Concert Hall, QPAC
August 4, 2018

Orchestras are hierarchical. This mighty ensemble has been compared to an army. The conductor is the powerhouse general, the concertmaster second in command. The upper and lower strings, by far the largest section, are sorted into rank and file. Orchestral players are the foot soldiers obliged to deliver the grand vision of the conductor.

But this program’s repertoire from Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks scored for 15 instruments, informed by Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, enabled the audience to appreciate individual instrumental voices. It was great to hear clarinetist Irit Silver, bassoonist Nicole Tait and double bassist Phoebe Russell perform in a smaller chamber context.

The driver behind the selection of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, despite it being a wonderful work presumably, was because of the way Bartók democratised and broke down orchestral hierachies by featuring solos right across the orchestra.

Talking of soloists, Sergio Tiempo was sensational in Rachmaninov’s colossal Third Piano Concerto. The intense challenge of the piano part can make a sorry victim of the soloist. But not in Tiempo’s case, who had the virtuosic challenges nailed yet consistently directed towards pathos. Demanding though the big and scampered chordal flurries were, the clarity of the melodic line, accents and harmonic...