The COC’s Diamond Anniversary Gala was an unforgettable evening of magnificent music making. Ben Heppner may have pulled out of the concert, but the real star of the show, in any case, was the COC Orchestra led for the first time by Johannes Debus as its new music director. The shell built for Robert Lepage’s The Nightingale now allows the orchestra to sound great not just in the pit but also on stage.
The concert began with a sparkling performance of Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, then alternated excepts from Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust with arias from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette sung by Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas and Canadian baritone Russell Braun. The first section concluded with Vargas’ hugely impressive account of “Nature immense” from La Damnation. Throughout the Berlioz, the orchestra’s precision of attack, its internal clarity and the lush colours of its sound repeatedly reminded me of the Montreal Symphony in its glory days under Charles Dutoit. Debus clearly enjoys conducting the orchestra and they just as clearly enjoy playing for him. The encore of “Au fond du temple saint” from The Pearl Fishers, sung by Braun and Vargas, drove the audience to a prolonged standing ovation.
After intermission, the intelligently planned programme turned from Berlioz to Wagner, with Debus highlighting the influence of the former on the latter. A wonderfully warm and joyous performance of the Prelude to Die Meistersinger was followed by Cornish Heldentenor John Treleaven’s account of Walther's Prize Song from the same opera – then Braun’s gorgeous singing of Wolfram’s aria “O du holder Abendstern” and Treleaven’s moving Rome Narration both from Tannhäuser. The three-part conclusion from Götterdämmerung was Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, Treleaven’s singing of “Brünnhilde, heilige Braut” and finally Siegfried’s Death and Funeral March. The emotion in the last excerpt was palpable, this being the first time the orchestra has played from the Ring Cycle since the death of Richard Bradshaw. It was impossible not to feel that the conflict between grief and heroism in the piece wasn't also meant to reflect the orchestra’s view of the General Director who had led it to such a height.
Vargas, a favourite at the Met, gave us a taste of the kind of Italianate, powerfully emotional singing we seldom hear from tenors at the COC. Braun, whose voice seems to grown only deeper and richer with every appearance, triumphed in the sheer beauty of Wolfram’s aria, which drew its own standing ovation. Treleaven, who sings almost exclusively in Europe, wasn't as outwardly demonstrative as Vargas or Braun. But he possesses a voice of Wagnerian magnitude, devoid of harshness and shaped by such clarity of diction as to render surtitles superfluous (not that there were any) for anyone who knows German. The final encore, though, fittingly belonged to the orchestra who played the overture to Tannhäuser with such verve and grandeur that one could only hope the work is among the COC’s future plans, along with La Damnation.
I left filled with a glow from knowing that we now have not only a great opera house and a great opera orchestra, but also a wonderfully expressive conductor who knows how to bring out the very best.
Christopher Hoile
