Evangelista: Violinissimo; Staniland: Six Enigmas; Rea: Figures hâtives; Louie: Triple Concerto. Esprit Orchestra, Alex Pauk conducting; Aaron Schwebel, Stephen Sitarski, Marie Bérard, violinists. November 27, 2022, Koerner Corridor, Toronto.
In an article within the present subject of The WholeNote journal, composer Alexina Louie described what she referred to as the “wild concept” behind final evening’s Esprit Orchestra live performance at Koerner Corridor. Credit score Louie’s husband, Esprit Music Director Alex Pauk, with the wild determination to current three Canadian violin concertos, every that includes a special Toronto concertmaster, earlier than bringing the three soloists collectively for a efficiency of Louie’s Triple Concerto for 3 violins and orchestra.
What’s most essential — it labored!
For a live performance of latest classical music, this one made for surprisingly comfy listening, eschewing the extended stasis or electronically-derived textures too usually heard nowadays, a lot much less the now-obsolescent caustic dissonances of atonality. These items had been tonal and rhythmically forward-moving, the violinists by no means required to resort to prolonged methods or particular results.
Main off was José Evangelista’s Violinissimo (1993) with Aaron Schwebel, Concertmaster of the Nationwide Ballet of Canada Orchestra. This was the one work on this system within the conventional concerto format of three actions, fast-slow-fast, and it was the least “fashionable” sounding as properly. The opening Acrobatico is a sprightly dance and the concluding Vertiginoso an much more energetic, syncopated folk-dance. But it surely’s the central Meditazione that stands out. Right here, Schwebel sustained an intense, melancholy, lyrical line, at instances within the violin’s highest register, over the orchestra’s disjunct, closely metallic, percussive chords, a haunting spotlight of the night.
Subsequent up was the world premiere of Six Enigmas by Andrew Staniland, commissioned by Esprit, with Esprit Concertmaster Stephen Sitarski as soloist. In his program notes, Staniland wrote of “references/quotes, compositional units and homage to nice works of the previous. These little mysteries are embedded all through the work.” (I confess I failed to acknowledge any of Staniland’s “references/quotes.”)
In six related actions, the episodic music options quick, even livid, repeated violin passagework, fortissimo orchestral blasts, stressed woodwinds and brass, rippling arpeggios from Esprit pianist Talisa Blackman, a closely accented part through which the music steadily rises in pitch, quantity and velocity, producing actual pleasure, a prolonged, dreamy passage constructing to yet one more violent outburst, all ending because the violin gently fades over sweetly chiming piano and percussion.
At 14 minutes, John Rea’s Figures hâtives (2006), commissioned by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, was the shortest work on this system. (The concertos by Evangelista and Staniland clocked in at 19 minutes; Louie’s Triple Concerto at 16 minutes.) It was additionally essentially the most adventurous — melodically, rhythmically and harmonically. Marie Bérard, Concertmaster of the Canadian Opera Firm Orchestra, shared the highlight with Esprit harpist Sanya Eng, conspicuously positioned within the centre of the stage. It was Eng who started the piece with a six-note phrase that reverberated all through the work. In his pre-concert feedback, Rea described this piece as “shadows chasing one another” and the music is certainly elusive. Its shifting meters, shimmering percussion and disjointed orchestral mutterings, usually unrelated to the violin’s busy figurations, make this concerto much more enigmatic than Staniland’s.
Lastly, the three concertmasters assembled for Louie’s Triple Concerto (2017), a piece collectively commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Nationwide Arts Centre Orchestra and Montreal Symphony Orchestra for Canada’s one hundred and fiftieth birthday and premiered by the concertmasters of the three orchestras.
In two related actions, the music displays Louie’s penchant for glittering, bell-like percussion, repeatedly tolling all through the primary motion. Marked Tranquillo, it’s in reality fairly energized. At one level, every violinist, in flip, grew to become a soloist, enjoying alone whereas the opposite two remained silent. The temporary Interlude – Sospirando featured outstanding harp arpeggios over mild percussion, whereas the ultimate Con veloce e forza – Scintillante ended the concerto and the live performance, with an outpouring of jubilation.
Along with the accessible, colourfully scored concertos, all thrillingly carried out by the three soloists and the Esprit Orchestra performed by Alex Pauk, what made this live performance significantly refreshing is that not like most Canadian works, doomed to be forgotten, usually unfairly, after their premieres, the concertos by Evangelista, Rea and Louie evidently proceed to have a life after beginning. Staniland’s kaleidoscopic Six Enigmas would possibly properly turn out to be one other survivor.
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Michael Schulman has been writing about classical music and musicians for greater than 60 years. His critiques and have articles have appeared in The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and plenty of Toronto magazines, together with Performing Arts in Canada, for which he was its Music Editor; his DVD and CD critiques seem commonly in The WholeNote.
