Dean Burry’s The Highwayman
Kristina Szabó; Sarah Moon; Kornel Wolak; Gisèle Dalbec-Szczesniak; Wolf Tormann; Younggun Kim; Darrell Christie
Centrediscs CMCCD 32123 (cmccanada.org/product-category/recordings/centrediscs)

The Highwayman – a romantic and gory extended poem written in 1906 by the English poet Alfred Noyes – has been given a splendidly vivid and evocative musical setting by the Kingston-based composer Dean Burry. Burry takes as his model Arnold Schoenberg’s expressionist masterpiece Pierrot Lunaire, writing for the same forces: flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano and mezzo soprano. While the two works share moon imagery and certain ensemble colours, Burry’s work has a bolder, more cinematic quality that complements the epic sweep of Noyes’ poem in contrast to Schoenberg’s spooky transparency. Indeed, it would be a treat to hear the two pieces together in concert. 

A powerful instrumental prologue sets the scene for a tour-de-force performance by the celebrated Canadian mezzo Krisztina Szabó who brilliantly dramatizes the story and offers up a varied and gorgeous sound throughout her extended vocal range. Her brilliant diction and operatic sensibility coupled with Burry’s clear and attractive writing keep the interest and intensity throughout the 17-movement work. The five instrumentalists contribute strong and confident playing under the sensitive direction of Darrell Christie, with violinist Gisèle Dalbec-Szczesniak being a particular standout. 

The project was recorded at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Kingston with Burry producing. The sound is first-rate. There’s an informative short documentary A Torrent of Darkness: The Making of Dean Burry’s The Highwayman available on YouTube.

Bramwell Tovey; John Murrell – The Inventor (an opera in two acts)
Soloists; UBC Opera Ensemble; Vancouver Symphony Orchestra; Bramwell Tovey
Centrediscs CMCCD 31723 (cmccanada.org/product-category/recordings/centrediscs)

Although the conductor and composer Bramwell Tovey was born and educated in the United Kingdom, many Canadian classical music enthusiasts associate him principally with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, for whom he worked as music director from 2000 until 2018. Tovey died in 2022 but his name lives on in Vancouver, as his significant contributions to that city’s musical culture and community is reflected in the renaming of the Tovey Centre for Music that now houses the VSO’s School of Music. How fitting then, that the Canadian Music Centre should put out a new release of a 2012 recording of Tovey’s first opera, The Inventor with a libretto by John Murrell, that in sound and script tells the story, heretofore unknown to me, of Alexander “Sandy” Keith.

Although the narrative and back story is indeed compelling – Keith was a scoundrel, con artist and murderer, who attempted to take down a transatlantic steamship with a bomb – knowledge of this tragic and decidedly Canadian story is not a prerequisite to enjoying this fine new release. Recorded at Vancouver’s beautiful Orpheum Theatre and featuring the VSO with Tovey at the helm, The Inventor is a sprawling two-disc double-act modern opera that clocks in at over two hours of music. Capable of inspiring a thesaurus worth of musical descriptors (modern, dissonant, lush, romantic, cinematic, declamatory), this ambitious project both deserves and needs to be heard to appreciate the magnitude of its creativity and breadth. Although the closest analogue to my ears is Alva Henderson’s work with Nosferatu, I suggest that this 2023 release would be enjoyed by opera and modern classical music enthusiasts alike.

Ispiciwin
Luminous Voices; Andrew Balfour
Leaf Music LM267 (leaf-music.ca)

Having had the good fortune to review both a CD (Nagamo) and a live performance of Andrew Balfour, the Toronto-based Cree composer and member of Fisher River First Nation, I looked forward to exploring Ispiciwin (Journey), a project on which Balfour serves as composer and creative lead. Once again, I was tremendously impressed. Impressed by both the ambition of the conceit of the project, as well as the resulting beautiful sonic capture from either the Bella Concert Hall at Mount Royal University in Calgary, or the Chapel at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus Camrose, both fitting venues for this haunting and engaging set of new music.

A meaningful attempt in sound to explore the concept of artistic reconciliation, Ispiciwin pairs Balfour’s immense talent, creativity and insatiable desire to push musical borders with the vocal group Luminous Voices, Timothy Shantz artistic director, along with Jessica McMann on bass flute and Walter MacDonald White Bear on Native American courting flute. The result is an expansive set of new choral music sung in Cree that derives from, explores and celebrates various histories, backgrounds and extractions (from Sherryl Sewepagaham to Sofia Samatar to John Dowland). 

