Poema 2. Terra Nova
Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra; Alexander Shelley
Analekta AN 2 8892 (nac-cna.ca/en/orchestra/recordings/poema-2)
This is the second issue from Analekta of an ambitious series of recordings that feature works of Richard Strauss, juxtaposed with newly commissioned concert items by young composers. It may be the first Canadian attempt to present a series of Strauss Tone Poems with a single orchestra, in this case the National Arts Center Orchestra conducted by their resident maestro Alexander Shelley. The commissioned Canadian composers are invited to reflect, critique, embrace, reject or deconstruct Strauss’ language at will.
This series has been titled Poema, and this is Poema2, further mysteriously subtitled Terra Nova. In much smaller print we discover the listing of Ian Cusson’s 1Q84 Sinfonia Metamoderna, paired with the ubiquitous Also Sprach Zarathustra. The Cusson piece does not seek to de-construct or criticize Strauss, but manages to extend his orchestral practices into an impressive style, using an extended instrumentation, but differing from Strauss’ orchestra.
The orchestral lists show that the National Art Center Orchestra has been much extended with guest artists to provide the required massive forces. The venue, Southam Hall, is roomy, but not reverberant, and there is a good sense of space. An organ [digital] has been brought in, but it is merely adequate in that big open space. Shelley’s performance is a well paced 34 minutes long, and it has a great sense of coherence and flow. The strings have enough impact but are recorded a bit diffusely.
On repeated listening the Cusson piece is for me by far the more interesting piece on this disc. Cusson, of French speaking Métis extraction, has produced a brilliant orchestral movement of some depth and complexity. At only ten minutes, it could have been much longer, but this is a commissioned piece, which usually comes with a time limitation (R. Murray Schafer’s No Longer Than Ten Minutes, a TSO commission based on Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben comes to mind). With a capacity of another 30 minutes of music on this disc, it is a pity that the commission should not have been for a longer piece from this evidently able composer. As it is, the new piece could seem like an afterthought, except that it is sure to grow on anyone who listens to it a few times.
