Canadian Suite Celebrations
Duo Majoya
Centrediscs CMCCD 32423 (cmccanada.org/shop/cmccd-32423)
The talents of five veteran Canadian keyboardists combine in listener-friendly music for the unusual pairing of piano and organ, championed by Edmonton-based Duo Majoya – pianist Joachim Segger and organist Marnie Giesbrecht, both now retired from university posts in Edmonton.
From 1969 to 2021, Denis Bédard (b.Quebec City 1950) served as a church organist in Quebec and Vancouver. His charming five-minute Capriccio (2007) made me smile. The four brief movements of his Duet Suite (1999) are, in turn, dramatic, playful, stately-ceremonial and celebratory. Bédard’s 27-minute Grande Suite (2016) is, by far, the CD’s longest work. Overture moves from solemnity to cheerfulness. Evocation (Des prairies canadiennes) is a haunting soundscape of hushed repeated piano arpeggios over moody organ chords. Ritournelle is a piquant folk dance, Dialogue an echoing children’s song, Intermezzo a hesitant waltz, followed by the mock-courtly Menuet and jubilant Marche.
Pianist-organist Ruth Watson Henderson (b.Toronto 1932) was, for many years, accompanist for the Festival Singers and Toronto Children’s Chorus, composing over 200 choral pieces. Her Suite (2011) is in four brief movements – a portentous Prelude, gentle Intermezzo, a searching, ambulating Romance and rollicking Dance.
In 1976, Jacobus Kloppers (b.1937) left his native South Africa, settling in Edmonton where he chaired Kings College’s music department (1979-2005), also teaching organ at the University of Alberta. In The Last Rose of Summer – Reminiscences in Autumn (2011), he quotes the title song in music surging with sentiment, ending in an aura of quiet nostalgia.
Listen to 'Canadian Suite Celebrations' Now in the Listening Room
