robbins 01 prokofiev ehnesThe latest offering from James Ehnes is an outstanding 2-CD set of the Complete Works for Violin by Sergei Prokofiev (Chandos CHAN 10787(2)). Gianandrea Noseda conducts the BBC Philharmonic in the Violin Concerto No.1 in D Major and the Violin Concerto No.2 in G Minor on disc one, and Andrew Armstrong is the accompanist for the violin and piano works on disc two. Ehnes gives thoughtful and sensitive performances of the two concertos, and is given perfect support by Noseda, a conductor who has few equals when it comes to drawing nuanced, sensitive playing from a large orchestra.

Violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti joins Ehnes in the Sonata for Two Violins, Op.56, and Ehnes gives a spirited performance of the lovely Sonata for Violin Solo, Op.115. The difficult and engrossing Sonata No.1 in F Minor, Op.80, is the major work on disc 2, and Ehnes and Armstrong are outstanding. Although completed in 1946, three years after the sonata we know as No.2, Prokofiev had started work on it in 1938.

The Five Melodies Op.35bis were transcribed by Prokofiev in 1925 from his original 1920 version for voice and piano. The final work on disc two is the Sonata No.2 in D Major, Op.94bis, the composer’s transcription of his Flute Sonata from 1943.

Balance and sound quality throughout are up to the quality you would expect from a thoroughly satisfying CD set.

robbins 02 jennifer kohMy eyes light up whenever I see a new Jennifer Koh CD from the Cedille label, and the latest release from this most intelligent of performers, signs, games + messages (CDR 90000 143) certainly doesn’t disappoint. Koh is joined by pianist Shai Wosner in a recital that features works by Leoš Janáček, Béla Bartók and the 87-year-old Hungarian composer György Kurtág. Koh and Wosner, in a joint statement in the excellent booklet notes, cite their desire to explore the tension between the visionary modernism of the works and the pull of the folk and cultural memory that is so essential to the personal language of these composers, as the spark for this recital.

There really does seem to be a logical progression through the program, from Janáček’s Violin Sonata, through a selection of short aphorisms by Kurtág, to Bartók’s First Violin Sonata. There are four solo piano pieces from the Játékok series and four solo violin pieces from Signs, Games and Messages in the Kurtág works in addition to three duo works, and the piano pieces in particular have echoes of Janáček’s piano series On An Overgrown Path. The Bartók sonata seems to follow naturally from the final Kurtág work, the In Nomine – all’ongherese for solo violin.

Needless to say, the performing and recording standard throughout is of the highest quality. Once again, Koh provides us with a fascinating journey through a carefully chosen and perfectly balanced program.

robbins 03 romantic duosThe husband and wife team of violinist Benjamin Schmid and pianist Ariane Haering are in superb form on the CD Romantic Duos, featuring works by Franz Liszt, Frank Bridge and Edvard Grieg (TwoPianists Records TP1039299). Schmid’s tone throughout is rich, warm and full-blooded; Haering is a true partner with a beautiful piano tone, and the balance and sound quality are perfect.

Although usually attributed solely to Liszt, his Grand Duo Concertant was actually a collaborative effort between Liszt and the violinist Charles-Philippe Lafont, whose Romance, Le Marin is the basis for a set of short variations. It’s a lovely work. Liszt’s brief Consolation No.3 was originally one of six solo piano works, and is presented here in a transcription for violin and piano by Nathan Milstein.

The English composer Frank Bridge only published one acknowledged violin sonata, in 1922, but there is an incomplete sonata that pre-dates the Great War, comprising an opening movement and an unfinished second movement. It is this work that is recorded here, with the second movement completed by the Bridge authority Paul Hindmarsh. It’s a beautifully rhapsodic work that draws terrific playing from the performers. Two short pieces by Bridge are also included: Romanze, from 1904 (the same year as the unfinished sonata); and Heart’s Ease, written in the early 1920s. A passionate performance of Grieg’s Violin Sonata No.3 in C Minor, Op.45, completes an outstanding disc.

robbins 04 duo renard

Another husband and wife team, Mark and Ute Miller, perform as the Duo Renard on a CD of Duos for Violin and Viola in works by Mozart and Brydern (Fleur de Son Classics FDS 58011).

It’s clear from the outset that this will be a “sit back and enjoy” CD:  the intonation is spot on; the ensemble playing, phrasing and articulation are all excellent; the tone, balance and recorded sound are beautiful.

The two Mozart works – the Duos in G Major, K423 and B-Flat Major, K424 – were written to complete a set of six duos that Salzburg’s Archbishop Colloredo had commissioned from the ailing Michael Haydn, Mozart’s friend and the brother of Joseph Haydn. Mozart was a superb viola player as well as a first-class violinist, and his understanding of both instruments is clear for all to hear.

The two works by the German-born and U.S.-based Benedikt Brydern (b.1966) are an interesting contrast. The seven-movement suite Bebop for Beagles was commissioned by Duo Renard, and is a tribute to the couple’s two pet dogs. From My Notebook Vol.2 is a collection of four short pieces from 2000, following an earlier series with the same title for solo violin. Movement titles like “Cookies in Space” and “Flea Control: Mission Impossible” give you a good impression of what to expect here: both works are great fun – and very, very good.

Brahms KhachatryanThe brother and sister violin and piano duo of Sergey and Lusine Khachatryan are back with a beautiful CD of the three Brahms Sonatas (naïve V 5314). These glorious works are the perfect length for a CD and always a great listen; indeed, it would take a pretty bad performance to spoil them.

The Khachatryans make you sit up and take notice right from the start, but for all the right reasons. There is a quiet, introspective start to the G major sonata, and some beautifully expansive phrasing, especially in the piano. The violin vibrato tends to be fairly fast and narrow and is rarely missing, but the sweet tone and thoughtful phrasing mean that there is never any sense of harshness or tightness. The CD was recorded at London’s Wigmore Hall, and the balance and sound quality are ideal.

robbins 05 schumann tetzlaffViolinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt are in great form on their CD of the Schumann Violin Sonatas (Ondine ODE 105-2). All three sonatas were written towards the end of Schumann’s life, the Sonata No.1 in A Minor and the Sonata No.2 in D Minor within a few months of each other in late 1851. The Sonata No.3 in A Minor has an odd history. Immediately after contributing two movements to the “F.A.E” Sonata on which he, Brahms and Albert Dietrich collaborated in October 1853 as a birthday gift for Joseph Joachim, Schumann added a further two movements to complete the new work; Clara Schumann and Brahms apparently prevented its being included in the complete edition of Schumann’s works though, and it wasn’t published until 1956.

