Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Orpheum Theatre
November 7 8:00pm
It was modern classical night at the VSO. Not just 20th century music, but the Canadian premiere of a 21st century piece. Bramwell Tovey gave his usual personable introduction to the first piece by Michio Kitazume. Ei-Sho is a wonderfully evocative of dawning light which is the translation of the title. The beginning is reminiscent of Gyorgy Ligeti's Overture: Atmospheres from 2001: A Space Odyssey but soon heads in Kitazume's own naturalistic direction.
The highlight of the evening was the Canadian premiere of John Adams' The Dharma at Big Sur. Concertmaster Mark Fewer played on a custom made six string electric violin in an incredibly tight and energetic performance with the orchestra. The use of just intonation made for an exotic, almost Eastern sound. It was an unfamiliar tuning for the audience but it sounded brilliant to my ears. John Adams is definitely one of the best composers alive today. Now if only I could convince Vancouver Opera to put on Doctor Atomic sometime...
The second half of the evening featured Igor Stravinsky's Petrouchka which was my first hearing of his tragic love triangle puppet ballet. While the story is rather unconventional to say the least, the music was pure Stravinsky. I swear I heard bits of The Firebird in there. Tovey chose to use the original more mysterious ending and not the perfunctory orchestral version which prompted him to ask, "what was Stravinsky thinking?!"
I'm thrilled that the VSO can put on a concert like this with new, and exciting music. I've been lucky to see Tovey and Fewer stretching the limits here, and with their Wagamama jazz group. Looking forward to more great music!
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