Bach - Suites and Partitas

Dom Andre Laberge

Analekta AN 2 9767

If we needed reminding of the inventiveness, adaptability and wide-ranging influence of Bach’s music, this recording provides ample evidence. The four major works are pieces Bach wrote for instruments other than the harpsichord, including violin (A minor sonata, BWV 1003 and famous D minor Chaconne), lute (BWV 996) and a hybrid known as a “Lautenclavicymbel” (BWV 997). With the exception of the Chaconne - which has been transcribed especially for Laberge by Pierre Gouin – all of the transcriptions were made during Bach’s lifetime by his students.

Paradoxically, the most convincing performance on the disc is of the least successful transcription. The solo violin sonata, BWV 1003, is a glorious work, full of contrapuntal and melodic interest. When transcribed for harpsichord, however, the sound alternates between being too thin or – when the “implied” harmonies of the violin are filled in – too thick and literal. Perhaps sensing this challenge, Laberge’s performance is brilliant, free and exciting, most particularly in the sensational fugue. This is in contrast to the somewhat careful and reserved approach to the rest of the material on the recording.

Laberge’s 1987 Dowd harpsichord records well and its warm and majestic sound suits its classy and formal owner, who is the organist and Abbot at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac in Quebec.

Clara and Robert Schumann - Piano Trios

Castle Trio

Friends of Music FOM 36-801 (www.smithsonian.org)

Robert Schumann - Complete works for Piano Trio

Leif Ove Andsnes; Christian Tetzlaff; Tanja Tetzlaff

EMI 0 94180 2

The American writer Catherine Drinker Bowen once referred to chamber music as “a conversation between friends.” I’ve long thought this a very apt description, and what better way to get ourselves in the mood for all the chamber music being heard at numerous festivals this summer than sampling these two recordings, featuring music by Robert and Clara Schumann? The first, on the Friends of Music label presents Clara’s only completed four-movement work, the Piano Trio Op.17, and her husband’s more familiar Piano Trio Op.63, performed by the Castle Trio. The second is a double disc featuring Schumann’s complete works for piano trio with Leif Ove Andsnes and Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff on EMI.

Clara Schumann’s Trio Op.17 and the Trio Op.63 by Robert were written within a year of each other, between 1846 and 1847, and both are now recognized as among the best of their output. Although Clara once described her trio as “effeminate and sentimental” there is no denying the fine craftsmanship displayed within. The American–based Castle Trio - Lambert Orkis, piano, Marilyn McDonald, violin, and Kenneth Slowik, cello – play with a finely-balanced precision and their exemplary interpretation is further enhanced by the decision to perform on early instruments, including an 1846 Streicher grand piano. To those used to modern-day chamber performances, the thinner, more transparent sound heard here may be a little disconcerting, but at the very least, the result is an accurate representation of how the music would have originally been heard.

The partnership among pianist Leif Ove Andsnes with violinist Christian Teztlaff and his sister, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, is a not infrequent one, and their performance on this EMI recording is everything we’d expect from three outstanding players. Included in the set are the three piano trios, the Fantasiestücke Op.88, as well as the Six Etudes in Canonic Form Op.56, as arranged by Theodor Kirchner. Indeed, there is much to admire here – the playing is at times bold and impassioned, imbued with the true romantic spirit. Yet sections such as the second movement of the Piano Trio No.2 display a wonderful sense of intimacy, with the cello particularly warm and resonant. The four Fantasiestücke Op.88 are an attractive bonus, with the Marche finale bringing both the set and the collection to a buoyant and optimistic conclusion. In all, these are two fine additions to the catalogue; surely Robert and Clara would nod their heads in approval.

Live from Lugano 2010

Martha Argerich and Friends

EMI 0 70836 2

Once again, in June 2010 in Lugano (Switzerland) “the hills are alive with the sound of music.” Those lucky enough to find a hotel room can enjoy Martha Argerich’s famous festival with many of today’s most talented young musicians playing solo and chamber music. Martha is as good as ever but her interests now extend towards a) teaching and inspiring the young and b) getting involved with chamber works as well as new adventurous projects, new music and even jazz. This year, apart from nearly 20 young artists, we have her usual stalwarts like the amazing brothers, violinist Renaud and cellist Gautier Capuçon and even her ex-husband the famous pianist Stephen Kovacevich.

2010 being the year of 200th anniversaries for Schumann and Chopin these are dutifully celebrated with Schumann’s Violin Sonata in a minor played beautifully by Renaud Capuçon and Argerich and his Adagio and Allegro Op. 70 for cello and piano, performed with Gautier Capuçon. To honour Chopin there is a wonderfully relaxed performance of one of Martha’s long time favourites the E minor piano concerto.

But here ends the “traditional” part and the “adventurous” now begins. First comes a fiendishly difficult transcription for two pianos of Liszt’s Les Preludes presaging next year’s Liszt celebrations. Erich Korngold’s rarely heard, feverishly overheated post-Straussian Piano Quintet still harkens back to late Romanticism but not the next work. Bartok’s Sonata for 2 pianos and percussion is from the composer’s “barbaric” period, a relentlessly percussive, uncompromising piece. If some listeners think it is “ugly” then Bartok actually achieved his purpose. It is played with great aplomb and exuberance by Argerich and Kovacevich. It had already been recorded by these two but alas that disc was deleted from the catalogue. Now with this set thankfully it is back.

