WSO season kicks off with two fateful fifths

On a dark and stormy autumnal night, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra opened its 2026-27 season with a pair of equally foreboding works both driven by fate — and ultimately, the triumphant power of the human spirit.

Saturday night’s Masterworks program, titled Beethoven 5 and Tchaikovsky 5 and led by Daniel Raiskin, also officially introduced the WSO’s new composer-in-residence, Kelly-Marie Murphy, to the weekend crowd of 1,720. She was met with enthusiastic applause and cheers upon taking the stage.

The 120-minute evening — and the WSO season — launched with the Ottawa-based Murphy’s Dark Nights, Bright Stars, Vast Universe, commissioned by the National Arts Centre Orchestra under the baton of its former music director Alexander Shelley in 2023.

With the internationally renowned composer’s compelling works heard on this stage during many a Winnipeg New Music Festival, local music fans (and music critics) are still jumping for joy over this truly fine appointment.

Penned in response to Richard Strauss’s tone poem Don Juan, her latest offering immediately showcased Murphy’s knack for creating evocative sound worlds through her restless, imaginative orchestration.

The approximately 11-minute work begins simply with an ethereal cymbal roll, bleeding into principal harpist Charlene Chin’s questioning, opening theme evoking the curiosity and wonder of the starry night sky.

It admittedly took a while for its contrasting, more driving section to settle in (more precious rehearsal time would have mitigated this); however, the performance eventually gelled, and was capped by a final gentle plucking of strings, like pinprick stars in a celestial constellation.

Unfortunately, the audience was not able to hear the composer share her thoughts about her work — or about being named the WSO’s latest composer-in-residence — prior to (or after) its performance, as often happens. It’s not always possible for audience members to make it down to the hall 45 minutes before curtain, when Murphy was featured in a pre-show chat with Raiskin. Nonetheless, the artist received a warm standing ovation for this first offering, which promises so much more to come.

Not since 2011 have we heard Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, a.k.a. “fate knocking at the door,” on this stage. Undoubtedly the most iconic orchestral work of all time, penned between 1804-08, its arresting, four-note “fate” motif, which propels the four-movement work, lives on through a mindboggling number of performances worldwide, not to mention popular culture and ringtones.

Raiskin attacked its opening movement, Allegro con brio, with gusto, with this well-paced performance featuring particularly robust lower strings capturing its Sturm und Drang ethos, marked by bold, incisive brass accents.

His expansive direction infused the following Andante con moto with stately dignity, allowing the orchestra’s always fine wind section to shine.

The final two Allegro movements also satisfied, with the maestro’s dynamic approach seeing him forcefully slice through the air with his baton during the finale, ensuring it crested towards its ultimate declaration of life over fate, garnering a rousing standing ovation.

The second half of the evening featured Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64, again not heard locally since 2011.

The later work, composed in 1888, proved an ideal counterpart to the Beethoven, similarly opening with another Fate theme first heard in tightly knit unison clarinets during the Andante — Allegro con animo.

Kudos to principal horn Patricia Evans for her mellifluous solo, which grew more present with each passing bar during the Andante cantabile; con alcuna licenza, given suitably lyrical, elegiac treatment throughout.

The maestro infused the penultimate movement, Valse: Allegro moderato, with lilting grace, at times seeming to dance with the players from his podium, before the mighty finale, Andante maestoso — allegro vivace, with its timpani rolls and strikes, thundered towards a heroic finish now in major tonality.

In years past, opening night, frequently billed as a gala, has featured internationally acclaimed guest artists, such as violinists Joshua Bell and Itzhak Perlman and pianists Emanuel Ax and Alexei Volodin, to name only a few. Their star power always infused the launch of the new season with palpable excitement and buzz, whetting listener’s appetites for much more to come.

While these things can boil down to a matter of taste, this year’s lack of a soloist felt oddly anticlimactic and even lacklustre — while taking nothing away from these world-class musicians led by the incomparable maestro Raiskin.

Still, there are many more concerts to come, which will be eagerly anticipated with the WSO’s new lineup of stellar musical offerings now in season.

holly.harris@shaw.ca