How do you top a musical program of a world premiere paired with two classical warhorses? You add a star soloist from violin royalty. This week’s program is true to music director Gustavo Gimeno’s vision for the TSO’s centennial to introduce new commissions along with the familiar.
The TSO commission and world premiere entitled “Hwa (Flowering)” is a new work from its own Affiliate Composer, the young Alison Yun-Fei Jiang. Jiang wrote this piece as a tribute to her grandmother and all the women who shaped her life. She describes the piece as a musical painting, an orchestral canvas on which musical ideas are “seeds that germinate, grow, wither and rebloom in cycles”. Indeed, the piece is full of textures, with ethereal melodic themes interwoven with dramatic, dissonant elements.
The evening also featured the TSO debut of Italian conductor Jader Bignamini, currently music director of the Detroit Symphony. Although Bignamini is mostly known for conducting operas, he admirably conducted both classical works from memory.
Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto in D major is one of the finest showcases of the instrument. This timeless piece seems to pose no technical challenge to renowned Canadian virtuoso James Ehnes. In fact, this is the fourth time Ehnes has played this piece with the TSO since 2008, and he gets better every time. For the first movement, Bignamini chose a more relaxed tempo, allowing Ehnes to prolong the pleasure of the solo cadenza. The second movement was played with more nuance and pensiveness. The thrilling finale burst with energy, but with Ehnes, it was never excessive. In fact, he was so comfortable and in control of this difficult piece, you could not see him even breaking a sweat. The tension of the final bars gave way to thunderous applause from the audience. To everyone’s delight, Ehnes played an encore of Paganini’s “Caprice No. 16”, another brilliant testament to his craft.
The second half of the program featured Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”, this version orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. I got the feeling that the orchestra played this piece as if conversing with an old friend, the dynamics flowed naturally despite Bignamini’s rather mundane interpretation. I would have liked to see more passionate conducting with more explosive colour contrasts. Nonetheless, it was evident from the audience’s reactions that the piece was a perennial crowd-pleaser, and Torontonians love their TSO.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra presents Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto & Pictures at an Exhibition at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, May 24, 25 & 27, 2023. www.tso.ca