Although this recording most certainly does not prioritize a political agenda over the music, there is indeed something inherently political about the fact that, as Balfour acknowledges in the album’s liner notes, such a recording would have been virtually unthinkable some 30 years ago when he was coming up as a young choir boy and lover of Renaissance vocal music. The result writes important new voices into the canon of choral music and is recommended listening indeed. 

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Wound Turned to Light – New Songs by James Rolfe
Alex Samaris; Jeremy Dutcher; Andrew Adridge; Lara Dodds-Eden
Redshift Records TK540 (redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com)

We ought to have been done with COVID-19, but the effects of “The Pandemic of the Century,” has had a lasting, profound psychological and sociological effect on humanity, even as the health of the species bounces back. Happily, we have been rescued (again) by poets, the very tribe that Plato – who disparaged them for relying on imagery at some distance from reality – would rather have nothing to do with in his Republic of Grecian times. But oh… how times have changed!

Former Poet Laureate of both the City of Toronto and the Canadian Parliament, George Elliott Clarke commissioned 15 Canadian members of this very (disparaged) tribe to lift our sinking hearts. The result is some edifying poems – including two of his own – the eloquence of which James Rolfe has turned to exquisite music. And so, our existential angst has been briefly assuaged, and Rolfe lifts our hearts with his Lieder. 

Wound Turned to Light dwells not in some forgotten utopia or impending dystopia, but in nature, dreams – broken and fulfilled – and in the mysticism of life and death asking, as Schiller once asked in Die Götter Griechenlands: “Schöne Welt, wo bist du?” (Beautiful world, where are you?). 

Alex Samaras does much of the lifting of Rolfe’s music with a combination of rich and lofty vocals in his singular, delicious tenor sound (cue Marigold). His mature insights into the lyrics are utterly convincing, all but eclipsing the celebrated Jeremy Dutcher who shines on Set me as a seal. Andrew Adridge is elegant on Bombastic. Pianist Lara Dodds-Eden is the uber-sensitive accompanist.

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Frank Horvat – Fractures
Meredith Hall; Brahm Goldhamer
I Am Who I Am Records (iam-records.com)

Canadian composer and environmental activist Frank Horvat’s most recent album, Fractures, is a cycle of 13 songs performed by soprano Meredith Hall and pianist Brahm Goldhamer. Inspired by the 2016 anthology Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America, this work explores the controversial practice of fracking, a method used to extract natural gas and oil from deep rock formations known as shale. With lyrics curated from several Canadian and American writers who have been directly affected by fracking, the song cycle explores various viewpoints that surround the procedure. 

Horvat’s song cycle speaks to the ramifications of fracking, from the resources required to the impact on both the land and surrounding communities. Each song has an independent theme and musical structure and the cycle is unified by recurring motifs of fire and water. Although Hall and Goldhamer, both seasoned performers, demonstrate great commitment to the text and the music, listening to Fractures is, at times, difficult, for it requires a certain window into the knowledge of fracking to better understand the ironies and or musical choices that accompany certain texts. To the uninitiated, a more relatable song can be found in Lullaby in Fracktown, where a mother sings to her young child against the backdrop of her husband’s employment insecurity. 

Notwithstanding, it is a gift when living composers take time to explain their work and thought processes, which is what Horvat does in the generous liner notes of Fractures. His explanations enhance our ability to reflect more deeply on fracking and our environment. Horvat’s activism and dedication to this project (and others) are reminiscent of R. Murray Schafer’s soundscape work and that’s a very good place to be.

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Jérôme Blais – Mouvance
Suzie LeBlanc; Jérôme Blais
Centrediscs CMCCD 31223 (cmccanada.org/product-category/recordings/centrediscs)

It is on notes to this disc Mouvance that Jérôme Blais – a Québécois – alludes to the “…sense of uprootedness despite our migrations within the same expansive and culturally diverse country, Canada.” Meanwhile, in music of uncommon beauty, Blais gives wing to the poignant lyrics by Acadian poet Gerald Leblanc. His poem, parts of which appear four times during the recording, not only makes for the theme of the album but also sets the tone for Blais’ music, voiced with featherlight expressiveness by Suzie LeBlanc, a Vancouverite of Acadian descent. 

