classique / Moyen-Orient / Levant / Maghreb

Virée classique 2024 | OSM and Constantinople: Colourful Dialogues, a Conversation To Be Continued

by Alexandre Villemaire

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.

On paper, it was a premiere like no other. For the first time in its history, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal welcomed a traditional music ensemble to the Maison symphonique for a joint concert. And not just any ensemble: Constantinople, a well-known and well-established presence on the Montreal and Quebec musical scene. The choice of Constantinople was an obvious one, since the ensemble’s identity and practice are, as its artistic director Kiya Tabassian reminds us, dialogue and cross-fertilization between musical universes. A vision also shared by Rafael Payare.

If we can say that there was indeed a dialogue, the concert we were treated to showed that the conversation, for its part, deserved to gain in depth. While we expected to hear and see interaction between the orchestra and Constantinople’s musicians, we were treated to a question-and-answer exchange in which Constantinople’s virtuoso interventions of Dimitrie Cantemir’s pieces were interspersed with excerpts from Grieg’s Peer Gynt suite, played with fervor and mastery by the OSM. Peer Gynt makes sense thematically, the eponymous character of Ibsen’s fairy tale embodying the figure of the traveler who, in the course of his tale, settles for a time in North Africa. Unfortunately, the interplay with the music, particularly in the “Anitra Dance” and the “Arabian Dance”, seemed more like a pastiche than an organic element.

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Virée classique 2024 – The Symphony of the Virée: Not So Amateurs After All

by Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud

Now a tradition, the Symphonie de la Virée is a concert bringing together amateur musicians of all ages who have been selected in advance. Rafael Payare leads the ensemble for the last work on the program.

This event is living proof that professionals do not have a monopoly on good musical product and that with a lot of passion and a little work, we can achieve a frankly convincing result. Let’s look beyond individual errors and small imbalances to look at the whole thing as a whole. It’s not because they are amateurs that they can’t make great music.

There is a cohesion that holds in this ensemble. Conductor Adam Johnson breathes a contagious energy. We feel the work of listening done in rehearsal; the violin and oboe solos have enough space for lyricism and expression. The sound is homogeneous and the dynamics are respected to the letter, as much in terms of nuances, phrasing and articulation.

As Payare takes the reins for the opening of the opera Nabucco, he proves what a great conductor he is and raises the bar. Like Johnson before him, he makes no compromises on anything. He pushes the audacity to take the coda at breakneck speed and the musicians respond.

In the future, don’t hesitate to go to the concert of the neighbor who plays in the Monday night band. There is a good chance that, for a handful of dollars, you will have a good time.

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Virée classique 2024 – OSM and Miloš: Between Classics and Rarities

by Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud

On Saturday evening, the concert with the OSM of guitarist Miloš took place in Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, preceded by excerpts from Bizet’s Carmen and works by Rossini, Ravel and Mel Bonis.

Let’s ignore the opening L’italiana in Algeri, which didn’t bring anything masterful and was too much in this concert. Ravel’s Cinq mélodies populaires grecques is a short, brilliantly orchestrated collection. Mezzo-soprano Emily Sierra unfortunately performs it almost without any difference in nuances, only exaggerating the consonants in the fast melodies. Conversely, in Carmen, she plays the part. With a suave, mischievous and resonant voice, adding a few vocal inflections, the rendering of this classic is successful, despite poorly coordinated accelerations with the orchestra in the Chanson Bohème.

Before the Aranjuez, we were treated to a short four-minute work by Mel Bonis, Salomé. We would have taken more because this composer, a student of Franck, knows how to orchestrate. We will remember the central portion of the work in five beats.

Then came Miloš. He plays with great precision and a sensitivity to nuances that takes us into another world. His dialogue with the English horn remains memorable and the orchestra adjusts in its accompaniment, too present in the first movement.

Alas!, this moment of grace was spoiled by (another) cell phone ringing. As such, through the coughs and the multiple escaped programs, we heard three last night, including one between the end of the warning message and the entrance of the solo violin, which did not fail to raise general laughter.

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Arabic / Maghrebi

Virée classique de l’OSM | An Arabo-Andalusian orchestra from MTL

by Alain Brunet

The PAN M 360 team is very present at the Virée classique, presented by the OSM. Alain Brunet, Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud and Alexandre Villemaire report on what they saw and heard at the concerts presented in Montreal until August 18.

