Toronto Symphony Orchestra triumphs at Carnegie Corridor

Summarize this content material to 540 phrases NEW YORK, N.Y.— To paraphrase a track lyric from the late Fred Ebb about this metropolis that by no means sleeps: if you may make it right here, you may make it anyplace. The identical could possibly be mentioned about Carnegie Corridor, the hallowed efficiency corridor within the coronary heart of Manhattan the place a number of the biggest instrumentalists and ensembles have carried out. It’s the mecca of the classical music world; make it there and you’ve got made it. However the Toronto Symphony Orchestra wasn’t merely content material with displaying up at Carnegie Corridor. As an alternative, the ensemble proved its mettle Monday night with a considerate program of works that showcased Canadian flavours and the orchestra’s spectacular ability. The live performance marked the TSO’s first look on the venue since 2011 and the second cease of a three-city North American tour. It was a major efficiency in additional methods than one, not the least of which is that for a lot of within the orchestra, together with music director Gustavo Gimeno, this marked their Carnegie Corridor debut. “Taking part in at Carnegie Corridor is basically vital for us to do,” concertmaster Jonathan Crow mentioned in an interview earlier than the tour. “It’s type of just like the Everest of classical music and it’s one thing that, as an orchestra, we have to do to problem ourselves to be within the huge leagues.”Certainly, the TSO mounted a robust case to be thought-about among the many main gamers with its live performance Monday. (For reference, the Huge 5 orchestras in North America, typically thought-about to be the cream of the crop, are the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra.)In a program of robust works, it was Édouard Lalo’s “Symphonie Espagnole” that stood out. Spanish violinist María Dueñas delivered a ferocious interpretation of the showpiece, threatening to blow the roof off Carnegie Corridor’s Isaac Stern Auditorium. It’s unattainable to fathom that she’s simply 20 years outdated. “She sounds so mature musically, so passionate, so refined, so stunning, however she additionally has a lot character,” mentioned fellow countryman Gimeno, in a separate interview earlier than the tour. “She’s already a star.” She clearly demonstrated all these traits on Monday. Proper from her virtuosic entrance within the first motion, she fiendishly attacked every notice, drawing out the fiery Spanish rhythms with a full-bodied tone. Within the second motion, she modulated this depth however was nonetheless supremely expressive, providing a sly and playful rendition of the scherzo. Below Gimeno’s assured course, the orchestra matched her vitality each step of the way in which. Watching Dueñas onstage is thrilling, even hypnotizing. She pushes her instrument to the very restrict of its sonic capabilities, solely not often compromising on sound high quality. It’s solely not too long ago that I’ve begun following Dueñas’s profession. She burst onto the scene after successful the 2021 Yehudi Menuhin Competitors, appropriately nicknamed “The Olympics of the Violin.”Prior to now, I’ve felt that her scorching model can generally have an effect on her musical phrasing, significantly in moments of prolonged lyricism. However Dueñas’s musicality has matured, as evident Monday. Take the fifth motion rondo, for instance, through which she sculpted the tuneful melodies with joyful bravura. After a rousing ovation, Dueñas concluded with an association of Francisco Tárrega’s “Recuerdos de la Alhambra” for violin, showcasing but once more her astonishing technical prowess and proving that she can be a reputation to observe for years to return. (After performing with the TSO in Chicago on Valentine’s Day, Dueñas will return to Toronto with the TSO Friday for a live performance at Massey Corridor that includes Max Bruch’s “Violin Concerto No. 1.”)Previous “Symphonie Espagnole” was Canadian composer Samy Moussa’s “Symphony No. 2,” a TSO fee that premiered to nice acclaim lower than a yr in the past. So far as Canadian content material goes, Moussa’s work is a strong selection. A dense and sinewy composition, it accommodates few memorable melodies. Reasonably, it paints a ravishing soundscape by its compelling exploration of kind and concord, whereas additionally drawing on extra classical qualities. The chords, of which there are a lot of, are dense and complicated; passages of hanging dissonance give method to moments of consonance. Maybe most intriguing, nonetheless, is Moussa’s selection of instrumentation. Trumpets are changed with flugelhorns, whereas quite a lot of pitched devices — glockenspiel, xylophone and vibraphones, for instance — make up the percussion. The result’s a transparent and vibrant sound, splendidly conveyed by the orchestra. And the way great, too, that Moussa was readily available to soak within the applause following the efficiency. After intermission, the TSO carried out Sergei Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet,” in a brand new suite compiled by Gimeno that pulls on actions from all three of the Russian composer’s authentic suites from his ballet, whereas reordering them to recreate a story through-line — splendidly programmed for the eve of Valentine’s Day. Maybe the best reward I may give the TSO is that after listening to their efficiency, I used to be compelled to revisit scenes from William Shakespeare’s authentic textual content. Such was the emotional depth of their interpretation: introspective moments shimmered brilliantly, whereas the sweeping themes of the primary and sixth actions (“Montagues and Capulets” and “Loss of life of Tybalt”) had been thunderously rendered, making full use of Carnegie Corridor’s unbelievable acoustics.The efficiency was so warmly obtained that it prompted two encore items. The primary: Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Lyric Waltz from Ballet Suite No. 1.” And the second: a wistful interpretation of Leonard Bernstein’s “Someplace” from his “West Facet Story Suite.”The latter was the proper option to cap off the night. “West Facet Story,” after all, is about mere blocks away from Carnegie Corridor and was impressed by Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” like Prokofiev’s ballet. And who can say no to Bernstein?Because the violin melody soared above the accompaniment, Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics got here to thoughts: “There’s a spot for us / Someplace a spot for us …” Nicely for the TSO, they’ve proved their place at Carnegie Corridor.SHARE:JOIN THE CONVERSATION Anybody can learn Conversations, however to contribute, you ought to be a registered Torstar account holder. If you don’t but have a Torstar account, you possibly can create one now (it’s free)Signal InRegisterConversations are opinions of our readers and are topic to the Code of Conduct. The Star doesn’t endorse these opinions.