I doubt Stravinsky ever heard Carlo Maria Griguoli’s three piano version of the Firebird Suite but he would certainly have approved of this stunning virtuoso arrangement played by three young pianists including the arranger himself. Now for a suitable ending of this fascinating set, terrifying noises of the big city emanate from Alfred Schnittke’s Piano Quintet (1976). Fully atonal with plenty of quarter tones we hear sirens of an ambulance at one point and at another unbearable noise of a swarm of hornets closing in around one’s head. Yet at the end ironically there is heavenly peace inspired by Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony.

Keeping Score: Mahler - Origins and Legacy

Michael Tilson Thomas; San Francisco Symphony

SFSMedia

This is the third season of the San Francisco Symphony’s admirable “Keeping Score” music documentary series, a project that can be followed on certain PBS stations (unfortunately Buffalo’s WNED is not among them). The episodes are typically an hour long, though the latest Mahler instalment is twice that length. The retail version of the broadcast includes a second CD featuring the complete First Symphony and isolated movements from three more symphonies (details are available at keepingscore.org). This handsomely produced and thoughtful documentary is considerably enhanced by on-location visits to Mahler’s boyhood home of Iglau (now Jihlava, in the Czech Republic) and the re-creation of its unique soundscape: a melange of military bands, the hymnody of St. Jacob’s church (Mahler, though Jewish, joined the choir there), the rustic sounds emanating from his father Bernard’s tavern, and the sylvan stillness of the ravine just beyond the town walls. Tilson-Thomas delivers an extended and quite engaging thematic analysis of Mahler’s First Symphony, convincingly demonstrating how Mahler forged the touchstone for all his subsequent works from these disparate cultural elements. Mahler’s rapid rise to the very top of his profession as a conductor is traced via stops in Budapest, Vienna and New York, including an unprecedented opportunity to enter his villa on the Wörthersee and visits to the various “composing huts” he had built for his precious few summers of composing. We learn of the genesis of most, though not all, of his 10 symphonies along the way. It is perhaps understandable, considering the huge expense of the recording contracts involved, that the choral symphonies (2 and 8) are glossed over and the grandiose 8th symphony rates but a single sentence. It is nonetheless an unfortunate omission, as both these works embrace a message of resurrection and transcendence that belie the clichéd thesis of Mahler’s introverted “otherness” which forms such a large part of Tilson-Thomas’s argument.

The Polish composer Henryk Gorecki, who died last November, wrote three string quartets fairly late in his career - a fourth was apparently unfinished at the time of his death - and these are presented on the specially-priced 2-CD set Gorecki: The Three String Quartets (Hyperion CDA67812) performed by the Warsaw-based Royal String Quartet. It’s certainly not easy listening, with predominantly slow, quiet, and often dissonant meditative passages with low harmonies and little vibrato, interspersed with rich tonal outbursts. Already it is dusk, from 1988, Quasi una fantasia, from 1991, and ...songs are sung, completed in 1995 but not released until 2005, all offer ample support for Adrian Thomas’ comment in the booklet notes that “contemplation was always central to Gorecki” - certainly there is a sacred as well as a secular feel to these complex and very individualistic works. All three quartets were commissioned and first performed by the Kronos Quartet, who have also recorded them. I haven’t heard their versions, but however different they may be it’s hard to believe that they could be any more authoritative than these exemplary performances by the Polish ensemble.

Hyperion continues to add outstanding discs to its catalogue, and has just re-issued the Anthony Marwood and Susan Tomes recital of Music for Violin and Piano by Dvořák in their Helios budget-label series (CDH55365). It’s an absolute delight from start to finish, with really fine works, outstanding playing, and a beautiful recorded sound. The Sonata in F minor and the Sonatina in G are the major works, but there isn’t a single track that is less than top-drawer. The Four Romantic Pieces were originally written for 2 violins and viola, Dvořák arranging them almost simultaneously for violin and piano; two shorter works, the Ballad in D minor and the Notturno in B major, complete the disc. Marwood’s playing is simply faultless, with perfect intonation, a lovely tone, and sensitive and intelligent phrasing. He is matched in all respects by Tomes. Marwood has a half-dozen other fascinating and highly-acclaimed CDs on the Hyperion label, ranging from Weill and Stravinsky to little-known British Romantic concertos. He’s clearly a player with a range to match his ability – and that’s saying something.

I’m constantly reminded of how difficult it is to keep up with contemporary performers and compositions – or at least reminded of the fact that I’m probably not doing as well as I should be in that respect. A case in point is the new CD from the Israeli violinist Ittai Shapira, who is active as a soloist and as a composer. He performs his own Concierto Latino on an abbreviated (26 minutes) CD from Champs Hill (CHRCD020) with the London Serenata conducted by Krzysztof Chorzelski. Shapira is a new name to me, but in addition to his own works he has already had 14 concertos written for him by other composers! This concerto was written in response to a personal assault Shapira experienced when he was mugged by a New York gang in January 2005: the three movements, titled Assault, Lament and Party, clearly indicate the therapeutic nature of the work, and Shapira’s celebration of his recovery. It’s an interesting and accessible piece, with a mix of various technical and musical influences - Latin, Iberian, Sephardic, Cuban, among others – and is extremely well played by all the performers. Recorded at St. Paul New Southgate, London the sound quality is excellent.

