Mahler: Symphony No. 5—Orchestre symphonique de Montréal/Rafael Payare
It’s nice to hear my old hometown band playing so well under its new Music Director, Venezuelan Rafael Payare. Payare is a horn-playing graduate from the famous El Sistema, also studying conducting there with Gustavo Dudamel’s teacher, José Antonio Abreu, after winning the principal horn position of the now famous Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. Formerly assistant to Abbado and Barenboim, Payare accepted the Montreal job and took over from Kent Nagano last year.
The Montreal Symphony Orchestra, known colloquially as the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) (Québécois subsidy money, en français, s'il vous plaît!) has a long history with the piece under review, Mahler 5. I’ve heard them play it live a couple of times, once with Charles Dutoit and once with Kent Nagano. It’s a party piece for this virtuoso and sometimes ornery orchestra—it had famous and egotistical run-ins over the years with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Charles Dutoit, and Sir András Schiff, all combative enough that they made the headlines.
de Burgos mentioned at a dinner party they weren’t as good as the Berlin Phil. He lasted a year. Dutoit, a lot longer, and you know where that led. Schiff’s nonsense was as a guest conductor. Lots more behind-the-scenes stories I heard over the years. My flute teacher at McGill University (a brief, very unhappy experience before heading to Europe to study) was married to one of the trombonists in the orchestra and the powerful head of the union.
Photo: Antoine Saito. Rafael Payare conducts l’OSM à Carnegie Hall.
As the orchestra slowly weeded out the many brothers and other members of one family littered among the players and hired Dutoit, discovered the great recording church in Ste. Eustache (the Decca record contract story is now famous), the orchestra’s level and fame grew exponentially. It led Gramophone reviewer Edward Greenfield to exclaim them “the best French orchestra in the world, no matter what they think in Paris”. The Montreal brass loved all this. But there is no doubt, the orchestra was in far better shape because of Dutoit’s standards and careful hiring.
Anyway, enough of the gossip and back to Payare’s Mahler 5.
As I mentioned, the orchestra is in very good shape and plays at the level of many international orchestras. If you’re looking for a well-played and recorded Mahler 5, look no further.
The famous OSM woodwinds, mostly hired at the start of the Dutoit reign, are getting on in their careers, but still sound top-notch. Long-time principal trumpet Paul Merkelo is a safe bet always. His opening solo in “Trauermarsch” and high notes in the finale are as heroic as anyone. And the strings have a corporate sheen as good as any on the continent save LA, Cleveland, Chicago, Philly and Boston.
Adding to the continued high standards no doubt is its home, inaugurated in 2011, the Maison Symphonique de Montréal (I’m assuming the CD was recorded here). By all accounts a fine acoustical success, miles ahead of the orchestra’s previous home, the barn-like Salle Wilfred Pelletier, replete with awful acoustics.
Payare hits all of his marks in this showpiece of a symphony. The opening funeral march has gravitas and drama, the stormy second movement has precision and good intonation (as the woodwinds get squirrely, many orchestral sections get ragged and sharp), the “Scherzo” has good horn playing (never a star group in this orchestra—a new principal horn, a recent addition), the Adagietto’s tempo is appropriate (no Lenny gilding the lily) and is very beautiful culminating in an exciting “Rondo-finale”.
Interpretatively, other than the “Adagietto”, the symphony pretty much plays itself with not much needed from the conductor other than to look good and don’t get in the way of the gazillion notes (I recently saw the Bavarian Radio Symphony in Munich play the Fifth under Daniel Harding, who looked great and never got in the way of the incredible orchestra).
As I listened to the OSM’s Red Book quality Qobuz stream, I decided to compare it to a lot of the new recordings competing with Payare’s Pentatone. From Vanska/Minnesota to Roth/Cologne, much the same. The symphony is well played and exciting with no gaffes and sounding very good. One exception. Semyon Bychkov with the Czech Philharmonic, also on Pentatone, has that special Czech bucolic quality in the woodwinds, especially the finale, that sets them apart from the others. This may sway your purchase. Something interesting and different. However, the OSM’s playing in other parts of the symphony eclipses the Czech Phil. I think many of you will enjoy Payare’s way with Mahler’s melodies, especially the strings. Rhapsodic and musical come to mind. Lovely.
So a good start for Payare, a path many new MDs take for their first recording with their new orchestra (Remember Rattle’s debut 5th with Berlin all those years ago?). Talking of Berlin, not even an improved, on-form OSM can match the mighty Philharmoniker on DG with Abbado. The best 5th out there right now.
My favourite? An oldie DG. The eccentric Giuseppe Sinopoli with the Philharmonia. Playing to die for.
