The 47th edition of the Festival de Lanaudière opened with a bang, as sonorous as the first note of the masterpiece of this July 4 concert inaugurating a month of music in the Lanaudière region. Led by Rafael Payare, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the OSM Chorus delivered a masterful performance of Carl Orff’s landmark secular cantata Carmina Burana. This was the first time in thirteen seasons that the work had been performed at the festival. An excellent opportunity for listeners and music lovers to discover or rediscover the work.
The first part featured two works with contrasting pictorial characters. The opening work was “Icarus” by composer Lena Auerbach. Eminently descriptive, the work of course refers to the figure from Greek mythology who, wanting to get too close to the sun, burnt his wings and ended up drowning. It’s an example of human nature’s desire to push back its limits through boasting and greed. The work oscillates between different moods, sometimes tense, sometimes lyrical. The first section establishes a dialogue between strings and woodwinds in this affect. A second section takes on more dramatic accents with the intervention of the brass, followed by a passage of great lyricism in the strings that flows into a harmonic anxiety that culminates in an evocation almost of a funeral march with the intervention of tubular bells. A third, calmer section is introduced by the harp in dialogue with the pizzicati of the violins, before a counter-melody interpreted by first violinist Andrew Wan progresses in an evanescent suraiguity that eventually melts into the ethereal sound of musical glasses. All in all, a well-cut composition with fine orchestration and imaginative orchestral effects.
After this ethereal piece, Rachmaninov’s “Rhapsody on a Theme” by Paganini moves into a wild register. Taking up the already virtuoso work of Italian violinist and composer Niccolo Paganini, Rachmaninov’s equally complex treatment was led by German pianist Kirill Gerstein. He demonstrated great pianistic agility in expressing the various passages, supported by a precise Rafael Payare. The only discomfort we felt was that the orchestra, even in its instrumental support role, was a little too sonically recessed.
Masterpiece. From the first stroke of the timpani and the first note of the chorus singing “O Fortuna”, we are taken on a solid musical journey. The words are clear, the pronunciation and articulation precise, and the various dynamics Payare brings to bear are roundly executed. The OSM conductor opted for a sequence of each of the twenty-five movements in attaca for his interpretation, keeping the attention and the audience and giving the work a clear narrative direction to its medieval poems tackling themes such as the constant nature of fortune and wealth, joy and the pleasures of alcohol and the flesh. Among the finest moments is the ninth movement, “Reie”, which features a superb, intimate passage between the voices. The entire In Taberna sequence, literally “at the tavern”, was aptly staged by countertenor Lawrence Zazzo and baritone Russell Braun. The unique tenor aria “Olim lacus colueram” (Once I dwelt on a lake), literally a swan’s lament describing the various stages leading to its being eaten, was both comic and disturbing, but unambiguously clear. Equally unambiguous was the duet between soprano Sarah Dufresne and Russell Braun “Tempus est iocundum”, (Time is joyous) where the inflections of the vocal line and the acceleration leave no doubt as to the nature of the text, which describes a scene of committed love. Both Dufresne and Braun delivered a heartfelt, vocally arresting interpretation of their respective arias.
With a masterful start to its fourth season, we can only wish the Festival de Lanaudière good luck for the rest of its programming.
