{"id":55409,"date":"2018-07-16T07:29:02","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T11:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/montreal\/?p=55409"},"modified":"2018-07-16T07:29:02","modified_gmt":"2018-07-16T11:29:02","slug":"review-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/montreal\/2018\/07\/16\/review-2\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW | Penderecki\u2019s Passion makes a bold statement at Lanaudi\u00e8re"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kent
Kent Nagano and the OSM will perform Krzysztof Penderecki\u2019s Passion on July 20 at the Salzburg Festival. (Photo: Pure perception)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOnly at Lanaudi\u00e8re\u201d would not be strictly accurate. After all, Kent Nagano and the OSM will perform Krzysztof Penderecki\u2019s St. Luke Passion on July 20 at the Salzburg Festival.<\/p>\n

Still, it is difficult to think of many North American outdoor summer presenters that would mount a rough, tough and challenging oratorio on the subject of suffering and death of Christ and attract a crowd of more than 2,000 on a Saturday night to a setting like the Fernand Lindsay Amphitheatre.<\/p>\n

This is a work of 1966, which is to say, from the height of the Polish composer\u2019s avant-garde period. There are clusters, snarls, glissandi, pizzicati, high notes, low notes, leaps, steps, quarter tones, polyphonic permutations, screams and whispers that follow each other unexpectedly but with compelling emotional logic.<\/p>\n

There are also punchy motifs and lyrical melodies to remind us that even at age 33 this restlessly creative composer was starting to think outside the modernist box. Slow-moving strings before the Crucifixion were dark and solemn and the soprano lament on the \u201cFaithful Cross\u201d could hardly have been more touching.<\/p>\n

The soloist in this movement was the British-German soprano Sarah Wegener<\/strong>. The American baritone Lucas Meachem<\/strong> was a vivid presence as Jesus and the English bass Matthew Rose<\/strong> made resonant and dramatic entries as Peter. The Latin text was no obstacle to performances that were real and personal.<\/p>\n

All three soloists will be in Krak\u00f3w on Wednesday and Salzburg on Friday (as will the composer). The spoken words of the Evangelist were rendered in vigorously theatrical French by Gabriel Sabourin<\/strong>. Presumably the composer authorized the translation.<\/p>\n

It was not a bad idea: Narration in the vernacular added an element of engagement. The words, drawn from psalms and liturgical sources as well as the Gospels of St. Luke and St. John, were presented with admirable clarity, but Latin is still Latin. Lanaudi\u00e8re did not make it easy on the crowd by printing the text in small type, aligning the translations haphazardly and not supplying movement numbers. The majority of listeners did not consult their programs.<\/p>\n

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\"Kent
Kent Nagano conducting the OSM at Lanaudi\u00e8re. (Photo: pure perception)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They got plenty of musical information from the orchestra, which included an organ and an unusual assortment of woodwinds (no oboes or clarinets but flutes, saxophones, bassoons and a slithering bass clarinet). Strings confidently responded to Penderecki\u2019s eccentric technical demands, notably in the dense (if not chaotic) sequence preceding Judas\u2019s betrayal.<\/p>\n

Yet the highest praise is owing the 86 members of the OSM Chorus as prepared by Andrew Megill<\/strong>. As wild as Penderecki\u2019s writing for orchestra is, his choral inspirations are even more outr\u00e9. Chattering, hissing and shrieking were among the requirements. Sometimes using tuning forks to snag the right pitch, these combined professionals and amateurs embodied both the cruelty of the mob and the sorrow of humankind.<\/p>\n

Then there was Nagano<\/strong>, strongly communicating the drama of the score. Closeups on the Lanaudi\u00e8re big screens made it apparent that he knew the words as well as the notes. He drew wonders of expression from the singers. Perhaps the most moving sequence of all was the ethereal a cappella setting of an excerpt from Psalm 21 (In pulverem mortis<\/em>).<\/p>\n

It should be kept in mind that all this effort was dedicated to a one-off concert. The Krak\u00f3w Philharmonic Choir will be doing the honours in Europe, along with the Warsaw Boys Choir (the boys\u2019 music in Lanaudi\u00e8re was sung by women).<\/p>\n

\"Kent<\/a>
Kent Nagano. (Photo: Pure perception)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Picking highlights is not easy in a work as multifarious as this. And as positive as the overall impression was, there might be room for even stronger results. The fiercely atonal St. Luke Passion ends with a sudden and entirely tonal E Major triad, asserting hope for all, but clearly surprising the Lanaudi\u00e8re crowd at the end of this 71-minute performance. Is there a way to make it seem less arbitrary and more inevitable?<\/p>\n

Speaking to the crowd in the place of the conspicuously absent Gregory Charles<\/strong>, Nagano discussed the abstract idea of how every performance is unique. This concert, a Canadian premiere, will certainly stand out as a special night in the history of the Lanaudi\u00e8re Festival.<\/p>\n

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