Features

The classical music world’s relationship with youth has definitely seen better days. But it has also seen worse. In recent years, performers, presenters and concertgoers have worked hard at debunking the myth, resilient to this day, that classical music is only for those much older and far richer than your average music lover. There are fatal misconceptions about the type of person you have to be to listen to classical music; for some, white hair and deep pockets are the necessary prerequisites for admission into the genre’s inner circle. And with so many musical opportunities out there, no wonder so many younger people eschew the idea of becoming interested in a music genre that has only ever seemed to belong to the generation of their grandparents.

Opera is no exception. It can require a large cast, orchestra and production team to mount a show of traditional operatic proportions, which means that expenses can run high. So high, in fact, that down the line it means sometimes catering to the crowds who can afford to pay. It all gives the whole genre an aura of lavishness and grandeur that it only sometimes deserves.

Nothing, however, is so one-sided—and the tide is turning. In recent years, a number of smaller opera companies have cropped up in the Toronto area alone that are doing innovative work with fewer resources than might be expected. And often, that innovation goes hand-in-hand with a redirection towards more diverse opera audiences—proving that opera has the ability to go places that those used to the grand stage may not have imagined.

Mozart – Horn Concertos; Horn Quintet
Pip Eastop; Hanover Band; Eroica Quartet
Hyperion CDA68097

What a fabulous CD this is! In the decade before his death Mozart wrote five pieces for his close friend, the celebrated Viennese horn player Joseph Leutgeb. This disc presents the gorgeous Quintet, with its chocolatey two-viola richness, and the four horn concertos, in their chronological order to reflect how Mozart’s writing for the instrument shifted to mirror his colleague’s playing. The expert and beautifully balanced Hanover Band and Eroica Quartet both play with a rich diversity of colour and expressive device, but the brightest star of this show is Pip Eastop. Leutgeb was described as being able to “sing an adagio as perfectly as the most mellow, interesting and accurate voice,” and Eastop’s playing can be extolled just as highly. He plays brilliantly, whether in the exquisite slow movements or in the allegros where the instrument’s rambunctious cor de chasse origins – “more Robin Hood than James Bond” – are never very far away; and his extraordinary cadenzas exploit the full range of the natural horn’s personality and technical capabilities without ever disappearing beyond the classical horizon.

These are joyful, engaged and engaging performances, as varied in mood and vocabulary as the music itself, and alchemically removing the distance between Mozart’s time and our own. The excellent booklet notes by Robert Payne, Stephen Roberts and Eastop are an added bonus. Even if you’ve already got a recording or two of Mozart’s horn music, you must listen to this one.

Parking for Meatballs
LJ Folk
Independent (ljfolk.com)

This amusingly entitled self-produced/arranged/masterfully recorded new offering from acoustic guitarist, composer and vocalist LJ Folk has been a long time in the making, with the recording having taken place between November 2008 and August 2014 – which only serv es to substantiate the axiom that all good things are worth waiting for. Folk is the primary composer here, with tasty inclusions from Stevie Winwood, Harry Nilsson and Jerome Kern as well as two key collaborations with trumpeter Vince Constantino. The equally tasty players include NYC-based percussionist Memo Acevedo, bassist Duncan Hopkins and noted Canadian (and now Austin, Texas-based) guitarist-composer Jake Langley.

As a vocalist, Folk is nothing short of breathtaking – expressive and compelling, his voice effortlessly and consistently delivers the goods. Of special beauty is the romantic Latin-infused cooker, Deepest Love, which features a pitch-perfect and refreshingly pure and vibrato-less vocal from Folk, enhanced by a lilting melodic line, clever lyric and Acevedo’s superlative percussion work. Folk’s languid take on Winwood’s Can’t Find My Way Home is another standout, supported by skilled guitar work from Langley. The original, Nunca Mas (Nothing More) highlights Folk’s considerable acoustic guitar chops, and his deeply personal treatment of the rarely performed jazz standard In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning is sheer perfection. The bluesy original All Night Long illustrates even more of Folk’s eclectic versatility. Of special mention is Folk’s composition Gathering of Friends – a deeply emotional exploration of love and loss that is bound to resonate with all of us.

Despite the whimsical title, this CD is a work of incredible depth and artistry and certainly one of the finest vocal jazz recordings of the year.

Master classes such as those listed in Section E: The Etceteras, are invaluable learning experiences. And not just for the participating students. Those listening in, be they students or other musicians can gain insights into performing that they can use in their own private pursuits; curious music lovers can likewise get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the ways music that they hear in the course of their concertgoing lives is imagined and prepared.

TSO music director Peter Oundjian held his second RCM masterclass of the season February 9, teaching students from the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists. As the Academy’s dean Barry Schiffman (himself a former student of Oundjian) explained, the Glenn Gould School’s student body ranges in age from 18 to 23 whereas the Taylor Academy’s runs from 12 to 17. (Oundjian’s final masterclass of the season March 2 from 5pm to 7pm at Mazzoleni Hall will focus on GGS students.)

Till Fellner was 18 in 1990 when he was asked to play for Alfred Brendel. It was arguably the pivotal moment of his life. Three years later he won the Clara Haskil piano competition gaining a modicum of name recognition and an entrée into the world of recordings.

The head of the keyboard department at the Vienna conservatory, where Fellner had been a student since 1981, had suggested a meeting with Brendel in a castle in Grafenegg not far from Vienna where the noted pianist was giving a recital. Fellner was invited to listen to Brendel’s rehearsal in the morning and then play a few pieces for him. The older pianist immediately started teaching by correcting what the younger man was playing. His first lesson had just begun. Brendel then suggested that Fellner call him and arrange another.