A running joke among the administrative staff of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal goes like this: Every time music director Kent Nagano enters the room with his eyes as big as plates and says "I have a great idea," it's time to run and hide.
Nagano, who has been at the helm of the OSM since 2006, is an ideas person whose latest project sees the light of day on Saturday, Aug. 11. The Cool Classical Journey (La Virée classique in French) is a one-day music festival designed to tap into the vibrant festival atmosphere in downtown Montreal. Its novel rapid-fire concert format will enable classical music lovers, and the classical curious, to sample a wide range of music in a single day, not unlike a speed-dating session. And with tickets ranging from $10 to $30, it falls within the budget of a big swath of the festival-going public.
The OSM has always been busy during the summer playing at festivals outside the city, but it hasn't had a presence in Montreal's downtown summer festival scene since its Mozart Plus series in the 1980s and 90s at Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal. The OSM administration felt it was time to change that.
"There's a very special joie de vivre, a wonderful enthusiasm that one actually feels just walking the streets here in Montreal in the middle of the summer," Nagano said in an interview with CBC Music. "So, the challenge was: What could we do that would really fit perfectly with this special ambience? And the answer was the Cool Classical Journey."
Classical music à la carte
What's unique about the OSM's Cool Classical Journey is its format. Packed into a single day will be 20 concerts, each lasting only 45 minutes and ranging in scale from solo recital to chamber music to full orchestra. Since performances will occur simultaneously in three different concert halls, Nagano compares the experience to dining out: "When you go to a restaurant, for example, you can't possibly eat everything on the menu. You have to choose how you want to begin your meal; what you want for your main course, for your dessert."
Nagano expects those hungry for classical music, or curious to get acquainted with it, will approach the Cool Classical Journey as they would a speed-dating session: "We're hoping the public will love the atmosphere," he explained. "If you don't want to go to one of the concerts in the big concert hall, come to a concert where you're so close to [pianist] Marc-André Hamelin you can reach out and touch him. That's what we want: a sense of intimacy, immediacy, and very short. After 45 minutes you run out the door and go to another concert."
While the concept is new, Nagano insists one thing has not changed: quality. "We're rehearsing this [music] right now, very, very seriously," he said, with a reminder that concertgoers can expect "the highest performance values, with some of the greatest international soloists active today, but in a context that just doesn't happen at another time of the year."
Trio Tetzlaff embrace Cool Classical concept
Among the artists to be featured on Aug. 11 are the musicians of the Trio Tetzlaff from Germany, whom Nagano describes as "friends of the orchestra who know and appreciate our community."
"We felt instinctively that this group would be open to the idea of the Cool Classical Journey, and they were. Each member of the trio has agreed to perform recitals as well as chamber music and solo concertos, including the Beethoven Triple [Concerto.]"
Performances will take place at Places des arts in the heart of Montreal's thriving quartier des spectacles. Recitals and chamber music concerts will be held in the intimate Cinquième salle and Studio théâtre, while the orchestral concerts will happen in La Maison symphonique, the new concert hall that Nagano describes as "a diamond, a symbol of prestige for the city."
When asked by CBC Music if he felt the 45-minute concert was the way of the future for classical music, Nagano responded: "You can say a lot in 45 minutes, but there are certain things you can't say. You're not going to see Mahler's Seventh Symphony, for example; you won't find a concert version of [Wagner's] Götterdämmerung or Brahms's Second Piano Concerto, which are of course vital, important parts of the repertoire. But for that," added Nagano with a wink, "just come see our concerts during the regular season."
Full concert details are available on the OSM's Cool Classical Journey website.
Here are CBC Music's top five Cool Classical Journey concert picks:
1. Christian Tetzlaff plays Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto
Who: Violinist Tetzlaff with the OSM under Nagano.
What: Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 and Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.
When: 11 a.m.
Where: La Maison symphonique.
Why: Start your day with a violin concerto that Nagano ranks among his favourites.
2. The Canadian Brass
Who: The Canadian Brass.
What: Their greatest hits, from Monteverdi to Kompanek.
When: 2:30 p.m.
Where: La Maison symphonique.
Why: The brass will sound awesome in the OSM's new concert hall.
3. Marc-André Hamelin plays Ravel
Who: Hamelin, solo piano.
What: Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit plus music by C.P.E. Bach and Hamelin himself.
When: 4 p.m.
Where: Cinquième salle.
Why: Just go.
4. Kent Nagano conducts Ravel and Beethoven
Who: OSM under Nagano with pianist Lars Vogt.
What: Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2.
When: 7:45 p.m.
Where: La Maison symphonique.
Why: It's always a privilege to hear Nagano conduct Beethoven.
5. Beethoven's Triple Concerto
Who: Trio Tetzlaff with the OSM under Nagano.
What: Rossini's William Tell Overture and Beethoven's Triple Concerto.
When: 9:15 p.m.
Where: La Maison symphonique.
Why: Beethoven's Triple is always an event.
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