Naxos has released Volume 3 of the projected 8-volume series of the complete Music for Violin and Orchestra by Sarasate (8.572275). I wrote a glowing review of the earlier volumes a few years ago, and this latest CD is clearly their equal. The young Chinese violinist Tianwa Yang is again simply brilliant throughout, playing Sarasate’s own violin on two of the tracks. The Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra (founded by Sarasate himself in 1879) under Ernest Martinez Izquierdo provides the most idiomatic support imaginable. And don’t think for a moment that the standard of the works themselves is lagging as the series proceeds: the Concert Fantasy on Mozart’s Die Zauberflõte is dazzling; Navarra (with the soloist double-tracked) is an exuberant duet; the bagpipe-influenced Muineiras is a delight. The Nouvelle fantasie sur Faust de Gounod, the Barcarolle venitienne and the Introduction et Caprice-Jota complete an immensely satisfying, entertaining and probably definitive disc.

Naxos has issued a fascinating CD of Saint-Saëns String Quartets (8.572454) played by the Fine Arts Quartet. Saint-Saëns was born ten years before the premiere of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and died eight years after the premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, but such radical change was never reflected in his music. The quartets are both late works – the E minor Op.112 from 1899 and the G major Op.153 from 1918 – but it’s hard to tell from their decidedly 19th century musical style. It’s quite astonishing, for instance, to think that the Op.153 was written by a French composer during the last year of the Great War, and ten years after Schoenberg had first abandoned tonality; in places it’s almost Beethovenian. Fine Arts violinist Ralph Evans correctly describes the quartets as “serious, intellectual, brilliantly crafted yet delightful works,” but it’s difficult to identify a personal voice in them; they tend to remind you more of other composers than of Saint-Saëns himself. It’s also easy to see why his reputation in France had faded by the time of his death - he simply belonged to a different era.

The Fine Arts Quartet has been around since 1946; three of the current members have been there for at least 28 years. Their playing here is of the highest level, although the big vibrato and the occasional “scoop” give it a somewhat dated feel. The sound quality is very resonant, in places almost too much so.

Vadim Gluzman turns his attention to the music of Max Bruch on his latest Super Audio CD (BIS-SACD-1852), with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Andrew Litton. Given that Bruch wrote three violin concertos plus the Scottish Fantasy it’s a bit disappointing, albeit not particularly surprising, to see that once again it’s the Concerto No.1 in G minor – “the” concerto – that is the main work here. Bruch himself was constantly exasperated by the popularity of this concerto over the others: apparently little has changed! Still, it’s an impassioned and extremely satisfying performance from Gluzman, perfectly showcasing his rich, warm tone, and with Litton providing a sympathetic and glowing accompaniment. The Romance in F major was written for viola and orchestra, but rather than switching instruments (as did Janine Jansen on her 2008 CD) Gluzman uses the violin part from the violin & piano version prepared by the composer. It works very well, but if you know the viola version this one loses something in the translation. The third work on the CD, the String Quintet in A minor, has much in common with the Saint-Saëns String Quartet No.2 reviewed above. Bruch and Saint-Saëns had almost identical life-spans – 1838-1920 and 1835-1921 respectively – and the works were both written in 1918, when the world that both composers still belonged to had vanished completely. Like the Saint-Saëns quartet, Bruch’s quintet gives absolutely no hint of the new world order. It’s a well-crafted, lovely work, but it comes as no surprise to hear 19^th century voices – particularly Mendelssohn and Brahms – in the melodies and harmonies.

Gluzman is joined by Sandis Steinbergs on violin, Maxim Rysanov and Ilze Klava on violas, and Reinis Birznieks on cello in a finely-balanced and well-recorded performance.

This May, Virgin Classics released the final CD in the complete cycle of Beethoven quartets by the German Artemis Quartet. Their 2010 release of the String Quartets Op.18/6 and Op.130/133 (50999 694584 0 8) has just reached me, and presents the perfect opportunity to mention the project. The series started on the Ars Musici label, and Virgin reissued two single Ars Musici CDs as a Virgin Classics 2-CD set last year. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to write a full review at the time, but the CDs were top of my list of highlights of the year. The playing on each CD I’ve heard so far is as good as any you will encounter, and the recorded sound is full and warm, although the cello tends to “boom” a bit on this latest disc. According to the Quartet’s website, the entire project will be issued as a box set in the near future - definitely something to look out for, especially if it’s attractively priced.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold - Symphony in F Sharp

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra; John Storgårds

Ondine ODE 1182-2

Here is a fine addition to the significant revivals and original works recorded by John Storgårds with the Helsinki Philharmonic. The precocious Erich Korngold was already writing chamber music, orchestral works, and operas at an age when many composers have barely started. But he was forced to leave Austria during the Nazi scourge and turned to Hollywood, becoming an innovator in the new art of film music. The Symphony in F sharp, completed in 1952 after his return to Vienna, is a wonderful summation of his concert and film music accomplishments.

