Dowland - The Queen’s Galliard (Lute Music Vol. 4) Nigel North Naxos 8.570284 At Grigorian.com The fourth and final CD of a series devoted to John Dowland’s lute music, this disc’s program of galliards, corants and Elizabethan song tunes offers an affectionate and intriguing glimpse into the musical development of this brilliant composer. Though Dowland’s familiar pensive spirit is rarely out of sight, its reflection through the prism of dance and song makes for delightful listening of a more lively kind, especially in the expert musical hands of Nigel North. This CD is replete with great tunes expertly played. Several of the composer’s earlier and less familiar galliards can be heard here, of which John Dowland’s Galliard is a particular gem; also included are some of his most famous, such as the Frog Galliard, which receives an elegantly spry performance. Also offered are various lute song and broadside ballad tunes set for lute alone, including Can she excuse, Lord Willoughby’s welcome home, Fortune my foe, Goe from my window and other Shakespeare-era chart-toppers. North also performs his own particularly beautiful version of Francis Cutting’s Awake sweet love. Besides his exemplary playing, North’s readable notes provide much helpful and interesting information. And the recorded sound on this disc is beautiful. Congrats to Naxos for their support of Dowland’s remarkable music, as played by one of his most excellent champions.  Alison Melville

Telemann Twelve Fantasies for Solo Violin Augustin Hadelich Naxos 8.570563 At Grigorian.com Like a musical wolf in sheep’s clothing, the Telemann Fantasies lie in wait for the competent but unsuspecting amateur violinist searching for solo Baroque works less challenging than the Bach Sonatas and Partitas. I’ve been trying to play these things for over 35 years - which probably says more about my reluctance to practise and the relative balance of “competent” and “amateur” in my technique than anything else - and while Telemann clearly intended them for amateurs and students the deceptively straightforward writing is often quite angular and strewn with technical pitfalls. Composed in 1735, the Fantasies display elements of the Baroque sonata, concerto and suite, with limited two-part writing and less multiple stopping than the Bach; the 1968 Barenreiter edition, however - and with classic understatement - remarked that “the double stopping and chordal work can only be tackled by a competent player.” Augustin Hadelich’s playing goes far beyond merely competent, making everything sound easy and natural without ever being trivial. The short, slow chordal passages could perhaps be embellished more - comparison with the solo Asseggai of Telemann's Swedish contemporary Johan Helmich Roman would certainly suggest this - but Hadelich's ornamentation is clean and unobtrusive. These are not the Bach solo works in any respect, leaning more towards Corelli than to Telemann's German contemporary, but they still have much to recommend them. Recorded in Newmarket by the regular Naxos team of Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver the sound quality is, as always, impeccable. Terry Robbins

Haydn – La Passione (Symphonies 41; 44; 49) Arion; Gary Cooper early-music.com EMCCD-7769 www.early-music.com) Montreal’s Arion orchestra is joined in this recent CD by the English harpsichordist Gary Cooper in a program of three remarkable symphonies from Haydn’s so-called “Storm and Stress” period. What makes this recording unusual, aside from the highly contentious inclusion of a harpsichord continuo part, is the modest size of the 17 member orchestra, ostensibly modelled after the forces available to Haydn at the Esterhazy palace where these works were first heard. This recording claims to be a premiere of sorts, in that the performance of the Symphony No. 41 is presented, as Cooper explains in the booklet notes, “without the pomp and clatter of additional trumpets and timpani”. An admirable intent to be sure, but regrettably there’s clatter galore from the over-miked horns and an often relentless harpsichord part which contributes a considerable din of acrid overtones of its own. Though the virtuosity of the ensemble is quite evident, particularly in the hell-for-leather tempos of the 44th and 49th symphonies, Anton Kwiatkowski’s over-the-top sound engineering (or to be fair, perhaps it’s a distorted pressing of the album that’s at fault) inflates the modest ensemble to gargantuan proportions, undermining the very intimacy that was the stated intent of this small-scale performance. If heavy-metal Haydn is your thing you may enjoy these bristly, bracing interpretations. Daniel Foley

_{CLASSICAL AND BEYOND}

Beethoven - Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Mari Kodama; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchestre Berlin; Kent Nagano Analekta AN 2 9955 At Grigorian.com I looked forward to hearing these concertos after Nagano’s Beethoven Fifth Symphony recorded with the Montreal Symphony (AN2 9942-3). That performance was a wave of fresh air in dynamics, phrasing and tempi and a welcome addition to the catalogue, holding one’s attention to the last bar. Mari Kodama is endowed with astonishing virtuosity, self assurance and control. This reminded me of Glenn Gould when his limitless ability, boarding on arrogance, could stand in the way the music. As these performances unfold I was persuaded that she is offering genuine musical insights with a personal touch that is quite appealing. About eight minutes into the first movement of the first concerto, Beethoven’s genius is manifested using simple means for the unfolding drama of the music. Descending scales, played 3 times, remind me of similar scales in Mozart’s Don Giovanni which portend the demise of the Don. How these simple passages are played is one of the critical measures of artistic insight. No reservations here nor with the inner world of the slow movement. The third movement, taken at a brisk pace, is exhilarating. Kodama’s style is perfectly akin to the second concerto. Her no nonsense, clear approach suits this work perfectly. Sparkling throughout and as stylistically satisfying as any I know of. The orchestra is just the right size for these works and Nagano, as expected, provides illuminating support, fresh and pointed beyond merely impeccable. The spacious recording is clean and well projected with a pleasing ambience. It will be quite interesting to hear the other three concertos as they may require less of the sparkling pianism and more heavyweight musicianship. Odds are she’ll make it brilliantly. Bruce Surtees

Chopin André Laplante Analekta AN 2 9964 At Grigorian.com We can only wonder why it took Andre Laplante – a pianist long renowned for his interpretations of late-romantic repertoire – until now to record an all-Chopin disc. But in light of the well-balanced program and superb playing, it was well worth the wait! Included on this Analekta recording are 2 major works, the Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 35 and the Fantaisie Op.49, in addition to two early Nocturnes, (Op. Post. in C sharp minor, and Op.15 No.1), and the three Mazurkas Op.63. The Sonata, the second of Chopin’s efforts in the form, raised more than a few eyebrows when first published in 1840. Schumann even went so far as to refer to it as a binding together of “four of his maddest children.” No matter, Laplante approaches the music with aplomb – this is powerful and noble playing, and my only quibble - and a minor one at that - would be the overly brisk pace he takes in the opening movement. Yet the familiar third movement “Funeral March” is treated with the solemnity it deserves, and the finale, with those fleeting octaves once described as “wind over church-yard graves” embodies a spirit that surely would have pleased Edgar Allan Poe. The two nocturnes and three mazurkas which follow are miniature jewels, but to my mind, Laplante saves his best for last with the magnificent F minor Fantaisie, hailed by many as Chopin’s greatest work. I have heard many versions over the years, but I can honestly say this is among the finest I have encountered. His treatment is nothing less than sublime, from the ominous opening march, to the thrice-heard secondary theme, a veritable love-song. There is a world of contrasting moods in this piece, and Laplante effortlessly captures them all, thus bringing this most satisfying disc to a close. Richard Haskell

Brahms; Korngold - Violin Concertos Nikolaj Znaider; Wiener Philharmoniker; Valery Gergiev RCA Red Seal 88697103362 At Grigorian.com The young Danish violinist Nikolaj Znaider appears in the august company of the mighty Vienna Philharmonic in this live recording from December 2006. The notoriously volatile Valery Gergiev provides an unusually restrained interpretation of the Brahms Concerto, well in tune with the beautifully honeyed tone Znaider draws from the Guarneri “del Gesu” violin once owned by Fritz Kreisler and now on loan to Znaider thanks to a Dutch foundation. It is a performance of striking intimacy, long on beauty though a bit short on the drama that other artists have found in this celebrated work. Though Znaider gives it his all, it seems Gergiev’s reticence in such familiar repertoire makes for just another day at the office as far as the orchestra is concerned. Gergiev and the Philharmonic seem much more engaged in Erich Korngold’s 1945 Violin Concerto, a work which is derived in large part from the composer’s Hollywood film scores composed during his decade of exile from his native Vienna. Attractively scored and direct in expression, it was premiered by Jascha Heifetz in 1947 and though it found little favour in European circles of the time it has never fallen out of the repertoire. All in all, a superb addition to Znaider’s discography. Daniel Foley

Michael Rabin Collection, Volume 2 Live Performances Michael Rabin DOREMI DHR 7951-3 Not only violin fans but all music lovers will be delighted with this set of performances by the legendary Michael Rabin, a violin virtuoso and fine musician who, in his short life (1936-1972), generated explosive excitement and had, and still has, one of the most evident cult followings in classical music. The three CDs, each of a little over 80 minutes duration, are fully loaded with live performances, all previously un-issued in any format, of concertos, solos and real showpieces for violin and orchestra. These were taken down at various stages of Rabin’s meteoric career, from his precocious teen-age years when he was a frequent and popular guest on The Bell Telephone Hour broadcast nationally on the NBC Network, to the fully mature, seasoned master delivering astounding performances of the Brahms, Bruch’s 1st, and Prokofiev’s 2nd violin concertos. We hear also his earliest known live performances of the Wieniawski first concerto, a work that to this day only Rabin plays with such finesse. He later recorded it for EMI, as authoritatively as if he owned it. Both Perlman and Shaham have recorded the concerto but neither approaches Rabin’s supremacy in this repertoire. Also included in this set are two ‘contemporary’ concertos apparently played only by Rabin: those by Richard Mohaupt (German-American 1904-1957) heard here with the Philharmonic-Symphony conducted by Mitropoulos (1954) and American Paul Creston’s Concerto no.2, commissioned by Rabin (1962). A 1952 collaboration between the young Rabin and the mature and celebrated Zino Francescatti is heard in a scintillating performance of the first movement of Bach’s Double Concerto BWV1042, Rabin playing primo! Six of Paganini’s Solos Caprices (Berlin 1961) are wondrous. Most of the repertoire presented here does not exist in Rabin’s commercial discography or in previously issued live performances. The informative and authoritative liner notes were written by Doctor Anthony Feinstein, author of “Michael Rabin: America’s Virtuoso Violinist” (Amadeus Press, 2005), the only biography of the late musician. It is known that Michael Rabin wished to record the Brahms Violin Concerto. This set honours that wish with a breathtaking performance from 1967 with Rafael Kubelik in Chicago. The sound is of studio quality as are all the tracks except for the Mohaupt and Creston concertos which were rescued from contemporary acetates. The set helps to fill significant omissions in the catalogue. Bruce Surtees

Later

Heidi Lange

Independent (www.heidilange.ca)

Singer-songwriter Heidi Lange has flown in under the radar to drop her debut CD, “Later”. While Lange has spent most of her musical career teaching and directing musicals, her own solo performing career hasn’t been high on her list of priorities. But as a songwriter she felt compelled – by personal loss, as is so often the case with songwriters – to get these songs out. The disc has two handfuls of tunes, only a few of which are covers, and nary a done-to-death standard in sight. The genre is hard to pinpoint – cabaret and soul with a touch of jazz - seem to be the biggest influences. The original tunes have a certain comforting familiarity to them. Any Time Soon is an old school R&B lament for a lost love, with appropriately yearning sax work by Pat Carey, and My Own is a gospel-inspired anthem to female independence, with stately accompaniment by brilliant pianist Robi Botos.

