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Volume 19 Issue 8 - May 2014

  • Text
  • Choir
  • Toronto
  • Jazz
  • Arts
  • Concerts
  • Theatre
  • Musical
  • Choral
  • Singers
  • Festival
Includes the 2014 Canary Pages directory of choirs.

11714TH SEASON15MUSIC IN

11714TH SEASON15MUSIC IN THEAFTERNOONWOMEN’S MUSICAL CLUB OF TORONTOOCTOBER 2, 2014 | 1.30 PMJean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian, violin;Raphaël Pidoux, cello; Vincent Coq, pianoNOVEMBER 13, 2014 | 1.30 PMJoel Link, violin; Bryan Lee, violin;Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola; Camden Shaw, celloMARCH 12, 2015 | 1.30 PMJENSLINDEMANNtrumpet; with Kristian Alexandrov, piano, percussion;Mike Downes, bass; Ted Warren, drumsCHRISTIANNESTOTIJNmezzo-sopranoJULIUSDRAKEpianoWalter Hall, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto (Museum Subway Station)TRIOWANDERERDOVERQUARTETAPRIL 16, 2015 | 1.30 PMMAY 7, 2015 | 1.30 PMARTISTIC DIRECTOR: SIMON FRYERProgramme includes a new work by Christopher Mayo(WMCT Commission and World Première)TORONTODEBUTTORONTODEBUTTORONTODEBUTConcert Sponsor:WMCT FoundationENSEMBLEMADE IN CANADAElissa Lee, violin; Sharon Wei, viola;Rachel Mercer, cello; Angela Park, pianorecognition and disbelief in equal measure: Canada’s own wunderkind,Gramophone magazine’s 2013 Young Artist of the Year awardwinner, with two DG CDs already under his belt, several summermusic festival appearances scheduled, and on the horizon thisupcoming November, TSO concerts dedicated to Beethoven’s finalthree piano concertos.Lisiecki had just turned 19, Goode was well into his 71st year (hemade his TSO debut in 1963). Lisiecki began to play, a 750 ml bottle ofSan Pellegrino on the floor, his tone steely, the notes tight and crisp.Goode characterized Lisiecki’s playing as “very beautiful, natural,satisfying.” Goode offered a few words: “Feel the force of the passagego all the way through.” Pointing to the bottom of a page, Lisieckiasked what Goode thought of “those two bars.”“I liked it,” Goode answered.Goode followed the second movement’s dark melody intently,looking at the score, writing something in pencil (he wrote nothingduring the first movement). Suddenly, Lisiecki, who has joy, youth andpolka dot socks on his side, leapt up to turn the page of the accompanyingpianist’s score before returning to his own piano withoutmissing a beat. For his part, Goode had much to offer at the movement’sconclusion. “I think this is a delicate andante,” he pointed out.“It comes down to which notes to stress and which you want to be lessimportant.” He played the five-bar phrase: “The most important thingis to think of the voices as moving not vertical.” And he added thatjust because Mozart doesn’t write elaborate dynamics, it doesn’t meanhe wouldn’t have played them.Goode then demonstrated his own consummate pianism,showing off his musicianship in phrasing that emphasized theimportant passages.Goode interrupted the joyous third movement several times, actinglike a conductor, standing, rolling from side to side, commenting,singing his instructions which seemed a more comfortable way forhim to communicate his thoughts (Tellingly, he did verbalize one pieceof advice, asking Lisiecki to play a little slower “but with the samepizazz.”) Following Lisiecki’s effortless passagework and an admonitionnot to “upset the serenity of it,” Goode announced to the audienceof 20 or so that “Jan will play some Chopin for you.”The half dozen Preludes were like ice cream on the afternoon’s cake.Lisiecki displayed a more rounded tone than in the Mozart and Goodeoffered some salient bon mots. It goes without saying that Lisiecki is abrilliant talent; the trick is to tamp down the brilliance when appropriate.The afternoon saw him being schooled by the old school.Eight days later, Goode brought his consummate skills to the publicin a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.17, K453 with theTSO under Peter Oundjian. The notes of the first movement meltedinto the keyboard like butter. Goode gave them a liquid quality butFive Concerts for 5 | Early-bird price May 1 - 31, 2014 – 0For information and to subscribe call 416-923-7052Also available: Tickets for live Career Development Award competitionSunday, April 26, 2015, Walter Hall: All artists, dates, and programmes are subject to change without notice.Support of the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario, andthe City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council is gratefully acknowledged.PRESENTED BYwmct@wmct.on.ca www.wmct.on.ca 416-923-705216 | May 1, 2014 – June 7, 2014 thewholenote.com