Montreal’s Mezghena Orchestra features over fifty instrumentalists, the majority of whom are female soloists.

Astonishing? For the mother of one of the instrumentalists, it seems to be a widespread practice. Wow! One thing’s for sure: the Montreal version of the idea of an Algerian-style Arabo-Andalusian music orchestra, a sub-genre of a genre developed at a time when North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula were linked politically and culturally, involves more than equal participation by women in the orchestra – oudists, bouzoukists, violinists, percussionists, singers, etc. – and the fact that the musicians are not all professionals, the level of training is very low. Friday at Complexe Desjardins, we could tell that the performers were not all professionals, but the level of execution was nonetheless acceptable, if not surprisingly good. Singers took turns expressing themselves with this large-scale orchestra, no less. Under the direction of Sid Ali Mohand Arab, musically educated in Algiers and thus a specialist in classical Arab and Arab-Andalusian music, the Mezghena Orchestra of Montreal is a jewel of North African immigration to Quebec. At first glance, it attracts the local Maghrebi population, but also all music lovers who come to explore the OSM 2024 Classical Tour free of charge. This is how an inclusive city is enriched by its local culture from elsewhere. What a discovery!

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MEZGHENA

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classique

Virée classique de l’OSM | A Requiem of Contrasts

by Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and its choir were in top form for the first concert of the Virée classique weekend, in Guiseppe Verdi’s Requiem.

What’s striking from the outset is the respect and accuracy of the nuances, as indicated in the score; the “very soft” indications are almost imperceptible, and the “very loud” ones shatter the ceiling, to the point of literally vibrating the plexiglass on stage. On the other hand, when singing piano, consonants must be exaggerated, and both soloists and chorus lose the first consonants of words. Conversely, the consonants at the end of words are more sonorous.

The four soloists, including the tenor, Oreste Cosimo (forgotten in the program), sing not with the score in hand, but placed on a lectern. In this way, they can “play” their text. Mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb stands out in this respect, detaching herself from the score to interact with her counterparts, or staring at the audience to convey emotion.

The chorus is solid, fair and balanced. It sings loud enough to take its place in the din of the Dies Irae and the Tuba Mirum. In the Sanctus, however, the orchestra and choir are on two different levels. The orchestra is loud and festive, while the choir is restrained and angelic. This part, with 8 voices, should stand out more to perceive the various entries and avoid being swallowed up.

Photo credit: Antoine Saito

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Classical / classique / période romantique

Virée classique de l’OSM | A Successful Trip on Mediterranean Soil for The OSJM

by Alexandre Villemaire

The PAN M 360 team is very present at the Virée classique, presented by the OSM. On the ground, in the free activities and the indoor concerts, Alain Brunet, Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud and Alexandre Villemaire report on what they saw and heard at the events presented in Montreal until August 18.

The Complexe Desjardins vibrated to the sounds of the Mediterranean with a solid and lively Montreal Youth Symphony Orchestra in a sunny program that hit the mark. The orchestra founded in 1976 and conducted by Louis Lavigueur was participating in its fourth time at the OSM Classical Spree, a beautiful symbolism and a participation that we hope to see continue between the Montreal ensemble and the young members of the orchestra, young people who, as Maestro Lavigueur rightly pointed out, will surely be among the new members of the OSM or the OM in the near future.

The program he had concocted allowed us to witness the quality of the musicians’ playing. Beginning the concert with the sparkling “Overture” from Rossini’s opera L’Italienne à Alger, the orchestra then welcomed violinist Justin Saulnier, winner of the 2nd prize at the OSM Competition in 2023, to perform the fifth movement of Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole. Saulnier demonstrated great technical agility with a clear and biting sound, despite a few minor communication challenges with the conductor, particularly for a few slowdowns. However, nothing major to spoil the performance. Certainly the most complex piece on the program, Darius Milhaud’s Suite Provençale offered a most exciting play of texture and color. The orchestra concluded its one-hour performance with a most invigorating interpretation of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol, in which several instrumental sections of the orchestra were able to shine with their mastery of their instrument.

