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Volume 24 Issue 6 - March 2019

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Something Old, Something New! The Ide(a)s of March are Upon Us! Rob Harris's Rear View Mirror looks forward to a tonal revival; Tafelmusik expands their chronological envelope in two directions, Esprit makes wave after wave; Pax Christi's new oratorio by Barbara Croall catches the attention of our choral and new music columnists; and summer music education is our special focus, right when warm days are once again possible to imagine. All this and more in our March 2019 edition, available in flipthrough here, and on the stands starting Thursday Feb 28.

Small Steps and Giant

Small Steps and Giant Leaps Citterio is describing methodically what she calls “small steps” the ensemble will be taking to prepare for the “mission” ahead but, from an audience point of view, 2019/20, styled “Old Meets New” in their brochure, looks like more of a giant leap. Old Meets New head on is more like it, starting from the very first concert of the season in which Tafelmusik tackles a string symphony by the teenaged Felix Mendelssohn, as well as the Scherzo from his A Midsummer Night’s Dream, arranged by Citterio’s composer brother, Carlo Citterio, en route to tackling the music of Tchaikovsky (his Serenade for string orchestra) for the very first time. The program will also feature a world premiere by Canadian composer Andrew Balfour, as the brochure says, “in keeping with our season theme of the new informing the old, and the old informing the new.” It’s a lot to unpack, starting with the notion of Tafelmusik commissioning no fewer than six new works over the course of a single season, four of them by Canadian composers. (In addition to Balfour, the season will also include premieres from James Rolfe, Guido Morini, Cecilia Livingston, Grégoire Jeay, and Vittorio Ghielmi. “It’s just a first example of trying to start the process of realizing my vision of what this orchestra can be,” Citterio says. “I CAMERATA-NOVA want to support new composers, including strongly believing in Andrew Balfour including new commissions. We must remember that this ‘new thing’ is actually very old, because one thing about Baroque music is that, for the players and for the audience, it was almost all newly composed – all music was like a premiere. So how else do we get the same feeling today as players? Or as audiences? There are many composers who can write for our instruments with a style that is really compatible, or sometimes with some new influences. I played a lot of great music when I was in Italy, just written for our instruments, sometimes in Baroque style, sometimes in a later style, and the audience just loved it. There’s nothing wrong with someone who wants to write for gut strings because they love the sound! Or for harpsichord. I mean, piano is a wonderful instrument, but we still have the harpsichord as a living instrument, or the viola da gamba ... I played one time this concerto grosso written by an Italian composer, a premiere, and it was written for harpsichord, two violins, viola, gamba and two recorders, and it was amazing; there was an obvious influence from Corelli’s Concerto grosso, but there were other subtle nuances from Romantic or later repertoire. The harpsichord, gamba and recorders all had solos, and the mix was stunning and the audience loved it, because it was written for the voices of the instruments. That was 15 years ago and at that time I thought we must give space to composers.” So they are trying to choose composers who already have a sense of Tafelmusik’s instruments, or really want to find out. And the process of outreach into the wider music for sources to assist them in finding composers has been a valuable exercise it its own right – Soundstreams, for example, led them to Cecilia Livingston. “Best of all, I am really looking forward it, because it will be a surprise for me too, as a player,” Citterio says. “And that is very Baroque.” As important as the fact of there being new commissions, will be the contexts in which they will be presented. In the season’s ninth program, for example, Quebec flutist Grégoire Jeay’s new work will be designed to lead directly into Citterio’s own arrangement for orchestra (“I am still working on it!” she says) of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. SELF-LIMITED-PHOTOGRAPHY “But you talked earlier about the power of period playing to cut through the complexity of someone like Tchaikovsky,” I say. So isn’t setting the Goldberg for orchestra the opposite of that – taking something pure and muddying it? I remember, last time we talked you called that kind of thick sound minestrone Wagneriana, and we decided the best English translation was ‘Wagnerian pea soup’?” She laughs. “Yes I remember. But this is not the same thing. The rearrangement of music from many instruments to few and few to many is a very old idea, and common in Baroque. Bach, for example, arranged violin sonatas for lute and for harpsichord. Or another example, in our fifth program, for example, we are going to hear opera music arranged for eight winds. And all these arrangements, the Bach and the Harmonie, were done at the time, so the idea of the Goldberg orchestral arrangement is not so novel. On our tour out west, an all-Bach program, we included a couple of arrangements of variations and I have in the past already recorded a version of the Goldberg for string quartet and harpsichord. More than that, I would say with Bach the music is beyond the specific instruments. It is just so pure in its harmony and counterpoint.” That fifth program Citterio is referring to, by the way, is titled “Gone with the Winds,” calling to life a popular form of ensemble in Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven’s day. Hits from the latest operas were arranged for groups of wind musicians called Harmonie Cecilia Livingston who performed in the homes of the rich, and in spas, pubs and pleasure gardens for the public, “the juke box of the 18th century.” Commissioned composer Cecilia Livingston, whose current major project is a full-length opera with TorQ Percussion Quartet and Toronto’s Opera 5 should fit right in! But Will They Follow? Baroque arrangement of Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky and the interpolation of commissioned new works are about as far forward as Tafel will travel in time. In the 2019/20 season anyway. But the “Old Meets New” season moniker gets a vigorous workout in a host of other ways. There is yet another themed program, titled The Indigo Project, from the endlessly inventive and curious mind of Alison Mackay, this time in collaboration with father/daughter duo of Suba and 10 | March 2019 thewholenote.com

KOERNER HALL 10 th ANNIVERSARY 2018.19 Concert Season Farruquito THURSDAY, MARCH 7 & FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 8PM KOERNER HALL Tickets start at only Flamenco dancer Farruquito, “heir to one of the most renowned flamenco dynasties in Spain” (The New York Times), is joined on stage by some of the finest flamenco singers and guitarists on the scene. Roby Lakatos FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 8PM KOERNER HALL Tickets start at only Virtuoso fiddler Roby Lakatos is a scorching player and a musician of extraordinary stylistic versatility. Born into the legendary family of Roma violinists, Lakatos’s fiery playing covers classical, jazz, and Hungarian folk music. McCandless presents Songs for the Trumpet SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2PM MAZZOLENI CONCERT HALL Tickets: Toronto Symphony Orchestra Principal Trumpet Andrew McCandless presents Bramwell Tovey’s Songs of the Paradise Saloon, and songs originally for voice by Bernstein, de Falla, and others. He is joined by pianist Sonya Sim. Taylor Academy Showcase Concert SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 4:30PM MAZZOLENI CONCERT HALL Free (tickets required) The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists presents concerts by leading young classical musicians in Canada. Hear the stars of tomorrow! The Glenn Gould School Chamber Competition Finals WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 7PM KOERNER HALL Free tickets for this concert will be available starting Wed. Mar. 27, 2019 Hear the talented ensembles of The Glenn Gould School compete for prizes and performance opportunities. Presented in honour of R.S. Williams & Sons Company Ltd Vienna Boys Choir SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 3PM KOERNER HALL Tickets start at only The “breathtaking” choir is “totally disciplined voices tempered by a singular sense of ease and consistency” (Washington Post). They have delighted music lovers for six centuries with their purity of tone, charm, and crowd-pleasing repertoire. Generously supported by The Cheng Family Fund TICKETS & SUBSCRIPTIONS ON SALE NOW! 416.408.0208 RCMUSIC.COM/PERFORMANCE 273 BLOOR STREET WEST 237 (BLOOR ST. STREET & AVENUE WEST RD.) (BLOOR TORONTO ST. & AVENUE RD.) TORONTO ´ ´ ´ ´

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