The PAN M 360 team is very present at the Virée classique, presented by the OSM. In the field, at free activities and indoor concerts, Alain Brunet, Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud and Alexandre Villemaire report on what they’ve seen and heard at events presented in Montreal until August 18.
After performing Saint-Saëns’ Concerto No. 5 with the OSM, pianist Cédric Tiberghien returned to the stage for a second concert. As Marianne Dugal, associate concertmaster of the OSM, explained, the performer deserves a medal for his stamina, given the complexity and virtuosity of the two works, especially Ernest Chausson’s Concert op. 21, which is of titanic pianistic proportions. The central work of this concert, programmed in the intimate Cinquième salle, is distinguished by its unusual instrumentation: piano, violin and string quartet. Halfway between a chamber music piece and a concerto, the form does not appear disproportionate or disparate to the ear, so fine is Chausson’s writing, giving pride of place to each of the players.
What is equally striking and captivating is the musical language deployed by the composer. Borrowing as much from French aesthetics as from Wagnerian language, the work is astonishingly organic, with movements featuring folk themes and dramatic chromaticism. In the purest spirit of a Wagner work, we’re on the edge of our seats to see – and hear – where the harmony is going. Tiberghien again stands out for his clear, precise playing, refined, energetic fingering and attentive listening to his playing partners, Dugal, (concertmaster), Alexander Read and Richard Zheng (violins), Victor Fournelle-Blain (viola) and Anna Burden (cello), who all gave solid performances.
The work was preceded by Debussy’s Sonate pour violoncelle et piano and Fauré’s Élégie, performed by Anna Burden with great elegance and intensity. The only slight drawback was that the balance of the amplified microphones was not equal according to the area occupied by the string players on stage, so that in the solo passages, the sound of Marianne Dugal and Anna Burden seemed muffled at times.
