The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra with Elisa Citterio, violin. September 22, at Koerner Hall. Repeats Sept. 23–25, 27.
September is an exciting month for Toronto music lovers. Summer is now history, and thoughts turn to work, school, and for those so inclined, the start of a new musical season. Toronto Symphony Orchestra had its glitzy opening last evening. Tonight it was the turn of Tafelmusik, Canada’s premiere baroque orchestra. Since its founding in 1979, this group has earned an enviable reputation worldwide and built a fiercely loyal public, both at home and on tour. While its home base remains the historical Trinity St. Paul’s Centre with its newly renovated Jeanne Lamon Hall, opening night in recent seasons have been relocated to the larger, more comfortable Koerner Hall.
The program this evening was a familiar one, with Handel’s Water Music as the centrepiece. Also featured were works by Bach and Rameau. The guest director was Italian violinist Elisa Citterio, who was here a year ago. It’s no secret that Tafelmusik has been looking over a number of guest directors to replace the long-serving and much beloved Jeanne Lamon. It would appear that this long, drawn-out process may be finally nearing the end. Several guests are returning this season to give the management, players and the Board another look, with Citterio being one of them.
It was a good crowd at Koerner Hall tonight, full of long-time Tafelmusik faithfuls. They heard a concert that started rather tentatively but built to a rousing finish. The Bach Orchestral Suite no 4 that kicked off the proceedings could have benefited from a tighter, more incisive directorial hand and generally firmer, crisper playing. By the Gavotte, however, it had all settled down nicely. The final section, the Rejouissance, fully living up to its name, with the Tafelmusik forces delivering a truly joyous and spirited final flourish.
This was followed by a sparkling rendition of the Dances from Les Indes galantes by Rameau. Citterio introduced the work to the audience in a charming, accented English. The playing here fully suggested that these are indeed dances, something that’s not always the case. Here, we have all the precision and incisiveness that was sometimes lacking earlier in the Bach. The Rameau calls for an augmented orchestra, and I counted about twenty-eight musicians on stage.
After an intermission, the audience was treated to the heart of the evening, the beloved Water Music by Handel. It’s a long work with three separate suites lasting a good fifty minutes. Interestingly, given the premiere was in July 1717, we are just ten months short of its 300th anniversary! It’s scored for a large orchestra so that it could be heard outdoors in a concert on the River Thames in the time of King George I. This is a piece requiring virtuosic, very florid display from all the instruments, but particularly the horns, brass and woodwind. The playing this evening was impressive, a few minor intonation blemishes notwithstanding. The audience was very appreciative, and Maestra Citterio was called back several times. An encore was played with fabulous energy and brio, which brought on more enthusiastic applause. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend two hours on a warm early autumn evening. Highly recommended.
#LUDWIGVAN
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