‘Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, Nézet-Séguin & Kantorow’

Ravel had been playing with the idea of a tribute to the Viennese waltz for twenty years. But Johann Strauss’ carefree Vienna was hardly recognisable after the First World War. So it may come as no surprise that La Valse disintegrates into an outpouring of ignorance that poses the question: “What now?” The Canadian Barbara Assiginaak’s 2021 composition also undergoes a transformation. Eko-Bmijwang follows the current of a river, hastened and slowed down by Mother Nature. Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with the pianist Alexandre Kantorow and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 complete the programme. Tchaikovsky himself gave it the nickname ‘The Passionate Symphony’, although this was later translated, confusingly, as ‘Pathétique’. Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s conducting style is nothing if not passionate, as the Montreal Metropolitan will reveal.