Editor's Corner

Homage to Janos – When respected Toronto architect Janos Gardonyi retired from his professional activities he began a new creative life delving deeply into digital photography, expanding and exploring a life-long love of classical music and sharing his thoughts and personal reminiscences with the WholeNote community. In October 2004 we published his first review, a CD of piano works by Leoš Janáček performed by Hakon Austbo. Two decades and 285 reviews later, we published his final words last month, an encomium to the late Lars Vogt and his recording of Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos.9 & 24 with L’Orchestre de chambre de Paris. Janos died peacefully on September 8 at the age of 87. I will miss his memories and anecdotes, but I have a wealth of written words, and a remarkable surrealistically coloured arboreal photograph on my kitchen wall, to remember him by. Janos, you will be missed. 

In February of this year I wrote briefly about an ATMA digital-only release of Symphonie Gaspésienne by Claude Champagne (1891-1965) featuring L’Orchestre symphonique de Laval under Alain Trudel. At that time I said “Although not much attention was given to him in English Canada, where his contemporaries included Healy Willan and Sir Ernest MacMillan, Champagne was an important figure in the annals of classical music in Quebec, where his students included Violet Archer, Roger Matton, Pierre Mercure, Serge Garant and Gilles Tremblay among other notables. I was very pleased to see a new recording of Champagne’s brilliant tone poem, composed in 1944. Starting eerily in near silence, Trudel leads his orchestra through the gradually building portrait of the fabled Gaspé peninsula with dramatic turns and climaxes along the 20-minute journey.” This recording has now been supplemented with works by Hungarians born a decade before Champagne, Béla Bartók’s Dance Suite Sz.77 (1923) and Zoltan Kodály’s Dances of Galánta (1933). The Bartók is not a suite of dances as we have come to expect from the baroque model; it draws on Hungarian, Romanian and Arabic rhythms and modes to create an “imagined folklore,” often dark and dramatic. In some ways it foreshadows his late works Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta and the Concerto for Orchestra. In contrast, Kodály’s one-movement work is much more tonal and based on actual tunes he heard performed by Roma bands while growing up in Galánta. The disc (ATMA ACD2 2867 atmaclassique.com/en/product/symphonie-gaspesienne-champagne-bartok-kodaly-prevost) concludes with Célébration (1966), a rousing and somewhat more abrasive work by modernist Quebec composer André Prevost (1934-2001), whose teachers included Jean Papineau-Couture, Clermont Pépin and Olivier Messiaen. As in the Champagne recording, the Laval orchestra rises to all the various challenges of these varied works and Trudel draws out resplendent performances from this fine 53-piece ensemble. 

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Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) was one of the most influential composers of the first half of the 20th century, and this year we celebrate the sesquicentennial of his birth. Juilliard String Quartet Plays Arnold Schoenberg (SONY Classical 19658827202) spans fifty years of his chamber output from the early String Quartet in D Major of 1897, thought lost until after his death, and the string sextet Verklärte Nacht (1899), through the four numbered string quartets (1904-05; 1907-08; 1927; 1936), to the Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte on a text by Lord Byron (1942) and the Trio Op.45 for violin, viola and cello (1945). The recordings themselves span four decades, from the Juilliard’s first cycle issued in 1953 to the 1993 release of Verklärte Nacht and the String Trio. During these 40 years the quartet went through a number of personnel changes, the one constant being founding first violinist Robert Mann who remained at the helm for nearly half a century from the quartet’s inception in 1949 until 1997. (The quartet remains active today, with the current “old hand” being Ronald Copes who was enlisted as second violin in 1997 when Joel Smirnoff moved from second to first chair upon the departure of Mann.) The seven-CD box set includes two recordings of the string quartets, the first as mentioned from 1953 and the second from 1977. This latter also includes the D major quartet which remained unpublished until 1966 and was unavailable at the time of the first recording. I appreciate its inclusion here as Schoenberg’s first major work (25 minutes in this performance). Although one can hear hints of things to come in it, each time I hear the final movement I do a double take thinking that some mistake has been made and a bagatelle of Dvořák has been erroneously inserted. 

In between these two quartet cycles is a 1967 album that was issued as the seventh volume of The Music of Arnold Schoenberg series which includes the Ode to Napoleon, for which the quartet is joined by pianist Glenn Gould and narrator John Horton, and the Trio Op.45 performed by Mann, violist Raphael Hillyer and cellist Claus Adam. The final disc includes Verklärte Nacht in which the quartet is joined by violist Walter Trampler and cellist Yo-Yo Ma and another performance of the trio, this time with Mann, Samuel Rhodes and Joel Krosnick. 

This important collection gives us a wealth of understanding about how Schoenberg’s writing developed from his earliest output to one of his last compositions, about how the Juilliard’s approach to his music changed over the decades and about how recording technology advanced over the same period. The booklet, which contains full recording and release information, includes a very personal essay by Schoenberg, How One Becomes Lonely, in which he discusses how he felt about the often tempestuous and derisory reactions to his music among critics and the public. It also includes an interview with the 1977 members of the Juilliard, Mann, second violinist Earl Carlyss, Rhodes and Krosnick in which they point out that although the membership had almost completely changed in the 24 years since the first recording the group had continued to perform the quartets throughout that time so there was an organic development over the years. It’s interesting to be able to compare the “youthful” and somewhat aggressive approach in the early recordings to the more mature, but still energetic performances later. 

Notwithstanding my appreciation of the booklet itself, I have a few complaints about the packaging. Within the box, each of the CDs is encased in a miniature cardboard replica of the original LP release. This is fine for the front cover art, but unfortunately the reduction results in the original program notes on the back covers being too small to read comfortably, even with a magnifying glass. It is also unfortunate that these are the only program notes provided for the individual pieces and that the Verklärte Nacht/Trio and Ode to Napoleon/Trio covers have no liner notes whatsoever, presumably because the original releases had substantial booklets not included here. Although declaimed articulately by Horton, inclusion of Byron’s text for Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte would have been an important addition, as would some discussion of the trio to give it context, especially since two different performances are presented. That being said, this is a marvelous set and I’m glad to have it. 

Last month I opined “it’s not possible to have too many recordings of Ravel’s string quartet…” and I would say the same is true for that other stand-alone French classic, Claude Debussy’s String Quartet in G Minor, Op.10. The two are most often paired together on recordings and last month’s release of the Ravel by Toronto’s Venuti Quartet was a rare exception to the rule. I recently found another when the Euclid Quartet, faculty quartet-in-residence at Indiana University South Bend, released Grieg | Debussy (Afinat Records AR2402 afinat.com). The excellent program notes acknowledge the unusual inclusion of Grieg’s String Quartet in G Minor, Op.27, completed in 1878 at the age of 35, but make a strong case for doing so. Debussy wrote his G minor work in 1893 at the age of 31 and was evidently influenced by Grieg’s quartet. They share a number of characteristics, including a motif that falls from the octave to the seventh and then the fifth, a favourite of Grieg’s, and particularly the eventual triumphant transition from G minor to G major at the conclusion of both works. I am less familiar with the Grieg, as I daresay most audiences are, although the Euclid claim it as one of their “greatest hits.” I was reminded of the incidental music to Ibsen’s Peer Gynt which Grieg composed two years earlier, and was struck by the fact that the final cadence of each movement seemed so final, as if the work were over, that I was almost surprised at the onset of each subsequent movement. Influences aside, the Debussy of only 15 years later appears to be from a different world. Grieg’s Norwegian nationalism and romantic gestures are replaced by the soft, vibrant pastels of French impressionism. The Euclid Quartet seems comfortably at home in the bombast of the former and delicacy of the latter. Another welcome addition to my collection. 

