{"id":26246,"date":"2015-03-12T18:41:38","date_gmt":"2015-03-12T22:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=26246"},"modified":"2016-03-26T18:13:24","modified_gmt":"2016-03-26T22:13:24","slug":"concert-review-toronto-symphony-orchestra-puts-the-heat-on-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/03\/12\/concert-review-toronto-symphony-orchestra-puts-the-heat-on-toronto\/","title":{"rendered":"CONCERT REVIEW | Toronto Symphony Orchestra Puts the Heat on Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Toronto
Toronto Symphony Orchestra with Gianandrea Noseda Photo: Malcolm Cook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

[Originally published in the Toronto Star<\/span><\/a>]<\/p>\n

Toronto Symphony Orchestra, with Gianandrea Noseda and soprano Adrianne Pieczonka at Roy Thomson Hall, Wednesday, March 11.<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s a funny thing that happens to us in Toronto. After a number of very long, dim winter months, there comes a threshold where we can hardly fathom a landscape not encased by snow and ice. It becomes the norm. But then it happens: a miraculous spring thaw that reminds us it is possible.<\/p>\n

This is exactly what the Toronto Symphony Orchestra did last night in performing works by Beethoven, Strauss, Wagner, and Casella under the baton of Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda.<\/p>\n

One could almost hear humongous chunks of ice rattling off the roof of Roy Thomson Hall, as the TSO pounded through the opening major chords of Beethoven\u2019s seventh symphony.<\/p>\n

There is an incredible intensity to Noseda that makes the music seem desperate to come alive. His style is bold and athletic, and commands an automatic response from the orchestra. They had better keep up with him, or risk being sucked into the tornado whipped up by his baton.<\/p>\n

After a rousing Italia by Casella, in which Noseda actually started jumping up and down at one point (always a favourite) the concert shifted gears with Strauss\u2019s Four Last Songs.<\/p>\n

Lieder like this can sometimes be a cheesy affair. But Toronto-based soprano Adrianne Pieczonka kept it tasteful with an exceedingly warm tone and near perfect diction. We are lucky to have her.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always felt the four Strauss songs should have ended with the third, While Going to Sleep \u2014 which includes the earnest affirmation \u201cHands, stop all your work, head, forget all your thoughts; all my senses now will sink into slumber.\u201d It just seems to settle better than the fourth, as it did last night.<\/p>\n

First violinist Jonathan Crow let his sentimental side show with a heartfelt solo at the mid-point, leaving a maudlin glow to anyone paying attention.<\/p>\n

Wagner\u2019s famous \u201cPrelude und Liebestod\u201d from the opera Tristan und Isolde was another lush treat of the evening. Though Noseda took the tempo painfully slow, the velveteen music helped Pieczonka\u2019s wide-open vowels envelope the space. A minor quibble here: there were a few moments when Pieczonka\u2019s voice was drowned out by the orchestra forte, but those seated closer probably didn\u2019t notice a thing.<\/p>\n

Another note has to do with the artist\u2019s entrances on stage. I\u2019ve noticed it before, but last night was particularly perilous.<\/p>\n

I call it the \u201cRoy Thomson Hall Pirate Plank\u201d: a 3-foot wide, 10-foot long walkway located between the edge of the stage and the first violin section. Performers must pass along this stretch on their way to the podium, but one wrong step and boom! there goes the soprano. I suggest the powers that be consider moving the orchestra back a foot or two before they lose someone to the sharks in the first row.<\/p>\n

The program<\/a> repeats this Thursday and Saturday, at Roy Thomson Hall. Highly recommended.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a funny thing that happens to us in Toronto. After a number of very long, dim winter months, there comes a threshold where we can hardly fathom a landscape not encased by snow and ice. It becomes the norm. But then it happens: a miraculous spring thaw that reminds us it is possible…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[118,76,19,52,60],"tags":[177,1414,3360],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/03\/DSC5922-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-6Pk","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26246"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26246"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26290,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26246\/revisions\/26290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26246"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=26246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}