Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No.3; Symphonic Dances
Garrick Ohlsson; Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Robert Spano
ASO Media CD-1003

“After America, I’ll be able to buy myself that automobile,” Rachmaninov is reported to have explained when finally deciding to embark on his voyage to America in 1909, a tour that promised handsome financial compensation. It was for this trip that he composed the great Piano Concerto No.3 in D Minor, admirably presented here on this Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Media recording with Garrick Ohlsson and the ASO conducted by Robert Spano.

Ohlsson was a gangly 22 year old when he won first prize at the International Chopin Competition in 1970. Forty-one years later, he has come to be regarded as one of the American veterans of the concert stage. Despite his eclectic discography, ranging from Bach to Gershwin, Ohlsson has never spent much time with the Russian romantics, so this recording, which not only features the concerto, but also the three Symphonic Dances, is a journey into uncharted territory. And what a satisfying voyage it is indeed! The concerto - surely one of the most demanding in the repertoire - is a plethora of contrasting moods and tempos, but Ohlsson handles them all with aplomb. Piano pyrotechnics are treated with ease, while the quieter, more lyrical sections demonstrate an introspective elegance. Spano has been director of the ASO for ten years now, and here, his competent baton achieves a warmly romantic sound from the players. Concluding the disc is the set of three Symphonic Dances from 1941, the last works ever to be penned by Rachmaninov. The ensemble delivers a polished performance and the Direct Digital Stream sound further enhances this most satisfying recording.

The Montreal violinist Alexandre Da Costa is back with another outstanding CD of contemporary works, this time with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal under Pedro Halffter in Fire and Blood, featuring the music of the American composer Michael Daugherty (Acacia Classics ACA 2 0931). The title work is a violin concerto from 2003; commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, it was inspired by the “Detroit Industry” murals at the Detroit Institute of Art, painted in the early 1930s by the Mexican artist Diego Rivera on a commission from Edsel Ford. The opening movement – “Volcano” – invokes the fires of Mexican volcanoes and the blaze of factory furnaces. The beautiful second movement – “River Rouge” – is named for the Ford complex where Rivera spent several months sketching with his wife, artist Frida Kahlo; her long-term serious health problems – she almost died from a miscarriage while in Detroit with her husband – resulted in “the color of blood” being everywhere in her works of that period. The third movement – “Assembly Line” – is described by the composer as “a roller coaster ride on a conveyor belt,” with the violin representing the worker surrounded by a mechanical and metallic orchestra that includes a ratchet and brake drums! It’s stunning stuff with wonderful orchestration. It’s difficult to imagine it being performed any better. Two shorter works complete the CD: Flamingo, for two tambourines and orchestra; and Ladder to the Moon, for violin, wind octet, double bass and percussion. Da Costa is again outstanding in the latter, a two-movement work also inspired by art – this time a musical tribute to Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1925-30 paintings of New York skyscrapers and the Manhattan cityscape.

The latest CD from Canada’s James Ehnes sees him paired with the Sydney Symphony and Vladimir Ashkenazy in an all-Tchaikovsky programme recorded live at Australia’s Sydney Opera House in December 2010 (ONYX 4076). I was lucky enough to catch this same team in a memorable performance of the Elgar violin concerto in Sydney in 2009, and it’s no surprise to find them continuing their relationship. Ashkenazy was also the conductor for the Ehnes CD of the Mendelssohn concerto in 2010. The Violin Concerto is obviously the main work here, and it’s a terrific performance, with Ashkenazy drawing idiomatic playing from the orchestra, and Ehnes always managing to find something fresh to say in the solo part while making the technical difficulties sound easy. The two other works with orchestra, the Sérénade mélancolique Op.26, and the Valse-scherzo Op.34, receive equally compelling performances from all concerned.

Ashkenazy returns to his first profession as pianist for the final work, accompanying Ehnes in the three-movement Souvenir d’un lieu cher Op.42. Again, the mutual understanding is there for all to hear. It’s another terrific addition to the already impressive Ehnes discography.

There are more live recordings featured on the latest CD from Christian Tetzlaff (ONDINE ODE 1195-2) which features the Violin Concertos of Mendelssohn and Schumann, with Paavo Järvi conducting the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Tetzlaff was artist in residence with the orchestra when the recordings were made in September 2008 and February 2009. The Mendelssohn is a beautiful performance, never over-played, with an affecting slow movement and a finale that displays detailed, subtle and sensitive playing without ever losing a sense of line. The Schumann concerto has had a troubled history and waited 84 years for its eventual premiere in 1937. The beautiful slow movement is its saving grace, but the opening movement material is not the greatest, and with its demanding technical difficulty it’s not hard to see why the concerto continues to struggle to enter the mainstream repertoire. Tetzlaff, however, does a lovely job with this work, as he does with the Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra, which was also written in 1853 and quickly fell out of favour. It was originally felt to be a brilliant and cheerful piece, but Schumann’s mental illness and death within three years seemed to change the public perception of the work. In this repertoire, though, Tetzlaff is up against stiff competition from Ulf Wallin, whose definitive performances of these works on the BIS label were reviewed in depth in the September 2011 Strings Attached column.

