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Volume 7 Issue 2 - October 2001

  • Text
  • Toronto
  • October
  • Choir
  • Theatre
  • Concerts
  • Arts
  • Orchestra
  • Singers
  • Musical
  • Symphony

The first is a gentle

The first is a gentle lullaby and the second is a celebratory song in a ,stronger, louder style. Noteworthy too among the part-songs is the high-pitched, shrill yodeling technique from the western Gutia region, a virtuosic piece from Romania played on the high-pitched wooden cane flute, and a contemporary composition imitating the sound ofthe drum. The musical and recording quality are excellent, and both CDs have informative liner notes. To find out more, or to purchase· online, you can visit their websites at www.kavkasia.com and www .deepaownproductions.corn/ artists/ darbazi.htm. LET'S GET LOST - The Songs of Jimmy McHugh Terence Blanchard Sony Classical SK8960? (Full Price) •'1•1(jllltJHQIJII~(f- . Blowin' Up a Storm. The Woody Herman Herds 1945-47 Columbia Legacy, C2X 65646. (2 discs - Mid Price) 'At long last Sony has issued a comprehensive collection of Herman's fabulous, starsmdded bands from his productive post Annette Sanger war years. There is probably a whole generation o.f listeners who know Terence Blanchard but are unfamiliar with the name Jimmy McHugh. He did not have · quite the stature of George Gershwin or Cole Porter, but anyone credited with having written I Can 't Give You Anything But Love, On The Sunny Side Of The Street, I'm ln.The Mood For Love and Exactly Like You (all found on this album) has to be right up there with the great names in popular songwriting. This is a collection of superior songs, well arranged with a contemporary concept - definitely old wine in new bottles. Following the current trend, there are guest appearances by four of today's top vocalists- Jane Monheit, Dianne Reeves and Cas&andra Wilson, who each sing a couple, and Diana Krall with one contribution, a sultry version of the title song. Blanchard's arrangements are imaginative, the musicianship flawless; and the ladies sound just fine, thank you. Much as I like the lyrics and the interpretations of them on this recording, I find· myself more drawn to the four instrumentals. Blanchard has an impressive degree of maturity in his playing and a lyricism which is very much in tune - no pun intended - with the melodic strengths which are the heart of the songs. He is ac,companied by Edward Simon, piano, Derek Nievergelt, bass, Eric Harland, drums and Brice Winston who plays tenor sax on three of the instrumental tracks. Jim Galloway 46 Wholenote O CTOBER 1, 2001 - N OVEMBER 7, 2001 Aside from the usual favorites, Apple Honey, Caldonia, Goosey Gander, Bijou, Woodchopper's Ball, and others, Sony includes three important longer works from the Herman powerhouse. Stravinsky wrote The Ebony Concerto for Herman and it premiered at Woody's Carnegie.Hall concert of25 March 194p (recently released on Verve 599833-2). Even though the recording of the concerto, as conducted by Waiter Hendl, begins nearly .half way through, there is no doubt that the · audience heard a daringly original and wildly exciting new work. That August, i.'ll. Hollywood, Stravinsky rehearsed the band for two weeks before recording the piece. No wonder it sound,ed studied and routine. Regrettably, , that gentlemanly performance, heard here, has been emulated on every recording to this day. My two very favourite Herman titles were both composed for him by Ralph Burns and, as far as I know, never played by anyone else! Summer Sequence, also premiered at the Carnegie concert, is bette'r heard here from the September 19'h 1945 studio recording. Part 4, written a year later, is included. Space does not allow more than a mentioq of Burns' brilliant Lady McGowan 's Dream - it was recorded the day before Summer Sequence. The new transfers on this splendid set are state of the art and Burns' personal recollections are entertaining and informative. Bruce Surtees INDIE LIST Bruits Yves Daoust empreintes DIGIT ALes IMED 0 (Full Price) Over the past 11 years, Montreal's Empreintes Digitales label (http://www.electrocd.com) has established itself as an important source for electroacoustic music from around the world. The recent release ofYves Daoust's BRU/TS adds to their excellent catalogue, contributing a disc of infrequently ramshackle and noisily intimate source materials sculpted with · finesse. Daoust sets the tone with Children's Corner, using the sonic landscapes of street festivals, markets, outdoor sports, and backup beeps from delivery trucks as his starting point. Amidst varied: metamorphoses, the sound materials remain vestigially recognizable, yet sufficiently developed so as not to lapse into a documentarian aesthetic. While fYuits lacks the personality of its predecessor, Fete stagedives straight back into its crowds and celebratory nature, re-establishing the light~ hearted quality that defines and· separates Daoust's work. Fete reminds of the Parisian summer solstice celebration "fete de la musique", where musicians from any background play on the street, with all of the recorded fiddles, accordions and djembe heard in a two-block venture _through Place de la Republique, yet none of the p'ickpockets or thieves. With the help of mutated material from Chopin's Fantasie-lmpromptu in C# minor, Daoust's Impromptu engages and · expounds upon its inspiratiol) without clutching the Chopin too tightly. The final piece, Ouverture, develops the swaying crowds of previous works for more directly political purposes, exploring the subject of · Quebecois history. Overall, despite being somewhat uneven, Daoust's BRUITS succeeds with a boisterous playfulness and the warm impressions of community heard in the playgrounds and watering holes of old Montreal. Paul Steenhuisen Postcards Danielle Cumming, guitar Cuerdas C701 (Full Price) The name of Danielle Cumming's new recording of gui~r music comes from Ol)e of the pieces on it: The a Musgrave's Postcards from Spain. The evocative title is a bit misleading, as Musgrave's composition is one of the slighter works on the docket. And yet, under Cumming's able fingers, the· travelogue idea, mapping some of the ancient

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