George Rochberg – Complete Flute Music 1
Christina Jennings; Lura Johnson;
June Han
Naxos 8.559776

The WholeNote’s 20th season has brought symmetry: in the September issue I reviewed Marina Piccinini’s marvellous CD of Paganini’s 24 Caprices; in this last issue the recording of George Rochberg’s flute music includes 20 of his 51 Caprice Variations (on Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 in A Minor), a significant addition not only to the already long list of compositions based on this work but also to the flute repertoire.

Like the original Caprices, Rochberg’s variations were written for the violin. Jennings has adapted “…those best suited to the flute while representing the enormous stylistic range of [the] whole set.” It is to her credit both that the Caprice Variations sounds as if it was written for the flute and that her formidable technique is up to its prodigious technical demands.

The common thread binding the other two compositions, Between Two Worlds and The Fires of Autumn, could be considered to be the obsession of 20th-century composers with finding a new musical language. I can hear the composer’s voice in the atonal language of the first and the adopted Japanese idiom of the other if I consider them explorations, part of this search; but, Rochberg’s language and his voice seem most convincingly related in the Caprice Variations, which are so deeply rooted in the western musical tradition. Perhaps T.S. Eliot was right: “…the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

Morton Feldman: Two Pianos and other pieces 1953-1969
John Tilbury; Philip Thomas
Another Timbre at81x2
(anothertimbre.com)

Along with John Cage and Christian Wolff, Morton Feldman was a key figure in the mid-century development of indeterminacy as a component in composition, creating works that emerge anew in each performance. This 2CD set focuses on a crucial period in his development and includes pieces for two pianos as well as pieces for three and four pianos and piano in various small ensembles. While the earliest, Intermission 6 (1953), presents the performers with various bits of notation and the direction to play in any order, the other pieces employ sequential notation that plays with time, whether using notes without rhythmic values or instructing musicians to sound a note when the decay of the previous one has begun.

In his extensive notes (available through anothertimbre.com), Philip Thomas emphasizes Feldman’s preoccupations with sound and time: they’re key to the way this special world ultimately involves us. While these works are designed to develop great structural complexity, the focus on sounds and their incremental evolution draws us ever further into the instant of the work’s coming into being, its evolving architecture stretching to erase its own boundaries. These works lead directly to Feldman’s later massive essays in time without being overshadowed by them.

Here John Tilbury and Philip Thomas bracket their program with two performances of Two Pianos (1957), each subtly distinct from the other. The complexity expands on the later Two Pieces for Three Pianos (1966) and the ensemble piece, False Relationships and the Extended Ending (1968). Tilbury may be Feldman’s most incisive interpreter (he first performed one of his works in 1960); his collaborators here share his attention to sonic nuance.

New York Stories
Micah Barnes
LoudBoy ODCD02
(micahbarnes3.bandzoogle.com)

Micah Barnes has long established himself as one of the most engaging vocal performers and contemporary, jazz-infused tunesmiths on the scene today. Perhaps best known as a member of the iconic vocal group The Nylons, Barnes has also crafted a serious solo career by employing his considerable skills as a musician/keyboardist in conjunction with his sumptuous baritone voice, quirky narrative humour, showmanship and innate ability for direct emotional (and artistic) communication.

Barnes’ new recording is the result of many live performances that were focused on perfecting his original material prior to ever stepping into the recording studio – and the highly personal songs (of which three were co-written with J.P. Saxe and one with Russ Boswell) easily bring the rapt listener along for the wild ride. Barnes has surrounded himself here with a fine ensemble, including Michael Shand on keyboards, talented brother Daniel Barnes on drums and voice, the above mentioned Boswell on bass and voice and Saxe on vocals.

Top tracks include New York Story – a nostalgia-saturated valentine to the great city itself and the clever After the Romance (The Rent) – a character song in search of a Broadway show. Barnes’ voice has never been richer and more laden with experience, and his vocal control has never been more succinct, as illustrated by the bluesy standout Starting Tomorrow and the funky cool Harlem Moon. The heart-rending Some Other Man clearly establishes Barnes as a fine contemporary songwriter and the closing track, I’ve Been Awake Too Long evokes incredible, bittersweet longing.

Begin
Alister Spence; Joe Williamson; Christopher Cantillo
Alister Spence Music ASM 003 (alisterspence.com)

What world music really should be, this high-quality session involves the talents of multi-stylistic Australian pianist Alister Spence, subtle Swedish drummer Christopher Cantillo and authoritative Canadian bassist Joe Williamson. Now Stockholm-based, Vancouver native Williamson is part of this trio whose reference points are musically broad while lacking any affectation.

Constantly pushing each of the tracks forward, the pianist’s world view is as wide as the Australian outback, emphasizing attention to cultivated detail that melds Keith Jarrett’s exploratory feints, dynamic jabs à la Cecil Taylor and the bouncy playfulness of Paul Bley, usually simultaneously. Hear this at work on Place, where after probing piano innards and hammering the keys, Spence unexpectedly bursts out with a textbook definition of jazz swing. Consistently a group effort, though – even when Spence’s playing is at its most jaunty – his pointed improvising on Tip for instance is sympathetically extended with tap-dance-like clacks from Cantillo and Williamson’s bowed continuum.

Knowingly attuned to one another’s strategies and willing to mix up the performances to make them new, Williamson, for example, often uses a resolutely steady bass line to second the pianist’s widely spaced spikes and winnowing plucks on Fetch before Spence cunningly recaps his intro. Elsewhere, as on Allow, each rhythm partner uses static drum buzz or string pulls to create edginess on this warm balladic track. Other times as cymbals swirl and drum tops are scrubbed, Spence and Williamson expose nearly identical timbres, balancing inside-piano string strums and unforced bass string plucks.

