Kelly-Marie Murphy: Dark Stars, Bright Nights, Vast Universe; Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto no. 2; Jacques Hétu: Symphony no. 5 – National Arts Center Orchestra (NACO); Orchestre symphonique de Québec (OSQ); Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Alexander Shelley, conductor; Kevin Chen, piano. Grand Théâtre de Québec, Feb. 28, 2024. (Repeats March 2 in Toronto; March 7 & 8 in Ottawa)
It took over a year of preparation: the coming together of two notable orchestras and one of the country’s largest choirs. The result was an evening of music making of the highest order which brought the audience to its feet.
The National Arts Center Orchestra (NACO) and the Orchestre symphonique de Québec (OSQ), joined by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, launched their joint three-city tour Wednesday evening with a sold-out concert at the Grand Théâtre de Québec. They will next perform on March 2 at Roy Thomson Hall and conclude with two evenings at Ottawa’s CNA on March 7 and 8.
Conducted by Alexander Shelley, musical director of the NACO, the 110-piece orchestra and 100 voices offered thrilling performances of Kelly-Marie Murphy, Saint-Saens Piano Concerto no. 2 with young prodigy Kevin Chen, and Jacques Hétu, to great acclaim.
The concert opened with a piece by Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy, Dark Nights, Bright Stars, Vast Universe. Commissioned by the NACO as a companion piece for their upcoming recording of Strauss’s Don Juan, the piece grew out of two sources of inspiration: Van Gogh’s Starry Night, created in 1889 like Don Juan, and the stunning career of astronomer Williamina Fleming (1857-1911), who discovered the Horsehead Nebula. The scintillating piece makes good use of instruments like the harp, vibraphone, windchimes, flute and solo violin to evoke the shining stars, whereas large tuttis plunge the listener into the dark vastness of the universe. The assembled orchestral masses were impressive both in the subtle and in the large passages.
After the first piece, 18-year-old Kevin Chen stepped up to the piano for the Second Piano Concerto by Camille Saint-Saens. Chen has recently burst onto our stages as a young award-winning piano prodigy. His playing in the Saint-Saens confirmed his reputation, as he dazzled the audience with near-flawless technical ease. Crystalline arpeggios tumbled from his fingers, and his lithe touch was a good fit for the Mendelssohnian lightness of the second movement.
For all his technical proficiency, Chen does not possess an imposing piano sound. One wonders whether cutting one or two desks from the string sections might not have been an interesting option, not to reduce the volume of the orchestra per se as much as its texture, which was slightly too opaque.
The second half of the program was dedicated to Jacques Hétu’s Symphony no. 5. Completed only a few months before the composer’s death in 2010, the symphony depicts Paris during the Second World War. In the first movement, solo instruments play a yearning melody, while the orchestra interjects with episodes of lively activity. The second movement, titled “Invasion”, is brutal and loud, giving the brass and percussion an opportunity to release the full blast of their power. The third movement, “Occupation”, creates an oppressive atmosphere comparable to Shostakovich, yet with different means. In the finale, the choir sings Paul Éluard’s ode to freedom Liberté, which was printed on leaflets and parachuted from Allies planes down on the population of Paris to boost their morale.
Hétu was a master orchestrator, and the joint forces of OSQ and NACO seem to relish playing his opus magnum. The strings sound beautifully lush, brass and woodwinds round and full. The chorus, expertly prepared by Dr. Jean-Sébastien Vallée, does not waver during its 22-minute contribution: it remains smoothly in control, including in several gorgeous a cappella passages.
The overlapping counterpoint of the choral writing does not allow an unhindered appreciation of Éluard’s meaningful poetry, even with the choir’s excellent pronunciation. The full poem is printed in the program booklet, but supertitles would have been helpful, even in French-speaking Québec. Let’s hope this support has not been neglected in the other two halls.
An event of such excellent quality and obvious comradery should leave a trace: thankfully, the three ensembles will record Hétu’s symphony for the Analekta label before going their separate ways.
- Tickets to the March 2 Toronto concert are available HERE.
Submitted by Béatrice Cadrin — Interim City Editor (Montréal), in collaboration with Ludwig-Van Montréal
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