TS-Oh, Canada: Mathieu a genius who died too soon

For the first time, they heard glimpses of the full breadth of André Mathieu's Concerto No. 4 for Piano and Orchestra.

The 40-odd-year-old piece has never been played by a full orchestra; the Tucson Symphony Orchestra will have that honor next week in concerts that will be recorded for the TSO's first-ever commercial CD.

But with a second pianist playing the orchestra's role in Lefèvre's apartment late Monday afternoon, Lefèvre had an idea for the first time of how the piece would sound.

"For me to hear what it's going to sound like, it was very interesting and moving," an excited Lefèvre said in his thick French-Canadian accent. "Everybody is completely stunned. It's a masterpiece."

The concerto is the cornerstone of the puzzle Lefèvre has been reconstructing for nearly two decades. The pianist has made it his tireless mission to restore the little-known Mathieu to his rightful place in Canada's music history.

It has been a long journey, one filled with joys and disappointments as Lefèvre searched throughout Montreal for the bits and pieces of Mathieu's scores. Mathieu, who spiraled into alcoholism and died at the age of 39 in 1968, had bartered most of his written scores to pay his bar tabs throughout his native Montreal. History had written him off and forgotten that he once held promise to be Canada's answer to Mozart.

The concerto, written in the years before Mathieu died, came to Lefèvre by chance; a woman attending his concert gave him a CD that had a studio recording of Mathieu performing the piece on piano.

There was no written music, so Lefèvre teamed up with Montreal conductor Gilles Bellemare to dissect the recording and sketch a score from the performance. On the disc, Lefèvre said, Mathieu had played both the solo and the orchestra parts separately on the piano.

"You have to imagine completely the orchestra part because the orchestra part does not exist on the tape. From that disc, we listened to it a ton of times, then (wrote) it. It was tremendous work," Lefèvre recalled. "Now we have a beautiful score that would not exist if we did not find the disc."

Lefèvre described Concerto No. 4 as "big . . . romantic . . . passionate."

"What I have heard today is really breathtaking," he said after Monday's run-through in Montreal. "It's really fantastic. It's a big, big, wonderful piece.

"I think (the TSO world premiere) is going to be out of this world," he added. "What we're going to do in Tucson together is going to be very moving. It's honestly something historic."

This is the second time Lefèvre and the TSO will make history with Mathieu. In 2004, the TSO became the first American orchestra to play Mathieu's Quebec Concerto, which Lefèvre recorded with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra. Lefèvre returned in 2006 to perform Mathieu's "Rhapsodie romantique."

"After listening to what the orchestra did with 'Rhapsodie' in Tucson, I talked to (TSO conductor George Hanson) and said I want to do the concerto with the Tucson Orchestra," Lefèvre said.

"I think it's going to be a blast. (The musicians) are quite excited," Hanson said Wednesday from Germany, where he was wrapping up a two-week tour with the Northwest German Philharmonic.

He said the recording will take the orchestra to a whole new level.

"They have a real understanding of how important this is to the orchestra's growth," Hanson said.

The orchestra begins rehearsals Monday, but most of the musicians have been working on the piece for weeks.

"I think the orchestra is very enthusiastic," said TSO cellist Tom Clowes. "I think everyone is ready to make it the best possible recording we can."

They called him the little Canadian Mozart, and in many ways it fit André Mathieu.

He was a prodigy, composing his first work at age 4 and giving his first recital of his own works two years later. And like Mozart, he died young (39 years old) and penniless.

Mathieu's compositions took their nod from the Late Romantic school of Rachmaninoff. He also was influenced by Debussy.

Early critical acclaim reportedly included Rachmaninoff himself pronouncing Mathieu "a genius, more so than I am." Parisian critic Émile Vuillermoz chimed in: "If the word 'genius' has a meaning, it is surely here that we will be able to find it."

Unfortunately for Montreal's musical fortunes, Mathieu died — likely from effects of acute alcoholism — without leaving much evidence of his musical accomplishments. He reportedly bartered pages of his scores to pay liquor tabs throughout Montreal and left few published compositions. Mathieu's descent into alcoholism began when he was 12.

French-Canadian pianist Alain Lefèvre has spent the past two decades collecting scraps of Mathieu's scores and reconstructing his music. The Piano Concerto No. 4 was perhaps the most challenging; Lefèvre and fellow French-Canadian Gilles Bellemare had to reconstruct the concerto note-for-note based on an old live recording of Mathieu performing on two pianos — one for the solo part, the other for the orchestra role.

Recording process

A trio of technicians and producers with the Canadian classical music label Analekta will record all three of the TSO's concerts with Lefèvre next weekend. Producer Carl Talbot said the audience will be able to see the mics placed around the orchestra, but that will probably be the only evidence that the concert is different from any other TSO event.

Talbot said that, after reviewing the first two recorded performances, they will determine if the orchestra needs any "patch sessions" to fix problems. Those sessions could take place at the Tucson Music Hall if it requires the full orchestra, or in a studio if it involves a few instruments. Sunday's concert also will be recorded.

International exchange

The audience for Sunday's concert will include Canadian Consul General Alain Dudoit; Denis Turcotte, Quebec government representative in the Western United States; Rick Stephenson, trade commissioner for the Canadian consul; Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Quebec minister of international relations; and Canadian filmmaker Luc Dionne, who is working on a movie about Mathieu. The movie could be released in 2009.

If you go

Tucson Symphony Orchestra: "Gershwin and Mathieu."

• Featuring: Guest pianist Alain Lefèvre and the TSO Chorus.

• When: 8 p.m. Thursday and May 9; 2 p.m. May 11.

• Where: Tucson Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave., Downtown.

• Tickets: $19-$61 through the TSO box office, 882-8585; or online at www.tucsonsym phony.org. Note: Moms get in free with paid admission on Mother's Day, May 11.

• Program:

André Mathieu's "Ballet Scenes."

Mathieu's Concerto No. 4 for Piano and Orchestra (world premiere).

Mathieu's "Four Songs for Choir and Orchestra."

Gershwin's "An American in Paris."

• Et cetera: The concerts will be recorded for the orchestra's first-ever commercial CD, on the Canadian label Analekta. The disc, to be released in October, will be sold internationally.

• Review: See a review of Thursday's performance online at www.azstarnet.com next Friday and in the May 10 Accent section.