By Eileen Wingard in San Diego
The Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, one of the world’s great orchestras and currently sharing its music director, Raphael Payare, with our San Diego Symphony Orchestra, performed brilliantly in their concert October 29 at Jacobs Music Center.
The concert opened with an interesting work, Elysium, by the Montreal native, Samy Moussa. He composed the 12-minute selection between 2020 and 2021, after living in Germany for over a decade. Elysium was subsequently premiered in September 2021 at the Basílica de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona by the Vienna Philharmonic.
Moussa was musically self-taught until he entered the Université de Montréal from which he graduated and went on to study at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. He is currently based in Berlin.
Elysium opens with rich chorale-like shifting chords in the strings, later joined by the brass choir and the woodwinds from which a melody emerges. The music grows in waves and leads to the first climax of the piece.
Following a short transition, the initial melody-accompaniment figure reappears in different orchestral guises, leading to the grandioso climax of the piece. The coda makes use of scurrying trumpet motifs before the accompaniment figure gradually returns, this time more lyrical, leading to the calm conclusion.
The piece was inspired by the vision that in Elysium, “mortal men will rise up as gods, exalted in honor, sharing the hearth and same table as the other gods, free from human woes, safe from destiny and incapable of hurt.” The piece reflects influences of German romantic composers. It had interesting contrasts and was beautifully performed by the Montreal musicians.
59-year-old Leonidas Kavakos, a seasoned violinist at the top of his form, played the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with great virtuosity and complete command. All the melodic material was articulated with passion and the second movement, a Russian lament, was heartfelt in its simple beauty. The last movement was taken with break-neck speed.
Numerous curtain calls had the soloist back for an encore. He played the Gavotte from Partita #3 for unaccompanied violin. His performance featured progressively complex ornamentation of the reoccurring theme and its final appearance was embroidered with beautifully interpolated scales.
Following intermission, the Orchestre Symphonique De Montreal performed the entire Firebird Ballet score by Igor Stravinsky. Usually only the Firebird Suite, an extrapolation of several movements from the ballet is performed and therefore, much of the music was not familiar. However, sections, like the awesome opening, with the string basses repeating the four-note ostinato, setting the mood of The Enchanted Garden of Kastchei, the Dance of the Firebird, the Infernal Dance of King Kashchei, the Berceuse and the general rejoicing of the last movement were recognizable.
The selection was a good choice to showcase the virtuosity of the Montreal musicians. There were memorable solos from principal players such as the principal cello, the concertmaster, each of the woodwind players—what vibrant beauty from the oboe and bassoon, and the lovely tones of the flute and clarinet—and the principal horn. Interestingly, the entire horn section was made up of women!
Another observation, the seating of the orchestra was the seating that the SDSO had when I was in the orchestra: cellos opposite the first violins, basses behind them, violas to their right and first and second violins side by side. It is interesting that the two orchestras Raphael Payare conducts each uses a different seating arrangement.
The next evening, both orchestras gave, what I heard, was a spectacular joint concert at the Rady Shell. I was sorry that it was scheduled Friday night, a night I reserve to observe Shabbat with my family, either in synagogue or at home, and therefore, did not attend.
I hope our San Diego Symphony continues to get the support of our community as it continues to deliver excellent concerts and will be traveling to perform in five European cities this coming summer, the first time in its history.
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Eileen Wingard is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.