Editor's Corner

A wealth of material has accumulated over the holiday season as you will see from the bumper crop of reviews that follow. My own desk is stacked high with worthy offerings vying for attention. Here’s a selection of the cream that has risen to the top.

2009 was an ambitious year for the National Youth Orchestra under the direction of Alain Trudel, undertaking both Mahler’s Sixth Symphony and Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps. And a busy year for Trudel himself as founding director of the National Broadcast Orchestra of Canada (incorporated in January 2009 “to carry on the spirit of the disbanded CBC Radio Orchestra”), Music director and conductor of l’Orchestre Symphonique de Laval and conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, a position he’s held since 2004. This year’s adventure with the NYOC is documented in an attractive package that includes 2 CDs with the above mentioned works along with Dreams of Flying by the orchestra’s administrative assistant Rob Teehan and Renaissance choral works by Orlando di Lasso and Thomas Greaves – yes, it seems the young musicians must sing as well as play. These are supplemented by a DVD featuring exhilarating performances of Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, Samy Moussa’s Cyclus and selections from Le Sacre du printemps. If the performances on this package are any indication, the future of orchestral music in Canada is in very good hands. Visit www.nyoc.org to view the podcast or purchase the discs.

The Talisker Players (www.taliskerplayers.ca) have just released their first CD, Where Words & Music Meet. The disc features an eclectic program of vocal gems ranging from Beethoven’s setting of Scottish Folk Songs through Poulenc’s charming Bestiary and Ippolitov-Ivanov’s Four Poems by Rabindranath Tagore to contemporary settings by Toronto composers Stephanie Moore, Andrew Ager and Alexander Rapoport. A particular coup is the world premiere recording of Argentine-American composer Osvaldo Golijov’s haunting Tenebrae with soprano Teri Dunn. Golijov will be a strong presence in Toronto this month as Composer-in-Residence at the TSO’s New Creations Festival February 25 – March 3 at Roy Thomson Hall. Teri Dunn is also featured in Moore’s moving setting of In Flanders Fields with baritone Alexander Dobson. Dobson is joined by Vicki St. Pierre in selections from Ager’s raucous interpretation of Rex Deverell’s texts in Ellis Portal and Doug MacNaughton is featured in Rapoport’s deft setting of Carl Sandberg poems in Chicago Portraits. Norine Burgess and Geoffrey Butler share the honours in the playful Beethoven, with Krisztina Szabó centre stage in Poulenc’s miniatures. All in all a very successful debut recording for this Toronto ensemble which specializes in vocal chamber music under the artistic direction of violist Mary McGeer. The attractive packaging includes a very thorough booklet complete with libretti, artist biographies and a message from John Fraser, Master of Massey College where the Talisker Players are Ensemble-In-Residence. Concert note: Talisker’s season continues at Trinity Saint Paul’s Centre with “To the Sea in Ships” February 9 & 10 featuring Vicki St. Pierre, Keith Klassen and Alexander Dobson in music by Ireland, Sculthorpe and Hoiby.

Unlike the Talisker package, Tumbling Into Light - the latest offering from local Jewish roots band the Flying Bulgars - does not come with much in the way of liner notes. Even to find out what instruments the band members play you have to visit the website www.theflyingbulgars.com. Of course fans of the band, which is now in its third decade of performing in Toronto with five previous recordings to its credit, know that current membership includes founder David Buchbinder on trumpet and flugelhorn, co-leader Dave Wall vocals, Peter Lutek various reed instruments, Victor Bateman bass, Max Senitt drums and Tania Gill piano. They are joined on this exuberant release by drummer Frank Botos, percussionist Rick Shadrach Lazar, multi-instrumentalist Tim Postgate and producer Dave Newfeld. Originally called the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, the ensemble has expanded its mandate over the decades to specialize in “original music that is rooted in the soul of the Jews… chart[ing] a course between the calm waters of tradition and exciting, uncertain seas of innovation.” This CD is a strong testament to that. Concert note: Those of you who picked up this February issue as it hit the street may have time to catch what is being billed as a multi-media, multi-disciplinary performance of “Tumbling Into Light” featuring the Flying Bulgars with Andrea Mann (dance), Bruce MacDonald (film) and Lorenzo Savoini (design) in two performances at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts on January 31.

