ENSEMBLE DU MONDE FEATURES SAINT-GEORGES, MOZART AND BEETHOVEN

Magali LEGER, Marlon DANIEL et Ensemble du Monde,
Le talent et la fougue de la jeunesse insolente et belle.

   
Une Guadeloupéenne à NEW-YORK !

Merkin Hall, New York; January 10, 2010

Ensemble du Monde, a New York based orchestra comprised of young musicians representing over thirteen countries, presented on Sunday night a concert program entitled Classical Innovators under music director Marlon Daniel.The Classical Innovators in this case were Joseph de Boulogne (Le Chevalier du Saint-Georges, a composer of African descent living in France), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven, each a musical path breaker in his own right. Boulogne was first on the program. His L’Amant Anonyme (The Anonymous Lover) overture functions as a three movement symphony which, in its bristling energy and compelling use of accents and syncopation remind very much of Haydn (who was an admirer of Boulogne). Daniel led the work with infectious enthusiasm, which was clearly caught by the orchestra.

Soprano Magali Léger was featured in two arias from Boulogne’s opera Léontine. « Son amour sa constance » brimmed with sturm und drang, which Léger embodied impressively even as she floated a beautiful high pianissimo in the work’s brief quiet interlude. « Du tendre amour, » in a style similar to Mozart’s Exsultate jubilate, provided opportunities for Léger to display her considerable vocal athleticism, as well as her bright, ringing high notes.

It’s no slight to Boulogne to say that Mozart’s « Voi avete un cor fedele » was the finest vocal piece of the program. It opens with one of the composer’s dreamy cantabile melodies, which showed off the smooth beauty of Léger’s voice, then proceeds into some rapid fire passages requiring serious vocal agility, all of which Léger handled with aplomb.

The concert’s second half was devoted to Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, which sounded wildly « innovative » indeed after the strictly classical works which preceded it. The enlarged orchestra, the expanded instrumental palette, the harmonic suspensions, the syncopations and most of all the much greater duration must have been quite shock for the work’s first audiences. This impression was strongly reinforced by Daniel’s bracing tempos, which hewed as close as possible to Beethoven’s metronome markings. Thus, the first movement was breezy and exhilarating — quite different from the cozy romantic style that many of us grew up with. The orchestra kept on its toes throughout — the very challenge of doing so added to the excitement. The Funeral March second movement really benefited from the more flowing tempo, conveying solemnity without dragging. Daniel’s rendition revealed much beauty and power, and was marred only by occasional lapses in string intonation.

The scherzo launched at a swift, rapid-fire pace — causing the woodwinds to temporarily lose their footing. But overall the players negotiated Beethoven’s tricky rhythms expertly (even though I could imagine the poor dogs in the « hunting » scherzo being driven to exhaustion). Daniel’s swift tempo had the finale sounding like one of Beethoven’s later works, demonstrating how forward looking this symphony is. It was a lively performance, especially the coda, which, taken at breakneck speed, brought the symphony to an invigorating close. The audience response was prolonged and enthusiastic.

Victor Carr, Jr