The Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra ends their season with a program titled Pictures At An Exhibition. Naturally, the atmospheric Mussorgsky-Ravel work is on the menu, which also includes a focus on brass in the form of a horn concerto.
“Everything is a big sound in this concert,” says CBSO Music Director Martin MacDonald. “It’s big and bold.”
On the program is:
- Ian Cusson: Tableau Vivant (2018)
- Glière: Horn Concerto (Samir Abd-Elmessih, french horn)
- Mussorgsky-Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
We spoke to CBSO Music Director Martin MacDonald and horn soloist Samir Abd-Elmessih about the season-ending concert.
Interview: The First Half
Opening the program is Canadian composer Ian Cusson’s Tableau vivant, based on a 1958 play by Michel Marc Bouchard of the same name (in English, The Tale of Teeka). MacDonald notes that the work is written with a storytelling voice as an orchestral concerto.
“It’s just under six minutes long. It’s a piece of big vibrant storytelling,” MacDonald says.
The original story revolves around a ten year old boy on a Quebec farm playing with his goose.
“It’s also a challenging piece for us as well,” MacDonald says, noting frequent key and time changes. “It’s a very beautiful piece.”
Reinhold Glière’s Concerto for Horn and Orchestra in B-flat major, Op. 91
Reinhold Glière completed his Concerto for Horn and Orchestra in 1951, and it was premiered the same year by Russian horn player Valery Polekh with the Leningrad Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Polekh, in fact, had played a key role in the creation of Glière’s Opus 91. The two had met at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1950. The horn player approached Glière during a break in a rehearsal of the composer’s ballet The Bronze Horseman.
Their conversation was brief, but focused on Polekh’s suggestion that Glière write a concerto for the horn. Glière, evidently intrigued, said he’d come up with something in his free time. Polekh would subsequently meet with Glière to show him the horn’s capabilities. About a year later, Glière completed the piece.
It would go on to become one of the composer’s best known and most lauded works. The modern French horn, with its valves and other 19th century developments that allowed for a full range of notes, was a relative newcomer to the orchestral family, and it’s still not often used as a solo instrument. Glière’s Concerto has become one of the key works in the horn repertoire.
Glière wrote the piece in a neoclassical style, with a Romantic sensibility. It consists of three movements, with a standard cadenza written by Polekh in a virtuosic mode.
A Concerto For French Horn
Why choose a horn concerto?
“First of all, Samir. He’s a fantastic horn player,” MacDonald says. “We’re really lucky to have him.”
Samir Abd-Elmessih is a busy musician, currently performing with CBSO, the Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orchestra Toronto. That’s on top of a full-time career as a teacher.
“It keeps me busy,” Abd-Elmessih says.
The orchestral world can be a small one, and it turns out that MacDonald and Abd-Elmessih were working on their Master’s degrees at McGill University at the same time. Samir would also study for a time at the Glenn Gould School, as well as private instruction with Christopher Gongos. Associate Principal Horn of the TSO, and UofT faculty member.
“Even when we were doing our Master’s together, he was a real superstar at McGill,” Martin says. “I wanted to feature him in the orchestra as a soloist. I like going outside the piano and violin concertos when we can,” he adds.
“We were talking about the Mozarts, and we were talking about the Strausses,” MacDonald recalls.
Glière’s concerto was Abd-Elmessih’s suggestion to MacDonald. “He was thinking about something a little bit off the beaten track,” Samir says.
MacDonald went home to listen to the concerto, and was convinced.
“For horn players, it’s a bit more well known,” Abd-Elmessih says. “It’s got lots of nice melodies.”
“There’s these great big tunes for the orchestra, and some lush orchestrations,” Martin says. “The other great benefit to us as well, at least we hope, is that it encourages younger horn students,” he adds.
The instrumentation includes a full brass section, harp and percussion along with the usual strings.
“It gives the orchestra something to do as well,” Abd-Elmessih says. “He thankfully agreed.”
The work is also quite challenging. “I learned it when I was in university, and performed it at a student recital, but I haven’t really worked on it since then. It’s kept me busy all year.” Samir adds. “Just getting to play a piece like this is fairly special,” he says. “There are some things in the third movement that I’m really looking forward to. It’s almost like movie music.”
It’s not the first time he’s stepped in front of the orchestra as a soloist, but naturally, CBSO programming works through a number of soloists each season.
“To be in front of the orchestra is quite unique,” Samir says. “I usually just sit at the back.”
“We’re really enjoying playing it,” Martin adds.
Second Half: Pictures At An Exhibition
After the Horn Concerto, the concert finishes with the iconic Mussorgsky-Ravel orchestration of Pictures At An Exhibition.
“It’s an interesting concert in terms of pacing, especially for the brass,” notes MacDonald.
Ravel’s orchestration notably makes good use of brilliant, rich instrumental colours, varying the instrumentation between the ‘picture’ sections and the promenades. Of course, that includes the signature brass-heavy Great Gate of Kyiv section.
“It’s one of the most thrilling finales in all orchestral music,” he says. “It raises the hair right on the back of your neck.”
The piece includes quick changes in tempo and mood to keep all the orchestra members on their toes, and a number of standout solos.
“We have a beautiful alto sax solo,” MacDonald notes, “performed by Steve Fox.” He also notes The Ox Cart section, where the second trombonist will perform it on the euphonium, and the piccolo trumpet solo in the part titled Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle.
“It’s a great piece for the orchestra to do,” he says. “You get a great palette of orchestral flavours.”
As a special feature, and in keeping with the theme of the program, pieces of student art work (not thematically related to the music) will be displayed in the lobby before the performance, during intermission, and following the concert.
“It’s our season finale,” he notes. “It’s a great way to blow the roof off.”
CBSO will also be revealing the details of their 2025/26 schedule— the 40th anniversary season for the orchestra — at the concert.
- Find more details and tickets for the May 24 performance [HERE].
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