The Toronto Symphony Orchestra with Long Yu (guest-conductor) and Jian Wang (cello) at Roy Thomson Hall. Nov. 26
Interesting coincidence: In 2014 Long Yu leads the Montreal Symphony Orchestra through a stunning Shostakovich Fifth Symphony in the Maison symphonique. Saturday night at Roy Thomson Hall, same piece, different band, same deal. This is the best thing I have heard from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra this season.
Which is to say not only that technical and tonal standards were as high as could be desired but that the equivocal essence of this great score — its dual expression of hope and terror — was captured to perfection. Certainly, the finale encompassed the complexity of human experience with an immediacy that settled (for me) the debate over its supposedly inappropriate triumphalism. Victory, despite everything Stalin and his henchmen can muster, will be ours. Who can deny the value of this message?
That finale, driven by brass playing that was bold but never vulgar, followed a hushed Largo in which the divided TSO strings drew long lines with the utmost eloquence. Prior to this came an Allegretto that expressed the composer’s irony with sharp accents and brilliant colours. “A light-heart respite,” as the authorized review in 1937 would have it? I don’t think so.
Yu traced the emotional trajectory of the first movement with no less mastery, moderating the intensity of the exposition to give the authoritarian threat of the development its due. Climaxes, however fierce, were balanced. Many individual efforts could be mentioned. We shall settle for a nod to principal flute Nora Shulman, a ray of sunshine amid the darkness, and associate concertmaster Mark Skazinetsky, who found both bitter and sweet in the violin solos.
Behind it all was Yu, a native of Shanghai who grew up during the Cultural Revolution and undoubtedly identifies with Shostakovich and his hardships. All business on the podium, this conductor often beats time symmetrically and does not bother flashing profiles. Yet he commanded the respect of the orchestra and indeed seemed to appeal to the (substantial) crowd, which sat in rapt silence during the Largo and expressed appropriate approval at the end.
Back to the coincidence file: As in Montreal, the guest soloist was cellist Jian Wang, and the featured contemporary composer was Qigang Chen, a student of Olivier Messiaen. His Instants d’un opera de Pékin was colourful but insufficiently original to sustain interest over 17 minutes. The rhythm-free main theme was more iterated than developed. All the same, the TSO gave the piece a sheen.
Dvořák’s Cello Concerto was the pre-intermission biggie, and indeed the number with which the program (repeated Sunday in George Weston Recital Hall) was marketed. Wang took a tender, loving view of the work, stretching tempos and spinning fluid phrases. Not once did I doubt his sincerity but my preference is for a firmer beat and more nobility (not to mention less prolongation in the finale). Yu followed him loyally. A transcription of Dvořák’s soprano standard, Song to the Moon, was given as an encore.
#LUDWIGVAN
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