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Volume 10 Issue 6 - March 2005

  • Text
  • Toronto
  • Jazz
  • Theatre
  • April
  • Ensemble
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  • Orchestra

ROBERT LOWREY Proudly

ROBERT LOWREY Proudly Introduces F/1ZIOU® I Grandi Italiani Now only in Toronto (and nowhere else in North America) Can you compare The World's finest pianos Side - By - Side ii11PnboffPf F/lZIOLr BECHSTEIN SCHIMMEL Plus BECHSTEIN FAMILY OF PIANOS C. Bechstein •Wm. Knabe • Sohmer • Kohler & Campbell • Hazelton Five other new brands and lk >Roland" DIGITAL PIANOS Piano Man Remains AnonYmouS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 Bauer soldiered on. "I went on moment a solemn faced group again and started (I think) the had arrived! Bacon beat a hasty Moonlight Sonata. In che middle of the firsc movemenc I heard the cry: 'Chewing gum! Candy! Peanuts!' and the ushers banging down the seats." This was too much and Bauer came to his own defence: he strode to the footlight and in tones dripping with sarcasm gave a long diatribe ending "I must humbly beg your pardon for having trembling retreat as a spokesman who had taken Bauer literally, thanked him for his speech from the platform and "for your generous gesture, but we cannot allow you to assume the blame!" Bauer for once swallowed the remarks that were doubtle s springing to mind. "We shook hands all round and I said: 'You were right Pop."' forgot the arrangements to your comfort this evening. I quite forgot! l should have personally made sure the seats were turned down, and personally distributed those refreshmencs which are .needed outside!!" After the concert Pop Bacon was having his usual conniptions! "You shouldn't have been Poor old Pop died in harness the following year, probably from one too many janitors raising the steam heat at the last moment, and one too many ·incidencs caused by Bauer himself. And . his last words? "The piano will be all right this evening, Mr. Bauer". so sarcastic Mr. Bauer! They don't like it and they don't understand it! Some fellow will haul off and land you one . . . my lord, there they are!!" At this Just call us tuners handmaidens io the arts, always at your service! Harry Potter's invisibility cloak thrown in free, of course. Violins, violas, cellos, and bows Complete line of strings and accessories Expert repairs and rehairs Canada's largest stock of string music Fast mail order servfce tt i 943 Eglinton Ave. East 416 423-0434 • p1anoexperts.com MARCH 1 • APRIL 7 2005

ANALEKTA. It's our name. It's your music. Luc Beausejour harpsichord _ ·James Ehnes violin EDITOR'S CORNER We begin this month with an apology to Pamela Margles for a typographic aberration in the previous issue. The final paragraphs of her review of Wagner's Tannhiiuser were obscured by an errant error message having to do with a printing problem in another quadrant of the page. Space does not permit a reprint here, but I encourage you to check out the full text on our website, www.thewholenote. corn, where incidentally you can read all the CD reviews that we've printed since the DISCoveries section's inception back in July 2001. Once again this month our reviews run the gamut. From the Skye Consort's take on French music of the past one thousand years, period performances of Mozart fortepiano and violin sonatas, a plethora of Beethoven from historic reissues of symphonies and piano concertos to state of the art quartet recordings, through to chamber offerings and multi-media works by living composers. We've also got archival jazz and improvised music from the vaults, and current offerings from some of the movers and shakers of Toronto's vibrant club scene. And speaking of moving and shaking, this month we welcome a new reviewer to the fold, Tom Sekowski, who explores the vocal pyrotechnics of local sound artist Paul Dutton. Add to this the hybrid sounds of the Montrealbased group Constantinople in their explorations of various Mediterranean and Middle Eastern musics, and Isabel Bayrakdarian's sparkling presentation of songs by l 9th century French composer Pauline Viardot-Garcia, and you begin to get a sense of the breadth of what the section holds in store. My own listening this month was mostly focused on the music of our time with new string quartet releases from the Beau Quartet of Edmonton and Quatuor Bozzini of Montreal, a portrait of French composer Philippe Leroux, and a Portrait of Toronto's own Ann Southam. (For this last please see the Discs of the Month section.) But a late arrival did lead me back MARCH 1 - APRIL 7 2005 to the French Baroque and it is there I shall begin. The timely appearance of Francois Couperin's Le(:ons de Tenebres on the BIS label (BIS-CD-1346) marks the first release on this prestigious international label for Montreal counter-tenor Daniel Taylor and his Theatre of Early Music. Taylor will perform in Toronto this month ..yith the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir in TSO performances of the St. Matthew Passion March 24 and 26. He joins the Elora Festival singers to perform Bach's B minor Mass in Guelph on March 20. The BIS recording also features young English counter-tenor Robin Blaze who joins Taylor in Couperin's Magnijicat. Although Couperin composed Le(:ons for Wednesday and Thursday of Holy Week as well as Good Friday, only the three for Wednesday have survived. In the first and second we get to hear the countertenors individually and it is only in the third that the voices come together. The extremely austere settings have the vocalists accompanied only by organ and viola da gamba, and in keeping with their sombre subject matter (the texts are from the Lamentations of Jeremiah), this is not an easy listen by any stretch of the imagination. With only occasional moments of respite, it is a melancholy journey made bearable for the most part by the exquisite voices of these young men. One wonders why the Magnijicat is placed at the beginning of this disc and not at the end where it could serve as an upliftin reward for the stalwart auditor. Of course the technology permits us to program the disc in any order we choose, and I chose to return to the Magnijicat at the conclusion of EDITOR'S CORNER continues on page 68 Matthew White & Les Voix Baroques countertenor - · AN 2 9904 Alessndro Scarlatti• Cantatas and Instrumental Music Cana www.analekta.com 15

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