The Kernis Project: Beethoven is the title of a new CD from a young American ensemble, the Jasper String Quartet (Sono Luminus DSL-92142). It pairs the Beethoven Op.59, No.3 with the String Quartet No.2 “musica instrumentalis,” by American composer Aaron Jay Kernis, the last movement of which is based on the finale of the Beethoven quartet. The Jasper Quartet gives a full-blooded, committed reading of the Beethoven, but the real treasure here is the Kernis. The three-movement work, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1998, is an absolute stunner: deep, strong, rich,accessible. There are shades of Shostakovich in the slow movement, and the finale – “Double Triple Gigue Fugue (after Beethoven)” – is truly exhilarating. Although it wasn’t written for them, the Jasper Quartet comment that this was a work they connected with “right from the start.” It’s easy to hear why, and to share their connection. How reassuring – and what a thrill – to hear contemporary works that can hold their own against the classics.

Kernis also turns up on River of Light – American Short Works for Violin and Piano, a new Naxos release in the superb American Classics series (Naxos 8.559662). The title is slightly misleading, as two of the works – Philip Glass’ “Knee Play 2” from Einstein on the Beach and Patrick Zimmerli’s three-movement The Light Guitar – are for violin solo. Virtually all of the works are by living composers and written within the last 35 years, the exception being the 1953 Wistful Piece by Ruth Shaw Wylie, who died in 1989. Lev Zhurbin’s Sicilienne, Jennifer Higdon’s Legacy, Zimmerli’s piece and Richard Danielpour’s title track River of Light are all world premiere recordings. The Kernis Air, Kevin Puts’ Aria and William Bolcom’s Graceful Ghost Rag complete a fascinating and predominantly lyrical programme. The American violinist Tim Fain, who was recently featured in the movie Black Swan, is in his element here, as much at home in the frenetic Glass piece as in the lyrical beauty of the Puts, Kernis and Zhurbin works. Fain grew up playing the standard 19thcentury short virtuoso pieces, and sees this CD as bringing the tradition into the present. Pianist Pei-Yao Wang is a perfect partner in music that is always thought-provoking and immensely satisfying, without ever resorting to the merely virtuosic.

English viola music has already been well-served by the Naxos label, and now there’s a new CD featuring the Viola Sonatas Nos.1 and 2 and the Phantasy of Edwin York Bowen in performances by the Bridge Duo (Naxos 8.572580). York Bowen, born in 1884, was a prodigiously-gifted musician and an outstanding composer, but – as was the case with several other British composers – his style came to be considered outdated in the years following the Great War. Bowen worked closely with Lionel Tertis, the man who was almost single-handedly responsible for establishing the viola as a legitimate solo instrument: Tertis premiered Bowen’s Viola Concerto in 1908, as well as these two sonatas a few years earlier. Both sonatas, No.1 in C Minor and No.2 in F Major, date from 1905. They are marvellous works, quintessentially English and exhibiting great strength and variety. The single-movement Phantasy was written in 1918 and was Bowen’s entry in the annual W. W. Cobbett Phantasy composition competition that produced so many outstanding English works. Tertis saw no reason to treat writing for the viola any differently than writing for the violin and as a result all three works are technically very challenging, a fact that no doubt contributed to their somewhat sparse performance history until fairly recently. The Bridge Duo – violist Matthew Jones and pianist Michael Hampton – are fully up to the challenge in a beautifully-recorded disc that makes a fine companion to their recital of English Music for Viola (Naxos 8.572579).

There is more viola music – again from a mostly overlooked composer and with another link to Tertis – on the CD of the Complete Works for Viola & Piano by Joseph Jongen (FUGA LIBERA FUG586). Jongen, born in 1873, was also a precociously-gifted musician, and met Tertis in London in 1914 after fleeing from occupied Belgium at the outbreak of the Great War. He also knew the great French viola player Maurice Vieux in the 1920s. Like Bowen, Jongen was a craftsman who produced works of the highest order, but whose reputation suffered as musical styles evolved through the middle of the 20th century. Both Tertis and Vieux were prominent in establishing the viola as a legitimate solo instrument, and both had a huge influence on Jongen’s viola works – and on their technical difficulty. The young Belgian violist Nathan Braude is simply outstanding in a recital that includes Jongen’s Allegro appassionato Op.79 from 1925, the Introduction & Danse Op.102 from 1935, the Concertino Op.111 from 1940, the two-movement Suite Op.48 and the Andante espressivo. His tone is deep and warm in the lower register, and brilliant and bright, though never thin or lacking in strength, in the upper register. Technically he is flawless and never less than completely musical. He is supported by some terrific piano playing by Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, who not only has his work cut out in the viola works, but also supplies outstanding performances of the two excellent piano solo pieces that complete the CD: the second Étude de concert Op.65 No.2 and the Soleil à midi Op.33 No.1. The booklet notes make an impassioned plea – and a strong case – for a reassessment of Jongen’s music, and of his place in 20th century music. The charming and beautiful works on this CD make an even stronger one.