Tetzlaff and Vogt apparently immersed themselves in Schumann’s late works in preparation for this recording, and it shows; their playing is warm and fluent, and they clearly have a great affinity for the material on a terrific CD. Their performance of the third sonata in particular makes you wonder why it was suppressed for so long.

Two ongoing string quartet series came to an end with recent releases; by coincidence, in-depth reviews of earlier volumes in both series were included in the same Strings Attached column in March 2012:

robbins 06 pacifica shostakovich ivVolume IV of The Soviet Experience, the outstanding Cedille series of String Quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich and his Contemporaries, features quartets numbers 13 to15 by Shostakovich in stunning performances by the Pacifica Quartet (CDR 90000 145). What has added immeasurably to this series, though, is the addition of contemporary Russian string quartets to each volume. This time it’s the String Quartet No.3 by Alfred Schnittke that completes the 2-CD set. Everything about this wonderful series has been of the highest order: the performances; the recording quality; the cover artwork; the booklet notes; the choice of contemporary works. The word “definitive” keeps cropping up in the various reviews of previous sets in this series, and even in the face of some extremely strong competition it’s very difficult to imagine a more compelling or satisfying collection of these wonderful works. Add the fact that all four volumes are currently on sale on the Cedille website for around US$13 each, and the words “must buy” come to mind!

robbins 07 meyer quartetsThe Naxos release of the String Quartets Nos.1, 2, 3 and 4 by Polish composer Krzysztof Meyer is also a fourth and final volume, this time in the series of the complete quartets performed by the Wieniawski String Quartet (8.573165). These early works run from the Op.8 of 1963 to the Op.33 of 1974, and show a developing but confident composer willing to experiment with sounds and forms. The members of this Polish ensemble are completely at home with these important works by their compatriot, and the four volumes constitute an impressive set.

Two other CDs continue ongoing series:

robbins 08 saint-saens sonata 2French violinist Fanny Clamagirand is joined by her regular duo partner, pianist Vanya Cohen in the second volume of Saint-Saëns Music for Violin and Piano (Naxos 8.572751). The main works here are the Suite in D Minor, Op.16 and the Violin Sonata No.2 in E-Flat Major, Op.102; there is also a very early – and very brief – unfinished sonata, although “hardly started” might be a better description. A short Méditation and two works originally for cello – the Romance in C Major, Op.48, and The Swan – round out the CD.

Saint-Saëns’ music may not have impacted the course of musical history, but it’s of a very high quality. Clamagirand and Cohen have exactly the right mix of technical bravura and musical insight to make these works sound terrific. Volume 1, featuring the Violin Sonata No.1, is available on Naxos 8.572750.

robbins 09 maxwell davies concertosThe Naxos series of the 10 Strathclyde Concertos by Peter Maxwell-Davies continues with the Concerto No.5 for Violin, Viola and String Orchestra, coupled with the Concerto No.6 for Flute and Orchestra (8.572354). Both works were written in 1991, and were recorded two years later for the Collins Classics label by the artists to whom the works were dedicated and who gave the premieres: violinist James Clark; violist Catherine Marwood; flutist David Nicholson; and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer. This Naxos CD is a reissue of those recordings. The performances of these high-quality works are clearly definitive, although there is little to stir the blood in either concerto.


robbins 10 schoenberg sherrySchoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht
is available in a new version, this time coupled with the String Quartet No.1 in performances by the Fred Sherry String Quartet and Sextet (Naxos 8.557534). Leila Josefowicz is the first violin here, and the disc is part of an ongoing series of Schoenberg recordings under the direction of the legendary Robert Craft. Despite this noteworthy pedigree, however, I don’t think this performance of Verklärte Nacht quite matches the version by Janine Jansen and friends reviewed in this column in June 2013.

The String Quartet No.1 is worth the price of the CD on its own, though. It’s a large, deeply chromatic work from 1904/05, a pivotal point in the composer’s career, and it’s made even more interesting by the knowledge of where it would lead in just a few years. Four short canons from the series of Thirty Canons that Schoenberg wrote between 1905 and 1949 close out the disc.

robbins 11b schubert haasrobbins 11a schubert diotimaSeveral other works also seem to be cropping up quite regularly these days. There are two new recordings of the Schubert String Quintet in C Major, for instance, although it’s difficult to imagine having too many versions of this outstanding work. Cellist Anne Gastinel joins the Quatuor Diotima in a beautiful performance on naïve (V 5331), while Danjulo Ishizaka joins the Pavel Haas Quartet on a 2-CD Supraphon set that also features Schubert’s String Quartet No.14 in D Minor, Death and the Maiden (SU4110-2). A wide range of dynamics in the latter release makes for some terrific moments in passionate but sensitive performances of both works.

 

 

 

05 modern 01 rosenthal lemelinRosenthal – L’intégrale pour piano
Stéphane Lemelin
ATMA ACD2 2587

While Manuel Rosenthal earned his greatest success as a conductor over the span of his long lifetime (he died in 2003 a few weeks short of his 99th birthday) he was also a composer of considerable merit, writing in an affable, neo-classical style. For whatever reason, his output for solo piano is comparatively small, all of it written between 1924 and 1934, and it is presented in its entirety on this ATMA release featuring pianist Stéphane Lemelin.

With his affinity for French music, it seems appropriate that Lemelin should be the one to unearth this relatively obscure repertoire. He studied with Karl Ulrich Schnabel and Leon Fleisher and since 2001 has been on faculty at the University of Ottawa.