Lange has a warm and expressive voice that is at its best on the quieter, more controlled pieces which are predominant here. So her cover of Stevie Wonder’s Tuesday Heartbreak, which calls for more freedom and funkiness, sounds strained and out of the comfort zone for her and some of the band – with the exception of Colin Barrett’s relaxed, solid bass work, which holds it together. While the other covers, Gloomy Sunday – complete with Hammond organ by keyboardist Peter Kadar – and Snuggled on Your Shoulder fit like a glove.

Cathy Riches

Sunplace

Jaffa Road

Independent JR0001

(www.jaffaroadmusic.com)

March 25 saw Toronto’s Lula Lounge at overflow capacity, a lively party atmosphere on the occasion of the release of Jaffa Road's first CD. While this band is relatively new on the world music scene, its musicians are not. Jaffa Road, a Jewish-pop band rooted in tradition, not only takes its place alongside the likes of Toronto’s other fusion groups, such as the Arabic–Greek ensemble Maza Mezé, and Indian–Jazz ensembles Autorickshaw and Tasa, it also shares some of their musicians. “Sunplace” opens with a tabla riff delivered by Ravi Naimpally, and the CD features other well-known guest artists or regulars, Dr. George Sawa (qanoon), Ernie Tollar (eastern flutes), Chris McKhool (violin), Chris Gartner (bass, guitar), Sundar Viswanathan (sax), Jeff Wilson (percussion, kalimba, etc.), and co-producer/composer Aaron Lightstone (oud, guitars, saz, synthesizers).

The star of this recording is however vocalist Aviva Chernick, who sings in Hebrew, English and Judeo-Spanish (Ladino). Also no stranger to Toronto's music scene, Chernick has previously released a CD with The Huppah Project, as well as her solo recording, “In the Sea” (see www.avivachernick.com). “Sunplace” is a collection of songs, either newly composed to traditional texts, or arrangements of traditional songs, and a couple of entirely new ones. The opening number is a call to peace, based on the phrase from Isaiah “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more”. The CD’s title track Makom Shemesh (sun place) evokes a desert landscape. Be’er Besade is a lively tune from 1950’s Israel. Im Ninalu, a traditional Yemenite melody, was first made popular (to my knowledge) by the late Yemenite-Israeli pop singer Ofra Haza; the version here opens with an introduction by Cantor Aaron Bensoussan. Love songs include the traditional Ladino Una Ora en la Ventana, and a new composition based on the Hebrew Song of Songs,

(open the night for me) which closes this recording. Chernick and the band give polished performances throughout.

Karen Ages

Ann Southam - Pond Life

Christina Petrowska Quilico

Centrediscs CMCCD 14109

(www.musiccentre.ca)

This disc features piano music by Ann Southam, one of Canada’s most important - and most interesting - composers. The titles of the works on this disc refer to natural bodies of water, not just ponds but rivers and creeks as well. So, while the ten movements of Soundstill capture the calm surface of a windless pond, Noisy River, Fidget Creek, and Commotion Creek ripple and dance along. But whether these exquisite compositions are smooth or turbulent on the surface, underneath they teem with life.

The distinctiveness of Southam’s sound world lies in her ability to create a sense of space around the notes. A simple motif can emerge from the layers of sound, and, with a rhythmic or harmonic twist change the course of the music. It’s moving, and it encourages contemplation of what lies beyond the sounds.

Most of these works were written for Canadian pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico, who in 2005 recorded Southam’s Rivers (also on Centrediscs). Her virtuosic command of the keyboard brings these works to life. With theatrical flair she balances the fine gradations in pitch and rhythm to create subtle shifts in mood, from nostalgic contemplation to irrepressible joy.

The cover art is lovely. But a reproduction of the painting by Aiko Suzuki which inspired Southam to write Spatial View of Pond I and II would also have been meaningful. The recorded sound is clear yet resonant, helping to make this disc such a delight.

Pamela Margles

Concert Note: Christina Petrowska Quilico will launch this CD on Tuesday, May 12 in Glenn Gould Studio with performances of the music of Ann Southam.

Fazil Say - 1001 Nights in the Harem

Patricia Kopatchinskaja; Luzerner

Sinfonieorchester; John Axelrod

Naïve V5147 (www.naiveclassique.com)

At Grigorian.com

The Turkish pianist and composer Fazil Say has achieved great success in both classical and jazz fields, with frequent concert hall and jazz festival appearances and a discography ranging from Bach to Stravinsky. As an accompanist, he toured with Maxim Vengerov in 2004, and in 2006 formed a duo partnership with the Moldovan violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja.

His violin concerto was written for Kopatchinskaja, and this CD is a live recording of the world premiere performance in Lucerne in February 2008. It is a very accessible and extremely satisfying four-movement work, the title of which suggests that in this particular meeting of East and West the ‘East’ is going to be the dominant partner, as indeed it is. Turkish percussion instruments add colour to a rich and warm orchestral score full of sensuous oriental sonorities that reaches its peak in a wonderfully lyrical third movement.

Kopatchinskaja interprets the music superbly, with great support from Axelrod and the LSO. This is one concerto I’ll be playing over and over again.

Three other works by Say complete the disc. Patara, a quartet for soprano, ney flute, piano and percussion that was originally a ballet, and Alla turca Jazz, for piano, are both built on material from Mozart’s A major Piano Sonata K331, while Summertime Variations is Say’s third arrangement of the Gershwin song, here conceived as a dazzling solo piece suitable for use in both his classical and jazz appearances.

Terry Robbins

Sarah Vaughan Live in Japan:

The Complete Edition

Sarah Vaughan

Jazz Lips JL758

Sarah Lois Vaughan (1924-1990) branded a singular singing style that will never go out of style. Whether the song was traditional or modern, dramatic or humorous, at the core of each performance was an exquisitely controlled, astonishing voice that spanned over four octaves. For her operatic instrument she was called “The Divine One” whereas “Sassy” was a moniker for her personality before, during and especially after the gig. “Live in Japan” is a worthy re-issue which finds the Divine One in heavenly form, backed by her swinging trio: Carl Schroeder on piano, John Gianelli on bass and Jimmy Cobb at the drums. Pushing fifty, she was in supreme voice and apparently a jovial mood to boot. At the Sun Plaza Hall in Tokyo in September of ’73, the audience ate it all up and craved more. The Nearness of You is a rare 7-minute treat with Vaughan accompanying herself on the piano, while Summertime is treated like a true aria and the last note of Over the Rainbow inhabits 17 seconds. Similarly, the ballad renditions of ‘Round Midnight, I Remember You and My Funny Valentine show off Sassy’s masterful approach to vibrato. Musically very savvy, Vaughan was a smart improviser: There is No Greater Love begins with three separate scat duets with drums, bass and piano; memorable wordless choruses make up I’ll Remember April, All of Me and The Blues which showcase the rhythm section. The requested encore Bye Bye Blackbird is a surprisingly joyous, swingin’ blast. In 2006, the Library of Congress honoured this album by adding it to the United States National Recording Registry. Formerly a costly ebay item, the complete edition retails for $40 including good liner notes, an interview, photographs and a bonus track. Alternately, one can find this concert on iTunes, issued under Mainstream Records.

Ori Dagan

Extended Play

Sampling Soundscapes

by Ken Waxman

Creating musical sounds without instruments has become widespread ever since the availability of first the portable tape recorder and then the lap top computer. Melding oscillations created with software plus amplifications of so-called found sounds, often re-mixed, these soundscapes are notable for their subtle mixture of foreground and background.

Canadians – especially Québécois – have been particularly proficient in this sort of composing, as these CDs demonstrate. So have Europeans, which is why Habitat (Creative Sources CS 105 CD), by the German dis.playce duo provides an interesting contrast to the Canadians’ work. For comparison, both that CD and Victoriaville Matière Sonore (Victo cd 0113) created by eight sound designers – Francisco López, Louis Dufort, Chantal Dumas, A_Dontigny, Steve Heimbecker, Mathieu Lévesque, Hélène Prévost and Tomas Phillips – are audio portraits of specific places.

Geographical reflection is also involved in Bill Gilonis’ and Chantale Laplante’s Zürich-Bamberg (AD HOC 22) and Éric Normand’s Vente de Bagages - Volume Un (Tour de Bras TDB 3001), but these collaborations expose another electronic music variant. Montrealer Laplante and Londoner Gilonis, then living in cities which give the disc its title, collaborate on sound collages by tweaking individual audio files sent to one another. Rimouski-based Normand follows the collaborative pattern, although the found sounds he alters originated in different European cities and in Montreal.

Hélène Prévost, one of Normand’s audio pen-pals, is the only person represented on two CDs; and that’s appropriate. One of the doyennes of auditory creation, her contributions fit individual situations in which they are placed. Matière Sonore’s VSM for instance, suggest a story line with muffled male and female voices, a ticking clock and sirens intermingling with rumbling hisses, blurry rustles and reverberated intonation traceable back to computer programming.

On Vente de Bagages however (www.tourdebras.com), the bed track of static intonation and hiss from her side is reconfigured with audio effects and stutters created and equalized by the noises produced with a microphone held in Normand’s mouth. This overt physicality and evident sonic building blocks is what distinguishes Normand’s sound postcards from the other discs. On another track, his circular cackles, cries and cock-a-doodle-doos expand the quicksilver squeaks and tremolo flutters produced by the brass mouthpiece and valves manipulation of Toulouse-resident Sébastien Cirotteau.