Blais has also set the exquisite elegiac work of nine other poets all of whom explore bluesy emotions – of otherness and unbelonging – so deeply felt in the proverbial “mouvance” of migration. Eileen Walsh’s woody, eloquently dolorous clarinets, Jeff Torbert’s lonesome twangy guitars, Norman Adams’ soaring cello and Doug Cameron’s often rumbling hand drums and hissing and swishing percussion heighten the atmosphere and bring experience and technique to these pieces. 

All this is just as well, given the varied types of text setting involved. LeBlanc is exquisite in her many contributions, her creamy soprano soaring in the four iterations of Mouvance, and in the finale Tu me mouves, deftly supported by the instrumentalists playing Blais’ distinctive music. 

The close, slightly resonant recording is never uncomfortable and weaves voice and instruments into a kind of damask musical fabric. Discerning lovers of song – particularly Francophonie Canadians – will enjoy investigating these charming works.

David Shapiro – Sumptuous Planet: A Secular Mass
The Crossing; Donald Nally
New Focus Recordings FCR389 (newfocusrecordings.com)

What is a secular Mass? What does it sound like? What is it about? These are just a few of the questions your reviewer had upon receiving this recording, as its apparent juxtaposition of secularism with one of the most apparent expressions of religiosity is inherently counterintuitive. Indeed, the relationship between a secular Mass and the humanist movement, which places prime importance on human rather than divine matters, is the nearest analogy that came to mind and, as it turns out, was not entirely incorrect.

Philadelphia-based composer David Shapiro has composed solo, chamber, vocal and instrumental works including commissions for several prominent American choirs, among them The Crossing, a professional choir dedicated to exploring and recording new music. For Sumptuous Planet, Shapiro uses the musical form of a Christian Mass to advance a scientific, atheistic vision of the world. Drawing on texts by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, physicist Richard Feynman and 17th-century Dutch microbiologist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Shapiro builds on the venerated tradition of the musical mass, adapting it for contemporary ideas about science and nature.

The Introit opens with towering harmonies setting a quote from Feynman: “Is no one inspired by the present picture of the universe?”, while Death sets Dawkins’ text of gratitude celebrating the improbability of our existence with luminous, soaring melodies. Despite his subversive premise of positing an atheist perspective within the structure of a Christian Mass, Sumptuous Planet largely exists in the same aesthetic space as its religious predecessors, drawing on a contemporary musical palette that is, perhaps rather ironically, quite divine.

In addition to being thought-provoking, this recording is also musically superb, with The Crossing and conductor Donald Nally providing a flawless interpretation of Shapiro’s harrowing, transparent score. Any error in pitch, rhythm or intonation would be dreadfully and immediately apparent. The Crossing tackles this score’s challenges in a way that approaches perfection.

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George Lewis – Afterword, An Opera in Two Acts
International Contemporary Ensemble
Tundra TUN014 (newfocusrecordings.com)

In 1971, George Lewis joined the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) as a precocious 19-year-old trombone player. Today he is celebrated as a performer, composer, scholar, developer of groundbreaking interactive improvising software and longtime chronicler of the AACM. In 2008 he produced a monumental history of the now-legendary collective of experimental African-American musicians, A Power Stronger Than Itself. This brilliant opera came eight years later. 

Afterword is based on the book. It draws on Lewis’ extensive interviews, plus recordings of early meetings made by AACM co-founder Muhal Richard Abrams. The delightful scene which opens the second act comes from a poetic journal by Claudine Myers. We’re given a colourful glimpse into an afternoon at the AACM’s center in Chicago. The playful camaraderie among such luminaries of experimental music as Anthony Braxton, Wadada Leo Smith and Roscoe Mitchell, along with Myers and Abrams (“Man your hair is nappier than mine!”) and the warm encouragement they offer one other (“Get your own thing, you don’t need someone else’s”) are reflected with powerful immediacy in a vibrant tapestry of sound.

 Transcending the constraints of straightforward narrative, Afterword directly confronts the elemental connections music has with originality, freedom, identity… and life itself. Lewis adds layers of resonant nuance by having each solo voice represent a variety of characters. This allows the singers, in different guises, to reflect a sweeping range of struggles, dreams and accomplishments. 