The ever-reliable Hyperion label has issued two CDs by the Takács Quartet of String Quartets of Joseph Haydn, one featuring the three quartets Op.71 and the other the three quartets Op.74 (Hyperion CDA67781 and CDA67793). All six works were written in Vienna between Haydn’s visits to London in 1791-2 and 1794 and were clearly written for public – as opposed to private – performance, following the success of his Op.64 quartets at the Salomon subscription concerts in London. The Takács Quartet plays with precision, warmth and richness, as you would expect, but the real stars here are the works themselves, amply demonstrating the inexhaustible wit, humour and invention for which Haydn is so justly noted.

Southam - Returnings
Eve Egoyan
Centrediscs CMCCD 17211

This album marks the premiere recording of four piano works by the late Ann Southam. The music was chosen by Southam, among Canada’s finest composers, who died at age 73 in November 2010. The consummate Toronto pianist Eve Egoyan, for whom the works were created, makes a convincing and moving case for them.

I first heard Southam’s music in the 1970s when she became known for the electroacoustic works she made for Toronto Dance Theatre choreographers. I was surprised to hear later that we shared a mutual composition teacher, Samuel Dolin of the Royal Conservatory of Music. In Returnings I, the piano tolls in the low register while the consonant mid-keyboard chords support a disjunct melodic line. The haunting, though reassuring, music is over well before I want it to be. It hardly seems to last the quarter of an hour the CD timing states.

In Retrospect is like a broken harmonic series rearranged, a set of cubist impressions of bells ringing, their pitches ranging over most of the keyboard. One can imagine in the listening Southam’s abstracted, distanced and terse life in review, fastidious in its avoidance of dramatic overstatement and emotional sturm und drang. While her modernist colours are on display here, by the end of the work I am left with the feeling of unquiet, unnamed musical questions being posed rather than clear statements articulated and argued.

Qualities of Consonance, in contrast, has a dramatic agenda. It serves up dissonant, aggressive, loud musical gestures that would be quite at home in the mid-20th century, alternating with soft sostenuto passages. The resulting dialectic resonates on a deep emotional level. In the final work, Returnings II: A Meditation, Southam offers us a more refined aesthetic. Set in a haltingly rocking rhythm, it revisits the harmonic grammar of Returnings I.

Yes, I hear links in these last piano pieces to the more pattern-concerned jubilant minimalism of Southam’s earlier works, yet this mature autumnal music speaks to me with more conviction. They have the admirable gravitas and serenity of a full life well lived. These pieces, along with Southam’s Simple Lines of Enquiry (recorded by Egoyan on Centrediscs CMCCD 14609), should take their rightful place in the top tier of contemporary concert piano repertoire.

O Music - The Music of Allan Gilliland
New Edmonton Wind Sinfonia
Centrediscs CMCCD 17111

This disc by the well-established New Edmonton Wind Sinfonia contains a variety of music by prolific Edmonton-based composer Allan Gilliland. Conductor Raymond Baril maintains a high standard throughout, with soloists James Campbell and Dean McNeill making distinguished contributions. Included are jazz and Broadway suites as well as music based on the composer’s Scottish heritage. My main reservation is that, for a single-composer collection, I don’t hear enough of Gilliland’s “own” musical voice coming through.

Dreaming of the Masters I pays tribute to great jazz clarinettists including Benny Goodman, Pee Wee Russell and Buddy DeFranco. Perhaps better known as a classical clarinettist, James Campbell emerges here as also a fine jazz stylist and improviser. In Kalla (“call” in Norwegian), trumpeter and arranger Dean McNeill conveys brilliantly the role of a riverside trumpeter in New Orleans circa 1900 making echoing calls that are answered by other trumpets throughout the city (with jazz plunger mutes much in evidence). Fantasia on Themes from West Side Story demonstrates Gilliland’s inventive orchestration and idiomatic technique in what he calls a “re-composition” of material from the beloved musical. O Music, Loch Na Beiste, and Love’s Red Rose evoke the Scottish landscape and traditional melodic style. Overall, this disc would appeal to those who enjoy any or all of the above genres.

two + two
TorQ Percussion Quartet
Bedoint Records BR002 (www.torqpercussion.ca)

“Always complimenting or opposing” is the descriptive phrase that creative percussion quartet TorQ uses to describe the music on their debut recording project, two + two. Produced by TorQ (skilled percussionist/composers Richard Burrows, Adam Campbell, Jamie Drake and Daniel Morphy) and Ray Dillard, the CD is without question a fascinating and intense piece of work. According to TorQ themselves, their project explores harmonic and rhythmic concepts and the contrasting and complex relationships to their polar antithesis, e.g. pitched and un-pitched; tranquil and relentless; simple and complex.

