George Shearing At Home
George Shearing; Don Thompson
Jazzknight Records 001

Just a few jazz musicians have become household names while managing to retain their artistic integrity. Dave Brubeck, largely due to Take Five and Duke Ellington aided by Satin Doll reached that level of recognition, as did Mr. Shearing helped along by his Lullaby Of Birdland — but although each of these three pianists reaped some reward from the success of having a composition recognised by anyone interested in popular music, they remained true to their ideals.

I’ve seen George Shearing many times over the years and he always managed to bring a certain intimacy to his performance whether it was in a small club or a large concert hall. Well, this CD has to be the ultimate in intimacy in that it was recorded in his own living room. With him is his close friend and musical partner, Don Thompson Together they have created a little gem.

From the opening bars of I Didn’t Know What Time It Was, played at a lovely loping tempo, you know that you are in for a musical treat. There are 14 selections on the album ranging from ten superior standards to a Don Thompson original, Ghoti via The Skye Boat Song and a couple of bebop lines by Charlie Parker and Lee Konitz.

An interesting point for me is that six of the numbers come in around the three minute mark, a pleasing reminder of the days of 78s when you had to tell your story within a limited time frame — lovely musical stories these two masters spin.

Highly recommended and well worth adding to your collection.

Vibraphonist Peter Appleyard played a 1974 Carnegie Hall date with Benny Goodman and thought the line-up, a one-time group, was extraordinary. Scheduled to play at Ontario Place the next night, he somehow managed to bring most of the band with him. A late-night recording session resulted in The Lost Sessions 1974 (Linus 270135). It’s the incarnation of swing, some of the very best musicians playing a shared repertoire of standards with sublime warmth and grace. An opening Ellington Medley — with solos in turn by Appleyard, tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims, cornetist Bobby Hackett, pianist Hank Jones and trombonist Urbie Green — sets a very high standard, each musician clearly delighted by the challenge of matching the others. As good as the solos are (Hackett’s legato phrasing is stunning), it’s the collective spirit, fed constantly by drummer Mel Lewis and bassist Slam Stewart, that’s most memorable.

The Shuffle Demons long ago demonstrated that modern jazz could be both fun and popular, chanting songs about Toronto’s Spadina bus and unruly cockroaches over R&B rhythms and manic post-bop saxophone solos, then making witty videos about them. The band is back with ClusterFunk (Linus 270152), channelling Charles Mingus and Frank Zappa on their first CD of new material in 17 years. The instrumentals here are consistently good, like alto saxophonist Richard Underhill’s Earth Song and drummer Stich Wynston’s Fukushima. The songs are more uneven — ranging from clever post-modern laments about big box stores and sifting through trash for refunds to All about the Hang, which, perhaps intentionally, goes on too long. The riffing power of the saxophones — Richard Underhill, Kelly Jefferson and Perry White — and the high funk quotient of Wynston and bassist George Koller generally keep things lively.

Guitarist Michael Occhipinti has a knack for expanding the repertoire available to jazz, having previously explored the work of folksinger Bruce Cockburn and the songs of his own Sicilian heritage. With the group Shine On (regulars from his own bands and a collection of Toronto singers) he takes on The Universe of John Lennon (True North TND566), exploring songs as immediate as Don’t Let Me Down and as elusive as Across the Universe. There’s a slightly dream-like, inevitably nostalgic aura here, but a few vocals manage to convey Lennon’s darker facets, like Elizabeth Shepherd on Working Class Hero and Denzal Sinclaire on Girl. Occhipinti’s arrangements create effective counter-melodies and fresh rhythms and there are fine solos by trumpeter Kevin Turcotte as well as the leader.

Le Quatuor de Jazz Libre du Québec, formed in 1967, was a signal event in Canadian jazz history, its members connecting the incendiary free jazz style then associated with American Black Nationalism to an incipient Québecois nationalism. 1973 (Tenzier TNZR051 www.tnzr.com) is a previously unissued studio session from well into the band’s career, now available as a limited issue LP. The music largely eschews composed heads for collective improvisation, consistently demonstrating the kind of committed intuitive work achieved through the long and close interaction of the quartet: saxophonist and flutist Jean Préfontaine; trumpeter Yves Charbonneau; drummer Jean-Guy Poirier; and bassist Yves Bouliane. Each of the four tracks has a distinct mood and texture, ranging through urgent, tumultuous musical riot (Sans Titre) to dirge (Une minute de silence) to exotic soundscape (Studio 13, le 13 mai 1973) to detailed and earnest conversation.Maïkotron Unit is an equally distinctive Québecois band, but with a 30-year history. The trio is distinguished by two qualities: they’re consummate musicians — the rhythm section of bassist/ cellist Pierre Côté and drummer Michel Lambert can swing with an ease matched by few, while reed player Michel Côté is both a master of traditional jazz forms and a clarinettist with great facility. They’re also wildly inventive: “maïkotron” refers to a family of bizarre home made instruments on which the two Michels double, compounds of brass and reed parts that are devised for both extraordinarily wide ranges and microtones — sounding like quarter-tone bassoons, euphoniums and tubas. On Effugit (Rant 1243 www.rantrecords.com), there are 16 tracks in 56 minutes and you never know what you’re going to get — the kinetic swing of Liberum, the classical grace of Sawah, the floating tenor saxophone of Effugit or the mad maïkotron adventure of Sous la Canopée — except that it will be different, usually brief and as well-played as it is imaginative.

Sylvain Leroux — a former Montrealer now based in New York — has studied African music extensively and supplements his standard flute and alto saxophone with an African lute and flutes. On Quatuor Créole (Engine e046), he explores a host of exotic rhythms from Africa and the Caribbean as well as chanting and playing flute simultaneously on pieces like Notis. The emphasis is on dense rhythmic grooves here, with Leroux more likely to play lute than flute. The veteran vibraphonist/pianist Karl Berger, Leroux’s former teacher, also solos at length, clearly celebrating the percolating rhythms created by Haitian percussionist Sergo Décius and bassist Matt Pavolka. There’s plenty of world music tonal color here and the grooves are complex and liberating. Leroux also touches on an earlier influence, playing alto saxophone with a raw lyricism on Monk in Paradise. 