Organized by Spanish sound artist Francisco López to create an audio portrait of Victoriaville, Quebec, Matière Sonore’s soundscape is more anonymous and selfless (www.victo.qc.ca). Sequentially panning across the aural landscape of the city which hosts an annual experimental music festival, private and public spaces are exposed and transformed. Particular starting points are mixed electronically and are simultaneously linked and divorced from sources. Louis Dufort’s materio _***, for example, features snatches of gull caws and dog yelps, followed by slithery organ-like riffs and otherworldly shrills, and preceded by ring modulator echoes, plus swelling blurry thumps. Meanwhile Chantal Dumas tells her story on s/t w/t 2 with intonation from spectral railway-crossing peals, thunder claps and people shouting, plus radio dial twisting that locates and loses snatches of recorded music. She ends with door slamming sounds.

Coincidentally Zürich-Bamberg (www.chantalelaplante.com) begins with the sounds of a door opening, follow by quivering piano strings. Completed by a couple of tracks of solo Laplante that alternate prolonged silences with fortissimo, stop-time abrasions and echoes, the CD’s key manipulated collages are These 12 Minutes and the title track. Undulating, intermittent oral gasps top an undercurrent of foot steps on the former. Eventually the textures are redirected together as backwards-running beats. Slivers of English, French and German phrases stud the title track as these disembodied voices philosophize, hector and promote. Also audible are intercut disconnected waves of melodic, hard-rock and Arab music that occasionally reveal simple guitar licks or drum patterns. Surmounting this are further processed sounds which originate in falling rain, whistling birds, draining sinks and idling engines. The result is both descriptive and disconcerting.

So too is Habitat (www.creativesourcresrec.com). Created by German electronics manipulators Maximilian Marcoll and Hannes Galette Seidl to be site-specific, the tracks rely on recordings made in Frankfurt or Karlsruhe of the scratches, yowls, squeaks and cries that reflect those cities’ passing streetscapes. Panning across the sonic panorama, found sounds are captured at close range or at a distance, sometimes drawing away from the mikes as definition is established. As electronics distort the actualities with soothing watery squishes, flanged woodpecker-like clatter or rumbling cheeps and buzzes, the process becomes nearly hypnotic in its regularity.

Very much of its own place and style, this European CD confirms Canadians’ invention and pre-eminence in this particular version of sonic art.

Last December’s Gramophone magazine featured an evaluation of The World’s 20 Greatest Orchestras according to the World’s Leading Critics. Third was The Vienna Philharmonic, second was The Berlin Philharmonic and at the top of the list, The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Their chief conductor is Mariss Jansons who succeeded Ricardo Chailly. That orchestra has issued Volume 5, 1980-1990, of Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the penultimate set in their collection of a six decade’s worth of live performances (RCO 08005 14CDs and 84 page booklet). Conductors include Giulini, Kondrashin, Jochum, Haitink, Järvi, Sanderling, Chailly, Harnoncourt, Leinsdorf, de Waart, Colin Davis, Bernstein, Ivan Fischer, Dohnanyi, Dutoit, Albrecht, and others. One of the many highlights is Kirill Kondrashin with the most persuasive performance of Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony ever. I have umpteen versions from Vladimir Sokoloff’s 1928 Cleveland to the new Ashkenazy from the Sydney Symphony’s 2007 Rachmaninov Festival, but Kondrashin surpasses them all in overall shaping and balance, with a luxuriously self-indulgent first movement. While there are several popular works included; Tchaikovsky’s Sixth and The Poem of Ecstasy (Dorati), Mozart 24th (Brendel/Haitink), Song of the Nightingale (Chailly), Sibelius Sixth (Colin Davis), and Schubert Fifth (Bernstein), there is also repertoire that is rarely, if ever, heard live. Certain works by Schreker, Escher, Webern, Schoenberg, Varèse, Keuris, and others may be new to one’s ears but well worth getting to know. There are 41 works in all and choosing from the wealth of repertoire and matching conductors available could not have been easy. What is included is, presumably, the best of the best. Other choices may have been different but not better. I am enjoying this set immensely. No complaints about the sound.


Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Anthology Vol.5

At Grigorian.com

Esoteric, the Japanese company that manufactures high quality CD players, amplifiers and speakers, is producing CDs derived from existing analogue masters that are, from the two that I have heard, quite astonishing! Incidentally, these two discs are superior to any of the Japanese XRCD discs from JVC that I have heard.

Decca’s Dvorak Ninth Symphony with Istvan Kertesz and the Vienna Philharmonic (ESSD 90015, SACD hybrid) never had quite this impact. The dynamics are true-to-life and the orchestra between the speakers has body, not just sound. This is what Decca’s team must have heard live in the Sofiensaal in 1961. Through the courtesy of American Sound in Richmond Hill, employing state-of-the-art equipment, I compared this SACD/CD to the original SXL LP pressing and found that the sound was remarkably similar, the CD sounding more articulate in the bass and more dynamic, with some finer details in the winds. The bottom line is that the Esoteric disc sounds very analogue, dynamic and a must-have for those for whom analogue is their raison d’être. Kudos to Esoteric certainly but also to Decca, whose exquisite technology produced the original master tapes that contained all this newly revealed information.

Mozart’s Piano Concertos 20 and 27 played by Clifford Curzon with Benjamin Britten conducting the English Chamber Orchestra recorded by Decca in 1970 also enjoy an Esoteric sonic renaissance. Because of the less expansive dynamic range there are no sonic fireworks but nevertheless the remastering reveals a subtly heightened sense of reality (ESSD 90014, SACD hybrid). There are two more discs in this first release from Esoteric, de Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat with Ansermet and Beethoven Overtures with Colin Davis. I look forward to hearing them. Beautifully packaged like a hard cover book, these discs sell for, gulp! $74.99 each. However, it appears that audiophiles who hear them are lapping them up.

The DVD companies also have been achieving remarkable results as they, too, re-master for Blu-ray HD discs. I am deeply impressed with the director’s cut of Milos Forman’s 1984 masterpiece, Amadeus, based on Peter Shaffer’s play. There are 20 minutes of extra footage added to the original version and a substantial documentary involving all the principals, before and behind the cameras, on the making of the film. This two disc Blu-ray set from Warner Brothers is a treasure both visually and intellectually.

Wagner’s Mastersinger: Hitler’s Siegfried is the intriguing if not provocative title of The Life and Times of Max Lorenz (Medici Arts, EuroArts, 2056928 DVD+CD). Born in 1901, Max Lorenz’s career is traced from choir boy to super-star in Bayreuth and elsewhere during the 1930s and beyond. Intriguing films of his Siegfried give credence to his reputation as the heldentenor of the era. Film and narration together with comments by his contemporaries describe his social life with the in-crowd in Bayreuth. His wife was Jewish and he stood with her, despite the Nazis. He was shielded by Winifred Wagner who used her influence with Hitler on his behalf. But fame is fleeting. Lorenz sang his last Tristan in Dresden in 1960. Waldemar Kmentt recalls that “After his final performance at The Vienna Opera they just let him go home as if nothing had happened. No one from the management came to give him a proper send-off. I felt deeply ashamed for the Vienna Opera.” There are trailers of scenes from four Wagner music-dramas on the DVD featuring latter day heldentenors in leading roles that, perhaps unintentionally, confirm Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s summing-up, “Today you won’t find anyone who could hold a candle to him. No one. Hot air, that’s all.” The accompanying CD contains a document of Lorenz at his best. Extensive excerpts from Siegfried are conducted by Erich Kleiber, recorded in the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires on October 4, 1938 with Max Lorenz, Erich Witte, Herbert Janssen and Emanuel List.

TV Trio

John Stetch

Brux Records BRUX 14112

(www.johnstetch.com)

John Stetch was born in Edmonton, Alberta and was exposed to the sounds of jazz at an early age through his father's record collection. He began as a reed player before switching to piano, earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Montreal and built a reputation touring across Canada before re-locating to New York in 1993.

For this CD John has chosen a dozen themes from TV shows and transformed them into jazz performances. I have to make a confession. I was only familiar with six of them, (a prize if you can guess which six), but that certainly didn’t prevent me from enjoying the music.

John is extremely imaginative in his concepts of the various themes and has technique in abundance with which to express his ideas. Of the dozen titles only “The Flintstones”, which John chose to put into the minor, giving it a somewhat dark character, has been frequently played by jazz musicians although on listening to this album it seems to me that, for example, “The Waltons” and “Bugs Bunny” and “The Mighty Hercules” could well be adopted by others.

With the exception of “All My Children”, which is a brief but beautiful solo piano performance, Stetch is ably supported by Doug Weiss on bass and Rodney Green on drums.

Jim Galloway

 Live at the Orbit Room - The Ultimate Jam

Tony Monaco & his Toronto Trio

Chicken Coop CCP 7012

(www.b3monaco.com)

According to any dependable jazz cookbook, the recipe for a tasty live recording requires an appetizing artist, a hungry audience and a venue that allows for passion to sizzle. Established in 1994, the unpretentiously hip Orbit Room in Toronto’s Little Italy is a happening hang frequented by avid music lovers and musicians alike. The upper level performance space is armed with a B3 organ and offers nightly live acts including roots, R&B, rock and reggae, as well as jazz.

On June 22nd of 2007, critically acclaimed Columbus, Ohio native jazz organist Tony Monaco played the Orbit Room as part of the TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival, joined by two of our city’s extraordinary resident jazz musicians: guitarist Ted Quinlan and drummer Vito Rezza. Supported generously by both Torontonians on this particular night, Monaco’s playing is rich with meaty musical chops and incontestable enthusiasm. The sidemen consistently listen, react and enhance the musical experience. Quinlan is quintessentially on top of his game, delivering spirited solos that tell exciting stories and Rezza is not only supportive, but soulful. On every track, especially ’Sbout Time and Slow Down Sagg, the trio grooves contagiously and the audience eats it up. From appetizer to dessert, “The Ultimate Jam” follows the live recording recipe flawlessly. Let it be a model for capturing some of the delectable jazz entertainment served regularly in Ontario’s capital.

Ori Dagan

 All’opera Profumo di Violetta

Gianluigi Trovesi

ECM 2068

Emphasizing the streak of romanticism which characterizes nearly every Italian instrumentalist – no matter how avant-garde – multi-woodwind player Gianluigi Trovesi interprets a series of familiar operatic airs. Backed by the wind and percussion Filarmonica Mousiké, the veteran improviser fashions an original take on 17th, 18th and 19th Century themes by Monteverdi, Cazzati, Pergolesi, Verdi, Puccini, Rossini and Mascagni without jazzing up or burlesquing them.

