Putting on a Christmas concert is a challenge. The concert must feature enough time-worn classics to foster the holiday spirit; at the same time, every holiday concert strives to be fresh, even innovative. We don’t want to be fed the same “Jingle Bells” year after year, but we do want to hear music we recognize.
On Dec. 18, Orchestre symphonique de Laval’s holiday concert offered many Christmas classics, from Leroy Andersen’s Christmas Festival to the beloved English carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas. But the concert also featured music by Georges Bizet and Gabriel Fauré that, while very melodious, is not strictly Christmas music.
Bizet’s Suite Arlésienne was written as incidental music to accompany Alphonse Daudet’s play of the same name depicting a tumultuous love affair in the south of France. Fauré’s Sicilienne was also incorporated as incidental music in Maurice Maerterlinck’s play, Pelléas et Mélisande.
Magali Simard-Galdès with OSL. Photo: Gabriel Fournier
What is incidental music from the south of France doing in a Christmas concert? In fact, these pieces include warm melodies and festive, dance-like numbers that are very conducive to fostering holiday cheer. They are well-placed on a holiday concert program. Overall, the OSL’s holiday concert was well-conceived and generally, well executed.
What you missed?
The OSL had originally programmed Fauré’s Requiem for this concert but later switched it out for the Bizet suite. Whatever their reasoning was, the outcome was successful. Despite the transcendent beauty of Fauré’s Requiem, Christmas is not really a funerary event.
Bizet’s Suite Arlésienne is not Christmas music in the strict sense, yet the opening movement of the second suite, “Farandole”, is a widely loved French Christmas carol. This movement depicts the march of the three kings towards baby Jesus in the manger. The tune itself is wonderfully march-like. As it travels between the orchestra sections with slight alterations, the tempo picks up, the percussion joins in, and an aura of Christmas fills the air. The orchestra maintained a lively energy through to the end. Sometimes, old chestnuts, especially when not too technically challengin, can sound rather tired when performed by a professional orchestra. This certainly was not the case at the OSL concert.
Olivier Bergeron with OSL. Photo: Gabriel Fournier
The classic Christmas pieces were all strong crowd-pleasers. Andersen’s Christmas Festival had the audience practically dancing in their seats. The soprano-tenor duet for The Twelve Nights of Christmas was another highlight. It was a fine idea to have what is essentially a love song sung as a duet. Soprano Magali Simard-Galdès is a rising opera star with a wining stage presence and a forceful, yet precise voice. Her performance was exquisite, and she has the rare musician’s gift of making the people she is performing with—instrumentalists and fellow singers—sound a little bit better.
Rejouissances, an orchestral suite comprised of traditional French-Canadian folk tunes, was very well-placed at the end of the concert and fitted seamlessly into the festive mood of the concert; This piece was like the warm goodbye of a familiar friend who you didn’t expect to show up to the party.
Gripes:
It was difficult to hear baritone Olivier Bergeron, particularly in his solo with orchestra, Henri Martinet’s “Petit Papa Noël”. At several instances, his voice was completely washed out by the orchestra.
As far as the orchestra is concerned, there was sometimes a lack of tightness in the strings. I also thought several of the woodwind solos could have been played much more lyrically in Suite Arlésienne.
Orchestre symphonique de Laval’s season continues with their 4th annual winter festival running Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2025.