When New York’s now justly famous Vision Festival first took place in 1996 committed jazz fans greeted the event as if they were witnessing a full-fledged musical resurrection. So many advanced players of unbridled free form and experimental sounds were involved that the annual festival soon became a crowded week-long summer happening. Ironically — which was one reason for the Fest’s popularity — these probing sounds and its players were supposed to have vanished after the revolutionary 1960s, superseded first by jazz-rock pounders’ simple melodies and then jazz’s young lions who aped the sounds and sartorial choices of the 1950s — both of which had major record label support. Still, asbassist/composer/bandleader William Parker’s Centering: Unreleased Early Recordings 1976–1987 (NoBusiness NBCD 42-47 www.nobusinessrecords.com) aptly demonstrates, experimental sounds never vanished; they just went underground. As the 24 often lengthy tracks that make up this 6-CD set of hitherto unreleased material substantiates in its breadth of performances, sonically questing players were improvising and composing during those so-called lost years. But it took the founding of the Vision Festival by Parker and his wife, dancer/choreographer Patricia Nicholson, to provide the proper medium for this work. Major stylists such as saxophonists Charles Gayle and David S. Ware, vocalist Ellen Christi and trumpeter Roy Campbell, all of whom are represented in the set, would go on to mentor a multiplying groundswell of younger rule stretchers and future Vision Fest participants. Also, despite being professionally recorded, the conservative climate of the times, plus the cost of producing and distributing LPs, left the tapes used for these CDs stacked in performers’ apartments. Now the belated release of Centeringfills in a blank in jazz history, equivalent to what coming across a cache of unreleased John Cage or Morton Feldman recordings would do. Included in the package is an attractively designed 66-page paperback book with vintage photos, posters and sketches along with essays discussing the background of the sessions, the musicians’ experiences and the New York scene.

From a historical perspective the most valuable artifacts are those which feature Parker playing alongside saxophonists who are now major influences in the international avant garde. From 1980 the bassist and alto saxophonist Daniel Carter are involved in musical discussions which make up for their lack of nuance with brilliant and mercurial playing, eviscerating every timbre and tone that could be sourced from their instruments. As Parker’s chunky rhythms hold the bottom while simultaneously rubbing and stopping strings to produce unique interjections, Carter ranges all over his horn. On Thulin, for instance, multiphonic split tones, triple tonguing, barks and bites are just the beginning of the saxophonist’s agitated interface. Working his solo into a fever pitch of altissimo cries and freak notes, he often sounds as if he’s playing two reed instruments. Eventually Parker’s juddering percussiveness grounds the track, angling the two towards a finale, but not before an extended a cappella passage by the bassist, where his multi-string sinewy strokes expose timbres that could be created by a string quartet. Contrast that with the beefy pedal point Parker uses on the two 1987 tracks with tenor saxophonist Gayle. After the reedist’s almost continuous overblowing exposes snarling altissimo or nephritic guttural tones, Parker asserts himself on Entrusted Spirit with tremolo strums and slaps which echo sympathetically alongside Gayle’s expansive multiphonics. Finally the saxman’s pressurized snarls and mercurial split tones are muted to an affiliated moderato tone by smooth pizzicato lines from Parker, bringing wood tapping and top-of-range angling into the mix.

Equally instructive, tenor saxophone Ware and Parker, who would become one half of Ware’s celebrated quartet in the 1990s, recorded with drummer Denis Charles in 1980 as the Centering Dance Music Ensemble. Unlike earlier Parker compositions on this set performed by string or vocal-based ensembles to back up Nicholson’s choreography that seem overly notated and more distant, the Ware-Parker-Charles creations are vibrant free jazz that may have caused repetitive strain injuries among dance company members. Highpoint is the inclusive and contrapuntal Tapestry. Here the saxophonist’s juddering smears and expansive reed vibrations, Parker’s focused slaps and Charles’ bass drum thumps are individually showcased then smartly combined into a tremolo vamp that descends into satisfying cohesion. Edifyingly demonstrating that the so-called avant-gardists celebrated the tradition is One Day Understanding. With a dirge-like middle section where Ware directly quotes an Albert Ayler head, the exposition and conclusion allow the saxman full range for glossolalia, spinning split tones and fervid overblowing effectively honouring saxophone titans like John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman by inference. Parker’s sputtering spiccato slices relate to Henry Grimes’ and Jimmy Garrison’s liberation of the bass role; while Charles, whose military-style rebounds and hard backbeat helped define free jazz in the late 1950s, just plays himself.

Even more germane to contemporary experimenters who frequently amalgamate into large-scale improvisational ensembles are two other Parker-led groups. Both 1979’s eight-member Big Moon Ensemble and 1984’s 13-person Centering Big Band are links between Coleman’s Double Quartet and Coltrane’s Ascension band and today. Vaulting between inchoate and inspired, the Big Moon tracks are polyrhythmic, polytonal and polyharmonic with the instrumental tessitura stretched to make room for thundering solos from the likes of Carter and Campbell plus trumpeter Arthur Williams and altoist Jameel Moondoc. On tunes such as Hiroshima Part Two and Dedication to Kenneth Patchen the cumulative effect of the multi-colored free-form cascading is intensified by aboriginal war whoops and unbalanced screams from the band members as they play. Tremolo triplets from Campbell meet Williams’ capillary flutter tonguing on Patchen, as Moondoc’s juddering split tones contrast with Carter’s leaping glossolalia. With Charles and Rashid Bakr both thrashing percussion, Parker and fellow bassist Jay Oliver stroke manfully to finally downshift the collective cascading, only to have it revive with increased ferocity on Hiroshima. Stacked horn parts encompassing stop-time screaming and pressurized vibratos are strung out during this nearly 50-minute piece as each musician seems to be trying to outdo the other in ferocity. Instructively the bassist’s later experiments with world music improv are adumbrated in a protracted sequence when his string strumming and the percussion work sound as if they’re emanating from a koto and a taiko drum.

