Volume 15 Issue 10 - July/August 2010

We Are All Music’s

We Are All Music’s ChildrenJune’s Child Andrew BurashkoM J b u e l lWHO IS THEJULY/AUGUSTCHILD?“I feel deeply connected to themusic of Chopin – a composer Ihave adored since I was 12 yearsold – not only because I sharehis Polish heritage…”Accepting her prize from theQueen Mother, with a left handshe would later have to re-train,this little girl made her debutas a soloist with the MontrealSymphony Orchestra in thesame year. In 1974, she had decidedto go to law school whenshe won the first Artur Rubinsteincompetition in Israel.“A born Chopin interpreter”—RubinsteinThink you know who ourmystery child is? Send yourbest guess to musicschildren@thewholenote.com. Please provideyour mailing address justin case your name is drawn!Winners will be selected byrandom draw among correctreplies received by August 20,2010.Montreal, 1961“I play, direct & create interesting projects that exciteme – that satisfy my love for many different stylesof music, as well as theatre and literature.”Andrew Burashko’s earliestmusical memory, fromabout the age of 3, is probablyTchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.“There was always music playingin our home. We had the storywith the music – I’m pretty sureI knew it was a ballet, but it wasthe story that interested me…”There are several doorsthough which a child may enterthe world of music. Sometimesit’s rhythm, sometimes it’s melody,or harmony. Sometimes it’sthe mysterious alchemy of thedrama inherent in music.The story of Andrew Burashko’smusical life, in very broadstrokes, begins as a little 5-yearboy in Moscow unwillinglypushed to begin learning thepiano. It continues as a manwhose successful career as a solopianist coexists with his extraordinarydrive as a collaborator,and whose work still honours thatlittle boy who was so engaged bythe Nutcracker and its story .Since 1998, as the ArtisticDirector of the Art of Time Ensemble,Burashko has broughthighly skilled classical, post-classical,jazz and popular musicianstogether onstage in dance andlanguage-based performancesthat challenge the way many ofus have defined “chamber music,”enticing diverse audiences to engagein the music, sometimeseven in spite of themselves. In recentprogrammes the ensemblehas been joined by Peggy Baker,Sarah Slean, Tom McCamus, TedDykstra, Michael Ondaatje andSteven Page.Other musical adults in yourfamily?My mother was a choral conductorand solfegio teacher. She wasout of the house most of the timeworking. Her mother was a pianistbut I never knew her. I’m theonly other musician in the immediatefamily.Where did music fit into your lifeat that time?I loved to sing at home. At thattime, the only place I heardmusic would have been at home.Records: mostly classical musicand some popular Soviet music.I remember hearing pop musicfor the first time when we leftthe Soviet Union – I would havebeen 7. It was the Beatles. I washooked... . Piano was my first instrument.My mother tried startingme when I was about five –still in Moscow. That only lasteda couple of lessons. I wouldn’thave become a musician had I notbeen pushed.Andrew resumed his piano studieswhen his family settled in Toronto,at the age of about 9, withMarina Geringas at the TorontoRCM. He was soon enrolledin the gifted youth programmewhich provided him with his firstexperiences of chamber music.“With others, it was a joy from thebeginning.”Do you remember when youbegan to think of yourself as amusician?Not a particular point. But therewas always the mirror of myfriends who considered me amusician...Read the full interview onlineat thewholenote.com.JUNE’S WINNERS & PRIZES: CONGRATULATIONS!HERE’S WHAT THEY WON• Sara Schabas: Two tickets to hear AndrewBurashko and the Art of Time Ensemble performat the Toronto Summer Music Festival, in MusicalTransformations: Erich Korngold: Source & Inspirationon Thursday July 29 (8:00pm, Walter Hall). This intriguingly creativeconcert linking the 20th and 21st centuries features a Korngoldsuite and the new songs it has inspired.• Phoebe Cleverly and Claudia Krawchuk: Each win a pair of tickets toRobert Schumann 1810-2010 which launches The Art of Time’s 2010-2011 season (Sept 17 and 18, Enwave Theatre). With readings from hisown letters and critical writing, the programme explores Schumann’spiano, vocal and chamber music, and includes the Andante from hisPiano Quartet Op.47, selections from Kreisleriana, a selection of lieder,and the entire Piano Quintet Op.44.• Barbara Thomson and Carol Desoer: each win a copy of AndrewBurashko’s solo CD Burashko Plays Prokofiev on the Opening Day label.(ODR 9316): Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 6 Op. 82 and his Ten Pieces fromRomeo and Juliet Op.75. “I like this recording because Prokofiev’s musicresonates on a very deep level in me. I’m very proud of this recording.”Music’s’ Children gratefully acknowledges Luisa, Anna, Cecilia, Danielle, Toronto Summer Music, The Art of Time Ensemble, and Opening Day Records.50 THEWHOLENOTE.COMJuly 1 - September 7, 2010

