MONTREAL — Few cities in North America are as blessed symphonically as Montreal, where the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the Orchestre Métropolitain compete for crowds with name-brand music directors (respectively, Rafael Payare and Yannick Nézet-Séguin) at the helm. Last week the rival ensembles drew appreciative crowds to the Maison symphonique with concerts led by next-to-unknown guest conductors in their 30s.
It should be clarified that the OSM customers on Jan. 21 were expecting to see Robin Ticciati, an Englishman of some repute. A virus had other ideas, and Hankyeol Yoon, a Korean-born Munich resident, was flown in to make his Canadian debut. Not unreasonably, given the quick turnaround, Harlem, a rarely heard tone poem by Duke Ellington, was dropped from the program and replaced by Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, which the newcomer was able to conduct from memory.
A sturdy figure on the podium, Yoon is not one for flashy profiles or circles drawn dramatically in the air. But the musicians responded to his clear, steady style. The pulse was appropriately solemn at the beginning of the Tchaikovsky, and the punchy offbeats of the climactic passages (including nicely contoured cymbal crashes) were exact. If that soaring love theme was more firm than fluid, we could accept this as integral to a symphonic rather than cinematic interpretation of the score.
Next up was Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with the Russian-British Alina Ibragimova in the title role. Her muscular application of bow pressure did not always successfully ward off the orchestral competition, a situation for which we can partly credit the composer, who did not spare the brass in a work that often scans as a boisterous symphony with a violin obbligato. No wonder we hear this concerto so seldom.
After intermission came the main event, Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony, a grand and sumptuous score that is often passed over in favor of the Second. Under the exacting baton of Yoon, the OSM gave the impression of having known it for years — and, most importantly, still loving it. Sonorities were both rich and balanced. The spirit of romance of the second movement (with a brilliant, embedded scherzo) was perfectly captured.
Concertmaster Andrew Wan offered silky contributions. There were many other fine solos. The concerted brass (with the principal trumpet and trombone oddly absent) produced a lustrous glow. This was the sound of a great orchestra under a conductor to the manner born. It is worth a footnote that Yoon arranged the strings in traditional array — first violin, second violin, viola, cello, and double bass — which still strikes me as the safest bet for balance, especially in big repertoire.
If my praise is a little less ample for the Orchestre Métropolitain on Jan. 23, there was still much to enjoy in a program of music from British cinema (broadly defined) under Andrew Crust, music director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and the Lima Symphony Orchestra in Ohio. A graduate of McGill University, this Canadian-American dual citizen speaks French fluently and delivered his spoken introductions with a good deal of wit and popsmeister flair.
The composers were not necessarily British. Bruce Broughton and John Williams, both Americans, and the Italian Nino Rota were heard along with Malcolm Arnold and William Walton. A Harry Potter suite by Williams featured much virtuoso celesta writing, impressively dispatched by Jennifer Bourdages. Principal clarinet Simon Aldrich was in fine form in a zippy selection from Arnold’s score for the 1970 movie David Copperfield (which, filmmaking being a ruthless enterprise, was not used in the final cut).
Soft-focus evocations of the English countryside by Carl Davis (Pride and Prejudice), Rachel Portman (Emma), and Williams (Jane Eyre) did no harm, but there was more drama in Richard Rodney Bennett’s music for Murder on the Orient Express (which included a borrowing from Ravel’s La valse). This was rewarded with hoots of approval. The crowd remained animated for Monty Norman’s sassy, brassy James Bond theme. John Barry’s Goldfinger title seemed a little tame minus the memorable Shirley Bassey vocals.
Still, this was a fun program. The place was packed. Low temperatures hold no terrors for Montreal music fans. Casual clothing prevailed at the OM. The audience for the OSM concert struck me as somewhat younger, although both orchestras attract all types. The news is good from the north.