There’s no mistaking the jazz inflections on the five big band selections however. But their modernity is apparent in the resourceful balance among intense riffs from the five saxophones, Parker’s time-keeping plus percussionist Zen Matsura’s cymbal clanks and press rolls as well as stacked and cascading vocal interchange from Christi and fellow vocalist Lisa Sokolov. Intense, heraldic triplets from trumpeters Campbell and Raphe Malik add to the churning excitement of tunes like Munyaovi, as first the snorting reeds then the brass section’s triplet expansion match the vocalists in staccato invention. The overall effect isn’t unlike Count Basie’s band at full force playing a swing riff. Space is furthermore made throughout for comforting trombone slurs, twanging rhythmic sequences from Parker and, on Tototo, an alluring balladic line from Moondoc. That piece climaxes with a polyphonic entanglement of the drummer’s harsh ruffs and flams, screaming penny whistle-style brass shrills and guttural baritone sax honks, completed by a slithery sax line that coalesces with harmonized voices.

The big band selections were taped at the 1984 Kool Jazz Festival, one of Parker’s rare high-profile gigs. It may have taken another dozen years to organize the Vision Festival and find the multiplicity of gigs and recordings Parker and his associates now participate in, but this momentous box set confirms that all along experimental music’s foundation was being cultivated slightly out of the public eye.

Saeculum Aureum
Band of the Royal Regiment of Canada
www.band.rregtc.ca

2012 marks the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Royal Regiment of Canada. To commemorate this anniversary the Band of the Royal Regiment (BRRC) has produced a 2-CD set of recordings tracing the history of the regiment and its band. From Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance Military March No.4 and Holst’s First Suite in E-Flat Major through Gershwin and Ellington to Mancini and The Beatles, this recording spans a broad spectrum of genres in the concert band style. The title track, Saeculum Aureum (Golden Age), was written for the band by Major Paul A. Weston, formerly of the Royal Marines, now Associate Director of Music of the BRRC.

For most aficionados of concert band music, no CD of this sort would be complete without one or more marches reflecting the traditions of the modern band. This set includes two excellent marches with a Canadian connection which are rarely heard. The first is Vimy Ridge, written in 1921 by British composer Thomas Bidgood to commemorate that great battle of April 1917. My father survived that battle, and I have memories of playing a 78rpm version of this march which had been recorded in England during WWII The second, lesser known march is Men of Dieppe. This has an even stronger connection to the regiment. The composer, Stephen H. Michell, was one of several hundred members of the Royals captured and taken prisoner when the regiment stormed the Dieppe beaches. This march was composed during his time in a prison camp.

On a few selections, the band is joined by collaborators from many performances over the years. These include vocalist Danielle Bourré, the Pipes and Drums of the 48th Highlanders and Thomas Fitches at the keyboard of the organ of St. Clement’s Anglican Church. All of the numbers on the first CD are recent recordings under the direction of director of music, Captain W. A. Mighton or associate director, Major P. A. Weston. Most of those on the second CD are from the past 50 years conducted by three previous conductors.

For the most part the recording quality is excellent. However, there are a few selections on the second CD, included for historical purposes, where the recording quality is not up to the same standard. One such number is Alford’s Standard of Saint George. In this case the previously unreleased recording has been taken from the sound track of a 16mm film, The Trooping of the Colour, produced in 1962.

For those interested in the origins of the music, combined with the history of the regiment and its bands over the years, the 20-page booklet contains excellent commentary on every selection and historical connections where appropriate. It also includes information on the soloists and guests.

Available from: R Regt C Band, Fort York Armoury 660 Fleet St. W., Toronto, Ontario M5V 1A9 (www.band.rregtc.ca).

Ask The Oracle
Andy Haas
Resonant Music 009
www.myspace.com/radioichingnewyork

You can go home again; at least that’s what reedist Andy Haas, a Torontonian domiciled in New York, proves with this CD. Haas, who will be playing solo saxophone at OCAD University October 17 with trumpet and electronics player JP Carter in a concert presented by the Music Gallery, was in Toronto last year to record this fine eight-track set of improvisations alongside locals Colin Fisher playing saxophone and strings, Aaron Lumley on bass, plus Brandon Valdivia and Matthew Dunn on percussion.

Although Haas was a member of the Martha & The Muffins pop band and the other four are imbedded in this city’s improv community, the tunes mostly balance on the boundaries among rock, jazz and world music. With Haas playing hojok or Korean oboe as well as soprano saxophone and flute, some of the tracks are as delicate as Eastern court music, others are dependent on choppy guitar distortion or overblown reed riffs which could have migrated from 1960s “energy music.”

Especially pertinent is comparing a track such as Curse of the Horns to Scattered Through the Strings. On the former, Lumley’s thick bass scrubs concentrate the proceedings with a Westernized ostinato as both percussionists clatter and ruff while Fisher on tenor saxophone and Haas on soprano snort and squeal in tandem. In contrast, the other piece exposes Fisher’s command of the multi-string guzheng, with his spidery glissandi weaving a polyphonic sound web through which Haas’ saxophone lines cut with sharp reed bites.

There remains something very special about the EMI recordings produced by Walter Legge of the, actually “his” as it turned out, Philharmonia Orchestra, particularly but not only those with Herbert von Karajan before his ascent to the Berlin Philharmonic. Legge had been producing Karajan’s recordings since the conductor’s first post-WWII 78s with the Vienna Philharmonic beginning with the Beethoven Eighth in 1946. The Ninth was recorded in 1947 and although Karajan has recorded it many times since then this is my favourite version (EMI 72434 76878). There is an air of expectant optimism (which is what this symphony is all about) not present elsewhere in the catalogue. Legge founded the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1945 with the expectation that he and Beecham would run it together. The two fell out and the orchestra became essentially a recording orchestra, producing landmark recordings with conductors and soloists of now legendary fame. Karajan’s first concert with them, April 11, 1948, included the Schumann piano concerto with Dinu Lipatti which they recorded for EMI later that month. All but a few of the EMI Philharmonia/Legge recordings have been re-issued and available on CD, attesting to the excellence of the performances by what had become one of the best orchestras in the world and the instantly engaging EMI sound, whether the earlier monaural or the later stereos. In all of them there is a sense of listening in on a formal performance and not a recording of musicians making a recording. Such is a new re-issue of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony and the suite from Swan Lake recorded in 1955/56 with Karajan and the Philharmonia (EMI 6022992). This is the third of Karajan’s seven recordings of the Pathétique and the most satisfying in the sense described above with music making of the very highest quality. Most impressive in both works are the flowing tempos without any bumps, the unanimous strings, outstanding brass and winds all captured in the best analog sound. I enjoyed it immensely.