Korngold was a story-teller when critical opinion prized abstract and esoteric music. Only recently have we appreciated his expressive persona, orchestral mastery, and judicious incorporation of musical modernity. The Symphony’s dramatic opening movement demonstrates all these qualities. Its angular melodies, dissonant harmony and interjections by brass and percussion (particularly the xylophone) show his mastery of newer idioms. Storgårds’ transitions assuredly through the work’s contrasting moods, as in a flute solo over hushed strings or in cinematic flashes featuring the horn section. The orchestration of the Scherzo is especially colourful and the Helsinki Orchestra takes it all in stride with tight ensemble work. I find their performance of the anguished slow movement extraordinarily moving. More cheerful and witty is the finale, whose popular American film idiom is interrupted by intense interludes. Rounding off this valuable disk is Korngold’s youthful Tänzchen, which receives a charmingly Viennese treatment by the Helsinki Orchestra.

Arvo Pärt - Symphony No.4

Los Angeles Philharmonic; Esa-Pekka Salonen

ECM New Series ECM 2160

Arvo Pärt's fourth symphony is scored for tympani, concert harp, percussion and string orchestra. Although there is no choral element, one cannot imagine that the origins of this creation are not steeped in chant.

Shortly after I was tragically and very suddenly widowed, I attended the Canadian premier performance of this symphony (long before the ECM release). Supportive family members and friends had been encouraging me that once again I would find beauty in a world that seemed so empty, as it often does during the early stages of grief. I will never forget the profound sense of beauty, tonal balance and celestial bliss that surrounded me for the duration of the symphony. It truly was the first time I had encountered beauty amongst my suffering.

For many years, a quote from the Estonian composer has resounded with me: “I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played.” This line speaks volumes of Pärt's tintinnabuli approach to musical expression.

With the ECM release of this symphony, I was eager to discover whether the same sense of wonder that I experienced live could possibly be documented. Esa-Pekka Salonen intimately and delicately conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in a way that masterfully conveys Pärt’s awe-inspiring composition.

This label has a long history of working with Arvo Pärt. His sparse and minimalist style (which seems to rely on silence as much as sound at times) lends itself perfectly to the label's established approach of audiophile recording techniques. It is a superlative recording that draws the listener right in, or rather, right above the front of the stage; there's a stunning balance of direct and reverberant sound, while still maintaining pinpoint imaging. I was also pleasantly surprised to find similar results with open back headphones.

Upon listening to this disc, I am reminded of a conversation I had with a friend who recently moved to Canada from Brazil to learn English. When the word “awesome” seemed to pop up commonly in conversation, I reminded him that the word is indeed overused as of late. It is in fact an adjective that once seemed to be reserved to describe those rare, most magnificent occurrences. I feel that this word could certainly be used to describe Esa-Pekka Salonen's interpretation of Arvo Pärt's Fourth Symphony.

Federico Mompou - Silent Music

Jenny Lin

Steinway & Sons 30004

I understand Federico Mompou’s four books entitled Silent Music for piano (1959-67) as music to be co-constructed by creator and listener. The needed frame of mind, conditions, and responses must come from the listener. Then pensive moments may arrive that take us beyond ourselves. The Spanish title Musica Callada comes from mystical poetry by St. John of the Cross, the 28 pieces sharing a quality of monastic sparseness with soft dynamics and slow tempi.

Since acquiring ArkivMusic in 2008, Steinway & Sons has released several discs showcasing its topflight piano. This is a special recording where instrument, production, engineering, documentation, and performance are all superb. Jenny Lin displays flawless pianism with superb control of dynamics and occasional flashes of virtuosity. I am reluctant to single out particular favourites: the books create cumulative effects and listener responses will vary widely.

In Mompou’s own recordings, melodies are shaped more incisively, rubato is freer, and old-fashioned “breaking of the hands” is heard. As a contemporary listener, I much prefer Lin’s approach. But Mompou’s own passionate playing belies any notion of minimalist intentions. The mood is different than Satie’s and closer to Debussy at his most sparse, in the prelude …De pas sur la neige, or in Le petit berger from the Children’s Corner Suite.

One extra piece, Secreto, comes at the disc’s end. Here, criticism takes its leave and readers are invited to seek their own experiences with this remarkable music.

Daniel Janke - Cinco Puntos Cardinales

Mark Fewer; Coro In Limine

Centrediscs CMCCD 16911

In part compositions for violin solo, a men’s chorus, mixed instrumental ensemble and soundscapes from South America, the unifying principle of this eclectic collection is its design as an accompaniment and essential text to a modern dance work by the Lima Peru dance company, Danza Contemporanea.

The work’s title may be translated as “Five Cardinal Points” and its choreographer Yvonne von Mollendorff suggests a metaphysical reading: the four directions of the compass plus the fifth – “the self, the observer.” The work’s sections range widely in kind from three austere solo violin pieces eloquently performed by Mark Fewer, to the rhythmic sound of palm fronds in Guyana, to the lush male sounds of the Peruvian Coro in Limine. Composer Daniel Janke deftly merges international and his own Canadian musical influences and creates a work that verges on the cinematic in scope. The variety of performing ensembles and where they were recorded geographically reminds one of Janke’s more recent career as a film writer, composer and director.

