Music Reviews
a large ship, changing tempo and momentum only to find a delay in the outcome. The energy and humorous moments of the symphony did not shine through the dense sound of the TSO during the first and last two movements, although the adagio second movement fared better with its languid, more lyrical chords. Perhaps it was this heaviness that prevented the orchestra’s playing from being as tightly together as it could have been.
In stark contrast to this, the TSO were comfortably more at home playing music by their namesake. Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony suited their solid sound, especially during the second movement with the serene oboe and bassoon solos sitting amidst the pizzicato strings. In the third movement the strings again displayed a full pizzicato sound, the vast numbers filling out the contrasts most chamber orchestras fail to capture. Despite some errors throughout the piece, in the finale the brass were positively triumphant, heralding the recapitulation of the opening theme.
The highlight of the afternoon was pianist Peter Donohoe’s performance of Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody. Donohoe played with sincerity, a light touch that manipulated the music with authority and giving it space to breathe. As expected, the well-known moments were not overdone but simply charming. masters such as Berg and Schoenberg into absorbing quartet music that breathes freely.
His fellow musicians are similarly excellent, with saxophonist André Leroux producing meaty, angular tenor lines and an assured lyricism on soprano, and bassist Guy Boisvert lending a supple, certain presence.
Impressive though their chops and the music were (especially Bourassa’s restlessly inventive German Suite that closed the first set), it was their intercommunication that gave them a distinctive edge.
This is a band that listens closely to each other, down to Bourassa finding the note that drummer Greg Ritchie had scraped from a cymbal in one superbly atmospheric conversation, and works at building brilliantly spontaneous variations into a composition’s natural momentum. impression of the passage of time that the composer achieves.
The later Opus 119 Bagatelles are simultaneously more playful and more thoughtful than their predecessors, and preceded the complex and contemplative Sonata No 32, Opus 111, as thorough an exploration of a fairly brief musical idea as can be found in music from Bach to the present.
With the briefest of bows, Osborne went from one piece to the other and found the full range of expression in both, including a syncopated section of the Sonata that would make any listener question the birthdate of jazz. Roll over Meade Lux Lewis and tell Scott Joplin the news.