Making full use of the luscious crescendos and cushioning timbres available from the 54-piece orchestra, the only additions are cellist Marco Remondini and percussionist Stefano Bertoli to enhance the rhythmic impetus. Taking the role of operatic vocalist, Trovesi produces a fantastic series of glissandi, portamento runs and just plain beautiful playing, using at different junctures all his horns – piccolo and alto clarinets plus alto saxophone. Nearly always playing legato, he emphasizes the emotional and melodic undercurrents of these pieces without ignoring their poignant roots.

Mixing world famous and obscure parts of the opera repertoire, these arrangements interweave the popular airs – which the clarinettist has loved since his childhood near Bergamo – with improvisational freedom. Listeners familiar with standards such as Verdi’s E Piquillo un bel gaglardo and Rossini’s Largo al factotum will marvel at how Trovesi’s re-interpretations refresh them. More remarkable is how well Trovesi’s own compositions – such as Salterello amoroso with him spluttering smooth Johnny Hodges-like timbres atop contrapuntal orchestra lines, or Vesponse, a big-band swing piece enlivened with reed split tones and shrills – fit among these traditional tunes without disruption.

Ken Waxman

 Paco Paco

Bill McBirnie Duo/Quartet

Independent EF04

(www.myspace.com/billmcbirnieextremeflute)

Anyone who has heard him knows that Bill McBirnie is a wonderfully gifted flautist. This CD finds him in the company of three of his favourite players on six of the twelve tracks, the others being duo performances with Bernie Senensky.

It is one of those CDs where I find it difficult to choose favourite numbers. The entire album is a joy to listen to, not only for Bill's beautiful playing, but, as one would expect, the musicality and sensitive contributions from pianist Senensky, Neil Swainson on bass and drummer John Sumner.

As is his wont, Bill has shown a preference for playing standards, ranging from Keith Jarrett's My Song to Bright Mississippi, Thelonious Monk's variation on the changes of Sweet Georgia Brown via the hymn Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus which becomes something of a march for Jesus! The one exception to familiar material, although fans of the Moe Koffman Quintet might remember it, is the album's title piece, a tour de force called Paco Paco, composed by Bernie Senensky.

I don't know how widely distributed this recording will be, but if you have trouble finding it you could send an e-mail to
billmcb@idirect.com. Say that Jim sent you!

Jim Galloway

 EXTENDED PLAY:

The “Other” Peggy Lee

By Ken Waxman

Established in Vancouver for nearly 20 years following extensive musical study in her native Toronto, Peggy Lee has become one of the most in-demand cellists in both improvised and New music. Occasionally working with her husband, drummer Dylan van der Schyff, but more frequently on her own, Lee’s string prestidigitation is prominent in meetings with Canadian, American and European musicians.

Recent discs show the range of her talents. Spiller Alley (RogueArt ROG-0016 www.rougart.com) features her as part of a trio completed by Bay area saxophonist Larry Ochs and New York koto player Miya Masoka. Meanwhile Escondido Dreams (Drip Audio DA00206 www.dripaudio.com), is a trio with other Lower Mainlanders guitarist Tony Wilson and saxophonist Jon Bentley. Wilson, Bentley and van der Schyff are also on the cellist’s New Code (Drip Audio DA 00318 www.dripaudio.com) along with other West Coast luminaries – trumpeter Brad Turner; guitarist Ron Samworth, trombonist Jeremy Berkman and electric bassist André Lachance. On Continuation (Cryptogramophone CG 140 www.cryptogramophone.com), percussionist Alex Cline gathered a similar group of California-based improvisers – violinist Jeff Gauthier, pianist Myra Melford, bassist Scott Walton to play his tunes. Lee is the only non-American.

 Alex Cline’s writing has an Asian feel to it. Scene-setting gong resonations color nearly every track, with Melford’s winnowing harmonium drone sometimes adding to the Far Eastern emphasis. Eclectic in execution, most of the compositions bounce from near-syrupy melodies usually advanced by the fiddler, to modern swing propelled by thumping bass and the pianist’s dynamic patterning. In between, Lee’s malleable timbres join with Gauthier’s brusque lines for thematic elaboration, or add staccato runs and spiccato jumps to advance the rhythm. On the Bones of the Homegoing Thunder is the most spectacular tune. It manages to wrap an exposition and recapitulation of temple bell peals and mournful cello runs around walking bass lines, kinetic piano runs plus string-clipping and triple-stopping from cello and violin.

 Lee’s octet CD is less formalized, though no less eclectic, but democratic in its soloing. Both guitarists are partial to folksy twangs as well as Hard Rock-like distortions; the horns produce R&B-like vamps plus processional harmonies; Turner on flugelhorn is the languid melodist; and van der Schyff constantly pumps parts of his kit. Meanwhile the cellist personalizes the material. On Tug her angled sweeps tug apart into spikier runs the horns’ ceremonial grace notes. On Not a Wake Up Call flanged and distorted guitar licks shatter into jagged and ricocheting slurs as Lee’s spiccato multiphonics help gentle the theme so that it runs into the calming Floating Island – complete with muted trumpet – which follows. Dealing with a tune as familiar as Bob Dylan’s All I Really Want To Do, her mordant modal interjections halt a conventional, C&W-styled reading, and encourage agitato horn shrills on top of Byrds-like guitar strumming and a vocalized saxophone obbligato.

 Bentley’s woodwind arsenal has more space on “Escondido Dreams”, proving adept at both speedy and languid tempi. Man and Dog plus Monkey Tree/Just Stories demonstrate this. On the first, the saxophonist defines the Impressionistic theme, along with Lee’s cello obbligato. After descriptive unison passages first with the cellist, then with the guitarist, sax trills dovetail into slurs as Wilson strums mandolin-like chords and Lee sweeps across the sound-field. Tougher and animated, the latter is a roller coaster of a tune built on contrapuntal reed bites and electrified guitar interjections. Following a raucous call-and-response section, the guitarist’s chromatic patterning and Lee’s spiccato runs reintroduce the note-dangling theme.

Veteran  Ochs uses more advanced techniques than Bentley on “Spiller Alley”, while the multi functions of Masaoka’s many-stringed koto negate the need for drums. Ironically, despite the textures of the venerable Japanese instrument, and unlike “Continuation”, this CD has almost no Asian reflections. Expert in rasgueado and chromatics, Masaoka treats her koto as if it is a combination harp, 12-string and six-string guitar. Bringing out node striations as well the sounds of the notes struck – as does Lee – the string duo attaches and detaches timbres to mutate the program as Ochs enlivens his work with wide octave jumps, staccato blasts and circular breathing. Climaxing the session during the 18 minute title tune, the three criss-cross each other’s lines and runs, off-setting or cushioning when needed. With Ochs peeping and shrilling arpeggios, Masaoka unleashes a torrent of cascading tones and Lee exposes multi-string runs. The cumulative consequence showcases imperfectly formed but not unpleasant, textures from each. Operating in triple counterpoint, blurry interaction comes into focus, with the end result trilled, swept and resonated into a stripped-down mutual rapprochement.

While each musician’s skill melds to produce these notable CDs, each would be unthinkable without Lee’s talents and interactive expertise.

Bach - Jesu, Meine Freude

Agnes Zsigovics; Daniel Taylor; Benjamin Butterfield; Daniel Lichti; Ottawa Bach Choir and Baroque Orchestra;

Lisette Canton

Ottawa Bach Choir OBC2009CD

(www.ottawabachchoir.ca)

For this CD, which finds our column just in time for Easter, the Ottawa Bach Choir's conductor and founder, Lisette Canton, has chosen three works by Bach which focus on the theme of salvation through death and resurrection and which represent three distinct periods in Bach’s output. The first Cantata, BWV 4, Christ lag in Todes Banden is famous for its exquisite descending semitones. The ensemble artfully resigns itself to the recurring sighing motif and cascading counterpoint. Sandwiched between the two cantatas on this disc is one of Bach’s most famous motets, BWV 227, Jesu, meine freude.

The choir does a brilliant job with the starts and stops that represent the type of hesitant, breathless, yet joyful declaration reminiscent of someone recovering from long periods of weeping. Lastly is the Cantata, BWV 78, Jesu, der du meine Seele, the highlight of which is the soprano/alto duet sung with great agility and energy by Agnes Zsigovics and Daniel Taylor. Benjamin Butterfield and Daniel Lichti execute the dramatic recitatives and arias of this cantata beautifully. True to its name, this choir appears to make an annual pilgrimage to perform at Bach’s Thomaskirche in Leipzig. I’m sure Bach would be pleased.

Dianne Wells

Concert note: On April 25th at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church in Ottawa the Ottawa Bach Choir presents “Prelude - Europe 2009”, a concert to launch the choir's third European tour to London, Paris and Leipzig.

The Ice Age and Beyond: Songs by Canadian Women Composers

Patricia Green; Midori Koga

Blue Griffin Records BGR173

At Grigorian.com

Unsleeping: Songs by Living Composers Patricia Green; John Hess Blue Griffin Records BGR177 (www.bluegriffin.com)

The songs on these two discs were all written in the last fifty years. Patricia Green, a Canadian mezzo known especially for interpreting modern music, does full justice to these always interesting, frequently moving songs.

“The Ice Age and Beyond: Songs by Canadian Women Composers” presents new and rarely heard art songs by women composers. Why just women composers? To call a disc “Songs by Canadian Men Composers” would be laughable. But it would also be unnecessary, because almost all recordings - Canadian or otherwise - contain just male composers.

In the booklet notes Green writes that Barbara Pentland “laid the path for young women composers across Canada”. Pentland’s searing, gorgeous works are visionary, and she remains one of Canada’s most important, if under-appreciated, composers. What I like best about Green’s performances of her songs is that they capture Pentland’s fierce passion. In Ice Age, Green is especially sensitive to the mood of desperation summed up in poet Dorothy Livesay’s concluding question, “Who among us dares to be righteous?”

Shifting rhythms enliven Emily Doolittle’s charming Airs of Men Long Dead. The shimmering lyricism of Isabelle Panneton’s Echo reflects the colourful imagery of the text. In City Night, Alice Ping Yee Ho explores the more percussive qualities of voice and piano. Kati Agócs uses clarinet, violin and cello accompaniment to set the medieval texts of Imagination of Their Hearts so eloquently. This is the only work described in the booklet notes, but for every work there are song texts and biographies of all involved, including the versatile pianist Midori Koga.

