HAYDN'S HIT THE CREATION WELL WORTH IT
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's classical chamber orchestra series ends with a big bang — literally, if you consider how we think the universe began. A team of soloists, the orchestra, and the Vancouver Chamber Choir will perform Haydn's oratorio The Creation at UBC's Chan Centre.
The notion of narrative works performed without staging had been around for a while, but it was Joseph Haydn's two sojourns in England that made him tackle a genre he had not yet explored.
In the autumn of his distinguished career, Haydn received an offer he couldn't refuse: a grand expedition to England. To his own surprise, Haydn discovered he was popular there beyond anyone's wildest dreams; he quickly pocketed more than enough money to secure a comfortable retirement, and then some. When a chance to repeat the experience came up, he quickly packed his trunks and returned to London with music specifically targeted for British audiences.
Already the most celebrated composer of his age, Haydn actually learned a thing or two in England. Specifically, he familiarized himself with Handel's Messiah — not regularly performed in Vienna — and decided to attempt something similar. But on what subject? For his project he wanted something with both gravitas and grandeur, biblical but not liturgical.
The opening sections of the Book of Genesis provided exactly what he needed.
He composed the extended work in three parts once back in Vienna, using a libretto in both English and German, and The Creation, premiered in 1798, became an instant hit. If you haven't heard the quasi-overture describing the universe in chaos and then the sublime moment of creation, you should consider a trip to the Chan. Of course there's so much more than that inspired opening: great Handelian choruses, the Adam and Eve story, and even moments of wry wit, like the creator deciding to invent the humble earthworm.
A great way to end the season, this also marks a bittersweet moment in VSO history. Since the 1997 opening of the Chan Centre, the orchestra experimented with various initiatives to use architect Bing Thom's great space. One of the best was the Classical Traditions at the Chan. This comes to a glorious end with The Creation. Next season sees a new series of post-work, pre-dinner concerts in the VSO's home venue, the Orpheum Theatre. Only a holiday season Vivaldi program will still be on offer at the Chan.
Why the change in strategy? Did Vancouver audiences not take to a chamber orchestra series? Has the issue of spotty public transit to UBC evenings and weekends become too much for audiences? There is no easy answer, but the VSO has decided on change.
The new concept, Classical Afterworks, will begin next January with a three-concert Orpheum series featuring guest conductors Vanessa Benelli Mosell, Christian Kluxen, and Giordano Bellincampi, in programs combining a single major 19th-century symphony with newly composed works. Aimed to attract new audiences, the concerts offer 80 minutes of music, with no intermission and somewhat reduced orchestral forces appropriate to the showcased repertoire.
Another VSO series winds up for the season on Friday at The Annex with Hidden Gems: The Musical World of Ligeti.
Naomi Woo has put together a fascinating full evening of works centred on three Ligeti classics: Poème symphonique (1962), Kammerkonzert (1970) and selections from Mysteries of the Macabre (1991), contextualized with music by Bartók and Unsuk Chin's Akrostichon-Wortspiel. Quite the adventure.