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Volume 8 Issue 10 - July/August 2003

  • Text
  • Festival
  • Toronto
  • Theatre
  • August
  • Jazz
  • Musical
  • Concerts
  • Arts
  • Quartet
  • Bach

DISC VE RIES THE

DISC VE RIES THE WHOLENOTE'S CD FORUM DISCoveries is a CD review section CONCERT PREP designed to complement and enhance our pre-eminent coverage of Toronto's live classical, jazz and new music concert scene, featuring reviews by WholeNote columnists and independent contributors. CDs are considered for review in the following categories: I. "Concert prep" - CDs, new or otherwise, which tie in with events being featured in the current issue of the magazine. Many discs in the other categories also relate to upcoming events as noted. 2. "New and Recent Releases" - newly released CDs relevant to our magazine's coverage of the music scene. 3. "Worth repeating" - CDs newly re-issued, or previously released but still generally available, deemed particularly noteworthy by a member of our editorial panel. 4. "lndie list" - Small label and independent release CDs, often teaturing individuals or groups active on the local music scene. 5. "Disc(s) of the month" - Discs of special interest, often with a particular connection to the month's concert activities or editorial focus. We think DISCoveries is a logical and exciting extension to Whole Note's coverage of the Toronto music scene. We welcome your feedback and invite submissions. Catalogues, review copies of CDs and comments should be sent to: WholeNote, 60 Bellevue Avenue, Toronto ON MST 2N4. We also welcome your input via our website, www. thewholenote. com. David Olds Editor, DISCoveries Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde Bruno Walter (3 performances with various soloists) Naxos Historical 8.110850; 8.110029; 8.110871 1) Kerstin Thorborg, contq1lto, Charles Kullman, tenor, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO), recorded 1936, issued 2002. 2) Kathleen Ferrier, contralto, Set Svanhom, tenor, New York Philharmonic, recorded 1948, issued 1999. 3) Kathleen Ferrier, Julius Patzak, tenor, Vienna Philhannonic Orchestra, recorded 1952, issued 2001. The musical advantage of living in Canada is that we can purchase many of Naxos' masterfully restored historical recordings that are blocked from sale south of the border. The Naxos Histor.ical catalogue includes no less than three landmark Bruno Walter perfonnances of Das lied von der Erde, in 1936, 1948, and 1952 respectively. At Naxos prices, one can and should have all three. Walter was Mahler's assistant between 1894-96 and 1901-07. He conducted the premiers of both Das lied and the ninth symphony. As was said of 007, nobody does it better. Walter's 1936 recording with the VPO, impressively restored by to play; the poet Garcia Lorca. who sound wizard Mark Obert-Thorn, was a victim of the Spanish Civil was the world's first. Some older War; an Argentinean who Dvorak VPO musicians had playedwitMahler would have loved for his folkie ways and this is as close as we'll get to and Roland Oyens, a Tunisian born • how Das lied von der Erde might French composer who likes to test have sounded under the composer's rhythms of rural Brazil against own baton. The 1952 recording with improvisation and syncopation - I Kathleen Ferrier, courageously conclude that classical guitar is a wanperformed as she neared the end of derer's friend. a losing battle with cancer, is But, it is in the Iberian- part of considered by many to be the finest programme where I find my bliss. Erde of all. Others willingly accept Judea. a traditional Spanish piece , reduced audio fidelity for the sake revised by Moazen puts his techof the excitement of the 1948 live nique and frenzied speed to zesty performance in Carnegie Hall. The effect. Remarkable also is Paco de choice is win-win-win. Lucia's Flamenco, a form that in this Phil Ehrensaft case evolved from the Levante region of coal miners whose memories are said to be transcribed in the Concert Note: The Festival of the Sound presents Das Lied von der very notes of this Taranta. Erde on July 24 at the Charles W. Where does the popular song Hernando's Hideaway gets its hook? Stockey Centre, Parry Sound. Preceding the 7:30 peifonnance, From La Cumparsita written by which features Jean Stilwell and Matos Rodriguez, when he was a Kevin McMillan, conductor Peter teenager in Montevideo. It has been McCoppin will discuss the Mahler revised and played here with dignity song cycle at 6: 15. by Moazen. The album concludes with the guitarist's own four-part Iranian Suite. Melancholic and tumultuous, it offers more by way of insight than the pleasure principle, so I'll venture hack to the second track, Bulerias de! Media. for a fling with the Spanish gypsies of Jerez. Deborah Rosen Nomad Bagher Moazen Digiteyes Media 1.29310 Well, I'm a nomad, too, looking for aesthetic delights in the digital world of a guitar recital by an Iranian who set off from home to England and Gennany and has resettled in our part of the world. After surveying a conscientious rendering of a number of 20th century composers: Stepan Rak, a Ukrainian war orphan who fled to Czechoslovakia, where he learned to compose tangos which are difficult Concert Note: Bagher Moazen (and friend~) will peiform musicfor solo guitar by Bach, Albeniz, Rodrigo, Barrios and Koshkin at the C/zurch of St. Augustine of Canterbury on July 5 at 7:00. NEW RELEASES Amici/Jean Stilwell Amici Chamber Ensemble; Jean Stilwell, Mezzo Soprano CBC Records MVCD 1158 Superior musicians can illuminate the music of both the brightest composers and those of lesser wattage. Thus, when this well-known trio adds mezzo Jean Stilwell, the performance

