MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY

Barber; Korngold; Walton - Violin Concertos James Ehnes; Vancouver Symphony Orchestra; Bramwell Tovey CBC Records SMCD 5241

On this recording the Canadian superstar violinist James Ehnes performs some of the world’s finest modern violin concertos.
 
Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35, was premiered by the legendary Jascha Heifetz. The passionate Moderato nobile, interspersed with bravura passages, is followed by a lyrical Romance: Andante, and then a fiery Finale, full of rhythm and contrast, punctuated by brass and percussion reminiscent of Star Wars scores. Not surprising perhaps, as his relationship with Warner Bros. in Hollywood influenced Korngold’s late Romantic style.
 
Before Toscanini premiered his Adagio for Strings in 1938, Samuel Barber was pretty much unknown. However, his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14, has become one of the most played of all violin concertos. The well-crafted orchestration and narrative of the Allegro, the achingly beautiful Andante, and the delightfully diabolic roller-coaster Presto in moto perpetuo are undeniable evidence of his talent.
 
William Walton’s knuckle-busting showpiece, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, was commissioned by Heifetz in 1936. All three movements, Andante tranquillo, Presto capriccioso alla napolitana, and Vivace, are spectacular.
 
Ehnes and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra give a virtuoso performance of the highest order under Bramwell Tovey’s baton.
 
Frank Nakashima
 
Concert Notes: James Ehnes performs Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1 with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony on March 2 & 3 and is featured in the National Ballet’s production “A Footstep of Air & Opus 19/The Dreamer & Voluntaries” beginning March 21.

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Canadian Organ Music Showcase David Palmer Centrediscs CMCCD 12106

  
David Palmer’s new recording for Centrediscs of Canadian organ music provides a fascinating survey of a corner of the repertoire that has been until now poorly represented on this label. The daunting conventions of the “God Machine” has attracted relatively few adherents in recent times, and more often than not the conventional Anglican organists in Canada have evidenced little interest in new music.
 
Perhaps it is one of those demanding instruments that, like the harp or guitar, dictate an insider’s knowledge. Deirdre Piper’s chorale prelude Sarum: Variations on an Advent Chant represents a refined example of the practitioner’s approach to the instrument, while Brent Lee’s clever Shadow Variations takes the popular stereotype of the “spooky” radio show of the 1930s and stands it on its minimalist ear.
 
David Palmer has a particular interest in the French school of organ music, an influence which appears to various degrees in the works of Chan, Evans and Koprowski represented here; and indeed, the shadow of Olivier Messiaen threatens to overwhelm the three extended movements of Alain Gagnon’s Émergences.
 
The works are performed on the excellent sounding Casavant organ at Calgary’s EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts. It is a pity that the registration of its 75 stops was not provided in the program booklet as is the custom in organ recordings.
 
Daniel Foley

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Garden of Dreams - Music by David Maslanka Dallas Wind Symphony; Jerry Junkin Reference Recordings RR-108

 
The wind orchestra is ripe with tone colours unattainable in any other ensemble, since it includes a choir of clarinets in various sizes, a quartet of saxophones, half a dozen trumpets with low brass support, and of course more percussion than you can shake a stick at. David Maslanka exploits all these combinations in his engaging, subtly shaded, almost cinematic music. A Child’s Garden of Dreams is based on the surreal dreamscapes recorded by an 8-year old girl and analyzed by Carl Jung. Infectious melodies, frolicking woodwinds over burbling mallet percussion and stirring brass choruses evoke all the terrifying beauty of our subconscious. Maslanka’s fascination with Bach’s chorales is woven throughout In Memoriam, where fanfare is contrasted with jaunty arabesques, building to a searing climax which dissolves into plaintive solos for oboe, muted trumpet etc. above a shimmering texture of mallet percussion.
 
Symphony No.4 also uses Bach chorale tunes as one organizational element, along with the composer’s impressions of the vast open spaces of his home in Montana. Complex layering of timbres, overwhelming waves of brass, undulating percussion and woodwinds, energetic rhythmic interplay in a slightly skewed boogie woogie section and the recurrent hymn tunes make this music as enjoyable to hear as it is to play.
 
The Dallas Wind Symphony gives a virtuoso performance of this very challenging repertoire, as might be expected from one of North America’s finest professional wind ensembles. The recording is clean and clear, even when the performers are giving everything they’ve got, which cannot fail to move the listener.
 
Colin Savage

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Christos Hatzis – Constantinople Patricia O’Callaghan; Maryem Hassan Tollar; Gryphon Trio Analekta AN 2 9925

 
The compact disc release of Christos Hatzis’ multi-media theatrical masterpiece Constantinople was a long time coming, but perseverance has paid off in spades.
 
Hatzis says that he’s not a religious man. Not in the sense that conjures societal stereotypes. Yes, he was raised Greek Orthodox, and his upbringing has marked him indelibly. The texts are a composite of Greek and Serbian Orthodox chants to 12th c. Egyptian and 19th c. Byzantine poetry. The overarching theme is death and resurrection. However, Hatzis’ music and his mind transcend conventional barriers. Elements of urban gospel, parlour music and tango with plain chant are interlaced with traditional western and eastern tones.
 
I spoke to Hatzis at the recent premiere concert of his new work Mystical Visitations, which he composed specifically to inhabit Maryem Tollar’s world – rather than have her visit his. This new work borrows a movement from Constantinople – Ah Kalleli! In both works, the powerful connection between composer and singer is intoxicating.
 
The hauntingly ethereal voices of both Constantinople’s soloists, Patricia O’Callaghan and Maryem Tollar, are deftly supported and enveloped by Toronto’s Gryphon Trio, who commissioned the work. The added impact of audio electroacoustics somehow binds the disparate pieces and pulls the whole together.
 
Hatzis is a well-known advocate of borderless music – if this is the direction of spiritual music in the 21st century, I say, bring it on!
 
Heidi McKenzie
 
Performance notes: As this magazine hits the streets Constantinople will be given 3 performances in Montreal (Feb. 28, Mar. 2 & 3) and later in the month will have its European premiere at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London (Mar. 21 – 25). Constantinople returns to Toronto with 3 performances at the Bluma Appel Theatre June 7 – 9 as part of the Luminato Festival. The Gryphon Trio perform music of Berger, Arensky and Kulesha with guest Joan Watson, horn, at Music Toronto on March 6.

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Darren Copeland - Perdu et retrouvé Darren Copeland empreintes DIGITALes IMED 0683

 
It is too easily forgotten that Canada was, and in many ways continues to be, a world leader in the field of electronic-based electroacoustic music. In that rarefied discipline, we had a Toronto school, a Vancouver school and a Montreal school. Darren Copeland is one of the originators of the genre, and has taken part in all three of those regional schools, over a period of more than twenty years. 
 
Given the vast palette of sounds and reproduction techniques available, it is no surprise that Copeland’s new release on Empreintes Digitales is on a Dolby 5.1 Surround audio DVD. That means you cannot play it on your CD player, nor can you listen to it on your CD Walkman. But if you do have the latest high tech home theatre system, here is a disc to test the reproductive capabilities of your equipment.
 
Copeland’s pieces, compositions of one form or another, are helped by program notes disseminating the thrust of each. The frightening opening track deals with the terrorist attacks of September 2001 as subject matter, as well as using audio fragments from that busy news day as part of the sonic texture. Other pieces are longer and more laid-back, notably On a Strange Road, implying a surrealistic car trip. With this machine music, it is comforting to know that a human is behind it, nonetheless.
 
John S. Gray