Innovative, Insightful & Reverend Interpretations
by RogerD on 6/21/22National Arts Centre / Centre national des Arts - OttawaOn Friday, June 17th, the NAC Orchestra presented a delightful concert, performing Wynton Marsalis' Tuba Concerto, featuring the NAC's own principal tubist Chris Lee, and Gustav Mahler's 1st Symphony, all under Alexander Shelley's baton. The jazz-influenced concerto deeply reflects Marsalis' mastery in that genre while showing his excellent skills in structure and orchestration. The latter is particularly important given how challenging it can be to highlight the lower tones of the tuba as a lead instrument. All the while, Chris Lee's virtuosity on tuba gave the usually heavy instrument an impressive agility and fluidity across all passages, leaving room for all the musicality it deserved rather than relying on the novelty of the unusual instrumentation. Shelley's direction was of course perfectly attuned to support the tuba and beautifully complemented it. The NACO's Artistic Director then led the NACO, augmented by 50 young, upcoming musicians as part of its inaugural Mentorship program, to a superbly insightful and reverend interpretation of Mahler's 1st Symphony. The young musicians exceeded expectations in the energy, technical skill and conviction that they added to the already solid NACO roster to deliver on the wondrous storytelling that the symphony commands. Fine details were delivered with subtlety without being fastidious. Shelley delivers again and surely has NACO fans looking forward to the next time such a combo can make magic like this.