two + two is comprised of five extended works, including the evocative Awakening Fire by Jason Stanford, which utilizes ephemeral vibes and marimbas, the drones of Tibetan meditation bowls and all manner of drums and percussion gizmos to create a primordial sonic landscape – replete with Neolithic thunderstorms. Also of note is the stark Tak-Nara by Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic, and the funky, marimba driven I Call Your Name: Rescue Me (Christos Hatzis), which integrates urbanized spoken word snippets as well as some thrilling auricular cacophonies. Also moving is an ethno-centric version of iconic avant-garde composer John Cage’s opus, Third Construction.

This conceptual, non-linear and visceral music may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it clearly extends beyond a mere auditory experience and into the realm of performance art. I’m sure that we can all look forward to the next magical multi-dimensional presentation from TorQ – highly musical percussive artistry without artifice or gimmicks.

Shamanic Journey
Deanna Swoboda
Potenza Music PM1013 (www.potenzamusic.com)

The noble tuba is the only instrument in the standard symphony orchestra that can claim that virtually all of its solo repertoire has been composed within the last 60 years. This is in large part due to the efforts of tuba players themselves, who often seek out the friendship of composers, who they then commission (or brow-beat) into composing these solo works.

American tuba player Deanna Swoboda is no exception to this: a professor of tuba and euphonium at Western Michigan University and the President of the International Tuba and Euphonium Association, she also is a fantastic performer, as this solo CD, her second, ably shows. Most of the featured repertoire is by women composers and most is of the “easy-listening” variety – a number of the works having a jazz or pop-infused feel. Particularly enjoyable is the Concert Piece for Tuba and Piano by the noted American composer, Libby Larsen.

A bonus for listeners on our side of the border is the inclusion of two works by Canadian composers, Elizabeth Raum’s Ballad and Burlesque (commissioned by Swoboda) and Barbara York’s Sonata for Tuba and Piano, subtitled “Shamanic Journey,” which gives Swoboda’s new CD its name.

Saariaho - D’om le vrai sens; Laterna Magica; Leino Songs
Kari Kriikku; Anu Komsi; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Sakari Oramo
Ondine ODE 1173-2

Kaija Saariaho stands among today’s outstanding concert music composers. She was born in Finland (1952) but has been a long-time resident of Paris. Her research at IRCAM, the Paris institute where FM synthesis and electroacoustic techniques associated with spectral music have been developed, has had a profound influence on her compositions, which often combine live and electronic musical forces.

This CD features three recent all-acoustic works performed by some of Finland’s finest interpreters. Saariaho’s clarinet concerto D’om Le Vrai Sens, inspired by the famous La Dame à la Licorne medieval tapestries is almost operatic in scope, the solo clarinet virtuoso Kari Kriikku playing the protagonist to the orchestra’s lushly mysterious textures.

Saariaho’s dramatic orchestral piece Laterna Magica derives its title and theme from film director Ingmar Bergman’s memoirs, referring to an early type of manual film projector. The title underscores the composer’s fascination with boundaries: between observation and imagination; between objective light and subjective dream-like reality. The latter is represented in sound by shifting, colourfully orchestrated, alternating dense and wispy chords and evanescent hissing instrumental sounds. Whispered words uttered by the musicians, describing light’s effects both on objects and on human mood, are culled from Bergman, adding to the music’s mystery.

The four Leino Songs, built on texts by Finnish poet Eino Leino (1878-1926), were composed for the polished and nuanced voice of the Finnish soprano Anu Komsi and orchestra. Epigrammatic and voice-friendly, the songs follow the lyrics admirably, allowing the words to dictate the overall form and duration of each song. This is by far the shortest of the works here, yet its emotional impact is perhaps the greatest.

Concert Note: The Canadian Opera Company will present eight performances of Kaija Saariaho’s Love From Afar, featuring Russell Braun, Erin Wall and Kristina Szabó, February 2 to 22.

From the New Village
Duo Resonance
Woodlark Discs (www.silverflute.ca)

German Romanticism of the 19th century, in spite of much turbulence at the time, was a golden age for the arts, especially for music and poetry. Duo Resonance is composed of guitarist Wilma van Berkel and flutist Sibylle Marquardt. The title is derived from the first set of compositions on the disc, Songs and Dances from the New Village by Dusan Bogdanovic, pieces based on traditional music from south-eastern Europe. The rest of the repertoire, with the exception of Toru Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea, is similarly related to folk or traditional music.

There is some invigorating music-making on this CD. In the first movement “Bordel” of Astor Piazzolla’s L’histoire du tango, for example, Marquardt’s robust sound, incisive articulation and precise rhythmic sense, coupled with van Berkel’s dynamic and fluid playing, propel the music forward to an exciting climax. Van Berkel‘s solo at the beginning of the contrasting second movement, exquisitely languid, sensitive and touching, sets a sultry summer mood.