Adding to the kaleidoscope of aesthetics and genres is a track recorded with some of Toronto’s top improvisers, as well as a West African tinged track Miawezo. The latter composition alludes to Janke’s studies of the kora (West African harp-lute) in the 1970s and ‘80s with some of its leading hereditary Jali musicians.

Long devoted to incorporating world music influences in his compositions, Daniel Janke continues to boldly bridge parts of our globe through the music on this album.

Two Kites

Fern Lindzon

Iatros IM02 (www.fernlindzon.com)

On pianist/vocalist/composer Fern Lindzon’s sophomore recording, she explores themes of spiritual and emotional transcendence as well as the kinaesthetic experience of soaring through, around and above the natural elements of wind, sea and sky. The musical journey is an eclectic one, featuring original material, Brazilian and Yiddish compositions as well as blues and a medley of Broadway standards – even so, there is a unifying creative intent on this breathtakingly beautiful album. For “Two Kites” she has enlisted gifted collaborators bassist George Koller (who also wears the producer hat), Mike Murley on saxophones and Nick Fraser on drums.

The jaunty title track comes from Antonio Carlos Jobim (who wrote the music as well as the English lyrics) and deliciously coalesces all of the thematic elements of the album.

Lindzon has a consummate ability to sing in Yiddish. On Dona Dona and Yam Lid/Lustige Chasidm/Balkan Bella-Busta, she effortlessly combines an ethnic sensibility with decidedly contemporary elements - all the while wrapping her tongue around the unforgiving German dialect. George Koller`s rich and extensive background in world music can be felt throughout.

Memorable tracks include the original instrumental All Fall Down where Lindzon’s intricate, yet commanding piano technique is a perfect fit for Murley’s lithe soprano work, which weaves in and out of Koller and Fraser’s pulsing lines. Also noteworthy are the haunting Distance by consummate vocalist Norma Winstone and Lindzon’s original, Grey Green, on which her evocative vocal, harmonically complex arrangement and Bill Evans-ish piano solo coupled with the inspired work of her ensemble, make this an undeniable stand-out.

green edge sky, green edge sun

Mark Kieswetter; Ross MacIntyre

Independent (www.cdbaby.com/cd/markkieswetter)

It’s always nice – and a relief – when the playing you hear on a CD is as elegant and evocative as its title (and title track). Indeed, that is the case with pianist Mark Kieswetter and bassist Ross MacIntyre’s newly released CD, ever-so-evocatively entitled, “green edge sky, green edge sun” (no clumsy caps, here). It is a beautiful album, exquisitely executed by two outstanding musicians who clearly “get” each other. Kieswetter and MacIntyre have captured the true essence of what the best piano/bass duos are all about: elegance, economy, precision, fluidity, style, intimacy, grace, and that magical, intangible chemistry – the simpatico.

Indiana-born Kieswetter spent a chunk of time in Toledo, making quite a name for himself – he was referred to in one article as “Toledo, Ohio piano legend Mark Kieswetter” – prior to arriving in the Big Smoke in 2002. And the accolades didn’t stop at the border. He’s been the pianist-of-choice for many Toronto-based, talented jazz artists (with obvious good taste), including Heather Bambrick, Emilie-Claire Barlow and The WholeNote’s own Ori Dagan. I have it on good authority that at the May 31 CD Release (at the very hip Gallery 345), there were at least two dozen singers in the room who regularly work with Kieswetter. That, in itself, speaks volumes about the man’s skill.

The other guy’s skill ain’t nothing to sneeze at, either. Ross MacIntyre (born, raised and based in Toronto), is one of the most in-demand side musicians in Canada. When he’s not in the studio, or playing in town alongside local luminaries like Reg Schwager and Mike Murley, to name but a few, he’s touring the world with the likes of Matt Dusk, Elizabeth Shepherd and Barlow. He’s also the house bassist for Lisa Particelli’s weekly “Girls Night Out Vocalist-Friendly Jazz Jam” at Chalkers Pub. The man is busy.

Despite their whirlwind schedules, it was meant to be for these two highly respected musicians to take a breath and take the time to make some great music together. We’re lucky that they did. They’ve gifted us with 13 tracks including gorgeous and creative arrangements of classics such as Green Dolphin Street (chosen in keeping with the CD cover’s “green theme” perhaps?), Lerner and Loewe’s The Heather on the Hill and, the final track, Bill Evans’ We Will Meet Again, as well as Kieswetter’s original title track and his harmonically haunting Ask Alice. Let’s hope they’ll consider producing a second CD down the road.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Kieswetter’s six-year old grandson, Isaac, provided the enchanting – and yes, evocatively “green-hued” – cover art for the album. Hmmm… a serious artistic streak appears to run in the family. Ya think?

Let Me Off Uptown

Anita O'Day

Mr. Music MMCD-7027 (www.worldsrecords.com)

For those of us who believe Anita O’Day was one of the most important among jazz singers, this brand new release of previously unavailable live material is a divine treat. Those not in the know should Google O’Day’s mind-blowing renditions of Sweet Georgia Brown and Tea for Two, filmed by Bert Stern at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. With these two cuts as bonus tracks, this CD features four other selections from that famous set, including a brilliantly phrased Have You Met Miss Jones and a droll ditty referred to as the novelty number, Varsity Drag.

