{"id":60541,"date":"2019-05-16T16:50:30","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T20:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=60541"},"modified":"2019-05-16T16:50:30","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T20:50:30","slug":"scrutiny-toronto-symphony-gets-a-five-or-a-six-for-this-mahler-seventh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/05\/16\/scrutiny-toronto-symphony-gets-a-five-or-a-six-for-this-mahler-seventh\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Toronto Symphony Gets A Five Or A Six For This Mahler Seventh"},"content":{"rendered":"

The TSO’s performance of Mahler\u2019s Seventh led by Sir Andrew Davis on Wednesday night left us with more questions than answers.<\/span><\/h3>\n
\"Conductor
Conductor Sir Andrew Davis and guest pianist Louis Lortie (Photo: Jag Gundu)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Sir Andrew Davis (conductor), Louis Lortie (soloist) at Roy Thomson Hall. May 15. Repeats May 16. Details, here<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Not all symphonies get me out of the house as reliably as Mahler\u2019s Seventh, a 75-minute compendium of chaotic themes, neurotic rhythms and exuberant colours that is easy to admire but wickedly difficult to understand. I am not sure I know M7 any better after hearing the Toronto Symphony Orchestra performance led Wednesday evening by Sir Andrew Davis. The repeat <\/a>Thursday will probably go better, to say nothing of the concert Tuesday in the Maison symphonique in Montreal.<\/p>\n

Of course, the TSO is the TSO, so certain basics were intact, including stalwart fanfares and decent solos by the principal horn and trumpet (and a few of their allies). But much of the sonority, and therefore the rhetoric, was pitched at the treble end of the spectrum and a good deal of Sir Andrew\u2019s energetic circle-drawing seemed aimed at keeping the music moving rather than underlining any of its peculiar post-romantic qualities.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Photo: Jag Gundu)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Violins were numerous (the\u00a0total musician count was 100) but low on fibre. We would never guess the\u00a0Nachtmusik<\/em>\u00a0title of the second movement. The Scherzo was pushed rather than self-propelling, its Trio section oddly bland. There was some easygoing charm in the penultimate movement (with its traces of mandolin and guitar) but only the uncomplicated, full-blast optimism of the finale got what sounded like its interpretive due.<\/p>\n

The first of five movements opens with a solo for something Mahler called the tenor horn. The unfortunate expedient on this occasion was to ask the principal trombone to play a tenor tuba, in effect doing double duty, with an extra trombone standing by. When the Seventh was last given in Roy Thomson Hall, by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 2014, Kent Nagano hired a specialist.<\/p>\n

This was not Davis\u2019s first crack at the Seventh with the TSO. He programmed it as music\u00a0director in 1980 and 1985. There was also a charismatic TSO performance in 1965 under Hermann Scherchen, which is found on YouTube<\/a>. Remarkable the difference 54 years can make \u2014 in reverse!<\/p>\n

\"Conductor
Conductor Sir Andrew Davis and composer Chan Ka Nin (Photo: Jag Gundu)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The brief first \u201chalf\u201d of this concert started with a revival of one of the TSO\u2019s 2017 \u201cSesquies\u201d: Chan Ka Nin\u2019s\u00a0My Most Beautiful, Wonderful, Terrific, Amazing, Fantastic, Magnificent Homeland<\/em>. The composer seemed determined to pack a lot of syncopated rhythm (and a reference to\u00a0O Canada<\/em>) into his allotted time. Then came Franck\u2019s\u00a0Symphonic Variations\u00a0<\/em>with Louis Lortie, an old friend of the TSO, at the piano.<\/p>\n

The start was strong: Warm, vigorous strings contrasted with thoughtful soliloquies from the soloist. Unfortunately, the 16-minute piece does not sustain itself well. Cellos seemed only vaguely interested in their assignment. Maybe things will pick up in Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i>
\n<\/b><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us on\u00a0<\/i>Facebook<\/span>,<\/i><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>or\u00a0<\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0for all the latest.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The TSO’s performance of Mahler\u2019s Seventh led by Sir Andrew Davis on Wednesday night left us with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":60543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25164,76,19,52,63],"tags":[1500,1997,3032,3360],"yst_prominent_words":[11782,6918,29227,29230,29229,29228,6919,7870,21539,7871,6850,6843,6674,15563,6915,6913,6826,6683,6827,6825],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/TSO-mahler-7.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-fKt","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60541"}],"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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60541"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60547,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60541\/revisions\/60547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60541"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=60541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}