“Unsleeping” takes its title from Jonathan Harvey’s moving Lullaby for the Unsleeping. The highlight for me is R. Murray Schafer’s Kinderlieder, written to texts by Bertold Brecht as well as two German nursery poems. Green is terrific at colouring her voice to capture the irony in Brecht's lyrics. Each image takes on symbolic meaning, like the tree that survives war-time destruction in The Poplar in Karlsplatz. Pianist John Hess is an expert accompanist throughout.

In both collections, Green approaches each text with conviction, uncovering layers of meaning. She sings convincingly in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Hungarian, and even Latin, along with English. There is a great deal of beauty in her lower and middle ranges. Too often as she goes higher she gets louder – and shriller. But even then what stands out so effectively is her dramatic power.

Pamela Margles

Denis Plante; Mathieu Lussier; Catherine Perrin

ATMA ACD2 2581

At Grigorian.com

I almost fell off my chair when I began to listen to the opening track from this new release. Astor Piazzolla's Libertango is a familiar work – I've heard the late great bandoneonist/composer perform it, I own his recording of it, I've played it and a number of my students play it – but I have never heard it like this! Harpsichordist Catherine Perrin plays the familiar melody with such aplomb that my interest is tweaked though I'm a little confused about the instrumentation. Gradually the other two instrumentalists, bandoneonist Denis Plant, and bassoonist/early music specialist Mathieu Lussier join in, and the stage is set for some fascinating albeit at times totally odd tracks of Latin flavoured originals and covers.

The experimentation with instrumentation is the key here. Both Plante and Lussier are composers too. Their contribution of pieces here are the most successful tracks. Lussier's Fantaisie is a strong, wistful work that walks the thin line of popular and classical music in its contrapuntal writing. Tango a los Nisenson from Plante's “Le tombeau d'Astor” is a comically tongue in cheek take on tangos. Both composers act as arrangers too, with their takes on Piazzolla, Villa-Lobos, Ayala and Falu respectable though not as intriguing as their own works.

Even though the performances and production qualities are superb, the instrumental grouping results in an odd timbre, and the occasional thin sound. This aside, “Bataclan!” is worth a listen to hear smart musicians experiment intelligently.

Tiina Kiik

Thanks to the readers who wrote about last month’s column in which I said WBEN-FM is the choice of musical lovers in our area. I meant WNED-FM at 94.5 or on their web site.

A pleasant surprise on Great Voices of the Golden Age (Medici Arts DVD, EDV1333) was the opportunity to see Dutch soprano Gré Brouwenstijn (1905-1999) singing Wagner. Two songs from the Wesendonck-Lieder are followed by Isolde’s Liebestod, recorded live in 1969 during a concert in Paris conducted by Charles Bruck. She possessed a rich voice, an Ingrid Bergman-like countenance and a stage presence that together attracted conductors Klemperer, Karajan, Beecham and others. I wish there were more from her on this disc which includes Gundula Janowitz, Irmgard Seefried, Galina Viishnevskaya, Rita Streich and Christa Ludwig.

Great Voics Of The Golden Age

At Grigorian.com

Christa Ludwig has an excellent DVD containing Die Winterreise and part of a Mozart Master Class (Arthaus DVD 102147). Schubert’s song cycle which is set to the two cycles by Wilhelm Müller is an astonishing realisation of the human condition. Traditionally sung by a male voice, it is no less poignant from a female voice, particularly from an artiste of Ludwig’s calibre. She had them transposed to her natural vocal range so that “... it was my voice and not an artificial voice created just so you can sing something in the original version… I maintain that this is the winter’s journey of a soul and not that of a man or a woman.” Recorded in Athens in 1994, this is an exceptional, devoted performance reflecting a total empathy with the thoughts and implications of the texts.

Schubert: Die Winterreise (ludwig)

At Grigorian.com

For those who wish a male voice for Die Winterreise, the DVD of Thomas Quasthoff with pianist Daniel Barenboim, issued a couple of years ago, is the finest I’ve ever seen or heard (DG 0734049). Filmed in the Berlin Philharmonie on 22 March 2005, the disc also contains some interviews and rehearsals. We are privy to singer and accompanist freely exchanging ideas and arriving at meaningful interpretations of matchless intensity.
Schubert: Die Winterreise

At Grigorian.com

Daniel Barenboim is the conductor of his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in a new DVD of the Leonora Overture No.3 and the Beethoven Ninth (Medici Arts 2055528). This was a concert given in the Berlin Philharmonie on August 27, 2006 with soloists Angela Denoke, soprano; Waltraud Meier, mezzo; Burkhard Fritz, tenor; and René Pape, bass, and the State Opera Chorus. Barenboim assembles the orchestra every summer, bringing together young musicians from Israel and the Arab countries. They tour widely and Barenboim’s hope is that this orchestra is a visible and viable artistic link between their people. Here is absolutely inspired playing with each and every player giving it better than their best. So well rehearsed are they that Barenboim’s directions are fewer than one is accustomed to seeing. I have viewed this DVD several times and have not been tempted to skip forward or stop. These are stunning, professional performances, superbly documented. Viewing this concert and seeing the performers and conductor was a definite plus to the appreciation of the music. Seeing and hearing becomes one experience.

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (barenboim)

At Grigorian.com

A new DVD entitled Herbert von Karajan Memorial Concert features The Berlin Philharmonic, Seiji Ozawa conducting with soloist Professor Anne-Sophie Mutter recorded in Vienna’s Grosser Musikvereinssaal on the 28 January 2008. The program opens with the Beethoven Violin Concerto followed by an encore of the Sarabande from Bach’s Partita No.2 for solo violin and finally the Tchaikovsky Sixth Symphony (Medici Arts 2072514 for Blu-ray; 2072518 for DVD). All three works are in the stratosphere of superlative interpretations and performances, quite faultless, I thought. The deeply felt performance of the symphony, played without any histrionics, immediately joins the very short list of the greatest on record. Frankly, I didn’t believe that Ozawa had it in him. Mutter has never played better or more brilliantly than she does here, employing the Fritz Kreisler cadenza in the first movement. Her fans, as well as lovers of the concerto will be beside themselves. All are abetted by the best sound ever accorded these pieces. The camera work demonstrates how far the art has progressed over the years, in this case seen from the Blu-ray disc. If you are yet undecided about Blu-ray then this may well be the tipping point for you.

Herbert Von Karajan Memorial Concert(DVD) At Grigorian.com

Herbert Von Karajan Memorial Concert(Blu-Ray) At Grigorian.com

Last year was the centenary of the birth of Olivier Messiaen, the French composer whose music is still an enigma for the majority of world’s classical music lovers. He was also a teacher who led his pupils into the captivating and alluring, yet knotty ways of departure from the establishment. He was an organist and, more significantly, an ornithologist. Significant because he was fascinated by bird songs and believed birds to be natural born musicians. Maybe they are. He notated bird songs around the world and ardently incorporated transcriptions into his works as if were divinely obliged to do so. His best known work is probably The Quartet for the End of Time which he wrote while a prisoner of war for short time in 1940 after the fall of France in WW2. The combination of instruments was dictated by the available players; piano, violin, cello and clarinet. As an aside, during a conversation, an interview, I asked conductor Ricardo Chailly this question, “You work in a record store. A grandmother asks for a recording to introduce her nine year old granddaughter to classical music. What do you give her?” Without any hesitation whatsoever he answered, The Turangalîla Symphony. Not his recording, but the ‘definitive’ version conducted by Myung-Whun Chung is included in Olivier Messiaen Complete Edition issued by Deutsche Grammophon in France on 32 CDs in a very neat little box (DG 4801333), available in a limited edition. At a special low price, here are all Messiaen’s published works performed by a host of well known musicians, far too numerous to list here. Indeed, un vrai Banquet cèleste.

At Grigorian.com

Welcome to the Modern and Contemporary section of our DISCoveries reviews. To skip ahead to a review, simply click the album screenshot below of the review you'd like to read.

Shostakovich with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; Vasily Petrenko Symphony No. 11 Naxos 8.572082
Francois Houle; Turning Point Ensemble; Owen Underhill Liquid ATMA ACD2 2394
Gaito; Ginastera; Piazzolla Quatuor Abysse XXI XXI-CD 2 1589
James Tenney - Arbor Vitae Quatuor Bozzini Quatour Bozzini CQB 0806 (www.actuellecd.com)
Gallery Players of Niagara Canadian Oboe Quartets Gallery Players GPN09001

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; Vasily Petrenko

Naxos 8.572082

At Grigorian.com

This is remarkably fine performance, superbly recorded.

The first performance one hears is often imprinted as the way to perform a certain work. I first heard the Shostakovich 11th symphony on an EMI recording by André Cluytens and the ORTF orchestra. Made in the presence of the composer on May 15, 1958, it is, by definition, unerringly faithful to Shostakovich’s wishes and is my ideal (available in stereo on Testament SBT1099). 1958 was a good year for the work as Stokowski made his celebrated recording for Capitol in Houston exactly 51 years ago this month and another Russian performance under Stokowski from 1958 was issued. Since then there have been a score or more versions that have been listened to and filed away.

Titled “The Year 1905”, this symphony depicts the events of Bloody Sunday when more than 200 peaceful demonstrators were massacred by Czarist soldiers outside the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. From the very opening bars, Petrenko perfectly shapes and balances the composer’s mood picture of the inanition of the multitude leading to the second movement during which the pregnant stillness is devastatingly broken by the deadly attack. All is quiet again and pain and sorrow lead to bitter resolution, presaging the revolution to follow 12 years later.

Petrenko does far more than get it right. From manifest compassion to total brutality, he conducts from the inside, exposing the composer’s sources of inspiration, his Muse.

The state-of-the-art recording is the best yet, making this CD a must-have for audiophiles and the composer’s following.

This is the first instalment of Naxos’s announced complete cycle with Petrenko and his orchestra, presaging an exciting project.

Bruce Surtees

Liquid

Francois Houle; Turning Point Ensemble; Owen Underhill

ATMA ACD2 2394

At Grigorian.com

Canada has produced a vibrant cohort of clarinettists who specialize in new music; a short list should include Robert W. Stevenson, Lori Freedman, James Campbell, Joaquin Valdepeñas, André Moisan, Jean-Guy Boisvert and François Houle – the featured soloist on this recent disc by the Turning Point Ensemble, conducted by Owen Underhill.

First up is Vancouver composer John Korsrud’s Liquid. Houle’s virtuosic technique is highlighted throughout, from the opening highly rhythmic figuration, which gradually disperses into a more fragmented ensemble texture. It resembles a concerto grosso, with an extended slow section featuring a sparsely-accompanied solo clarinet - replete with the seemingly obligatory multiphonics - gradually returning to the opening rhythmic figurations.

