Soprano, conductor cast a spell

American conductor James Gaffigan and Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman made for a stunning musical partnership with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall Thursday night.

It may not have been a perfect concert, but the programming and the quality of individual performances made it an occasion to remember. Brueggergosman, who has been living in Ottawa, hasn’t been heard much in Toronto recently, so it was a pleasure to see her big-haired, flowingly be-gowned self gracing the stage in great voice.

The diva’s centrepiece was a grand mid-20th century composition by American Samuel Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915. It sets a memoir by James Agee that takes us to a family backyard at dusk. This is music that is at once nostalgic and aware that the idyll of childhood will not last forever. Brueggergosman and Gaffigan cast a warm, golden spell over the reminiscence, with good balance between singer and downsized orchestra.

The soprano came back after intermission to sing four late-19th century songs by French composer Henri Duparc. “L’invitation au voyage,” “Phidylé,” “La vie anterieure” and “Au pays où se fait la guerre” are among the best-loved of French art songs. Brueggergosman rendered them with buttery smoothness and deep emotion.

But all was not perfect. We usually hear these songs accompanied on the piano — its spare textures give each setting a clear, direct simplicity. But Duparc’s later orchestrations immersed the singer in a big, warm bath of string and woodwind colours that frequently threatened to drown out her voice completely.