Pascal Dusapin - Concertos Sonia Wieder-Atherton; Juliette Hurel; Alain Trudel Orchestre National de Montpellier; Pascal Rophé Montaigne Naïve MO 782153

On this recent recording, conductor David Robertson demonstrates why I hoped he would have received more serious consideration for a North American conducting post … i.e. the TSO. From his extended tenure as leader of one of the world’s best new music chamber orchestras (the Ensemble InterContemporain), and conducting traditional symphony orchestras worldwide, his knowledge is broad and current.  As a former dancer, his skill and energy on the podium is clearly evident, as is some of the influence of this CD’s featured composer, Pierre Boulez. 

With near-impeccable intonation, Robertson leads the Orchestre National de Lyon through Boulez’s Rituel in memoriam Maderna (1974-75), five selections from Notations (1945, revised and orchestrated 1980-98), and Figures-Doubles-Prismes (1963-68). Rituel, for orchestra in 8 groups is actually individualized chamber music, 25 minutes of relentless, serialized unpulsed percussion ostinati hyphenating a smoothly orchestrated, seemingly isorhythmic melody. Reminiscent of Berio’s surface lines, they shift between flourish, sustain, flourish, sustain, and filigree. The more diverse Notations (the orchestral proliferation of an earlier piano piece) maintains the linear gestural foundation, with less restraint. Like Rituel, Figures… works with spatial distribution of orchestral instruments, displacing them into sub-groups underscoring structural principles of the work. Between the melodic motifs and infrequent time-point rhythms, Figures is in part the synthesis of the preceding two works.

While the Boulez CD confirms his clear aesthetic perspective and serves to further document his work, Pascal Dusapin’s CD of 3 concerti (one each for trombone, flute, and cello) partially thwarts some compositional concerns gathered from listening to his previous compositions. He’s extremely prolific, oft-performed, and obviously skilled, yet his music has seemed hurriedly written, or - more generously - automatic. At the same time, it’s often orchestrationally over-coiffed, with attention to surface detail perhaps better spent on structural considerations. It’s colourful, clearly and confidently pitch-oriented, yet frequently subject to peculiar, oddly or awkwardly placed musical gestures. While these qualities may be the residual style effects from his teacher-consultants Xenakis and Donatoni, others have become elements of his gradually distinguishing personal voice. 

Watt (1994), for trombone and orchestra, is wonderfully performed by Canadian virtuoso Alain Trudel, and strikes me as Dusapin’s best piece to date.  Inspired by the Beckett novel of the same name, Watt is colourful and fluid, yet unpredictable, containing subsections of significant beauty, particularly the duet with piccolo.  The other two works (Galim and Celo) also succeed, almost well enough to make one forget the inflated grandeur of the liner notes.

Paul Steenhuisen 

Blue & Green Peter Smith Quartet (Independent) PMS 10103 www.indiepool.com/petersmithquartet

In the '20s and '30s, jazz was a functional music played for dancers, and in the mid-'40s the BeBoppers cranked up the excitement level with occasional Afro-Cuban influences, and turned it more into something for listeners. Coltrane and Ornette then took it to the far edges of the spectrum. 

By the mid-’60s the gentling of jazz by Bossa Nova musicians from Brazil brought melody back, but there was a softening of the seriousness jazz had fought for, and too often the real message was hidden. The new function? Background music for hip restaurants. That’s not to suggest that bossa/latin jazz should be talked over, it’s just that it is, too often.

Peter Smith’s Quartet deserves to be listened to, but Blue & Green may well turn up bistros around the world, given its pleasantness. But there’s real jazz playing hidden in things like Monk’s Bye-Ya, Sonny Rollins’ Oleo (refurbished as Oléo), and the title selection. 

The leader is heard on flute, and soprano and tenor saxes, with Kevin Laliberté on acoustic guitar. The bassist is Drew Birston, and Marcus Chonsky is the percussionist, mostly playing things-you-hit-with-a-hand. And therein lies a bit of a drawback: I feel a drum set would add a more aggressive jazz feel, the kind of thing that would take this beyond the restaurant.

