The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s second concert, Voices of Canada, featured Canadian Indigenous voices and contemporary compositions during the first half.
The first piece, You Can Die Properly Now, was sung in Mi’kmaq with sorrowful intensity by Emma Pennell so much so that the audience failed to applaud since tears seemed to be the only reasonable response.
The second piece, Un cri s’élève en moi, sung by Elisabeth St-Gelais was equally moving. Considerable applause was rightly awarded to both sopranos for each of their performances.
The final piece of the first half was Gabriela Ortiz’s cello concerto Dzonot written for and played by cellist Alisa Weilerstein. Here the free sheet let us down since there was no exposition of the piece nor a listing of its parts.
However the piece was evocative – and quite complex in its execution.
After the interval we were treated to Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), a piece of which I was unfamiliar. This tone poem is infused with extraordinary power and exploits the range of both the orchestra and individual instruments.
A remarkable revelation.
