vision, has produced the reference John. At nearly 19 minutes, with a ed in this 4CD boxed set. all, not just musicologists. recording among the eight perform reaI sense of forward propulsion, this Disc 1 has Torrie Zito (singer The rest of Disc 4 is drawn from ances captured on LP or CD since work seems to end all too soon. Helen MerriU's husband) in charge a jazz jam session at Buffalo's Statler 1972. Umo the Hills joins a folk Sound of Sound is an unusual duet of the orchestra, and while the actu Hilton "Downtowner Room" in singer, voicing largely intact tradi for clarinet and percussionist. The al jazz content is nearly-nil, it's su 1977. Two LPs were released, with tional melodies, with a percussion multi-phonic playing of Amici's perior pop music including standards Bennett joining up on one of them orchestra employing a hybrid of new Joaquin Valdepeiias is intriguing, like As Time Goes By, Lost In The with Jimmy and Marian McPartland music and Asian materials. Ann never overbearing, as he is joined Stars and There'll Be Some Chang and jazz masters like Vic Dicken Crumb sings here, as she did in here by John Rudolph. es Made. Rarer is Duke Ellington's son, Buddy Tate, Herb Hall and Toronto for New Music Concerts in With production by David Jaeger beautiful 1953 composition Reflec Charlie Byrd. There are two straight April, 2003. This has every potential and David Quinney, the sound can tions In D, here called just Reflec ahead Bennett performances with his to be a cutesy pastiche. ln the Crumbs' not be faulted. Even the Glenn Gould tions, with Milt Raskin lyrics. A trio, Watch What Happens and While hands however, it is seizing. Studio Steinway seems to have been 9-track, 14 minute Cole Porter We're Young (composer Alec Wild The two piano pieces in Volume 8 cured of its tendency to thump. The medley is an added bonus. er in attendance) and he appears on are different beasts. Makrolwsmos (I 972-73) for solo piano exploits all the instrument's sonic possibilities enclosed book.let has the usual bilingual doubling, no photograph of musicians playing (a rather stiff for The reaI meat for jazz lovers starts to show up on Disc 2 as Bennett joins with a working jazz group, The the band's In A Mellow Tone. The rest is instrumental, and fun. Ted O'Reilly that one can imagine, plus many that mal portrait of the composer must Ruby Braff/George Barnes Quartet. one hadn't. It lasts 66 very demand suffice) and the predictable colour Bennett and Braff/Barnes had pre Double Time Jazz Collection Vol.1 ing minutes. Oberlin's Robert Shannon, the pianist in the George Crumb Ensemble, can obviously climb this mountain. Otherworldly Resonances (2002) for two pianos is sparse, stately, and short. It's a Zen statement of three decades' learning on how Crumb expanded his love affair with the piano. Phil Ehrensaft Majestic Flair: Music of Chan Ka Nin Amici Chamber Ensemble CBC Records MVCD 1169 Professor Chan Ka Nin made a big splash with his massive opera The Iron Road, just a few years ago. Now his chamber works fill this new CD, with nothing larger than a quintet. With Amici's confident playing, it must be heard to be believed: such instrumental virtuosity is little short of miraculous. The opening Among Friends, Chan's first commission from Amici, dates back to 1989. Punning on the group's name, the piece strikes you immediately with its humour. Cellist David Hetherington plays the unaccompanied Soulmate for five electrifying minutes. The Disquiet from 1990 is a very fine work, with violinist Scott St. John and violist Steven Dann augmenting the Amici line-up. Pianist Patricia Parr plays the title track, a colourful two-movement work. Our Finest Hour, a quartet in the composer's familiar angular style, once again includes Scott St. ful abstract image. John S. Gray Concert Note: Chan Ka Nin will have a new piece performed by the combined forces of the Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan and the Ensemble contemporain de Montreal at the Montreal/New Music festival on March 7, a concert that will be repeated in Toronto on March 13. Chan's choral work Monastery Behind the Mountain will be performed by the Viva Youth Singers on March 23. JAZZ AND IMPROVIZED 1be Complete lmprov Recordings Tony Bennett Concord Records CCD4-2255-2 Tony Bennett is a survivor of some sixty years in the harsh world of popular music. I think Tony's love of jazz has had a Jot to do with his longevity. He has never claimed to be a jazz singer, but works with jazz musicians and takes on projects with jazz sensibilities. In the '70s Bennett had sold a lot of records for Columbia and Polygram but wanted more musical control, so he joined with Buffalo businessman Bill Hassett to form lmprov Records. Even the name suggests jazz, and jazz was certainly strong in the mix. Of the ten or so records the lmprov made, Bennett