Jean Martinon was a superlative conductor excelling in the repertoire of the 20th century, especially French composers, as his recordings will attest. During his time as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s music director (1963-68) he made only a couple of LPs of Ravel but when he returned to France was engaged by EMI to record the orchestral works of Debussy with the Orchestre National de ORTF in 1973 and then the music of Ravel with the Orchestre de Paris through 1974. These renowned performances and recordings have since seen many incarnations but now EMI has grouped them all together in an irresistible 8-CD box, Debussy, Ravel Orchestral Works at an ultra budget price (EMI 70444421). There are 18 of Debussy’s well-known and some lesser known works and 15 by Ravel including the obvious titles plus the complete Daphnis et Chloe (with the Chorus of the National Opera) and the two piano concertos. Without exception, the performances are commanding and authoritative and the naturally balanced recordings, made in Paris’ Salle Wagram, are a credit to France’s famed producer, René Challan.

I don’t suppose that these days when collectors express their preferences among competitive versions of certain works it is likely that Clifford Curzon would come readily to mind and yet in the day he was a frontrunner in most of the repertoire that is to be found in a new collection from Decca of all his recordings made for them since 1937, augmented with interviews and recitals as late as 1980 (4784389, 23 CDs + 1 DVD). Curzon possessed impeccable and unerring taste and musicianship and one can sense that every note is played with the assurance of a mind totally in control. Surprisingly, on first hearing, the all-Liszt recital from Vienna’s Sofiensaal (1963) seemed to be too closely miked, contributing to the impression that Curzon’s interpretation was ill-conceived. But on second hearing everything came into perspective, revealing a towering version of the structured B Minor Sonata and pristine versions of the shorter pieces. In addition to many solo recitals including Schubert, Schumann and Brahms, there are concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, de Falla and the dashing Scherzo by Litolff. Time has not dimmed these superb recordings. The full contents can be seen on deccaclassics.com.

Helmut Walcha was internationally respected as an interpreter of the music of Bach and other composers of the baroque era. DG (DGG at the time) and EMI had both featured him twice in almost the entire Bach keyboard repertoire. For DG he was Walcha the organist, for EMI the harpsichordist. It is interesting to note that this authoritative performer was totally blind from the age of 16 and possessed the astonishing ability to have memorized his repertoire from hearing others play. His commanding performances are luminous and transparent. The sound of the harpsichord on a new DOREMI release of performances from 1957–1960 is detailed and pleasant although some may have reservations that in these recordings Walcha, unlike most interpreters, observes no repeats. He plays a modern Ammer harpsichord. Bach: Six Partitas, BWV 825-830; Italian Concerto; Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D Minor (DHR-7985/6, 2 CDs).

What a pleasure to hear the Bach Six Suites for Solo Cello played with such unusually heartfelt expressivity and warmth as is heard from Antonio Janigro on another new DOREMI collection (DHR-8014/6, 3 CDs). A singing tone, perfect intonation, beautiful articulation and a refined style were his trademarks. In the three gamba sonatas, BWV1027 – 29, with harpsichordist Robert Veyron-Lacroix he is similarly impressive. In the mid 1950s he made a recording of the popular Boccherini B-Flat Major Cello Concerto, however here we have the young Janigro from 1948 ... rare and captivating. A splendid collection, faithfully remastered, the suites are derived from 1954 Westminster LPs. Here is beautiful music making in the grand sense and not simply for cello lovers. 

Two Lutes – Lute Duets from England’s Golden Age
Ronn McFarlane; William Simms
Sono Luminus DSL-92155

Lute duets form some of the most enchanting and at the same time most demanding recitals. Imagine a selection of 27 such duets!

La Rossignal has always been a testing but satisfying example of the genre. Both lutenists bring out the disciplined yet exuberant quality of this piece; they follow immediately with the stately and measured Delight Pavan of John Johnson, 15 years Queen Elizabeth’s “royal lewter.”

Ronn McFarlane and William Simms have gone well beyond formal compositions by Elizabethan composers — the anonymous Robin is to the Greenwood Gone is performed with a dedication and passion which Dowland and his contemporaries would have felt honoured by.

Then there are the sadly less well-known composers. Who can listen to the complexity of John Danyel’s Passemezzo Galliard and not wonder not just at the complexity of the galliard but also the performance to which we are treated? Listeners can even enjoy Thomas Robinson’s Passamezzo Galliard and compare the two, notably their slow almost laboured opening bars.

Johnson it is, however, who contributes the most duets. His Chi Passa (which differs considerably from the Commedia dell’arte version normally found), Queen’s Treble and Flatt Pavan and Galliard (was ever a composition so inappropriately named?) are interpreted so as to lend no doubt as to how long the players have been a duet.

This reviewer tried to make notes while listening to the duets. He was persistently but very happily prevented by the sheer pleasure of their content.

Vivaldi – New Discoveries II
Modo Antiquo; Federico Maria Sardelli
Naïve OP 30534

The story behind this disc is a fascinating one. As explained in the handsome and comprehensive accompanying booklet, the recording is made up entirely of newly-discovered operatic and instrumental music by Vivaldi, found over the past 20 years in various private and public collections in England, Scotland, Belgium and Germany. These include a flute concerto, two sonatas and one concerto for violin, and four arias from the opera L’inganno trionfante in amore.

The CD opens with an exuberant flute concerto titled “Il Gran Mogol,” found in Edinburgh in the archives of the 18th century amateur flutist Lord Robert Kerr. The violin sonatas (from the Foundling Museum in London) and concerto (found in Dresden) are exciting, virtuosic and inventive works. The opera arias date from around 1725, when a documented performance of L’inganno trionfante in amore took place in Venice. These arias, from a score long thought lost, turned up in 1995 in the Royal Library of Belgium!

The performances on the disc are of a uniformly high quality, with special mention going to the brilliant transverse flute playing of Alexis Kossenko and the fanciful and endlessly varied playing of violinist Anton Steck. Risk-taking like this is imperative to bring Vivaldi’s music off the page.

While we are familiar with Vivaldi’s deep impact on composers such as J.S. Bach, this recording is another reminder of how wide-reaching Vivaldi’s influence was across Europe in the early 18th century.