Van Berkel also excels in Toronto composer Alan Torok’s idiosyncratically spelled Native Rhapsody in Hommage of James Brown. The writing for guitar, while neither particularly “native” nor “folk” to my ears, is rhythmically sophisticated and works well with the modal flute line.

The notation of Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea, described in the liner notes as “annotated to the point of excess,” proves effective, nevertheless, in drawing Marquardt, playing alto flute, into a more expressive mode than elsewhere on the disc, exploring a greater variety of tone qualities, colours and dynamics.

Kudos to the duo for coupling some of the better known repertoire for their instruments with lesser known contemporary compositions that need to be heard.

Waltz for Bill
Tom Szczesniak
Independent SZC-27426-27 (www.tomszcz.com)

Waltz for Bill is veteran Toronto session player and arranger, Tom Szczesniak’s, love letter to the genius of Bill Evans. It is also the title of his very first CD under his own name after 40 years in the industry playing with everyone from Anne Murray to Thad Jones. Evans isn’t the only piano player to be honoured by Szczesniak, as the late and much-missed Doug Riley (Dr. Music) is remembered here both with a tribute song and a cover of one of his compositions, Dinosaurus. The progressive rock/bop fusion number is a bit of an incongruity, but a palate-cleanser amidst all the ear butterscotch that comes before and after. The disc is steeped in standards and even veers into chestnut territory a time or two, but is a class act from beginning to end. Starting with a mellow but harmonically fresh approach to What Is This Thing Called Love, we get taken on a lush, lovely journey of the likes of Gershwin and Hammerstein with lots of strings, a bit of sax (Michael Stuart and Vern Dorge) and the occasional velvety vocal from Doug Mallory and Cal Dodd.

Sounds and Silence - Travels with Manfred Eicher
A film by Peter Guyer and Norbert Wiedmer
ECM 5050 DVD 276 9886

Since I first heard Keith Jarrett’s Köln Concert in the 70s, I have been listening to ECM records. My musical tastes have been influenced over the years by the artists the label represents. Although the recording artists’ names would always vary, the producer’s credit seemed to be a constant: Manfred Eicher.

This film offers an intimate view of the recording process both in studios, and in various reverberant spaces around the world. The filmmakers follow Eicher as he travels to produce his discriminately selected artists from Scandinavia to South America. He is shown in most recording sessions as a man deep in listening, rarely communicating verbally with the musicians. It’s as though his presence alone offers reassurance and companionship in the creative process.

Eicher imparts very few words throughout the film, which leaves the viewer feeling equally unfamiliar with him upon completion. Nonetheless, Sounds and Silence is quite beautiful to watch as we travel through the different coloured locales and listen to the respective musical sounds.

In his humble presence, it seems apparent that Eicher is very devoted to his craft. Composer Eleni Karaindrou says of Eicher, “Wherever Manfred works, he is 100 percent involved. That is the true nature of his passion. He devotes himself to the moment and is entirely committed to the artist he is recording.”

Jazz in Quebec is a vigorous element of French-Canadian culture, though all too infrequently experienced in these parts. However, Montreal label Effendi has recently released a bumper crop of albums by provincial stalwarts that underscore the lively musical health of its practitioners. One features veteran bassist Alain Bédard, who skilfully demonstrates his roles as leader, anchor, frequent soloist and rhythmic engine of his Auguste Quintet on Alain Bédard – Homos Pugnax (Effendi FND 115 www.effendirecords.com). He wrote five of the ten tracks that include four by bandsmen and Carla Bley’s Fleurs Carnivores, which he’s arranged impressively. Supported by the nimble, versatile sax of Frank Lozano (mainly soprano), pianist Alexandre Grogg and subtle drummer Michel Lambert, Bédard has created an enticing album full of interest, unusual time signatures and sparkling work by all.

It’s odd to come across a fully-fledged band that’s only been around a short while yet clearly displays confidence and chemistry. Mike Field – Ashes (MFJCD 1101 www.mikefieldjazz.com) is a pleasing quintet outing led by trumpeter Field, a veteran of musical forms other than jazz, performing with tenor saxist Paul Metcalfe, pianist Matt Newton, bassist Carlie Howell and drummer Dave Chan. The boss wrote all nine pieces here, some with unconventional structures and all executed with considerable panache, though the music’s more unblemished than exhilarating. Field plays with authority, with obvious tonal smarts and ear-catching virtuosity. His album strongly suggests future success.