Quite a different kind of string quartet came to my attention this month, in the form of a set of collective improvisations by Richard Carr, Caleb Burhans, Clarice Jensen and Carr’s son Ben a.k.a. Carrtoons. August Light (neuma records 208 richardcarrviolinist.bandcamp.com/album/august-light) features a dozen tracks that range in style from ambient to abrasive. Carr is primarily a violinist, but is also heard on piano and, in one instance, electric guitar. Burhans is a violist and Jensen a cellist with Carrtoons adding electric bass on some of the material. The overall mood is contemplative, but as mentioned there are occasional moments of aggression. Play with Fire, with its choppy cello line and raspy upper strings seemed familiar to me, but not in a derivative way. Eventually I figured out that it was reminiscent of the Kronos Quartet version of Purple Haze or perhaps Matt Haimovitz’s cello ensemble playing Kashmir. But as I say, most of the disc is a lot more mellow than that. A favourite is the haunting Vik, bringing to mind the quiet majesty of the black volcanic sand beaches near the fishing village of that name on the south shore of Iceland that I had the pleasure of visiting with my wife a dozen years ago. This is followed by At the Crossroads, another ethereal piece with Carr on piano and the strings gently enhanced with electronics. The disc opens with Standing Stone, featuring plucked strings and overlaid long notes, and seemingly ends in a similar fashion with Standing Stone Reprise almost an hour later. After more than a minute of silence however the actual final track, Desolation is a Railway Station, begins with Carrtoons’ quiet walking bass line, the “heartbeat in this nocturnal jazz noir journey.” Very effective.

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Update: In June I wrote about Russell Truesdell Presents SYNTHESIS – The String Quartet Sessions (SynthesisSQS.com), a mammoth project for which Truesdell invited 15 large ensemble jazz composers to write for the iconic classical string formation. At the time, as is often the case, I was working from digital audio files in advance of the official release. Since then I have received the full-release LP-size package containing three CDs and an old-school, full size program booklet. My initial reaction before opening the package was “how annoying, this won’t fit on my CD shelf” but, especially considering my concerns about the Juilliard Schoenberg set as noted above, I quickly realized that this was something special. What a joy to hold the booklet and be able to read the print without eye strain. Although I still get annoyed at odd-sized releases, this one has the standard dimensions of a vinyl record and will be easy to store with the LPs which still have a prominent place in my collection. So, thank you to publicist Ann Braithwaite for sending this along!

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And this just in: Just as I thought I was finished for this edition I received Glasswing, the latest from Canadian string band The Fretless (thefretless.com). Like their previous four albums, Glasswing features original compositions by the members of the band, both individually and collectively, which explore their own unique take on the traditional folk string ensemble. Added to the mix are the warm vocals of Madeleine Roger on three tracks which she co-wrote with the band. The Fretless comprise the traditional formation of a string quartet, two fiddles, viola and cello, but one thing that makes them unique is that all three fiddlers – Karrnnel Sawitsky, Trent Freeman and Ben Plotnick – each take turns in the viola chair. Eric Wright is the cellist, providing a solid bass backing to the lilting higher strings. Highlights for me include the opening quasi molto perpetuo Lost Lake by Freeman, the gentle On the Hook by Plotnick and Sawitsky, Wright’s Tree Finder with its doppler-like opening and the closer, Icarus, with Roger’s poignant vocals re-telling the story of the boy who flew too close to the sun. 

Concert note: The Fretless launch Glasswing in a cross-country tour this month. In collaboration with set designer Gillian Gallow, lighting designer Emerson Kafarowski and sound technician Karen Gwillim, the tour promises to be an immersive, multi-sensory concert experience. It kicks off in B.C. on October 3 and culminates at Toronto’s Great Hall on October 20

We invite submissions. CDs, DVDs and comments should be sent to: DISCoveries, The WholeNote c/o Music Alive, The Centre for Social Innovation, 720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S 2R4 or to discoveries@thewholenote.com. 

Spending time at the family cottage in the Haliburton Highlands this summer with my mother I was reminded of her favourite adage “You can’t have too many mushrooms.” This came to mind as I was listening to the CD Ravel | Jurecka by the Venuti String Quartet (venutistringquartet.com) when I realized you also “can’t have too many recordings of the Ravel String Quartet,” especially when it’s played with such joie de vivre as it is by this Toronto-based ensemble. Dating from 1903, the quartet is a relatively early work written when the composer was 28 years old. A forward-looking piece, especially in the assez vif – très rhythmé second movement with its extensive use of pizzicato, Ravel’s quartet is rooted in turn of the century late romantic sensibilities. Two decades later, Ravel was exposed to the St. Louis style of blues and jazz music as performed by W.C. Handy, who was based in Paris at the time, and incorporated this influence into the Sonata for Violin and Piano (1923-1927). In a similar way, Toronto multi-instrumentalist, poly-stylist, composer and arranger Drew Jurecka, founding member of the Venuti String Quartet, draws upon jazz in his String Quartet in D that opens the disc. The initial Allegro moderato begins with pizzicato in the lower strings, perhaps in homage to Ravel, with a lovely lilting unison melody in the violins, followed by a rollicking Scherzo that features some string-scraping percussion effects. The third movement, Indigo, brings to mind Porgy and Bess, and the Fast Swing finale is reminiscent of the quartet’s namesake, iconic jazz violinist Joe Venuti. Jurecka is joined by Rebekah Wolkstein (who takes first desk in the Ravel), violist Shannon Knights and cellist Lydia Munchinsky in a captivating performance of a welcome addition to the quartet repertoire. The disc ends with a breath-taking tour de force called The Spider, a tribute to Carl Stalling of Looney Toons and Merry Melodies fame, co-written by Jurecka and long-time associate, guitarist Jay Danley. Hold on to your hat!

The latest release by the Miró Quartet, aptly titled Home (pentatonemusic.com/product/home) explores various aspects of feelings associated with their (our) sense of belonging and place. It represents the group’s artistic home, firmly rooted in the American soundscape and musical tradition, and the commissioned works also investigate the composers’ understanding of the word. Kevin Puts’ 2017 three movement work that gives the CD its title, is a response to the civil war which displaced more than 13 million Syrian Nationals and sparked the European Migrant Crisis, and to subsequent events including the US border crisis and Russia’s war on Ukraine. It’s an expressive three movement work that “confronts the idea of what being forcibly driven from your home by violence might mean and feel like.” Caroline Shaw wrote Microfictions [Volume 1] during COVID restrictions while confined to her apartment in NYC. Inspired by science fiction writer T.R. Darling’s Twitter-based short stories, Shaw took those same character limit restrictions and created her own brief vignettes as introductions to six movements for string quartet. We hear her reciting these to accompany the Miró performance. The longest work on the programme is Samuel Barber’s gorgeous String Quartet in B Minor (1936, rev.1943). Violist John Largess’ program note tells us this work is “a dramatic, powerful and intense piece, uniquely American, but also universal in its message” and the Miró’s performance reinforces his perspective. Of course, it is the third movement of Barber’s string quartet that is most familiar as the standalone Adagio for Strings. In a review some years ago I chastised a young Canadian string quartet for only including this excerpt on a disc that had room for the whole quartet, so I’m pleased that the Miró have presented the complete work here. However, Home also includes a similarly iconic excerpt known as “Lyric for Strings,” the Molto adagio movement from George Walker’s 1946 String Quartet No.1. Fortunately a recent recording by the Catalyst Quartet – Uncovered Vol.3 – includes the quartet in its entirety and I was happy to seek it out. Home ends gently with William Ryden’s arrangement of Harold Arlen’s Over the Rainbow. You can find a wonderful video performance on YouTube entitled Miro Quartet’s “Over the Rainbow” Celebrates Hometown of Austin, TX. There’s no place like home! 