With even more unexpected approaches they can utilize on this disc’s lucky 13 tracks, the hope is that this trio didn’t just Begin but will continue to make CDs like this for a long time.

Evolve
Andria Simone
Independent GKM 1018
(andriasimone.com)

There’s been a major resurgence of R&B/soul singers in the last several years, led by the fabulous and tragic Amy Winehouse. Many singers have tried to imitate Winehouse’s singing style and production
techniques and, as a result, most blue-eyed soul records released lately sound very similar and, frankly, tired. So it’s a real pleasure to hear a relatively new singer who is treading her own path. With the aptly named Evolve, Toronto-based singer Andria Simone is developing a style all her own. That said, there are influences apparent in her big, gutsy voice, but how can you be a blues and soul singer and not have greats like Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin show up?

Evolve establishes Simone not only as a singer to be reckoned with, but as a songwriter of note too. The majority of the tracks are co-written by her and producer Greg Kavanaugh and there are touches of a variety of styles in the mix, but all are hard-driving. The one cover, Sunshine of Your Love, burns with the heat of a thousand suns. Simone’s backing band – and I hesitate to call them a backing band since they contribute so much to the overall musicality and funkiness of the record that they’re more like collaborators – consists of bassist Mark Wilson, guitarist Dave Kirby, saxophonist Brian Dhari, drummer George Nikolov and keyboardist Anthony Brancati. Evolve doesn’t break brand new ground, but it delivers solid groove and energy.

Just as international improvisers sometimes find a more welcoming atmosphere for their sound experiments in Canada than at home, so too have Canadian record labels become a vehicle to release notable free music sessions. Attesting to this openness, two of the most recent discs by British saxophone master Evan Parker are on Canadian imprints. But each arrived by a different route. One of the triumphs of 2014’s Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Quebec, this performance of Seven by Parker’s ElectroAcoustic Septet (Victo 127 victo.qc.ca) is available on Victo, FIMAV’s affiliated imprint. Consisting of one massive and one shorter instant composition, Seven literally delineates the electro-acoustic divide. Trumpeter Peter Evans, reedist Ned Rothenberg, cellist Okkyung Lee and Parker make up the acoustic side, while varied laptop processes are operated by Ikue Mori and Sam Pluta, with George Lewis switching between laptop and trombone, with his huffing brass tone making a particular impression during a contrapuntal face-off with Parker’s soprano saxophone during Seven-2. At nearly 46 minutes, Seven-1 is the defining work, attaining several musical crests during its ghostly, meandering near-time suspension. Allowing for full expression of instrumental virtuosity, dynamic flutters, flanges and processes, the laptoppists accompany, comment upon or challenge the acoustic instruments. Alternately wave form loops and echoes cause the instrumentalists to forge their reposes. Plenty of sonic surprises arise during the sequences. Undefined processed-sounding bee-buzzing motifs, for example, are revealed as mouth and lip modulations from Evans’ piccolo trumpet or aviary trills from Rothenberg’s clarinet. In contrast the electronics’ crackles and static are often boosted into mellower affiliations that sound purely acoustic. Eventually both aspects meld into a climax of bubbly consistency with any background-foreground, electro or acoustic displays satisfactorily melded. More percussive Seven-2 has a climax involving fragmented electronics pulsating steadily as first Evans, then Rothenberg and finally Parker spill out timbres that confirm formalism as much as freedom.

While Seven’s domestic release seems almost mandatory, Montreal-based Red Toucan’s decision to release UK-recorded Extremes (RT 9349 symaptico.ca/cactus.red) demonstrates its commitment to this music. Parker on tenor saxophone, alongside Paul Dunmall, another intense British tenor specialist, plus American drummer Tony Bianco, offer a three-track masterclass in free-form improvisation. With the drummer keeping up a constant barrage of smacks, whacks, ruffs and pops in the propulsive Elvin Jones tradition, the saxophonists dig into every variation and shading of reed and metal tones like an updated John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. Unlike the maelstrom of bedlam-like expression in which some sound explorers operate, however, Dunmall and Parker play with relaxed intensity. This isn’t a cutting contest either, but a demonstration of how saxophonists can function as separate parts of a single entity. With the final Horus especially adding affirming motes to the jazz tradition via glossolalia and faint echoes of Sonny Rollins’ East Broadway Rundown, each player maintains his individuality no matter how many harsh snorts or siren-pitched expressions are unleashed. Parker’s tone is distinguished by lighter vibrations and swifter split tones while Dunmall’s timbres are darker and grittier. With intuitive timing the tenors attain concluding connection, showcasing rowdy theme variations on the 30-minute-plus title track and polyphonic expressiveness on Horus. Overall, the result is head expanding, not head banging.

A trio concerned with the linkage between notated and improvised sounds is Lisbon-based, EarNear; its self-titled debut CD appears on the Rimouski-based TourdeBras label (TDB90012 CD tourdebras.com). Conversant in many genres, violist João Camões, pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro and cellist Miguel Mira expose textures unique and unexpected for a chamber ensemble. Although strident, speedy and high pitched much of the time, generic continuum is maintained with Mira connectively thumping out what would be the bassist’s role in jazz. On the other hand barbed wire-like sharpened sweeps from Camões, plus inner piano plinks, plucks and crackles confirm the modernity of the performance on tracks such as Airfoil. The responsive nature of the trio’s narrative is such though, that even Gõmbõc, the lengthiest and most cerebral performance, is tempered with sympathetic piano chording and bass string pressure. This leads to a tonal resolution of what begins as a cacophonous battle, with rugged low-pitched string scrubbing on one side and euphonious textures expressed in bell-like, near-harpsichord vibrations on the other.

Golden State II’s (SGL 1610-2 songlines.com) situation is atypical since drummer Harris Eisenstadt is a Canadian and Songlines is a Vancouver imprint. But Eisenstadt is based in Brooklyn and other members of this working quartet – bassist Mark Dresser, bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck and clarinetist Michael Moore – are Americans, natives of California: the Golden State. Here much of the emphasis builds on the divergences between Schoenbeck’s rhinal smears and Moore’s honeyed trills. For example, Agency, a near blues, validates the bassoon as a frontline instrument with hard gusts from Schoenbeck’s horn doubled by Moore as the theme is propelled by rim shots and double bass stops. A Kind of Resigned Indignation is an analogous showcase for Dresser’s profound facility, as he moves from sul ponticello minutiae to focused walking, maintaining bedrock toughness while spurring the others. Defining chamber jazz much differently than EarNear does, the drummer’s knocks and sweeps give the CD a rhythmic base propelled with sophisticated understatement. Animatedly reaching a climax of suspended time on Seven in Six/A Particularity with a Universal Resonance, the quartet blends reed smoothness, curlicue percussion pops and string sweeps into a distinct chromatic form. The result is as mellow, unhurried and sunny as the Golden State or Vancouver.

Canadian labels’ openness to experimentation goes back at least to the early 1970s, with Sackville’s series of Toronto-recorded original sessions featuring then-emerging players from Chicago and New York. Reissued with two additional tracks, 1974’s Trio and Duet (Sackville/Delmark SK3007 delmark.com) hints at why Anthony Braxton’s vision may have been too difficult for some jazz fans of the time. Accompanied by bassist Dave Holland and playing alto saxophone on five tracks, Braxton creates his own variations of standards. While his stripped-down performances may appear slightly frenetic compared to mainstream versions, despite solid timekeeping and a triple-slicing showcase from the bassist on You Go to My Head, the melody remains. If tracks such as Embraceable You or On Green Dolphin Street include more altissimo slurs or squeaking sheets of sound than were common four decades ago, in 2015 the versions would frighten only the most hidebound neo-cons. Yet if Braxton’s standards side was accepted he turns around on what was the LP’s other side and creates a 19-minute modernist piece titled HM-421 (RTS) 47, featuring himself on clarinet, contrabass clarinet, chimes and percussion, Leo Smith on pocket trumpet, trumpet, flugelhorn and percussion plus Richard Teitelbaum on Moog synthesizer, with textures the keyboardist pioneered as a member of Musica Elettronica Viva. Spatial and carefully sequenced, the Moog’s flanges set up a juddering, staccato ostinato over which Smith and Braxton layer muted peeps and stentorian puffs plus chime and conga-like pumps. Yet even if Teitelbaum’s oscillations resemble a Model T warming up rather than the futuristic electronics of today, the graceful playing expressed by all means that at this early date Braxton and the others had perfected the subtle art of matching electronic and acoustic textures without conflict.

The brilliance of this CD substantiates Sackville’s vision. It also suggests that years from now the concept of Canadian labels releasing foreign-sourced experimental music will more likely be praised for foresight rather than eccentricity.

Calgary-raised, Toronto-educated and now based in New York, pianist/ composer Kris Davis has built a substantial reputation at the cutting edge where jazz blends freely with classical and improvised inspirations. However, Save Your Breath (Cleanfeed CF 322 CD, cleanfeed-records.com), by her new ensemble Infrasound, is her most exciting work to date. What might draw a composer to create an octet combining the chordal density of piano, organ and guitar with the inchoate depths of four bass clarinets? The answer is apparent everywhere here in thick, welling music that moves from haunted opera house to the real depths provided by shaking low frequencies, all of it combined in ways both masterful and mysterious to create a music that you definitely haven’t heard before. Among the cast of bass clarinetists, Ben Goldberg is profound on Always Leave Them (Wanting More) and Joachim Badenhorst incendiary on Whirly Swirly.

Ottawa trumpeter Craig Pedersen’s Quartet has just released its third CD, Ghosts (cpm-006, craigpedersen.com), as remarkable for its concentration as its brevity. Less than 18 minutes long, the five-part work suggests roots in the 1960s avant-garde – the braying, village-band dirges of Albert Ayler (Ghosts, though, is Pedersen’s, not Ayler’s) and the linked suites of Don Cherry – but Pedersen has his own voice. His compositions can reduce and repeat melody, insisting on its essence in Something to Like, or hint at musical travels: a Latin beat, a Middle-Eastern mode, the wail of flamenco. Within the intensely collective enterprise, each individual voice presses forward, whether it’s alto saxophonist Linsey Wellman and bassist Joel Kerr on Sung Song or drummer Eric Thibodeau on Clothesline. At the work’s conclusion, the highly vocal trumpet and saxophone give way to actual chanting.

Chantal de Villiers emphasizes the connection between jazz and soul music on Funky Princess (Independent CDV 052014, chantaldevilliers.com) and lives up to the billing by delivering the kind of rich tenor saxophone sound – think Gene Ammons to Grover Washington – that saturates a melody as much as it articulates it. The emphasis is definitely on fundamentals, with strong rhythmic grooves provided by some of Montreal’s finest, bassist Fraser Hollins and the drummers Rich Irwin or Dave Laing. The Shadow of Your Smile and Dexter Gordon’s Panther supply further touchstones, but de Villiers is adept at fashioning her own anthems, like the opening Groovy Step, a slice of solid jazz funk. Alto saxophonist Rémi Bolduc appears, adding a lighter touch, while Burt De Villiers contributes further heft with Hammond B3 organ.