himself appeared on four, and all are includ- pared a concert tribute to Rodgers & Hart which Bennett wanted to preserve. In September 1973 they taped 20 of the best of the Great American Songbook, performed with such grace and intimacy - to say nothing of lyrical interpretation and rhythmic surety - that you are not likely to find better interpretations of Moumain Greenery, Spring Is Here, Blue Moon or My Romance. To hear them is to understand what the songs mean. For some reason, Lorenz Hart's cynicism works best when someone finds the sunny optimism in his words, as Bennett does. As to Rodger's music, no one has ever caressed a melody more than cometist Ruby Braff (unless it was his idol, Louis Armstrong). If Disc 2 reaches jazz/popular Everest, Disc 3 takes Bennett into Art Music. With one of jazz' greatest artists, Bill Evans at the piano, Tony Bennett reaches a high point in his career. Evans was as serious a jazz artist as there ever was, and he loved the best of American popular song. He had done a fine release with Tony (now on CD as Fantasy OJC 439) in June 1975, and I believe the material here from 15 months later is even better. The dozen tracks are definitely Desert Island material, with Bennett's impeccable lyricreading, and Evans' deep and thoughtful understanding of the music and his role as accompanist as well as soloist (The Bad And The Beautiful). Highlights are A Child Is Born and Evans' own The Two Lonely People, and Dream Dancing which begs comparison to the orchestra version on Disc One's Cole Porter medley. Fifteen previously unavailable takes of ten of the tunes are included, some spilling onto Disc 4, and are of interest to Carmen McRae Live in Tokyo; The Manhattan Transfer Vocalese Live Double Time EE 39074-9 (DVD) B o t h events t 0 0 k place in Tokyo in 1 9 8 6. Carmen McRae's career began in the early 50s. Now in Japan, backed by a piano trio, her voice is a mellow Stradivarius, a gliding bullet train, a bit smoky, still capable of bluesy growling, still with many great stories to tell. Her distinctive phrasing reveals her intimate familiarity with the repertoire. She accompanies herself on ballads, That Old Devil Called Love and As Long as I Live, and her love of Brazilian and Latin flavours brings Dindi, and Upside Down to her list. Visually, her performance is easygoing and relaxed, certainly more static than the "fuUy-staged" Manhattan Transfer, but it doesn't detract from fine music-making. The Manhattan Transfer, founded in 1972, was on their 4th tour of Japan at the time of this recording. Singers Cheryl Bentyne, Janis Siegel, Tim Hauser and Alan Paul were smooth and slick. This "Vocalese" tour promoted their album of high-energy jazz tunes by Count Basie, Quincy Jones, Miles Davis, and others, adapting lyrics (by Jon Hendricks) to songs that were originally purely instrumental. At times, there was an unbelievable (and unintelligible, yet impressive) verbal velocity. WWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM MARCH 1 - APRIL 7 2005
They eventually got back to a cappella Doo-Wop in Duke of Dubuque, Hean's Desire, and Gloria which featured the heart-throbbing voice of Alan Paul. Tim Hauser, as the cool hipster Eldorado Caddy, worked the stage with the others in choreographed movement (not easy, remembering that the microphones had cords!). Predictably, their hits, Birdland and Boy from New York City, got the audience up, dancing and clapping; and the band was rocking. The intricate on-stage camera work brought one almost inside this hot vocal ensemble and beautifully captured this magic moment of musical history. My only disappointment: There are no on-screen notes, biographical details or extensive background information as promised. Frank Nakashima Double Time Jazz Col lection, Vol. 2 Kenny Drew Trio (Live at The Brewhouse) Diane Schuur (& The Count Basie Orchestra) Double Time EE 39075-9 (DVD) anced group that could dip into familiar material like Brubeck's In Your Own Sweet Way, a wide-ranging It Might As Well Be Spring or the traditional Danish folk tune Hushabye. Th.is is top rank stuff ... The second programme, from 1987, has Diane Schuur singing with the Frank Foster-led Count Basie Orchestra. I've always found Ms. Schuur to be an artificial singer, selfindulgent, often shrill at top volume, and not much of a verse-interpreter. ("Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?") The band sounds good here, with veteran guitarist Freddie Green less than a week from his death, and the recording and presentation is top quality. If only Ella, or Sarah or Carmen were there ... (As was the case with Vol. 3 last month, the picture and sound are just slightly out of synch, with visuals ahead of sound). Ted O'Reilly This 2- part DVD release shows that Kenny D r e w was the real thing, but Diane Schuur works on the periphery of jazz. The late