FIFTY YEARS AGO, Itzhak Perlman’s North American debut on the Ed Sullivan Show created a sensation. He was thirteen, I was ten, and like millions who watched that broadcast, mesmerized. Somehow the child protégée triumphed over what for some great talents proves a crippling handicap.
Those who saw Perlman recently at Salle Wilfred Pelletier heard the supernatural glow of his tone, felt his boyish charm and wit through a wrinkled face, a tired body. What matter that his approach to Bach is technically and stylistically outmoded, that he has allowed his once flawless intonation to wander? The Israeli master has more than paid his dues.
By contrast, tonight’s solo performance of Montreal violinist Chantal Juillet promises spectacle and surprise. But first age, then youth and beauty.
The Perlman concert was unevenly split between Perlman as violinist and Perlman as conductor. He quickly relinquished the bow for the baton after Bach’s E Major Concerto.
Like other instrumentalist/conductors I could name (Zuckerman), he’s a minimalist. Perlman allowed the orchestra to play through Mozart’s Haffner Symphony with very little intervention, a marked contrast to a previous generation of players who obsessively shaped each phrase (Toscanini, Boult, Casals, and Alexander Schneider to name a few). The first half of the concert is best forgotten.
Things improved dramatically after intermission. Both orchestra and conductor were clearly out to relish the raucous splash of Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony. It all went pretty well, the ensemble tighter than the first half, players and conductor more alert to the oncoming traffic. But the performance begged comparison with the OSM’s own recording for Decca, now 20 years old. Go back to that disc for edge of your seat playing, tightly disciplined but full of mordant wit and nuance.
If music interests you more than spectacle, timeliness more than nostalgia, then the OSM offers its own antidote on October 29th with a special multi-media tribute to contemporary creativity at Théâtre Maisonneuve. The occasion recognizes two significant musical events: what would have been Claude Vivier’s 60th birthday (hard to believe it’s been 25 years since his murder in Paris), and the 10th anniversary of the André Prévost’s Violin Concerto. The soloist is the concerto’s dedicatee, Chantal Juillet, a Montreal violinist whose personality and career is as different from Perlman’s as one can find – as reserved as he is outgoing, as adventurous as he is conservative.
Juillet was winner of the OSM Competition in 1974, joined the Orchestra in 1985 and was appointed associate concertmaster in 1990. Since then she’s made acclaimed recordings of 20th century repertoire and has had works composed for her by André Prévost, Berthold Goldschmid and Krzysztof Penderecki. She is founder and leader of the International Festival of Chamber Music in Saratoga and has made a special interest of presenting events combining dance, poetry, music, theater and painting.
Juillet’s performance of the Prévost will be accompanied by a projection of scenes from James Dormeyer filmic account of the composition of the concerto, Journal d’une création (Diary of a Creation). The Orchestra also performs Canadian Paul Frehner’s Lila, which won the Claude Vivier National Prize in 2007 as part of the OSM’s International Composition Prize, along with works by Ligeti, Reich and Vivier.
If you’re looking for a relevant and authentic musical experience, this concert promises to offer both – with 21st century flair. Tickets start at $24.75 with a $15 admission for 15-30 year olds.
I wasn’t able to find a video of Perlman’s debut performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, but he created such a sensation that Sullivan had to have him back. For a look at the second performance:
