The Beginning

Mark Segger Sextet

18th Note Records 18-2011-1 (www.marksegger.com)

Cunningly arranged so that each instrument is appropriately voiced, the compositions of drummer Mark Segger are given a first-class showcase on this exceptional CD. An Edmonton-native, now Toronto-based, the drummer’s eight tunes are multi-faceted solidly contemporary efforts with avant-garde flashes. On hand to enliven the pieces are veterans, trumpeter Jim Lewis, bassist Andrew Downing and Tania Gill on piano and melodica; plus younger soloists trombonist Heather Segger, tenor saxophonist and clarinettist Chris Willes, plus the drummer.

With sounds ranging from those reminiscent of baroque rounds to those which pick up Latin-funk inferences, many announce their individuality by concentrating the rhythm in an ostinato from trombonist Segger. In other places she snorts subterraneously or resonates alphorn-like trills, often in dual counterpoint with the trumpeter’s flutter tonguing. Joining Segger’s percussive ratamacues and flams to meticulously expose dynamic key clips and intense rubato lines on an uncomplicated swinger like Soca You Play It, Gill turns around to add jittery melodic pumps on other tunes such as Steam Engine. Here Downing’s walking bass and a light shuffle beat provide solid back-up as burping trombone and heraldic trumpet roll and tongue the theme with lyrical abandon. Another highlight is My Dog Has Fleas, where Willes’ saxophone response to the canine affliction ranges from unaccompanied chromatic slurs to narrowed and striated shrills to melodic, decorated peeps, accompanied by the drummer’s rim-shot rebounds and challenged by top-of-range tremolo trombone slides.

Appropriately the final track here is the title tune, for the strength of the performances makes you hope for future Segger sound elaborations.

Purcor - Songs for Saxophone and Piano

Trygve Seim; Andreas Utnem

ECM 2186

The work of this Norwegian duo offers a blend of original melodies accompanied by adaptations of a few indigenous folk songs. The recording is very subdued and creates an intimate atmosphere for the listener that is both alluring and interesting. This album also exemplifies many genre defying qualities which make it rather difficult for one to categorize.

Andreas Utnem’s piano style is vaguely reminiscent of Robert Schumann’s work, while Trygve Seim’s playing echoes that of Dexter Gordon. When the two distinct styles converge, a beautiful fusion emerges with affluent melodies and unique lyrical qualities – it’s as if Trygve is speaking to the listener through his saxophone.

The recording itself accentuates the expressive saxophone with close proximity microphone placement. This enables the listener to hear every detail of Trygve’s performance from the deepest bellow to the most ethereal whisper. Conversely, the piano feels distant and ominous, leaving reverberant trails of melody in the background of the soundscape.

One can easily discern that these fourteen songs have been chosen and placed in order with much deliberation. Although they are songs without words, a story unfolds in such a way that one should surely listen to this album from beginning to end.

All Baby Wants is Me

Rita di Ghent

Groove Classic (www.ritadighent.com)

In her seventh and latest recording “All Baby Wants is Me” evocative songstress Rita Di Ghent presents a tasty sampling of much loved standards as well as two original compositions, including the jaunty title track. Di Ghent’s trademark haute-cabaret presentation and impeccable good taste are in full swing on this highly enjoyable recording. She effortlessly conjures up visions of smoke-filled speak-easies, and the bluesier numbers are well-served by her smoky, understated vocal style - reminiscent of the late great Lee Wiley.

Rita served as producer and arranger on this project, and she has surrounded herself with an elegant supporting cast of Dave Restivo on piano and B3 organ, Marc Rogers on bass, Daniel Barnes on drums, multi-cultural jazz artist Kenny Kirkwood on saxophone, Nick “Brownman” Ali on trumpet and Fred Raulston on vibes/percussion. The ensemble is nothing short of perfection, and never overpowers the diaphanous Di Ghent. Dave Restivo is acknowledged as one of the most gifted jazz pianists on the scene today, and on this recording he also shows himself to be a masterful accompanist - in the best possible Alan Broadbent sense.

Di Ghent’s clever composition, Nicely Situated is a song in search of a Broadway show, and she delivers it with humour, flair and melodic integrity. Other outstanding tracks include an up-tempo What a Little Moonlight Can Do and George Gershwin’s classic I’ve Got a Crush on You, replete with a gorgeous string arrangement and performance from Jaro Jarosil.

Junjo

Esperanza Spalding

Ayva Music AYVA036 (www.esperanzaspalding.com)

Chamber Music Society

Esperanza Spalding

Heads Up International HUI-31810-02

A shockwave went through the pop music community and a small thrill of delight was felt by a lot of jazz fans when Esperanza Spalding beat out Drake and Justin Bieber for Best New Artist at the recent Grammy Awards. Finally here was someone a) we've heard of and b) who can play something other than an iPhone. The young bass player and singer has solid and wide ranging training – she studied jazz at the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston where she went on to become the youngest faculty member at age 20. She taught herself the violin at age five when she landed a spot in the Oregon Chamber Music Society. And it all shows in her two discs “Junjo” from 2005 and 2010’s “Chamber Music Society,” for which she won the Grammy. (Spalding has a third solo album from 2008, not being reviewed here.) “Chamber Music Society” is produced by the masterful Gil Goldstein (check his work on Karrin Allyson's “Wild for You” and Boz Scaggs “Speak Low”) and the free-form improvisation that is rife throughout her debut “Junjo” is still dominant but reined in a bit and tempered by a string trio. Her singing – which was done completely without words on “Junjo” - leans toward the light classical side, without the encumbrance of actual melodies for the most part. Except for Loro, which is a brilliant vocal chord twister written by Brazilian composer Egberto Gismonti, which Spalding handles with ease. The most mainstream song on her latest disc is the opening track Little Fly which is a William Blake poem Spalding has prettily set to music. The disc then ventures through a series of mostly Spalding compositions that mix percussion from a variety of musical cultures, courtesy of Terri Lyne Carrington and Qunitino Cinalli, with angular string trio arrangements and Spalding's solid acoustic bass playing. Spalding is a playful performer who stretches her considerable imagination and skills to the fullest.