Next is Schrift, by Quebec composer Yannick Plamondon. The liner notes inform us that Plamondon, like Eric Satie, has placed enigmatic texts throughout the score, such as “The mechanistic noise of a language that seeks itself.” Plamondon’s inventive use of percussion sounded “mechanistic” I suppose, but the piece ended before I finished puzzling over that one.

The third work on the disc – Concerto – features Houle as both soloist and composer. The title is in keeping with the original 18th-century convention of an opening section, or ritornello, introducing the soloist. Like Korsrud’s piece, Concerto is a three-part single movement: a slow meditative section framed by more vigorous opening and closing movements.

Kya (1959) by Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi, is the earliest work on the disc, and one of the most intriguing, using texture and timbre as compositional determinants. Scelsi, an Italian aristocrat, lived in Rome, yet the piece seems more acquainted with John Cage, Harry Partch, Indian or even Nepalese classical music than the stylistic tendencies of Scelsi’s European contemporaries.

Overall, the sound is crisp, clean, and well-engineered. Underhill has done well guiding the Turning Point Ensemble – a highly skilled group of players on a par with Houle’s virtuosity - through some very complex instrumental textures.

Tim Buell

Gaito; Ginastera; Piazzolla

Quatuor Abysse

XXI XXI-CD 2 1589

This is a fabulous recording showcasing the breathtaking emerging Quebec string quartet Quatuor Abysse. Simon Boivin (violin), Melanie Charlebois (Violin 2), Jean-Francois Gagne (viola) and Sebastien Lepine (cello) are four young string players who play with a sensitivity and maturity beyond their collective years and musical experience.

The cohesiveness and tonal magic they create in interpreting the works of Argentineans Constantino Gaito, Alberto Ginastera and Astor Piazzolla culminate in an unimaginable musical truthfulness. All three composers draw on both their European classical traditions and Argentinean folk music at different degrees. Gaito is more of the romantic stylist, though his String Quartet No. 2, op.33 draws heavily on the pentatonic scale. In contrast, Ginastera's String Quartet No. 1, op. 20 is more chromatic and rhythmic in nature. Piazzolla's work needs no introduction – L'Histoire du Tango is a string quartet arrangement by Jean-Francoise Gagne of the original flute and guitar duet. The four part work chronologically and musically outlines the transformation of both the tango as an art form, and Piazzolla as a composer.

If you listen to only one recording this year, let it be this one. I hope Quatuor Abysse continues to develop musically. Their astute musicality combined with an uncanny sense of respect for the compositions, the composers and themselves as performers makes for unequivocal and unforgettable listening.

Tiina Kiik

James Tenney - Arbor Vitae

Quatuor Bozzini

Quatour Bozzini CQB 0806

(www.actuellecd.com)

This recording by the Quatuor Bozzini of the American–Canadian composer James Tenney is essential for anyone interested in experimental music of the 20th century. Superbly recorded at Radio Frankfurt by tonmeisters Christoph Classen and Udo Wustendorfer with the assistance of sound engineer Thomas Eschlen, the two CD set brings together all of Tenney’s music for string quartet, as well as works for string quartet and additional instrument.

James Tenney composed for string quartet throughout his life, and so this release provides an excellent overview of his compositional interests throughout his diversely productive career. From his lifelong interest in just intonation and other tunings, to his use of electronics and computers, his systems of stochastic development, his constant desire to engage in an exchange of ideas with other members of both the music community and the wider society of artists from all disciplines, this collection brings forward all of these interests with great clarity and passion. The playing is both accurate (and I can tell you that as a performer who worked with Jim for over twenty-five years, this is no small accomplishment), and sensitive to the sensuality of Tenney’s music. The Bozzinis are ably assisted by percussionist Rick Sacks, pianist Eve Egoyan and contrabassist Miriam Shalinsky.

Robert W. Stevenson

Canadian Oboe Quartets

Gallery Players of Niagara

Gallery Players GPN09001

James Mason, principal oboe of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony for the past twenty years, is joined by his distinguished colleagues Julie Baumgartel on violin, Patrick Jordan on viola and Margaret Gay on cello in this intriguing recording by The Gallery Players. The ensemble’s original concept for this project was to commission Canadian composers to create works derived from Mozart’s Oboe Quartet in F major K370 in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the divine Amadeus. Of the composers on this disc only Peter Hatch fully accepted this challenge, albeit in quite a perverse way. His Wiki Mozart superimposes a distracting tape collage upon what seems to be a quite sensitive performance of Mozart’s work, with the droning voice of Gertrude Stein thrown in for no good measure. You can replicate the effect quite easily in your own home by turning your television, CD, DVD and radio on all at once. James Rolfe’s Oboe Quartet, while not in the least bit derivative, echoes Mozart’s refined style in its carefully wrought artistry and exceptional architectural balance. Michael Oesterle’s Sunspot Letters finds its inspiration in the solar observations of Galileo Galilei, juxtaposing frenetic, highly ornamented oboe passages upon the inexorable cosmic pulsation of the string trio to great effect. The studied monotony of John Abram’s Oboe Quartet is derived from an earlier operatic project and while agreeably melodic is the least relevant and most woefully over-extended part of the program. The excellent acoustic of Toronto’s Humbercrest United Church is vividly captured in these exceptionally sensitive performances.

Daniel Foley

 Two organ records arrive from Montreal, from the same label, and they could not be more different from one another! François Zeituoni plays the recently-installed Guibault-Therien organ at Le Grands Seminaire de Montréal. The specifically French voicing and registration give the recording an alarming immediacy, and D'Aquin's early 18th-century Noëls contain enough angular lines and fanfare-like passages to wake the most drowsy parishioner.

Violinist Anne Robert and organist Jacques Boucher work with the recently restored sprawling Casavant Opus 615 at Saint-Jean Baptiste, and this monster shimmers with a sublime delicacy that makes it a truly effective partner for violin, although the engineer exaggerates this equality by his microphone placement. Their disc runs through the work of seven different composers, including Canadian John Burge, who contributed a commissioned piece. Reger's short Romanze sounds almost as if it were written for these two.

Both of the CD's are well presented, with music superbly played and recorded. However, you need reading glasses to cope with the notes. Robert and Boucher's disc has the tiniest of type, white on black background, in both languages. The Noëls CD is particularly bad, with a compressed, ALL-CAPS FONT, ill-suited to body copy. Both organs are dissected in the usual way of listing, with full-frontal photos of each. Both CD's are suitable for serious collections, and enthusiasts will note that Karl Wilhelm (builder of Toronto's St. Andrew's Presbyterian organ) helped prepare the instrument for Zeituoni.

John S. Gray

Concert notes: The month-long organ festival Organix 2009 kicks off on May 1 at the Church of the Holy Trinity with a recital by Dame Gillian Weir and runs throughout May. See our current listings for two organ recitals on May 4 and a tribute to Felix Mendelssohn on May 6.

 Liszt - Sonata in B minor

Patrice Lare

XXI XXI-CD 2 1533

Patrice Lare is a Paris born pianist who studied in Russia and came to Quebec in 1993. He is building an impressive career (see www.patricelare.com) and has already issued two CD’s with his cellist wife Velitchka Yatcheva. This is his first solo CD as a pianist.

Playing these ambitious showpieces of the great magician of the keyboard is no mean task. The pianist possesses an elemental, masculine force, lots of stamina and powerful hands to handle the thundering climaxes. His technical prowess is unquestionable and his playing is very precise. Note for example the fugato section in the Sonata where his skill in Bach shows up par excellance.

The Sonata in b minor is a titanic masterpiece, a milestone in the literature where Liszt experimented with changing the traditional form by compressing or ‘telescoping’ the movements. Although the form seems loose, there is an inner logic difficult to interpret. In Lare’s playing I feel the overall structure is too rigid and lacking the natural sweep of emotion, the ebb and flow that only the greatest pianists could achieve. At this point I couldn’t rightfully recommend this performance, but given time and maturity he will assuredly overcome this challenge.

The shorter, bravura pieces however generally come off very well. My favorite is the Mephisto Waltz, where his powerful hands build up a very effective crescendo right at the beginning and the transition to the lyrical mid-section is beautifully done. There are many changes of mood here but the structure is held together and the piece really becomes a brilliant mockingly devilish dance. In similar vein, the Rhapsodie Espagnole, a very colourful, challenging and enjoyable work is played to the hilt and the good old Steinway is given a big workout.

Janos Gardonyi

 Flute Sketches - Mosaic of Flute Favourites

Samantha Chang; Ellen Meyer; Khai Nguyen; Amy Laing

Independent (www.samanthaflute.com)

Flutist Samantha Chang’s debut CD, “Flute Sketches” offers a variety of repertoire, ranging from Paul Taffanel’s Mignon Fantasy of 1866 to Tod Dorozio’s The Exodus Partita written just last year for Ms. Chang. From the one hundred and forty-two years separating these two compositions are works by Albert Woodall, Erwin Schulhoff, Carl Reinecke, Eugene Goossens, Astor Piazzolla and Mizi Tan.

Ms. Chang is at her best in the lyrical music she has chosen for the CD. She has a strong affinity, for example, to A Caged Partridge’s Longing, by Toronto flutist, composer and her first teacher, Mizi Tan, using a sound akin to that of a bamboo flute, entirely appropriate to the piece. Her interpretation of Schulhoff’s Sonata, especially the first movement, is very convincing, although I often wished she could bring to more of her playing the intensity of sound she produced about three-quarters of the way through Carl Reinecke’s late (1908) composition, Ballade.

The always confident but never intrusive piano playing of Ellen Meyer makes a tremendous contribution throughout. Amy Laing’s expressive cello in Piazzolla’s Oblivion and Khai Nguyen’s capable violin playing in the Piazzolla and in Goossens’ Romance and Humoreske add variety and interest.

Ms. Chang is a young and resourceful artist with a strong personal commitment to the flute. This CD is a promising beginning.

Allan Pulker

Named for Calgary philanthropist Esther Honens, the Honens Piano Competition is a unique Canadian musical event which began in 1992, and is held every three years. The competition’s unique approach takes as its premise that much of the learning process of a concert artist occurs outside the practice studio, and the focus is to discover those individuals whose talent both “inspires the heart and engages the intellect.” Indeed, a formidable pairing of both heart and intellect are clearly discernible on these three Honens label discs which I had the recent pleasure of auditioning, and which feature the respective first, second, and third Laureate prize-winners from the 2006 competition: Minsoo Sohn, Heinrich Alpers, and Hong Xu.