From the gentle opening chords of the Huit Bagatelles from 1924, it’s clear that Lemelin is very much at home with this music. His playing is refined and elegant, ably capturing the ever-contrasting moods of these musical miniatures. And it’s this sense of kaleidoscopic variety that makes these pieces so engaging. The brief Valse des pêcheurs à la ligne (The Angler’s Waltz) is all pastoral tranquility, while the suite Les Petits Métiers from 1934 is a musical description of various occupations, ranging from the striking chords of the “Le Maréchal-ferrant” (The Blacksmith), to the staccato frenzy of “La Petit Télégraphiste” (The Telegraph Operator). Do I hear echoes of François Couperin? Lemelin handles it all with great panache.

While Rosenthal’s piano output might not be deemed “great music,” it nevertheless has a charm all its own, often combining elements of French salon style with the more progressive tendencies of Ravel and Milhaud. Lemelin is to be commended for bringing to light some intriguing 20th-century repertoire that might have been undeservedly forgotten.

 

05 modern 02 ligetiLigeti – Violin Concerto; Lontano; Atmosphères; San Francisco Polyphony
Benjamin Schmid; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Hannu Lintu
Ondine ODE 1213-2

It’s not just the terrific performances on this disc that make it so appealing. The programming of four iconic works by Hungarian composer György Ligeti offers a handy overview of the orchestral music of one of the most imaginative, idiosyncratic, influential and enjoyable composers of the past century. Ligeti was a loner, but his music was embraced by leading avant-garde composers and featured in popular films like 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The big draw here is violinist Benjamin Schmid’s energized performance of the majestic Violin Concerto, a late work from 1993. There are plenty of thrills, especially in the virtuosic cadenza. But what makes this performance so memorable is the way Schmid and conductor Hannu Lintu find the ideal balance between Ligeti’s angular modernism and his heartfelt lyricism.

The earliest work here, Atmosphères, from 1961, still fascinates – that such an apparently static work can be so gripping. The surface is all glassy smoothness. But Lintu takes us deep into the colours and textures swirling underneath as they emerge and recede.

By the time Ligeti wrote San Francisco Polyphony, in 1974, he was working with recognizable melodies, layering them in new and exciting ways. In his delightfully idiosyncratic booklet notes Lintu admits that “successfully executing the trickiest sequences in San Francisco Polyphony requires not only skill but a generous helping of good luck, too.” It sounds like everyone involved in this marvellous disc had plenty of both good luck and skill.

 

Concert note: Hannu Lintu conducts the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall on March 20 and 22 in Solen by Matthew Whittall, Symphony No.5 by Sibelius and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5, with Angela Hewitt as soloist.

05 modern 03 heather schmidtNebula – solo piano music of Heather Schmidt
Heather Schmidt
Centrediscs CMCCD 19613

Throughout musical history, the term “pianist-composer” is one that has been used all too liberally – usually it’s a case of either-or. So when someone such as Heather Schmidt comes along, we tend to sit up and take notice, for she truly excels on both levels. Her newest disc, Nebula, on the CMC label, is the first opportunity for the public to enjoy her pianistic talents at performing her own solo music, while demonstrating just how well the description pianist-composer applies to this Calgary-born artist.

Schmidt studied piano and composition at the Juilliard School and later at Indiana University, where she was the youngest student to earn a doctorate degree. Since then, she’s been the recipient of numerous honours, including three consecutive BMI awards and two from SOCAN.  Most recently, a move to Los Angeles with a focus on the creation of film and television scores has revealed yet another side of her talents.

In creating Nebula, she explained that it was her aim to capture the special connection between composer, performer and audience and as a result she deliberately included works with a wide range of styles. Indeed, contrast is a big part of this disc, and her music demonstrates a myriad of influences. Pieces such as Silver Tides and Serenity are nocturnal and atmospheric while the “Fugue” from Twelve for Ten is a robust contemporary interpretation of a baroque form. In contrast, Shimmer owes something to the French Impressionists, while the technically-demanding Nebula is bold and impassioned. Throughout, her flawless technique goes hand-in-hand with a deeply-rooted sensitivity.

Bravo, Ms. Schmidt, you’ve proven that you are indeed a rara avis, a fine pianist who also happens to excel at composition, and Nebula is an example of some fine solo contemporary musicmaking on many levels.

 

05 modern 04 cahill a sweeter musicA Sweeter Music
Sarah Cahill
Other Minds Records OM 1022-2

This CD has an admirable concept, which packs a powerful message in today’s society. The title comes from a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from his Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1964: “We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war.”

The repertoire chosen for this CD reflects a myriad of responses from the selected composers. Terry Riley’s Be Kind to One Another (2008/2010) is a rag, which began as his late-night improvisatory noodling. This was not what I expected for a first piece on this themed CD. You would think an Arvo Pärt spiritual work would reflect the CD’s concept. However, I enjoyed the retro-sounding work and let myself really live in the musical moment and anticipated being surprised by the rest of the CD. Meredith Monk’s Steppe Music (excerpts) (1997) explores colour, texture, resonance and gesture. Frederic Rzewski’s Peace Dances (2007/2008) were written for Sarah Cahill. The brevity and unique sound for each of the seven pieces remind me of Henry Cowell’s Six Ings. These works are a wonderful addition to the contemporary piano repertoire. Kyle Gann’s War is Just a Racket (2008) has the pianist making a speech given by General Smedley in 1933. Although Cahill did an admirable job in her oration I would have preferred a low baritone to represent the general’s voice. Carl Stone’s Sonamu (2010) with electronics created ghostly apparitions of sound and Phil Kline’s 2009 The Long Winter (“Crash” and “Embers”) is recommended for the lovely tonal quality of “Embers.” Toning (2008) by Yoko Ono sounded like someone tuning the piano and although I understand the musical concept I felt this was the weak link in the CD. The Residents: drum no fife (2008) with text and narration by the Residents was a fitting end to this intriguing and worthwhile CD.

The program notes, most written by the composers, were excellent and informative. Cahill played with a sweet and sensitive tone and touch. Her technique was impeccable and I recommend this CD highly.