with much definition, well-paced, relaxed, unrushed. The pianistquietly underlined the shape of the arpeggios behind the orchestra,his playing emotionally restrained but tonally lush, practising whathe had preached in the masterclass by not emphasizing every note,letting many fall in service of the phrasing.The darkly capricious second movement gained nobility as Goodedisplayed a brighter tone in the cadenza while the bright finaleshowed the classicist at work and play.The following week I was privileged to sit in on a rehearsal ofBrahms’ Piano Concerto No.1 with soloist Hélène Grimaud andAndrey Boreyko guest-conducting the TSO. It was fascinating to hearthe concert the next day and notice how the orchestra had faithfullyfollowed the conductor’s instructions; for example, Boreyko hadwanted exact articulation in the opening of the first movement. “It isnot a question of loudness,” he pointed out. The French horn solo onthe other hand, was equally gorgeous in casual dress and in tails.As for the remarkable Ms.Grimaud, her piano playing was strongand convincing in the rehearsal, each chord struck purposefully, eachnote sounding lyrically. In the concert she displayed a much greaterdynamic range adding rounded pianissimos in particular to expandthe music’s range. Her intimate pianism exposed the intrinsic beautyof the slow movement written “for Clara,” Schumann’s wife withwhom Brahms was enamoured. (In the rehearsal, before taking up thesecond movement, Boreyko reminded the orchestra that the concertowas Brahms’ emotional reaction to his friend Schumann’s suicideattempt.) And Grimaud entered fully into the passion of the thirdmovement with its rhapsodic cadenza spurring the audience into animmediate standing ovation.Mozart in a DayViolinist Jacques Israelievitch and pianist Christina PetrowskaQuilico will play the complete Mozart violin sonatas Sunday, May 4at Gallery 345. The opportunity to hear all 28 sonatas performed livein one day is likely a first for Toronto audiences. The marathon willbe divided into four concerts beginning at 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm,with only short breaks in between.“Playing the sonatas in one day allows the listener to hear the evolutionof the form as the composer goes from featuring mostly the pianoto making the violin gradually the equal of the piano,” Israelievitchsays. “The earlier sonatas are generally simpler, as Mozart honed hiscraft. They evolve into works of greater complexity and depth. Theperformance itself requires a lot of stamina. I am fortunate in having apiano partner who is up to the task.”In preparation, the two musicians are doing a lot of stretchingexercises.Quick PicksLess than two weeks after his Mozart marathon, Israelievitch joinsBenjamin Smith, piano, and Jihyun Ahn, cello, in a trio of trios byBeethoven, Shostakovich and Schumann May 16 at Gallery 345.Sondra Radvanovsky continues her productive sojourn in our citywith a performance of Richard Strauss’ exquisite Four Last SongsJune 5 and 7 at RTH with the TSO conducted by Shalom Bard.One of the many standout concerts presented by the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society in the coming weeks is by TrioArkel (Marie Berard, violin, Teng Li, viola, and Winona Zelenka,cello) May 12. Another is the first concert in QuartetFest 2014 by thePenderecki String Quartet June 1. An intriguing follow-up in the sameseries finds the Chiara Quartet performing their program of Haydn,Bartok and Brahms entirely by memory. More details on this latestincarnation of QuartetFest can be found on the k-wcms website.The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony led by Edwin Outwater attractivelypairs Aaron Copland’s Suite from Billy the Kid with LeonardBernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story May 2 to 4; onMay 30 and 31, Karen Gomyo is the soloist in Tchaikovsky’s ViolinConcerto in D in a program that also features Stravinsky’s Petrushkaand Sokolovic’s Ringelspiel.Paul Ennis is managing editor of The WholeNote.thewholenote.com May 1, 2014 – June 7, 2014 | 17

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