Volume 28 Issue 1 | September 20 - November 8, 2022

CLASSICAL AND BEYOND
Pianistic
High-Wire Acts
and More
PAUL ENNIS
When he was 24, Lucas Debargue finished fourth
in the 2015 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition but,
more importantly, the Moscow Music Critics
Association bestowed their top honours on him as “the
pianist whose performance at the Competition has
become an event of genuine musical significance, and
whose incredible gift, artistic vision and creative freedom
have impressed the critics as well as the audience.”
Just before the COVID-19 protocols took effect in March 2020,
Debargue made his third Koerner Hall appearance headlined by ten
Scarlatti sonatas in support of his SONY recording released in 2019.
He returns to Koerner Hall on October 29, just days after his 32nd
birthday in an intriguing recital titled “An Evening in Paris.” It features
music written by composers who lived in Paris or wrote the music
while staying there – pillars of the repertoire by Mozart (Sonata for
Piano No.8 in D Minor, K310) and Chopin (Ballade No. 2 in F major,
Op. 38; Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 45; Polonaise-Fantaisie in A
flat major, Op. 61; and the rarely performed tour-de-force, Alkan’s
Concerto for Solo Piano, Op.39 No. 8, Op.39 No. 8).
Arguably Canada’s greatest living pianist, Marc-André Hamelin –
whose own recital on October 16, also at Koerner, features an exploration
of works by Fauré – made his early reputation mining the treasure
trove of music by 19th-century composer-pianists, including the enigmatic
Alkan. When Hamelin recorded the Concerto for Solo Piano for
Hyperion, their website called it “one of the great pianistic high-wire acts
– an epic work which demands unprecedented levels of technical ability
and physical stamina. It is conceived on a breathtakingly grand scale and
is rich with both orchestral sonorities and lyrical pianistic passages.”
Debargue has said he likes to place lesser-known music later in a
program after the audience has heard more familiar works. He told
smART Magazine in January 2022: “I never choose repertoire for the
sake of novelty alone. There are plenty – thousands! – of unknown
composers. Some of them are really worth playing, but they have to
connect with my heart.” It will be interesting to hear how Debargue
plays the Mozart sonata – with the spirit of Dinu Lipatti still hovering
in the air – and the Alkan concerto – with Hamelin’s long shadow still
warm on the Koerner Hall stage.
Piano and Orchestra
The piano is also prominently positioned in three upcoming Toronto
Symphony Orchestra programs. On September 21-24, artistic director
Lucas Debargue at Koerner Hall
Gustavo Gimeno conducts the TSO and Bruce Liu in Chopin’s Piano
Concerto No.2 barely 11 months after Liu’s final round performance of
Concerto No.1 helped make him the first Canadian to win the prestigious
International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition.
According to TSO sources, in the TSO’s 100-year history, Beethoven’s
Piano Concerto No.3 has been performed 116 times, making it the
most played (by the TSO) of the composer’s five piano concertos.
The remarkable pianist Yefim Bronfman joins with Gimeno and the
orchestra for three more performances on October 12, 14 and 15. A
few days later, on October 20 and 22, the charismatic Yuja Wang,
Gimeno and the orchestra will play the Canadian premiere of Magnus
Lindberg’s Piano Concerto No.3.
Orchestral Plethora
Perusing the listings from late September through October, it’s
remarkable the number of orchestral events taking place apart
from the TSO: Hamilton, Stratford, Niagara and Kitchener-Waterloo
Symphony Orchestras, from beyond the GTA; the Greater Toronto
Philharmonic Orchestra, Kindred Spirits Orchestra, Orchestra Toronto
and more from within the GTA. Some repertoire that caught my eye:
Aaron Schwebel playing Mendelssohn’s beloved Violin Concerto
with Rafael Luz and the North York Concert Orchestra on October 2;
Jonathan Crow playing – on October 21 – Brahms’ emotionally rich
Violin Concerto with the Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra in celebration
of that orchestra’s 60th anniversary.
Sinfonia Toronto under Nurhan Arman showcases two works for
violin, piano and string orchestra: Alice Ping Yee Ho’s Capriccio Ballo
which she describes as “whimsical and capricious” and Christos
Hatzis’ Arabesque, a work he calls “mainly autobiographical.”
Christina Petrowska Quilico (piano) and Marc Djokic (violin) are the
esteemed soloists on October 22. Dvořák’s joyous Serenade completes
the strong program.
Chamber music is also making its presence felt as autumn rolls into
the city. The free noon-time mini-concerts at COC’s Richard Bradshaw
Amphitheatre have returned in full force. Rising star cellist Anita Graef
opens a series of cello music spanning centuries with works by Joseph
Dall’Abaco, Gaspar Cassadó and J.S. Bach, on September 21.
Made up of Rebekah Wolkstein (violin), Drew Jurecka (violin),
Shannon Knights (viola) and Amahl Arulanandam (cello), the Venuti
String Quartet is a highly versatile group, comfortable performing not
only the great classical repertoire, but also jazz, contemporary, and
many other musical genres. On September 27, the quartet will perform
two new works written by Jurecka: The Spider and Quartet Number
One, as well as Mendelssohn‘s Op.80 String Quartet in F Minor. There
is a wealth of listening pleasure to be had in the months to come.
VLADIMIR KEVORKOV
14 | September 20 - November 8, 2022 thewholenote.com