Cory Weeds closed his Cellar Jazz Club in Vancouver at the end of February 2014, but it hasn’t hampered his career as a saxophonist or his vigorous Cellar Live record label, which continues to release sessions from the club and further afield. Weeds’ musical ideal is hard bop: hard-edged, blues-inflected, modern jazz as defined in New York in the late 50s and early 60s. It’s much in evidence in several recent releases.

Weeds marks the label’s 100th release with his own Condition Blue, The Music Of Jackie McLean (Cellar Live CL111214, cellarlive.com), paying tribute to the great alto saxophonist. Weeds brings his own alto sound to this – no one should try to duplicate McLean’s unique, acid-toned, slightly sharp delivery – touching on aspects of McLean’s style from the drum-like phrasing of the title track to the abstract Capuchin Swing and the serpentine coil of Jacknife. The back-up is an organ trio, with Mike LeDonne, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Joe Farnsworth bringing a gentler, burbling, almost dream-like ambience to McLean’s visceral art.

Drummer Curtis Nowosad made his recording debut two years ago. A recent graduate of the University of Winnipeg’s Jazz Studies Program, he led a band made up of his teachers, mixing a hard bop approach with material sourced from Pink Floyd to Tupac Shakur. Nowosad is currently living and studying in New York, but he reassembled the same band for Dialectics (Cellar Live CL010115), including the stellar saxophonist Jimmy Greene. The repertoire is much more conventional, mostly Nowosad originals that frankly reference works by hard bop masters like Horace Silver and Duke Pearson. It’s consistently lively work, and Nowosad stands out on his Afro-Cuban arrangement of Monk’s Bye-Ya.

Louis Hayes and the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band Live at Cory Weeds’ Cellar Jazz Club (Cellar Live CL120513) was recorded in December 2013, shortly before the club closed. Though the presence of Canadian musicians is limited to Weeds sitting in on Sack of Woe, he fits right in, no small accomplishment. Hayes was 76 at the time, as precise as when he was propelling Adderley and Horace Silver in his 20s. With alto saxophonist Vincent Herring and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt in the front line, the band plays the soulful bop and blues of Adderley’s repertoire (Dat Dere stands out) with as much élan as any contemporary group might manage.

The highpoint of Weeds’ current crop is by an expatriate Torontonian, tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart who established himself in New York 25 years ago. His Trio (Cellar Live CL111014) is boiled down to just tenor, bass and drums, but while it’s reminiscent of Sonny Rollins’ great orations, the resemblance takes nothing away from Stewart’s achievement. It’s spontaneous dialogue at the highest level, with the saxophonist at once as meaty and abstract as his model, whether cascading through chord changes or in intimate rhythmic dialogue with bassist Paul Sikivie and drummer (and brother) Phil Stewart. The trio spins particularly memorable variations on Everything’s Coming up Roses.

The late Finnish conductor Paavo Berglund was renowned for his performances of Sibelius and Nielsen, although he conducted works of other composers including Shostakovich. Berglund conducted in Toronto at the invitation of Jukka-Pekka Saraste in 1994 and was well received. He was one of but two conductors that I have seen conducting with their left hand, the other being Elmer Bernstein in London with the LSO on July 4, 1976. A release from Testament finds Berglund in front of the Berlin Philharmonic on May 18, 2001 playing the Shostakovich Eighth Symphony and the Stravinsky Piano Concerto with Olli Mustonen (Testament SBT2 1500, 2 CDs). Arguably, this is the Shostakovich Eighth to end all Shostakovich Eighths. The formative specifics of Shostakovich’s Stalinist experience that are heard in Russian performances are here revealed to apply to a universal human condition. The events at the core are allowed to unfold with a natural weight and clarity and a sometimes deliberate pace that allows the music to have an impact without piling up the events. In other performances, even the great ones, sometimes these masses become so dense and obstructive that it is “impossible to see the trees for the forest.”

This is not simply a very good performance. It is monumental! The expansive, unencumbered sound allows every nuance to be heard in the correct perspective. The Stravinsky Piano Concerto also benefits from this clear approach where the clarity of the sound in the Philharmonie supports the attitude of soloist and conductor. This was an evening when nothing could go wrong.

Last fall Arthaus Musik published a superb and I believe essential documentary entitled Richard Strauss and his Heroines (102181, DVD). This film by Thomas von Steinaecker featured such luminaries as Brigitte Fassbaender, Renée Fleming, Dame Gwyneth Jones, Christa Ludwig and Franz Welser-Möst; also the composer’s grandson Christian Strauss. There was the love-hate relationship between Strauss and his wife Pauline, who was a year older than he when he was hired to teach her as an upcoming soprano. Her father was wealthy and well known whereas Strauss was the son of a brewery industry family. His father was also one of Germany’s best-known horn players who had played in Munich at the premiere of Tristan and Isolde. Here is a revealing and fascinating recounting and exploration of Strauss’ portrayal of women in Salome, Elektra, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Ariadne auf Naxos, Die Liebe der Danae and of course Der Rosenkavalier and finally the Four Last Songs.

A further documentary, Richard Strauss at the End of the Rainbow (Cmajor 729908 DVD and 730004 Blu-Ray) sees Strauss as the last great composer of the era (the end of the rainbow), the true successor to Wagner and debatably the greatest composer of the 20th century. This production by Eric Shultz delves deeply into Strauss’ works and their interpretations, including parts of a one-on-one lesson on elucidation given by Brigitte Fassbaender to a winning young soprano, Emma Moore from Wollongong. Musicians and Strauss scholars are interviewed and there is an abundance of previously unreleased footage of Strauss conducting and going about everyday life. Most enlightening is the charismatic pianist Stefan Mickisch who delves into many well-known works. In sum, this is a unique 97-minute appreciation of Strauss, his strengths and weaknesses, his life and works. Learn the one thing he could do that Wagner could not. A must-have presentation if there ever was one.