05 modern 05 gamelan minimalismsReturning Minimalism (In Deung – vibration of the spirit (getaran jiwa); In Dang – teruna’s dream (mimpi teruna))
Gamelan Semara Ratih of Bali
Sargasso scd28074 (sargasso.com)

This musically intriguing and culturally complex release uses American composer Terry Riley’s genre-defining 1964 minimalist work In C as a working model for exploration and improvisation by the renowned group Gamelan Semara Ratih (GSR) from southern Bali, Indonesia. It’s the brainchild of the Italian gamelan recording producer and composer John Noise Manis who has since the 1990s nurtured the notion of bringing together two of his musical passions: minimalism, and Javanese and Balinese forms of gamelan music. This ambitious album is the third in the series titled “Returning Minimalism.” In each, the creative challenge posed by Noise Manis to indigenous performers: find your inner, culturally appropriate In C.

He’s certainly not been the first to employ cross-cultural approaches to exploring music he loves. As the musicologist Kyle Gann has written, “minimalism [can be seen as] an irruption of non-Western influences into the Western tradition – even, American music’s attempt to connect with the rest of the world.” More pointedly however: did gamelan music somehow exert a substantive influence on early minimalism? There’s no evidence for this. To the contrary in 2011 Terry Riley stated that in the early 1960s when he created his early minimalist works, “the fact is that I didn’t know about gamelan.”

Regardless of shifting perceived patterns of cross-cultural influence the ongoing Returning Minimalism project argues for the important work of contesting stereotypical Western exoticist readings of culture. In this album the project has put a seminal musical composition, which at its birth shook up norms of classical Western music, into the hands of Balinese composers and musicians.

Guided by the seasoned American gamelan musician Ken Worthy, in their adaptive explorations of In C the 23 musicians of GSR are heard in two works on this ear-opening album. They form an attractive unforced-sounding hybrid reflecting both their Balinese and minimalist sources with clarity while not compromising either. On track one, In Deung – Vibration of the Spirit, melodic cells from In C are transposed into the seven-tone tuning of the GSR gamelan evoking an introspective mood representing “the spirit centred in the self.” By way of contrast the more lively In Dang – Teruna’s Dream reworks In C motifs and skilfully weaves into the fabric occasional quotations from Teruna Jaya (Victorious Youth), the influential early 20th-century North Balinese masterwork.

This marvellous music helps us deepen our understanding and enjoyment of such masterfully made multiple redirections in the flow of trans-cultural influences.

05 modern 06 gamelan cageGamelan Cage – John Cage’s prepared piano pieces on Balinese Gamelan
Sanggar Ceraken of Bali
Sargasso scd28075 (sargasso.com)

This album is another example of Italian gamelan recording producer John Noise Manis’ passion: the reinterpretation of 20th century modernist Western music by various kinds of gamelan groups. Here nine Cage prepared piano works from 1940 to 1948 were arranged by American ethnomusicologist Andrew Clay McGraw for Ceraken, an ensemble of dedicated young Balinese musicians led by composer I Made Subandi. They were then recorded in the idyllic rural setting of an “open-air pavilion overlooking the terraced rice fields of Batuan village” in southern Bali.

In his well-researched liner notes McGraw wonders whether Cage’s 1940s invention of the prepared piano was influenced by gamelan music. There is no evidence for such a causal relationship. Cage’s unexpected sole work scored for gamelan came late in his life when Toronto’s Evergreen Club Gamelan commissioned Haikai (1986). Interested readers can find my account in “John Cage, Master of Silence” in The WholeNote, September 2012.

McGraw argues that rather than gamelan, “more important for Cage’s prepared piano phase was the interwar flowering of percussion and percussive music.” On the other hand Cage’s piano preparations, “almost always transform the string from an harmonic to an inharmonic vibrating body.” This key observation links the sounds of the prepared piano to the bronze gongs and keys of the gamelan which are designed to produce inharmonic overtones. It is because of this sonic family resemblance that many listeners “think of the gamelan (and sometimes assume a direct line of influence) when hearing the inharmonic, noisy, but definitely pitched sounds of Cage’s prepared piano.”

McGraw worked intensely for weeks through the Cage scores with the Ceraken musicians, learning them by heart. They produced striking transformations, rendering them with a fresh percussive sonic palette as well as with Balinese-mediated choices of tempo, expression and ensemble performance practice. Moreover the creative team chose their instrumentation from seven very different gamelans. Lending complexity to the arrangements: none of the sets were “tuned to the other and there were very few coinciding tones between them.”

The musical results range from experimental and exploratory sounding, as in the “microtonal” sections of Daughters of the Lonesome Isle, to the musically substantial Bacchanale. The latter, stocked with 16th note hemiolas characteristic of Balinese kotekan, was a favourite among many of the musicians. Sounding just as convincing in an arrangement for Balinese gamelan as it does on its original instrument, it’s my favourite too.

 

06 jazz 01 tranquilityTranquility
Neil Swainson; Don Thompson
Cornerstone Records CRST CD 141 (cornerstonerecordsinc.com)

Recorded October 3 and 4, 2012 at Inception Sound Studios, Toronto, here is another gem from Cornerstone Records and producer Barry Elmes, with two musicians who blend beautifully together in that most intimate of musical settings, the duo. Neil Swainson has a very personal sound and melodic quality to his bass playing and listening to Don Thompson’s piano there is a rippling liquid quality that makes me think at times of a flowing stream.

The program begins with a unison statement of the Charlie Parker theme Quasimodo based on, if my hunch is correct, Embraceable You. The rest of the CD consists of compositions written by some of the finest musicians and composers, ranging from Henry Mancini’s Mr. Lucky to Time Remembered by Bill Evans via Never Let Me Go by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston and an original, Tranquil, by Swainson. 

There is also a waltz, something that I like to find on any album. There is something about 3/4 tempo which gives a natural swing to the music and this one, Everybody’s Song But My Own by Kenny Wheeler is no exception. This is music played at the highest level by two masters of their art.

There is a liner note contributed by the late Jim Hall and I shall borrow a phrase from what he wrote – “Lovely music played beautifully by two fantastic musicians…” ’Nuff said.

06 jazz 02 griffith hiltzThis Is What You Get…
Griffith Hiltz Trio
Independent (ghtrio.com)

In complete contrast to the Swainson/Thompson CD we have a much more extroverted offering from this group – excellent musicianship, obvious empathy and a wide range of influences with hints of Celtic, Norse and Eastern regions as well as a tip of the hat to R&B and Ornette Coleman, all of it with a strong melodic content.