Another release which requires you to visit a website (www.in-c-remixed.com) for full information features performances by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble. In C Remixed is a two disc tribute to Terry Riley and features 18 different takes on the seminal minimalist work “In C” by artists “representing a true cross-section of musical genres… classical, pop, electronica, jazz, trip-hop, dance, techno, industrial, disco, ambient, and more” according to director Bill Ryan. It’s hard to imagine that it has been 45 years since Riley composed this masterwork in which any number of musicians using any combination of instruments work their way through 53 short phrases ingeniously designed to overlay effectively, each at their own pace, until all have arrived at the end in their own good time. This is a piece which is guaranteed to be different in each performance, yet always recognizable and always new. I must confess that I don’t think all of the artists involved in this project added significantly to the concept, but it is intriguing that musicians from such a broad spectrum have been influenced by this work and have wanted to make it their own. Among the notables are Jack Dangers, Masonic (Mason Bates), DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, Michael Lowenstein, Glenn Kotche and David Lang. The performance they are remixing was recorded at River City Studios, Grand Rapids, Michigan last year and is included as the final track on the second disc of this set.

At a recent New Music Concerts event local contemporary music aficionado and patron of the arts Roger D. Moore said he was surprised that some of the pieces using sound files actually seemed to pre-date the common use of computers in music. We agreed that in the case of the 1993 composition in question that originally it would have been designated for “voice and tape” but currently the pre-recorded sounds are on digital files cued on the computer. But computer music does have a longer history than we might suspect, with composers working in the Bell Laboratories affiliated with Princeton University as early as the 1950s. One composer who has been involved with computer generated sounds for many decades is John Melby, an American who taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign until retiring Emeritus in 1997. Last January Melby’s 2008 Concerto for Violin, Piano and Computer was performed by Duo Diorama – Minghuan Xu, violin, and Winston Choi, piano – at the Music Gallery. A new Albany Records release (TROY1124) includes this work along with Choi’s performance of the 2006 Concerto No.2 for Piano and Computer and a much earlier Concerto for Computer and Orchestra from 1987 performed by the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Joel Eric Suben. It is intriguing to hear not only the changes in computer sounds over the two decades separating the works, but also the continuity. Also interesting is the role shift from computer as soloist in the earlier work, to computer as orchestra in the recent concertos. This is not to say that Melby is simply mimicking orchestral instruments, far from it. The distinctive timbres of the invented sounds in the accompaniment leave us in no doubt that these are works for the future, not simple reflections of the past.

We welcome your feedback and invite submissions. CDs and comments should be sent to: The WholeNote, 503 – 720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S 2R4. We also encourage you to visit our website, www.thewholenote.com, where you can find added features including direct links to performers, composers and record labels, and additional, expanded and archival reviews.

David Olds

DISCoveries Editor

discoveries@thewholenote.com

Thanks to my day job as general manager of New Music Concerts, it has been my great privilege over the past decade to work with flutist Robert Aitken whenever he is not off on his travels, performing around the globe. Largely due his activities as artistic director of NMC over the past four decades Bob is mostly thought of as a contemporary music specialist here in Toronto, but throughout the rest of the world he is renowned as a performer of music from all eras. Recent activities have included a tour to Hong Kong with harpist Erica Goodman, 10 days of conducting in Slovenia and three weeks of solo and orchestral performances in the Philippines and mainland China. One project that he is particularly proud of is a recording of four flute concertos by Johann Stamitz (1717-1757) which has been released by Naxos(8.570150) just in time for Christmas. The disc was recorded in Vilnius, Lithuania following concert performances with the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra conducted by Donatas Katkus. We will have an impartial review in our next issue, but I did not want you to have to wait until February to hear about this new disc which I think sounds great. Concert notes: Robert Aitken conducts the NMC ensemble in “Happy Birthday, Udo!” on December 13 at Betty Oliphant Theatre and on January 10 he will receive the prestigious Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts at Glenn Gould Studio during NMC’s presentation “Zygmunt Krauze and the Polish Perspective”.

When I dropped by the WholeNote office recently to pick up last minute arrivals there was a bumper crop of discs waiting for me. Here’s a brief mention of those which I found particularly worthy of note.