A reminder: Last year Decca issued a specially priced collection of their recordings of the late Clemens Krauss, Strauss’s friend and trusted interpreter, conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in what truly are incomparable, definitive performances of eight Strauss tone poems and a complete Salome, recorded in the early 1950s in the very finest sound. (Decca 786493, 5 CDs)

Over the past year we have enjoyed four volumes containing rare performances of the young Martha Argerich given in her early 20s and the series continues with a release of a joint recital with Ruggiero Ricci in Leningrad on April 21, 1961 (Doremi DHR-8040). Ricci, who was some 29 years her senior, was already established internationally as one of the leading violinists of all time. It is inevitable from her enthusiasm displayed here that Argerich would soon be recognized as one of our finest pianists. The recital opens with an enthusiastic version of Beethoven’s Third Violin Sonata Op.12 No.3 played with obviously great delight. Ricci proves that he is not only the master of pyrotechnics but a genuine classical violinist. The Prokofiev Sonata for Solo Violin Op.115 is of particular interest because it was Ricci himself who had premiered the work in Moscow two years earlier. Two Bartók works, the Sonatina in D for violin and piano and the Sonata for solo violin, will keep you on the edge of your seat as will the Sarasate Introduction and Tarantella for violin and piano Op.43. A generous bonus comes from Baden-Baden on February 4, 1960 with Ernest Bour conducting Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major. Argerich has made this concerto her special vehicle and, arguably, this version is a better collaboration than many of her commercial recordings. The sound is clear and vibrant throughout.

An unexpected visitor in my store many years ago was the man who, as I recall, headed the Decca team making videos of performances of their artists. He had returned from Eisenstadt where he worked with Christopher Hogwood. To the surprise of conductor, orchestra and crew, the sound that Mr. Hogwood had believed emulated the sounds of the Haydn orchestra during Haydn’s time sounded quite wrong there. Lesson learned. L’Oiseau-Lyre and Hogwood’s planned Complete Haydn Symphonies Edition with The Academy of Ancient Music was well underway when it ended with the break-up of L’Oiseau-Lyre. Symphonies 1-75, completed from 1988 to 1995, together with four later symphonies, mostly recorded earlier, occupy a new boxed set from Decca (4806900, 32 CDs). Widely acclaimed at the time of their original issue, as times and tastes have changed these performances sound better and better.

Last month Bruce Surtees wrote that Deutsche Grammophon had marked Pierre Boulez’s 90th birthday year with the release of a 44-CD box set of all his DG recordings of music composed in the 20th century. Another project to honour the iconic composer is Pierre Boulez – Le Domaine Musical 1956-1967 (Accord/Universal 4811510, 10CDs) which documents the dozen years during which founder Boulez was at the helm of this seminal French concert society. This set has many personal resonances for me. It was the Domaine Musical recordings of Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht and Pierrot lunaire (both included here) that originally sparked my interest in the Second Viennese School of composition (and eventually led to naming my contemporary music program at CKLN-FM Transfigured Night). Other Domaine recordings provided my introduction to the music of such composers as Messiaen, Varèse, Stockhausen, Henze, Pousseur and lesser known names likes Gilbert Amy and Jean-Claude Éloy.

These new sound worlds were revelations to me and had a profound effect on my musical development. It was these recordings under the direction of Boulez, and others that they led me to, which set the stage for many of my subsequent life choices. The radio show, which aired from 1984 until 1991, provided the opportunity to meet some of the most important creators of the music of our time, many thanks to the generosity of New Music Concerts artistic director Robert Aitken. This in turn ultimately led to my accepting the position of general manager at New Music Concerts in 1999 – after stints at CJRT-FM and the Canadian Music Centre – a post which remains my day job. It was in this capacity that I had the immense privilege to meet and assist Pierre Boulez during his stay in Toronto to accept the Glenn Gould Prize in 2002 and conduct a concert of his music which Aitken had prepared with NMC musicians. I am tempted to say that brought my musical development full circle, but it has in fact continued to grow thanks to the ongoing opportunities to interact with great composers and musicians provided by NMC (and The WholeNote!). But enough about me…

The Domaine Musical concert series began in Paris in 1954 and was based on three tenets: the “references” (early musical figures like Dufay and Gesualdo and later pioneers like Bach); “great contemporaries” (composers of the first half of the 20th century that remained virtually un-performed in France like Bartók, Varèse, Schoenberg, Webern and Berg); and Boulez’ own generation (born around 1925). In addition to the ten CDs, the box includes a comprehensive more-than-100-page booklet (in French and English) with thorough program notes, historical background and a transcription of Claude Samuel’s interview with Boulez from 2005 which appears on disc ten. In the interview Boulez discusses the philosophy and evolution of the programming of the series, including a detailed look at the very first concert presented: Bach’s Musical Offering, works by Webern, Stockhausen and Nono, culminating in Stravinsky’s Renard. While the bulk of the discs are arranged by subject – Les Références Françaises (Debussy, Varèse, Messiaen), Boulez the Composer, Les Compagnons de Route (Kagel, Nono, Henze, Pousseur, Stockhausen) – the set also includes an example of the original programming idea, presenting the third concert of the 1956 season in its entirety: Giovanni Gabrieli’s Canzone dalle “Sacrae Symphoniea” 5 and 3; Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments; Henze’s Concerto per il Marigny; Messiaen’s Oiseaux exotiques and Éloy’s Equivalences. The set opens with the Tenth Anniversary Concert featuring seminal works by Stockhausen, Berio, Boulez (Le Marteau sans maître) and Messiaen and the final disc includes the first-ever recording of Le Marteau from 1956.