Indefatigable drummer Barry Romberg has put out 11 CDs over the past decade featuring his Random Access combos and the newest maintains the group rep for sustained excitement and relentless drive. Recorded live at the Rex, Barry Romberg’s Random Access – Unplugged Live (Romhog Records 121 www.barryromberg.com) has the usual suspects in play for 70 minutes encompassing just four tunes – guitarist Geoff Young, keyboardist Robi Botos and power electric bassist Rich Brown. Guesting is American tenor saxist Donny McCaslin, who’s more than comfortable with the striking free improv that is RA’s trademark, his staccato phrasing meshing well with Young’s distinctively spiky approach, Brown’s gouging grooves and the fierce energy from keys and drums. The more-than-22 minutes of the burning In Pursuit is a stirring highlight, Botos sparkling on electric piano.

The guitar toted by Winnipeg’s Keith Price makes untypical, attractive sounds, quickly manifested on his sophomore album The Keith Price Trio/Quintet – Gaia/Goya (KP201102 www.keithprice.ca). Bell-like chords, shining echoey notes, shimmering resonances are heard, which gives this disc surprising heft considering that it occupies only a measly 41 minutes as it combines four indie-pop tunes performed by his trio with bass Julian Bradford and drummer Curtis Nowosad and a six-part suite which adds alto saxist Neil Watson and pianist William Bonness. The groupings are well integrated, no one stepping out of line, though the pulse team is allotted occasional flights of fancy. The suite’s components come across as more fully realized, with a freshness of expression and frequent servings of heat.

Montreal pianist Taurey Butler has plenty to offer on his impressive debut recording as leader, the self-titled Taurey Butler (Justin Time JUST242-2 www.justin-time.com), 11 cuts where he unabashedly illuminates his respect for late genius Oscar Peterson without consciously emulating him. The ferocious swing, eloquent skill at speed, pounding left hand and showy imagination are all there, however, markedly on opening burners Sunrise, Sunset and The Lady Is A Tramp. Butler gets exemplary support from bassist Eric Lagacé and drummer Wali Muhammad throughout, though the trio’s work on ballads is less satisfying than the verve they show on tunes mid-tempo and up, like the catchy Butler contributions An Afternoon Downtown and Grandpa Ted’s Tune, the latter a surging procession of ideas. And you can’t say OP doesn’t spring to mind on Butler’s tearaway Nobody’s Here.

Big bands don’t rule the jazz roost nowadays but they’re often worth a listen, as is the case with Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble – On The Periphery (MBBJE 5-2 rboniface@rogers.com), which offers 14 tunes and 73 minutes of classy, sprightly entertainment recorded live at Arnold’s Sports Bar in Oakville. The opening Steamsville is brisk and bright with gritty alto by Gary Martin, who also shines on Aluminum Baby. Section work is mostly splendid though soloists vary widely in ability (10 players get solo opportunities). The ensemble sounds best on relaxed material, especially well-worn standards, but it can swing hard and clearly enjoys challenging choices, including pieces from Burt Bacharach, the Average White Band and Charlie Mingus. Vocalist Catherine McGregor holds her own on four songs.

Three worth seeking: If you’re in the mood for tight fusion try Cinque - Catch A Corner (Alma ACD83012 www.almarecords.com), a quintet featuring Robi Botos, John Johnson and Joey DeFrancesco. For forceful swing there’s Cory Weeds – Just Like That (Cellar Live CL031311 www.cellarlive.com), a quartet helmed by Vancouver alto saxist Weeds with pianist Tilden Webb’s trio. If you want groove and funk hear Jason Raso – The Red Arrow (Summit Records DCD 569 www.jasonrasomusic.com), which showcases the Guelph-based bassist in action with assorted colleagues including B3 master Tony Monaco and drummer Ted Warren.

Almost from the time the professional music business was established in this country, the expected route for success has been for artists to head off to the larger market down south and set up shop there. Canadians from Percy Faith and Maynard Ferguson to Joni Mitchell and Teresa Stratas effectively followed that formula. But today, as American musical hegemony lessens and modern communications almost literally shrink the world, musicians, especially those who play improvised music, can demonstrate that a permanent home in Europe is as beneficial as becoming an American resident. Take Vancouver-born Joe Williamson for instance. On Weird Weapons 2 (Creative Sources CS197 CD www.creativesourcesrec.com), the bassist, who now lives in Stockholm after stints in London, Berlin and Montreal, is matched with German guitarist Olaf Rupp and drummer Tony Buck, an Australian turned Berliner, for two extended selections of intuitive improv. No lounge guitar trio, this band creates sonic sparks that almost visibly fly every which way. Rupp’s constant, intense strumming often elasticizes into slurred fingering as Buck buzzes drumstick on cymbals, pops his toms, door-knocks his snares and rattles and reverberates any number of bells, chains and wood blocks for additional textures. Keeping the improvisations grounded is Williamson, who splays, stretches or saws upon his instrument’s strings, scroll and body wood when he’s not creating added continuum by slapping out pedal point resonation. On the nearly 30-minute Buckram, the three reach such a level of polyphonic coherence that the cumulative textures seem to ooze into every sonic space. Moving to the forefront then fading back into the ensemble, Rupp pinpoints jagged licks that eventually accelerate to stentorian multi-string runs, as Buck concentrates pitter-pattering and agitatedly clanking into tremolo whacks. Finally, a climax is reached, as Williamson’s multi-string variations, consisting of col legno strokes vibrating with a near-electronic pulse, push the three to a decisive conclusion.