• Working with Bernsteinby Jack GottliebAmadeus Press383 pages, photos; .99 US“Is this book biased? You bet it is!” writesJack Gottlieb in this memoir of his yearsspent working with Leonard Bernstein.As Bernstein’s assistant, on and off, from1958 until his death in 1990, Gottlieb workedon Bernstein’s concerts, scripts,program notes, orchestrations,recordings, compositions andbooks, and picked up his laundry.Gottlieb is candid about Bernstein’salways spontaneous, frequentlyvolatile and sometimesshameless behaviour. Gottlieb describesLB, as he refers to himthroughout this wonderful “grabbag”of a memoir, as “passionate,profligate, overextending himself,taxing his associates.” One ofGottlieb’s diary entries reads, “Later LB upsetsme by saying I’m a disappointment.” Buthe remains fiercely loyal to the man and hismusic. In fact, Gottlieb heads up the LeonardBernstein Office today.He creates a portrait of Bernstein in allBook Shelfp A M e l A M A r g l e Shis genius, exuberance, and irrepressibleenergy. Bernstein was driven by what Gottliebcalls “a burning need to communicate,”and Gottlieb covers the full range of his remarkablyversatile accomplishments as acomposer for Broadway, the concert hall andthe opera house, conductor, pianist and evenlyricist.Everyone who ever met Bernstein, itseems, has a story. Even the FBI has theirown dossier, because of his notoriouspolitical activity. But nobody’sanecdotes are funnier ormore revealing than Gottlieb’s.Clearly his ability to appreciatethe wry side of situations helpedhim survive an intense workingrelationship with a very complexman.Gottlieb, a composer himself,includes his own programnotes for many of Bernstein’sworks. In their clarity and commitmentto Bernstein’s own method of usingpurely musical values rather than programmaticreferences to talk about music, theypromote appreciation of lesser known workslike Gottlieb’s favourite, The Dybbuk, as wellas under-estimated late works like Arias andBarcarolles and A Quiet Place.Gottlieb provides the full text of the notoriousyet misunderstood disclaimer Bernsteinaddressed to New York Philharmonicaudiences in 1962 before conducting GlennGould in Brahms’ Piano Concerto No.1 inD-. “I have only once before in my life hadto submit to a soloist’s wholly new and incompatibleconcept,” Bernstein said, in part,“and that was the last time I accompanied Mr.Gould.” At the same time, Gottlieb providesa look behind the scenes before the concert asGould, who Gottlieb describes as “a luminouspianist but quite messy about his appearance”,gets a haircut and grooming fromBernstein’s wife, Felicia, at the Bernsteinapartment.Given that Bernstein never, unfortunately,wrote his own memoirs, this contributionfrom such an observant, witty and loving associate– and his collection of personal snapshots- is all the more treasurable.• Maraby Lilly BarnesVariety Crossing Press345 pages; .95“You are getting some notion what it’s liketrying to fit everything I found out aboutMara into one single person,” says Ted, thelead voice in Lilly Barnes’ novel about music,madness, racism and survival. “There’s alwayssomething goes squishing out the sides.”GOLD RECORDS GJUNO AWARDSSTUDIO 92Recording & Mastering.Great live room in old movie theatre.Yamaha Grand Piano. Hammond M3& Leslie Milestone Drums. per hour 416.467.9597www.studio92canada.comCall for a coffee and tour09|10PRESENTS11 WORKSHOPSLECTURESDEMONSTRATIONSYOUNG COMPOSERS | STRING QUARTET FOR COMPOSERSGAMELAN | GLASS ORCHESTRA | EXPERIMENTALNON-WESTERN | CLARINET | VIOLIN | PERCUSSIONwww.arraymusic.comJuly 1 - September 7, 2010 THEWHOLENOTE.COM 51