Since its founding in 2006, Quatuor Béla have been touted as the enfants terrible of French string quartets. In addition to a commitment to traditional quartet repertoire they specialize in the most significant quartets of the 20th century and have been instrumental in the continuing development of the genre commissioning and performing works by Saariaho, Drouet, Stroppa, Mochizuki, Leroux and Platz to name just a few. Benjamin Britten (lepalaisdesdegustateurs.com) is their latest release, two CDs including Britten’s three numbered string quartets and a strikingly effective bare bones transcription by first violinist Frédéric Aurier of Les Illuminations with soprano Julia Wischniewski. Aurier also wrote the detailed and insightful liner notes which provide context and analysis of the works presented. I particularly like the way he relates the string quartets to Britten’s operas. The first two were written while the world was in the throes of the Second World War; String Quartet No.1 in 1941 while Britten and his partner Peter Pears were sheltering in the USA (they returned to Britain in 1942) and String Quartet No.2 in 1945. Although ostensibly written to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Henry Purcell’s death, the second quartet also incorporates the feelings of devastation Britten experienced while visiting Germany with Yehudi Menuhin after the armistice to perform for liberated prisoners and emaciated survivors from German camps, including the notorious Bergen-Belsen. The three-movement work concludes with what Aurier calls a “bewildering” Chaconne with its theme and variations, a theme “which has its operatic twin in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.” Aurier goes on to say that “Though the tribute to Purcell is real, it is a Beethovenian force that drives the piece” and the repeated final chords are indeed reminiscent of that master. Three decades would elapse before Britten returned to the form, and the String Quartet No.3 (1975) was his final completed instrumental work. It is closely linked to the opera Death in Venice written shortly beforehand and it ends peacefully, the work of a composer facing his own imminent death. Here, as elsewhere in these impeccable performances, Quatuor Béla captures every subtle nuance and dramatic cadence with aplomb. 

Les Illuminations was begun in England in March 1939 and completed a few months later in the United States. It was originally scored for soprano and string orchestra, but within two years of its premiere Britten conducted Pears in the tenor version which has become more often performed. But as Britten’s biographer David Matthews wrote, the work is “so much more sensuous when sung by the soprano voice for which the songs were conceived.” Wischniewski certainly brings sensuousness and passion to fore here in a spectacular performance. The texts are selected passages from poems abandoned by Arthur Rimbaud at the age of 20, later published under the same name as the song cycle. Although the poems are not included in the booklet, the notes give a synopsis of each of the nine movements. As for the “de-orchestration,” Aurier tells us that “as in any reduction, something is lost… a smoothness, a density, a quiet force. And something is gained… a sharpness, details, the quintessence of the speech, the articulation and the urgency of the music perhaps. We wanted this version to be faithful, dynamic and expressive, more raw perhaps, but connected with the Rimbaldian delirium.” Mission accomplished. 

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I find myself wondering if recordings of Bach’s cello suites are like mushrooms, because they seem to keep popping up, and also because it seems that I “can’t have too many” of them. The suites are so ubiquitous that virtually every cellist plays them, throughout their life, and most professionals record them at least once. Two new recordings came my way recently.

Henrik Dam Thomsen, principal cellist of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra since 2000, has just released his well considered version of J. S. Bach – Six Suites for Cello Solo (ourrecordings.com) with an excellent introductory essay by Jens Cornelius which incorporates historical information about Bach and the suites and includes extensive quotes from the performer and a description of the recording venue (Garnisons Kirke, Copenhagen). Thomsen says of his own personal journey to this point, “I have just turned 50, and for 40 of those years I have studied the suites. So a long musical journey underlies the way in which I play them today. As a cellist one goes through various phases with regard to the suites. When young, one is strongly influenced by one’s teachers. This is followed by a phase where one makes the music one’s own and attempts to discover what means something special for oneself. And in my case this has already been a very long period. I have played Bach at numerous concerts over the years, and at the same time the suites have been my daily practising therapy.” He goes on to talk about the choices one has to make today in considering historical instruments and performance practices and how this has influenced him. His ultimate decision was to use his usual instrument – a 1680 Francesco Ruggieri built five years before Bach was born – while eschewing gut strings for modern ones and using a conventional bow. He also chooses to play the final suite on this instrument, despite it having been conceived for a five-string cello. The result is a warm, confident, at times exuberant and a very welcome addition to the discography. I’ll leave the last words to Thomsen: “Today, Bach is like some huge tree, and the interpretations of his music are like a million leaves on that tree. To record Bach’s music is a profoundly personal thing, but when I come with an attempt at an interpretation, all I do is add just one more leaf to that huge tree which is Bach.” 

In 2002 Montreal-born French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras (jeanguihenqueyras.com) was awarded the City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize as selected by that year’s laureate Pierre Boulez. In 2007 Harmonia Mundi released Queyras’ first recording of Bach’s cello suites. Later this month HM will release JS Bach – Complete Cello Suites (The 2023 Sessions), Queyras’ 36th recording for the prestigious label. This latest version follows a dance collaboration with Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Mitten wir im Leben sind / Bach6Cellosuiten (2017). After nearly a hundred performances of the dance work, Queyras returned to the studio to record his current interpretation of these masterworks. Obviously influenced by his experiences with the dancers – each of the suites is comprised of a prelude and five dance movements after all – these performances are flowing and fluid. In the booklet Queyras discusses his approach and influences. Like Thomsen, Queyras speaks about how the suites are a lifelong project: “Bach’s Cello Suites do indeed accompany us, cellists, throughout our lives. We encounter them while still very young, by tackling the less technically challenging movements. For me, it started with the Bourree from the third suite. I was 10 years old. My connection to the Bach Suites began there, and this music has never left me since. When you are quite young, you play it spontaneously, you celebrate life. Then in adolescence, you start to question yourself, to go through moments of genuine doubt. At the age of 17 or 18, you turn to the great masters of the past, to their countless recordings that have set the standard, and you ask yourself: How should I do it? What could I add to all this? When I was in my twenties, I had a tendency to sink into deep thought and serious questioning... And in Bach, I found a source of support. [...] When I went into the studio to make this second recording, my idea was to say, I am letting the passage of time do its work. The recording I am making today will be what it is because it is nourished by everything I have experienced during the 17 years that separate the two sessions, especially by the experience of Mitten. […] I wanted to open up new avenues and to focus even more on the harmonic movement. Harmony is the framework that allows the melody to soar. That is also how jazz musicians approach their charts. In this new recording, I tried to go further in these flights of imagination…” Queyras goes on to say that he was also influenced by a viola da gamba recording by Paolo Pandolfo and wanted to incorporate some of the gestures specific to the gamba. I find that particularly noticeable in the haunting melancholy of the fifth suite and in the sixth with his use of ornamentation and the way he manages to create the impression of a hurdy-gurdy. Like Thomsen he chooses to use his “usual” four-string instrument for this suite, a Gioffredo Cappa cello dating from 1696. 

We invite submissions. CDs, DVDs and comments should be sent to: DISCoveries, The WholeNote c/o Music Alive, The Centre for Social Innovation, 720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S 2R4 or to discoveries@thewholenote.com.

Correction: In a review in our previous issue (Volume 29 No 5) the bass player on John Herberman’s album Spring Comes Early was incorrectly identified as Jim Vivian. In actuality the “sinuous, emotive bass” playing referred to was that of Paul Novotny. The WholeNote apologizes for the error. Lesley Mitchell-Clarke’s review of Novotny’s own latest album Summertime in Leith, which features duets with Robi Botos, leads off the Jazz and Improvised review section further on in these pages. 

I enjoy connections, and excuses to revisit my vinyl collection, and in this issue I found several. While editing Yoshi Maclear Wall’s review of Disaster Pony in the Jazz and Improvised Section below, I was struck by his comments about the interplay between cello and saxophone. It put me in mind of the first time I encountered saxophone in a classical context in a 1965 recording of Kabalevsky’s Cello Concerto No.2 featuring its dedicatee Daniil Shafran with the Leningrad Philharmonic. About halfway through the work there is a cello cadenza followed by a phrenetic orchestral tutti in which a saxophone takes up the cello’s theme. On first listening, it took several seconds to assimilate what I was hearing. When the cello takes back the theme a minute later, I was amazed to realize just how alike the two seemingly disparate instruments could sound. It was a revelation. So, Yoshi’s review sent me rooting around my vinyl collection to come up with the old Melodyia/Angel LP. What a joy to revisit that seminal recording. 

The next excuse for a deep dive came as a result of a CD which I didn’t at first think I would be reviewing, Sinta Quartet Plays Beethoven (Bright Shiny Things BSTC-0196 brightshiny.ninja). Now Sinta is a saxophone quartet, and I must say my initial skepticism was not allayed by the opening movement of Beethoven’s “Serioso” String Quartet No.11 in F Minor, Op.95. It was as if I was hearing the soundtrack of a Roadrunner cartoon, or maybe the Keystone Kops. I decided to withhold judgement, however, and skipped ahead to the centrepiece of the disc, the prayer-like third movement of String Quartet No.15 in A Minor, Op.132. From there I was drawn into the fugal opening of String Quartet No.14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op.131 and sat transfixed throughout its seven movements. I was immediately taken by the effectiveness of Dan Graser’s transcriptions, although I found the upper range of the soprano saxophone at times a bit shrill. To contrast that, the rich fullness of the baritone sax, far exceeding the depths of a cello, was captivating. I was surprised to find myself spending more time with this disc than any other in recent memory. Over the period of a month, I pulled out half a dozen versions of the string quartets, from my first vinyl recordings with the Yale String Quartet on the Vanguard Cardinal label and the Guarneri on RCA, through Orford and Italiano quartet LPs, to CDs featuring the Alban Berg, Tokyo (with Peter Oundjian) and Alcan quartets, all juxtaposed with repeated listenings to the saxophone versions. I’m not suggesting that saxophone arrangements will replace the originals in my heart, and pride of place for Op.132 still goes to the Orford Quartet’s digital recording on a Delos CD, but I’m pleased have this alternate take in my collection, much in the way that I appreciate Marion Verbruggen’s performance of Bach Cello Suites on the recorder – an interesting and enchanting new perspective.

I had no qualms whatsoever about Kinds of ~Nois, a recording of original works for saxophone quartet written by the members of the composers collective Kinds of Kings for the Chicago-based quartet ~Nois (Bright Shiny Things BSTC-0197 brightshiny.ninja). Presented in reverse chronology, the disc is bookended by two works by Gemma Peacocke, the recent Hazel, inspired by a poem by Pablo Neruda, and Dwalm, which represents the first collaboration between the two groups back in 2018. Shelley Washington’s Eternal Present is in two movements: I. Now and II. Always. The first features gently moving cloud-like clusters; the second is more playful and percussive, with echoes and games of tag. Maria Kaoutzani’s Count Me In is an “exploration of rhythm and drive inspired by Afro-Cuban bata traditions, made up of interlocking rhythmic patterns” which at times give way to drone-like stasis. Washington returns to narrate her poem BIG TALK and then to perform one of the two baritone sax parts in the duet of the same name, “an outcry against rape culture designed to be an endurance piece for the performers in solidarity with women forced to endure a daily barrage of physical abuse.” An “intentionally confrontational” work, BIG TALK exploits fully the range and power of the baritone instrument in a wild and varied ride lasting 11 minutes, with driving minimalist low ostinati and occasional hints of Harlem Nocturne on speed. Kaoutzani’s Shore to Shore provides respite with its quiet tribute to the sea, “with echoes of a Cypriot lullaby the composer’s grandmother used to sing to her.” Dwalm is an old Scottish word meaning both stupor or daydream and to faint or fall ill. “The composer pursues that idea by contrasting lullabies with cries of sorrow […] in the context of the same underlying darkness of oblivion,” although the density of layers and accelerated tempi keep despair at bay.  

Leah Plave is a cellist currently based in The Netherlands who holds degrees from universities in Cincinnati, Montreal, Budapest and Den Haag. While studying at McGill she served as artistic director and cellist for the Montreal Music Collective. Tong Wang is a Canadian pianist and collaborative artist active in performance, research and community engagement. The Canada Council-funded Black Sea, Orange Tree (Leaf Music leahplave.com) features the two in works for cello and piano by Turkish composer Fazil Say and Canadian Alice Ping Yee Ho. Each four-movement work depicts specific places in colourful aural portraits of the Republic of Türkiye and the People’s Republic of China respectively, and in each, the cello is called upon to replicate sounds of traditional instruments. Say’s Dört Şehir (Four Cities) is a journey through culturally diverse regions of Anatolia (Asia Minor) with stops at Sivas (a conservative city in Eastern Anatolia), Hopa (represented by a traditional wedding dance), Ankara (the capital city of Turkey under Atatürk in 1923), and finally Bodrum (known as the “St. Tropez of Turkey”). This last is a boisterous, jazz-inspired romp with “an abrupt and absurd conclusion in its depiction of a pub brawl as frequently experienced in this city.” Ho’s Four Impressions of China portray Hunan, Tibet, Heilongjiang and her birthplace, Hong Kong. The composer tells us that the music of Hunan takes a Chinese folk song as its point of departure. Tibet is an “imaginary train ride through the Himalayas to the city of Lhasa.” The Black Dragon River, one of China’s four great rivers, is the inspiration for Heilongjiang as the composer imagines a dance of the Black Dragon to symbolize the province’s fierce winters and dormant volcanoes. Hong Kong captures night scenes where locals “...gather at the harbour and lively night markets. Music unfolds the magical view of the Victoria Harbor glittering with city lights; there are the sounds of street performers singing and playing traditional instruments.” In these diverse portraits both performers have shown consummate command of their western instruments while adapting them admirably to create convincing Asian soundscapes.

David Crowell is a New York-based composer and instrumentalist who is active in the fields of contemporary classical composition, improvisation, jazz and experimental rock and pop. His latest release Point / Cloud (Better Company Records davidcrowellmusic.com/music) features four compositions performed by Sandbox Percussion, guitarists Dan Lippel and Mak Grgić, and the duo eco|tonal. The percussion work Verses for a Liminal Space is a gentle piece full of bell sounds, vibraphone and marimba ostinati underscored by subtle drum kit beats. The title work is a response to Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint from 1987. Like that iconic work, Point / Cloud is in three movements in which the solo guitarist plays against tracks they have previously recorded. Lippel, who consulted with Reich for his own recording of Electric Counterpoint, is the guitarist here and gives a nuanced and well-balanced performance of this effective tribute, which, while acknowledging its forebear, avoids being derivative. For Pacific Coast Highway Lippel is joined by Grgić in a classical guitar duet version of a work Crowell originally composed for electric guitar and electric bass. It’s a wild ride “via dancelike passages that bend and wind after their namesake.” The most intriguing work is the final one, 2 Hours in Zadar featuring the meditative duo eco|tonal consisting of Crowell and cellist/singer/improviser Iva Casián-Lakoš. The text is drawn from a poem by Casián-Lakoš’ mother Nela Lakoš. “Subtle utterances of Casián-Lakoš speaking Croatian are blended with organ-like electronics, which are derived from manipulations of [her] voice. […] Eventually, samples of a sound unique to the city of Zadar makes its presence known: The Sea Organ. A symbiosis of human architecture and the unpredictability of nature, this ‘organ’ is a marble stair in the Croatian coastal city that contains an assortment of pipes in its steps, which are ‘played’ by the ebb and flow of waves.” The sounds are haunting and captivating, as is the entire disc. 

Founded in 2011 by clarinetist Pascal Archer, Exponential Ensemble is a mixed chamber music collective (flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, violin, viola, cello and piano, supplemented with horn, trumpet and an additional violin here), whose unusual mission includes commissioning and premiering works that are inspired by math, science and literacy. Matters of Time (American Modern Recordings AMR1055 americanmodernrecordings.com) features four quite different works that approach this mandate in varying ways. Amy Brandon says “Crown of the Sun is a reflection on the physical nature of the sun’s corona contrasted with the deep emptiness of space. NASA recently sonified the radiation patterns that the sun emits, and I found a particular connection between this sound and the complex and beautiful sound of oboe multiphonics, which is why they are referenced throughout this piece, to essentially sonify the varying states of the sun’s corona in sound.” A Dark Matter by Gilead Cohen “explores the notion that our mind also sometimes circles around an […] indefinable worry, regret, or fear [that] can occupy us for a long time and color everything else in dark shades. At the core of this piece is such musical ‘dark matter.’” The Bright Exuberant Silence by Jared Miller gives us a curiously positive glimpse at the lockdowns of 2020, inspired by that “fleeting and eerie moment in modern history when the world was put on pause due to COVID-19 [and] nature began to heal. Pollution started to clear in the air as fewer people drove cars to work every day. Birdsong was audible in silent metropolises [and] you could even see the stars in the sky in the middle of Manhattan on some nights. Nature began to overtake cities quietly and holistically – and for a moment, urban dwellers learned what it was like to peacefully coexist with the natural world.” Both Miller’s and Brandon’s work were commissioned with the support of the Canada Council. The disc is completed by a surprisingly lyrical, playful and somewhat anachronistic work, to my ear reminiscent of the music of Francis Poulenc, by Robert Paterson. Relative Theory is in four movements that reference physicists and mathematicians Blaise Pascal, Emmy Noether, Albert Einstein and Pythagoras. Paterson says he was inspired by how much the Exponential Ensemble enjoy performing programs for children that relate math to music. “In a fun, yet hopefully meaningful way, the movements of my piece are designed to draw parallels between these two distinct, but interrelated worlds.” It certainly is fun, especially Einstein’s Daydream with its quotations from Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, and the rollicking finale The Hammers of Pythagoras. 

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I began this column writing about string quartet transcriptions for saxophones, and this latest arrival seems, in a way, to bring me full circle. Russell Truesdell Presents SYNTHESIS – The String Quartet Sessions (SynthesisSQS.com) is a mammoth project for which Truesdell invited 15 large ensemble jazz composers to write for the iconic classical string formation. Truesdell says the project grew out of the isolation of the pandemic. “I wanted to find a way to inspire and challenge large ensemble composers – myself included – at a time when we were feeling hopeless for the future of our artform [...] The idea for SYNTHESIS came from the knowledge that many jazz composers derive inspiration from the string quartet writing of composers like Bartok, Brahms, and Ravel, and the necessity of finding a realistic, yet inspiring way to create music together, safely, in person. [...] I wanted to hear my peers, whom I respect and whose music I love so much, create something new in this idiom.” The 3CD set has kept me enthralled throughout my first listening – it arrived as I was putting the finishing touches on this column, so I haven’t had time to properly immerse myself in it yet – and although there is simply too much material to deal with in detail, I wanted to share my enthusiasm with you. Truesdell gave the composers very few parameters in terms of length or style to guide them, and I was particularly taken with the range of approaches taken. While most of the works were composed specifically for this project, also included are a previously unrecorded work for string trio from 1990 by Bob Brookmeyer and a reworking of John Hollenbeck’s Grey Cottage, originally for solo violin, for quartet with the composer adding drums, marimba and piano. Most of the composers have chosen to stick within the traditional quartet formation of two violins, viola and cello, but several feature soloists within this context, including Christine Jensen whose lovely Tilting World features violin soloist Sara Caswell. Truesdell, who himself contributed three titles, adds Israeli-born clarinetist Anat Cohen for Suite for Clarinet and String Quartet and bassist Jay Anderson to the quartet in Heart of Gold (for Jody) which is a showcase for cellist Jody Redhage Ferber. To quote the press release: “SYNTHESIS challenges old perceptions of the traditional string quartet [...] exploring a new genre of music cultivated at the intersection of jazz, classical, world, and contemporary music.” It does so admirably. 

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We invite submissions. CDs, DVDs and comments should be sent to: DISCoveries, The WholeNote c/o Music Alive, The Centre for Social Innovation, 720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S 2R4 or to discoveries@thewholenote.com.

Although you will not be reading this until April, or even May, as I write it is not yet March. While I try to keep on top of the many, many releases that have come in for consideration since our last issue, I am also having to consider a number of discs that we overlooked in the past year. While we will not know the results of the Juno Awards before we go to press, the nominations have been recently announced and although we have covered most of discs in the categories most relevant to The WholeNote, there are a few we overlooked. You’ll find a couple of these – Caity Gyorgy/Marc Limacher and Nick Maclean Quartet featuring Brownman Ali – in our Jazz and Improvised section, and two from the Classical Album of the Year (soloist) category right here. 

Matt Haimowitz is the soloist in the digital-only release Thomas de Hartmann – Cello Concerto Op.57 (Pentatone PTC 5187159 pentatonemusic.com/product/de-hartmann-cello-concerto). Dennis Russell Davies conducts the MDR Leipzig RSO in the first commercial recording of this work by one of the significant Ukrainian composers of the first half of the 20th century. De Hartmann (1885-1956) was an important compositional voice during his lifetime, but since then his colourful and compelling music has been largely ignored. This recording is part of a larger undertaking aimed to remedy that situation, and Haimowitz’s stunning performance bodes well for the success of the venture (thomasdehartmannproject.com). The concerto, which reflects the anxiety of the times, was composed in 1935 and first performed three years later by Paul Tortelier and the Boston Symphony under Serge Koussevitzky. Although not himself a Jew, de Hartmann was troubled by the acute antisemitism of the rising Nazi regime in Germany and the work incorporates Jewish musical folklore and other Eastern European folk traditions. Indeed the playful third movement, with its moto-perpetuo cello line, opens with a (presumably Hungarian) theme that Bartók would use in sketches for a viola concerto a decade later. The at times cinematic, 36-minute concerto is an excellent introduction to this often-overlooked composer, and with the current horrific situation in Ukraine its rediscovery is a timely reminder of the glorious musical heritage of that nation.

James Ehnes is the soloist for Carl Nielsen – Violin Concerto with the Bergen Philharmonic under Edward Gardner (Chandos CHSA 5311 chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHSA%205311). An extended slow introduction – likened by Paul Griffiths in the excellent booklet notes to a folk fiddler playing with “classical elegance,” gently fades away before an abrupt orchestral explosion into the Allegro cavallerésco, a “chivalric” episode evoking knights on horseback. The Poco Adagio begins gently with winds before morphing into a contemplative violin solo. The final movement is also gentle but quite mischievous where, in Griffiths’ words “comedy is overplayed […] making riot of its ebullience. [But] the cadenza goes another way, back to a moment of drone-accompanied melody, as if this had all been the dream of a wandering fiddler.” Nielsen began the work in Norway and Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang has said “I think every violinist should play this concerto, because you get challenged not only technically, but also structure-wise. You have to take a bird’s eye view of this concerto, you need this kind of perspective.” Ehnes seems to have had no problem attaining this vantage point. He rises to all the challenges and there are passages that shine like jewels. It’s easy to see why this performance was short-listed for a Juno. 

Gardner also leads the orchestra in a magnificent performance of Nielsen’s Symphony No.4 “The Inextinguishable” recreating the same pairing of works that Nielsen conducted in a program in London in 1923, 100 years before this recording was made. 