Beethoven Piano Trios Op.1 No.2 and Op.97 “Archduke”– The Gryphon Trio (Analekta AN 2 9858): With the St. Lawrence Quartet having taken up residence in California, the Gryphon Trio can rightfully be called Canada’s pre-eminent chamber group. These two Beethoven trios are personal favourites and receive exhilarating performances here. Although this “Archduke” may not replace as my benchmark the Gilels/Kogan/Rostropovich recording I grew up with, the Gryphons do themselves proud here.

El Sistema – A film by Paul Smaczny & Marta Stootmeir (EuroArts 2056958): This year’s Glenn Gould Prize winner was José Antonio Abreu for his development of El Sistema, the incredibly successful program bringing children to classical music across Venezuela. There are currently 340,000 children, many from disadvantaged families, enrolled in more than a hundred youth orchestras across that country. For those of us not lucky enough to have been in the audience at the Four Seasons Centre last month to hear the jewel in the crown of the program, the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel and experience the exuberance (and excellence) of these young performers first hand, this DVD documents Abreu’s miraculous achievement.

Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae – Jeff Reilly; Elmer Iseler Singers; Lydia Adams (ECM New Series 2129): Peter-Anthony Togni’s stunning Jeremiad is a concerto for bass clarinet and mixed choir and it’s great to see it getting international exposure on Manfred Eicher’s adventurous label. This very original work capitalizes on Jeff Reilly’s ability to improvise and uses the bass clarinet as the voice of the beleaguered prophet. The choir is in fine form, with soprano soloist Rebecca Whelan deserving special mention. Recorded in the Cathedral Church of All Saints, Halifax the broad acoustic is well suited to this haunting music. [It is to my ear at moments somewhat reminiscent, but not at all derivative, of Richard Einhorn’s “Voices of Light” created as a soundtrack for the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc, and Philip Glass’ music for the film Koyannasqatsi. I wonder if there is a film to be found in this music too?]

The Torture Memos – The Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra (www.parkdalerevolutionaryorchestra.com): Composer Ben Mueller-Heaslip uses texts drawn from the writings of John Yoo and his colleagues at the Office of Legal Counsel for the George W. Bush administration for this unusual song cycle. The stark orchestration includes saxophone, violin, cello, bass and drum kit to accompany the declamatory vocals of soprano Kristin Mueller-Heaslip. The result is very effective but hard to define or categorize. The composer sites Schubert, Philip Glass and David Byrne among his influences and the music is as eclectic as might be expected from such diverse roots. Concert note: The Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra launches “The Torture Memos” at The Tranzac Club on December 11.

TorQ Percussion Quartet (www.torqpercussion.ca): This eponymous CD features improvisations, arrangements and compositions by group members Daniel Morphy, Jamie Drake and Richard Burrows, plus works by Toronto composers Michael Smith, Elisha Denburg and Mark Duggan. There’s lots of lively music here, but moments of contemplation too as in the bell-like sonorities of Duggan’s moving John’s Gone. TorQ was awarded a MARTY for “Best Emerging Performing Arts Group – 2009” by the Mississauga Arts Council and this debut release demonstrates why.

Night Chill – Catherine Meunier (Centrediscs CMCCD 15109): While you might be forgiven for thinking that an hour of banging on the wooden keys of a marimba might be a bit much all at once, there is plenty of contrast here thanks to sound files from Christian Ledroit and Alcides Lanza, Paul Frehner’s second marimba doubling on vibraphone and Nicolas Gilbert’s use of French horn for colour in one of two pieces included here. Like Gilbert, Andrew P. MacDonald contributes two works - The Riff, a lively extended piece for solo marimba and The Illuminations of Gutenberg, a playful marimba duet. Montreal percussionist Catherine Meunier shines throughout.

Images, New Music for Guitar and Strings – Rob MacDonald; Madawaska String Quartet (robmac92@hotmail.com): I took a break from writing this column to attend the CD launch of this disc at Gallery 345. This was my first opportunity to hear young guitarist Rob MacDonald and I must say I was very impressed. Very clean articulation, exceptional technique, a strong sense of line and the solo pieces were performed from memory. Like the concert, the CD begins with a very effective set of pieces by Andrew Staniland for solo guitar and concludes with Images, an extended work for guitar and string quartet by American composer Christopher William Pierce. Like Staniland, Pierce did his doctoral studies at the U of T and both are laureates of the Karen Kieser Prize in Canadian Music. Another award winning local composer, Jules Léger Prize laureate Omar Daniel, contributes the dark Nocturne for viola, guitar and cello. Double bassist Peter Pavlovsky joins MacDonald and the members of the Madawaska Quartet for Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe’s lyrical Love Song. Although not mentioned on the disc, a web search indicates that all four pieces are world premiere recordings - well worth seeking out.

