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Messiaen: Turangalîla-symphonie. Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Gustavo Gimeno, conductor. Marc-André Hamelin, piano. Nathalie Overlook, ondes Martenot. Roy Thomson Corridor, Might 4, 2023. Repeats Might 5; Tickets right here.
The hockey sport? A extra possible rationalization for the modest turnout Thursday night time in Roy Thomson Corridor was a nagging suspicion on the a part of Toronto Symphony Orchestra followers that Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-symphonie — for all its renommée as a mid-Twentieth-century masterpiece — makes sure calls for.
There may be a grain of fact to this, however the French composer’s 10-movement, 75-minute paean to ecstatic and common love rewards affected person listening when it’s ready as totally because it was below Gustavo Gimeno.
This efficiency and the repeat Friday will type the premise of a recording on the Harmonia Mundi label meant to rejoice the centennial of the orchestra and pay homage to the landmark TSO model led by Seiji Ozawa in 1967.
The rating is a research in exuberant contrasts between the brash and the tender, the delicate and the wild. It was clear within the opening motion, with its monumental brass figures, that the fortissimo finish can be effectively attended to and expanded by a wholesome vary of sonorities. One couldn’t have requested for a extra boisterous Joie du sang des étoiles and the rhythms of the finale invoked one thing like an avant-garde hootenanny.
Quiet interludes had been no much less convincing. The Jardin du sommeil d’amour — “Backyard of Love’s Sleep” — feels like a great place to be, and so it was, with its comfortable strings and delicate steadiness of winds, piano and the digital keyboard instrument often known as the ondes Martenot.
The final two devices, which have solo prominence, had been positioned on the entrance of the stage. Pianist Marc-André Hamelin was assured within the cadenzas and projected brilliantly within the excessive register. Nathalie Overlook, extra embedded within the material, was all the time delicate to phrasing and curvature.
Gimeno was on prime of all of it. As a former percussionist himself, the conductor did little to restrain the ten stick-wielders on obligation. In fact, Messiaen himself was not precisely economical along with his distribution of cymbal crashes. And a bit of wooden block, in my view, goes a good distance.
If there are considered any imbalances, the recording engineers can in all probability attend to them. We will certainly predict good digital outcomes total. The viewers was requested to be quiet between actions and complied. The ultimate ovation was large.
The Friday repeat begins at 7:30. Be on time. There isn’t any intermission.
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Arthur Kaptainis has been the classical music critic of the Montreal Gazette since 1986 and wrote for the Nationwide Put up 2010-2016. His articles have appeared in Classical Voice North America and La Scena Musicale in addition to Ludwig Van. Arthur holds an MA in musicology from the College of Toronto.
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