First Laureate Minsoo Sohn began piano studies in his native Korea and he later continued at the New England Conservatory in Boston. He admits he wasn’t entirely convinced he would eventually be a musician, explaining that for a while, he even dreamed of becoming a baseball player! Nevertheless, there is no doubt as to his prodigious talent in listening to this all-Liszt recording featuring the 6 Paganini Etudes in addition to transcriptions of music by Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. Minsoo Sohn takes these pieces – surely among the most difficult in the repertory – in his stride, displaying a breathtaking technique and the relentless fortitude required of any Liszt player. Yet Sohn’s approach is not all bombast. In pieces such as La Campanella and La Chasse, he demonstrates a particular lightness of touch, his hands seemingly dancing over the keyboard with a shimmering delicacy.

German-born Heinrich Alpers offers an all-Schumann disc, featuring the Faschingschwank aus Wien, the Kinderszenen, and the less-often played Sonata in F sharp minor. Alpers studied at the Hanover Hochschule für Musik and later at the Juilliard School, and he currently teaches piano, improvisation, and music theory at the Institute for Highly Gifted Children in Hanover. He won rave reviews at his New York debut in 2008, and little wonder! Alpers’ playing is stylish and eloquent - and while his solid technique is evident at all times, it never becomes an end unto itself. Clearly this is music played by a musician rather than a mere technician, and one who displays an innate feeling for the repertoire.

From 19th century Leipzig we turn to 18th century Vienna for a recording of keyboard music by Mozart performed by third Laureate Hong Xu. Included on this disc are the sonatas K.282, 310, 332, and 576 as well as the Adagio in B minor K540. A graduate of Wuhan Conservatory and the Juilliard School, Xu admits a love for the piano works of Mozart, and this admiration is clearly reflected on this recording. The playing is polished and self-assured, while always demonstrating the subtle nuances so important in interpreting this deceptively complex music.

Three different artists, each playing very different repertoire, and doing it well, make for very satisfying listening – a perfect melding of heart and intellect!

Richard Haskell

FELIX MENDELSSOHN –

 A BICENTENNIAL SALUTE

Editor's Note: The Honens International Piano Competition and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra will celebrate Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday with the North American premiere of his Piano Concerto No. 3 in E minor. The score was recently completed and reconstructed by composer/conductor Marcello Bufalini for exclusive performance by Italian pianist Roberto Prosseda. Julian Kuerti conducts the all-Mendelssohn program on May 11, 2009 at Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary, which also includes the Hebrides Overture Op. 26 (Fingal’s Cave) and Sinfonia for String Orchestra No. 10 in B minor. Roberto Prosseda will be joined by his wife Alessandra Maria Ammara (2000 Honens Laureate) to perform the Concerto for Two Pianos in E major.

Mendelssohn - Complete works for cello and pianoforte

Sergei Istomin ; Viviana Sofronitsky

Passacaille 947 (www.passacaille.be)

During his short life Felix Mendelssohn composed five pieces for cello and piano, all remarkable for their perfect blend of Romantic expression clothed in classical language. That these pieces comprise exactly enough music to fill a single CD is quite a stroke of luck; that it has been recorded on period instruments by Viviana Sofronitsky and Sergei Istomin is not only fortuitous for us all today, but a posthumous stroke of luck for Felix Mendelssohn as well. Istomin, formerly with Tafelmusik and now resident in France, plays an 18th-century Widhelm cello here; and Sofronitsky, founder of Toronto’s Academy Concert Series and now living in Prague, plays a Graf copy fortepiano by Paul McNulty.

The ‘big ticket’ items on this CD are the three-movement sonata op. 45 and its later, larger counterpart, op. 58. The first movements of both are grand and dramatic, and brilliantly played. The sardonic quality of op. 58’s allegretto scherzando is delightful here, and the innocent ending of op. 45 perfectly concludes this program of rich musical chiaroscuro. Also included are the Variations Concertantes (op.17), premiered on Mendelssohn’s first trip to London in 1829; the short Romance without words, published posthumously in 1868; and a short Assai tranquillo, the ephemeral ending of which leaves us wanting just a little more…

This recording will no doubt come as a revelation to many. Here there is no struggle for a balance between the voices of cello and piano, a problem all too familiar on modern instruments. Istomin and Sofronitsky’s performance is a genuine and focused musical dialogue, full of thoughtful phrasing and a fluid and natural exhange of roles as the music requires. Both artists play with virtuosic flair, refined musical sensitivity, and an obvious affection for the repertoire. And their breadth of their tonal and dynamic palette is pretty astonishing!

On top of that, this disc is beautifully recorded and packaged. The cover features a Swiss landscape painted by Mendelssohn himself in his last year; the notes are informative and readable; and the CD’s program order is brilliant, highlighting the composer’s variety of approach to this instrumental combination. Buy this disc. You won’t be sorry!

Alison Melville

Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto;

Piano Trio No.1; Violin Sonata

Anne-Sophie  Mutter;

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig;

Kurt Masur; André Previn; Lynn Harrell

Deutsche Grammophon 00289 477 8001

Anne-Sophie Mutter always manages to find something fresh to say with even the most familiar repertoire, and does it again with this brilliant performance of the Mendelssohn concerto, recorded in concert at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig with Mendelssohn's own orchestra.

Issued to mark the bicentenary of Mendelssohn's birth in February 1809, this CD/DVD package also includes outstanding performances of the D minor Piano Trio Op.49 and the F major Violin Sonata, the latter in the 1953 Menuhin edition.

All three CD performances were captured for the DVD, and the coverage of the concerto in particular is outstanding, with virtually every possible camera angle and distance showing soloist, conductor and orchestral players to great effect. Few shots last longer than 4 or 5 seconds, but the constant movement is never annoying or inappropriate; on the contrary, it serves to fully involve the viewer in the performance. Close-up coverage of Mutter's left hand, from behind as well as from in front, is particularly satisfying.

Much the same approach is used for the Piano Trio and Violin Sonata, recorded (without an audience) in the Musikverein in Vienna; again, these are very much internal views of the performances.

The DVD includes a fairly short documentary, “Encounters with Mendelssohn”, which features some interesting observations from Mutter and her chamber colleagues, especially about Previn's apparently effortless playing in the Piano Trio!

The CD sound quality is excellent, with no hint of an audience present in the concerto.

Terry Robbins

Mendelssohn - Piano Concertos

Anton  Kuerti; London Philharmonic Orchestra; Paul Freeman

DoReMi DHR-6606 (www.doremi.com)

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto remains a concert-hall staple – but the two concertos that he completed for the piano (an instrument on which he himself was a virtuoso performer) have fallen into relative neglect. Why did they vanish from the repertoire?

This recording of Toronto pianist Anton Kuerti’s performance of the concertos – and also the Capriccio Brillante Op. 22 – raises the question. The CD is a reissue from 1986, and Kuerti is heard with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Paul Freeman. While the sound quality is not quite up to today’s standards, the commitment of Kuerti and Co. shine through – illuminating both the strengths and weakness of the music.

The first concerto is unconventional: the three movements follow without a pause, and there is no formal cadenza. But there’s plenty of glittery pianism in both the first and third movements, which Kuerti renders with an admirable facility and evenness of tone. The second movement, by contrast, is more introspective. Kuerti’s approach is dreamy and tender – although, at times, his interpretation verges on the diffuse.

Like the first concerto, the second is also cadenza-less and continuous in its structure. It opens with a Beethoven’s Fifth-inspired movement that’s milked for every drop of drama. Kuerti’s handling of the transition to the slow movement is impressive, and what follows is probably the best playing on this disc. In the final movement, Kuerti and the LSO make the most of the music’s operatic ebullience.

Completing the disc is Mendelssohn’s Capriccio Brillante – which, as its title suggests, is a joyful single-movement romp. There are also moments of repose – and Kuerti takes full advantage of the opportunities for expressiveness that they afford.

I said something about strengths and weakness, didn’t I? To be sure, there’s much that is beautiful, and even sometimes profound, in this music. But there’s also an excess of “passage work” for the piano – and the naïve charm of the concertos’ final movements is sometimes more naïve than charming.

Colin Eatock

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Under the Canopy The Huppah Project Independent HP0001 (www.thehuppahproject.com) I first heard Aviva Chernick in concert with her band Jaffa Road, in the packed Brigantine Room at last fall’s Ashkenaz Festival at Harbourfront. That same weekend saw the release of her latest (and second) CD, “Under the Canopy”. Part of “The Huppah Project”, this CD is a collection of Jewish wedding music, sung entirely in Hebrew, with instrumental accompaniment. Many of the lyrics come from the Song of Songs or other liturgical texts, with either traditional music or music composed in our own era, and at least one song is from 1950s Israel. All are arranged by Chernick and/or ensemble members Aaron Lightstone, who plays ud, guitar and saz, and Jeff Wilson (drums, percussion, cornet). Chernick is the one who shines in this recording and is definitely one to watch on the Toronto music scene. She sings with a purity and clarity of vocal tone that carries this genre well, and to my knowledge is one of the only female vocalists in Toronto specializing in Jewish music of this sort (ie. non-klezmer, Hebrew based). Other back-up musicians include Ernie Tollar (ney) and George Sawa (qanun), who are featured in Heviani el Beit Hayayin (To the Vinyard’s house), a traditional Moroccan song. Visit www.avivachernick.com for more about this artist’s activities. Karen Ages Concert note: Aviva and her band Jaffa Road will be giving a CD release concert at the Lula Lounge, March 25 (see www.jaffaroadmusic.com). BACK TO TOP

Musica Latina Quartetto Gelato Linus 2 70104 www.quartettogelato.ca Quartetto Gelato returns with a soulful collection of Latin American selections. Both joy and tragedy have resulted in personnel changes for this much loved Canadian ensemble. Cellist Kristina Cooper has left for marriage and parenthood. The untimely death of founding member oboist Cynthia Steljes is extremely gripping – both as a musician and individual she was a bright light in the musical community and is deeply missed. It is with gratitude that we note the superb playing of these two on Meditango and BesameMMucho in this new release. New QG members cellist Carina Reeves and clarinettist Kornel Wolak join violinist/tenor Peter De Sotto and accordionist Alexander Sevastian to continue the ensemble’s musical journeys. The tight ensemble playing, astute musicality and sheer happiness illuminate each track. The selections featured should be familiar to most listeners. Tico Tico is a rhythmic joy to listen to with Sevastian’s florid accordion work. Wolak melts the aural senses in Um a Zero while De Sotto charms his way through Manha De Carnival. I wish that cellist Carina Reeves could be heard in the forefront more often - her supportive playing is superb but her elegant performance as a lead instrumentalist is underutilized. A number of special guests are featured including the wonderful Penderecki String Quartet. Quartetto Gelato’s music is extremely appealing. It is the choice of repertoire combined with an esoteric musical approach that makes the unmistakable sound so lovely. Yes, you have probably heard most of the tunes on “Musica Latina” thousands of times before. You just haven’t heard them the Quartetto Gelato way! Tiina Kiik BACK TO TOP

