Marc-André Hamelin (piano), Louis Langrée (guest conductor). Roy Thomson Hall, Thursday, Feb. 25.
[Originally published in the Toronto Star]
Montreal-born Marc-André Hamelin has earned a lot of respect by those who understand that he could have easily grown into a ubiquitous virtuoso pianist in the shark-skin suit hawking the Flight of the Bumble Bee as an encore. His fingers are Olympic gold medal winners, but with his reputation, it’s the music that matters.
Hamelin has come a long way from his early days of championing esoteric repertoire and seems to be mellowing over the recent years.
This more dulcet side was on display last night for a rather curious TSO programme with Hamelin at the bench and Louis Langrée at the podium. The audience would have to wait for Hamelin’s Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 as the filling between the Beethoven and Schumann sandwich.
Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony, Louis Langrée marked the evening as his TSO debut.
While most of the concert was a delight, it started with a rather laboured performance of Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 2. The TSO musicians seemed confused and unsure of Langrée’s direction. Entrances were staggered; cues were missed. Even the off-stage trumpet couldn’t save it.
After the opening misfire was Hamelin’s compensatory Mendelssohn first Piano Concerto. The nuances of his playing brought to light the astonishing craft in Mendelssohn’s work. Langrée rose to the occasion, as did the TSO, who matched Hamelin’s shifting focus between heart-melting melodies and sweeping rambles across the keyboard.
Hamelin returned to play Gershwin’s Etude No.6 Liza. Again his abilities were in full service to the music, which transformed Roy Thomson Hall into a New York Cabaret (I saw the fellow beside me doing a little Charleston from his seat.)
Schumann’s heavily revised Symphony No. 4 closed the evening. Conducting from memory, Langrée inspired an intense sound, especially from the strings. While Schumann was never the best of orchestrators (often cited as the worst) his Symphony No. 4. has its moments. The trick is, as Leonard Bernstein learned, to play the movements without pause. Langrée followed this good advice; it redeemed the second movement Romanze from its lingering nature and kept it moving through to the eye-popping Scherzo, which reveals so much about Schumann’s troubled mind at the time.
The programme repeats Saturday, Feb. 27 at 8 p.m. Tickets and details found at tso.ca or 416-598-3375.
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