Another one that slipped through the cracks last year is a fabulous new recording of Ravel – Daphnis et Chloé complete ballet (Chandos CHSA 5327 chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN 5327) featuring the Sinfonia of London Chorus and Sinfonia of London. Director John Wilson used the COVID-19 lockdown period to prepare a new performing edition of the ballet that we are more familiar with from the two suites that the composer extracted from the near-hourlong original. It was conceived in 1909, the year Serge Diaghilev brought his Ballet Russe to Paris, as a collaboration between Ravel, Diaghilev and dancer/choreographer Michel Folkine. Although there were myriad complications and disagreements along the way, the project was eventually brought to fruition culminating in, much to Ravel’s chagrin, only two performances at the end of the 1912 season. Although Diaghilev did mount three more performances at the end of the following year, he never thereafter presented it in Paris. This new recording is accompanied by extensive notes by Wilson detailing the history of the ballet’s creation and his own challenges in recreating what he feels is an authentic version of the historic ballet. There is also a detailed libretto/mis en scene by Folkine, making a very impressive booklet in three languages totaling 42 pages. The performance is stunning and the recording itself is immaculate, with a dynamic range that has to be heard to be believed. 

One more disc lost in the shuffle before we move on. New Stories features saxophonist Joseph Lulloff and pianist Yu-Lien The performing works by colleagues from Michigan State University, Canadian Dorothy Chang and Americans David Biedenbender, Stacy Garrop and Carter Pann (Blue Griffin Records BGR607 bluegriffin.com). Chang’s lyrical title work is the earliest on the disc, dating from 2013. The composer says the commission “was the perfect opportunity to explore the combination of Eastern and Western influences in my music, a composition puzzle I was grappling with at the time.” Biedenbender’s one-movement Detroit Steel is an unaccompanied work intended to honour “the grit, strength and resolve of the people of the city.” Garrop’s Wrath is a follow up to her earlier Tantrum for alto sax and piano, and its three movement titles – Menace, Shock and Amok – aptly describe the moods of the piece. At 25 minutes, Pann’s Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano is the most extended and developed work on the disc, comprising six tracks of varied aspect from the opening This Black Cat to the closing Lacrimosa in memory of Joel Hastings. Throughout the disc Lulloff and The rise to every challenge and nuance pitched by the four composers, from languid and emotive melodies to brash, abrasive and sometimes jocular outbursts. 

And on to more recent arrivals… Another saxophone disc CONVERGENCE – Music for Saxophone and Mixed Media (Navona Records nv6608 navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6608) features Heidi Radtke in works for soprano, alto and tenor saxes in a variety of settings. The eight compositions – each by a different contemporary composer – span a plethora of moods and emotions, from raucous and playful, to morose and meditative. The disc opens with a lush reimagining by Jenni Watson of Debussy’s first Arabesque in which the sax is surrounded by a gorgeous wash of pre-recorded sounds, primarily those of violin and piano. Two particularly moving works are Andy Scott’s Wind Telephone, inspired by the 2011 tsunami in Otsuki, Japan and Rahsaan Barber’s Breonna Taylor (How Many More?), a gentle lament for a Black woman killed by police in Louisville, KY in 2020. It uses field recordings from Iroquois Park close to Taylor’s home in which calls of red-winged blackbirds are prominent. British-born Canadian composer Peter Meecham’s contemplative 3 Pieces for Solo Saxophone depict “A lonely man, on the New York subway, playing his saxophone, not for money, but for himself.” The title work is a 2011 collaboration between Radtke and Sang Mi Ahn in which the solo saxophone interacts with an electronic soundtrack generated from sounds made by Radtke’s sax. I might have expected an hour’s worth of solo” saxophone to be a bit “much of a muchness,” but to the contrary, Radtke’s compelling playing, the varying compositional palettes and diverse accompaniments made for an engaging listening experience throughout.  

The Emily Carr String Quartet (emilycarrstringquartet.com) released its second album in January. Portraits, a digital release on Leaf Music “is inspired by the work of Emily Carr. […] It is through music, one of the most abstract of art forms, that we can connect ourselves to her. The rhythm of a piece can be likened to the movement of brush strokes. The musical notes can be described as the pigments of colour chosen to convey the deep, dark and wild nuances of B.C.’s coastal rainforest. Musical phrases can begin to suggest Emily’s connection with the land and the First Nations she was friends with.” Four Canadians – Tobin Stokes, Jocelyn Morlock, Jared Miller and Iman Habibi – have written works that reflect their feelings about or inspired by the iconic artist. Stokes’ Feathers is a nine-movement work with each brief sketch, with such titles as Nesting, Nightingale and Hummingbirds, prefaced by a short quotation from the writings of Carr. Morlock’s Big Raven evocatively reflects Carr’s desire to “bring loneliness to this canvas and haunting broodiness, quiet and powerful.” Miller was inspired by another of Carr canvas, Strangled by Growth, which juxtaposes a human construction (totem pole) with the natural world (forest). Habibi’s Beloved of the Sky pays homage to the painting of the same name in the second movement, with impressions of Carr’s depictions of Forest, her pet monkey Woo and an introspective Self Portrait completing the work. The disc concludes with Stoke’s suite Klee Wyck, interpretations of five stories from the book of the same name. Each of the composers bring their own frame of reference and personal language to the project and the ensemble successfully bridges the divides effectively and convincingly, make for a truly enjoyable disc. 

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The Fine Arts Quartet was founded in Chicago in 1946 so of course there have been personnel changes over the decades. The current violinists, Ralph Evans and Efim Boico, have been members since 1982 and 1983 respectively, with violist Gil Sharon and cellist Niklas Schmidt joining in 2018. The ensemble is still going strong and has just released the tenth and final volume of the complete string quartets (plus other related works) of Antonin Dvořák, Dvořák – String Quartet No.2; Bagatelles; Rondo (Naxos 8.574513 naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.574513). String Quartet No.2 in B-flat Major was one of three quartets written in 1869 during a period when Dvořák was markedly influenced by Wagner. He later destroyed the scores and the quartets were thought to have been lost until sets of parts were discovered after his death. According to the website antonin-dvorak.cz/en, although there had been a private performance in Prague back in 1932, the first public performance of Quartet No.2 was not until September 2021 in that same city by the Zemlinsky Quartet. This recording of the 50-minute work took place just over a year later in Marienmunster, Germany. It is hard to tell why it languished so long without acceptance, or for that matter why it was rejected by the composer. It’s a lovely and fully developed work, if, according to Paul Griffiths, a bit “prolix.” [I had to look that up.] The disc is completed by the humourous Bagatelles of 1878 for two violins, cello and harmonium (Ryoko Morooka) and the rollicking Rondo in G Minor from 1891 for cello and piano (Stepan Simonian). With Dvořák in its rear-view mirror and a discography of some 200 other works spanning the history of the string quartet genre, I look forward to seeing what the future holds for this fine (arts) quartet. 

The Neave Trio is back again – five reviews in these pages since 2017 – and their latest, A Room of Her Own (Chandos CHAN 20238 chandos.net), features four turn-of-the-20th century composers Lili Boulanger, Cécille Chaminade, Dame Ethyl Smyth and Germaine Tailleferre. It’s a bit of misnomer to designate Tailleferre as turn-of-the-century however as she lived and remained active as a composer until 1983. As a matter of fact, although her Trio originated in 1917, she reworked the version included here in 1978, replacing the middle movement and adding a fourth. These new, ebullient movements add a sunny quality to the work while still maintaining the characteristic voice she had established some six decades earlier. Boulanger completed her Deux piéces en trio in 1918, the year of her untimely death at the age of 24. The first of these is a cheerful, brief depiction of a spring morning. The second is a sombre, more extended exploration of a sad evening. The other two trios date from almost 40 years earlier, both composed in 1880. Chaminade’s Trio No.1, Op.11 in G Minor is a fetching work in four movements, with a particularly charming Presto leggiero featuring waterfall-like textures in the piano. British composer Smyth is the only non-French national included here and her formative studies took place in Leipzig, grounding her firmly in the Austro-German romantic tradition. She was born one year later than Chaminade, in 1858, and both died in 1944. Her Trio, at 31 minutes the longest offering here, like her coeval’s is also in a minor key, in this case G Minor. In spite of this there are many bright moments, especially in the scherzando section of the second movement and throughout the Scherzo. Presto con brio third. The Neave Trio in, as always, in top form and is to be commended for bringing these rarely heard gems to light is such stellar performances.   