Ted O’Reilly

Balade imaginaire Guy Donis Trio Banyan BYN-2-002 (SRI)

Was it the appeal of raspberry beer, chocolate or lace that beckoned N.A.T.O. and the European Union to choose Belgium as their home base? Then, who would want to leave a country whose capital is graced with motorcycle cops wearing black leather to venture to a land of inclement weather? Guy Donis, with a banjo on his knee, came to the true north strong and free, where, like his home country, two official languages there be.

Balade imaginaire is a calling card  not only for Mr. Donis’ accomplished playing which easily compares to Bela Fleck’s, but also a showcase for the remarkable Martin Roy (whose double bass can be as sensual as Gary Peacock’s) and Francis Covan on accordion, violin and mandolin. Covan and Roy delight on a terse track called Twin Mandolins, in which they almost take flight. The “morning after” is recounted musically on an accordion with brain-reeling realism—relieved a few tracks later by an acoustic rendition of drinking coffee (supplying a much needed grip), to ready us for Latine, Mr. Covan’s composition, so continental in feel that one is shocked by what comes next: Le reel de deux Lisa, Donis’ homage to the traditional music of Quebec.

The impact of the trio is somewhat obscured by the album’s self-proclaimed aimlessness. Its impressions and moods, though pleasant, remind me of a tasty truffle that could nonetheless stand a stiff shot of whiskey at its centre. 

Deborah Rosen

It’s About Time … Heather Bambrick Independent HBCD-001

There’s something very honest and straightforward about Heather Bambrick’s debut CD, It’s About Time, which makes it a very endearing record. First there’s the choice of tunes, familiar things like Joyspring and Love for Sale, which make you want to settle in for a good listen. Then there’s the production – with very little overdubbing and no fancy effects, the CD plays very much like a live set in a club. Backing musicians David Braid, Michael McClennan (who arranged a number of the tunes), Davide Di Renzo and David Occhipinti all get lots of room to stretch out, too.

Ms. Bambrick has terrific technical abilities – great pitch, range and flexibility – honed through her many years of experience on the jazz scene singing with, among others, the jazz vocal quartet, the Beehive Singers, as well as through her work on CBC Radio’s “The Vinyl Café”. Along with the technique she also brings a lot of heart and personality to the songs. 

Besides the familiar standards there are also a few original and not-so-familiar tunes. Aren’t I Cute?, written by Ms. Bambrick is, as the title implies, a fun little number that’s part Blossom Dearie and part Spike Jones thanks to the addition of a kazoo chorus. The inclusion of the Prince tune How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore? and an ode to Newfoundland Let Me Fish Off St. Mary’s, make this an eclectic collection of tunes with much warmth and personality.

Cathy Riches

Terry Riley - In C Bang on a Can Cantaloupe Music CA21004 (SRI)

Terry Riley – In C SMCQ; Walter Boudreau ATMA ACD2 2251

Terry Riley’s In C (1964) precedes the Trudeau era, Gay Pride, and fax machines. It is a semaphore of the minimalist movement, so well known that it now receives attention in music history textbooks. Based on 53 scraps of melody in the primary key of C Major, scored for any number of instruments and fairly improvisatory with each fragment repeated ad libitum until the individual performers choose to move on to the next, it is a work of zing and contradiction. It can be both aggravating and compelling; fun and meditative; popsy and serious. Hey, it’s from California.

Perhaps fitting for a piece so contradictory, here are two performances as different as night and day — and I like both, and would not wish  to choose between them. 

Bang on a Can’s 11-person New York rendering shimmers. It has a combination of vitality and leisure to it. It unfolds and just keeps twinkling along, like a sonic kaleidoscope, in less-is-more style.

Walter Boudreau’s competing version from a live Montreal concert is outrageous and virile. He starts off by appending to the front a sort of Indian raga, while the audience is still chattering and rustling. The music slowly gathers force, abetted by vocal grunts, chants, and deep-toned “oo’s.” A chorus and French-Canadian singer/poet Raoul Duguay add a minor-keyed song noodle up top, and sung text with imperceptible words. 

The whole thing hums along like a dark, pulsing orgy of voices and instruments — an ensemble three times the size of Bang on a Can’s —repetitive, shouted, and with a rock beat much of the time, until it finally dies away. Riley himself in the liner notes tellingly brands this performance of his work a “fantasia”. And an audience erupts in cheers 35 minutes later. Me, too. Shorter electroacoustic selections by Canadians Donald Steven and Michel-Georges Brégent round out the ATMA release.

