Dr. Colin Eatock, composer
  • Home
  • About Colin Eatock
  • Composing
  • Catalogue of works
  • Writing about music
  • Eatock Daily (blog)
  • New and upcoming
  • Contact me

Ehnes and the TSO

12/10/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
Ehnes takes his Tchaikovsky seriously.
Here’s my review, from today’s Globe and Mail, of Canadian violinist James Ehnes with the TSO.

On Thursday evening, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and music director Peter Oundjian played Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky and more Tchaikovsky.

Such a concert carries with it the temptations of emotional excess – of wallowing in romantic extravagance and artistic indulgence. Yet that’s certainly not how events unfolded, for a variety of reasons.

The most obvious reason was James Ehnes, on hand at Roy Thomson Hall to play Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.


At 35, the Brandon-born violinist is a card-carrying virtuoso. But at the same time, he’s not the kind of virtuoso who cultivates the knack of making everything look easy.

On the contrary, there’s an intensity in Ehnes’s furrowed brow that doesn’t disguise the fact that playing demanding music with great sensitivity is actually a very hard thing to do. At the same time, there’s so much conviction in every note he plays that there’s never cause to fear that any challenge will get the better of him.

Similarly, he’s not the kind of soloist who gives the impression that he’s spontaneously creating the music as he plays it. Ehnes’s approach to interpretation is calculated and sure-footed – and that’s how it sounds.

And so it went with the Violin Concerto: From his first entry, Ehnes was deeply absorbed in the music. His performance was fleet-fingered and purposeful, and his Stradivarius (the “Marsick” violin of 1715) soared in the hall. (It helped that Oundjian made the TSO a discreet yet solid presence throughout the concerto.)

The first-movement cadenza was a flawless display of technique and structural insight, ending with a high trill fluttering prettily over the orchestra.

In the second movement, Ehnes entered with a whisper, and maintained a “less-is-more” approach to the music’s expressive potential. The result was like a welcome breath of fresh air.

However, so precise and methodical was the outpouring of notes from Ehnes’s violin in the third movement that his coolness became downright chilling. Nevertheless, this finale was powerful – a fitting conclusion to an interpretation more high-minded and serious than this concerto sometimes receives.

After the concerto, Ehnes was generous with his encores, playing two Paganini Caprices, Nos. 24 and 16. True to form, he treated these as real music, rather than just showpieces – even as he displayed a brilliant technical command.

More Tchaikovsky followed, with the orchestra. And while these performances didn’t suffer from emotional excesses, they suffered in other ways. Ironically, there was sometimes too little emotional engagement happening on stage.

The chief characteristic of the Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, which opened the concert, was its strong rhythmic emphasis. However, this was achieved at the expense of the music’s festive effervescence.

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 (the “Little Russian”) began with a fine solo from principal hornist Neil Deland – but then problems started to emerge. In the first movement, it seemed as though Oundjian was armed with some very strong ideas about where he wanted the music to go – but had to struggle with his orchestra to make it go there.

The second movement fared better, with nice legato playing from the orchestra. Unfortunately, the third movement’s tricky rhythmic problems were not entirely solved.

In the fourth movement, the TSO’s brass section stepped up and injected some much-needed excitement into the performance. Their enthusiasm proved contagious, and the movement ended in a blaze of glory.

The TSO had an encore of its own up its sleeve: the waltz from Aram Khatchaturian’s Masquerade, performed with a welcome burst of alacrity. If only the whole concert had been played with such spirit.


© Colin Eatock 2011
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Eatock Daily

    I'm a composer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily.

    When I first started blogging, Eatock Daily was a place to re-post the articles I wrote for Toronto’s Globe and Mail and National Post newspapers, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star and other publications.

    But now I have stepped back from professional music journalism, and I'm spending more time composing.

    These days, my blog posts are infrequent, and are mostly concerned with my own music. However, I do still occasionally post comments on musical topics, including works I've discovered, enjoyed, and wish to share with others.


    – CE

    Archives

    March 2022
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    September 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

    Index

    Click here for an alphabetical list of blog entries.

    RSS Feed

    Follow colineatock on Twitter
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.