Also included are several impressive performances from the late 1950s, O’Day’s heyday. Take The Man I Love recorded at the 1957 Timex All-Star Jazz Show: she starts off rubato, decorating phrases expertly with dissonance; then, improvising like the finest of horn players, she swings the melody to Mars and back, but never loses the lyric in the process. Four Brothers and Love Me or Leave Me demonstrate O’Day’s incredible ease with fast tempos; her time feel is infectiously on the money and she is never rushed, always relaxed. The singer’s cool, tongue-in-cheek approach is best exposed on vehicles like Honeysuckle Rose, which she performed literally thousands of times in her career, but never the same way twice. Personnel includes Benny Goodman, Jack Sheldon, Lionel Hampton, Flip Phillips and others jazz greats. This CD is a worthwhile jazz history lesson. A bargain at any price.

à l’inattendu les dieux livrent passage

Mecha Fixes Clocks (Michel F. Côté)

& Records ET 09 (www.etrecords.net)

Atmospheric and ambient, but also audacious, Montreal percussionist/keyboardist and electronic manipulator Michel F. Côté uses a variety of sonic strategies to construct an exuberantly original nine-part sound world on “à l’inattendu les dieux livrent passage.” Accomplished in transforming directors’ and choreographers’ ideas into sound, as well as leading ad hoc bands such as this one, which generate a new meaning from his initials, the composer/arranger pushes and pulls the textures in a multi-stylistic fashion so that seemingly bland surfaces turn out to contain tough, multi-faceted cores.

Case in point is a track like ferveur fossile, where chunks and clicks from signal-processed timbres splutter and shrill while commenting upon Gordon Allen’s irregularly vibrated trumpet lines and the twangs from Bernard Falaise’ guitar. Arco string runs maintain the theme, although variants become looser, more strident and discordant as they come in contact with the buzzing electronics. Other pieces offer interludes of pseudo classicism via Pierre Yves-Martel’s viol de gambe or Jean Derome’s harmonized bass flute, only to have them sabotaged by Lori Freedman’s harsh bass clarinet slurs or abrasive wood scrapes from the percussionist. Overall it seems that sonic disruption is as much a part of Côté’s compositions as legato continuum.

This post-modern strategy is sardonically confirmed on au-delà de l’espace des petits oiseaux and more obviously on the concluding entre idéal et mental. On that track, string-laden samples, likely sourced by turntablist Martin Tétrault from Gone with the Wind composer Max Steiner LPs, are interrupted by plinking from live string players, motor-driven whines and clanks plus the percussionist’s cross pulses and opposite-sticking beats.

When Mike Murley enters the heroic tradition of tenor sax trios, you’d better listen. The star hornman has linked with two quality veterans in a new band playing bandsmen originals that makes its recording debut on Broadview Trio - Two Of Clubs (Addo Jazz Recordings AJR008 www.addorecords.com). Taped at Toronto clubs Chalkers and The Rex, the appropriately titled opening track Rich Murlted soon morphs into a thriller, with fleet and pungent bassist Rich Brown and smart, energizing drummer Ted Warren revelling in an open, loose structure that lets them stretch. All eight cuts have something to recommend them, Lullabye showing off the serious intense groove impact Brown generates, Open Spaces brewing nicely beneath Murley’s seamless phrasing cruise and International Idle a feast for Warren’s rapid-fire excursions around the kit. Murley’s caressing of Winter Flower is the saxman at his spellbinding best, the off-kilter Tango Ruby bounces giddily, On The Lemonade is an out-and-out swinger while Hibiscus rambles with purpose, illuminating trio members’ vast skills as they blend ingenuity and emotional depth.

The threesome led by inspirational Quebec alto saxist François Carrier indulges avant-garde motifs crammed with repetitive notes, long tense solos and a sound that’s wildly uneven yet most agreeable, at least to these ears. François Carrier/Alexey Lapin/Michel Lambert - Inner Spire (Leo Records CDLR601 www.leorecords.com), recorded in Moscow last December, has the boss wailing like Albert Ayler while regular drummer Lambert and thunderous Russian pianist Lapin pursue manic notions of their own, together creating freewheeling music that’s always teetering on the precipice. Lapin suggests Cecil Taylor or Matthew Shipp, the irrepressible Lambert only himself. Five “tunes” here, none hummable, but it’s always fascinating to hear how bold sonic explorations develop – it makes 20^th century classical revolutionaries seem distinctly tame.

Kirk MacDonald, noted tenorman and now noted composer, has put together a top-drawer collection of musicians to play eight of his tunes on Kirk MacDonald Jazz Orchestra - Deep Shadows (Addo AJR009 www.adddorecords.com), with trombonist Terry Promane and trumpeter Joe Sullivan (who also conducts) sharing chart duty. The leader’s in the sax section, soloing at length in signature powerful manner on the opening New Piece and with considerable acumen and authority elsewhere. His compositions pack the passion in, though it’s not always obvious. The intro to Goodbye Glenn has elements of the lustrous Miller sound but the ballad is a delightful showcase for saxists P. J. Perry (alto) and Pat LaBarbera (tenor) and ever-present lush section work, while the thrusting Greenwich Time offers fine moments from guitarist Lorne Lofsky. Jazz waltz Calendula puts the chief back in the solo saddle to deliver a well-rounded gem, and it’s the turn of Sullivan, Promane and driving drummer Barry Romberg to achieve blowhard honours on the effective minor-chord Eleven. High standards throughout are maintained, right up to the showcase title tune closer.