Kenny Drew (he died 18 months after this 1992 concert) was an under-recognized American pianist who came to full flower in Europe after moving there in the early sixties. A boppish swinger, his work in the '50s found him working with masters like Pres and Hawk, Coltrane, Johnny Griffin and Buddy Rich, but Europe was where he proved just how good he was. Paired in Copenhagen with bassist Niels-Henning 0rsted Pedersen, his broad-minded mature talent continued to develop within the jazz tradition. With NH0P he delved into Danish folk music for great releases "Duo", "Duo II" and "In Concert". With drummer Alvin Queen added, the trio toured and recorded all over, save North America, much is the pity. This release shows us what we missed: a hard-driving, equally-bal- MARCH 1 - APRIL 7 2005 Home in No Time David Shaw Toreador TRCD 024-2 ( www. toreadorrecords .corn) The recent addition to Toronto-based Timothy Minthorn's Toreador Records catalogue features British pianist, composer, producer, and songwriter David Shaw. The liner notes state that Shaw has scored numerous film soundtracks, has won awards for his original works, and has written three top ten hits. But success doesn't seem to have tempted this artist to rest on his laurels, and he can now add solo jazz piano recording artist to his resume. lo a genre pioneered by Art Tatum and expanded upon by the likes of Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea, ample room for creativity still exists. David Shaw's airy, spacious approach to tried and true standards such as Cole Porter's All Of You, Here's That Rainy Day, Invitation, and Miles Davis' Nardis reflects his extensive film-scoring experience. He avoids rapid-fire right hand technique and traditional left-hand walking bass patterns for almost the entire CD. By the ninth track, When WWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM
July/August issue is now available in flipthrough HERE, bringing to a close 25 seasons of doing what we do (and plan to continue doing), and on stands early in the week of July 5. Not the usual bucolic parade of music in the summer sun, but lots, we hope, to pass the time: links to online and virtual music; a full slate of record reviews; plenty new in the Listening Room; and a full slate of stories – the future of opera, the plight of small venues, the challenge facing orchestras, the barriers to resumption of choral life, the challenges of isolation for real-time music; the steps some festivals are taking to keep the spirit and substance of what they do alive. And intersecting with all of it, responses to the urgent call for anti-racist action and systemic change.
"COVID's Metamorphoses"? "There's Always Time (Until Suddenly There Isn't)"? "The Writing on the Wall"? It's hard to know WHAT to call this latest chapter in the extraordinary story we are all of a sudden characters in. By whatever name we call it, the MAY/JUNE combined issue of The WholeNote is now available, HERE in flip through format, in print commencing Wednesday May 6, and, in fully interactive form, online at thewholenote.com. Our 18th Annual Choral Canary Pages, scheduled for publication in print and flip through in September is already well underway with the first 50 choirs home to roost and more being added every week online. Community Voices, our cover story, brings to you the thoughts of 30 musical community members, all going through what we are going through (and with many more to come as the feature gets amplified online over the course of the coming months). And our regular writers bring their personal thoughts to the mix. Finally, a full-fledged DISCoveries review section offers cues and clues to recorded music for your solitary solace!
After some doubt that we would be allowed to go to press, in respect to wide-ranging Ontario business closures relating to COVID-19, The WholeNote magazine for April 2020 is now on press, and print distribution – modified to respect community-wide closures and the need for appropriate distancing – starts Monday March 30. Meanwhile the full magazine is right here, digitally, so if you value us PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK AS WIDELY AS YOU CAN. It's the safest way for us to reach the widest possible audience at this time!
FEATURED: Music & Health writer Vivien Fellegi explores music, blindness & the plasticity of perception; David Jaeger digs into Gustavo Gimeno's plans for new music in his upcoming first season as music director at TSO; pianist James Rhodes, here for an early March recital, speaks his mind in a Q&A with Paul Ennis; and Lydia Perovic talks music and more with rising Turkish-Canadian mezzo Beste Kalender. Also, among our columns, Peggy Baker Dance Projects headlines Wende Bartley's In with the New; Steve Wallace's Jazz Notes rushes in definitionally where many fear to tread; ... and more.