Invisible Cities - music composed and performed by William Beauvais (Centrediscs CMCCD 14809): I have mixed feelings about this disc. Not that it isn’t well performed or well recorded, but simply that it is surprising to hear music with a rhythm section and a “back-beat” – even one so ably provided by George Koller and Alan Hetherington – on the Canadian Music Centre label. These examples – Well Tempered Choros and In Joplin’s Pocket - are just the bookends however and in between there are a number of more “serious” compositions including the Italo Calvino inspired title track for solo guitar. This is a piece I hope to hear live one day because I would love to see how the multiple layers of sound are achieved without overdubbing. Also particularly effective is Infinity’s Window on which Beauvais is joined by percussionist Barry Prophet whose bowed cymbals and other extended techniques add an eerie, electronic ambience, and the quartet Juxtapositions with guitarists Raffi Altounian, Michael Kolk and Rob MacDonald.

Moonlit Solace – Rick Washbrook (www.washbrookmusic.com): The latest disc from local guitarist Rick Washbrook is an eclectic offering. This solo effort showcasing his bluesy finger-style steel and nylon string picking, with and without gravely voice, features a number of original compositions along with eccentric vocal takes on My Funny Valentine and Fulsom Prison Blues and extended instrumental interpretations of Moon River and Summertime. Of particular note among the originals is the moving You’re Not Alone and the introspective instrumental title track.

Wendy Warner Plays Popper and Piatigorsky – Wendy Warner; Eileen Buck (Cedille CDR 90000 111): As a student of the cello I became more than familiar with David Popper’s “High School of Cello Playing”, a set of 40 etudes designed to develop all the fundamental techniques required for mastering the music of the late 19^th century. It surprises me now, some thirty years after struggling through those exercises, that I did not realize that Popper was also the composer of some lovely music. American Wendy Warner, a protégé of Rostropovich who went on to win first prize at the 1990 International Rostropovich Competition in Paris, presents us with three sets of pieces by Popper including a fully developed Suite for Cello and Piano lasting nearly half an hour. 20^th century virtuoso cellist Gregor Piatigorsky was also an important teacher among whose students was notable Canadian Denis Brott. Piatigorsky is represented here by an intriguing set of variations on that familiar theme of Paganini. Each of the fourteen variations is inspired by another great string player – Pablo Casals, Joseph Szigeti, Yehudi Menuhin, Fritz Kreisler and Piatigorsky himself among others – culminating with a Tempo di Marcia dedicated to Vladimir Horowitz. These virtuosic portraits are performed with fiery panache by Warner and her able accompanist Eileen Buck. Fasten your seat belt for a hair-raising ride!

JC Bach, La dolce fiamma – Philippe Jaroussky; Le Cercle de l’Harmonie; Jérémie Rhorer (Virgin Classics 5099969456404): Elsewhere in this issue you will find a review of Cecilia Bartoli’s latest release “Sacrificium”, a collection of arias written for castrated male sopranos in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. This follows on last month’s release of a similar collection of castrati arias by Porpora sung by Karina Gauvin, also reviewed in these pages. Lest we think that this repertoire is now only the domain of female singers, French sopranist/countertenor Philippe Jaroussky has thrown his hat into the ring with a collection of “forgotten castrato arias” by Johann Christian, youngest son of Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach. I must say I am a bit surprised to learn that the barbaric practice persisted so long into the 18^th century, with the latest work included here a concert aria dating from 1779. Be that as it may, this is wonderfully lyrical and dramatic music superbly sung by the young Jaroussky. The period orchestra is fine form under Rhorer’s direction and the sound is immaculate.

We welcome your feedback and invite submissions. CDs and comments should be sent to: The WholeNote, 503 – 720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S 2R4.

David Olds

DISCoveries Editor

discoveries@thewholenote.com