- Toronto Symphony Orchestra
- Conducted by Peter Oundjian
- Stewart Goodyear, piano
- Frédéric Antoun, Marianne Fiset, Michèle Losier, Brett Polegato, vocal soloists
- With the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
- At Roy Thomson Hall
- In Toronto on Thursday
Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 has been many things to many people.
To some, it's an inspiring example of personal triumph over adversity (the composer was stone deaf when he wrote it, in 1824). In the political arena, it's been invoked in support of both Nazi aggression and socialist solidarity. For a time it was Rhodesia's national anthem. In 1987 musicologist Susan McClary scandalously compared one passage to the "throttling, murderous rage of a rapist incapable of attaining release." Most recently, though, the work has been pressed into service as an optimistic symbol of pan-European unity.
And you could say Roy Thomson Hall briefly joined the European Union when the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, under maestro Peter Oundjian, performed the Ninth Symphony with anthemic power in an all-Beethoven program. (The Ninth will be repeated in a late-night performance on Saturday, as part of this year's Luminato festival.)
The concert opened with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2, with the Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear as soloist. It seemed that he and Oundjian had reached an agreement on a "less is more" approach to interpretation - which, unfortunately, was only more or less successful.
The best movements were the first and third, which were endearing in their understated charm. But it was in the slow second movement that momentary opportunities for expression were suavely passed over by both conductor and soloist. Goodyear's performance was admirably precise and detailed - but also facile (in both senses of the word), and so sensitive as to verge at times on the precious.
When the TSO turned its attention to the Ninth Symphony, however, things were different. From the first movement's opening outburst, Oundjian displayed a strong sense of drama and direction, and the TSO players responded with a purposeful, hard-driven performance. Impressively, timpanist David Kent tore through the movement as if it were a timpani concerto.
The second movement was brisk and lively, marked by well-controlled crescendos. Similarly, the third was also well-shaped, with long, supple lines, punctuated by moments of greater power.
Of course, it's the "Ode to Joy" that gives this work its iconic status - and also its curiously reversed structure: In the Ninth Symphony, it's the final movement, rather than its first, that commands the most attention, both for its length and its groundbreaking use of vocal forces.
The first singer out of the gate was baritone soloist Brett Polegato, whose weighty voice was marred by an uneven, granular quality. Fortunately, soprano Marianne Fiset and tenor Frédéric Antoun both displayed bright, clear timbres, to good effect. (The mezzo soloist was Michèle Losier, who did what she could with her part, sandwiched, as it is, between other voices.)
When called upon, the 160-voice Toronto Mendelssohn Choir made a glorious sound - especially the basses, when it was their moment to shine. Oundjian masterfully balanced all the forces at his disposal, bringing the movement to a blazing conclusion.
Above the applause, a lone voice in the balcony shouted, "Bravo Beethoven!" Bravo, indeed.
Special to The Globe and Mail