Visions of 2020! Sampling from back to front for a change: in Rearview Mirror, Robert Harris on the Beethoven he loves (and loves to hate!); Errol Gay, a most musical life remembered; Luna Pearl Woolf in focus in recordings editor David Olds' "Editor's Corner" and in Jenny Parr's preview of "Jacqueline"; Speranza Scappucci explains how not to reinvent Rossini; The Indigo Project, where "each piece of cloth tells a story"; and, leading it all off, Jully Black makes a giant leap in "Caroline, or Change." And as always, much more. Now online in flip-through format here and on stands starting Thurs Jan 30.
Welcome to our December/January issue as we turn the annual calendar page, halfway through our season for the 25th time, juggling as always, secular stuff, the spirit of the season, new year resolve and winter journeys! Why is Mozart's Handel's Messiah's trumpet a trombone? Why when Laurie Anderson offers to fly you to the moon you should take her up on the invitation. Why messing with Winterreisse can (sometimes) be a very good thing! And a bumper crop of record reviews for your reading (and sometimes listening) pleasure. Available in flipthrough here right now, and on stands commencing Thursday Nov 28. See you on the other side!
On the slim chance you might not have already heard the news, Estonian Canadian composing giant Udo Kasemets was born the same year that Leo Thermin invented the theremin --1919. Which means this is the centenary year for both of them, and both are being celebrated in style, as Andrew Timar and MJ Buell respectively explain. And that's just a taste of a bustling November, with enough coverage of music of both the delectably substantial and delightfully silly on hand to satisfy one and all.
Long promised, Vivian Fellegi takes a look at Relaxed Performance practice and how it is bringing concert-going barriers down across the spectrum; Andrew Timar looks at curatorial changes afoot at the Music Gallery; David Jaeger investigates the trumpets of October; the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution (and the 20th Anniversary of our October Blue Pages Presenter profiles) in our Editor's Opener; the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at 125; Tapestry at 40 and Against the Grain at 10; ringing in the changing season across our features and columns; all this and more, now available in Flip Through format here, and on the stands commencing this coming Friday September 27, 2019. Enjoy.
Vol 1 of our 25th season is now here! And speaking of 25, that's how many films in the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival editor Paul Ennis, in our Eighth Annual TIFF TIPS, has chosen to highlight for their particular musical interest.
Also inside: Rob Harris looks through the Rear View Mirror at past and present prognostications about the imminent death of classical music; Mysterious Barricades and Systemic Barriers are Lydia Perović's preoccupations in Art of Song; Andrew Timar reflects on the evolving priorities of the Polaris Prize; and elsewhere, it's chocks away as yet another season creaks or roars (depending on the beat) into motion. Welcome back.
What a range of stuff! A profile of Liz Upchurch, the COC ensemble studio's vocal mentor extraordinaire; a backgrounder on win-win faith/arts centre partnerships and ways of exploring the possibilities; an interview with St. Petersburg-based Eifman Ballet's Boris Eifman; Ana Sokolovic's violin concert Evta finally coming to town; a Love Letter to YouTube, and much more. Plus our 17th annual Canary Pages Choral directory if all you want to do is sing! sing! sing!
Arraymusic, the Music Gallery and Native Women in the Arts join for a mini-festival celebrating the work of composer, performer and installation artist Raven Chacon; Music and Health looks at the role of Healing Arts Ontario in supporting concerts in care facilities; Kingston-based composer Marjan Mozetich's life and work are celebrated in film; "Forest Bathing" recontextualizes Schumann, Shostakovich and Hindemith; in Judy Loman's hands, the harp can sing; Mahler's Resurrection bursts the bounds of symphonic form; Ed Bickert, guitar master remembered. All this and more in our April issue, now online in flip-through here, and on stands commencing Friday March 29.
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.
In this issue: A prize that brings lustre to its laureates (and a laureate who brings lustre to the prize); Edwin Huizinga on the journey of Opera Atelier's "The Angel Speaks" from Versailles to the ROM; Danny Driver on playing piano in the moment; Remembering Neil Crory (a different kind of genius)' Year of the Boar, Indigeneity and Opera; all this and more in Volume 24 #5. Online in flip through, HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday Jan 31.
When is a trumpet like a motorcycle in a dressage event? How many Brunhilde's does it take to change an Elektra? Just two of the many questions you've been dying to ask, to which you will find answers in a 24th annual combined December/January issue – in which our 11 beat columnists sift through what's on offer in the upcoming holiday month, and what they're already circling in their calendars for 2019. Oh, and features too: a klezmer violinist breathing new life into a very old film; two New Music festivals in January, 200 metres apart; a Music & Health story on the restorative powers of a grassroots exercise in collective music-making; even a good reason to go to Winnipeg in the dead of winter. All this and more in Vol 24 No 4, now available in flipthrough format here.
