Romantic - my/maSCENA

Photo: Antoine Saito

Michael Tilson Thomas makes a memorable OSM debut

By Arthur Kaptainis on 23 May 2019 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Piano, Romantic

The OSM has seen its share of notable guest conductors over the decades. Now the list includes Michael Tilson Thomas, music director of the San Francisco Symphony since 1995. His appearance on May 22 in the Maison symphonique marked his Montreal debut. He made it count for something. Not that Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra is the likeliest vehicle for the expression of podium personality. As its title implies, this score is made of multiple parts that need to be coordinated. A lean and athletic figure at 75, Tilson Thomas accomplished the technical element of task with an economical baton style…

Photo: Andrew Dobrowolskyj

Impressive Mahler from the OUM — and some friends

By Arthur Kaptainis on 14 April 2019 Choral, Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Romantic, Vocal

Hard to fault the Mahler Third Symphony heard Saturday night (April 13, 2019) in Salle Claude-Champagne. Very hard, if the criteria are performing standards and the grasp of the score shown by Jean-François Rivest, founding artistic director and principal conductor of the Orchestre de l’Université de Montréal. It should be noted, however, that the 100-plus players on stage included a high proportion of professors and alumni, including veterans we see often enough in professional situations. Only three of the eight double bassists, to judge by the printed program, were students. The first timpani part was undertaken by none other than…

Photo: François Goupil

De Souza gets to the heart of Schumann with the Orchestre Métropolitain

By Arthur Kaptainis on 13 April 2019 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Romantic, Strings

Local boy makes good. Not that Jordan de Souza is, strictly speaking, a Montrealer. “Né à Toronto” were the first words we read in the program biography Friday (April 12, 2019) at the Maison symphonique. But this conductor learned his craft at McGill and had some good innings at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul before ascending to the position of Erster Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper in Berlin. Thus the special interest of his return to town at the helm of the Orchestre Métropolitain. Spring was the supposed theme of the evening but the real focus was…

Chopin’s Concertos: a landmark release

By Benjamin Goron on 3 April 2019 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Orchestral, Piano, Romantic

After almost four years, a major project has come to fruition with the release of Chopin’s two Piano Concertos as played by Charles Richard-Hamelin and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under Kent Nagano. “It’s one of the five best recordings that Analekta has ever produced,” exclaims the label’s president, François-Mario Labbé. Almost 32 years after the record company’s establishment, this landmark recording reminds the wide world of the excellence of musicians from Quebec. “After Charles Richard-Hamelin’s win at the 2015 Chopin Competition, I thought of recording those concertos and brought it up with Kent Nagano, who was immediately interested,” Labbé…

Mika Putterman – Reviving the Art of Early Flute

By Benjamin Goron on 28 March 2019 Baroque and Early, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Romantic

The modern flute is one of the most recent additions to the woodwind family. Developed in the 1830s, it gained full acceptance by the century’s end. Its new key system gave it a more even tone, greater sound projection and, not least, increased playing facility. As entrenched as it is in concert music, is this instrument, otherwise known as the Boehm flute, the only one worthy of interest? What about its predecessors? Is there anything to learn from these? Mika Putterman, for one, would certainly answer the last question in the affirmative. As a self-described “historical flutist,” she owns an…

Singing Valentines Leave a Lasting Impression

By Vasyl Pawlowsky on 28 March 2019 Romantic, Vocal

For the ninth year, La Scena Musicale has provided an alternative gift on Valentine’s Day. Singing Valentines are a different way of reaching out to those you care about. And geographic location is not an issue “It was a lovely surprise,” stated Monique Djokic of New York, who received L’invitation au voyage as sung by soprano Chantal Dionne from her nephew Mark. Dionne also sang Vissi d’arte from Puccini’s Tosca for longtime patron of the arts (and La Scena supporter) Noël Spinelli. “It made my day,” said Raymonde Coderre after Wah Keung Chan had sung La fleur que tu m’avais…

Weekend Opera Roundup in Montreal (Nov. 9-11)

By Adrian Rodriguez on 11 November 2018 Choral, Concert Reviews, Opera, Romantic

This past weekend (Friday, Nov. 9 to Sunday, Nov. 11), I attended four vocal music performances (three operas and one oratorio) which shows that Montreal is a vibrant city for voice lovers. Friday: Opera McGill presented a hilarious Albert Herring by Benjamin Britten. Sadly, this comic opera is not produced enough nowadays. This score is worth discovering. The highlight was the simple yet very effective stage directing by Patrick Hansen. The second cast was generally good. Unlike some previous Opera McGill productions, there were no surtitles and many of the jokes were lost as many of the words were not…

Baritone Nathan Berg Shines in Opéra de Montréal’s Das Rheingold

By Adrian Rodriguez on 11 November 2018 Concert Reviews, Opera, Romantic

Last Saturday, November 10, Opéra de Montréal premiered Der Rheingold, the first instalment from Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibellungen. It marked the first time that this work is staged in the history of the opera company. What you missed The highlight of the show was the performance by Canadian bass-baritone Nathan Berg. The native from Saskatchewan struck gold with his dramatic stage presence and his steely voice. He incarnated Alberich in body and voice, colouring every sound to match the meaning of the words he was singing. A good example was the contrast in his vocal and physical attitude…

Karl Goldmark’s Die Königin Von Saba: An Opera Worth Reviving, with or without a Jewish Soul

By Arthur Kaptainis on 3 October 2018 Opera, Romantic

Johannes Brahms was in a foul mood one evening while dining at the house of the pianist Ignaz Brüll, a popular host in Vienna in the 1880s. “Don’t you think it strange,” he blurted out, “that a Jew should set a text of Martin Luther’s to music?” Everyone present was meant to hear him, including the Jew in question, Brahms’s long-suffering friend and colleague, Karl (or Carl) Goldmark. While this was far from the first social occasion that Brahms spoiled with an insensitive remark, the composer’s biographer Jan Swafford deems it to be “the only time on record when Brahms…

Chopin: Cello sonata/Schubert: Arpeggione (Hyperion)

By Norman Lebrecht on 28 September 2018 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Lebrecht Weekly, Piano, Romantic, Strings

A critic’s dilemma. The cellist Steven Isserlis is a pal. He lives around the corner and we bump into each other at local amenities. He knows I have received his latest release for review. He will be disappointed if I ignore it and grumpy if I find fault. To review or not to review? If I ruled out reviewing friends I’d have to turn down half the record output. By the same token, if I mentioned a friendship every time I reviewed, readers would switch off. So what to do? I made a rule a while back that I would…

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