Photo credit: Gabriel Fournier

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classique

Virée classique de l’OSM | Kick-off to a Mediterranean weekend

by Alain Brunet

Soberly and aptly hosted by André Robitaille on the Esplanade du Parc Olympique in front of a mass audience, the kick-off to the OSM’s 11th Virée classique was another opportunity to open up to a planetary conception of classical music, at the very least a Mediterranean one. Bringing together in the same program Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Hector Berlioz, Ottorini Respighi and Joseph Tawadros, the great oud soloist and contemporary composer of Arab classical music, was another sign of the times and a further illustration of the inclusive globalization of classical music according to the OSM and Rafael Payare.

First, the tragic loves of Francesca da Rimini, a 13th-century Italian woman immortalized in Dante’s The Divine Comedy, and who inspired the Russian composer in a work written in 1876. Does this symphonic fantasy include elements of Mediterranean culture? In the novelistic inspiration, certainly, but it’s not really out of keeping with the Tchaikovskian style, whose genius we appreciate once again. This vigorous work, with its rockets of strings and woodwinds, its fireworks of brass and virtuoso circonvolutions of strings, was served up with brilliance, passion and high virtuosity.

At the center of the program was the Ouverture du Carnaval romain (1844), a vigorous work based on themes from his opera Benvenuto Cellini. The impression of compositional genius is less strong here, but the execution is more than adequate.

Second and fourth on the program, oud player Joseph Tawadros, born in Cairo but raised in Australia, gave us a few hints of his hybridization of Arab classical music in a Western symphonic version. Originally dressed in a pink shirt, oriental bonnet and stylized moustache and beard, the virtuoso instrumentalist took to the stage in two compositions for oud and orchestra. The oud is a string instrument very similar to the lute, and a forerunner of plucked string instruments such as the guitar, and has become increasingly popular in recent decades. Tawadros’ symphonic works on this program are not of profound harmonic singularity and complexity, but rather an extrapolation of their melodies and specific oud parts. Permission to Evapore evokes the death of the composer’s parents.

As its title suggests, Constantinople takes us to the frontiers of East and West, where orchestral constructions are relatively limited harmonically, as they are primarily at the service of melody and rhythm, as is the case with classical Arabic music, which until recently has eschewed polyphony. For these reasons, one may have the impression of instrumental pop rather than great music, but this is an illusion, for the qualities of these works lie elsewhere, notably in that virtuoso line exquisitely executed in unison by Tawadros and Andrew Wan, OSM concertmaster.

Last but not least, we were treated to music composed in 1924, the second symphonic poem in a trilogy dedicated to Rome. Exactly a century ago, Ottorino Respighi was expressing the grandeur of Rome in music, and Pini di Roma is a fine example of this. The modernity of some of the orchestral harmonies developed at the turn of the 20th century is evident. A blend of post-romanticism and modernity, this symphonic poem includes various elements of popular music, including a march that we would describe as legionary in the conclusion, preceded by the superimposition of pre-recorded birdsong, as Respighi had intended. A visionary of his time, you say? A fitting conclusion to this Voyage méditerranéen, which precedes several other sound experiments inspired in one way or another by Mediterranean musical culture.

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Opéra-rock

Starmania: The Temptation to Exist

by Claude André

In its latest incarnation, the hybrid postmodern rock opera created by Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon in 1978 is given a new lease of life thanks to a new reading of the libretto and a breathtaking staging.

At a time when bombs are raining down and terrorist attacks are multiplying around the world, when a character shaped by TV could once again become “president of the universe” with the help of a social networking tycoon, Starman’s dystopia is truer than ever.

Add to this a group of idle, violent zealots, a populace enslaved by fake news and nihilistic outsiders asking existential questions about the meaning of life and unconventional love, and you have all the ingredients that crystallize today’s society, represented by the intersecting destinies of eight characters, seven of whom will die in a metropolis of skyscrapers where people are obsessed with celebrity and radicalism.

“To propose a readable narrative, beyond the autonomous life that the songs have acquired in 40 years of success (…). To update this booklet, which is certainly visionary, but still very meaningful today, by working on the order of the songs, the transitions, and by bringing back a character who has disappeared since the first version (the guru)…”.

This was the aim of director Thomas Joly, the man behind the grandiose and provocative opening of the Paris Olympics, using a multimedia approach sometimes inspired by direct cinema.

In order to capture the emotional essence of the work, before the dazzling success of the various versions diluted it, whether by a note here or a tempo there, this new version was inspired by the handwritten score of the late Michel Bernholc, arranger of the original version.

