Jean P,apineau-Couture, the dean Harp and Chamber Orchestra of Quebec composers, died two (1976), written for the Guelph years ago at the age of 83. He com- Spring .Festival ~ and the String posed actively until the last decade Quartet No:5, "Tribute to W. A. of his life but you wouldn't know it Mozart" (1991 ), commissioned by from this collection which ends with the Glory of Mozart Festival for the Pay sage, a ,1968 setting of a text by Orford String Quartet's final pub S a int-Denys Garneau commissioned by the Biennial Festival of good examples of his craft. Contemporary Music of Zagreb, Yugoslavia. However, one of the true highlights of this series is the premiere recording of the Conceno pour violon et orchestre de cluimbre ( 1951-52) in a sparkling performance by Victor Schulz with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra under Mario Bernardi. The previously unavailable work is an outstanding example of Papineau-Couture~s early creative output a·nd his personalization of the influence of Stravinsky through his teacher Nadia Boulanger. In the documentary we lie performance, are particularly The youngster ih this crop of senhear inuch 'talk of Clair-Obscure, a ior composers is Malcolm Forsyth, 1986 concerto for contrabassoon, who was born in South Africa in double bass and orchestra, an in- . 1936. He is represented by Sagitttztriguing work which I dearly wish rius (Concerto Grosso No. I), writwe were offered the opportunity to ten for the Canadian Brass in 1975, actuany hear. As it is, for later and Atayoskewin, Suite for Orchesworks we are left having to turn to tra from 1984. Also included is the another Centrediscs recording 1987 Conceno for Trumpet and Or ( CM CCD 6499) which offers chestra, but the same perform(\nce chamber works from the years is currently being offered for.sale 1968-1982. on another disc at the Canadian Oskar Morawetz, a Czech-born Music Centre's website for Canadian whose Romantic voice we (SMCD 5130). This is a composer are told is directly descended from ~ho is still very active, yet we 11re Dvorak and Janacek, fairs a little offered nothing produced in the past petter, with works spanning the 15 years. years 1968 to 1991. Gianetta Baril's I have some misgivings about performance of the Concerto for things that were not included in these packages-the music as stated above-and some quibbles with the content of the documentaries-was it really necessary to begin Violet Archer's portrait with three people t~lling us how tiny she wa,? I also wish there was more documentation in the booklets about who is speaking and when in the documentaries. They obviously draw extensively on archival interviews and it gets a little surreal to hear long-dead people speaking without any indication that we are not in the present. These issues aside, I feel that these Canadian Composer Portraits are an invaluable contribution to our cultural heritage. They 11lso provide hours of wonderful listening. David Olds Edilor's note: Although not available in time for this review, the CBC will once again issue a companion set to accompany the portraits rvith an additional hour of the more "listener friendly" music of each of the composers mentioned above. Philippe Manoury: 60th Parallel Orchestre de Paris,; David · Robertson Naxos 8.554249-50 Manoury was born in .J 952 and studied at the Paris Conservatoire. He has been active in the activities of IRCAM (the Institute for the Research and Co-ordination of Acoustics and Music founded by Pierre Boulez) which was also involved in this project. His music has been performed widely, notably under Boulez with the Chicago Symphony, and he has served as composer in residence with the Orchestre cie Paris, who perform on this CD. The 60th Parallel is a large-scale collaboration between music, libretto and theatre. The story has many layers: passengers stuck inside an airport while a storm rages, two murders, a love story, a man hunt and Einstein's brain going about in ajar! The airport represents a fixed, enclosed space-a haven of safety from the storm. Things happen slowly, and seem to have no purpose. The words between the characters are often banal-the type that strangers stick to when they're lost or uncomfortable. This is the musical equivalent of the writings of Samuel Beckett. · The vocal writing is reminiscent of Berg or Strauss. The orchestra depicts the many climaxes of the storm. This is extraordinary writing showing the composer has command of a wide range of colours and expression. Recorded live at the Theatre du Chatelet.in Paris, this is featured as part of a Naxos cycle entitled 21st Century Classics. 60ih Parallel is thought provoking. It is an intellectual masterpiece that will set the standard for opera in the 21st century. Orbiting Garden Joseph Petric Centrediscs CMCCD 7802 Kevin Mallon Toronto's largest collection of classical and Jazz CDs L' Atelier Grigori~n 70 Yorkville Ave. 416-922-64 77 www.grigorian.ca 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 any~here for good collection www.thewholenote.com November 1 - December 7 2002