Less than 300 kilometres southwest, in Copenhagen, lives drummer Kevin Brow, an Orangeville native and part of the trio on Hopscotch (ILK 179 CD www.ilkmusic.com), completed by Italian-born tenor saxophonist Francesco Bigoni, another Copenhagen resident, plus local guitarist Mark Solborg. Paced and cooperative, Brow’s rhythmic sensibility here is like Williamson’s on the other CD. Brow’s backbeat alternately advances or bonds the others’ extended techniques during ten notable improvisations. With Solberg’s solos including distorted power chords with rock music antecedents plus organ-like echoes, and Bigoni’s bitten-off reed strategies accelerating to intense, repetitive phraseology, the drummer’s playing creates thematic definition. Case in point is Almost. Before Brow’s hard thwacks define a conclusive tipping point where unison harmonies from the guitarist and saxist advance to similar legato patterning, the variegated strategy from each differs markedly. Solberg’s licks are trebly and echoing, while Bigoni’s behind-the-beat tones split and squeak. The percussionist can also express himself more forcefully as he does with carefully positioned press rolls and flanges on Brainwashing. Meantime the saxophonist appears to be exploring the limits of his instrument with intense vibrato, lip bubbling sprays and pressurized staccato tones, as serpentine guitar strokes harden into splayed fingering plus crunching, echoing twangs, leavened by a bit of amp buzz. Bigoni’s tone alternates among magisterial reed quivers, speech-like inflection and legato lines, which helps define the remaining tracks’ scope(s).

Over in the United Kingdom, the band Splice consists of two British players – trumpeter Alex Bonney and drummer Dave Smith – plus French reedist Robin Fincker who has lived in London for a dozen years, and Montreal-born Pierre Alexandre Tremblay. Tremblay, who plays bass guitar and electronics, has taught at England’s University of Huddersfield since 2005 and oversees its electronic music studio. Perhaps that’s why this disc is entitled Lab (Loop Records 1013 www.loopcollective.org). It certainly has a more extensive electronic palate than the others. Although slippery and shuddering bass guitar runs are heard infrequently throughout, Tremblay’s electronics maintain the sometimes opaque methodical pulsations which pervade the disc. A track such as The Wanderer is smooth and bouncy, built on Fincker’s chromatic clarinet runs, Bonney’s trumpet obbligatos, a shuffle drum beat and electroacoustic colouring that could be Arabic music played on an accordion. The blurry wave forms which elsewhere quiver alongside, process or complement instrumental textures such as alphorn-like vibration from Fincker’s tenor saxophone, Bonney’s brassy or muted asides and drum pops and backbeat, are more upfront on Luna Verde. Stacked horn lines, sliding bass guitar licks and percussion rebounds are accompanied by processed textures that come in-and-out of aural focus. This crackling interface concretely outlines the theme statement from the harmonized horns.

Not surprisingly of course, the stateside lure still exists and is beneficial for some musicians. Vancouver-born, Toronto-educated pianist Kris Davis, has, after a decade in New York, become one of the go-to musicians there. While the Canadians on the other CDs may provide the backdrop for improvisations, Davis not only plays on Novela (Clean Feed CF 232 CD www.cleanfeed-records.com), by Tony Malaby’s nine-piece band, but wrote all the arrangements and conducts. A career retrospective for Malaby, Davis recasts six of his original compositions to show off his tenor and soprano saxophone prowess. The extended Remolino, for example, is given a Mexicali flavour by intertwined horn lines broadened with Dan Peck’s harsh tuba snorts and drummer John Hollenbeck’s press rolls. Dramatic chording from the pianist introduces a Malaby soprano saxophone solo which reaches an elevated level of pressurized multiphonics before downshifting to moderato timbres in unison with the other horns. Before a climax of piano key plinks and a brass fanfare, the saxophonist winds his way among clanks and scrapes from the percussionist and trombonist Ben Gerstein’s brays as close harmonies are produced by alto saxophonist Michael Attias, baritone saxophonist Andrew Hadro and Joachim Badenhorst’s bass clarinet. Carefully shaping arrangements to expose distinct sound tinctures like xylophone rhythms or plunger trombone friction, Davis makes Floral and Herbaceous another highpoint. Following trumpeter Ralph Alessi’s lead and ending with a crescendo of staccato noises, the tune plays out as a duel between Malaby’s distinctive soprano reed bites and a sequence of more muted tones from the baritone saxophonist.

Whether it’s as co-leader, arranger, teacher or improviser, each of these Canadians appears to have found the proper foreign context for his or her musical development.