Like Light Off Water Daphne Marlatt; Robert Minden; Carla Hallett Otter Sound OB 105 (www.LostSound.com) Capturing the historical essence of a west coast fishing community, Daphne Marlatt’s long poem Steveston was published in 1974 as a much-acclaimed book with photographs by Robert Minden. For this recording, Marlatt reads passages from that work as well as the postscript added to the 2001 edition. With an evocative soundscape composed and performed by Minden and Carla Hallett, the images of a “boom and bust” town at the mouth of the Fraser River centered around fishing boats and cannery and the psychological states of its inhabitants are brought to life with qualities ranging from eerie trepidation to awestruck wonder. The quality and pacing of Marlatt’s voice is superb and a striking similarity between her speaking voice and Hallett’s singing makes for a beautifully seamless transition in the narrative flow. Minden’s photographic talent translates very well to the evocation of visual imagery through sound. The music is sparse but highly effective with mechanical noise set against the rippling and twinkling of water and light, together with haunting depictions of mysterious and erotic undercurrents mixed with the gentle beauty of the night sky. Pure poetry, pure sound, shifting the listener’s consciousness to the depths of pure feeling. Dianne Wells BACK TO TOP

Mombâcho Mike Janzen and Friends Signpost Music SP43-102 (www.mikejanzen.ca)   Michael Janzen completed his Masters in Composition at the University of Toronto in 1997. Under the first name Mike, Janzen is a gifted composer, jazz pianist, organist, vocalist and heaven knows what else. This self-produced sophomore release is a work of art with respect to all musical processes from start to finish: composition, personnel, performance, and having a John “Beetle” Bailey’s killer mix doesn’t hurt. Every tune is a winner, from Where it Goes to Swankometer. It’s obvious that Janzen considered his band carefully, and he had his work cut out for him with such a deep pool of talent to choose from on the Canadian scene. Bass-wise, one can’t go wrong with the luminous George Koller, the only musician other than leader to appear on every track. Drum duty primarily belongs to Ben Riley with guests Davide DiRenzo and Larnell Lewis. Special guesting are Phil Dwyer on tenor saxophone, Kevin Breit on guitar, Alan Hetherington on percussion and a 13-piece string section led by Lenny Solomon on the deservingly titled Beauty. The sweet Almost Tango is an 8-minute suite of sheer amusement, with another highlight being the romping instrumental rendition of Mrs. Robinson. Besides playing the piano, organ and Rhodes on “Mombâcho”, Janzen lends his voice to Bruce Cockburn’s All the Diamonds and his own Masaya. While singing the odd tune is not unusual for an instrumentalist, having a voice as velvety as Janzen’s certainly is. Ori Dagan

Alex Ernewein With Terry Clarke; Kelly Jefferson; Jake Langley; Keiran Overs Independent TAERCD08 (www.alexernewein.com) At Grigorian.com When this CD was recorded in May of 2008 at Canterbury Sound Studio in Toronto, Alex Ernewein was 14 years old and quite the debut album it is. Wise enough to surround himself with four of the top musicians on the scene who give him all the support he needs, and then some, this is a very impressive display by any standards. There are eleven selections, wisely mostly familiar, ranging from the Rodgers & Hart standard My Romance to Monk’s Straight No Chaser and there is one original, a piano solo called Improv Suite One. The line-up varies throughout the album and Ernewein moves comfortably from piano to Fender Rhodes to Hammond B3. The music was improvised on the spot and any imperfections are a worthwhile trade-off against the spontaneity of the music. You will hear more of young Mr. Ernewein. Jim Galloway

After Hours Jeff Dyer; Bill Brennan Independent 0209135 (www.myspace.com/jeffdyerbillbrennanduo) Pour yourself a drink, put on “After Hours” after hours and you will enjoy an eclectic, varied program of choice standards and genuine originals. Newfoundland’s Bill Brennan is a pianist, percussionist, composer and producer who can be heard on some 80 albums to date. Wonderfully warm and very witty, Brennan’s work proves he is the consummate accompanist; no wonder, considering he has previously backed up Cab Calloway, Placido Domingo and Dizzy Gillespie. Apart from five vocal/piano duets, seven tracks feature the superb Jim Vivian on bass, Michael Billard on drums and Patrick Boyle on trumpet and flugelhorn. But the spotlight is on Jeff Dyer’s full-bodied, emotionally raw singing style that suggests a natural, experienced talent. The baritone’s larger-than-life voice is not technically faultless, but this does not get in the way of the singer’s captivating, earnest delivery. Fans of the old standards will enjoy authentic readings of Lucky to Be Me and the like, but even more intriguing are Dyer’s spicy originals. Iona is a haunting, poetic ode to a Newfoundland ghost town, whereas the sentimental Time is a Dragon is a “smooth jazz” offering. In contrast, Nicaragua is a composition devoid of words but rich with intensity, trumpet doubling the voice. Dyer’s musical setting of John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields is inspired and respectful. Come to think of it, any time is appropriate to relish this recording, a healthy marriage of traditional and contemporary vocal jazz. Ori Dagan

Extended Play – FACE OFF

By Ken Waxman

Sonic battles involving musicians who play the same instrument facing off against one another are part of a tradition that goes back to Kansas City jam sessions. This sort of competition isn’t unique to jazz. Probably the first cutting contest took place when one medieval troubadour restrung his lute to best others playing Greensleeves.

Now that improvised music is international however, players can test themselves against musicians from other countries. That’s what four Canadians do here. Two, former Torontonian reedist Quinsin Nachoff and ex-Burlington trumpeter Darren Johnston do so in group situations. Two others – both Montrealers: guitarist Antoine Berthiaume and drummer Michael Lambert – go mano a mano.

Results are particularly spectacular in q’s case. On Base (Ambiances Magnétiques AM 178), his partner is New York guitarist/composer Elliott Sharp whose instrumental prowess involves equal facility in blues, noise, rock, jazz, improvised and notated music. Raging over 11 free improvisations, the two use the tactile capabilities of guitars’ attachments and properties as much as its strings to tell stories. In cahoots not conflict, Sharp and Berthiaume crunch, crash and pan across the sound field, combining watery flanges, slurred fingering and twanging resonation into pulsations that are simultaneously wedded to electronic distortion and acoustic elaborations. When Sharp’s bottle-neck facility is mixed with clawing oscillated tones, Station could be Delta Blues on Mars. Freed on the other hand, manages to work inchoate fuzz-tone delay and dial twisting into lyrical sprays of sound. The duo’s essence is best expressed on Essence. Here one intermittently plunks bass strings alongside jagged resonation created by scratching strings below the bridge, until the piece concludes with throbbing drones reaching needle-in-the-groove concordance. (www.actuellecd.com)
	Similarly blending rhythms so there is no perceptible transition between one and another’s improvising on Meditations on Grace (FMR Records CD 256-0108) are percussionists Michael Lambert and Boston’s veteran Rakalam Bob Moses, both of whom are also visual artists. Overlaying a Pop-Art-like jumble of beats they reference ethic rhythms as frequently as those associated with conventions of so-called legit music and jazz. Cunningly blending in double counterpoint the throbs and tinkles available from cross patterning and inverted sticking, octave jumps, staccato runs, march tempos and sudden rebounds, they understate, but never abandon heart-beat rhythms. Meanwhile bell trees are sounded, maracas shaken, ride cymbals scratched, steel pans popped and tension lugs tightened and loosened to produce multi-colours. Subtlety is the watchword here with whisks and brushes in use more than sticks and mallets. Cognizant of each other every second, one drummer produces rim shots when the other ratchets; or one bluntly whack the bass drum when the other pounds Indian tom-toms. Chromatically shifting the tonal centre, they advance left-and-right in tandem. Gauge the joy in the proceeding, by noting the ecstatic shouts frequently heard from the participants. (www.fmr-records.com)
This joy is also apparent on In Between Stories which features Darren Johnston’s United Brassworkers Front (Evander Music EM 040). This Bay- area band of two trumpets, two trombones, tuba, guitar, bass and drums plays mostly Johnston’s compositions, while echoes of Balkan marches, brass chorals, Dixieland and mariachi music abound. As burbling tuba provides the pedal-point bottom, shuffle drum beats and walking bass lines add an R&B feel. Johnston is surprisingly expressive and romantic on the sardonic Long Live the Yes Men, yet breaks up the initially stately In Between Stories with splattering triple-tonguing, jazz shakes and rubato slurs. Chunky rhythm guitar licks and half-honk/half-hip-hop from tuba adds to the transformation. Elsewhere Johnston’s arranging skills showcase polyphonic undulations, ensuring the massed brass braying is neither protracted nor gratuitous. (www.evandermusic.com)
	Brass band-inflected jazz is also the raison d’être on Quinsin Nachoff/Bruno Tocanne Project’s 5 New Dreams (Cristal CD 0824), although clarinetist/tenor saxophonist Nachoff’s co-leader is a French drummer, as are the two trumpeters and another saxophonist. Eschewing chordal instruments the unbridled power of Tocanne’s drumming manages makes the band evoke drummer Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. With nearly every tune a foot-tapper, Tocanne’s ruffs and flams encourage doubled brass triplet, so that the trumpeters often sound like an intertwined Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard. Lionel Martin often confines himself to ostinato slurps from the baritone saxophone, except for some flutter-tongued exchanges with Nachoff. Otherwise space is left open for the Canadian who makes good use of it. On Soulèvement he plumbs his tenor saxophone’s depth with a wide vibrato and irregular diaphragm breaths, buzzing upwards into waves of altissimo before Tocanne’s press rolls surgically cut off the exposition. In contrast, Goodbye Lullaby benefits from the baritone saxophone’s bass undercurrent as Nachoff shades the andante melody with coloratura and moderato clarinet obbligatos. (www.imuzzic.net) While cutting contests may be a relic of the past, international musical cooperation continues to set high standards.