Reed-player Johnny Griffith is a very accomplished musician and one of my favourite tracks is The Rainbow Connection which features him on bass clarinet. It is pensive and beautifully haunting including the guitar solo from Nathan Hiltz. Other highlights for me include the quirky Strawman and Steppin’ Out.

As a group all three have an obvious shared pleasure in their music and a cohesiveness in which they become greater than the sum of the parts. I feel somewhat remiss in singling out Hiltz and Griffith because drummer Sly Juhas is a major factor in the success of this group’s music and the feeling of unity.

If you are looking for a conventional jazz recording this isn’t it – but if you are willing to open your ears to something a little different and innovative I would recommend This Is What You Get… You might just like what you do get.

06 jazz 03 paul bleyPaul Bley (Complete Black Saint and Soul Note recordings)
Paul Bley
Black Saint; Soul Note BXS 1027

If one is asked to name the most popular or famous Canadian jazz performers, certain names trip readily to the tongue, likely Diana Krall and Oscar Peterson. If asked to name the most creative or influential, it’s almost as easy, likely the Montreal-born pianist Paul Bley or Toronto-born trumpeter Kenny Wheeler. Since his recording debut as a leader over 60 years ago with modernist giants Charles Mingus on bass and Art Blakey on drums, Bley has worked near the vanguard of jazz, crafting a distinctively minimalist yet freely lyrical solo style, leading a series of highly interactive bands from trios to quintets, developing new idioms with legendary figures like Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins and Jimmy Giuffre, and influencing pianists like Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau.

Much of Bley’s creative range and some of his key partnerships are apparent in this 10-CD set that collects his work for the Italian Soul Note label between 1983 and 1994. His special creativity as a soloist is apparent in Tango Palace, including his deft reimagining of tango and barrelhouse. His willingness to map out a new music with fresh partners is apparent in the duets of Sonor with Toronto percussionist George Cross McDonald or those of Not To Be a Star with saxophonist Keshavan Maslak. He seems just as happy, though, getting together with long term associates. The 1993 Conversation with a Goose was the last recorded meeting of the trio with clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre and bassist Steve Swallow that first played together in 1961 and whose understated style of closely interactive, free improvisation is still finding new adherents.

There are a couple of propulsive, harder-edged New York quartets with guitarists – Hot with John Scofield and Live at Sweet Basil with John Abercrombie – while Bley may reach furthest on Chaos, an aggressive program of free improvisation with Italian bassist Furio di Castri and English percussionist Tony Oxley. The best moments, though, seem to come with the longest standing associations, with musicians who share Bley’s profound sense of sound and duration: the luminous trio of Memoirs, with bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Paul Motian, and Mindset with bassist Gary Peacock, a sublime exchange of ideas that seems continuous with the studio’s resonance.

06 jazz 04 laycockcd003The Laycock Duos
Christian Asplund
Comprovise Records 20/304 christianasplund.me

High quality souvenirs of a unique Improviser Residencies program at Utah’s Brigham Young University, the five performances on this CD not only demonstrate the creativity of accomplished international players, but also the clever interaction of each with pianist/violist Christian Asplund. A native of Kingston, Ontario Asplund has taught at BYU since 2002.

Although there’s conceptual rapprochement between Asplund and instrumentalists such as clarinetist Bill Smith and trombonist Stuart Dempster whose expertise is more on the new music side of the continuum, the less stiff and more sympathetic pieces here involve full-time committed improvisers. Lengthier than any of the other tracks at nearly 20½ minutes, The Secret Substance finds Asplund using extended techniques to complete British tenor saxophonist John Butcher’s staccato-to-mellow output. Strummed piano keys meld with continuously breathed timbres at some points; as do sprawling, sul ponticello fiddle slices with reed tongue slaps at others. The end results produce dual resonations that widen the dynamic range as they meld.

Even more closely bonded are Asplund’s viola strategies alongside Montreal-based violinist Malcolm Goldstein’s long-honed and novel string skills. Astoundingly able to suggest the depth of intertwined communication at the same time as their horsehair-shredding string bounces produce jagged and nervy emphasized lines, the two eventually reach a harmonized dual climax.

With an appeal to listeners of any stripe who appreciate well-played, brainy improvisations, The Laycock Duos from Provo, Utah proves once again that unprecedented adventurous sounds can appear from unexpected locations.

 

 

The large jazz ensemble is a special passion, one that has long outlived the mass popularity and economic rewards enjoyed by the big bands of the swing era. It speaks of an individual composer’s need for a larger canvas for his vision, but it also speaks of community and the special pleasure of playing in a section, many musicians regularly participating in rehearsal bands without enjoying the soloist’s spotlight or significant financial rewards. The now-formalized contrast of a single improviser playing against a harmonized section recalls the essential tensions that arose when early jazz musicians were first integrated into more formal bands. While composers pursued a synthesis of jazz and even classical elements, linking the formal and the vernacular, some soloists discovered the special freedom of improvising against an excess of form.

broomer 01 downes in the currentMike Downes has repeatedly demonstrated the harmonic shading and surprising voicings he can draw from a trio or quintet, so there’s little surprise that he can do much more when he has greater resources. On In the Current (Addo AJR 019 addorecords.com), the bassist/composer leads an 11-piece band that can recall the orchestrations of other Canadian jazz composers like Phil Nimmons and Gordon Delamont. It’s a band constructed for voicings: the three woodwind players play a total of 13 different instruments while the four brass players deploy registers from trumpet to tuba with trombone and assorted horns (even a descant horn) in between. That spread of voices also suggests the Miles Davis Nonet and its alumni projects, like the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band and the Gil Evans Orchestra. While Evans (a Canadian composer who left in infancy) enjoyed the anagram Svengali, Downes pays special tribute, managing an anagram for Evan’s birth name, turning Ian Ernest Gilmore Green into Re-emerging Linear Tones, the middle movement of his title suite. Balancing Downes’ subtle abstraction, tenor saxophonist Kelly Jefferson brings a contrarian fire to his solo spots. Concert note: Mike Downes launches In the Current at Gallery 345 on February 8.

