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Two Orchestras, One Symphony: Jacques Hétu Symphony No. 5, Op. 81
Two Orchestras, One Symphony: Jacques Hétu Symphony No. 5, Op. 81 in Bloomington, MN
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The Quebecois composer
Jacques Hétu
is, by some reckonings, Canada's most-performed composer at home. He's not so familiar abroad, but others ought to hear his music.
Hétu
composed in a complex tonal style and was shunned by Canada's avant-garde, but he came up with a superb rejoinder, "I handled the ostracism thanks to performers who played my music or commissioned works from me." The
Symphony No. 5
was his final work and perhaps his magnum opus. The
Two Orchestras, One Symphony
title refers to the fact that the performance here involves two massed orchestras, the
National Arts Centre Orchestra
of Canada and the
Orchestre Symphonique de Québec
. There is nothing terribly novel about this; both orchestras are fairly small, and the full group of over 100 musicians would probably have been possible only with the two groups together. The forces may even have been a bit of a disadvantage; there is a crisper performance of this work by the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
and conductor
Peter Oundjian
, who commissioned it. Those unfamiliar with it are in for a treat, however, and the
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
here manages an appropriately inspiring tone for the final "Liberté" movement.
's work is nothing if not ambitious.
is a World War II programmatic work to rival
Shostakovich
and the other composers who have taken this theme to a grand scale. The work is set in Paris.
's language is cinematic and quite vivid. As in the film Life Is Beautiful (1997), the action begins before the war, with a festive but nervous mood.
depicts the invasion of France, and he's excellent in the combination of funereal and tense in the "Occupation" third movement. As in
Beethoven
's
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
, the finale here is the longest, and it packs a punch with its incantatory sequence of quatrains by poet
Paul Éluard
, leading up to a cry of "Liberté!" The work may be ideal for listeners wondering why composers don't write this kind of Romantic symphony anymore, but it should be heard; one can sample this and
Oundjian
's version, and take one's pick. ~ James Manheim
Jacques Hétu
is, by some reckonings, Canada's most-performed composer at home. He's not so familiar abroad, but others ought to hear his music.
Hétu
composed in a complex tonal style and was shunned by Canada's avant-garde, but he came up with a superb rejoinder, "I handled the ostracism thanks to performers who played my music or commissioned works from me." The
Symphony No. 5
was his final work and perhaps his magnum opus. The
Two Orchestras, One Symphony
title refers to the fact that the performance here involves two massed orchestras, the
National Arts Centre Orchestra
of Canada and the
Orchestre Symphonique de Québec
. There is nothing terribly novel about this; both orchestras are fairly small, and the full group of over 100 musicians would probably have been possible only with the two groups together. The forces may even have been a bit of a disadvantage; there is a crisper performance of this work by the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
and conductor
Peter Oundjian
, who commissioned it. Those unfamiliar with it are in for a treat, however, and the
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
here manages an appropriately inspiring tone for the final "Liberté" movement.
's work is nothing if not ambitious.
is a World War II programmatic work to rival
Shostakovich
and the other composers who have taken this theme to a grand scale. The work is set in Paris.
's language is cinematic and quite vivid. As in the film Life Is Beautiful (1997), the action begins before the war, with a festive but nervous mood.
depicts the invasion of France, and he's excellent in the combination of funereal and tense in the "Occupation" third movement. As in
Beethoven
's
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
, the finale here is the longest, and it packs a punch with its incantatory sequence of quatrains by poet
Paul Éluard
, leading up to a cry of "Liberté!" The work may be ideal for listeners wondering why composers don't write this kind of Romantic symphony anymore, but it should be heard; one can sample this and
Oundjian
's version, and take one's pick. ~ James Manheim
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