{"id":26654,"date":"2015-03-28T14:49:57","date_gmt":"2015-03-28T18:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=26654"},"modified":"2016-03-26T18:11:45","modified_gmt":"2016-03-26T22:11:45","slug":"fits-and-bursts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/03\/28\/fits-and-bursts\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Rite of Spring Gives A One-Two Punch to the Gut"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Krzysztof
Krzysztof Urbanski Photo: Fred Jonny<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Stravinsky\u2019s , conducted by Krzysztof Urba\u0144ski with cellist Sol Gabetta. Friday, March 27, Roy Thomson Hall.<\/h3>\n

Stravinsky always said that children and animals understood his music best. And while the Toronto Symphony Orchestra\u2019s Rite of Spring<\/em> isn\u2019t exactly the same \u201csacred terror in the noonday sun,\u201d what a night it was.<\/p>\n

Driven under the dancing baton of visiting conductor Krzysztof Urba\u0144ski, it\u2019s not hard to see how the Rite<\/em> provided a way out of the \u201ctheatre of the mind,\u201d ushered in by the floating blimps of post-Beethoven and Wagnerian Europe. Stravinsky goes straight for the body. His music is like a heavyweight blow to the gut \u2013 a dizzying 1-2-3 irregular-beat knockout.<\/p>\n

The concert opened with Wojciech Kilar\u2019s minimalist Orawa<\/em>, which Urba\u0144ski motored through with phrasing built from the vestiges of tiny structures in the opening violins. Like sex, it\u2019s all about the buildup.<\/p>\n

The occasion marked the 33-year-old Polish conductor\u2019s TSO debut, which more than lived up to the climax. Conducting the entire concert from memory (something we are seeing more of these days) he afforded a trust in the TSO that was returned in spades. His style is incredibly graceful \u2013 dance-like even \u2013 and included not only his arms, but his feet, knees, and elbows. Urba\u0144ski just might be the new crossover from conductor to coryph\u00e9e that dance aficionados have been waiting for.<\/p>\n

\"Sol
Sol Gabetta Photo: Uwe Arens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alongside his frequent collaborator, Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta, the two swept the winter under the rug with the romantic warmth of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s Cello Concerto in B minor, the best that he wrote. Urba\u0144ski stole respites by stirring the orchestra, then whipping the rug from under Gabetta\u2019s tone with divisions of trombones and tuba.<\/p>\n

Gabetta is easily one of the best cellists in the world right now, and abated any reservations surrounding the suitability of the cello as a concerto instrument. She moved mountains with the work\u2019s romantic power, which was empathetically felt most during its quietest moments.<\/p>\n

The Rite<\/em> was another thing all together, and conjured the revival of \u201cthe great decade of the displaced accent and the polytonal chord,\u201d as Aaron Copland once described.<\/p>\n

The TSO played with wild eyes; the result of a mixture of panic (it is one of the most difficult orchestra works in the repertoire) and sheer thrill for the ride. After the final thumps dissipated, the audience rose to one of the largest standing ovations I\u2019ve seen at Roy Thomson Hall. Even the centenarians in the parterre box were hooting and hollering.<\/p>\n

No riots though, but in conclusion to the nitty-gritty (as well as a few other notables) it\u2019s as good a time as any to resurrect this old nub:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe young man seated behind me in the box stood up [\u2026] he began to beat rhythmically on top of my head with his fists. My emotion was so great that I did not feel the blows for some time. They were perfectly synchronized with the music. When I did begin to feel them, I turned around. His apology was sincere.\u201d – [Carl van Vechten, Rite of Spring ballet premiere, 29 May 1913]<\/p>\n

How\u2019s that for a lump on the head. Even after a hundred years, the Rite of Spring<\/em> still puts up its dukes with the best of them.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Driven under the dancing baton of visiting conductor Krzysztof Urba\u0144ski, it\u2019s not hard to see how the Rite provided a way out of the \u201ctheatre of the mind.\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[118,9,76,19,52],"tags":[5358,2849,3050],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/03\/Krzysztof-Urbanski-High-Res-1-credit-Fred-Jonny.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-6VU","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26654"}],"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=26654"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32750,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26654\/revisions\/32750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26654"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=26654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}