By: Michael Vincent Special to the Star, Published on Fri Nov 14 2014
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
With guest conductor Thomas Dausgaard and pianist Jan Lisiecki. Roy Thomson Hall, Nov. 12
A symphony concert featuring Beethoven and Mozart is as regular as regular gets. But when you combine it with the young piano dynamo Jan Lisiecki, visiting Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard and clinch it with Carl Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony, you have something much more interesting.
Wednesday night’s performance marked the start of a two-week minifestival celebrating Nielsen’s 150th birthday. Each of the five shows pairs a Nielsen symphony with a Beethoven concerto, beginning Wednesday with Symphony No. 4, “The Inextinguishable.”
After the opening overture to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (Nielsen’s favourite composer), it became clear this was to be a special night. Dausgaard cajoled the orchestra into a shimmer that glistened throughout the four-minute hors d’oeuvre.
A lone piano was then rolled onstage with bright star soloist Lisiecki in tow.
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