Add to this a disc devoted to Stravinsky and three exploring the early, middle and mature works of the New Viennese School and we are presented with an impressive introduction to the music of the first half of the 20th century and the seminal years of the post-war generation of composers who were to dominate Western Art Music for a number of decades. The sound quality of the recordings is varied, but as Bruce Surtees points out elsewhere in these pages “the brain soon adjusts” and the importance of this as a historic document – not to mention a personally rewarding trip down memory lane! – easily makes up for any sonic inconsistencies.

Another CD of music composed around the general time of the Domaine Musical came my way this past month, but without an obvious context. The Kreutzer Quartet’s Unfold (Move Records MD 3371 move.com.au) features works by four composers previously unknown to me (Don Banks, Nigel Butterley, Richard Meale and Felix Werder), as was for that matter, the string quartet itself. The back cover of the disc gives neither composer birth years nor composition dates and I found myself thinking that, since I had not heard of them, this was likely a crop of young composers being championed by an equally young ensemble. I also thought that a group named “Kreutzer” would likely be most interested in the music of Beethoven or perhaps Janáček. I put on the disc without opening the booklet and was very surprised by what I heard. Where would they have found young composers writing in such a distinctly old-fashioned way? By old-fashioned I do not mean music that sounds like it was written in the 18th or 19th century as is sometimes the case these days, but rather music written in the uncompromisingly “difficult” style of the 50s and 60s. Eventually I decided I had better read what the booklet had to say and it seems I was wrong on all counts in the assumptions I had made judging the CD by its cover.

Although I have not been able to determine when the quartet was founded, it has been around for at least 15 years and is the dedicatee of more than 200 works. Based in the UK, it is very active in Europe and its previous discography includes cycles of works by Gerhard, Finnissy, Birtwistle, Tippett and Hallgrimsson. I was also wrong about the composers. Far from being young, they are all of the Boulez generation: Don Banks (Australia 1923-1980), Felix Werder (Germany/Australia 1922-2012), Nigel Butterley (Australia b. 1935) and Richard Meale (Australia 1932-2009). So there are common threads, all Australian by birth or naturalization, and all works composed in the decade beginning in 1964. But what is the connection of the quartet to the repertoire? I’m left scratching my head. I see that the recording, on an Australian label, was funded by the Australia Council for the Arts and so perhaps that is explanation enough, but I’m still curious. I see no mention of an Australian residency or even a “Down Under” connection in the biographies of the quartet that I can find, and certainly no mention in the disc’s booklet. I think there must be an interesting story behind the project that remains to be told.

That being said I think the music speaks well enough for itself and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to get acquainted with it. Peter Sculthorpe is the only contemporary Australian composer I’ve had much exposure too and this music is very different from his, which is so grounded in the landscape and aboriginal culture. This is not to say that the composers represented here are four peas in a pod. Each has a distinctive voice – Werder’s the most abrasive and Butterley’s the most atmospheric, with Banks and Meale each echoing aspects of Schoenberg and his school, but in individual ways – and together they provide an intriguing insight into a lesser-known place and time.

I find it curious that the thoughtfully presented program notes, which provide welcome background on the individual works (if not of the project itself), are arranged in a different order than the pieces are presented on the disc. On second listening I chose to program the works as per the notes described and found it a very satisfying experience, one that I would recommend to anyone interested in discovering some unknown classics of the 20th century.

The latest Centredisc to come my way is Piano Northwest – Music of William Pura (CMCCD 20915) featuring pianist Sylvia Shadick-Taylor performing works spanning a quarter of a century by the senior Winnipeg-based composer. Although a founding member of the Manitoba Composers Association and Winnipeg’s IZ Music, as well as serving on regional councils of the Canadian Music Centre and the Canadian League of Composers, Pura’s academic training was in fine arts and he taught at the University of Manitoba School of Art until his retirement in 2010.

Pura also studied piano extensively and his idiomatic understanding of the instrument serves him well in the compositions presented here, all of which draw on extra-musical subjects for their inspiration. Nemesis (2008) has two such points of departure, a poem of the same name by H.P. Lovecraft and Johannes Kepler’s 17th-century calculation of the intervallic relationships between the six known planets. It is a dense yet pointillistic work, which explores a variety of moods over its ten-minute duration.

The Statue’s Desire once again draws on texts, in this case a prose poem by the artist Giorgio de Chirico as well as a song by Charles Ives. Although the works are not settings per se, the texts are given in the composer’s program notes, allowing us the opportunity to search for parallels between the words and the music.

The most substantial work on the program is Sonata Northwest 1985, written in 1990 (and revised in 2006) to commemorate the centennial of Louis Riel’s 1885 Northwest Rebellion. (This is a theme Pura would return to a decade later in his hour-long musical drama Batoche for two singers, three dancers and small ensemble.) An extended Lento cantabile movement is followed by a brief Trio in which a harmonica and snare drum are added, hauntingly simple parts which can be played by the pianist or, as in this case, by additional musicians (George Andrix and Jonathan Taylor respectively). I imagine the slowly repeated snare drum taps as representing a march to the gallows. The last movement Ballade is somewhat reminiscent of Ives’ Concord Sonata, with its polyrhythms and polytonalities and passing references to familiar-sounding tunes.

Shadick-Taylor’s biographical entry makes a point of noting her exploration of composers’ ideas and inspirations, musical building blocks, which in combination with her command of her instrument “transform a fine performance into a captivating story.” Pura’s prosaic compositions benefit greatly from the understanding of this “brilliant storyteller.”

