Canada’s Montreal Symphony Orchestra performed in Budapest last night as part of the second leg of a major European tour with young conductor Rafael Payare. Alexandra Ivanoff review for slippedisc.com.
The Orchester symphonique de Montréal made its Hungarian debut on October 22, closing the city’s annual Liszt Festival at the MÜPA (Palais des Arts).
Not only was it a national first, but it also introduced Rafael Payare to a sold-out audience, who rewarded him with hearty cheers. The young maestro impressed throughout an arduous program of Liszt’s Preludes, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major with Icelandic virtuoso Víkingur Ólafsson, and ending with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 which Payare conducted from memory.
Resembling the young Giuseppi Sinopoli, Payare is a product of Venezuela’s Sistema, which produced a line of successful conductors, following Gustavo Dudamel, music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Paris Opera.
Payare’s catwalk style is captivating, shifting from elegant ballet positions to rap dancing to the posture of a giant eagle ready to swoop down on its prey. He has elegant control of phraseology, cue precision in blizzard-grade tempos, and an innate understanding of how to build thrilling climaxes. Payare is a horn player, so his fondness for the wind instruments was thankfully evident to this listener: instead of relegating them to the role of string accompanists, the woodwinds and brass caught the eye as soloists and sectionals. So much so that the entire concert was largely a glorious showcase for the winds.
Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, a Budapest favorite after several stays, studied with two famous Hungarians, György Sebők and György Sándor. “You Hungarians are lucky,” he announced from the stage. “You have so many great composers. Liszt gave birth to modernism! I spent some time today with György Kurtág (who is now 96 and continues to compose),’ he continued. “I feel like Hungary is my home.”
Ólafsson du Ravel’s performance was magical. His path with this eccentric concerto was effortless in all the stylistic demands of the score, from pure classical to swing jazz and the composer’s delicious oriental meanders. The second movement’s dreamy waltz was stunning for its intense pianissimos – so hushed and intimate that the audience forgot to cough. After the delirious circus of the third movement, Ólafsson’s encore was, unsurprisingly, Kurtág’s mystical Aus der Ferne and Bartók’s Three Songs of Csik based on Carpathian folk tunes.
The four movements of Shostakovich’s 10th are a litmus test for any conductor. Written in 1953 shortly after Stalin’s death, the long, slow tempo and wandering quality of the first movement can struggle to hold the audience’s concentration and attention. Payare crafted a long, dramatic buildup by weaving in and out of the score’s mood swings, often allowing the alto section to take the lead with their velvety, burnished tone.
The second movement, which has been described as a portrait of Stalin, begins with vicious, choppy fury from the violins and descends into a quagmire of sonic hostility. The movement is short, but relevant: the composer attacks his persecutor.
The third and fourth movements lighten up considerably and use Shostakovich’s acronym D-Es-CH, his name applied to musical pitches, a device he included in many of his symphonic works. Here he adds EAEDA (solfège: E-La-Mi-Re-A) which refers to his secret passion for a young woman, Elmira. He assigns these notes to a solo horn, using it as Siegfried’s call, as he builds an orchestral texture around it. After the Sturm und Drang at the start of the work, the memories of love come together in the finale.
Every moment, from delicate to bombastic, Payare passed the test. The celebratory tip of the hat to Liszt with Les Préludes, where he artfully shaped the contributions of wind and brass, established Payare from the outset as a dynamic maestro to follow in the future.
Alexandra Ivanoff
photo: OSM/Antoine Saito
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