The Auditorio de la Ribera was packed for the Scotiabank Northern Lights Music Festival’s Closing Gala on Saturday, March 1. The selection of music and the quality of the performances – both individual and collective – ensured a memorable night for both musicians and audience members alike.
Soloist Mary Elizabeth Brown opened the evening with Schubert’s “Rondo in A major for Violin and Strings D. 438.” Known as a whimsical piece, written when the composer was about 19 it was published posthumously in 1897. Brown demonstrated her innate affinity with her violin, giving a virtuoso performance of all three elements of this beautiful work - from the extended Adagio opening, right through to its climax in F major.
Brown holds degrees from the University of Toronto and l’Université de Montreal, where she received the Prix d’Excellence en Interpretation in 2006. She has toured as a soloist in Europe, Asia, North and South America.
In demand as an orchestral leader, she led the Britten-Pears Orchestra, at England’s Aldeburgh Festival from 2007-2009 and currently holds posts as Associate Concertmaster of Orchestra London Canada and Concertmaster of the Juno-winning chamber orchestra Sinfonia Toronto. A sought-after chamber musician, Mary-Elizabeth is a member of Toronto’s acclaimed Music in the Barns Ensemble and the Aeolian Trio.The “strings” were exceptional, provided by Violin I: principal Ben Bowman, Noemi Gasperini and Dawn Dongeun Wohn. Violin II: principal Chris Wilshere, Véronique Mathieu, Lance Ouellette and Andrew Bensler. Violas: Marie Daniels, Kim Mai Nguyen and Yumi Oshima. Cellos: Ariel Barnes, Greg Gallagher and Amy Laing. Double Bass: Jessie Dietschi.
There was extended applause, until Brown returned for a second bow, then Chris Wilshere, the festival’s director, brought her back for a third, well deserved, ovation.
Next he thanked Scotiabank and everyone involved in the 2014 Festival, particularly the organizing group, billeting hosts, volunteers and many others. He thanked the luthier provided by Heinl & Co., and especially his parents, for their support and allowing their home to become an “open house” throughout the festival. He welcomed Jose “Pepe” Perez Ramirez, the director of Guadalajara’s new Palacio de la Cultura y la Comunicación, adding that he looked forward to a strong level of cooperation between the festival and the cultural center.
As Brown took her seat with the first violins, Ariel Barnes moved to a small podium, center-stage, with the 1730 Newland Joannes Franciscus Celoniatus cello, loaned to him when he won the 2012 Canada Council Instrument Bank Competition.
Principal cello of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra since January 2013, popular soloist and chamber player Barnes is an extremely gifted and universally acclaimed musician, known for his imaginative interpretations of a wide range of musical styles.
Barnes’ rendition of Hayden’s “Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major,” written in 1783 for Antonín Kraft, a cellist of Prince Nikolaus’s Esterházy Orchestra, was no exception. The three movements: Allegro moderato, Adagio and Rondo (Allegro) were rich and beautiful. The first two were very elegant, while the traditional fast Rondo finale was extremely lively. All were fully deserving of the loud cheers and standing ovation that followed.
After intermission 14 musicians – eight violins, three violas and three cellos – returned to the stage. This time there were only three chairs. The whole ensemble – except the cello players – stood for its dramatic performance of Chamber Symphony opus 110 by Dmitri Schostakovitch, written in 1960 during three days in Dresden.
Very focused and comprised of five interconnected movements, the first, a fugato, opens with the composer’s musical signature D, E flat, C, B natural (D, ‘es’, C, H in German notation) which hallmarks every movement, emphasizing the autobiographical nature of the work. The basis for the faster theme in the third; at the end of the fifth movement this slow, dark and despondent theme forms the final inconsolable statement.
Whether this work was dedicated ‘to the memory of the victims of fascism and war’ by the composer – as his son Maxim claims – or, as daughter Galina asserts, the Russian authorities imposed the published dedication, is moot. She maintains he dedicated it to himself. His friend, Lev Lebedinsky agrees. He believes that Shostakovich wrote the work as his epitaph, shortly after the discovery of the muscular weakness that was subsequently diagnosed as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Whatever the truth of the matter, last Saturday’s interpretation of his work was exceptionally well done and brought this year’s festival to a magnificently executed close. The standing ovation and loud cheering were inevitable and entirely justified.