Tag Archives: tso

Andrew Davis and the Verdi Requiem

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It’s forty years since Sir Andrew Davis first conducted the TSO and to celebrate the fact the TSO programmed a run of Verdi Requiems with Sir Andrew conducting.  I caught the last performance last night.  It’s in some ways a curious piece; very operatic and not especially liturgical but it does have its subtleties; the very quiet opening and the tenor solo Ingemisco for example but there’s also some moments of drama that are far from subtle.  The Dies irae is appropriately loud, even terrifying and it’s used as an accent before the Lacrymosa and during the Libera me.  It’s quite a compelling 90 minutes or so.

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And the mainstream stuff…

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Sometimes I forget the obvious… Here’s what the big kids are doing in April/May.

Opera Atelier are staging Berlioz’s 1859 version of Gluck’s Orphée.  There are six performances from April 9th to April 18th.  Mireille Lebel sings Orpheus, Peggy Kriha Dye sings Eurydice and Meghan Lindsay is Amour.  This will be Tafelmusik’s furthest foray yet into 19th century repertoire.  It’s at the Elgin and Marshall Pynkoski directs.  Not sure who is conducting, presumably David Fallis.

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Mild und Leise… occasionally

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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.

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Addicted to purity and violence

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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.

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

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In like a lion

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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.

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More upcoming events

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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.

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Toronto Symphony 2015/16 season

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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

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Mozart fragments

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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

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Moving into January

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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?

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Comfort ye my people

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‘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.

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