broomer 02 uoft 12Many of the same sources might be cited as inspirations for the University of Toronto 12TET, the student ensemble heard on Rebirth (uoftjazz.ca). Directed by Terry Promane, the band plays a repertoire that mixes works by very advanced students as well as well-known professionals like Promane and New York tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin, who provides the insistently swinging Claire. Perhaps the most striking work here is pianist Noam Lemish’s Rebirth, a work of continuous development that serves as the springboard for a chain of quietly impassioned solos that include trumpeter Tara Kannangara, alto saxophonist Matt Woroshyl, tenor saxophonist Landen Viera (the band’s stand-out soloist) and Lemish himself. Along the way there’s a stunning passage of cascading collective improvisation that’s as admirable for its restraint as for its sense of liberation.

broomer 03 jazz labMontreal’s collective Jazzlab Orchestra was founded in 2003 as a venue to explore the expanded orchestral colours available with just a few more horns. The group celebrated its tenth anniversary with pianist John Roney’s project World Colors (Effendi FND129 effendirecords.com), the commemoration of his own world travels. Roney makes the most of the resources available, from his comic invocation of Saskatchewan in The Range to the suggestions of mystery and majesty in Agadir, his invocation of the Middle East. While his compositions can be as simple and unaffected as the arpeggios of the opening Over Yonder, Roney brings great emotional resource to Anatevka, inspired by the persecution of Ashkenazy Jews. Throughout, the Jazzlab Orchestra mirrors and expands Roney’s visions, with powerful solos from trumpeter Eric Hove and saxophonist Samuel Blais among others.  

broomer 04 mike fieldWhile his group rarely reaches beyond a quintet, Mike Field is another musician who colours his mainstream modern approach with touches from other music. On Rush Mode (MFJCD 1301 mikefieldjazz.com), the Toronto-based trumpeter leads a quintet that’s set squarely in the hard-bop mode, but with a lyrical emphasis that comes consistently to the fore. Field shares the front-line with tenor saxophonist Paul Metcalfe, and there’s clearly a special musical kinship, whether it’s in the punchy, unison theme statements (à la the Jazz Messengers) or the ease with which they complement one another’s lines, Metcalfe’s soulful bluster a foil to Field’s coiling, clarion cool (heard to best effect on the aptly titled Intersection). They receive resilient support from pianist Teri Parker, bassist Carlie Howell and drummer Dave Chan. There are also effective guest spots from the veteran pianist Mark Eisenman, whose hard bop credentials are evident in Red Eye Blues, and acoustic guitarist Kevin Laliberte, who bring a certain sense of flamenco drama to the title track. Sophia Perlman graces The Last of the Summer Days with a vocal that suggests a spotlight through smoke and fog.

broomer 05 macdonald symmetryThe veteran Toronto saxophonist Kirk MacDonald leads a quintet without any special trimmings on Symmetry (Addo AJR018 addorecords.com), exploring sometimes dense chordal extensions and scalar overlays (his solo on Mackrel’s Groove aspires to Coltrane-level convolution) on a series of his compositions that otherwise move effortlessly on tranquil modal harmonies and a rhythm section that seems to dance and float at once, anchored by the resonant tone and optimum note selection of bassist Neil Swainson, the gently propulsive drumming of Dennis Mackrel and the limpid, airy chording of pianist Brian Dickinson. Adding special dimension to the music is Tom Harrell, whose trumpet and flugelhorn playing is consistently inspired and inspiring, nowhere more so than on the silky ballad Eleven.   

 

As the strictures of advanced contemporary music continue to loosen, more improvisers are taking advantage of the freedom to experiment. A parallel outgrowth is the number of players of almost any instrument willing to nakedly expose their skills in all solo sessions. Commonplace doesn’t mean accomplished however. Still the best dates, such as the CDs cited here, offer original perspectives on the sounds of an individual instrument.

waxman 01 lauzierMontreal’s Philippe Lauzier used three studios to record the 12 tracks which make up Transparence (Schraum 18 schraum.de), as well as coming up with different strategies for different instruments. Heard on bass and half-bass [sic] clarinet, alto and soprano saxophones plus motorized bells, he uses amplification, feedback and multitracking to express his unique ideas. Geyser for instance reimagines the bass clarinet as hollow tube and percussion, swallowing and expelling pure air as he depresses the keys. Au-dessus on the other hand magnifies the soprano saxophone’s usually ethereal qualities into overlapping vibrations, with the next commencing before the previous one has died away. In contrast, alto saxophone feedback on L’object trouvé literally does as defined, managing to direct the echoes back into the horn’s body tube while making each finger motion and breath transparent. The audacity of Lauzier’s skill is most clearly delineated on En-dessous. Here the multitracking of four bass clarinets creates more variety among the timbres he exhales, but the intertwined and affiliated trills produced relate without question to the multiphonics he invented for a single horn.

waxman 02 dragonnatWith only three valves instead of many keys, the trumpet is more difficult to put into a solo setting. But Natsuki Tamura does so memorably on Dragon Nat (Libra Records 101-032 librarecords.com). During the course of eight instant compositions he manages to probe the farthest reaches of the trumpet’s range while subtly maintaining a pleasing, near-lyrical continuum. Occasionally sounding as if he’s turning the instrument inside out for maximum metallic vibrations, he also employs half-valve effects and mouthpiece osculations. Rubato and agitated, his glissandi are often further segmented as they move from growling frog-like ribbits to hummingbird crying flimsiness. Most characteristic of the tracks is the appropriately named Dialogue where he vocalizes Daffy Duck-like nonsense syllables and infant cries and shakes bells for auxiliary colours. Before a sodden, open-horn ending that relates to the track’s folksy head, he sneaks in a reference to Monk’s Dream. Elsewhere In Berlin, In September demonstrates Tamura’s perfect control as the narrative becomes successively louder, softer, faster and slower without losing its thematic thread. Within, its delicate story telling references abound, not only to muted mid-1950s Miles Davis-like timbres but to the Burt Bacharach melody for A House Is Not a Home.

