On the eve of Valentine’s Day, February 12 and 13, the setting couldn’t have been more propitious for the pairing of Rafael Payare and Alisa Weilerstein on the Maison Symphonique stage.
If Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé can be deliberately associated with the idyll of love, both in its subject matter and in its music, Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony Concertante for Cello, with its eclecticism and biting, percussive sounds, could appear out of step with the program’s aesthetic. On the contrary, the works were highly complementary in terms of timbral language, dynamics and passionate playing.
Opening the evening, Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphonie concertante. Written between 1950 and 1952, this mature three-movement work by the Russian composer is a reworking of an earlier cello concerto that was roundly criticized. Prokofiev’s language is textured and composite, drawing on the full range of the cello’s sound, as well as orchestral and rhythmic sonorities and passages reminiscent of jazz. At the podium, Payare was as fiery as ever, but more restrained than usual in his gestures for this complex score, where the orchestral interventions are velocity-laden in terms of texture and technique. Payare’s direction was precise and the orchestra of great intensity.
The second and third movements (Allegro giusto and Andante con moto) particularly appealed to us, respectively for their virtuosity, their use of dynamic orchestral effects and their folk accent in the cadenza of the second movement, where Alisa Weilerstein demonstrates the full range of her technique and the possible interplay of her instrument with evocative ease. Even if what sounds false to the ear is in fact well calculated, written and conveyed with naturalness. The cello lines are as swift as the orchestral lines, blending with the different sections in a rich, inventive orchestration. On stage, Alisa Weilerstein transports us into a world of her own, where she doesn’t just play the music. She is the music. She embodies a character like an actress on a stage, where her facial expressions and gestures are as significant as the accompanying music. The audience gave her a standing ovation for several minutes.
The second part, dedicated to the music of the ballet Daphnis et Chloé, plunged us into a dreamlike, colorful world. Here, Payare becomes a painter before a blank canvas which he paints with precision. Even if we’re dealing with repertoire that’s all too familiar, it’s always a delight to see the dynamics and colors imagined by Ravel unfold. The arrangement of the choir, which was installed higher than usual due to the recording, was also interesting. It’s a nice touch, too, to have the rows of choristers enter successively during the introduction, to simulate the effect of voices arriving from afar and gaining in power. A minor criticism: the processional effect would have had even greater impact if this entrance had been sung without a score! For the rest, the choir’s interventions were excellent, delivered with fine control of nuances and dynamics. In the orchestra, Rafael Payare danced across the stage, instilling vigor and character into the various orchestral forces, both in the more diaphanous moments and in the thunderous, brassy passages reminiscent of the language of George Gershwin. The astonishingly complementary and passionate interpretation of the evening’s two works richly deserved the thunderous applause of a packed Maison symphonique, and gave the orchestra great material for their forthcoming album releases, which we look forward to discovering.
Photo Credit: Antoine Saito
