Modern and Contemporary

Bow & Brush – 12 Scores of Nadina Tandy
Stefan Smulovitz
Redshift Records TK548 (stefansmulovitz.ca)

Vancouver multi-instrumentalist and technology artist Stefan Smulovitz is known throughout the west-coast as a diverse musician, collaborator and organiser, and founder of the ensemble Eye of Newt, a group creating live scores to enduring movies. Inspired by a series of painted images from visual artist Nadina Tandy designed to be interpreted musically, Smulovitz has released his first album Bow & Brush: 12 Scores of Nadina Tandy. Using his diverse experiences as a multi-disciplinary artist, violist, sound artist, electronic creator and improvisor, as well as the creator of his own software Kenaxis, Smulovitz gathers together a full album from what was originally a single commission from Vancouver New Music’s One Page Scores program (visual artists were invited to create a one-page visual score to be interpreted by a partnered musician). Smulovitz went on to commission 11 further visual scores from Tandy to create this album.

Suffused with electronic extensions and additional soundscapes, Smulovitz expands his colours and expressions into multitudes of hues and textures from various sources: playing acoustic violin, viola and bass, with the addition of Dvina, Enner, Lyra, Noon, Perkons, Waterphone, gongs, and layers of electronic treatments and instruments. The result is a cinematic audioscape one might describe as “ambient grunge.” The album comes with a booklet of Vancouver-born Tandy’s abstract paintings, which may enhance the listening experience and are worthy on their own. My favourite track is Maple Seed Pods, a slow, grounded course of water drifting out to a wide expanse of light.

From Dusk Till Dawn
Dobrochna Zubek; Caitlin Boyle
Redshift Records TK 570 (redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/from-dusk-till-dawn)

Hamilton-based violist Caitlin Boyle and Toronto-based cellist Dobrochna Zubek collaborate in 13 short pieces, most of them composed for this pairing of instruments.

Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) was herself a virtuoso violist; her Viola Sonata ranks among today’s most-often performed, alongside the two by Brahms. Her Two Pieces, Lullaby and Grotesque, are respectively dreamy and mischievously brusque.

Before joining the modernist avant-garde, Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994) drew inspiration from traditional Polish folk melodies and dances, as heard in the five miniature pieces that make up his Bucolics for piano, here arranged by Boyle and Zubek. The fourth, a soulful, songful Andantino, is especially lovely.

The engaging pizzicato-dominated Limestone & Felt by American Caroline Shaw (b.1982) begins with unpredictable dancing syncopations before shifting to sustained, slow, pensive pulsations. (The title, writes Shaw, refers to hard and soft surfaces.)

In the duo’s arrangement, Song of Ophelia from Seven Verses of Alexander Blok, Op.127 by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), originally written for soprano Galina Vishnevskaya and her husband, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, retains its haunting sense of sorrowful plaintiveness.

The Break of Dawn by the cellist’s father, Andrzej Zubek (b.1948), progresses gradually from darkness to light, encountering subtle touches of Gershwin and Viennese waltz along the way.

A moody Prelude, sprightly Gavotte and warm-hearted Berceuse from Eight Pieces, Op.39 by Reinhold Glière (1875-1956) end this entertaining disc. Lasting only 33 minutes, the CD left me wanting much more entertainment from this very talented pair of musicians.

Listen to 'From Dusk Till Dawn' Now in the Listening Room

Thomas Adès – The Exterminating Angel Symphony; Violin Concerto
Leila Josefowicz; Minnesota Orchestra; Thomas Sondergard
Pentatone PCT 5187 487 (pentatonemusic.com/product/ades-the-exterminating-angel-symphony-violin-concerto)

Thomas Adès has had one of the more successful compositional careers in England for at least 25 years now, with compositions in all forms, including three operas. He has written many orchestral pieces in unconventional forms, and his style seems unpredictable, but always holds the attention with surprising musical gambits and constantly spectacular and very personal orchestration.

The Violin Concerto from 2005 has now been recorded at least three times, including an out-of-print EMI disc by violinist Anthony Marwood with the composer at the podium. This latest production, featuring the high-octane Canadian-born Leila Josephowicz accompanied by the under recorded Minnesota Orchestra with their new chef Thomas Søndergård, offers the most  compelling treatment. Slightly faster, this performance fulfills the stratospheric demands of the score which are handled with quicksilver dexterity and a deft expertise by both soloist and orchestra.

The main work here is the debut recording of the symphony Adès has extracted from his last, phantasmagorical opera, commissioned by the Met: The Exterminating Angel inspired by the eponymous surrealist film by Louis Buñuel. This symphony provides a sampling of some of the tumultuous music from the opera. The first two movements are derived from the restless orchestral background score which evades and overwhelms the listener. The last movement ends up as an almost wild waltz. The orchestral performance and recording here are focussed and very clear in the orchestra’s famous unobtrusive acoustic. This enterprising, very successful disc heralds Pentatone’s arrival to record this group and their new conductor in the cleanest most direct sound. May they continue with the enterprising repertoire.

Prophecy: Tüür; Korvits; Vasks
Ksenija Sidorova; Estonian Festival Orchestra; Paavo Järvi
Alpha Classics ALPHA1198 (outhere-music.com/en/albums/prophecy)

Prophecy, performed by renowned Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi and his Estonian Festival Orchestra comprised of his handpicked musicians, and Latvian solo accordion superstar Ksenija Sidorova, who has collaborated with Järvi for over ten years, pays tribute to Baltic Estonian and Latvian music.

Prophecy (2007) by Erkki-Sven Tüür for accordion and orchestra, a work in four movements played without pauses, explores the concept of the Seer, a person who can see the future but is often despised by the society in which they live. The opening has the orchestral holding slow soft notes and building in volume, then soft again,  blending with Sidorova’s virtuosic accordion playing. An accordion bellows shake creates dramatic rhythmic sense with loud orchestra playing.

Tõnu Kõrvits’ four movement Dances (2024) opens with I. Darkness containing quiet held notes on the accordion to short silence to contemporary dance flavoured full orchestral crescendo and upfront accordion. Closing full “band” decrescendo to soft accordion is breathtaking. II.Passacaglia is serious with big volume changes. Accessible sounds in III.Siciliana. Closing IV. Sarabande is loud with orchestra, percussion and accordion rhythmic lines to unexpected accented closing. Pēteris Vasks’ The Fruit of Silence (2007), inspired by a prayer by Mother Teresa, is arranged by George Morton for accordion, vibraphone and string orchestra. Sidorova’s beautiful musical high single note melody followed by vibraphone solo, and orchestral and accordion accompaniments are mellow, calming and reassuring. These two works were performed live in Toronto with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Järvi and Sidorova October 31 through November 2, 2025.

Järvi’s passionate conducting draws out tight orchestral and accordion performances in this clearly recorded release with contrasting blasting and subtle sounds. Hästi tehtud -- well done!