From a visual point of view, thanks to ambitious machinery, flamboyant costumes and sophisticated, captivating light architecture, most of the songs that have accompanied our lives for decades are sublimated.

Most of them? It has to be said, some of the pieces seem duller than others, given the bouquet of immortals in the work, which can slow down the rhythm.

So, if the old-school author of these lines was sometimes looking with a certain nostalgia for Balavoine’s ardor in Quand on arrive en ville, or Dubois’ charismatic, mocking posture in the famous Blues du businessman, or Fabienne Thibault’s infectious despair in Le monde est stone, we have to face facts: today’s performers have more than held their own, and will no doubt leave their mark on younger generations just as their predecessors did, although we might have hoped for a greater tonal variety in the choice of female voices.

Despite this drawback and the acoustics that caused some of the rhymes to shatter in the arena that was originally Place Bell, this generous show, which lasts a good three hours (including a twenty-minute intermission) and features some thirty singers, dancers and musicians, proves in our eyes to be the ultimate version of this now cult rock opera.

Photo Credit: Anthony Dorfmann

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Indigenous peoples

International First People Festival – IA, Maori Soul Pop in The Rain

by Alain Brunet

From New Zealand, traditional Maori instruments are integrated into an embodied soul pop. The band’s leaders have clearly thought through their hybridization, as laymen are likely to feel the pop spirit before they discover the Maori flavors.

Māori music collective IA blends taonga pūoro and electronic pop to generate a singular sound. The singer expresses himself mainly in the indigenous language and also in English, reflecting real life in the homeland.

We’re looking at true pros of soul/R&B-tinged pop, with the warm, righteous voice of the soloist (Reti Hedley), the harmonies of the keyboards and the groove of the bass (Moetu Smith) telling no lies. Traditional instruments, especially flutes and percussion, become the Maori ornaments of a global pop whose basic referents are familiar to anyone even remotely connected on this planet. The key to IA’s success lies in this question: should we really be seeking a balance between local and global culture? At IA, this seems to be a sincere and legitimate preoccupation to achieve that artistic identity called indigenous soul music. Based in Waikato, the group is dedicated to highlighting taonga pūoro and Te Reo Māori in its music.

Once again, it’s a shame that the generous remnants of Storm Debby have begun to fall on Montreal, as IA could have generated a lot more interest among music lovers curious to see where Aboriginal pop is at in Oceania.

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Indigenous peoples

International First People Festival | Manawan Hip-Hop Nation

by Alain Brunet

Yann Ottawa aka The RZMN, from the Atikamekw Nation of Manawan, demands our full attention, as he teaches us about the life of his nation, both private and public. With his brother, he raps and sings in Atikamekw, using dramatic chords to coat his flow and melodic lines, sometimes filtered through autotune, and inclined to melancholy. Music runs in the Ottawa family: his father plays guitar and his brother enjoys percussion.

Obviously, he’s more inclined to hip-hop, reggaeton and rap keb, since he expresses himself a lot in French – and also in his mother tongue. In 2022, Yann Ottawa and his brothers released their first mixtape, Bigman Recordz, Vol. 1.

Unfortunately, it was raining on this Thursday evening, and RZMN and his colleagues performed on the main stage of the Place des Festivals in front of a plantation of umbrellas. Under the umbrellas, however, the humans remained captivated. In front of the umbrellas, certainly, there was mastered rap, there were hooks, there were choruses, there were real stories about real life on Atikamekw land, there was real beatmaking, there was a real good aboriginal rap show that we’ll have to see again and again.

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Avant-Rock / Prog Rock

International First People Festival | Subhira Quinteto, Contemporary Avant-Rock and Mapuche Culture

by Alain Brunet

Subhira Quinteto is said to be one of Chile’s most innovative ensembles. The group has been in existence for over a quarter of a century and enjoys a fine international reputation, touring the world music circuit. Clearly, Montreal was not yet among the cities they had conquered, so it was time to catch up on the Place des Festivals, on Wednesday August 6.

