Puzzling decisions lead to a frustrating start to the 2022/23 Vancouver Symphony Orchestra season
Well I guess Otto Tausk was bound to miss at some point. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s music director has had a habit of making unique and fresh interpretive choices that have enhanced a lot of the standard repertoire he has conducted in Vancouver. One remembers the stunning contrasts of his Bruckner 4, the incredible rubatos at the end of his Dvorak 9, or the magnificent use of tempo changes throughout his Tchaikovsky 5. It was a small miracle all to itself that to this point the vast majority of these unique decisions worked so elegantly.
Tausk’s big miss finally came at the opening concert of the 2022/23 season with Ravel’s full ballet score for Daphnis and Chloe. For whatever reason the choice was made to perform the ballet without the usual wordless chorus. It created a performance that felt unfortunately hollow at the center. Even in the moments where Tausk and the orchestra dubbed over the chorus parts instrumentally the hole that was left in the overall atmosphere and mood of the piece remained. Most of the ballet’s bigger set pieces, especially the grand finale, just felt empty. Why go to the effort of performing the whole ballet without the chorus? It was a puzzling choice to say the least.
This was especially frustrating given how spectacularly the orchestra performed. This was some of the best orchestral playing I have heard from the VSO. The warm lushness in the strings that has been developed throughout the Otto Tausk’s tenure was on beautiful display here. This is a string sound that has really come a long way and they really got the chance to show it throughout. The VSO’s woodwinds are usually great and there was no exception here, principal flute Christie Reside and principal clarinet Janette Jonquil were especially excellent in their major parts towards the finale. Even Tausk, despite the choice to omit the chorus, gave an overall excellent interpretation. The ballet flowed beautifully from beginning to finish and most importantly had a real rhythmic energy. This was a Daphnis that really moved in a dynamic fashion and never threatened to be brought down by the weight of its lushness. It’s a real shame that all this orchestral excellence ultimately felt a little wasted in a performance that, despite the orchestra’s best efforts, felt frustratingly hollow.
The first half of the program saw Stewart Goodyear come last minute to play Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto. Goodyear’s last two performances with the orchestra have been rather fine with a very good Gershwin piano concerto back in 2019 and an equally spirited Rachmaninoff Variations on a Theme of Paganini early last season. The Tchaikovsky unfortunately never quite got to the level of either of those two performances as it never felt like it really got going until the final movement. In the first two movements it felt as though Goodyear failed to carry the dramatic tension of the piece. Goodyear had a way of making the fortes forceful throughout but really struggled to make the less flashy or dynamic parts of the concerto interesting. This especially made the first movement feel like it was dragging a fair bit. That being said Goodyear brought the goods for the final movement and the orchestra followed suit giving an exciting race to the ending that generated great applause from the packed Orpheum crowd. Not a great Tchaikovsky concerto by any measure but not a bad one either especially given the circumstances.
If there was an award for the strangest part of the night though it was in the opening. After a stirring Nimrod in tribute to Music Director Emeritus Bramwell Tovey, who passed unexpectedly in the summer, the VSO made the rather strange decision to bring out a BC MLA to trumpet the return of live music. It was an odd placement for a speech that really felt like it cheapened the tribute to the VSO’s most important music director. Why not just allow for a moment of silence instead, or have someone come and actually speak about Tovey? There was no need for a politician to speak here even if it is a strange staple of opening concerts and galas. Why cheapen such a nice little tribute? Who thought this was a good idea?
All that aside while I did leave the VSO’s opening concert a hint frustrated I also left hopeful for the season ahead. The orchestra is playing at a very high level at the moment and more often than not throughout the first few years of his tenure Tausk’s unique interpretive choices have helped more than they have hindered. A miss is going to happen every once and a while one just wishes it didn’t happen when the orchestra was playing as well as it was.
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