Glenn Gould plays Bach
Bruno Monsaingeon
Sony Classical 88691975049-01/2/3

It was with trepidation that I undertook this review of Glenn Gould’s three films directed by Bruno Monsaingeon. For many musicians, including myself, Glenn Gould was an icon. We grew up listening to his prodigious recordings of Bach and other composers. In fact, my first contemporary music experience as a pre-teen was listening to the Gould recordings of Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and Krenek. These and the inimitable Bach performances by Gould influenced my future repertoire choices and inspired me to adore Bach. I was mesmerized by Gould’s intelligence, wit, genius and effortless charisma in front of the camera or microphone. The question for me was whether he would still continue to seduce musically and charm conversationally today. There is an abundance of excellent Goldberg Variations in the market now and with everyone attempting to be a star on YouTube, being on camera is not necessarily such a special event anymore.

The first DVD, The Question of Instrument, allayed my fears. Glenn Gould shall remain on his pedestal. This is an excellent and invaluable clinic in voicing. In spite of the occasional harsh tone and lots of singing, the contrapuntal lines always flow naturally with an unerring articulation and precision. The voicing feels free and flexible as if being composed on the spot. The levels of dynamics are rich and varied with unique characteristics that force you to follow the lines to the resolution. The conversation in this DVD is a must for all musicians, teachers, scholars and performers. It is the question of harpsichord or piano.

Glenn Gould could have been a lawyer because he wins his argument easily. He supports playing Bach on the piano. Bach was into structure and his music adapts to any instrument. Gould also believes that the piano can get you closest to Bach’s conceptions of form, structure, harmony and counterpoint. He performs several pieces, demonstrating alternate versions of phrasing and sonority. He discusses various instrumentations that can come from one piece and gives relevant examples. Gould dismisses critics of the piano by calling their arguments “musicological overkill.” Brilliant, virtuosic music is also offered as an argument to favour the piano over the harpsichord (in spite of Scarlatti’s efforts). To demonstrate, Gould performs the Chromatic Fantasia in D Minor and although he calls the piece a “monstrosity” he played it with emotion and impeccable technique. This is a very improvisatory piece, almost like background film music according to Gould, and with his singing he sounded like an opera star with an over the top accompanist from a horror film from the 40s. This was a moment of welcome levity and reminds us of Gould’s comic acting abilities. He refers to this kind of music as Bach for people who do not like Bach. The other work on his “hit” radar was the Italian Concerto, another overplayed work on student recitals. Gould compared the Italian Concerto to Georgian architecture but insisted that Handel wrote this kind of music better. In performing this piece Gould says that it is best not to destroy the structure with too many crescendos and pianistic affectations. For comparison Gould performed the Sarabande from the Partita No.6 in E Minor to demonstrate a freer form and showed us different tempos that all seemed to work. His performance of the entire Partita No.4 in D Major was a marvel. The ornaments are crisp and exciting; the counterpoint is articulate and the voicing impeccable with a tapestry of texture and touch.

The second DVD is called An Art of the Fugue and appropriately begins with the Fugue in B-Flat Major on the name BACH. Again, what a wonderful masterclass in fugues for any musician; everything complicated is explained with clarity and ease by Gould. The program notes, which are excellent, by the way, say that Gould rehearsed everything. It doesn’t matter, it still sounds spontaneous and the information is invaluable. The fugal structures become a dramatic journey through harmony, counterpoint and resolution. What a majestic performance and deep understanding Gould brings to all the fugues he performs in this DVD. For those who find fugues boring, listen to and watch this DVD. Highlights include the E Major from Book 2, a cantabile Ricercare, which was also Arnold Schoenberg’s favourite. Preludes are missing from this fugue extravaganza. Gould has some demeaning comments on the Preludes but gives a nod to the one from the Prelude and Fugue in A Major,Book 2. Gould speaks for the artistic and creative merits of fugal structures. Fugal adventures were not popular in Bach’s time. Gould mentions minuets as the hot form of the day. However, Bach turned his back on this and other forms to borrow concepts from the last 100 years such as Flemish devotional music. There is a piece in the Art of the Fugue which also shows Bach’s far-reaching chromaticism in an infinitely expanding musical universe. It sounds like Schoenberg. The astonishing and ear-opening comments and playing inspired me to immediately go to the piano and play some fugues.

What to say about the third DVD The Goldberg Variations? I enjoyed the introduction which showed Gould picking his takes and explaining why he chose them. He also spoke about his reasons for recording the Goldberg Variations again for the second time. He said that the technology of 1955, due to the lack of stereo and Dolby, invalidated the process of the first version. What a coup for musicians to have Gould’s two versions, but it made me wonder if he had lived would he have recorded it again? The DVD concludes with the entire performance of the Goldberg Variations.

Teary eyed and blissfully involved with the music, I can only say that Glenn Gould shall remain an icon and a legend with his awe inspiring genius. I know that there are a lot of recordings, books and DVDs about him but I highly recommend this trilogy.

Dreamers Renegades Visionaries:
The Glenn Gould Variations is a two-day festival of new work, new interpretations and new collaborations, from Argentina, Britain, Canada, China, Croatia, France, Germany, Japan and the USA at Convocation Hall, University of Toronto, September 22 and 23. It features more than 50 participants including Canadian luminaries Brent Carver, Adrienne Clarkson, Adam Egoyan, François Girard, Norman Jewison and Mark Kingwell to name but a few. Full details are available at www.glenngouldvariations.ca.

Tchaikovsky; Nielsen – Violin Concertos
Vilde Frang; Danish National Symphony Orchestra; Elvind Gullberg Jensen
EMI 5099960257024

When I was auditioning the recording of the Sibelius Violin Concerto played by Vilde Frang, who was then a new name to me (reviewed October 2010), I found her nothing short of a sensational violinist and an outstanding music maker. Born in Norway in 1986, she is well known and widely respected by her peers. She tours extensively and plays a 19th century Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin lent to her by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.

In 2011 she was heard in three violin sonatas accompanied by pianist Michael Lifts (EMI 9476392): the Grieg Sonata No.1 in F Op.8, the unaccompanied Bartok Sonata, and the Richard Strauss ­Sonata in E-Flat. In each work her absorption is deeply projected, producing performances of the very highest calibre. Unfamiliar repertoire to some, these are all splendid works but it is the charming Strauss opus to which I find myself returning.

