Just below the autocratic conductor in a symphony’s strict hierarchy is the prestigious post of concertmaster. The concertmaster is always a violinist, performs the showiest solos and leads the orchestra in pre-concert tuning. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra spent three years searching for a replacement for its last concertmaster, the fiery Jacques Israelievitch. His successor, Jonathan Crow, is notably young—he’s 33—in a greying man’s field. He’s also an incredibly talented violinist, playing his instrument with a combination of precision and vigour. Crow comes from Prince George by way of Montreal, where he joined the MSO at 19. He likes a challenge, seeking out tricky compositions (he’s fond of Bartók’s Sonata for Solo Violin). He’ll debut at the TSO’s season opener and perform solos in a Beethoven romance and two Bach concertos over the following month.
There’s a second reason we have high expectations of those performances: they’ll introduce to Toronto an extremely rare violin, a 1738 Guarneri del Gesù, so called because the luthier Giuseppe Bartolomeo Guarneri placed a Greek acronym for Christ in each completed instrument—as if to say, go with God. Prices for a del Gesù can outstrip those of a Stradivarius, with one recently selling for $10 million, a record-breaker for a violin. The TSO’s del Gesù was expressly purchased for the use of the concertmaster by Edward Pong, a Toronto dentist, amateur musical instrument maker and lifelong symphony fan. Ordinarily matter-of-fact, Crow grows mystical when he speaks of his venerable new instrument. “No one knows how the best Italian makers did it,” he says, “but they ensured that this beautiful, full sound would project above an orchestra. It doesn’t seem possible for a single violin to project above it all, above the tubas, trombones and trumpets, but it does. There’s a certain quality to the sound, it’s…it’s a mystery.”
CLASSICAL
Jonathan Crow
Sept. 22
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
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#1 MEZZO IDOL #2 THE CHAMELEON #3 A TALENT FOR |
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best of fall 2011, Best of the City, best of the city special, Jonathan Crow, Montreal, Prince George, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, violin
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