The three terrific vocalists, soprano Joelle Lamarre, contralto Gwendolyn Brown and tenor Julian Terrell Otis, bring dramatic energy to the ever-shifting perspectives. Under conductor David Fulmer, the intrepid musicians of the International Contemporary Ensemble realize Lewis’ intense, unruly orchestrations with precision and passion. 

This recording was made at the 2016 premiere in Chicago during celebrations for the AACM’s 50th anniversary. I can’t imagine a more inspiring way to celebrate. 

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Les Soupers du Roy
Arion Orchestre Baroque; Mathieu Lussier
ATMA ACD2 2828 (atmaclassique.com/en)

It was in 1683 that the French composer Michel-Richard Delalande was appointed superintendent of music of the Chapel Royal at the court of Louis XIV. As a result, most of his output was devoted to sacred music, but he also produced secular cantatas and a significant number of instrumental suites intended to accompany the royal dinners. Suites were a product of several French composers of the period and in light of their length (as were the gastronomic repasts themselves) excerpts from works by five composers are presented on this fine ATMA recording appropriately title Les Soupers du Roy, performed by the Arion Orchestre Baroque under the direction of Mathieu Lussier.

The disc opens with five movements from Delalande’s Cinquieme Suite with the ensemble delivering a stylish performance, clearly demonstrating an innate feeling for the repertoire. More fanciful is Destouches’ Le Carnaval et la Folie, the movements taken from the first comédie-ballet in France premiering at Fontainebleau in 1703. François Colin de Blamont was a pupil of Delalande and the three thoughtfully chosen excerpts from his ballet héroïque Fêtes grecques et romaines are performed here with a particular refinement and precision, the phrasing always carefully nuanced. 

Jean-Philippe Rameau and François Francoeur are the most recent composers on the disc. The suite by Rameau was taken from his ballet héroïque Les fêtes de Polymnie from 1745, while Francoeur’s Fourth Suite “with trumpet, timpani and horns” is particularly jubilant, in keeping with the occasion of a royal marriage, thus rounding out a most compelling program.

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Bach – Clavier Übung III | The Pedal Settings
Renée Anne Louprette
Acis APL41745 (acisproductions.com)

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Clavier Übung III is a masterwork of the organ repertoire, consisting of diverse and complex chorale preludes bookended by a grandiose prelude and fugue, commonly known as the “St. Anne,” BWV 552. Divided into several theological categories, the chorale preludes explore a range of musical styles and textures, from dense five-and six-part counterpoint with pedal to two-part textures which resemble Bach’s earlier keyboard inventions. 

This recording omits the two-part preludes, including only the chorale settings that incorporate the pedals. While the smaller-scale preludes are delightful works, this decision condenses the Clavier Übung into a non-stop journey through some of Bach’s most difficult and demanding organ music. Performed on the Craighead-Saunders Organ at Christ Church Episcopal in Rochester, New York which is modeled after a 1776 Lithuanian instrument by Adam Gottlieb Casparini, this organ is a wonderful vehicle for Bach’s music, containing a superb mix of brightness, boldness and blend.

A renowned international performer, American organist Renée Anne Louprette provides a splendid rendition of these challenging, inspiring works. It is no small feat to make such complex music sound apparent and simple, but Louprette rises to the task with technical facility, straightforward interpretations and a choice of registrations that emphasize form and clarity. Bach’s genius is such that his music rarely benefits from over-interpretation, and Louprette’s great success lies in the dedication shown to the music itself, without introducing unnecessary complexities. The Clavier Übung III is some of the purest and most profound instrumental music Bach wrote, and this recording provides a glimpse into the mind of the master through his music.

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Mozart – Piano Concertos Nos.20 & 23
Charles Richard-Hamelin; Les Violons du Roy; Jonathan Cohen
Analekta AN 2 9026 (outhere-music.com/en/labels/analekta)

In February 1785, Mozart’s father wrote to his daughter from Vienna referring to “an excellent new piano concerto by Wolfgang, on which the copyist was still at work when we got here, and your brother didn’t even have time to play through the rondo because he had to revise the copy.” The work in question was the renowned Concerto No.20 in D Minor K466, the first of only two concertos Mozart wrote in a minor key. Its premiere proved to be a great success and is presented together with the Concerto in A Major K488 on this fine Analekta recording with pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin and Les Violons du Roi conducted by Jonathan Cohen.

