MONTREAL — Twenty-five, thirteen, and seven years: These are the durations, respectively, of Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s directorships of the Orchestre Métropolitain, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Opera. Some international observers might assume that the first of these commitments is the least consequential, but it never feels that way in the Maison symphonique. On the afternoon of Oct. 19, Nézet-Séguin led the OM in a Sibelius concert that doubled as a recording session dedicated to the Sixth and Seventh Symphonies — the final installments of what will be a cycle on the Montreal-based ATMA Classique label.
The players were ready to rumble. Sounds were hearty, balances just, tempos brisk. Which for me constituted a bit of a problem. The Sixth can sound like a Nordic scrapbook if all its parts are given full value and laid end-to-end without much in the way of local melodic shape or long-term respiration. Precisely because everything was there, something was missing.
A similar judgment applied to the single-movement Seventh, about nine minutes shorter than the half-hour Sixth but richer in thematic content and harmonic enterprise. The opening rising scale, potentially so hypnotizing, sounded like stairs taken two at a time. Strings were strong, woodwinds tangy. Brass had bite. A patch session was planned for the evening. I heard nothing that needed correction.
The performance that truly deserved digital immortality was of the Violin Concerto, heard before intermission. Warm-toned and eloquent, Lisa Batiashvili did equal justice to the songful and virtuosic elements of the piece. Less was more in pianissimo sequences. Seldom have I heard a more captivating beginning.
Nézet-Séguin and the musicians were full partners in a presentation of admirable subtlety and color. For all the success this native Montrealer has known as a symphonic conductor, he is equally praiseworthy as podium collaborator, onstage or in the pit.
Ample applause led to an encore, Evening Song, a traditional Finnish number arranged in an ethereal style by Jarkko Riihimäki. Batiashvili (who was magical) gave a spoken introduction in French. This Georgian-born German is quite the linguist.
Nézet-Séguin also spoke to the crowd about Sibelius and the need to be quiet when the microphones were on. The hall was close to sold out, a testimony to the vitality of classical music in this town. A week earlier, Rafael Payare and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal had posted a pair of near sellouts with Mahler’s Ninth Symphony presented on its own.
I found the first performance to be loud and incohesive — the Venezuelan conductor is more a man for young Mahler — but the people who pay for tickets appeared to be satisfied. Most of the time, so am I.