waxman 03 mcpheeWhile solo sessions have multiplied over the past few years, one person who was experimenting with the singular form as long ago as 1976 is multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee. Sonic Elements (Clean Feed CF278 CD cleanfeed-records.com) is his most recent set in that genre. Demonstrating the breadth of his skill, he divides this 41-minute live set in half, improvising on pocket trumpet in honour of Don Cherry at the beginning, and concluding with a salute to Ornette Coleman on alto saxophone. That said McPhee doesn’t replicate any Coleman or Cherry licks during the performance. Instead he creates a distinctive sound picture of each individual. With Wind-Water McPhee’s Cherry snapshot is built up from plain air pops, watery growls and spiralling grace notes. When the output swerves into tonality a mellow melody appears only to be deconstructed with staccato guffaws, sharp whistles and vocal murmurs. An extended final sequence is balanced with vocal cries and whispers that help illuminate the dedicatee’s heartfelt struggle for peace. Meanwhile, if anything Earth/Fire-Old Eyes proves that Coleman’s purported wild experimentation is based on the bedrock of jazz: blues and work songs. Using maximum emotionalism and minimal notes here, the saxophonist’s initial tongue slaps and altissimo cries give way to a sequence which includes foot-stomping percussiveness and a theme that could practically be a pre-Emancipation song of celebration. As the countrified line is hardened, tremolo echoes, reminiscent of primitive bagpipe or concertina airs confirm this connection. The climax occurs as sharp, staccato interjections and the composition’s sweet, yearning textures become one and the same.

waxman 04 sommerAnother solo suite of tributes is Dedications (Intakt CD 224 intaktrec.ch), where Günter Baby Sommer uses a collection of drums and percussion instruments to honour his influences and contemporaries. With humour, sensitivity, cleverness and spoken passages mostly in English, Sommer displays the skills that enabled him to build an international reputation while living in pre-unification East Germany. He also pulls off the feat of emulating aspects of the other drummers’ styles while staying true to his own. For instance the wood block clip clops and bass drum wallops which characterized the playing of Baby Dodds, from whom he received his nickname, is filtered through modern sensibility on Von Baby zu Baby, as he bends notes alongside a linear motion. Honouring Han Bennink during Harmonisches Gerassel für Han, he adds offbeat rhythms, tuned bell ringing, Eastern-styled beats and a touch of vocalizing without ever losing the basic jazz rhythm. Saluting Art Blakey on Art Goes Art, Sommer tootles an ocarina and a shawm to underline the linkage between Blakey’s proletarian Pittsburgh roots and the East German working class. In between showcasing characteristic Blakey-like press rolls and vamps, Sommer’s lilting humour shines through, especially when he produces a march beat that’s as much Albert Ayler as agit-prop. Selfportrait is a culmination of all this. Weaving a polyrhythmic spell, almost without pause, he exposes African wooden slit drum tones, sophisticated modern jazz on the snares plus laughs, whoops and some German explanation as he confirms his own inclusion in this percussion pantheon.

waxman 05 violinoPicking up a different thread, Italian Emanuele Parrini confirms the solo violin’s viability in his nine-part Viaggio al Centro del Violino (Rudi Records RRJ1015 rudirecords,com), although he cheats afterwards, adding four short melodic duets with violist Paolo Botti. Parrini’s suite is organically organized, flowing from exposition to conclusion and maintaining a continuum while showcasing a case full of extended techniques. After establishing the parameters of the romantically tinged theme with sweeping echoes and dynamic stops, Parrini deliberately sets out to sabotage them on Abstract No. 1, alternating mandolin-like picking with sympathetic four-string emphasis that takes on pastoral qualities by the following track. His improvising contains too many jagged bent notes to be truly folkloric however, and midway through with the bow pressuring four strings simultaneously, the pastoral melancholy of Requiem for L.J. gives way to the rapid dynamism of Black Violin with its spiccato skips, and climaxes with Blues P. No more a standard blues than Parrini is Stephane Grappelli, his dexterity suggests a blues feeling, but with a particularly Italian cast. Scratching his way from the fiddle’s scroll to its tip, the resulting multiphonics are emotional, rhythmic and satisfyingly conclusive.

Viaggio al Centro del Violino translates as Journey to the Center of the Violin in English. The phrase aptly describes how Parrini has exposed the singular musicality of his instrument. Each of these discs does the same in a similar fashion.

07 pot pourri ladom ensembleLadom Ensemble
Ladom Ensemble
Independent 67-0295-1 (ladomensemble.com)

Ladom Ensemble’s first self-titled album is an enjoyable listening experience. The members are four University of Toronto music graduates of exceptional musical prowess. Pianist-composer Pouya Hamidi plays a sparkling piano while incorporating traditional Persian musical elements to his excellent compositions. Accordionist-composer Nemanja Pjanić’s colourful runs and rhythms add spice to the music while his Balkan flavoured compositions add a contrasting element to the ensemble’s sound. The equally soulful performers, cellist Marie-Cristine Pelchat St-Jacques and percussionist Adam Campbell, complete the ensemble.

There is a wide-ranging original sound to Ladom. Their tight chamber sensibilities are well-suited to the Piazzolla cover Fugata. The rousing Pjanić composition The Flying Balkan Dance is a short yet toe-tapping Balkan selection which features each member in a lead role and a satisfying mournful, slow, brief cello solo in the middle. Hamidi’s Goriz utilizes his Persian roots especially in the driving rhythmic sections. In contrast his Noor (meaning “light” in Farsi) is an exceptional track in that the performers seem to remove their more “classical” performance sensibilities to create a more spontaneous-sounding slower soundscape ending with Hamidi’s perfect, subtle piano tinkling. Here’s hoping the group will explore more of this aspect.

Production values are high with the live quality captured adding an additional listening dimension.  Thanks, too, for not removing the clicks from register/switch changes on the accordion! Ladom Ensemble is a great group performing great music in a new world music direction.

Concert Note: Ladom performs a matinée concert at Hugh’s Room on Sunday February 16.