Poet and author Robert Priest has been active on the Toronto scene as long as I can remember, going back to the early 80s when we were both denizens of Ye Olde Brunswick House open mic nights. I’ve often thought of him over the years, fondly remembering a line (with a tip of the hat to Allen Ginsberg) “I saw the best minds of my generation falling off streetcars” or something to that effect. [Priest tells me the phrase may have actually been “the best mimes of my generation.”] He’s obviously been active in the years since, with half a dozen albums, myriad poetry collections and novels to his credit, as well as co-writing Alannah Myles’ hit Song Instead of a Kiss. I was disappointed to miss his recent album launch at Hugh’s Room – I was asleep at the wheel I guess – but am glad to have received a copy of People Like You and Me (vesuviusmusic.com/robert-priest). It’s a combination of spoken word and song, all accompanied by some fine players from Toronto’s jazz community including Kevin Breit, Alison Young, Great Bob Scott and George Koller, who also share writing credits with Priest. The music is diverse, running a gamut of styles. Most surprising to me is the jazzy torch song You and I and Faraway co-written with Allen Booth and featuring Young’s honey-dripping sax, in which Priest turns in a convincing Brian Ferry-esque performance. Some of the clever turns of phrase I particularly enjoyed were “In my country we don’t have free speech, but the speech we do have is really, really cheap” and “I’m so prophetic I get pre-traumatic stress disorder!” from [I strive for] Outer Peace and “Love is a many gendered thing” from a tune of the same name. I wish I hadn’t missed the show! 

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Concert note: I do intend to be at Priest’s next performance at the Great Sunday Night Folk Off at the Tranzac on April 21 (5pm start). 

We invite submissions. CDs, DVDs and comments should be sent to: DISCoveries, The WholeNote c/o Music Alive, The Centre for Social Innovation, 720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S 2R4 or to discoveries@thewholenote.com. 

As I write this in the early days of January it is fitting that I speak about my New Year’s resolution to be a better friend to my cello this year. With this in mind I’m getting together with my friends Anne (violin) and Adam (piano) for trio sessions after a lengthy hiatus. Having previously played music by Mendelssohn and Mozart, this year we have embarked upon Beethoven’s Piano Trio Op.1, No.2. It’s a piece that I worked on extensively some 20 years ago and have been inspired to revisit by a new release, Beethoven Complete Piano Trios performed by the Weiss Kaplan Stumpf Trio (Bridge Records 9505A/C bridgerecords.com). Yael Weiss (piano), Mark Kaplan (violin) and Peter Stumpf (cello) all have notable solo careers and have been playing together as a trio for more than two decades. What I particularly like about this 3CD package – in addition to the fabulous performances – is that in lieu of program notes for the familiar trios, the booklet includes essays by each of the three performers about their own connections to the music. In the case of Weiss, this involves a lineage of teachers reaching all the way back to Beethoven via her mentor Leon Fleisher, a student of Schnabel, who worked with Leschetizky, a student of Liszt, who studied with Czerny, a student of the great master himself. Kaplan and Stumpf each share their personal takes on the trios, and the occasion of the recording. 

Although not as frequently heard as the string quartets which span Beethoven’s entire career (some of which are among the last works he would compose), the piano trios represent his early and middle periods very well, from his earliest published works, to the mammoth “Archduke” Trio Op.97 of 1811 (my own introduction to the genre some 50 years ago in a recording featuring Emil Gilels, Leonid Kogan and Mstislav Rostropovich). This current recording reminds us however that Beethoven returned to the trio form in 1824 when he published the charming “Kakadu Variations” Op.121a, here paired with the very first trio from 1795. The eight trios therefore spanning three decades of Beethoven’s creativity, all in splendidly dynamic and idiomatic performances which kept me captivated for many hours over the course of the holiday season. 

It seems Beethoven also provided inspiration to composer Joan Tower whose 1985 Piano Concerto – Homage to Beethoven is the title track on a new portrait CD from Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP Sound 1093 bmop.org/audio-recordings). Soloist Marc-André Hamelin is in stellar form in the dramatic and often percussive work from 1985. Although there are no obvious quotations from Beethoven, Tower says “he had a huge influence on me in terms of how to try to create and motivate a strong dramatic structure.” She also says she included fragments from three Beethoven sonatas which are imbedded in the cadenzas. The most recent work is Red Maple, a bassoon concerto from 2013. Right from the extended solo opening, bassoonist Adrian Morejon establishes command, leading BMOP through the haunting quarter-hour virtuosic showpiece. There are two flute concertos bookending Red Maple, Rising for flute and string orchestra (2010, originally for flute and string quartet) and the 1989 Flute Concerto, both premiered by the outstanding Carol Wincenc who is the soloist here. This CD is a fitting tribute to Tower, the now 85-year-old American treasure whose successful career has spanned six decades. 

Joan Tower’s piano concerto put me in mind of one of my first exposures to modern (at the time contemporary) concertante works, more than half a century ago. I bought an LP of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G featuring Lorin Hollander with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Erich Leinsdorf that also included the premiere recording of Norman Dello Joio’s 1961 Fantasy and Variations for Piano and Orchestra. I fell in love with the Ravel, especially Hollander’s tender performance of the slow movement, but it was the Dello Joio that really caught my attention. Although that recording has recently been remastered, it is a piano concerto by his son Justin Dello Joio that I want to write about here. Oceans Apart: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra features Garrick Ohlsson with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Alan Gilbert (Bridge Records 9583 bridgerecords.com). Composed in 2022, the title of the work refers, in part, to the “…the immensity, the oceanic vastness, of the polarization of our time. People seem to be moving irreparably apart. The waves of misinformation spreading relentlessly over the web, the belief that such a thing as ‘alternate facts’ can exist, and the swell of unharnessed power this has caused – these were in my thoughts.” Captured in a live performance, the work opens with “an unresolved tritone in the low register in the piano and the highest sounds, beyond any specific pitch, whispering incomprehensively and at the edge of audibility in the strings” which extends into a 20-minute dramatic contest between piano and orchestra. Ohlsson, for whom it was written, holds his own in a brilliant performance which, to paraphrase the composer, pits him like a surfer on a 100-foot wave against the daunting force of a large symphony orchestra. As the applause dies away we are treated to Due Per Due, two movements for cello and piano (Carter Brey and Christopher O’Riley), Elegia: To an Old Musician and Moto in Perpetuo. Written in 2011, three years after his father’s death, the first pays homage to Norman’s Prelude: To a Young Musician which Justin learned to play at the age of six. The second is as rambunctious and flamboyant as the title implies. This fine disc is completed by Blue and Gold Music written for the tricentennial of the Trinity School, in a sparkling performance by organist Colin Fowler and the American Brass Quintet. 

