Conducted
by Gregory Vajda, the Lanaudière Festival
Orchestra displayed
a great sensitivity for the composition. Wondrous images of the sea
and the elements above came flooding into our imagination; such was
the brilliant nuances delivered by his conducting and the musicians.
So many varied conditions of the sea played before us.
Mr.
Alain Lefèvre then took to the ivories on the grand Yamaha piano to
perform surely one of the most difficult concerts ever written:
Tchaikovsky’s Concerto
for piano No 1 in B Flat minor, op. 23.
Mr. Lefèvre’s passion was expressed to its fullest; something few artists can do with this whirl-wind work. Staggering, near impossible feats of hyper-rapid ascending and descending octaves, along with the sudden quick cross-over of hands – just to mention two of the many super human demands made upon any pianist. And no matter his/her finger dexterity, few pianists are able to triumphantly master such inherent technical terror.
In
fact, when the composer first presented it to the conductor, Nicolai
Rubenstein on Christmas Eve, 1874, his response was: “It’s
unplayable.” He also said: “worthless”.
Intermission
brought us the composer’s Romeo
and Juliette overture-fantasy played with great feeling by the
Lanaudière Festival Orchestra.
Finally,
Ottorino Respighi’s
Feste Romaines offered
a panoply of percussive and varied instrumental excitement as the
work conjured up the clatter of public events: Circus Maximus,
celebrations, the hunt during October and the cacophony and roar of
the night with street life vendors and a rustic atmosphere of
rudimentary goings-on. Even the barrel-organ has its “say” in
this incredibly dashingly frantic piece.
After
his performance, as Artistic ambassador of
the festival, Mr. Lefêvre
stated he was touched that we all came out in the rain to attend the
opening night. I wouldn’t have missed it – rain or shine.
Crédit photos : Festival de Lanaudière©Christina Alonso
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