Their compositions integrate indigenous music with a kind of contemporary avant-rock, quite savvy in its rhythmic choices (almost always composed measures) and its prog rock or math rock aesthetic matched with contemporary Western music. Their leader, keyboardist and composer, Subhira (Rodrigo Cepeda), is an award-winning professor of composition at the École de Musique Moderne and runs the Mundovivo label. The line-up is made up of drummer Emai Cepeda, violinist Danka Villanueva and flutist Ema Morales, not to mention cellist Juan Angel Muñoz, who was principal cellist of the Santiago Philharmonic Orchestra, has played as a guest with countless national and international artists and orchestras, and will be joined for much of the concert by Khano Llaitul Fernández, an external member of the Chilean team.

This indigenous Mapuche artist and activist is said to have done remarkable work as an advisor on indigenous themes, education, dramaturgy, Mapuche musicology, and the dissemination of art, culture and indigenous rights. You can hear him declaiming, shaking bells and blowing traditional instruments. This is a fine execution of concepts and cultural updates typical of the most open-minded artists of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

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Blues / Bossa Nova / Brazilian / Gospel / Jazz / Soul

A Choir at Balattou for Bïa Ferreira

by Sandra Gasana

“The last time I was here, I said I was going to come back to Montreal and speak French. But I still don’t speak it. But I ordered my supper in French!” Brazilian singer Bïa Ferreira proudly shares in English, as she begins her second concert in Montreal. And just as she did the first time, she divided her concert into two parts, one dealing with love and the other with activism.

“If you leave here different from when you arrived, then I’ll have done my job,” she adds. And it’s off to a prayer-like start, as whistling, voice and guitar mingle to deliver a beautiful sonic cocktail. Indeed, she may be alone on stage with her guitar, but at times it feels like there are five of them.

She also serves us Xote, a Brazilian musical rhythm often danced in pairs. “When I wrote this song, I was very much in love. But I was the only one in love,” she reveals. With her powerful voice and distinctive timbre, she masters her relationship with the microphone, knowing when to step away from it and when to approach it. With my friend Juliana, who’s just as much of a music lover as I am, we thought her music was a mix of blues, jazz, soul and gospel, all with a Brazilian flavour. Her signature is the whistle, which recurs in several songs and which she masters very well, as well as the many other noises she makes with her mouth, in addition to beatboxing. In fact, on one of her tracks, she adds a bit of Lionel Richie’s Easy Like a Sunday morning, which is a surprise but an instant crowd-pleaser.

“The last time I was here was in February and it was very cold. So I thought I’d come back in the summer. And here I am!” to applause from the audience.

On the track Saudade, you sometimes get the impression of hearing cajón and sometimes piano, whereas she does it all with her guitar. She then finishes with a bossa nova rhythm, which adds depth to the track. “It’s hard to translate Saudade. It’s not ‘I miss you’! It’s something else, it’s a feeling that makes you sick!”

Bïa Ferreira is also an excellent storyteller. She takes the time to explain all the songs, but even during certain tracks, she tells us stories, sometimes with a very rapid but always theatrical vocal delivery. This is notably the case on Molho Madeira, which will feature on Ellen Oléria’s forthcoming album, mixing passages where she talks and raps, waltzing between gentleness and aggression, banging on her guitar which serves as percussion.

“Every church has a choir. So to end this first part, I’ll need your help on the raggamuffin-tinged Levante a bandeira do amor (Raise the flag of love).

The second part, more committed and political, kicks off with an a capella rendition of Seu Jorge’s Zé do Caroço, a classic of Brazilian music.

After a tribute to Leci Brandão, the queen of samba, she kicks off the second half with a rhythmic reggae track, with a bit of beatboxing, which sets the tone for what’s to come. She first pays tribute to women around the world in Não precisa ser Amélia, in which she screams at times, showing off her vocal cords in full action.
The high point of the evening, in my opinion, came with the song Diga não (or Say no!), in which she denounced silence in the face of the genocide raging in Palestine. “By remaining silent, you are choosing a side. Your silence helps the oppressors! The audience takes its role as choir very seriously, especially on the song A conta vai chegar (or the bill will arrive), alluding to the debts linked to colonization.

She ended on a high note with Sharamanayas, the principle of keeping what’s good for you, and getting rid of what’s bad. One thing’s for sure, Bïa Ferreira’s concert was good for the people who came to see her, even if I would have expected a fuller house, as on her first visit. Having just come out of the Festival Nuits d’Afrique, this event may well have slipped under the radar of many a fan of her music.

Photo Credit: Inaa

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