Both recordings are fine, and both albums offer especially good graphic design..

Peter Kristian Mose
 

WORTH REPEATING
 
 

Jim Hall  Jim Hall, Don Thompson, Terry Clarke Verve 440 065 428-2

My college class recently held its 40th anniversary reunion, and an amazingly large number of those fine people turned up, well and healthy, and looking pretty much the way I remembered them. A grand time was had by all.

Well, Jim Hall Live! turned up almost 28 years after we last saw it, and I’ve been having a grand time with it, too. That I was in the audience when it was recorded probably adds to the enthusiasm I feel for this  great music, spun by the influential Jim Hall on guitar, Don Thompson on bass and drummer Terry Clarke. 

They knew something special was happening during the engagement at Toronto’s “Bourbon Street” jazz club, so Thompson brought in his four-track recorder to document the music. John Snyder, an American producer who heard the tapes, had them released on A&M’s Horizon jazz label. Given the quality of the music, and how well it was received at the time, I find it astonishing that it has only just now made it onto CD.  Working with standard material like Angel Eyes, The Way You Look Tonight and 'Round Midnight, the trio tap-dances on a tightrope, creating jazz of the highest level: a three-way conversation between masters that never leaves the listener behind.

I know Don Thompson has at least three hours more of unissued performances, maybe even better than what’s here. Perhaps another call should be made to John Snyder...

Ted O’Reilly

Tintner Memorial Edition Volume 1 Mozart: Symphonies No. 31, 35 & 40  Symphony Nova Scotia;  Georg Tintner Naxos 8.557233

For over a year now, rumours have been rife of Naxos’ impending reissue of the back catalogue of the late Georg Tintner’s recorded legacy. And here is Volume 1, packed with 78 minutes of  W. A. Mozart’s symphonic output. The three symphonies, familiar staples of the repertoire all, were much favoured by the Halifax audience.

Symphony Nova Scotia rose from the ashes of the much larger regional orchestra which preceded it. One statement issued in those formative days concerned the low number of employed musicians, fewer than forty players. Those statements pointed to the small orchestra becoming a specialized eighteenth-century ensemble. This CD bears out the wisdom of those decisions, with an intimate quality of sound and wonderfully disciplined musicianship. However, this is nearly a sixty-piece orchestra as represented here. All players are listed in the well-designed liner notes. 

In keeping with historical correctness, the three works are in chronological order. Unfortunately the “Paris” symphony ends in the same key as the opening of the “Haffner” symphony that follows it. It might have been interesting to find the G minor No. 40 placed between the two earlier works. The Rebecca Cohn Auditorium adds subtle warmth to Mark Warren and Wayne Stay’s live recording. The wonderfully silent audience reveals itself only to applaud Tintner and the orchestra. An excellent CD. 
John S. Gray
 

DISCS OF THE MONTH
 
 

Haendel Louise Pellerin, Dom André  Laberge, Hélène Plouffe CBC MVCD 1157

I put this one into my player expecting the onset of stifled yawns. Within minutes I was on the phone to a music store ordering scores, calling an oboist to arrange a reading and on the internet lauding the merits of this remarkable disc.

Recorded in the winning ambience of the abbey church at Saint-Benoit-du-Lac, Quebec, Handel’s modest organ continuo artfully recorded and balanced against the fluid oboe of Louise Pellerin and the lyrical violin lines of Hélène Plouffe make for enchanting listening.

But beyond the secrets of intelligent musicianship and exacting production lies the art of clever programming. Here’s where this CD really shines. With only a handful of oboe sonatas in the Handel catalogue, four of the most tuneful are set in a sensible order that sustains interest. To heighten the experience even more, we encounter a careful selection from Handel’s Nine German Arias in which the violin obbligato is played instead by the oboe and the soprano part by the violin. This puts Plouffe up front with the musical idea and an interpretive challenge she meets exceedingly well, matching oboist Pellerin’s passion in the Sonatas. Dom André Laberge, Abbey organist and Prior is at all times tasteful and precise.