Richard-Hamelin was silver medalist at the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition and winner of the Krystian Zimerman Prize for best performance of a sonata, so it should come as no surprise that this recording is a joy. Richard-Hamelin delivers a polished and elegant performance, the phrasing clearly articulated, while under Cohen’s skilful baton, Les Violons de Roy prove a formidable and sensitive partner. The second movement Romance is perhaps a little brisker than we’re used to, but the exuberant third movement – with the cheeky D Major ending – is undertaken with great panache.

Compared to the dramatic mood of K466, K488 is all serenity. Completed almost a year later it was premiered at a subscription concert with Mozart as soloist. Again, the ensemble offers a spirited and well-controlled sound with the melding of soloist and orchestra truly a fortuitous one. An added bonus is the Adagio and Fugue in C Minor K546 which brings the program to a most satisfying conclusion.

Clara Robert Johannes – Romance and Counterpoint
National Arts Centre Orchestra Canada; Alexander Shelley
Analekta AN 2 8884-5 (analekta.com/en)

This is the fourth and final installment in Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra’s retrospective of the deeply intimate and complicated musical connections between Clara Wieck, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Robert studied with Clara’s father, Clara and Johannes studied with Robert, Robert and Clara were married and had eight children together, Clara and Johannes cared for Robert as he struggled with mental health torments, and they remained close and devoted friends and colleagues for decades after Robert’s death. Through it all, the composing, performing and teaching of music was of utmost importance.

Conductor Alexander Shelley leads the NACO in thrilling performances of the fourth symphonies of Schumann and Brahms. Particularly impressive is the sweeping and warm string sound and uniformly free and elegant playing from the winds and brass. Though the symphonies were written over 40 years apart, they share a kinship in the eloquence of their Romantic musical language, poignancy and grandeur. Shelley coaxes all of this and more out of the orchestra. Kudos to producers and engineers for the gorgeous recorded sound. 

Also included is a generous collection of the solo piano music of Clara Schumann and her magnificent Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op.22 in a fine performance by NACO concertmaster Yosuke Kawasaki and pianist Angela Hewitt. The solo piano works (a collection of Romances, Preludes and Fugues) are all played with sensitivity and great imagination by Stewart Goodyear. Of special note are Clara’s explorations of themes of J.S. Bach. There are well-known accounts of evenings that the Schumanns spent with Felix Mendelssohn, playing and discussing Bach’s keyboard works, which Clara also used in her teaching into the 1890s. The recording concludes with Goodyear’s own musical offering: an affecting improvisation on themes of Clara’s.

Louise Farrenc – Piano Trios 2 & 4; Variations concertantes; Sonata Op.37
Linos Ensemble
CPO 555 538-2 (chandos.net/products/catalogue/CX%205538)

The name Louise Farrenc may not seem an overly familiar one today, but during her lifetime she was a respected composer, pianist and pedagogue. Born Jeanne-Louise Dumont in Paris in 1804, she was very much an “enfant du siècle” and a slightly older contemporary of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn. Her first compositions – almost entirely for solo piano – were published in the 1820s, earning praise from the likes of Robert Schumann. By the 1840s, she was turning her attention to chamber works which are now regarded as among the finest in her output, four of which are presented on this attractive CPO recording performed by the German-based Linos Ensemble.

The disc opens with the Trio No.2 Op.34 from 1844. From the outset, the listener is struck by the solidly constructed score, greatly enhanced by the polished and confident performance of pianist Konstanze Eickhorst who, together with violinist Winfried Rademacher and cellist Mario Blaumer, comprise a formidable union. What a joyful sound these musicians produce! Similarly, the Trio for Piano, Flute and Cello No.4 Op.45 from 1856 shows an adept use of counterpoint among the parts, where flutist Kersten McCall shines in a commanding performance. The Variations concertantes sur une mélodie suisse for piano and cello is a charming earlier work written before 1833 while the Violin Sonata No.1 Op.37 from 1848 drew high praise from a Parisien critic. In both cases the two parts are effortlessly integrated resulting in perfect partnerships in this engaging music.

