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In November of 2023, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) announced the beginning of a long-term partnership with Harmonia Mundi. This historic multi-disc agreement – the European label’s first with a North American orchestra – was inaugurated with the recent release of Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie, recorded last year, and will continue with the recording of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, on February 23rd and 24th.
Photo by Allan Cabral
The concerts will open with Kelly-Marie Murphy’s Curiosity, Genius and the Search for Petula Clark, commissioned and premiered by the TSO in 2017, with support from the government of Canada, and the Glenn Gould Foundation. This 10-minute, single-movement work was written in celebration of Gould’s 85th birthday, and the 70th anniversary of his debut with the orchestra. Instead of simply reflecting on his legacy as a concert pianist, it serves as a portrait of the man himself: his public, and private, persona.
After retiring from public performance in 1964, Glenn Gould devoted much of his time and efforts towards recording and broadcasting. He created a series of radio documentaries, the first of which was titled The Search for Petula Clark. Murphy uses these radio documentaries as a framing device. Her piece evokes Gould’s search for Clark’s song “Who Am I?” across radio relay stations, on a drive up through Northern Ontario. “He speaks about this pop song with the same focus, attention and intellect as he would use on Bach,” reflects Murphy in her program notes. Her work attempts to capture Gould’s “energy, curiosity, reflection and satisfaction”, so evident in this radio program.
Photo by Allan Cabral
Following Murphy’s work, the concert will shine the spotlight on Stravinsky’s neoclassical period. First up is the 1949 version of the Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fee (The Fairy’s Kiss), originally composed in 1928. The plot of The Fairy’s Kiss is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ice Maiden, while its music pays homage to Tchaikovsky – one of Stravinsky’s childhood heroes. Here, Stravinsky is “taking a source, changing it, [and]creating something new in his own language,” says conductor Gustavo Gimeno in an interview with the TSO.
This approach is similar to that which he takes in Pulcinella. Widely regarded as Stravinsky’s first foray into neoclassical writing, the ballet borrows 17th century Italian commedia dell’arte material by composers such as Pergolesi, Draghi, and Monza – reimagining baroque musical themes and ideas with more modern rhythms, orchestral textures, and harmonies.
While the suite from Pulcinella is quite well-known, the ballet is rarely played in its entirety. On this occasion, the TSO will be joined by mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, tenor Paul Appleby, and bass-baritone Derek Welton. Gimeno looks forward to working with this esteemed group of singers, “this was my first choice,” he says in an interview. This will be the conductor’s first time working with Leonard, Appleby, and Welton. “They are great artists, great singers, individually” he says, but beyond that, “this is the team I had imagined.”
This performance will mark the beginning of several new musical relationships, but will also honor collaborations of the past. The TSO, for example, marked a milestone moment for Stravinsky: it was with this very orchestra, in 1967, that he made the final conducting appearance of his lifetime, leading them in a performance of the suite from Pulcinella. He died only a few years later, in 1971. He was 88.
It goes without saying that a live recording is no small feat and requires an intense level of preparation from all sides. Having conducted his first recording with the orchestra last year, during their 100th anniversary season, Gimeno is certainly up to leading these efforts. For recordings, “everyone is so prepared, so motivated, so focused,” he says. “You feel it [as early]as the first rehearsal.” He goes on: “ the level of attention, of concentration, is quite extraordinary… I was very impressed last year.” Gimeno has a longstanding relationship with Harmonia Mundi, who he has previously recorded with in Luxembourg, and for other projects – this promises to streamline the process, particularly in post-production.
Photo by Allan Cabral
The musicians on stage are not the only ones with a great deal of responsibility, however. Audience members are equally as important to the success of a live recording, and to creating a sense of excitement, and active, exacting concentration in the hall. “By being there and by being excited, the audience is contributing,” confirms Vice President and General Manager of the TSO, Dawn Cattapan. Their energy “is what the orchestra feeds off of,” she says.
Both the February 23rd and 24th performances will be recorded for the album. These, along with post-concert patch recording sessions, will be combined to create the final product. Behind the scenes, a team of TSO and Harmonia Mundi personnel will join forces to turn Roy Thomson Hall’s green room into a “Recording Central.” The canopy hanging above the audience will be adjusted to manipulate the hall’s acoustic, making it perfectly suited to the repertoire being recorded. The hall will be fitted with microphones to capture the orchestra’s every tone and color. After three or four months of mixing and editing, followed by an approval process during which musicians and soloists can give their opinions on the mix, the recording will be ready for audiences worldwide.
Those who are too eager to wait for the recording to be released need look no further than the end of this month, when the TSO will bring these works to life – celebrating historic moments in the lives of Gould, Stravinsky, and the orchestra itself.
The TSO will present Stravinsky’s Pulcinella on February 23rd and 24th, at Roy Thomson Hall: www.tso.ca/concerts-and-events/events/stravinskys-pulcinella/
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