Those strict about period style, however, may muse on the mix of an organ voiced mildly Baroque with only discreet “chiff”, the straight-tone violin playing and the use of a modern oboe. Still, the affection for the music by all three players mutes any questions about stylistic authenticity.

As CBC radio’s Peter Togni recently said when playing a cut from this CD, the performance seems the wonderful product of the Benedictine motto “Ora et Labora” (Pray and Work). Given these results, I’m considering taking up both.

Alex Baran

Collected Stories Martin Van de Ven; Brian Katz Lilah 0218 (Independent)

Sweet Return Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band; Jane Bunnett Independent FBR CD 005 www.flyingbulgars.com

Traditional folk music has always been a source of inspiration and study by performers and composers alike, with the subsequent evolution of styles and genres opening doors to new experiences for musician and listener alike. Two recent releases from Toronto-based musicians show that with experience comes experimentation. In both cases, traditional Jewish music is treated with the utmost respect and care with the results of experimentation being as different as night and day. Collected Stories is a glorious and contemplative celebration of traditional and original Jewish music performed with wit, spontaneity and tenderness by stalwart Toronto musicians Martin van de Ven and Brian Katz along with, on three tracks, special guest, the Dutch violinist Monique Lansdorp. 

Utilizing the unique small combo of clarinet and guitar (with piano and violin thrown in for fun) to perform traditional Jewish music is a brave undertaking, which could have easily stumbled. Instead, the risk has resulted in a breathtaking and ear-opening exploration of the enormous possibilities that this music has to offer. The traditional selections show Katz and van de Ven at their best; their years of experience yield fine performances. 

Noteworthy is the opening track Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen; once the opening melody is stated on solo guitar, Katz introduces a new harmonic framework upon which a peaceful improvisation takes place. The original material integrates elements of jazz and free improvisation. Katz’s own Desert Nigunim is based on melodies which came to him “while doing a movement improvisation alone one evening in the Judean desert in Israel” — a slow duet for piano and bass clarinet, the emotional intensity of this beautiful ballad lends itself well to the extended techniques used by the performers. In contrast, van de Ven’s Whassat, with its three-part writing, is a message of hope. Throughout the release, van de Ven, Katz and Lansdorp incorporate subtlety and nuance to their obvious music-making joy.

The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band’s new release Sweet Return is a fun, toe-tapping and uplifting journey. The group has evolved enormously since its beginnings more than a decade ago; the klezmer tunes and rhythms on the traditional tracks act as a springboard for the shining original compositions which each band member has contributed. Like Collected Stories, each composer’s personal musical sensibility aids to push the klezmer boundaries to new heights. Bassist Andrew Downing’s Was a Little Lad is a march-like ditty with a cabaret flavour for the “roving wind band”. Marilyn Lerner’s (piano/accordion) Einstein’s Hora superimposes her jazz, classical and free improvisation know-how to the klezmer tradition in a haunting manner. Clarinetist Bob Stevenson’s Shabbes Goyim/Ghosts is a catchy and humorous medley based on Bob’s “childhood as a non-Jew in a Jewish neighbourhood.” Vocalist Dave Wall goes the traditional route with his Peacock And Turkey but it is his moving setting of the poem When Eternity Weeps by Avram Sutskever that keeps getting better and better with each listening. The roving melody and shifting rhythms of Daniel Barnes’ Voyage of the Grandfathers allows the band to really groove and sets the stage for superb improvisations. 

Leader/trumpeter David Buchbinder’s offerings find him delving into numerous styles, but it is the final track with its full horn section, Shekhina: Cut from the Same Cloth (with lyrics by Dave Wall, Kyo Maclear and Roula Said), that really makes one want to get up and keep dancin’. As to be expected, all the playing is top-notch with superstar special guest Jane Bunnett and other guest musicians filling in the roster.

Two different takes on traditional Jewish music, two different sweet success stories. Collected Stories and Sweet Return each mark departures. What the future holds is really exciting. Listen and enjoy!

Tiina Kiik 

The WholeNote welcomes your participation and looks forward to your cooperation in making DISCOVERIES a lively addition to our magazine and to our  website.

Catalogues and review copies of CDs should be sent to:
The WholeNote, 60 Bellevue Avenue, Toronto ON M5T 2N4

For more information contact David Olds at david.olds@sympatico.ca .