The Song of Hiawatha actually consists of four pieces composed by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor over a period of three years.
It was presented here as the parts of a whole, “Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast”, “The Death of Minnehaha”, “Overture to The Song of Hiawatha”, and “Hiawatha’s Departure”.
This rarely performed piece is based by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem about an Ojibwe warrior. The cultural references, however, are quite jumbled as Anton Treuer pointed out in the narrative introduction before the performance alongside the history of the piece was expounded by Uchenna Ngwe.
The conductor, Rafael Payare, gave it his all with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Indeed if he had been more animated, I fear the violas would have incurred serious injuries.
The singing by soprano Francesca Chiejina, tenor Nicky Spence, and baritone Christopher Maltman was marvellous. The Edinburgh Festival Chorus under the guidance of James Grossmith was truly outstanding.
The range of emotion explored in the music and voice expression was vast and extremely moving.
A truly inspiring concert.
