Editor's Corner

DISCoveries Editor's Corner: April 09

01_gould_macmillan_quartets Do all good things come to those who wait? This month I really had no idea what I was going to write about until the arrival of two discs from ATMA which brought back musical memories from my formative years. The first was the Alcan Quartet performing string quartets of Ernest MacMillan and Glenn Gould (ATMA ACD2-2596). These two important Canadian works are rarely performed although there have been a few recordings over the years. MacMillan began work on the String Quartet in c minor while interned as a civilian prisoner in Germany during the First World War. He had been attending the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth at time the war broke out. Although the quartet shows some influence of Ravel and Debussy – MacMillan had been in Paris before heading to Bayreuth – it most firmly reflects the composer’s roots in the English school of the time. It is charming and well-crafted and ever since first hearing it some four decades ago on a Deutsche Grammophon recording by the renowned Amadeus Quartet I have wondered why it has not become a staple of the repertoire. The Gould quartet, completed in 1955, is a bit problematic. An extended single movement work lasting more than half an hour, it is a brooding backward-looking piece which reflects Gould’s interest in the early works of Schoenberg and the New Viennese School as well as Brahms and Richard Strauss. There are fugal elements, as we would expect from someone who spent his life immersed in the work of Bach, and occasional sunny bits, but for the most part this is a dark and at times troubling piece. The Alcan plays both works with passion and conviction. Their sound is captured in full fidelity by producer-recordist Anne-Marie Sylvestre in the warm acoustic of Salle Françoys-Bernier at Domaine Forget. The recording also includes MacMillan’s most frequently performed instrumental work “Two Sketches on French Canadian Airs” with the rollicking waves of “À Saint Malo” bringing the disc to a vibrant conclusion.

Glenn Gould/ Sir Ernest Macmillan: String Quartets

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02_schindlers_list One of my most important early classical memories is from a rehearsal I was privileged to attend at Hart House back in my high school years. Walter Babiak was conducting a string orchestra in Ernest Bloch’s Concerto Grosso No.1. I’m afraid I can’t remember who the pianist was on that occasion (it’s an obbligato role rather than a virtuosic one) but the work was imprinted on my brain and left a lasting impression. Once again I cannot understand why this piece is not more frequently performed and so it was a great pleasure to find it included on the new CD Schindler’s List (ATMA ACD2-2579) featuring the Swiss Orchestre Symphonique Bienne. The title work is John Williams’ suite for violin and orchestra extrapolated from the soundtrack to “Schindler’s List”. Both that and Bloch’s “Suite Hébraïque” feature the outstanding young Canadian violinist Alexandre da Costa who is in fine form here. But the highlight for me is the performance of Bloch’s Concerto Grosso under the direction Thomas Rösner who captures the rustic energy of the dance movements and brings a driving force to the fugal finale without sacrificing any of the inherent stateliness of the work. And in this instance I can tell you the name of the pianist, Marc Pantillon.

Alexandre Da Costa: Schindler's List

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03_la_rencontre The ATMA package also included an eclectic offering entitled La Rencontre (ATMA ACD2-2608) featuring Anne-Julie Caron, a young marimba player who won the Quebec Opus Prize for “Discovery of the Year” in 2007. The disc includes original works by American marimbist-composer Julie Spencer, Ukrainian-Canadian composer Oleksa Lozowchu, French percussionist Emmanuel Séjourné, Argentinean guitarist-composer Guillio Espel and Japanese marimba virtuoso Keiko Abe, along with Caron’s own transcriptions of works by Pat Metheny and Astor Piazzola. Many of the works show influences of jazz and folk-dance rhythms, but there are moments of contemplation and abstract expression too. The highlight for me is Abe’s complex depiction of “Wind in the Bamboo Grove”. Caron proves herself up for the challenges throughout this intriguing recording.
Anne-julie Caron: La Rencontre

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04_piccolo When I first saw the next disc I must admit I cringed at the thought of more than an hour’s music for just piccolo and piano. The piccolo’s register is so high and its timbre so often shrill that I could not imagine listening to the disc in its entirety. But I was amazed to find that after the first listening I went back and put it on again. National Arts Centre Orchestra piccolo player Patrick Healey (aided here by Montreal accompanist extraordinaire Brigitte Poulin) is a truly accomplished performer and the repertoire he has chosen to showcase his instrument is very effective. I was not previously familiar with any of the composers on this disc except Denis Gougeon whose Canto del Piccolo both concludes and provides the title for this disc (XXI-CD2 1620). Perhaps living composers Frank Hannaway, Cecilia McDowall, Michael Isaacson, Mike Mower, and the late Alan Ridout are well known in the flute world. They certainly should be if this disc is any indication.