Drummer Kevin Brow graduated from U of T’s jazz program but now is based in Copenhagen. Koptor - Fire Sink (Fresh Sound New Talent FSNT 384 www.kevinbrow.com) is his band Koptor’s second album and it’s really good. The forceful, imaginative Brow composed 10 originals for a session featuring three Danish players – avant-garde saxist Lotte Anker, pianist Jacob Anderskov and bass Jeppe Skovbakke. The music’s all stop-time rhythms, unpredictable sequiturs and cool sonic provocation, like some ECM recordings, and nods relentlessly to Euro classical structures. Brow maintains exceptional grooves, often exciting though never overstating his case while his companions offer up jazz ranging from lavishly melodious to suggestively raw. The rousing Intellectual Sex, the fascinating soloing of sax and piano and crafty underpinning by drums and bass on the title cut and the weird eruptions on Penny Crushing are just three examples of creative minds in high gear.

Young bands are stirring interest in Hogtown. One has twenty-somethings making their debut recording on Brent Mah/Alex Goodman - Convergence (www.alexgoodman.ca), a most promising album demonstrating maturity, flexibility and a cohesion so acute that on occasion it almost throttles freshness. Accomplished guitarist Goodman penned four tunes, saxist Mah three and the 68-minute session is fleshed out with a jazz standard and contributions from Radiohead and Pink Floyd. Booming bassist Dan Fortin and drummer Karl Schwonick make a solid rhythm team. The opening Momentum is sort of chamber-bop in 5/4, a measure of the writing challenges met and the other material is never dull, though while I appreciate Mah’s range and agility I don’t care much for his restrained and thin alto/soprano tones. Other entertaining tracks are Persistence Of Memory and Missed Opportunity.

The next shows bassist Ken McDonald making big strides with his second album as leader Ken McDonald Quartet - Pay What You Can (www.kenmcdonaldjazz.com) that features saxist Paul Metcalfe, guitarist Demetri Petslakis and drummer Lowell Whitty. He’s composed six thoughtful originals that are performed with energy and confident flair, for starters Detroit which especially shows off his strings agility and bright-toned Metcalfe’s rich vein of ideas. Beyond it are smart and subtle creations that let bandsmen expand their horizons and conjure up novel, sometimes striking, jazz – it’s a pity there’s just 39 minutes of it.

Besides gaining a reputation for its demographically diverse and eminently liveable neighbourhoods, when it came to improvised music starting in the early 1970s Toronto was actually a world-class city in more than civic boosterism. That’s because on the initiative of photographer/musician Bill Smith, Sackville records was issuing LPs by some of the most significant avant-garde players from New York, Chicago and St. Louis. Recorded for the most part in local studios, these discs – and affiliated concerts – documented these emerging stylists and designated Toronto as part of the international free jazz firmament. Now Chicago’s Delmark label is distributing CD reissues of the original Sackville records.

Probably the most significant session was the label’s one two-disc package, saxophonist and flautist Julius Hemphill’s Roi Boyé & the Gotham Minstrels (Sackville SKCD2-3014/15 www.delmark.com). It’s a solo session that’s a pioneering example of using multi-tracking to create a compelling audio drama. Best known as a founder of the World Saxophone Quartet (WSQ), Hemphill (1938-1995) was interested in programmatic story telling not reed bravado. One observation is that the often-delicate timbres of the reedist’s overdubbed flutes were showcased at a time when the cliché of advanced jazz imagined every player a discordant eardrum-assaulter. Even when playing astringent alto saxophone, as on the second track, Hemphill is so in control of his material that he doesn’t lapse into glottal punctuation. Instead he replicates a New York subway journey through an overdubbed choir of yelping saxophones. Exactly one year later, Hemphill and his WSQ colleague Oliver Lake recorded the duo disc, Buster Bee (Sackville SKCD2-3016 www.delmark.com) in Toronto. As notable as their teamwork was, it lacks the revolutionary force of the solo set. On “Roi Boyé” for instance, Hemphill devotes the final track to a narrative about a black artist’s life in a materialistic society, punctuating his story-telling with harsh squeals, discordant whorls and split tones. Another track replicates a butterfly’s attraction through stacked and harmonized reed tones that meander linearly; while a third is practically a capriccio, with the theme bouncing along, propelled by carefully stacked, overdubbed horn vamps, while reed-biting and pressurized vibratos from the alto saxophone come in-and-out of aural focus for contrast, ending with a distinctive contralto textural upturn. Hemphill doesn’t neglect jazz’s bedrock, the blues, either. One extended piece positions a soulful alto saxophone riff, basso lip-bubbling from the flute and a heavily breathed soprano saxophone line that could come from a country blues harmonica, while discordant pitches slide contrapuntally among them. Eventually the track reflects both the guttural despair and altissimo promise of the music.