As usual, my month would not have been complete without something completely different. The Shoeless is the eponymous album by a young Toronto string band (theshoeless.com) with the somewhat unusual instrumentation of cello (Eli Bender), banjo (Frank Evans) and fiddle (Emilyn Stam), with occasional vocals by all. This debut release is a melange of mostly original tunes (with Stam penning the lion’s share) and traditional tunes, with a couple of outside offerings by accordionist Stéphane Milleret and fiddler Gudrun Walther. Although the CD is bereft of any information beyond titles, composers and durations plus recording credits, a visit to the website, and the links beyond, provides evidence of a wealth of experience that belies the youth of the individual members. Self-described as a “cross-cultural stew, combining the sounds of Klezmer, French, Celtic, Appalachian and English music,” this album is a breath of fresh air and another fine example of a new generation rejuvenating an old tradition.  Concert note: The Shoeless can be heard in Hamilton on May 6 at the Artword Artbar, in Kitchener on May 7 at Café Pyrus (with the Ever Lovin’ Jug Band) and here in Toronto on May 13 at Musideum (with Soozi Schlanger).

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

David Olds, DISCoveries Editor
discoveries@thewholenote.com

Poulenc – Mass in G Major; Sept Chansons; Motets
Elora Festival Singers; Noel Edison
Naxos 8.572978

This disc features a cappella choral works of Poulenc, both sacred and secular. Exquisite as they are, these works pose a considerable challenge to a choir, with soprano lines that soar high into the ether, daring chromaticism and shifting, often-ambiguous harmonies with no instrumental accompaniment to grasp on to.

Though serious in nature, the Mass in G Major, written in 1937 after the death of Poulenc’s father and the composer’s return to Catholicism, retains some of the playfulness inherent in the Cocteau-esque Sept Chansons from his more youthful years with Les Six. Each of the chansons references a body part: arms, face, breasts, eyes, hair and hands and textually and musically are as steeped in hedonism as in wit. The most dramatic contrast with these, perhaps, is provided in the Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence (1938-39), a sombre meditation on Holy Week while the Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël (1952) convey all the mystery and joy of the season.

Noel Edison leads the Elora Festival Singers adeptly through these varied and difficult ranges of character and emotion with enviable accuracy of pitch and perfectly nuanced expression.

Charles Wuorinen – Brokeback Mountain
Daniel Okulitch; Tom Randle; Heather Buck; Hannah Esther Minutillo; Teatro Real de Madrid; Titus Engel
BelAir Classics BAC111

In 2005, when acclaimed Taiwanese director Ang Lee adapted a 1997 short story by Annie Proulx, the film set off a firestorm – not just because it showcased a homosexual relationship and exposed the ugly face of rural homophobia, which it did admirably. The riveting performances by Jake Gyllenhaal and especially the late Heath Ledger, as masculine, restrained “Marlboro men” cowboys were miles away from any stereotype. The manner of one character’s death invoked uncomfortably the tragic real-life story of Matthew Shepard.

More so than anything else, Brokeback Mountain is a story of a life unfulfilled out of fear of judgement. Proulx has frequently commented that she wishes she had never written the story, as disappointed fans continue to pester her for a happy ending rewrite or at least a sequel. All this only confirms the power of the story here set to music by Charles Wuorinen. And so Brokeback Mountain became an opera.

Wuorinen gets the foreboding nature of the story, as his music is austere, dry and powerful, just like the mountain ridge that is the backdrop to a human tragedy. He illustrates the tragic tale with music filled with longing and regret. What is missing perhaps, are the fleeting and rare, but still real moments of pure pleasure and love that stubbornly persist between the two men, despite all the efforts to eradicate them.

In the final scene of the opera, the mood lifts, though not enough to allow the gravity-defying ascension. The music remains oppressive to the very end, smothering any budding inner peace. A powerful production.

Comedie et Tragedie Vol.1
Tempesta di Mare Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra
Chaconne CHAN 0805

Louis XIV’s cultural offensive involved the arrival of Giovanni-Battista Lulli, duly converted to Jean-Baptiste Lully. Lully then became director of the Petite Bande of string musicians. Combine Lully’s genius for composition with Molière’s brilliant social satire Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and you have a magnificent comédie-ballet.

Tempesta di Mare’s interpretation of the overture to the comedy gives a flavour of what to expect; a rather clumsy and pompous nature admirably reflects Molière’s social climber Monsieur Jourdain. By contrast, the real dancers enjoy Lully’s graceful country dances in their 17th-century French heyday. Add to this the slightly oriental quality of the Cérémonie des Turcs and you realize how suited to each other Molière’s words and Lully’s music truly were.

On to Les Éléments by Jean-Féry Rebel (a pupil of Lully) who won great respect for his dance music. Le Chaos started life as an instrumental piece but was incorporated into the ballet. It is not what one expects from a baroque entertainment. Parts for bass, flutes, piccolos and violins represent respectively earthly tremors, the flow of water, air and fire. All attempt to impose themselves vigorously on the ballet and to be distinctive from one another. More soothing is the following Loure-Chaconne; earth and water are reconciled before we hear Rebel’s sprightly interpretations of traditional dance movements.

Marin Marais is best known as a bass viol composer, his prowess enabling him to come to the attention of, yes, Lully. Alcyone is a classically themed opera comprising an overture and five acts. The dramatic plots in each act would unfold until interrupted by a divertissement (entertainment). The 13 suites performed by Tempesta di Mare reflect this accurately whether with the stately prologue: ouverture or the relaxed airs for a whole sequence of characters such as sailors, magicians and priestesses of Juno. Enjoy above all the sarabande, tempest and concluding chaconne.

After listening to both Lully and Marais, listeners will have received a textbook introduction to the French baroque music which enhanced comedy and tragedy alike.

