The charm of music en plein air filled the atmosphere in the city of Joliette where the Festival Lanaudière hosted the esteemed Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. The Amphithéâtre Fernand-Lindsay was filled: half of its audience was sitting under the canopy, and the other half on the lawn, uncovered, on their own lawn-chairs and picnic blankets. The evening highlighted two of the most well-known Russian composers’ pieces: Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski’s Piano Concerto no. 1 in B-flat minor, op. 23, and Nikolaï Rimski-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, op. 35, both wildly popular and amongst the two composers’ best works.
Photo by Simon Paradis
What you missed
Tchaïkovski’s concerto featured young Israeli pianist Yoav Levanon. At just 20 years old, he has been making a splash as something of a prodigy, having made his stage debut at four. From winning the National Piano Competitions in Israel to first place performances on international stages, Levanon has accomplished an impressive amount for his age. This night marked his second performance at the Festival Lanaudière, part of his Canadian debut.
Levanon’s interpretation of the concerto showed his technical prowess. The piece begins with a descending horn theme backed by the orchestra, followed by dramatic piano chords covering the span of the keys. Plucked strings built anticipation for Levanon’s cadenza before the return of the lyrical theme. He varied dynamics throughout, transitioning smoothly from gentle to fiercer passages.
Photo by Simon Paradis
The second movement allowed Levanon to play a more complementary role to the orchestra; a brief solo motif was passed to him from flute, then from the cello to the oboe. The same motif was repeated in a call-and-response between the far-away horn and oboe, accompanied by a repetitive chord section from the piano.
The third movement, starting Allegro con fuoco, brought a more energetic atmosphere to the amphitheater. The flute added fluttering embellishments to Levanon’s intricate scalar passages. Levanon himself showed amazing precision, attacking chords with furious confidence. Large screens showed the big grin etched on his face throughout the piece, and his enthusiasm was palpable even at the end of his performance. As an encore, Levanon delighted the crowd with a stunning rendition of La Campanella by Franz Liszt. For such a challenging piece full of octaves and rapid leaps, he played exceptionally well, demonstrating amazing control and dexterity over the G-sharp minor black keys.
Photo by Simon Paradis
The second half of the night was even more entrancing. Like many other Rimski-Korsakov pieces, Scheherazade, based on the legendary narrator of the One Thousand and One Nights, is full of vivid instrumentation. Though written in 1888, the original story hails from Middle Eastern folklore. Briefly, the story goes: a disgruntled sultan vows to wed a different woman every night and kill her in the morning following his wife’s infidelity. Scheherazade, a young woman, volunteers to marry him. She tells him a captivating story on their wedding night, cutting it short as the dawn approaches. Intrigued by the story, the sultan postpones her execution — and does so over and over for 1001 nights, eventually sparing her entirely and making her his wife.
Rafael Payare led the orchestra with his whole body, guiding them without seeming overbearing. Concertmaster Andrew Wan started the first movement with the slow and gentle leitmotif representing Scheherazade. He played all of the violin solos exceptionally well, his bow weaving life into the music. Other commendable solos came from the oboe, bassoon, clarinet, cello, harp, horn, and flute sections. Even with such a rich score, Payare effectively delineated between musical moments and characters: the dark brassy entrance representing the sultan, the sweet and almost submissive narration — indicated by Wan’s solos — and the jaunty melodies reminiscent of court performances.
Gripes
Yoav Levanon is completely deserving of praise for his technical ability and the ease at which he plays difficult passages. His fingers move with complex dexterity and he knows when to back down to best support the orchestra. He has immense control over his dynamics. However, there was less feeling and emotion in his playing of Tchaikovski’s concerto. His posture was stiff enough to sit at a formal dinner, but he did not express himself and his music through his body. Where the OSM is concerned, despite their beautiful performance, a few notable errors such as horn cracks were distinctive.
Photo by Simon Paradis
Overall, the concert was marked by impressive and ambitious programming. Levanon’s La Campanella encore was a sight to behold, and I particularly loved the OSM’s version of Scheherazade with the talented orchestra, the lush orchestration, and the nostalgia it evoked. The romantic beginning of the third movement played by the strings is my favourite of the many distinctive melodies and themes in the piece, yet the entire suite manages to stick in your head for hours after the tender conclusion, at which point Scheherazade can finally rest.
For information on upcoming events at the Festival Lanaudière: https://lanaudiere.org/