The Tchaikovsky concerto has been recorded untold times over the last century by most of the greats and there are many breathtaking renditions, making it extremely improbable that there could be any new ideas, but Frang pulls it off. Her interpretation is fresh and original and seductively alluring. The first movement, for example, while necessarily virtuosic, unfolds like a narrative.

In the great Nielsen concerto where there are fewer competitors, she nevertheless offers a magical treat; similarly poetic, soul-searching and heart-warming. Again the orchestra is superb and in harmony with the soloist. Thanks to the engineers, the recorded sound is natural, transparent and well balanced, with uninhibited tuttis.

4 SYMPHONIES:
BRAHMS 1
DVORAK 9
SIBELIUS 5
NIELSEN 3
Danish National Symphony Orchestra,
Thomas Dausgaard, conductor. 
C Major   710604,   one Blu-Ray disc or
                 710508,   two DVDs

This is an outstanding collection of four deservedly famous and favourite symphonies enjoying superlative performances in state-of-the-art, high definition sight and sound. Toronto concert-goers who were fortunate enough to attend some or all of Dausgaard’s Sibelius cycle in 2010 with the TSO, or the recent concert which included the Brahms Second Symphony, have a good idea of his ability to deliver performances that alert even the most jaded ears.

For some years, performances of the Brahms First Symphony have been, to my ears, tediously dutiful in maintaining that this is an august work to be performed as a rite. The opening tempo and energy of Dausgaard’s Brahms promises that this will not be yet another routine walk through ... and it isn’t. This is a sit up and take notice performance from the very beginning to the final movement, crowned with a radiant, jubilant finale, the like of which I’m unaware.

There is an introspective talk about each symphony on individual bonus tracks in which Dausgaard walks us through the work, section by section, suggesting in idyllic terms what the composer is feeling and attempting to convey. His observations are friendly, articulate and most engaging.

None of these performances is pedestrian and all four symphonies are approached with the same enthusiasm. The Dvořák has a wonderful bloom; broad and spacious and entirely as Dausgaard describes it. The Sibelius is an inspired performance. The fermenting inner voices in the coda of the first movement are daringly breathtaking; in the finale of the last movement, a valedictory, there is a sense of motionless resolution unerringly judged by Dausgaard. If you are not a Nielsen fan than this Third, the “Expansiva,” would be an excellent place to start.

Dausgaard doesn’t pause to make points that make themselves in the score. He has the rare ability to imbue an orchestra with a spirit and purpose that goes far beyond giving them tempi and balances. Watch his face in these performances and see how.

This set finds Dausgaard before the orchestra of which he was the chief conductor from 2004 t0 2011. In this capacity he may be familiar to some listeners from his very extensive recorded repertoire by the post-Wagnerian, Danish composer Rued Langgaard (1853-1952), a devout Theosophist, whose neglected music was resurrected with Dausgaard’s help. The recordings, all on the DaCapo label, include the 16 symphonies, tone poems, choral works, and a video of The AntiKrist (DVD or BLU-RAY), a religious mystery opera.

The symphonies on this 2-DVD set are concert performances from the Koncerthuset in Copenhagen that opened in January 2009. Designed by architect Jean Nouvel and acoustician Toyota Yasuhisa, the structure has four halls including the main auditorium, seen here, seating 1,800. It is the most expensive concert hall ever built, coming in at nearly $300 million. It is owned by and home to Danmarks Radio.

Rhapsody in Blue and other piano works
Mauro Bertoli
Cavalli Musica

From Mozart to Khachaturian
Mauro Bertoli
Cavalli Musica

Piano Works by Scarlatti; Schumann; Granados; Ginastera
Mauro Bertoli
Cavalli Musica
www.maurobertoli.com

In the world of classical music, Italy has long been known for producing famous singers and conductors. For some reason, though, the list of renowned Italian pianists is considerably shorter — Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and Maurizio Pollini are among those who come to mind. However, with the release of three CDs on the Cavalli Musica label featuring a young artist by the name of Mauro Bertoli, that list should be immediately augmented! Born in Italy, Mr. Bertoli has been the recipient of several international piano prizes including the prestigious Giuseppe Sinopoli Award in 2006, and he has appeared in major concert halls throughout Europe, North America, Israel and China. It’s our good fortune that he has decided to settle in Canada, where he’s currently on the piano performance faculty at Carleton University in Ottawa.

At the outset, these discs are impressive with their eclecticism. While certain pianists tend to concentrate on music of certain periods, or by particular composers, Bertoli’s repertoire is wide and encompassing, spanning 300 years of piano literature. For example, the CD Rhapsody in Blue and Other Piano Works, focuses primarily on music from the romantic period, with pieces by Schumann, Brahms and Liszt, but also included is the brief and poignant Für Alina by Arvo Pärt. The Brahms Intermezzo Op.188, No.2 and the Liszt Romance S169 are warmly introspective, while the Schumann Toccata Op.7 aptly demonstrates Bertoli’s flawless command of the keyboard. In contrast, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue provides a rousing conclusion. Bertoli may hail from the land of olive trees, but his convincing interpretation of this jazzy and syncopated music from 1924 has ”Manhattan” written all over it.

The disc From Mozart to Khachaturian is another study in contrasts. Opening with Mozart’s poetic and gracious Rondo K494, the disc also features two of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies, Schumann’s Sonata for the Young, Op.118, Granados’ Allegro de Concert and Shostakovich’s Three Fantastic Dances — a virtual United Nations of piano literature.

Not many pianists today turn their attention to keyboard music of the Italian Baroque, but three sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti lead off the third disc, all of them demonstrating Bertoli’s manual dexterity and acute sense of timing. Also on this CD are the Schumann Paganini Etudes, Op.3 and Nachtstücke, Op.23. But for me, the highlight of this recording is surely the set of three Danzas Argentinas by Alberto Ginastera. Written in 1937, this music dates from early in the composer’s career and is challenging from all perspectives. With their complex rhythms and chromatic harmonies, these dances might faze many pianists, but Bertoli handles the complexities with apparent ease, bringing the disc to a spirited conclusion.

My only quibble with all three discs is the recording quality, which I found somewhat “dry.” Fine playing such as this deserves a decent sound, and a little more resonance would have been preferable. But this is minor issue and certainly doesn’t detract from these eclectic collections of piano repertoire. Bravissimo, Mr. Bertoli — let’s hear from you again!

