Walk on the Dark Side: Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales, it will feature soprano Leslie Ann Bradley, mezzo soprano Allyson McHardy and baritone Geoff Sirett with pianists Robert Kortgaard and Rachel Andrist. The programme features works by Mahler, Debussy, Symanowski, Weil, Gershwin and more.  It’s on November 9th at 2.30 pm at Rosedale Presbyterian Church and tickets are available here.

Continue reading →

Dream of Gerontius

Posted on by
5

medium_stuart-skeltonEvery time I go to Roy Thomson Hall, as I did last night to see the TSO perform Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, I have to recalibrate for the acoustic.  It’s just much quieter than the Four Season’s Centre and, indeed, many other venues.  This has the advantage that coughing is largely inaudible but also that even a large orchestra playing full bore doesn’t exactly blow one’s socks off.  So, perhaps it wasn’t a surprise that I was more struck by the meditative aspects of this score than its moments of high drama such as the chorus of demons.  I’m pretty sure this was just the acoustic because conductor Peter Oundjian was certainly going for maximum effect in those sections. Continue reading →