My first exposure to the music of Claude Champagne (1891-1965) was an educational LP on the Canadian Music Enrichment label, one side of which was an uninterrupted performance of Symphonie Gaspésienne and on the other the same work with cues for a slideshow depicting the landscape of the Gaspé peninsula that inspired the work. Although not much attention was given to him in English Canada, where his contemporaries included Healy Willan and Sir Ernest MacMillan, Champagne was an important figure in the annals of classical music in Quebec, where his students included Violet Archer, Roger Matton, Pierre Mercure, Serge Garant and Gilles Tremblay among other notables. I was very pleased to see a new recording of Champagne’s brilliant tone poem featuring L’Orchestre symphonique de Laval under Alain Trudel (ATMA ACD2 4053 atmaclassique.com/en). Starting eerily in near silence, Trudel leads his orchestra through the gradually building portrait of the fabled peninsula with dramatic turns and climaxes along the 20-minute journey. Although the program notes mention Debussy and the Russian school as influences, I also hear echoes of Delius and Vaughan Williams in this marvelous one movement work. You can access the digital-only recording for free on the ATMA website. 

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Chinatown (Leaf-Music LM281 leaf-music.ca) is a striking new opera featuring the words of Giller Prize laureate Madeleine Thien and music by multiple-award-winner Alice Ping Yee Ho. The project was initiated by City Opera Vancouver back in 2017 and developed over the next five years through a myriad of workshops and public consultations with Vancouver’s Chinese community. During that process the importance of the Hoisan language to the history of Vancouver’s Chinatown became evident as that was the province of China where many of the original immigrants came from. Writer Paul Yee was engaged to translate portions of the opera into the Hoisan dialect. The result is the first opera to depict a Canadian Chinatown, and the first libretto to combine Hoisanese, Cantonese and English. The orchestration features traditional Chinese and Western classical instruments. It tells the story of two families and a chorus of ghosts, beginning with the building of the Canadian Pacific Railroad through to our own times. It deals with “violence and despair, the Head Tax, the Exclusion Act, paper sons, and paper promises.” The opera was staged in 2022 under the direction of Mary Chun and this is the original cast recording of the groundbreaking milestone of the musical stage. The booklet includes a synopsis for each of the 12 scenes of the two-act opera, program notes and biographies in English, French and Chinese pictograms. 

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Edmonton-born, Juno Award-winning composer Vivian Fung first studied with Violet Archer, went on to receive her doctorate from the Juilliard School and is currently based in California. Insects & Machines – Quartets of Vivian Fung (Sono Luminus DSL-92270 sonoluminus.com) features the Jasper String Quartet – who have admired Fung since first performing one of her quartets in 2019 – being “immediately captivated by the visceral energy and impeccable craft of her writing.” The four works included span 18 years of her chamber output. Fung, whose family survived Cambodian genocide, has travelled extensively in the Far East and drew on folk music of certain parts of Asia, including China and Indonesia, for her String Quartet No.1. It began as a short movement written on assignment at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in 2001 for performance by the American String Quartet. The success of that reading inspired her to add three more movements, also drawing on Eastern themes, to complete the quartet in 2004. To my ear is it reminiscent of the “night music” style of Béla Bartók, especially in the original pizzicato movement. (What young composer would not be influenced by Bartók’s incredible contribution to the string quartet genre? And, having spoken of musical lineage earlier in this column, I will mention that Fung’s teacher Archer was herself a student of that Hungarian master.) Fung states that “issues of my Asian identity underscore much of my work.” String Quartet No.2 (2009), also uses a Chinese folksong for its base, and String Quartet No.3 (2013) evokes “a non-Western song […] highly ornamented, powerful, and tuned to suggest the microtonal tendencies found in many non-Western scales.” String Quartet No.4: Insects & Machines is likewise inspired by travels to the Orient, this time Cambodia, where “I was especially attuned to the persistent noises of buzzing insects that accompanied my walk through the thick jungle.” The subtitle aptly describes the divisions of this one-movement work: Buzzing… whirring… glitching… ringing… thumping…. The members of the Jasper String Quartet – named after Canada’s Jasper National Park, although I cannot find another Canadian connection to the group – rise to the multiple challenges posed by Fung throughout these works, but especially in the unrelenting and virtuosic tour de force of this final quartet. But final is not the right word: Fung has recently completed a fifth for Victoria’s Lafayette String Quartet. 

Speaking of string quartets, later on in these pages you will find Terry Robbins’ take on Quatuor Molinari’s latest installment of the quartets of Philip Glass. The Molinari is not the only Montreal-based ensemble to have an ongoing interest in the American minimalist master, and Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà have just released a follow-up to their 2008 Philip Glass: Portrait album. Signature: Philip Glass (Analekta AN 2 8755 outhere-music.com/en/labels/analekta) is comprised of 16 short movements drawn from a dozen “signature” works spanning most of four decades. Dubeau says that for many years she has found Glass’ music “nourishing intellectually and musically” and for this, her 48th album, she chose works she finds “significant and compelling” from his vast oeuvre. Opening (appropriately) with Opening from 1981’s Glassworks, the earliest work on the disc, we journey through the years with stops at such classics as Symphony No.3, Koyaanisqatsi, The Somnambulist, A Brief History of Time, Candyman Suite and several movements from Bent. New to me, and of particular interest, is the extended movement from the 2018 Piano Quintet and two Duos for Violin and Cello from 2010 (featuring Dubeau and Julie Trudeau). The arrangements and adaptations are by Dubeau and François Vallières and they are compelling indeed. 

Around the same time that I was discovering the music of Philip Glass in the late 1970s I was also intrigued by the ambient compositions of Brian Eno such as Music for Airports. Glass had a seminal influence on Eno who, in 1971 along with David Bowie, heard Glass perform at the Royal College of Art in London. Glass would later acknowledge a reciprocal influence, composing three symphonies based on Eno and Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy of albums. In 2015 Bruce Brubaker released Glass Piano and with his latest, Eno Piano (infiné iF1088 infine-music.com) the connections continue. Whereas Eno used a variety of techniques and tape loops to create the drones and sustained notes of his ambient creations, in effect making the studio his instrument, with aid of new technologies such as the EBow (an electromagnetic device used to make long notes on the strings of a guitar or piano) and the latest spatialization techniques from IRCAM, Brubaker has effectively turned the grand piano into a studio to be played in real time. It’s quite a stunning achievement. The tracks on offer are the three parts of Music for Airports along with three shorter works, The Chill Air (from Ambient 2 with Harold Budd, 1980), By This River (Before and After Science, 1977) and Emerald and Stone (Small Craft on a Milk Sea, 2010). 

Another contemporary take on the ambient genre, Skjálfti (Quake) by composers Páll Ragnar Pálsson and Eðvarð Egilsson (sonoluminus-com/store/skjalf) extrapolates a 15-part suite from their soundtrack to the 2021 Icelandic film of the same name. Written and directed by Tinna Hrafnsdóttir, the film tells the story of Saga, an author and mother who, after an epileptic seizure, experiences memory loss at the same time as hidden memories of family secrets begin to resurface. The psychological drama the film explores is hauntingly realized in this effective expansion of the original soundtrack that comprised 40 very brief segments, developing them into a strikingly atmospheric stand-alone work. 

Having begun this column with Beethoven’s impressive cycle of piano trios, I will close with the world premiere recording of one of the latest contributions to that time-honoured genre. Renowned Danish composer Poul Ruders (b.1949) had written some two dozen orchestral works (including five symphonies), as many concertante works, and countless chamber pieces (including four string quartets), before embarking on his first Piano Trio in 2020. Written for the Trio Con Brio Copenhagen, featured here in a performance that lives up to the group’s name, the composer describes it as a Kantian “thing in itself” with no hidden agenda. As per the accompanying press release, “The outer movements zip by in a flurry of heightened virtuosity that verges on the ecstatic (or hysterical, depending on your mood).” The contemplative central movement, Slow Motion, provides some much-needed respite from the at times abrasive opening, and a chance to catch your breath before the whirlwind finale. This is a fine example of how older forms can serve contemporary purposes. Cudos to all involved in this exceptional project (Our Recordings 9.70892 ourrecordings.com). 

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