Concert Notes: Bertoli is pianist-in-residence at Barrie’s Colours of Music festival (September 21 to 30) and will be performing several concerts there including Strauss’ Enoch Arden with actor Kevin White on the 24th and a solo recital on September 30 featuring works by Gershwin, Khachaturian and Schumann; he will also conduct a masterclass on September 27. On October 7, Bertoli performs at U of T’s Hart House for their Sunday Concert Series.

Alison Balsom
Alison Balsom
EMI Classics 50999731660 2 3

Two years ago I had the opportunity to review the first recording I had heard by this amazing young British trumpeter. For the most part, that recording consisted of transcriptions of works which were not originally written for trumpet. By contrast, this recent disc contains a wider spectrum of music. The recording starts and ends with works by Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla. Balsom’s haunting tone sets the stage with his Escuale, and ends with a dazzling fiery performance of Libertango. While this recording too contains mostly transcriptions, it also has the Andante movement of a trumpet concerto by a composer named Neruda. Since no first name was given, a visit to Google turned up three composers by that name. From the sound of the work, I would assume that it is the work of 18th century composer Johann Baptist Neruda. There are movements from an oboe concerto by Marcello, a trio sonata by Bach, a flute work by Debussy and yet another excellent transcription of Rachmaninoff’s ubiquitous Vocalise. A new work, written for Balsom by Scottish composer James Macmillan, Seraph for trumpet and string orchestra, is in a similar vein.

Rounding out the program are arrangements of two traditional works, Shenandoah and Nobody Knows. Since much of the music is by lesser known composers, I would have appreciated some biographical information. Unfortunately there is none. Overall this is an excellent display of the talent of this young woman’s virtuosity. One does not have to be a trumpet aficionado to enjoy an hour of quality music with this CD.

From my reviewing standpoint, I don’t think any CD label has provided as many interesting releases over the past few years as England’s Hyperion Records. The latest release to reach me is a 2-CD set of the Complete Suites for Violin and Piano by Joseph Achron (CDA67841), in simply stunning performances by Hagai Shaham and Arnon Erez. Five of the six Suites are on CD2, recorded in 2009 at the Jerusalem Music Centre in Israel; the Stempenyu Suite and the 17 shorter pieces on CD1 were actually recorded 13 years earlier at the same location, and were previously released on Biddulph (LAW021). There is no discernible difference in the sound quality.

Achron (1886–1943) was a Russian Jewish virtuoso who studied under Leopold Auer in St. Petersburg, as did Milstein, Elman, Zimbalist and Heifetz; the latter is described in the excellent booklet notes by Malcolm Miller as Achron’s “friend and champion.” It’s a fitting connection, for Achron’s compositions — especially the earlier ones — are much in the style of the encore and salon pieces of Kreisler and Heifetz; the Children’s Suite on CD2 is a 1934 arrangement by Heifetz of eight of the 20 pieces in Achron’s original piano suite of the same name. Achron’s brother, incidentally, was Heifetz’s pianist in the US in the early 1920s. To strengthen the connection even more, Shaham’s tone and vibrato are very reminiscent of Heifetz’s own playing. And what playing there is on these two discs! Shaham is not only technically superb, but presents perfect interpretations, never treating the music as just occasional pieces, but never going over the top with the virtuosic aspects either.

What is particularly interesting about the music here is that it presents such an intriguing picture of the musical world through the early years of the 20th century; names mentioned in the notes as influences on Achron include Scriabin, Franck, Ravel, Stravinsky, Bartok, Mahler, Zemlinsky and Bloch. Achron’s style clearly developed as he moved through his life, from his early Russian pieces, through his connection with the Society for Jewish Folk Music in St. Petersburg in 1911, to his later, more chromatic works in Berlin and the US, works which were much admired by Schoenberg.

I simply can’t say enough about Shaham’s playing here — this is truly a violinist’s violinist. Erez is no slouch at the keyboard either, albeit possibly with less virtuosic demands. Surprisingly, much of Achron’s music still remains in manuscript form only, which makes this CD set even more valuable. Achron wrote three violin concertos, premiering the last two of them with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra during his Hollywood years in the late 1930s; what I wouldn’t give to be able to hear Shaham playing them!

The latest CD from England’s Brodsky Quartet offers beautifully-judged performances of the String Quartet and Piano Trio of Claude Debussy (Chandos CHAN 10717). The quartet was founded 40 years ago, with two of the original members still there, so their faultless ensemble playing should come as no surprise.

The String Quartet is a beautiful and idiomatic reading: passionate, nicely coloured and with a wonderful range of tone and dynamics. The Piano Trio is an early work from 1880, when the 18 year old Debussy was employed by Nadejda von Meck, Tchaikovsky’s patroness. Despite its lack of maturity, it’s an interesting piece, with many hints at the composer’s later style, but with a rather weak ending. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is the perfect pianist for this music, having recorded Debussy’s Complete Works for Solo Piano for the Chandos label. Again, it’s a beautiful performance.

Two shorter works fill out the CD. The Deux Danses (Danses Sacrée et Profane) for chromatic harp and orchestra were written in 1904 as examination pieces for the Brussels Conservatory, after that institution had been persuaded by the Parisian instrument makers Pleyel, the chromatic harp’s inventors, to run courses for the instrument. Welsh harpist Sioned Williams is the excellent soloist in this arrangement for pedal harp and string quintet, with Chris Laurence on double bass.

The closing track is the 1890 piano piece Reverie, arranged for string quartet by the Brodsky’s violist Paul Cassidy. Beautiful string playing throughout, with excellent balance and sound quality, make this a very attractive release.

Camillo Sivori (1815-94) was Paganini’s only pupil, and was already touring Europe as a virtuoso violinist by the age of 12. Like most 19th century virtuosi, he wrote works for his own instrument. The Italian label Tactus has issued his Opere per Violino e Pianoforte (TC 811901) in excellent performances by violinist Mauro Tortorelli and pianist Angela Meluso.

On first hearing, the seven pieces here are much in the style of Paganini, but Sivori was apparently noted for “advancing and maturing the concept of interpretation,” as the rather awkwardly-translated booklet notes put it, and the works offer a fascinating look at mid-1800s Italian virtuoso playing and composing in the post-Paganini years. Detailed performing and publication histories of the works are included in the booklet.