Patrick Healy & Brigitte Poulin: Canto Del Piccolo

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05_soul_stew My Guilty Pleasure of the month? Soul Stew Volume Two. Produced by bass player Roberto Occhipinti for Modica Music (www.modicamusic.com), this CD features covers of some of the most iconic R&B tunes of the 70s and 80s soulfully sung by Michael Dunston. Soul Stew was formed in 1990 and served as house band at the Bamboo Club and later at The College Street Bar. The current offering was recorded “live off the floor” at MacLear Studio several years ago, but mixed and mastered by John “Beetle” Bailey in February 2009 and launched at Lula Lounge last month. The disc proved to be the perfect soundtrack for a drive in the country recently, with its powerful rhythm section provided by Occhipinti and drummer Mark Kelso complemented by Matt Horner’s omnipresent Hammond organ, David Gray’s tasty guitar licks and John Johnson’s funky saxes. And if you think maybe you’d need a bigger horn section to do justice to some of Motown’s greatest hits, have no fear because the band was filled out by Dave Dunlop and Terry Promane on trumpet and trombone for this session. Dunston convincingly makes familiar songs by Sly Stone, Al Green, Billy Paul, Marvin Gaye, James Brown and even Stevie Wonder his own. The whole car was singing along.

06_la_nef_deserts I mentioned that marimba player Anne-Julie Caron won an Opus Prize in 2007. The 2008 Opus Prize for “Jazz and World Music Concert of the Year” went to Montreal group La Nef for the project Déserts, subtitled “creative music inspired by the deserts of the world”. La Nef is dedicated to creating and producing early, world, and original musics through collaborations with musicians from eclectic backgrounds and artists from diverse disciplines. “Déserts” will be released on CD in April by the Fidelio label (www.fidelioaudio.com). Concert note: You can hear La Nef at the Music Gallery here in Toronto on April 7 when internationally renowned tambourine virtuoso (?!) Carlo Rizzo joins Claire Gignac (Artistic Director and flutes), Patrick Graham (Musical Co-Director and multiple-percussion), Andrew Wells-Oberegger (oud, saz, guembri, zhong ruan and percussion) and Toronto-based Ben Grossman (electroacoustic hurdy-gurdy and percussion) for a program entitled “Skin – A Percussion Blitz”.

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 “buy buttons” for on-line shopping.

David Olds

DISCoveries Editor

discoveries@thewholenote.com

DISCoveries Editor's Corner: March 09

When I heard that the Molinari Quartet will premiere Brian Cherney’s String Quartet No.6 in Montreal this May I was surprised to learn that he had composed so many. McGill Records recently released a CD featuring the Lloyd Carr-Harris Quartet in Cherney’s String Quartets Nos. 3-5. These works span a decade and a half beginning in 1985 and are an excellent representation of the mature work of one of Canada’s most uncompromising composers. Much of Cherney’s work is a response to trauma, both personal loss and universal tribulations, in particular the Holocaust. The Third Quartet was written in memory of the composer’s father who died in the year preceding its composition and it draws on an earlier string trio, written to commemorate his father’s 60th birthday, for some of its material. Beginning in near silence as its predecessor ended, Cherney’s Fourth seems a continuation of the Third. Written in 1994, this time the inspiration is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The program notes mention numerical sequences at play in the fabric of the composition which hint at the influence of Elliott Carter on Cherney’s approach. This quartet too ends in the “stillness” which is a frequent aspect of this composer’s work. Although the Fifth quartet begins in quiet, almost immediately we hear cries of anguish. This work, commissioned by the Strings of the Future festival in Ottawa in 2000, does not have any stated programmatic inspiration. In form (and substance) I would liken it to the work of Polish master Witold Lutoslawski with its Episode-Interlude-Episode-Interlude-Episode structure and we hear references to Bartok’s quartets, but in an assimilative, rather than a derivative way. Cherney has absorbed the most important works of the 20th century and found his own way to carry them forward.

