At the first pianist’s pause in the world premiere of André Mathieu’s Piano Concerto No. 4, Alain Lefèvre quietly got up from the bench and adjusted the brakes on the Yamaha baby grand.
In all the Tucson Symphony Orchestra’s preparations for this weekend’s history-making recording project, securing the piano’s brakes had slipped everyone’s notice.
It was an awkward moment Thursday night that did not go unnoticed by the 1,300 people in the audience, or the camera crew from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. filming the concert for a future broadcast.
It left Lefèvre visibly frazzled, but he and the orchestra quickly set it aside.
They had worked too hard, dreamed too big to let something so minor distract them from making history with Mathieu’s long-lost, magnificent concerto.
Magnificent is not too strong a word to describe the 30-plus-minute concerto, the centerpiece of the orchestra’s first-ever commercial CD that was recorded during Thursday’s and Friday’s concerts, and will be again on Sunday. The CD also includes two other Mathieu pieces and Gershwin’s “An American in Paris.”
The concerto is rooted in the late Romantic style of Rachmaninoff. Wonderful, unrestrained melodies are born in the piano theme and revisited by the full orchestra. Long, virtuosic piano passages are underscored by equally dramatic flashes from the orchestra. Melancholy is interrupted by playful interludes that take their nod from Debussy, then segue into grand cinematic gestures.
Earlier this week, TSO Conductor George Hanson joked that the concerto showed Mathieu had musical style attention deficit, which surely served the French-Canadian composer well.
The story of how the TSO landed an international recording gig with the renowned French-Canadian pianist Lefèvre is equal parts chemistry and good fortune. Lefèvre’s and the orchestra’s friendship dates back to 2004, when they teamed up to perform the American premiere of Mathieu’s Quebec Concerto. He returned two years later to cement the relationship, performing the American premiere of Mathieu’s “Rhapsodie romantique.” Both works were among the Mathieu pieces that Lefèvre has recovered and restored over the past two decades. Mathieu died in 1968 at the age of 39, possibly as a result of alcoholism, and very few of his scores survived.
Without Lefèvre to champion his music, history might have relegated him to a footnote that included the oft-repeated kudo, “little Canadian Mozart.”
Thursday was the first time Piano Concerto No. 4 was performed in public for an audience. It was Lefèvre’s latest discovery, delivered to him about two years ago by a woman who had rudimentary recordings of Mathieu playing the piece entirely on piano. The recordings hinted how Mathieu envisioned the concerto. He had sketched the main themes and working ideas in the recording, but he died before he had a chance to fully flesh it out or write it down.
That job was left to Montreal conductor Gilles Bellemare, an accomplished arranger who spent 18 months recreating the concerto note-for-note from the recordings.
It is impossible to know if Bellemare was true to Mathieu’s intent. In some ways, it hardly seems worth the breath to argue the point given the strength of the end result — a concerto that has the potential to reside alongside the major works played by orchestras around the world for generations to come. And when those orchestras program the Mathieu, they will follow the TSO’s road map that calls for equal measures of powerful drama and restraint.
In the opening, Hanson allowed the romantic gestures to blush before being interrupted by gallant trumpet roars and the low rumble of timpani. A crisp clarinet solo lent a jazzy interlude that segued into a lovely piano passage that mimicked Debussy.
Lefèvre, taking subtle direction from Hanson, carried on a musical conversation with the orchestra. The back and forth at times was punctuated by dramatic gestures from both sides, from concertmaster Steven Moeckel’s fairly leaping out of his chair, to Lefèvre’s bounding off the bench, presumably from the weight of his playing.
Lefèvre played with passionate abandon, alternating between subtly and dramatic gestures. He nailed the melodies with taut precision and allowed the whimsical lines enough air to dance by playing them softer. A couple of times it seemed he was playing too softly; you could barely hear him over the orchestra.
An argument could be made that the concerto dragged on a few minutes too long, but with the final climactic notes swelling in the air, Thursday’s audience was on its feet applauding and shouting bravo.
“The Tucson Symphony Orchestra is a wonderful orchestra,” Lefèvre said after taking several bows with Hanson and Bellemare. “I believe I was able to do this great night because we are in the United States and you believe in a great story. And I thank you very much.”
The concert also included a lush reading of Mathieu’s “Scenes de Ballet (Ballet Scenes),” including a splendid performance by Moeckel in the undefined role of soloist. “Scenes” probably sounded familiar to some in the audience; parts of it were featured in the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
The TSO Chorus filled the back half of the stage for Mathieu’s “Four Songs for Choir and Orchestra,” which borrows from French-Canadian folk songs. The chorus sang the 12-minute piece in French and with convincing pronunciation.
The CD is expected to be released internationally in September, just in time for the TSO to kick off its 80th season.
Review
∫ Tucson Symphony Orchestra featuring pianist Alain Lefèvre. The concert, part of the orchestra’s first-ever commercial recording project, repeats at 2 p.m. Sunday at Tucson Music Hall. Moms are admitted free with a paid admission.
Et cetera: The TSO musicians continue to perform without a ratified contract.