MatadoR - The Songs of Leonard Cohen
Patricia O’Callaghan
Marquis 81417

I was delighted when I got the nod from the DISCoveries editor to go ahead and review Patricia O’Callaghan’s newest album, MatadoR – The Songs of Leonard Cohen. Not only have I marvelled at O’Callaghan’s immense talent over the years, but I had the pleasure of attending her thrilling performance titled “Patricia O’Callaghan Sings Leonard Cohen” at last year’s Global Cabaret Festival. And I was very curious to see how it all would translate to disc.

Generally, it’s next to impossible to recreate the intimacy, immediacy, spontaneity and energy of a live performance on CD. I was utterly transfixed, watching and listening to O’Callaghan on stage. I was less so, listening to the recording; but the more I listened, the more I was drawn in. O’Callaghan’s voice (she trained as a soprano at the University of Toronto) is as rich, pliable and luminous as ever, interpreting Cohen’s songs with tremendous tenderness and a mature, worldly sensitivity and insight. Yes, the soprano nails Cohen!

It doesn’t hurt, either, that she has members of the Gryphon Trio backing her up on several tracks, as well as the fine jazz pianist, David Restivo; their collective work on Alexandra Leaving is particularly beautiful. And bassist Andrew Downing’s gorgeous arrangements are outstanding on If It Be Your Will and Anthem. But, for me, the jewel is O’Callaghan’s take on Dance Me to the End of Love. Translated into Spanish, it’s pure joy and downright sexy.

O’Callaghan co-produced MatadoR. She can be very proud of this project.

Concert Note: Patricia O’Callaghan is featured in Masques of Love – a cabaret presentation by Toronto Masque Theatre, February 3 and 4.

ChaCha
Michele Mele
Independent (www.michelemele.com)

With the release of ChaCha, composer and vocalist Michele Mele clearly illustrates not only her ineffable sweetness of soul, but a gamin wit, impeccable phrasing and mastery of the delicious musical hook. On this, her fifth (and finest) recording, Mele shines on keyboards and her pure, distinctive vocals are in full force and gorgeously recorded. For this project, brilliant producer and guitarist Greg Kavanagh has assembled a tight, groovy cadre of A-List players, including Michael Stewart on sax, Bill McBirnie on flute and guitarist Lou Bartolomucci (notably on Cabana Boy and Answer Every Question). The material on ChaCha is a tasty mix of brand new songs and several previously recorded tunes that have been given a complete (and delightful) re-imagining, such as the charming Tree Frogs (originally written for her then ten-year-old son in celebration of his love of amphibians).

Mele is a natural, highly connective and communicative performer and writer, who made quite a splash recently with her hit one-woman show “Naked on the Rocks.” Her appealing Astrud Gilberto-ish vocals are a refreshing change from the over-wrought divas all too frequently holding sway on the airwaves and in the clubs. The title track is irresistible – rhythmic, clever and sexy – and the Latin sizzler Hold Back Trigger is another stand-out, as is the lilting bossa, One Thing for Sure. Check out Michael Stewart`s potent solo on Stop Talking. This is a gem of a recording – the optimum soundtrack for a languid Sunday afternoon with the New York Times, a mimosa and the perfect company.

Onionoise
The Vegetable Orchestra
Transacoustic Research/Monkey TRES008 (www.vegetableorchestra.org)

With popular concern about fresh and organic produce as its height, Vienna’s 12-piece Vegetable Orchestra (VO) should garner kudos from environmentalists. That’s because all of the instruments the members play are painstakingly fashioned from fresh vegetables.

More than gimmickry – although most of these sound legumes can only be played once and are then turned into soup for the concert audience – these compositions and improvisations are part of the Viennese tradition of sonic experimentation that dates back to Schoenberg and Webern; although it’s more bio-degradable. Unlike self-contained serialism however, the VO’s repertoire draws from pop, concrète, noise, improvised and electronic music. Krautrock, for instance, approximates the sound of that noisy genre with distorted cabbage scrapings. Meanwhile Le Massacre du Printemps reaches a level of timbral intensity by layering repetitive percussion from a pumpkin bass drum, an eggplant clatterer, a carrot xylophone and a bell pepper hooter with parsley, leek and celeriac crackles that seem to emanate from a frying pan. The mélange finale showcases an opposing lyrical airiness propelled by radish bass flute and carrot flute.

There are other tasty interludes of sound mulching. They include Regen which suggests electronic oscillations, actually created by leek membrane pulsations as well as French bean crackles processed through a bean-tip pickup; and Brazil, whose swinging Latin-American-like maraca motion plus percussion and castanet-like resonations result from a bean shaker, eggplant clapper, celeriac bongo and leek pulses. The tune even ends with some swaying vamps from carrot xylophone and calabash bass.

High quality rather than high caloric sounds, it seems somehow appropriate that this sonic salad is served up on a CD, which after all is the same shape as a dinner plate.