With its attractive melodies and overall fine construction, Farrenc’s music has gone unnoticed for too long and only recently has it been receiving the recognition it deserves. Kudos to the Linos Ensemble for taking steps to further its appreciation.

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Mahler – Symphony No.1
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Semyon Bychkov
Pentatone PTC 5187 043 (pentatonemusic.com/product/mahler-symphony-no-1)

Roll over Beethoven – you have been supplanted! And Gustav Mahler saw it coming. He is reputed to have proclaimed that “In 30 or 40 years Beethoven’s symphonies will no longer be played in concerts. My symphonies will take their place.” Well, it took a little longer than that, only really gaining steam in the 1960s, but judging from the number of Mahler cycles issued these days his time has truly come. 

This new release of Mahler’s first and arguably most popular symphony performed by the distinguished Czech Philharmonic represents the fourth instalment of Semyon Bychkov’s traversal of these mighty works. Though he eventually abandoned any programmatic descriptions of his compositions, as late as 1893 Mahler still felt compelled to describe his first symphony as “a tone poem in the form of a symphony.” More importantly, he defined the work as consisting of two over-arching sections. The first included the first three movements (the third movement was eventually dropped) while the second encompassed the final two movements. The first part most closely resembles the traditional symphonic genre, and it is here that Bychkov adopts a fairly conventional approach, straightforward, pellucid and artfully nuanced. The second section, subtitled Commedia Humana, completely baffled the audience at the Budapest premiere and was not well received. It seems that the promoters neglected to supply the audience with the guidance of program notes… (As an aside, I’ve often wondered how any audience could be expected to follow the convoluted plots of such works as Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony. No wonder Mahler abandoned them.) 

No matter though; the excellent liner notes by Gavin Plumley will tell you all you need to know, and more. From the opening funeral march of part two onwards, Bychkov and the orchestra gradually pull out all the stops in a masterful crescendo of emotion. The finale in particular has the uncanny effect of the whole of one’s life passing before one’s eyes through a near-death experience that resolves itself in a shatteringly triumphant affirmation of life. I for one found it deeply moving. 

The wide-ranging sound of this elegant orchestra is superbly rendered by the expert team at Pentatone Records. A must-have recording indeed.

Sommer Nachts Konzert 2023
Elena Garanča; Wiener Philharmoniker; Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Sony Classical 19658818942 (wienerphilharmoniker.at/en/shop)

Midsummer night in Vienna, classical music capital of the world, with the Vienna Philharmonic at the wonderful Baroque Gardens of Schönbrunn, summer palace of the Hapsburgs, who could ask for anything more? By now a Viennese tradition, there is a giant outdoor concert with a glittering glass-covered sound stage, huge TV screens and loudspeakers set up either side, multicoloured searchlights radiating from the palace with seating for thousands and free for everyone. It was televised here on PBS, but unfortunately I missed it. No matter. It’s out on Blu-ray video and here is a CD from Sony Classical.

This year the invited artists are the world-famous conductor from Montreal Yannick Nézet-Séguin and equally famous, the spectacular mezzo from Latvia, Elina Garanča. The program is a bit unusual for Vienna, all French masterworks from the 19th and 20th centuries. First comes Bizet with fond memories of Carmen at the Met: Nézet-Séguin conducted and Garanča mesmerized New York audiences with her revolutionary portrayal of Carmen. Here she sings Habanera and then Nézet-Séguin conducts the Carmen Suite No.1.  Garanča later sings one of my favourites, the gorgeous, seductive aria Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix from Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Delilah, her pièce de resistance just perfect for her voice.

Berlioz was a genius who as a kid came to Paris not knowing what a symphony orchestra was and a year later amazed the world with his Symphonie Fantastique. Here we are treated to Le Corsair Overture stretching the orchestra to its utmost limits, giving a real workout to the VPO.

More highlights: Ravel’s opulent Daphnis et Chloe Suite No.2 with its tremendous sunrise, Lever du jour, and later his Bolero described at its premiere as a “huge musical joke.” The conductor unleashes the total forces of the orchestra controlling the gradual crescendo brilliantly.

The encore is a mandatory Strauss Waltz, Wiener Blut saluting Vienna and providing a suitable ending to a memorable evening.