Back in 2006, their 35th anniversary season, Toronto’s second oldest contemporary music organization Array, embarked on a recording project called Legacy (Artifact Music ART 038) to document highlights of its remarkable history. Founding members (Alex Pauk and Marjan Mozetich) and former and current artistic directors (Doug Perry, Henry Kucharzyk, Linda C. Smith, Allison Cameron and Bob Stevenson) curated this 2 CD set which features a broad spectrum of the music written for Array over the past three decades. In May 2007 the Legacy concert took place at Glenn Gould Studio with Array members Bob Stevenson, Michael White, Stephen Clarke, Rebecca van der Post, Peter Pavlovsky, Blair Mackay and Rick Sacks joined by guest artists Doug Perry and Paul Widner (both former Array members), Dianne Aitken, and Rachel Thomas thereby adding viola, cello, flute and trombone to the current instrumentation of the ensemble - clarinet(s), trumpet, piano, violin, bass and 2 percussion - to facilitate performance of works written for previous incarnations of the group. Highlights for me include the late Michael J. Baker’s La vie de Bohème for multiple clarinets, John Rea’s …wings of silence… for ensemble and tape, Marjan Mozetich’s Ice for flute, trombone, piano and viola and Stevenson’s Trace, but certainly others may find Pauk’s Magaru, John Abram’s Steiner Shimmy, Kevin Volans’ Into Darkness or Kucharzyk’s arrangement of Claude Vivier’s classic Pulau Dewata more compelling. While in recent times Arraymusic has reinvented itself as a resource centre for new music rather than exclusively a performance vehicle, this release is a welcome testament to the creative force of the Arraymusic ensemble in its heyday. The packaging is visually attractive, however the program notes are almost impossible to decipher with the director’s message printed in miniscule silver type on a white background and the extensive, though unattributed, program notes in grey on green. Had these been easier to read the Legacy would have been much better served. You can check out Array’s new developments at www.arraymusic.com.

Former Array director Henry Kucharzyk also has a presence on a new Naxos release featuring the Toronto Wind Orchestra under Tony Gomes’ direction. Northern Winds (8.572248) is an eclectic collection of Canadian compositions. The disc opens with a boisterous overture entitled High Spirits by Louis Applebaum. Applebaum wrote hundreds of compositions for a myriad of media, but it is all too rare to hear his music performed these days outside of the fanfares he created for the Stratford Festival which are still in use today. Kudos to the Toronto Wind Orchestra for reminding us of his vibrant contribution to Canadian music. Dream Dancer is an extended work by Michael Colgrass for solo saxophone (the exceptional Wallace Halladay performing) and wind orchestra with a large percussion section. The work moves from haunting slow passages through virtuosic pyrotechnics and sections reminiscent of a variety of exotic cultures with more than a nod to the Indonesian gamelan. Next we are treated to a more abstract work, Kucharzyk’s Some Assembly Required, which with its three contrasting movements gives a somewhat more avant garde approach to the wind orchestra although its rollicking final movement reminds us somewhat of Copland and Bernstein as seen through the eyes of John Adams. Gary Kulesha’s Ensembles inverts the usual fast-slow-fast structure and places its dynamic toccata-like piano and percussion movement in the middle of two slow meditations. The disc is rounded out by Harry Freedman’s Laurentian Moods, a suite of French Canadian Folksongs which unfortunately seem a bit trivial in this context and a centenary tribute to Olivier Messiaen in the form of Oiseaux exotiques featuring pianist Simon Docking.

At Grigorian.com

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 welcome your input via our website, www.thewholenote.com.

