Friday, November 28th
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra invited some distinguished guests to for its concert this past Friday evening, and the results were outstanding.
The dynamic young conductor Joshua Weilerstein led the orchestra in the opening work, Adgilis Deda: Hymn for Orchestra by Samy Moussa. According to the composer, this was a piece inspired by a two-month stay in the Caucasus Mountain in Georgia. The brief orchestral work is a lyrical sonic tapestry that slowly unfolds over time. Quite often, the music felt like a film score – this is by no means a derogatory statement, but it merely describes the highly descriptive, evocative nature of the writing. Under this talented young guest conductor, the orchestra infused this work with great beauty of sound and depth of feeling.
Pianist Zlata Chochieva is no stranger to Vancouver denizens, having already appeared in recital twice under the auspices of The Vancouver Chopin Society. For her debut with the orchestra, she performed Mozart’s Concerto in D minor, K. 466, a beautiful collaboration between pianist and orchestra. Chochieva brought out all the sturm und drang the work demands, but balanced it always with great beauty she drew from the instrument. Hers was and is not a prim and proper, Dresden China Mozart, but an interpretation that was filled with flesh and blood, with breathing room, and with flexibility of phrasing. There was also an element of freedom in her playing, as if she was not “performing”, but re-creating Mozart. In Busoni’s highly original cadenzas, effectively fusing different thematic elements from the movements, Chochieva let loose her considerable pianistic abilities and brought the drama of the music to an even more intense level.
The soloist played but also interacted well with members of the orchestra, making it almost like a chamber music-like collaboration. And conductor Weilerstein listened well to his soloist, drawing lovely playing from the orchestra, especially in the writings for woodwinds that play such an important role in this concerto.
Although entitled The Year 1905, presumably chronicling an important chapter of the Russian Revolution, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 could just as well be heard as an impressive piece of orchestral writing, one that contains great emotional and dramatic weight.
Weilerstein obviously felt strongly about this work, and drew truly impressive playing from every department in the orchestra, and every member of the orchestra truly rose to the challenges Shostakovich laid down in this work. From the bleak, wintry landscape evoked in the opening, to the searing anger of the second movement, and from the mournful third movement to the triumphant final movement, the young conductor paced the symphony effectively, and made the performance a truly captivating musical experience for the entire audience, who gave the orchestra the greatest gift it can give, complete silence and rapt attention.
Kudos to the orchestra, the talented soloist and conductor for giving Vancouver audience this uplifting musical experience.
Saturday, November 29th
After the wonderful Mozart-Shostakovich performance last night, the only way to make the weekend better was to have more Mozart!
UBC Opera, under the leadership and guidance of Nancy Hermiston, is really rivalling many professional opera companies in the quality of its production and, in some cases, the excellence of its voices.
And so it was last night with the company’s presentation of Die Zauberflöte. They were fortunate to have had the services of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, conducted by its music director, Jacques Lacombe. As usual, Nancy Hermiston directed a production that is in turn moving and truly humorous, and absolutely faithful to the composer’s intent – no Eurotrash here. Even in the “challenge” and very dry acoustics of the Old Auditorium, the music came through. The sets, with, I am certain, limited technology available to them in the aged hall, were beautiful and effective.
Tenor Hexiang Wang stood out last night with the beauty of his voice as well as his stage presence. In the incredibly beautiful Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön, I felt that he could have taken much more time with his delivery, and held back at certain spots. To my ears, the performance sounded slightly rushed. Naturally, these are things that will come with experience, and experience is what Nancy Hermiston is giving these young singers.
Sarah Richardson sang Pamina with a very beautiful, round tone and always a beautiful sound. I did feel that sometimes she “hits” a note slightly too hard, especially when she reached for the higher notes.
Neil Hong had great stage presence and really brought the role of Papageno to life. Papageno really has all the best “tunes” in the opera, and Hong sang them with relish and a palpable sense of joy.
Jiru Wu played the part of Sarastro with great dignity and gravitas. I did feel that his young voice did not yet have the resonance and projection needed for his arias. This was most apparent in the supremely challenging In diesen heil’gen Hallen, when his voice sounded thin, and did not match the persona he was portraying. I imagine this would have been a most difficult role to cast among the young singers.
Olivia Howe was most impressive as the Queen of the Night. She sang her two great arias with great confidence and assurance, and commanded considerable stage presence, remarkable for such a young artist.
Even the other, less prominent part, were sung with great excellence. The three ladies, as well as the three spirits (normally sung by boy sopranos, but was performed with female voices in this production) were beautifully sung, individually as well as in terms of ensemble. Kaitlyn Tse, even with her brief appearance, played the role of Papagena to a hilt, and brought much laughter from the audience. She has come a long way since I heard her last year as soloist in a Mozart Mass, both in terms of her vocal quality and projection.
Even though this was, supposedly, a “student” production, it has nothing to apologize for, and Hermiston and her ensemble should feel very proud of themselves for so successfully mounting this incredible stage work.
On a personal note, within minutes of the overture, I had tears in my eyes, moved by the sheer genius of Mozart and the incredible beauty of the music. In my mind, these young artists were successful in elevating our lives and making our sometimes-confusing world a slightly better place, even if it were only for a few hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment