Well once again in my zealous desire to make a dent in the backlog of wonderful new releases received I have assigned too many titles to our reviewers and left insufficient space for my own musings. So I will simply take this opportunity to welcome jazz columnist Stuart Broomer to these pages. Since Geoff Chapman’s retirement from “It’s Our Jazz” some months ago we have been falling behind on news from the local scene and I am very pleased that Broomer has agreed to come on board to address the issue. He’s written about music for The Globe and Mail, Toronto Life and numerous specialist publications, among them Cadence, DownBeat, Musicworks, New York City Jazz Record, Paris Transatlantic and Signal to Noise. Broomer’s book Time and Anthony Braxton appeared in 2009 from Mercury Press and his column “Ezz-thetics” appears regularly at www.pointofdeparture.org. His liner essays have appeared on CDs by musicians from over 20 countries and he is a former editor of Coda: The Journal of Jazz and Improvised Music. This month marks the inauguration of his WholeNote column “Jazz, eh?” and I think you will agree that it is a welcome addition.

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 thewholenote.com where you can find added features including direct links to performers, composers and record labels, “buy buttons” for online shopping and additional, expanded and archival reviews. 

—David Olds, DISCoveries Editor, discoveries@thewholenote.com

01_32_Short_FilmsThirty-Two Short Films about Glenn Gould was, I think, the first film I ever saw at the Toronto International Film Festival where it received a special citation back in 1993. Subtitled “The Sound of Genius” this outstanding portrait by François Girard, produced by Niv Fichman for Toronto’s Rhombus Media, went on to win four Genie Awards including Best Film and Best Director that year. It was a great pleasure to find a DVD re-issue (SONY 88691912129) in my in-box last month and to revisit Colm Feore’s canny portrayal of Gould in this docu-dramatic recreation of some of the more iconic moments of the artist’s controversial career. While much is indeed dramatic reinvention, we are also presented with commentary by some of Gould’s colleagues including film maker and violinist Bruno Monsaingeon (who is also seen in a performance of Gould’s String Quartet Op.1), Yehudi Menuhin and CBC broadcaster Margaret Pascu among others. Loosely structured on Bach’s Goldberg Variations, we are presented with a series of vignettes featuring Gould in monologue, in dialogue with himself and on occasion in interaction with others. Feore carries the bulk of the performance but there are a few supporting actors including a cameo by screenplay co-writer Don McKellar. Some of the variations involve no commentary, combining music with film montage and in one case an animation sequence by Norman McLaren. If you missed this in the theatre first time around I highly recommend you catch it on DVD now. I only wonder why it has taken two decades to bring it to the home market.

Gould was no stranger to the art of documentary making and some of the scenes presented in Thirty Two Short Films are adapted from his own television and radio productions. Last fall SONY released the 10 DVD set Glenn Gould on Television – The Complete CBC Broadcasts 1954-1977 (886979 52109). You can find Bruce Surtees’ review of that set in the November 2011 Old Wine in New Bottles archive on our website.

In 1990 the great violinist and pedagogue Yehudi Menuhin, mentioned above, became the second laureate of the Glenn Gould Prize, awarded every three years by the Glenn Gould Foundation in recognition of outstanding achievements in music and communication. This year the ninth iteration of the prize will be bestowed on Leonard Cohen at a concert at Massey Hall on May 14 featuring a veritable “Who’s Who” of the pop world which has been so influenced by Cohen’s output over the past half century.

02a_CohenThe announcement of the award prompted me to revisit a DVD that was issued in 2010 of a film by Tony Palmer entitled Leonard Cohen – Bird on a Wire (TPDVD166). This documentary was shot during Cohen’s 1972 European tour which also took him to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I found it very interesting to hear the then 37 year old singer talking about how some of the songs were written 10 and 15 years previously and how hard it was to continue to relate to them so many years later. I wonder what his perspective is now, 40 more years on. The film is very candid and we see some less than winning sides of the artist, baiting stage (state) security forces at a concert in Tel Aviv, petulantly refusing to return to the stage on a night when he feels there is no magic in the performance and demeaning (while seeming to reason with) disappointed fans after a concert in Berlin. It is a surprising portrait in many ways, of a successful artist in mid-career, warts and all.

Tony Palmer’s film was made in 1972 and as I mentioned Cohen at that point acknowledges that the songs were written long ago. Yet seven years earlier when the National Film Board of Canada produced Ladies and Gentlemen… Mr. Leonard Cohen (all but the last six minutes of which are available for viewing on YouTube), music was incidental to his career as a poet and novelist and merited mention only in passing in that 45 minute documentary. His droll delivery from the stage however suggests Cohen could have had a career as a stand-up comic.

The most surprising aspect of this film to me was the realization that so many of the iconic songs that we know Leonard Cohen for, Hallelujah and First We Take Manhattan notwithstanding, were written as a young man and, perhaps more surprising, that the voice we never considered “good” was actually quite musical in those early years.

02b_Cohen_CDOf course Cohen has had a long and successful career and in recent years has continued to release albums and tour extensively. The 2008 documentary Live in London and a tribute concert at the Montreal Jazz Festival that year are testament to his ongoing influence in the music world. Most recently Old Ideas (Columbia 88697986712) has been very well received although this critic will reserve judgement on the recent output until cover versions of the songs begin to appear. Evidently there have been 150 renditions of Hallelujah, in many different languages and genres, but I have my doubts that the new Amen will achieve such glory.

03_BoulezAnother Glenn Gould Prize laureate who has caught my attention this month is Pierre Boulez who won the $50,000 award in 2002. A new recording of Mémoriale and Dérive 1 & 2 featuring Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain under founder Daniel Kawra (naïve MO 782183) presents interrelated works from the mid-1980s. The last of these has continued to occupy Boulez since its conception with the most recent revision dating from 2006; the first is based on a movement from the 1972 work … explosante-fixe … written in response to the death of Stravinsky. So in effect the pieces here reflect three and a half decades of Boulez’ compositional output.

The disc seems organic in the way it progresses. It begins with Mémoriale for solo flute, two horns, three violins, two violas and cello, dedicated to the memory of Canadian flutist Lawrence Beauregard who worked closely with Boulez in the development of interactive computer/instrument interfaces at IRCAM, Mémoriale exists in two versions: with and without technology. I had to listen very carefully to this recording to realize that this is the purely acoustic rendition. The strings using metal practise mutes produce an ethereal shimmering that sounds almost electronic.

Although composed in 1984, a year earlier than Mémoriale, Dérive 1 seems to grow out of the opening piece. Only this time the strings are not muted and it is as if familiar material has been amplified, or rather magnified.

This is taken a step further in the 50 minute Dérive 2. I was surprised to realize that although using a much larger ensemble than the opening pieces, the orchestration here involves just 16 players. My initial impression was of a concerto for orchestra but the basic one per part instrumentation produces a deceptively full spectrum of sound. The addition of harp, piano, vibraphone and marimba to the bare bones ensemble contributes to the effect. I found the bassoon, English horn and clarinet cadenzas especially intriguing.

This recording will provide a good introduction to the music of one of the most important composers of our time for those not yet familiar with Boulez. It is also an important addition to the discography for those who already realize the scope of this master.

Associated with the Glenn Gould Prize is the City of Toronto award of $15,000 to a “protégé” as designated by the winner. We do not yet know who Mr. Cohen will name, but I would like to mention in passing that the most recent GGP laureate, José Antonio Abreu, picked the young Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Dudamel has gone on to an illustrious career at the helm of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in addition to currently serving as music director of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Sweden) and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. His recording of Brahms’ Fourth Symphony with the LA Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon digital release 0289 477 9459 2) won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance.

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 online shopping and additional, expanded and archival reviews.

—David Olds, DISCoveries Editor, discoveries@thewholenote.com

01_Joe_CelloTSO principal cellist Joseph Johnson and his section mates were featured during the recent New Creations Festival in the North American premiere of the Cello Concerto Grosso by festival curator Peter Eötvös. Johnson took that occasion to launch his first compact disc which features two staples of 20th century cello repertoire, the Rachmaninov Sonata for Cello and Piano in G Minor Op.19 and Sonata No.2 in D Minor Op.40 by Dmitri Shostakovich. Johnson is accompanied by Victor Asuncion with whom he has been performing since 2009. The partnership seems to have been made in heaven if the music making heard here is any indication. Balance and interplay are impeccable and these interpretations are obviously from the heart. As it says on the homepage of Asuncion’s website (www.victorasuncion.com) “Victor is a collaborator. Don’t get lost in a forest of blandness. Opt for an enthusiastic artistic partner working with you, not just for you.” Joseph Johnson (www.joecello.com) has obviously done just that.

The independent release (JVCD-01) was recorded last winter in Minneapolis where Johnson previously played in the Minnesota Orchestra and the Minneapolis Quartet. As the very personal liner notes tell us, the session took place just days after what could have been a disastrous accident at Roy Thomson Hall when Johnson’s cello fell out of its case and the neck of the 1747 Guillami instrument snapped off. Thanks to the experts at Toronto’s Geo. Heinl and Co. temporary repairs were made and the session was able to proceed. There is no suggestion of distress in the sound of the cello captured on this beautiful recording. My only criticism is the assumption that this music is so well known it speaks for itself. There is not a scrap of information about the pieces or the composers to be found in the notes.

02_Owen_UnderhillThe latest from the Canadian Music Centre is Still Image – Music by Owen Underhill (Centrediscs CMCCD 17412) which features works involving string quartet performed by Quatuor Bozzini. They are joined by François Houle and Jeremy Berkman on clarinet and trombone respectively. Still Image is an apt description of the disc as well as being the title of a piece commissioned in 2007 by Houle and revised in 2011 for this recording. Underhill’s music generally has an underlying stillness although it is often tinged with tension. Quarter-tones and multiphonics in the clarinet writing extend the tonality here.

There are two one-movement string quartets which represent the earliest and most recent works on the disc. Both are very personal and emotional offerings. String Quartet No.3 – The Alynne was written in 1998 after the birth of a daughter with chromosomal abnormalities. String Quartet No.4 – The Night was commissioned by Quatuor Bozzini in 2011. It takes its title and inspiration from a poem by Henry Vaughan which includes the lines “There is in God (some say) / A deep, but dazzling darkness.” Underhill says “The striking contrast and integration of darkness and dazzling light in the poem helped guide the overall concepts of alternating slow and fast sections.”

The opening of the Trombone Quintet which dates from 1999 is suggestive of a distorted Renaissance consort of viols whose microtonal chord drones could be mistaken for an accordion over top of which the long tone melody of the trombone soars. The second movement has the strings in a dance-like accompaniment as Berkman sings into his muted trombone. A contemplative and lyrical third movement is followed by an extended fourth which begins percussively but gradually gives way to stillness which brings the disc to a close. Quatuor Bozzini has an obvious affinity with this music and Underhill is very well served by this disc.

Concert Note: Quatuor Bozzini performs music of Stravinsky, Oesterle and Britten in Music Toronto’s Quartet Series at Jane Mallett Theatre on April 5.

03_Trio_ArbosI was pleasantly surprised to receive a new disc by the Spanish Trio Arbós and find that it contained an extended work by Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich. Scales of Joy and Sorrow was commissioned by the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and Roger D. Moore for the Gryphon Trio who premiered it in 2007. The three-movement 20 minute work has obviously gone on to have an international life of its own and listening to this rollicking performance it is easy to see why. The Non Profit Music release (NPM 1012 www.nonprofitmusic.org) is entitled Play it Again and it is full of attractive and approachable contemporary works for piano trio. Not quite “bonbons” but certainly designed as crowd pleasers, this repertoire — including works by Kenji Bunch, Jorge Grundman, Elena Kats-Chernin, Paul Schoenfield and Chick Corea — is enthusiastically embraced and ebulliently played by Trio Arbós.

Concert Note: The Penderecki String Quartet will perform Marjan Mozetich’s JUNO award winning Lament in a Trampled Garden along with works of Beethoven for the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society on April 18.

04_Johannes_PassionATMA Classique of Montreal continues to put out excellent discs at a prodigious rate. One of the more recent releases is particularly appropriate to the Easter season this month, Bach’s St. John Passion (ACD2 2611). Featuring Les Voix Baroques and Arion Orchestre Baroque under the direction of Alexander Weimann, international soloists include tenor Jan Kobow as the Evangelist and three basses, Stephan MacLeod as Jesus, Joshua Hopkins as Peter and Nathaniel Watson as Pilate. All are in great form here, with particular kudos to chorister soprano Shannon Mercer who shines in the aria “Ich folge dir gleichfalls mit freudigen Schritten.” From the motoric opening “Herr, unser Herrscher” through the recitatives, arias and choruses of the “Betrayal and Arrest,” “Denial of Peter,” “Interrogation and Scourging,” “Condemnation and Crucifixion,” “Death of Jesus” and “Burial” of Christ to the peaceful final chorale “Ach Herr, lass dein leib Engelein” (Ah Lord, let thine own angels dear…) almost two hours later, our attention is held without flagging in this glorious performance. The comprehensive booklet includes thorough program notes and texts in three languages.

Concert Note: Although I was unable to find any local performances of the St. John Passion this month, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion will be presented by the Grand Philharmonic Choir at the Centre in the Square in Kitchener on April 6.

05_Anonymous_4And a final local concert note. On April 11 Toronto audiences can experience the pure tones of the predominantly medieval group Anonymous 4 at Koerner Hall. This a cappella female ensemble has been charming audiences for 25 years and the “Anthology 25” program will highlight ancient, traditional and modern works from their repertoire. The recent Harmonia Mundi release Secret Voices (HMU 807510) features chant and polyphony from the Huelgas Codex, c.1300 with selections divided into “First Light,” “Morning,” “Mass,” “Evening” and “Night.” If you are not already familiar with Anonymous 4 this would be a great place to start.

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

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