Apparently I hadn’t gone to the TSO this entire season until this week when we went to hear Liszt’s first piano concerto. It was performed by André Laplante who looks like a 70s hippie (still with ponytail but now with white hair). Looks aside, he performed the technically challenging concerto quite well (although it sounded like he lost a bit of concentration on the easier parts).
The evening was sponsored by VIA Rail and they were giving out chocolates prior to the concert and desserts (cookies, macaroons) during the intermission. After the intermission, we were treated to another instance of the Rite of Spring. It was about as interesting as the last time we heard TSO perform Rite of Spring. I think the piece does have talent in making such a dischord sound musical and not like noise.
The other noteworthy point is that the evening was conducted by Vasily Petrenko, who I learned from the programme won the 2010 Male Artist of the Year at the Classical BRIT awards. Maybe I don’t understand the influence of a conductor, but how are their contributions more spectacular than an individual instrumentalist?
Here is the Toronto Star’s four star review.
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