 

Not so many years ago in real time, Sir Adrian Boult was a name known to concertgoers and record buyers and those who were up on the music scene. Today his name is almost unfamiliar, although his recorded performances are still highly thought of (by those who think of them at all) and even HMV, the company for whom he recorded exclusively during the 1930s and well into the post-World War II era is no more. The decline and fall of The Gramophone Company, once the greatest recording company in the world, the company that owned HMV, Angel, Columbia, Parlophone, Capitol, et al, is a cautionary tale but not an uncommon one. Adrian Boult was born in the north of England in 1889 to a well-to-do family who supported him in his interest in music. As a youth studying in London, he attended concerts between 1901 and 1908 where he heard such luminaries as Debussy, the already famous Richard Strauss, Henry J. Wood and Arthur Nikisch among many others. Still a schoolboy, he met Edward Elgar with whom he enjoyed a lifelong friendship and whom he would later champion. Attending the Leipzig Conservatory in 1912 and 1913 he was indelibly impressed by the precision of Nikisch’s conducting technique, although not by his interpretations. Boult’s first professional public concert was on February 27, 1914 with members of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Eclectic hardly describes the program… works by Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Wagner, Hugo Wolf and George Butterworth plus, for an abundance of riches and likely the star attraction, Mrs. Hamilton Harty, the deservedly acclaimed soprano Agnes Nicholls, who sang arias by Mozart and Verdi.

Boult’s repertoire was vast but he was regarded by many as merely a British conductor of British music.

08 old wine 01 boultA new CD from ICA Classics contains two previously unissued performances, a live Elgar Second Symphony from the Royal Albert Hall on July 24,1977 and a BBC studio recording of the Overture and Venusberg Music from Tannhäuser, both with the BBC Symphony plus the BBC Chorus in the Tannhäuser (ICAC 5106). By 1977, Boult had recorded the Elgar five times, beginning in 1944, and this was to be his last performance. This is no fading reading of a score that he knew so well. The tempi are alert and vital, often more telling than in the recordings. The orchestra, his orchestra from 1930 to 1950, plays their hearts out for him. With all this in mind, listening now is quite an experience. The Tannhäuser music is essentially a live performance given in the BBC’s Maida Vale Studio 1 on December 8, 1968. It is an intense, reverent reading befitting the noble subject matter and the antithesis of the pomposity favoured by some. You may not be aware of this until you don’t hear it. The Venusberg ladies are warmly enticing. Arguably, these may be the best versions around of both works. Excellent sound throughout.

08 old wine 02 richterCuriously, the late piano superstar, Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) played only two of the Beethoven piano concertos, the First and the Third. Both works receive splendid performances, recorded live, on Volume 22 of Doremi’s ongoing treasury of Richter Archives (DHR-8022/3, 2 CDs). The First Concerto comes from 1963 with Kurt Sanderling conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and from 1973 Rudolf Barshai and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra support Richter in the Third Concerto. Both find the pianist in remarkable shape delivering superb realizations of the two works. He is magnificent in the lyrical segments and dazzling in the faster passages. Altogether this is high voltage musicmaking with both conductors in tune with the soloist’s buoyant interpretations. This all-Beethoven set includes the Diabelli Variations, the Sonata No.28 and two Rondos, Op.51 all recorded at a recital on July 3, 1986 in Heide, Germany. Richter is in fine form with an unusually cohesive Diabelli.

08 old wine 03 gilelsThe other piano giant from the Soviet bloc of the era was Emil Gilels (1916-1985). Volume 10 (DHR-8000) of the ongoing Doremi series contains live performances of Brahms and Mozart. Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto was performed in 1972 with Kondrashin and the Moscow Philharmonic, four months ahead of the well-known recording with Eugen Jochum. I find that the chemistry between soloist, conductor and orchestra works far better under Kondrashin than it does with Jochum. Gilels’ approach is similar but the Moscow Philharmonic partnership brings more sizzle and support. Splendid mono sound. The two short Mozart gems are the Rondo K382 with Neeme Järvi and the Leningrad PO (1968) and the solo Gluck Variations K455 (Salzburg 1970). All performances are new to CD.

08 old wine 04 isaac sternIt is always a pleasure to find another Isaac Stern recording from his early years in the late 1940s and 50s. At that time his artistry and individual sonority made him an ideal performer of the classics, the romantic and the contemporary. He always had something special to say. He was perfect in every detail, the spontaneous aspect of his musicmaking was engaging, convincing and sweeping. One has to remember that Stern was rising to fame and influence at the time the violin world was overshadowed by Heifetz and Oistrakh, but hearing Stern was a special experience for me. He was the classical model of perfection as a soloist and a chamber musician (check out his Casals Festivals recordings). Examples of these qualities may be heard on an Audite CD (95.624) which has two live performances from the Lucerne Festival that I have been playing repeatedly since it arrived. The Tchaikovsky Concerto is conducted by Lorin Maazel (1958) and the Bartók No.2 by Ernest Ansermet (1956). These are performances to treasure.

adams dr atomic symphonyJohn Adams –Harmonielehre, Doctor Atomic Symphony, Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Peter Oundjian
Chandos CHSA 5129

When over 30 years ago John Adams introduced his brand of minimalism to the listening audiences, nobody could have predicted the staying power of the young composer. With the consecutive successes of Shaker Loops, Grand Pianola Music, The Chairman Dances, Nixon in China, The Wound-dresser, Death of Klinghoffer, the Pulitzer-prize winning On Transmigration of Souls and triumphant premiere of Doctor Atomic in 2005, Adams now is a part of the standard repertoire for orchestras worldwide. Enter RSNO, under the artistic direction of Oundjian. Doctor Atomic Symphony, a 25 minute extract of themes from the opera, belongs firmly to the “later” output of Adams. Less minimalistic, with no bare-bone structure and easily identifiable tempi laid out in a score, it presents a challenge. As Anthony Tommasini wrote in December, 2007 for the New York Times: “the tremulous surface of the orchestral music is deceptively calm, allowing the vocal lines to dominate. Just below, though, the orchestra teems with fractured meters, intertwining contrapuntal elements, fitful bursts and Mr. Adams’s most tartly dissonant, boldly unmoored harmonies.”

It is that ambiguity that trips up Oundjian, as the score seems to get away from him until the quasi-vocal lines of Huw Morgan’s trumpet lead the Oppenheimer aria Batter My Heart to its thundering conclusion. The earlier works are somewhat easier to conquer and fare much better – especially Short Ride which delivers on its Honegger-esque (Pacific 231) perpetuum mobile idiom. A worthy recording of important contemporary music.

 

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