as part of the Elora Festival at St. John's Church on July 31. Jean Stilwell is featured with Kevin McMillan in the Festival of the Sound peiformance of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde on July 24 at Charles W. Stockey Centre in Parry Sound. I shines brighter than the repertoire initially promises. Take, for example, Ludwig (Louis) Spohr whose genuinely pleasant music lives on as Beethoven-Lite. The S1~r German Lieder Op.103 are a rare sampling of his efforts as songwriter. This artfully coloured setting for soprano, clarinet and piano, features a memorable interplay between voice and clarinet. The interpretation is superb. Also · surprising is the opening Trio for clarinet, cello and piano by Archduke Rudolph of Austria. Although a long-time student of Beethoven with a modest gift for composition. his few publ'ished works are more novelties than staples in the repertoire. ValdeP.eiias. Hetherington and Parr, however. infuse the work with substance that would surprise both the Archduke and his teacher. The real treat. however. is Carl frUhling 's Triv for clarinet. cello and piano. An early 20th century work, it begins in hauntingly understated style with the reminiscence of Brahms' harmonic freedom. Its second movement is unexpectedly Gallic. with the third and fourth suddenly Slavic, giving us clues to FrUhling's Gali\:ian origin. , Amici ·have unearthed some surprising, rarely heard material and presenred it in a manner that captures attention.W011h getting for the FrUhling work alone. Alex Baran Concert Note: The Amici Duo (David Hetherington, cello and Patricia Pan·, piano) will peiform music of Bach, Beethoven and Shostakovich Sea Sketches (Walters; Walton; Williams; Warlock) Manitoba Chamber Orchestra; Roy Goodman CBC Records SMCD 5227 The unfailing good taste of CBC records is again manifested in the new Manitoba Chamber Orchestra release. Critics both on radio and in the ensemble's native Winnipeg have made much of the choice of 20th century composers all having surnames beginning with the letter 'w'. Musically. there is no question that Walters, Walton, Williams and Warlock add up to one very enjoyable set of string works. Conductor Roy Goodman, after so many great records with Hyperion, prt.wes a deft helmsman for the orchestra's foray into Sea Sketches. Grace Williams' work of that title is one of the real gems of . the recording, a brilliantly concentrated work in five movements. William Walton is represented by his Two Pieces derived from his early 1940's film scores, and the Sonata for Strings, an arrangement from his 1947 A Minor Quartet that was made for Neville Marriner in 1972. No less delightful are Gareth Walters' 1960 Divertimento for Strings and Warlock's 1922 Serenade for Strings, written as a giti for Delius. The players have a beautifully collective sound, not in any way hin- MIKROKOSMOS 314 Churchill Ave Toronto, Ontario · M2R 1 E7 Canada Tel: (1) 416-224- 1956 Fax: (1) 416-224-2964 www.mikrokosmos.com We buy your classical LP collection (classical, such as Beethoven, Mozart, Stockhausen) we travel anywhere for good collection

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