The playing here is absolutely first-class; it’s never enough simply to get all the notes and technical tricks in this type of music, even if it’s not that deep emotionally – you must also make it smooth and seamless, and apparently effortless, without making it sound like empty virtuosity. Tortorelli gets it stunningly right on all counts. The piano has less to do, but Meluso is a fine and sympathetic accompanist.

Sivori’s name also turns up on Bottesini – Capriccio di Bravura, a CD of stunning double bass performances by the Dutch bassist Rick Stotijn (Channel Classics CCS SA 32612). Giovanni Bottesini (1821-89) was a brilliant bass virtuoso, and his compositions for the instrument were responsible for the double bass becoming a bona fide solo instrument.

His most frequently heard work is the Gran Duo Concertante in A Major, originally written for two double basses and orchestra, but now played almost exclusively in the arrangement by Camillo Sivori for violin, double bass and orchestra. It is played here in an arrangement by Duncan McTier for the same soloists with string orchestra, with the outstanding Liza Ferschtman on violin and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta under Candida Thompson.

Cellist Monika Leskovar joins Stotijn for the Duo Concertant on Themes from Bellini’s “I Puritani,” also in a string orchestra arrangement, and the CD also features two works for double bass and string quintet: the Grande Allegro di Concerto “alla Mendelssohn,” which seems to rely heavily on the E Minor violin concerto for its inspiration; and the Capriccio di Bravura in A Major.

Stotijn’s sister, mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn, joins her brother and pianist Hans Eijsackers in two songs that reflect the composer’s love of – and familiarity with – opera and the bel canto style. Bottesini was a successful opera conductor, having conducted the premiere of Verdi’s Aïda in 1871, and he also wrote several operas of his own. Neither song is particularly Italianate or showy, and the bass beautifully supports the vocal part.

Stotijn’s playing throughout is quite astonishing, although the music itself isn’t always up to his high standards; his tone, vibrato speed, agility and range are truly amazing. At times it’s difficult to tell the violin and bass apart in the Gran Duo, and Stotijn manages to sound more like a cellist in the quintets.

The contributions from members of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta in the chamber works are first-class; there is a lovely resonance to the recorded sound, with the soloists perfectly balanced.

I’m not sure where to start with the new CD from the American cellist Charles Curtis – Bach: An Imaginary Dance (eOne EOM-CD-2127). “An extraordinary new reading of 3 Bach Cello Suites,” says the sticker on the front of the jewel case: “Accompanied by tabla and organ, Charles Curtis opens an alternative dimension of rhythm and color.” Well, maybe.

First things first. Curtis is a superb cellist. His playing here is smooth and flowing, with no hint of technical difficulty, and with a lovely sense of line that simply bursts with life and energy. I would pay a good deal to hear him perform the complete suites unaccompanied. So how did he end up recording selected cello suites with tabla (Naren Budhakar) and organ (Anthony Burr)?

For a start, he is fully aware of the historical context of the works, of the importance of dance in social life at the time and of Bach’s lack of hesitation in adapting his music to different instrumentations.

But why the Indian instrumental additions? Well, Curtis has studied the Kirana style of Indian classical music, and is a regular member of the Just Alap Raga Ensemble. When he decided to enhance the dance nature of the suites, the organ and tabla must have been immediate options: the tabla clearly supports and embroiders the rhythmic nature of the music, and the organ fills in the harmonic structure implicit in the solo cello lines. It’s a subtle harmonic support, too, with no vibrato and no contrapuntal lines – just a smooth, low-key chordal sound typical of the portable organs used in Indian music.

Now the big question: does it work? The Suites chosen are numbers 1 in G Major, 3 in C Major and 4 in E-flat Major; all have six movements – Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Bourrée or Menuet, and Gigue – and in each case the Prelude and Sarabande (the slow movements) are played unaccompanied. Even in the remaining movements, the tabla and organ are not always present; the degree of participation varies a great deal, whether they are playing singly or together. I tended to find that I would forget about them in the solo cello movements and then wonder why they had returned.

You can argue as much and as long as you like about whether or not this approach provides an ear-opening new way of listening to these works, or whether such additions do nothing but pointlessly compromise the integrity of the original music, but the bottom line for me is that Curtis’ cello playing is so wonderfully full of life, as close to perfection as you can get, that I can’t see how you could possibly need anything else. In many ways the tabla and organ don’t really detract from the music, but they can hardly be said to add anything either; at best, they buzz and hover around it like mosquitoes at an outdoor evening dinner.

“An alternative dimension of rhythm and color?” I don’t really know; I was too busy listening to the cello.

Bouliane; Gougeon; Rea Joseph Petric;
Nouvel Ensemble Moderne;
Lorraine Vaillancourt
ATMA ACD2 2395

Lorraine Vaillancourt and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM) deliver a vibrant performance in this most recent of an ongoing series of releases celebrating the new music of Montreal. Equally precise and passionate, they play the music like they own it.

Denys Bouliane’s Rythmes et échos des rivages anticostiens is an exciting work based on his imagined historical reconstruction of the music of Anticosti Island. The composer is particularly interested in the encounter between European and First Nations cultures, a project in which he brings to bear both his European academic background and more recent research into First Nations music. Sophisticated use of devices such as simple repetition achieve highly complex results, propelling the piece though an intense and inventive timbral tour of the NEM’s resources.

In En accordéon, Denis Gougeon, the self-described “knitter of sounds,” bases his ideas on the alternating squeezing and stretching of the accordion’s bellows. Dramatic gestures abound in this contemporary rendition of the classic concerto genre, as Joseph Petric’s virtuosic passage work and the silvery tone of his accordion are juxtaposed and combined with the sound of the ensemble. In Mutation, the composer’s use of musical gesture lengthens to encompass the entire work, giving it a strong sense of sweep and clarity.

John Rea’s fascination with music’s essential foundation, time, connects him with György Ligeti, to whom his piece Singulari-T is dedicated in its subtitle. Listeners will be fascinated to follow various musical manipulations of our sense of time: from metronomically steady, speeding up or slowing down, to irregular and unpredictable. At certain moments, some tendency reaches a breaking point and everything suddenly changes.

In all, a highly recommended album.