David Olds

DISCoveries Editor

discoveries@thewholenote.com

DISCoveries Editor's Corner: February 09

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December 2008 marked the 100th birthdays of two very significant 20th century composers, Olivier Messiaen and Elliott Carter. Carter is still very much alive and continues to make significant contributions to the repertoire. You can read Pamela Margles’ comments on some of his recent works in her review of Ursula Oppens’ recording of his complete (at least to this date) piano works elsewhere in these pages, and next month we will feature a review of Toronto’s New Music Concerts centenary tribute to the American master. As for Messiaen, who died in 1991, there is a wealth of material being released to celebrate his centennial. I would highly recommend La Fête des belles eaux, a new Ensemble d’Ondes de Montréal release (ATMA ACD2 2621). This work is scored for six ondes Martenot, one of the first commercially produced electronic instruments, and one which Messiaen used extensively. Due to the rarity of the ondes this breathtaking work is seldom performed. In addition the CD includes four Feuillets inédits (late, unpublished works) for ondes and piano performed by Estelle Lemire and Louise Bessette and an arrangement of the first movement of Ravel’s String Quartet for four ondes Martenot. I find the haunting sound of the ondes particularly well-suited to Ravel.
	We are still four years away from Benjamin Britten’s Centenary year, but Bruce Surtees’ Old Wine in New Bottles column in this issue brought to mind my own favourite pieces of this British master. In February 2002 I wrote in these pages: “Two recent recordings of Benjamin Britten’s complete works for solo cello are welcome additions to the available discography of these highly regarded but all too rarely heard masterpieces. All three solo suites were written for Mstislav Rostropovich … [and] with this in mind, all subsequent recordings must be measured against Rostropovich’s classic 1968 Decca performance, marvellously remastered for CD release in 1989. I’m pleased to report that both of the current releases pass muster with flying colours… Both the Norwegian Truls Mørk (Virgin Classics 45399) and Dutchman Peter Wispelwey (Channel Classics CCS 17198) bring a wealth of technique and experience to their interpretations, and they both seem to have made these pieces their own.”
	Rostropovich himself never recorded the third suite in which Britten incorporated several Russian melodies. My first exposure to that piece was through a 1995 recording featuring a young Israeli-born cellist Matt Haimovitz who Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School described as “probably the greatest talent I have ever taught”. At 17 Haimovitz signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and several of his recordings of standard and non-standard repertoire won international awards over the next 12 years. Three of those discs have been re-issued on DG’s budget “Trio” line. The 20th Century Cello (80004505) now comprises 3 CDs and almost 4 hours of music including all three Benjamin Britten Cello Suites along with important works by Crumb, Kodaly, Dutilleux, Henze, Berio, Ligeti and many others.
	I’m here to tell you now that the playing field has become even more crowded with the new ATMA (ACD2 2524) release of the Britten Cello Suites performed by Denise Djokic. This Halifax native who comes from a large musical family – her father Philippe is a former concertmaster of Symphony Nova Scotia - was at the tender age of 21 named by MacLean’s as one of “25 Young Canadians who are changing our World”, and by ELLE as one of “Canada’s 30 most Powerful Women”. Djokic has shown a strong affinity for modern repertoire; in her debut recording of music by Barber, Martinu and Britten (Suite No.3) for Sony Classical which won an East Coast Music Award for Best Classical Recording in 2002, and the subsequent “Folklore” on Endeavour Classics which included works by Vaughan Williams, Stravinsky, Janacek and Cassadó. On the current ATMA release, recorded at Domaine Forget last February, the cellist revisits Britten’s third suite with even more confidence and aplomb than the Sony recording from six years earlier, and adds brilliant performances of the first and second suites to complete the set. With this recording Djokic proves herself to be living up to the high expectations generated in her formative years.
My final selection for the month combines the cello playing, singing and song-writing skills of multi-talented local musician Kevin Fox. The self-stated purpose of Songs for Cello & Voice (www.kevinfox.ca) was to produce a pop record which would feature only Fox’s voice and cello. There is some overdubbing involved, but nevertheless the result is a stunning achievement. Comprised of eight original compositions and two covers - Kate Bush’s Army Dreamer’s and the Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams (are made of this) - the collection rises above usual “pop” fare with its thoughtful lyrics, sparse orchestration and pure, unadorned vocal stylings. The diverse offerings touch on swing, doo-wop and straight ahead pop with a fine balance of melodic flair and emotional expression. The instrumental final track cleverly invokes memories of such iconic cello pieces as Saint-Saëns’ The Swan and Bach’s solo suites without seeming unduly derivative. This is a very refreshing disc.