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

Music on the Edge of Toronto

8/28/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
Lorin Maazel.
It takes a certain kind of audacity to fly the London Symphony Orchestra across the Atlantic Ocean for an outdoor concert in Toronto, Canada. Such a gesture challenges the weather gods to either bless or hurl their wrath at the organizer.

But fortune favours the bold – and impresario/convicted fraudster Garth Drabinsky (of Livent fame) is nothing if not bold. Evidently, on Saturday night the gods were impressed by his initiative: as New Yorkers hunkered down for Hurricane Irene, Torontonians enjoyed a perfect summer night, with gentle breezes and a starry sky.


The LSO concert, under the baton of Lorin Maazel was the final event in Drabinsky’s inaugural Black Creek Music Festival – designed to bring major artists to Toronto in the summer months. Like all other Black Creek events, this concert was held in tennis stadium at York University, on the northern boundary of the city. (The venue is also near Toronto’s Pearson Airport, and the noise of overhead jets was a problem on a few occasions.)

The big piece on the program was Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and so there was also a chorus. This was a local group – and despite rumours that the choristers were involved in a contractual dispute with Drabinsky, and might possibly not show up, they were there and in fine form.

And of course there were soloists: a star-studded quartet consisting of soprano Adrianne Pieczonka, mezzo Ekaterina Metlova, tenor Richard Margison and bass René Pape. Hard to argue with talent like that!

This being an outdoor concert, also present for the occasion was a forest of microphones, and an imposing phalanx of loudspeakers. This equipment set the tone for the evening – and the best word to describe that tone is “edgy.” I intend this in a way that’s complimentary and in a way that isn’t.

The sound system gave these top-notch performers a striking directness and immediacy. Every note was picked up and projected at the audience. This kind of “edgy” was exciting and grand.

But at the same time, all those mics, placed closely among the performers, had a disintegrating effect – disrupting the balance and blend of the LSO’s sound. And when the vocal soloists entered in the fourth movement, their voices were conflated beyond anything that could, would or should be achieved in a concert hall. This kind of “edgy” was raw and jarringly unnatural. (Curiously, this was less a problem in the other piece on the program, an excerpt from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godinov. Here, the balance between Pape and LSO was better.)

The microphone doesn’t lie. But it can certainly exaggerate.


© 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.