Inkless Wells

Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW

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Music: It sounds better in the original German

by Paul Wells on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 4:36pm - 9 Comments

The Montreal Symphony Orchestra (as we called it at The Gazette; it calls itself the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, even in English) unveiled its 2009-2010 season yesterday, its fourth under Kent Nagano, yesterday.

During his first season, a wise observer said the Nagano method, in its Montreal application, seemed to consist of “serious exploration of the Germanic repertoire; unflagging commitment to 20th-century works and new commissions; and a newcomer’s fascination for Canadiana.” And indeed it continues to be so. Nagano has commissioned noted Canadian-born Hobbit soundtracker Howard Shore to write a new something or other, and Yann Martel, Stephen Harper’s literary advisor, is on deck to put new words to some Beethoven. There are also new compositions of a less populist bent by an assortment of Canadian, European and American composers.

But the core of the season (dubbed “A Season In The Mind of Kent Nagano,” in the intriguing/goofy way he seems to like) is straight-up German: Mahler, Strauss, and especially Bach and Beethoven. He’ll conduct all nine Beethoven symphonies in nine days, and the young pianist Till Fellner will return for another concerto performance (the orchestra’s main recording project these days, I learn, is a Fellner/Nagano cycle of the five Beethoven piano concertos, on the almost inconceivably cool ECM label).

Le Devoir‘s man is disappointed to see in all this “the most hidebound of conservatism.” I’m less sure. I think Nagano wants to show what he and the band have accomplished with a German repertoire they played less often under Charles Dutoit (before last year the Orchestra had never recorded a Beethoven symphony). Nor is he leaving the other stuff behind. As for hidebound conservatism, all I can say to the Le Devoir guy is, you don’t live in Ottawa, buddy.

Speaking of which, after two years away I’ve subscribed to the NAC orchestra again for next season. Pinchas Zukerman is sometimes a persuasive conductor and often a wonderful violinist, but I’m not the only Ottawan who values his Rolodex most of all. The five concerts I picked are a Nov. 17 solo recital (Bach, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Beethoven) by Angela Hewitt; a February guest visit by a young guy and his Dutch orchestra; an April visit by Leonard Slatkin, conducting John Adams’ brilliant Violin Concerto; a June concert conducted by Zukerman with pianist Yefim Bronfman; and another two weeks later with the young guy conducting Mahler (the “Symphony of 1,000″ in, um, chamber version, with “only” about 300 musicians onstage).

Tags: Kent Nagano

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http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

What an interesting post. It’s like a missive from an undiscovered country for those of us who wish we a) knew enough to evaluate it and b) were going to more classical concerts. All 9 Beethoven symphonies in 9 days! That’s pretty intense. This Kent Nagano sounds amazing; and how great that he is enthusiastic for Canadian music.

I’m listening to Howard Shore’s full score for The Lord of the Rings these days. (“Days” being one key word; also “astounding” and, from my plebeian POV, underrated.)

Quick question for the next slow news day: how usual is it for conductors to commission words for canonical pieces, as Nagano is doing from Martel Arbiter? Do you know what Beethoven piece he is using?
Paul Wells

I’ve never heard of conductors commissioning new librettos for established works, yet here’s Nagano doing it twice. Last year he released a recording of a thing with words — inspired by Dallaire’s misadventures in Rwanda — to Beethoven’s incidental music for Egmont. If you google me and Nagano and Dallaire you’ll find my piece about it. It actually worked well, for such a deeply weird idea. Almost the most intriguing thing about him is his populist touch: he doesn’t think “new” should have to mean “unlistenable” OR “kitsch.” He looks for things that have a certain intellectual heft but that ordinary people will grasp without having to be super-informed listeners. Frankly the results are mixed but I like the instinct.

Nagano can be an uneven conductor and sometimes his odd programs are just odd. But I’ve seen the orchestra perhaps a dozen times since he became music director and it’s never ordinary. It’s inspired, or a mess, or puzzling, but it’s never rote.

Incidentally there’s a very good piece about the slightly-reborn Toronto Symphony in the current Toronto Life.

http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

Thanks very much for the references, Paul, and esp. for the piece on the Toronto Symphony. I could Google it but as a sign of solidarity with Journalism In Our Time I am going down to my dep to buy a physical copy! Here’s hoping Nagano’s libretto idea catches on.

http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

OK, Wells, your days of making me feel like a philistine are numbered. I’m going to go see Yannick Nézet-Séguin tomorrow when he does Prokofiev’s 5th Symphony. Will report back.

The road is long and steep thereto
And rough at first;
But from the lofty summit’s view
It’s not the worst.

Alex B.

As someone who’s love of Mozart began with F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce, I’m interested to know how you rate the work of film composers against their non-film contemporaries.

I have purchased many soundtracks(including LoTR like Jack), but I’m embarrassed to say I have almost no knowledge of any non-film composer of the last fifty years.

I think I’m remembering correctly that you’ve previously praised the recent film-work of Johnny Greenwood and Hans Zimmer in your blog.
archangel

Any advice on staying power for an aging listener with a shrinking liquid-capacity-to-time ratio — who’s taken to avoiding live concerts and is reduced to plastic compilations with snippets of the “juicy” parts?

And please don’t write “catheter”.
Paul Wells

Alex B., all kinds of film composers know a lot about music, but their mandate is different from that of composers who usually write for concert performance. The time scale is shorter — there’s no time in a soundtrack for development, so it’s all about momentary changes of mood — and the pressure to be sentimental is really strong. Which is why concert music can seem a bit dry if you’re used to soundtracks: the composer is seeking subtler effects, over a longer span of time.

In fact, when I started listening to this music seriously, the big challenge was getting used to the time scale of it. The first movement of Beethoven’s violin concerto lasts nearly a half hour, and there’s stuff at the 27th minute that you had to have been listening in the 3rd minute to get. That’s a challenge. I found that listening to recordings before a concert was a big help. So are DVDs, where musicians talk about the characteristics of the music and you can go back and re-listen to tricky bits. I’m listening to a DVD these days where Daniel Barenboim gives master classes in performing the Beethoven piano sonatas to six bright young pianists. It’s really helpful in helping me understand the architecture of these pieces.

Alex B.

Thanks for the response Paul, as well as some great tips for gaining a better understanding of classical music.

It’s somewhat of a dream of mine to see a world class production of The Marriage of Figaro or The Magic Flute at the MET.

Mike514

Aside from the music and talent, what’s great about the MSO (that’s also what we call it in Montreal) is its ability to think outside the box; or rather, thinking outside the concert hall. They’ve played at Alouettes games, projected live broadcasts of concerts on the steps outside Place des Arts, and will soon play in the Bell Centre to a much larger crowd than PdA can hold. This has helped expand their appeal, and make people more aware of the MSO in particular, and classical music in general.

The only dark spot is that the Charest government (and previous governments) never followed through with plans to build a new concert hall for the MSO. It gives the impression that the Quebec gov’t doesn’t value the MSO as much as it should.