Schumann – Violin Concerto; Piano Trio No.3
Isabelle Faust; Jean-Guihen Queyras; Alexander Melnikov; Freiburger Barockorchester; Pablo Heras-Casado
harmonia mundi HMC 902196

Among the violin concertos by the great masters of the middle Romantic era, Brahms, Bruch, Mendelssohn and even Sibelius, Schumann’s is least popular and is infrequently performed. Also, it is considered of lesser value and impact among the composer’s own concertos. Both the piano Op.54 and the cello Op.129 are each at the summit of their genre and favourites for well over a century. Was the violin concerto inconsistent with his output and indicative of lessening musical genius? Written in 1853, the concerto, his last major work, remained without opus number and was secreted for 80 years until November 26, 1937 when it received its debut played by Georg Kulenkampff in Berlin with Böhm and the Philharmonic. On December 20 that year Telefunken recorded it there with Kulenkampff and Schmidt-Isserstedt conducting. Yehudi Menuhin championed the work in concert and in 1938 he recorded it in New York with the Philharmonic under Barbirolli. The value of the work however remains in controversy.

Isabelle Faust and the Freiburg Baroque make a convincing case for it in which the clarity and texture of the period instruments present a refreshingly different palette. The bonus DVD in this release contains the concert performance in the Berlin Philharmonie, revealing unexplored contours and textures characteristic of a baroque orchestra. From the very first bar this is echt Schumann! There are pros and cons of such treatments and while this concerto may not be the very best of Schumann, this sit-up-and-take-notice performance could change a few minds.

The Trio Op.110 in G Minor is another matter. While it may be thought of as the least of Schumann’s three trios, listening to it here challenges that opinion. It is assuredly worthy of a fine performance which it certainly receives. Faust and her colleagues radiate ardour and optimism, performing with sensitivity, sincere musicality and flawless ensemble that hold the listener’s attention. A genuine must-have.

This is the first of three albums by Faust and her colleagues (all passionate about Schumann – me too!), of all the concertos and trios using a historic piano and instruments with gut strings.

Prokofiev; Shostakovich – Cello Concertos
Steven Isserlis; Frankfurt Radio Symphny Orchestra; Paavo Järvi
Hyperion CDA68037

Prokofiev began this concerto in Paris in 1934, where he was urged by fellow émigré Gregor Piatigorsky to write such a work. Piatigorsky was enthusiastic over the first movement and the opening of the second but at that point Prokofiev returned to Russia. The work waited until 1938 to be completed in Moscow where it debuted to resounding indifference. The cellist had played it, against the composer’s wishes, as a sentimental piece and the conductor had no opinion. In 1940 its debut in the United States by Koussevitzky and Piatigorsky in Boston was hardly a triumph.

The 1956 recording of the concerto by János Starker and the Philharmonia under Walter Susskind is a polite affair and while beautifully played the overall mood misses the pungency that Prokofiev must have intended. The 1972 performance by Christine Walevska conducted by Eliahu Inbal is a far cry from the Starker, animated and alert and well recorded by Philips.

Recorded in concert in 2013, Steven Isserlis and Paavo Järvi together have set the record straight with new eyes on the score, delivering a fresh, vital interpretation. The first pages of the first movement announce that this is to be a compelling performance. The third movement, a set of theme and variations, is totally engaging, more rhythmic and interesting than previously revealed.

Their Shostakovich, too, is outstanding. One would believe that in his several recordings Rostropovich, the dedicatee, had the field covered. Easygoing tempo and high-spirited playing provide a most attractive alternative, especially with the tidy yet dynamic orchestral collaboration. The sound and wide range of the recording are state of the art. The Prokofiev solo March, arranged by Piatigorsky, is a jaunty little encore.

Aaron Jay Kernis – Three Flavors; Two Movements; Superstar Etude No.3
Andrew Russo; James Ehnes; Albany Symphony Orchestra; David Alan Miller
Naxos 8.559711

Aaron Jay Kernis was all of 23 back in the early 1980s when he first attracted attention with the premiere of his composition Dream of the Morning Sky by the New York Philharmonic. Since then, the Pennsylvania-born composer has earned a reputation as one of the most distinguished of his generation – a winner of not only a Pulitzer Prize, but also the Prix de Rome and the Grawemeyer Award. His large output is characterized by an affable and eclectic style, clearly evident on this Naxos recording which features three of his compositions performed by the Albany Symphony, conducted by David Alan Miller with Andrew Russo, piano, and James Ehnes, violin.

Three Flavors initially began as a concerto for toy piano, but it was later adapted for a modern instrument. To say the least, the piece is a study in contrasts. The first movement abounds in driving repetitive motives and modal harmonies – do I hear a hint of Stravinsky and a nod to Indonesian gamelan? In total contrast, the second movement, Lullaby-Barcarolle, is all gentleness, containing a lyricism not dissimilar to that found in works by Samuel Barber. Blue Whirl, the third movement finale, is clearly influenced by jazz rhythms and blues that Andrew Russo performs with great bravado, while the Albany Symphony provides a solid foundation.

It was in homage to his late father that Kernis composed Two Movements (with Bells) in 2007, a BBC Proms commission for James Ehnes. Scored for violin, piano and orchestra, the two movements each begin wistfully, but the mood soon becomes more flamboyant. Together, Ehnes and Russo engage in an animated and lively discourse, adroitly handling the energetic angular lines. Russo returns for a solo in Ballad(e) out of the Blue(s) – Superstar Etude No.3.  Although the piece was inspired by Gershwin, there are also echoes of Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum and Errol Garner through its jazz harmonies and improvisational quality.

Kudos to all the artists on this CD for showcasing music by one of America’s most eclectic contemporary composers.