100 Best of Blue Note

Various Artists

EMI 5 099990 530326

The first of 100 tunes in this collection is a 1937 recording of tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and guitarist Django Reinhardt playing Out Of Nowhere. It was recorded two years before Blue Note Records was founded. The taping was done for EMI’s Capitol label’s French division. This is an ominous hint as to the content of the 10-disc “100 Best of Blue Note” box set, which at first glance appears to have all the trimmings of a slick 21st century collection. It comes in a box you’d expect to contain two or three CDs, not 10 with 10 cuts on each of them. Individual disc covers please the eye, the name of each track leader coloured differently from its successor. The same design is employed on the back, with each tune named. However, a closer look shows that’s just about all the information you’ll get, forcing listeners into guess-that-sideman mode. Most recordings here don’t have just the named leader in action while there are numerous odd selections taken from albums that contain much better jazz. Just one example is on CD2 where Gil Fuller and the Monterey Jazz Festival Orchestra featuring (trumpeter) Dizzy Gillespie plays a feeble version of Man From Monterey. The same LP has Gillespie and Charlie Parker roaring through Groovin’ High… no contest. While it’s too easy to be picky, these sorts of choices nonetheless make you wonder what organizers were thinking and who chose the music. It’s compiled by EMI Belgium, tracks selected by 2Sounds.

I’m sure most jazz fans believe the Blue Note golden years were the 1950s and 60s, fruitful times when hard bop had taken over from bebop and torrents of vinyl LPs were illustrated with gorgeously expressive player portraits. This music was distinctive, the ancestor of modern mainstream. Jazz changes its forms, but jazz history does not.

Given the convulsions in the music business and ownership changes, it’s not surprising that the EMI empire has many labels under its belt, with the result that recording dates in the terse accompanying notes cover a period far longer than the Blue Note heyday and cite labels other than Blue Note. Overall most recording dates are meaningless in that a large number are reissues.

I delight in re-experiencing vintage classics such as Sonny Rollins Misterioso with Monk, Silver, J.J. Johnson, Chambers and Blakey, and appreciate the fresh recognition given Golden Age stalwarts such as Tine Brooks, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Ike Quebec, Baby Face Willette, Donald Byrd and Jimmy Smith. At the same time I wonder about the inclusion of bands like the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Chick Corea, Patricia Barber, David Axelrod, Stacey Kent, Lionel Loueke and, heaven help us, Norah Jones however good that was for sales. The sole piece of Canadiana is Holly Cole singing Hum Drum Blues with saxman Javon Jackson. Enough said.

Ella and Oscar

Ella Fitzgerald; Oscar Peterson

Original Jazz Classics Remasters OJC-32693-02 www.concordmusicgroup.com

Even with less than essential bonus material, “Ella and Oscar” – recorded May 19, 1975 – is a welcome reissue that warrants repeated listening. Bassist Ray Brown, closely associated to both artists, appears on four tracks, but this is a decidedly duo effort that focuses on two close friends who happened to be among jazz’s most historic figures. To imply that Ella was at her vocal best here would be dishonest; at the time, 58-year-old Fitzgerald’s failing health caused a golden voice that was previously 24-karat to tarnish; for the first time in her career she sounded less than effortless. Thankfully there was more to the First Lady of Song than a pretty voice: there was improvisational prowess, sensational swing, delectable joy and a chameleonic hypersensitivity to her musical surroundings. Ella’s finest moments here are sumptuously spontaneous, from the miraculously phrased Midnight Sun to the mighty fine I Hear Music. Each and every ballad is enhanced considerably by Peterson’s performance, which is pitch-perfect throughout. Expectedly, O.P. brightly dazzles on every solo taken, and as accompanist, he displays an acute sensitivity that was arguably lacking in his early years. The album’s most charming tracks are an 8½-minute exploration of April in Paris that flies by in executive first class, and a lively When Your Lover Has Gone, boasting glorious four-bar trades between voice and piano that will likely never be equalled. Turn up the volume and you will hear Ella and Oscar smiling.

Kirk MacDonald is one of Canada’s premier tenor saxophonists, shining first as a performer and latterly adding composing gifts to his arsenal. His Juno-nominated Kirk MacDonald Quartet - Songbook Vol.2 (Addo AJR006 www.addorecords.com) is first class, a seven-tune session with classy sidekicks that cements his stature. The opening burner You See But You Don’t Hear has power playing from all with Cuban-born pianist David Virelles, bassist Neil Swainson and whirling drummer Barry Romberg matching the leader’s invention and intensity while succeeding songs underline the presence of vigorous probing spirits, plenty of mercurial moments and execution that’s fleet and fluent. Vanda Justina is a pleasing ballad, The Torchbearers a surging up-tempo piece with long logical runs that feel just right and an inspired contribution from Virelles, while Starlight and other tracks showcase darting solos with seamlessly evolving and thoroughly developed ideas.

Veteran trombonist Ron Westray, alumnus of Wynton Marsalis’ Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, holds the Oscar Peterson Chair in jazz performance at York University and it’s good to find new recorded evidence of his talent. On Ron Westray Thomas Heflin - Live From Austin (Blue Canoe Records BCR-1094 www.ronwestray.com) he co-leads a hard bop quintet at the Elephant Room in Austin with trumpeter Heflin, engaging pianist Peter Stoltzman, alternating bassists and drummers plus on four pieces starring tenor saxman Elias Haslager. Westray, who was at Texas U before York, wrote two of the seven cuts (Exile: Remember The Homeless, Inside Out) and demonstrates stunning agility with muscular open tones that stop short of brash yet are always exciting. He’s clearly in the J.J. Johnson tradition, ever-rousing but sweetly elegant when required.

Pianist David Braid is without doubt in Canada’s leading jazz ranks, testing his diverse talents in numerous genres. His newest venture - David Braid - Verge (DB 20110120 www.davidbraid.com) – is a solo effort comprising eight pieces, six by him, a remodelling of Broadway ditty The Way You Look Tonight and a traditional Chinese folk song. On the opener Le Phare he’s in Brad Mehldau mode, active counterpoint embellishing the melody amid a sheen of classical music influences. You get a fulsome and quirky deconstruction of the standard tune done with wit and superior craft, a spiritual treatment of El Castillo Interior and nods to contemporary pop structures with subtle chord alterations on Richmond Square. Braid exudes confidence, at times a model of concision, at others ranging from fiercely edgy through to sweetness as he creates complex narratives told with flair and always favouring finesse over sheer power.

Big bands have always been a Canadian favourite (except perhaps in today’s parlous economic times) and the reputation of Swing Shift, led by Jim John on alto sax and clarinet, is increasing. A dozen tunes including a three-pack of blues and pop vehicle Whatever Lola Wants on the outfit’s third CD taped live at Humber College, illuminate its well-drilled abilities. Swing Shift Big Band - Mostly Canadian, Eh! (Palais Records SSBB2019CD www.swingshiftbigband.com) features lively swing, strong charts and solid transcriptions of versions by earlier Canuck greats like Art Hallman and Bert Niosi (thanks to pianist/musical director Brent Turner). Solo skills vary, with my choice tenor saxist Jeff Pighin, with trombonist Rob Williams a whisker behind. Old-style vocalists Larisa Renée and David Statham get two songs apiece. The only flaw – there’s just 46 minutes of music here.

It’s always worth hearing Quebec’s alto saxist François Carrier, a veteran of the improv scene who never records “outside” jazz that’s off-putting to listeners. Taped on Canada Day 2002 at the Vancouver jazzfest but just released is François Carrier - Entrance 3 (Ayler Records AYLCD-106 www.francoiscarrier.com), a heady romp by his trio with Sweden’s Bobo Stenson a piano-playing guest. Four collectively “composed” long workouts are always ambitious and adventurous with huge contributions from the upright electric bass constructed by Pierre Côté and regular Carrier companion Michel Lambert’s frantically busy drums. Sax and piano swap smart ideas with great urgency in a session throbbing with energy and atmosphere peppered by heated moments, catchy hooks that arrive and depart without overstaying their welcome and splendid passages signalling imminent menace. Great stuff.

The Toronto band Engine doesn’t aim for the same visceral impact, preferring to achieve its spontaneous aims by employing jagged-edged ideas and contrasting creations suggesting off-kilter chamber jazz, abrupt shifts of mood and time, playful sounds off the conventional music map and rumbling passages suggesting a Mingus-influenced uprising. That makes Engine - Start (Pet Mantis Records PMR007 www.enginequintet.com) an interesting disc, nine of its ten tersely-titled items from reedman-leader Peter Lutek. Bandsmen, notably trombonist Tom Richards and pianist Greg de Denus, revel in the discomfort zones with bassist Dan Fortin and drummer Ethan Ardelli trolling rhythmic possibilities with verve. Best crank-turning tune among many good ones is the closing The Lawnmower, with Lutek et al at full wail.

Accommodating and adaptable improvising musicians from the Netherlands are as open to out-of-country influences as working with players from different countries in Holland or abroad. Confident in their own skills, they see non-local musicians’ participation as additions to their music, not competition. These beliefs characterize two ostensibly Dutch ensembles in concert in Toronto this month: The Ex with Brass Unbound is presented by the Music Gallery at Lee’s Palace on May 18; while Ig Henneman’s Kindred Spirits Sextet is at Gallery 345 May 19. Violist Henneman’s combo includes two Canadians, pianist Marilyn Lerner and clarinettist Lori Freedman plus German trumpeter Axel Dörner. Meanwhile the Brass Unbound, working with the guitar-heavy, Dutch anarchistic punk-jazzers The Ex, is made up of Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, American saxophonist Ken Vandermark and Dutch trombonist Wolter Wierbos. A careful listen to some of these players’ own CDs demonstrates the sort of adaptability that characterizes these Dutch-centred combos in general.

A series of duos, Walter Wierbos - Deining (DolFijn Records 02 www.wolterwierbos.nl) is most intuitive when the trombonist’s rugged and multiphonic timbres stack up against those from the reeds of Ab Baars, who coincidentally is a member of the Henneman band playing the following night. On Buitengaats, for instance, Baars’ altissimo irregularly vibrated warbling and fluttering cross tones come up against bugle-like chromaticism from the trombonist. This emphasis towards linear connections works even more effectively on Op de Warf, as the play-anything Bennink works his way staccatissimo all around his kit – and the nearby floor – while tooting a harmonica and whistle blowing. Right beside him, and similarly intense is Wierbos using elephantine brays, capillary burbles and rubato snorts to eventually shift the tempo so the two end up swinging with identical microtones.

Baritone and tenor saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, another of the Unbound hornmen, has had even more experiences trading licks with rock-influenced groups – even in Canada. As a matter of fact, Barrel Fire (Drip Audio DA00651 www.dripaudio.com) captures a raw face-off between the reedist and the Vancouver-based members of guitarist Gord Grdina’s Trio, including bassist Tommy Babin and drummer Kenton Loewen. Unfettered in his playing during all of the CD’s five tracks, Gustafsson snorts, slurs, stutters and spits out elasticized, almost never-ending glottal punctuation. Meanwhile Grdina counters – as the Ex’s guitarists do as well – with distorted reverb, harsh downstrokes and staccato bent notes as Loewen’s ferocious backbeat encompasses ruffs, rolls and ricochets. Bringing the same sort of nephritic gut-wrenching blasts to Enshakoota, a traditional Iraqi tune mostly limited to the splayed and coiled runs Grdina picks on oud, the saxophonist’s stentorian tones and the others’ contrapuntal responses also get an extended showcase on Burning Bright. As Babin’s fingers slither along his strings so that the notes fairly glisten and the drummer pounds and smashes relentlessly while swishing his cymbals, ringing guitar chords deconstructed with reverb and distortion are matched polyphonically with diaphragm-vibrated split tones and triple-tonguing from the saxman. Gustafsson’s ejaculated shrills and shaking vamps, Grdina’s skyward-chiming chording plus Loewen’s backbeat come as close to a definition of Heavy Metal Jazz as can be imagined.

If Gustafsson’s altissimo cries and renal grunts define unfettered excesses of one sort of Free Improvisation, then Kindred Spirit Axel Dörner takes the opposite track with reductionist microtones, which favour sound exploration over melody. A convincing illustration of this occurs on the appropriately titled Super Axel Dörner (Absinth Records 018 www.absinthrecords.com), with his duo partner Argentinean percussionist Diego Chamy. It’s near a solo showcase since Chamy spends more time mumbling and vocalizing while distractedly hitting percussion instruments than laying down a beat. To compensate the trumpeter pushes grainy, flat lines through his open horn without moving his valves so that these textures parallel, rather than blend with Chamy’s sonic expressions. With intermittent noises that sound variously like nakers being hit, the whirl of chukka sticks and the bouncing of a stick on cymbal tops from the percussionist – as well as rapid-fire Spanish statements – Dörner has plenty of scope to decorate the sonic grisaille in such a way that harmonic and rhythmic contours are nearly visible. At one point he alternates bright, open-horn blasts with tongue slaps against the mouthpiece, inflating agitato triplets to full-bore whistles. When discord suggests the drummer is eccentrically scrapping a putty knife against the drum’s rims, Dörner livens up the interchange with fortissimo brass blasts, immediately followed by extended circular breathing. This so vibrates the trumpet’s insides that partials and microtones are audible alongside brass textures. It’s this sort of instant response to a non-pulsating beat that serves the trumpeter well in the Henneman sextet where the underlying beat is really supplied by the bass of Wilbert de Joode, who is also featured on more than half of Wierbos’ CD here.

Intertwining horn work is another leitmotif of Henneman’s combo, and in Toronto, Dörner shares the front line with Ab Baars and Montreal’s Lori Freedman. This sort of timbre blending is a regular facet of the bass clarinettist’s performances. It can be sampled on Isaiah Ceccarelli’s dramatic Bréviare d’épuisements (Ambiances Magnétiques AM 199 CD www.actuellecd.com). Much different than the Henneman sextet’s jazz-oriented fare this session amalgamates the ecclesiastical and the atonal. Émilie Laforest and Josée Lalonde intone or vocalize Marie Deschênes’ texts, with distinctive sonic timbres heard alongside these lyric sopranos arising from Freedman’s and Philippe Lauzier’s bass clarinets, Pierre-Yves Martel’s viola de gamba and Ceccarelli’s percussion arsenal. The drummer’s most common strategy involves scrapping cymbals against drum tops, acoustically producing the sort of grinding and buzzing textures that otherwise would be associated with electronics. Meanwhile the cleverly harmonized singers personalize the poetic lyrics while stretching the songs with hocketing pitch variations. One standout passage occurs on La disparation est un mur de plus when the nearly vibrato-less parlando of one vocalist is cushioned by clarinet harmonies. During some pure instrumental passages the similarities between trilling reeds and stroked strings is emphasized as mutual tonal expansions appear to be both notated and aleatoric.

Performances by either the Kindred Spirits, the Ex or both, means exposure to noteworthy soloists as well as well-thought-out group conceptions. Torontonians get a rare chance to hear them both over a two-day period in May.

In 1972 RCA released the first of a series of new performances of memorable music written for motion pictures up to that time. Charles Gerhardt was the conductor and the producer for the series was George Korngold, son of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The first LP issued was The Sea Hawk: Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Here was Korngold’s film music played with all the attention usually given only the “classics” - a full symphony orchestra, state of the art engineering and flawless processing. Gerhardt was an ideal choice as he had worked for RCA and Reader’s Digest and was responsible for titles that sold in the millions! He had already created his recording orchestra, The National Philharmonic, employing the finest available musicians and London’s best recording venues were used for the sessions. 12 more of The Classic Film Scores were issued from 1972 until 1976. They were released on CD after 1983 and some were re-issued with additional music not used on the LPs or the first CDs. All these still compelling performances have been caringly transferred from the original analogue tapes to digital masters for release on 13 individual CDs.

The first in the new series is, appropriately, The Sea Hawk (RCA 88697-77932) which sounds glorious. It is an impressive tribute to the orchestra, conductor and both the original recording engineer and the people responsible for the splendid remastered sound but mainly to the composer, the acknowledged wunderkind who came to Hollywood from Vienna. The CD has music from 11 more films, including Robin Hood, Captain Blood, Anthony Adverse, and Kings Row. Korngold has another CD in the series entitled “Elizabeth and Essex” with music from seven films including Prince and the Pauper, The Sea Wolf, and Of Human Bondage (88697-81266). Korngold appears again on Captain Blood, Classic Film Scores for Errol Flynn (88697-77934), with music by Korngold, Franz Waxman, Hugo Friedhofer and Max Steiner.

Steiner’s masterpiece, the unforgettable Gone with the Wind is heard almost complete, from the opening fanfare to the final apotheosis. To my mind, this remains the finest music of the genre (88697-77935). Also by Steiner, once a pupil of Brahms and Mahler, is “Now, Voyager” which also includes King Kong, The Big Sleep, The Fountainhead, The Informer, and others (88697-81270). “Casablanca” has scores for Bogart movies by Steiner, Waxman, Rozsa and Victor Young (88697-77937). “Sunset Boulevard” has eight of Waxman’s scores including Bride of Frankenstein (88697-81265). One of my favourites, Captain from Castile (88697-77936), also contains Alfred Newman’s stirring music for The Robe, Wuthering Heights, Anastasia, and six others. The last to be recorded was “Lost Horizon” with six of Dimitri Tiomkin’s beautiful scores (88697-77933). Spellbound (88967-81269) is devoted to nine scores by Miklos Rozsa including The Red House and Double Indemnity. “Citizen Kane” has five memorable scores by Bernard Hermann including Hangover Square: the Concerto Macabre (88697-81264). “Bette Davis” has 12 scores written for her by Steiner, Korngold and Waxman (88607-81272). Finally, the odd man out... not the movie but the composer David Raksin, who conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra in his own music for Laura, The Bad and the Beautiful and Forever Amber (88697-81268).

These composers did not write every note under their name. The studios all employed orchestrators on whom the composer relied to fill in the dots... in the style of. Just watch the credits... for example Edward Powell was Alfred Newman’s exclusive orchestrator for his movies.

Accolades for the people at Sony who revived this exceptional series from the golden age of classical recording.

Alfred Brendel has retired from the concert stage, although we very recently heard him in Toronto’s Koerner Hall expounding on Beethoven’s humour in music, a favourite subject of his. His interpretations of Beethoven, recorded and re-recorded, continue to attract music lovers everywhere. Decca has re-packaged his Philips recordings made between 1970 and 1977 of the complete piano sonatas and the piano concertos (4782607). Many regard his interpretations of Beethoven during this period as the most interesting, his recordings garnering favourable reviews in a crowded field. As did, and do, the concertos with Bernard Haitink and the London Philharmonic Orchestra recorded when he was their principal conductor. The new set of 12 CDs costs less than the price of 3 discs when they were first issued.

A second ultra-budget Brendel set from Decca is an all Schubert collection of the late piano sonatas, the Impromptus, the Wanderer Fantasy, the 16 German Dances and other gems recorded by Philips in 1987 and 1988 (4782622, 7 CDs). As in the Beethoven performances above, Brendel is also competing with his own earlier recordings. Collectors, of course, enjoy comparing performances while others simply want one good recording of a work. These polished, finely shaded performances reflect Brendel’s mature thoughts on this repertoire, excellently recorded.

Playing the Human Game:  Collected Poems of Alfred Brendel

by Alfred Brendel with Richard Stokes

Phaidon Press

600 pages, illustrations; $45.00

• IT HAS BEEN three years since pianist Alfred Brendel retired from the concert stage. That’s why, when he appeared at Koerner Hall last fall, it was to give a lecture, not a piano recital. But in fact Brendel has been sharing his thoughts about music throughout his performing career, not just in lectures, but in essays and poetry as well.

Now he has collected his poems into this handsome volume. In it, each poem is printed with the original German on one page and Brendel’s own translation, made with the assistance of Richard Stokes, on the facing page. Artworks from his personal collection are reproduced throughout, providing yet another glimpse into his aesthetic world.

Not surprisingly, musical references appear frequently in these incisive, witty and evocative poems. From the title of the collection Playing the Human Game, to chapter-headings like Masks and Music, Situations and Concepts, and Reflection and Chimera, Brendel uses vivid images that range all the way from the numinous – he has a whole section on angels – down to the mundane. For me, these poems are at their most moving when they draw the sensual and the divine together, as when Brendel writes,

Today I’m a mouse

minute enough

to patter along the pedals

into the piano

The smell of this felt

You must realize

Is something divine

Assailing our noses

Over a distance of miles

Eagerly

we set about the hammers

exploiting them to build our nests

then we nibble at the dampers

until they stop damping

What’s the point of dampers anyway

We field mice prefer Aeolian harps

With every breath of air

music materializes

all by itself

delicate and spooky

embellished by our faint whistling

Whoever heard

anything more beautiful.

Not new, but timely: Joan Dornemann will be coming to Toronto in early May to give coaching sessions for the International Resource Centre for Performing Artists, as part of their Opera Week. Dornemann is best known as a coach and prompter at the Metropolitan Opera. But she has also written an invaluable book, Complete Preparation: A Guide to Auditioning for Opera. In the twenty years since it was published, it hasn’t been bettered. In spite of the title, it deals with far more than auditioning. Dornemann covers every aspect of preparing for an opera role, from technique to interpretation, providing detailed practical advice for coaches, accompanists, conductors, directors, teachers and managers. At the same time, she offers an inspiring validation of the dedicated work required to make a career in opera.

Dornemann will be coaching singers May 7–9 at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. Tickets for observers are $20 at the door.

When I heard there was a new addition to the “Window on Somers” series I was hoping it was the soon to be released DVD of Louis Riel out to coincide with WholeNote’s opera issue. My expectations were dashed when I found the new release to be a CD of orchestral music, but that is not to say that I was disappointed. Any addition to the Harry Somers catalogue is most welcome and Live from Toronto (Centrediscs CMCCD 15911) features previously unavailable recordings by the Toronto Symphony and Esprit Orchestra. The disc opens with a 1997 recording of Stereophony, a work performed to great effect in the Barbara Frum Atrium of the CBC Broadcast Centre by the TSO under the direction of Jukka-Pekka Saraste. The liner notes tell us this unique spatial composition was commissioned by the TSO in 1963 and that the composer specified “a careful arrangement of the orchestra on the stage and […] at various positions around the auditorium” which at that time was Massey Hall. It would have been interesting to know how this was translated to the very different architecture of the CBC Atrium. We next hear the TSO under the direction of Victor Feldbrill in a 1978 performance of the Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring Robert Silverman. This wonderfully dramatic extended work – 45 minutes and four movements despite what the liner notes say – dates from 1956 and shows 31 year old Somers in mature voice with fully developed command of both keyboard and orchestra. The final track is a majestic work dating from 1978. Those Silent, Awe Filled Spaces was inspired by an entry from Emily Carr’s journal. The 2004 performance by Esprit brings life to the angular writing, especially the juxtaposition of brass fanfares and strident strings, which gradually gives way to an unearthly calm. All in all this is an important document which would provide a lucid introduction to the orchestral works of one of Canada’s most important creators were it not for the lack of biographical information; a major disservice and an oversight unusual for the Centrediscs label.

A favourite over the past month, She Comes to Shore is a concerto for improvised piano and orchestra by Toronto’s Lee Pui Ming performed with the Bay-Atlantic Symphony under the direction of Jed Gaylin (Innova 796). This busy yet meditative 2009 work is in three movements. In the first lush string textures are overlaid with a complex filigree of tintinnabulation from the piano. The second movement is much more dramatic with roiling and pounding from both the piano and the full orchestral forces. This gives way seamlessly to a gentle and extended cadenza in which the piano is eventually joined by a soaring Hollywood-like orchestral melody, primarily in the strings. This piece has been something of a guilty pleasure to the modernist in me, but it is so gorgeous that I have found myself indulging time and again. The concerto is complemented by series of solo piano improvisations, each exploring different worlds from exuberant free-form jazz to quiet contemplation.

There has been a wealth of new releases from ATMA lately and one that caught my fancy is Migrations (ACD2 2625) featuring works by Montreal composer Serge Arcuri. The disc begins with Les Furieuses enluminures (The Fierce Illuminations) in an eerie fanfare reminiscent of Claude Vivier’s Balinese-inspired music in its texture and choice of melodic material. The piece takes its inspiration from the tradition of the miniaturists who decorated medieval manuscripts. Although the instrumentation is not unusual – flute, clarinet, piano and string quartet – I find some of the timbres Arcuri draws from the ensemble quite fresh and unexpected. A celebrated composer of both instrumental and electroacoustic music, Arcuri is particularly noted for his “mixed” works combining both. In Migrations commissioner Robert Cram’s flute is effectively juxtaposed with the processed sound of Snow Geese in their annual migration through Cap Tourmente north of Quebec City. Les Voix des Hautes-Gorges layers the sound of 9 clarinets played by Simon Aldrich and treatments inspired by the phenomena of sounds echoing off rock faces at Haute-Gorges Park in the Charlevoix region. Louise Bessette is showcased in the sometimes virtuosic, sometimes contemplative Fragments for solo piano and partners with Jonathan Crow in Des Torrents d’étoiles (Torrents of Stars) for piano and violin. Crow is featured in Soliloque I & II and joined by Mark Fewer, Douglas McNabney and Yegor Dyachkov in Arcuri’s string quartet Rémanences. Presenting works published between 1991 and 2007 this disc provides a welcome portrait of a composer in the prime of his career.

Renaissance man Kevin Fox is at it again. The singing cellist has taken time out of his busy schedule penning arrangements for Justin Bieber and touring with the likes of Chantal Kreviazuk, Tom Cochrane, Steven Page and Olivia Newton-John to co-write an album’s worth new songs with lyricist Tammy Fox. Set Right (KF003 www.kevinfox.ca) is more of a straight ahead pop offering than the previous solo effort “Songs for Cello and Voice” but has an intriguing edge. Cello is still a major component and the purity of the signature solo voice is front and centre, but Fox also plays guitar this time round and drums, bass and piano are added to the mix. There are two cover tunes, Joni Mitchell’s River which opens effectively with looped sounds reminiscent of a didgeridoo and cello pizzicato over which the haunting vocal soars and a lilting rendition of Paul Simon’s Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes with the cello sounding more like a fiddle. The originals are thoughtful, poetic and at times playful with some nice turns of phrase, interesting syntactical decisions and catchy melodies.

We welcome your feedback and invite submissions. CDs and comments should be sent to: The WholeNote, 503 – 720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S 2R4. We also encourage you to visit our website, www.thewholenote.com, where you can find added features including direct links to performers, composers and record labels, “buy buttons” for on-line shopping and additional, expanded and archival reviews.

David Olds
DISCoveries Editor
discoveries@thewholenote.com

DIVAS’ DELIGHTS – Opera, Lieder, Art Song and the Contemporary Air

We enjoy a wide range of genre in recent offerings from those best known in the world of opera. This month, we salute those with more conventional releases and those who stray unexpectedly but delightfully from the fold, all manifesting as chanteuses extraordinaire.

Sospiri (Decca 4782558), is a compilation of Cecilia Bartoli’s best recital selections and is comprised of opera arias and sacred songs recorded between 1994 and 2009. A singer famous for her thrilling and fast-paced virtuosic vocal runs, this collection’s name which translates as ‘sighs’ indicates a focus on her mastery of more relaxed and tender expressions. To this end, we have pieces like Handel’s Lascia la spina and Mozart’s Laudate dominum performed with exquisite beauty and sensitivity. It seems, however, they could not resist the inclusion of spectacular runs and dramatic showpieces such as Una voce poco fa and Geminiano Giacomelli’s Merope: Sposa non mi conosci. An enchanting mix of well-known favourites with obscure and precious gems.

Natalie Dessay’s Cleopatra: Arias from Giulio Cesare (Virgin Classics 5099990 7872 2 5) showcases this soprano’s dramatic range in her newest role at the Paris Opéra as the Queen of the Nile’s arias demonstrate the “infinite variety” referred to by Shakespeare. Regal bearing forms one facet of the bejewelled monarch, jealousy and vindictiveness another and sensuality and tenderness yet another. Dessay handles the dramatic transitions flawlessly while the beauty and precision of her vocal work creates a superb pairing with the dynamic ensemble Le Concert d’Astrée. All are led by Emmanuelle Haim who Dessay says is the perfect stage director for her voice.

Diva Divo (Virgin Classics 50999 641986 0 6) is Joyce DiDonato’s tribute to the world of the mezzo-soprano who, à la Victor/Victoria, “has always been called upon to bend the genders, to convince equally in both pants and skirts… while hopefully retaining an individual and unique sound.” Featured ‘trouser roles’ such as Mozart’s Cherubino, Bellini’s Romeo and Massenet’s Prince Charming are set alongside female counterparts such as Mozart’s Susanna and Rossini’s Cinderella. Not only gender variations, but same themes and stories set by different composers are juxtaposed in this recording from the Opera de Lyon under Kazushi Ono’s direction, for example selections from both Mozart & Gluck’s La Clemenza di Tito, providing an interesting perspective on the versatility of the performer. Which, of course, Ms. Donato is (and a stellar one at that!).

Poésie (Virgin Classics 5099962 8664 0 8), features the orchestral songs of Richard Strauss throughout which Diana Damrau’s flawless voice soars transcendently all the while sustaining enormous depth of emotion. She really makes the most of the atmospheric changes and seemingly infinite range of colour with which Strauss infuses his songs. It is breathtakingly expressive even when Damrau drops to a pianissimo passage. Strauss considered his temperamental wife Pauline the ideal interpreter of his songs and the only one to whom he would entrust the intimate raptures of songs like Morgen and Allerseelen. Perhaps he would reconsider if he were with us today to hear this singer who seems to understand the ever-shifting nuances of his work so well. Christian Thielemann is in top form leading the Munich Philharmonic

With Cirque (Sono Luminus DSL-92125 www.sonoluminus.com), Céline Ricci conjures up the carnival atmosphere of the streets of 1920s Paris with songs of the era weaving a smoky screen of mesmerizing inventions and illusions. Having been chosen by William Christie for Les Jardin des Voix and named one of opera’s promising young talents by Opernwelt, in her first solo recording Ricci tackles Henri Sauguet’s cycle Cirque with all the flair of a ringmaster, Milhaud’s Six Chansons de Théatre with the brash seductiveness of the cabaret singer and Poulenc’s Cocardes with fantastical whimsy. Pianist Daniel Lockert adds a dash of panache to the scene with Satie’s Rag-time Parade.

Teaming up with jazz pianist Brad Mehldau for Love Songs (Naïve 2CD V5421), Anne Sofie von Otter demonstrates great artistic versatility. In doing so she neither sacrifices her pure and dulcet tones nor delivers any measure of artifice inappropriate to the character of the music. Or, as Mehldau comments, she is never overly dramatic. Take, for example, her rendition of Lennon & McCartney’s Blackbird which is as sweet and simple as it ever should be juxtaposed with the subtle nuance of Jacque Brel’s Chanson des vieux amants and the wistful fun of Walking My Baby Back Home sung in Swedish. Mehldau’s own Love Songs cycle, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and written for von Otter, offers a lovely and eloquent vehicle for these two artists. 

Wagner - Tristan und Isolde
Waltraub Meier; Ian Story; Michelle DeYoung; Gerd Groehowski; Matti Salminen; Teatro alla Scala; Daniel Barenboim
Virgin Classics 51931599

On December 7, 2007 an event that reverberated throughout Milan took place at La Scala with the greatest artists gathered to breathe new life into Wagner’s immortal masterpiece.

The main reason for the celebration was the re-emergence of director Patrice Chereau who as a young firebrand created the centennial Ring in Bayreuth in 1976, a revolutionary concept that started a chain of new productions all over the world. Now 30 years later and no longer young he was persuaded to do a much more difficult task, Tristan. There is nothing revolutionary here, however. His production is almost traditional. The sets are unobtrusive, neutral in colour, quasi abstract and echo timeless reality, the stage movements are relaxed, exquisitely handled almost like a ballet. The action erupts only when the music calls for it, like the finale of the first act or the fighting in the third. In this framework Chereau allows his singers to act naturally and so optimize their talents.

Waltraud Meier (Isolde) is a wonderful singer-actress who has sung the role many times and simply lives in it. She is the crown of the production. Her interpretation is so convincing, so spontaneous that it’s near perfection in itself. Ian Storey as Tristan, a relative new-comer, is steady and a ‘tidal wave of power and passion’ - especially in the third act where he abandons himself totally as the suffering hero. The other three principals, Michelle deYoung (Brangaene), Greg Grochowsky (Kurwenal) and Matti Salminen are theatrically and musically all on the same level as the protagonists.

The musical triumph however belongs to Daniel Barenboim who proudly steps into the formidable tradition established by Böhm, Furtwangler, Kleiber and Karajan. He forms his own style with well thought out tempi and details, making the Scala Orchestra sound glorious and exciting. This is production that will go down in history.

Verdi - Don Carlo
Rolando Villazon; Marina Poplavskaya; Simon Keenlyside; Ferruccio Furlanetto; Sonia Ganassi; Royal Opera House; Antonio Pappano
Royal Opera House/EMI 6 31609 9

Verdi’s Don Carlo is an opera of star crossed lovers, forbidden love, marital infidelity and other miseries, one of his greatest masterworks, certainly the most monumental, though flawed. It exists in many versions, French, Italian, five and four acts, some revised several times. Nowadays there is a recording for each and hence there are over 10 versions available on DVD, not to mention CDs. In my opinion the 5 act version, such as this one in Italian is the most satisfying for completeness of the music and the beauty of the language. After all Verdi should rightly be enjoyed in Italian.

Coproduced with the Metropolitan Opera, this production was the highlight of the 2008 season of the Royal Opera House. It heralded the return of Rolando Villazon as its principal tenor. Although his voice has had problems, he seems to have recovered sufficiently to cope with the title role. He looks the part, attractive and passionate, though sometimes he sounds strained. Marina Poplavskaya as the young Queen provides a wonderful portrayal, in excellent soprano voice and sympathetic personality. As the anguished King Philip, certainly one of Verdi’s most memorable creations, Ferruccio Furlanetto is a veteran of the role. He sang it under Karajan and follows the great tradition established by the legends, Boris Christoff and Nicolai Ghiarov. The pinnacle of the opera is the 4th act chamber scene where nearly all of the principals come together with intense drama and superb music beautifully integrated in the Quartet, very moving indeed.

The production is traditional, in good taste. The sets are imaginative and architecturally interesting and very well coordinated with the action. Antonio Pappano, a favourite conductor of Italian operas these days, conducts with vigour and great authority, making this set outstanding, probably the best currently available.

Glass - Orphée
Portland Opera; Anne Manson
Orange Mountain Music OMM 0068 (www.orangemountainmusic.com)

As I was all but indifferent to the music of Philip Glass, I was not eagerly looking forward to a performance of Orphée at the 2007 Glimmerglass Opera Summer Series. That year the theme for the season was the Orpheus legend and the company staged operas by Offenbach, Gluck, Glass, Monteverdi and Haydn. As expected, every performance was outstanding but Orphée was the surprise hit, unexpectedly making a provocative first impression and a lasting wish to hear it again.

For his libretto Glass lifted the script from Jean Cocteau’s 1950 film Orphée and moved the setting to a stage-wide, modern studio-apartment. As we might expect from Cocteau’s fascination with mirrors, when the characters move back and forth to “The Zone” they simply step through a mirror. It’s all true to the love story of mythology but the mise-en-scène brings the action comfortably into the present, or at least to the mid 20^th century.

The Portland Opera production, recorded live in November 2009, employs the scenery and costumes created for the 2007 Glimmerglass Opera presentation, has the same conductor, Anne Manson and the Glimmerglass Orphée, Philip Cutlip. The productions also share Lisa Saffer as La Princesse. The Portland Eurydice is Georgia Jarman. The production is well cast and I don’t hear a single weak voice.

It is a given that watching an opera in the house or elsewhere is a different experience from only hearing it. Nevertheless on the CD, without the visuals to animate this performance of Orphée, Glass’s music impresses with an uncomplicated, attractive, melodic, often hypnotic score... very listener friendly. It is sung in French with enclosed line-by-line English translations.

I would not have acquired this recording had I not attended the Glimmerglass performance. Over the years we have seen many new or rarely performed operas there. This year, from July 2nd to August 23rd, they will mount productions of Carmen, Medea and Annie Get Your Gun (with Deborah Voigt as Annie Oakley). Also a double bill: the premier of A Blizzard at Marblehead Neck by Broadway composer Jeanine Tesori together with Later the Same Evening by John Musto. Glimmerglass is just before Cooperstown in New York State, only six hours from Toronto. Take the New York Thruway (I-90) and hang a right at Herkimer. Go for the weekend, visit the Baseball Museum and luxuriate over the Sunday buffet brunch at the Otesaga Hotel overlooking the lake.