Another pace-setting session took place a year earlier, with George Lewis’ The Solo Trombone Record (Sackville SKCD2-3012 www.delmark.com), the first session under his own name by the musician now as famous for his computer-directed music as for his brass mastery. Audacious to the nth degree, the disc’s Tonebursts is another example of overdubbing. But while Hemphill was 39, with years of gigging behind him when “Roi Boyé” was recorded, Lewis was all of 24. In spite of his youth, the 20-minute track is another tour-de-force with the trombonist evidentially able to stylistically replicate key attributes of older brassmen, calling upon the color of Tricky Sam Nanton, the sophistication of Lawrence Brown and the speed of J. J. Johnson at will and blending them as needed. Here expressive lines are sometimes replaced by a sudden staccato brays, or mid-improv, a trombone choir harmonizes, with its parts segmented among bass trombone pedal-point, alto trombone open-horn linearity, and the highest textures strained though a cup mute. There are even times during which you could swear a supple saxophone is soloing accompanied by phantom guitar strokes. Besides expressive glissandi, timbres are sourced from deep within the trombone body; capillary lines are lobbed from one ‘bone to another; or rubato tones share space with polyharmonies and polytones. Eventually techniques such as oscillated mouthpiece kisses are replaced with resonating runs that maintain an almost conventional jazz-styled line while at the same time making room for growling ostinatos and altissimo cries. Lewis also provides a solo interpretation of Lush Life, but more impressive are other tracks such as Untitled Dream Sequence. Taken at the same tempo as that Billy Strayhorn classic, the Dream Sequence’s note-slurping, double-tongued accents and speedy glisses from every part of the horn demonstrate that exciting improvisation doesn’t have to be fortissimo, super-fast or discordant.

Lewis was also more than just present a year previously when saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell’s Quartet on Sackville (SKCD2-3009 www.delmark.com) was recorded live at Toronto’s long defunct A Space gallery. The momentous session not only captures a then-rare example of the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s saxophonist performing without the other band members, but puts him in an all-star context. Other quartet members are pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, probably the most respected Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians founder, and Detroit guitarist Spencer Barefield. Mitchell and Lewis expose sonorous counterpoint on one duo track and the trombonist alone turns Mitchell’s Olobo into another brass tour-de-force, blending a near ballad exposition with guttural sniggers, near-silent breaths and a coda of overblowing. Group dynamics are memorable as well. Sonic tension is almost visible on Tnoona. With the theme built up from the saxophonist’s tongue flutters and split tones, guitar vibration, Lewis’ sliding plunger work and Abrams’ focussed note clusters, it finally dissolves without release. Aleatory as suggested by its title, Mitchell’s Cards is the CD’s most fully-realized composition. Chromatic forward motion is due to the pianist’s expressive low-frequency runs, but the linear form is punctuated by Barefield’s oscillating amp reverb. Meanwhile Mitchell’s reeds bark with clown-horn-like blasts and dilating split tones, as the trombonist contributes plunger grace notes and discursive pedal point. A coda of stentorian guitar strums completes the improvisation.

Other 1970s group sessions involve a rare excursion into focused European improvisations on All Kinds of Time (Sackville SKCD2-3010 www.delmark.com), by a duo of German pianist/vibist Karl Berger and British bassist Dave Holland, who now follows a more mainstream course; plus pianist Anthony Davis, best-known for operas such as X and Amistad, expressing himself with a suite and shorter composition backed by violin, cello and percussion. But it is Brahma (Sackville SKCD2-3023 www.delmark.com) from 1980 which best demonstrates the musical future which was partially ushered in by these earlier discs. Led by veteran drummer Barry Altschul, the unusually constituted trio introduced two players now in the prime of their career: trombonist Ray Anderson and bassist Mark Helias. Improvising jazz is never static, and unlike uncompromising abstraction that characterizes earlier discs in this set, swinging elements are now mixed with the risk-taking solos. These rhythmic components still go far beyond the conventional. Altschul’s solo on the 17-minute title track may hit a groove, but his bulls-eye beat is amplified with timbre scrambles using mallets and sticks, ratamacues and drags on toms and snares, plus numerous interjections that bring in cymbal shaking, bell-tree resonation, waterphone scrapes, cow bell thwacks and shrills from slide whistles. The finale involves shaking a thunder sheet for fortissimo oscillations; the mid-section is based on a martial beat from the percussionist and wide-angled stops and thumps from Helias. Overall, this drum finesse is synchronized with elephant-like grunts from Anderson’s sousaphone when the brassman isn’t altering themes with flutter-tonguing, freak note whinnying and gutbucket slurs. Capable of smooth balladry on Altschul’s mid-tempo Irina, Anderson also whistles and slurs his way through his own Spanish-tinged Con Alma de Noche backed by woodblock bops and opposite sticking from the drummer. And he enlivens the bassist’s Lism with triplet-extended brassiness, allowing Helias to hand pump and sluice his way up-and-down the strings with guitar-like expressiveness as the stop-time tune evolves.

Advanced improvisations featuring out-of-towners, not to mention the burgeoning local free music community, continue to be recorded in the GTA. These historically important and musically impressive albums show how one series of discs successfully captured musical changes.