Esprit Orchestra performs Tour De Force as the first concert in the Edge of Your Seat International Festival 2. Overture to the Tempest (Thomas Adès, composer); ARCHORA (Anna Thorvaldsdottir); Presentation of TMA Lifetime Achievement Award to Erica Goodman; a brace, a round, a bracing sound (Christopher Goddard); Serenity 2.0 (Ben Nobuto); Thumblebird Contrails (Gabriella Smith). Alex Pauk, Music Director & Conductor. Koerner Hall. Sunday, November 30, 8 p.m.
Of all the contemporary music organizations in Toronto, Esprit Orchestra is unique in producing a distinctive sonic style that can be heard and enjoyed in all of their concerts.
Music Director and Conductor Alex Pauk works with ensembles that are often over 40 strong — this concert featured 63 players — which generate an immensely satisfying wall of sound that entrances audiences with their power and reach. Their inaugural concert in this year’s second Edge of Your Seat International Festival was no exception, featuring five challenging, sometimes grandiose, pieces by composers from the U.K., Canada, the U.S.A. and Iceland.
An Enthralling Beginning
There are few composers working today who have reached the level of international acclaim enjoyed by Thomas Adès. His brilliant opera based on Shakespeare’s visionary The Tempest is a GRAMMY Award winner and was produced at the Met by Robert Lepage. Its overture served as a delightful introduction to an Esprit evening of disparate but engaging works.
The piece evokes the dramatic beginning of the magical play when a storm generated by the magician Prospero causes a ship to be wrecked on his island. The music is theatrical and instantly engaging, pulling Koerner’s audience into a whirlwind of strings and horns, dragging them into a maelstrom of propulsive force. Absolutely compelling, its urgency served as a stimulant for the grand design of the rest of the concert.
Primordial Energy
The acclaimed Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, whose ARCHORA was featured in the program, embodies a musical philosophy that mirrors Esprit. She describes one of her pieces as “The music is in a single movement which from beginning to end embodies a flowing world of sound.” That’s the case with ARCHORA too, where the audience was seduced into engaging with a gorgeous soundscape.
Thorvaldsdottir’s piece shockingly begins with a deep shout, featuring the tuba, bass and cello. A slow lyrical composition, ARCHORA builds a sonic world, from its sonic bottom, through to a propulsive mid-section led by the percussionists, to an evocation by the violins. Listening to ARCHORA, it’s evident that the natural world is as defining to Iceland as it is to Canada.
a brace, a round, a bracing sound
Starting with a fanfare, Canadian Christopher Goddard’s work moves from brief bright moments of lyrical clarity backwards to how that moment was created. Melodies are evoked, then taken away. Goddard ends his composition positively, with the final section played brightly with Esprit’s trademark depth and power.
A series of sound bites
A challenging piece, Serenity 2.0 by Japanese British composer Ben Nobuto doesn’t fit into Pauk’s typical soundscape.
Featuring a string quartet augmented by a percussionist, it has the musicians work in relation to an apparently random series of sound bites ranging from YouTube vlogs to Japanese pop to folk music. The sound collage regularly utilizes the voice of a yoga instructor offering advice on how to be serene, but the work is the opposite of that; it’s deliberately discordant and often abrasive. Nobuto’s piece is exhausting, challenging and energizing — and the outlier in the program. Kudos to Pauk for embracing it.
On the road again
American Gabriella Smith composed a downbeat road piece with Tumblebird Contails, inspired by the reveries of Jack Kerouac. Like that writer, Smith has made a piece that contrasts the sounds of the road with those of nature. Moving relentlessly back and forth, the composition evokes urban and rural landscapes. Pauk uses his full orchestra to build up the contrasting sonic environments, allowing the oppositional elements to fight each other until a crescendo resolves it all.
Final Thoughts
Alex Pauk is one of Canada’s most inspiring musical artists. He has created an orchestra which plays out his sonic dreams. Now in its 43rd year, Esprit continues to make extraordinary music that is enthralling and challenging.
Tour De Force, a superb title for any Esprit program, is just the curtain raiser for what promises to be a fascinating season.
By Marc Glassman for Ludwig-Van.
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