Reluctant arranger! National Ballet Orchestra percussionist Kris Maddigan on creating the JUNO and BAFTA award-winning smash hit Cuphead video game soundtrack; Evergreen by name and by nature, quintessentially Canadian gamelan (Andrew Timar explains); violinist Angèle Dubeau on 20 years and 60 million streams; two children’s choirs where this month remembrance and living history must intersect. And much more, online in our kiosk now, and on the street commencing Thursday November 1.
Presenters, start your engines! With TIFF and "back-to-work" out of the way, the regular concert season rumbles to life, and, if our Editor's Opener can be trusted, "Seeking Synergies" seems to be the name of the game. Denise Williams' constantly evolving "Walk Together Children" touching down at the Toronto Centre for the Arts; the second annual Festival of Arabic Music and Arts expanding its range; a lesson in Jazz Survival with Steve Wallace; the 150 presenter and performer profiles in our 19th annual Blue Pages directory... this is an issue that is definitely more than the sum of its parts.
In this issue: The WholeNote's 7th Annual TIFF TIPS guide to festival films with musical clout; soprano Erin Wall in conversation with Art of Song columnist Lydia Perovic, about more than the art of song; a summer's worth of recordings reviewed; Toronto Chamber Choir at 50 (is a few close friends all it takes?); and much more, as the 2018/19 season gets under way.
PLANTING NOT PAVING! In this JUNE / JULY /AUGUST combined issue: Farewell interviews with TSO's Peter Oundjian and Stratford Summer Music's John Miller, along with "going places" chats with Luminato's Josephine Ridge, TD Jazz's Josh Grossman and Charm of Finches' Terry Lim. ) Plus a summer's worth of fruitful festival inquiry, in the city and on the road, in a feast of stories and our annual GREEN PAGES summer Directory.
In this issue: our sixteenth annual Choral Canary Pages; coverage of 21C, Estonian Music Week and the 3rd Toronto Bach Festival (three festivals that aren’t waiting for summer!); and features galore: “Final Finales” for Larry Beckwith’s Toronto Masque Theatre and for David Fallis as artistic director of Toronto Consort; four conductors on the challenges of choral conducting; operatic Hockey Noir; violinist Stephen Sitarski’s perspective on addressing depression; remembering bandleader, composer and saxophonist Paul Cram. These and other stories, in our May 2018 edition of the magazine.
In this issue: we talk with jazz pianist Thompson Egbo-Egbo about growing up in Toronto, building a musical career, and being adaptive to change; pianist Eve Egoyan prepares for her upcoming Luminato project and for the next stage in her long-term collaborative relationship with Spanish-German composer Maria de Alvear; jazz violinist Aline Homzy, halfway through preparing for a concert featuring standout women bandleaders, talks about social equity in the world of improvised music; and the local choral community celebrates the life and work of choral conductor Elmer Iseler, 20 years after his passing.
In this issue: Canadian Stage, Tapestry Opera and Vancouver Opera collaborate to take Gogol’s short story The Overcoat to the operatic stage; Montreal-based Sam Shalabi brings his ensemble Land of Kush, and his newest composition, to Toronto; Five Canadian composers, each with a different CBC connection, are nominated for JUNOs; and The WholeNote team presents its annual Summer Music Education Directory, a directory of summer music camps, programs and courses across the province and beyond.
In this issue: composer Nicole Lizée talks about her love for analogue equipment, and the music that “glitching” evokes; Richard Rose, artistic director at the Tarragon Theatre, gives us insights into their a rock-and-roll Hamlet, now entering production; Toronto prepares for a mini-revival of Schoenberg’s music, with three upcoming shows at New Music Concerts; and the local music theatre community remembers and celebrates the life and work of Mi’kmaq playwright and performer Cathy Elliott . These and other stories, in our double-issue December/January edition of the magazine.
In this issue: conversations (of one kind or another) galore! Daniela Nardi on taking the reins at "best-kept secret" venue, 918 Bathurst; composer Jeff Ryan on his "Afghanistan" Requiem for a Generation" partnership with war poet, Susan Steele; lutenist Ben Stein on seventeenth century jazz; collaborative pianist Philip Chiu on going solo; Barbara Hannigan on her upcoming Viennese "Second School" recital at Koerner; Tina Pearson on Pauline Oliveros; and as always a whole lot more!
In this issue: several local artists reflect on the memory of composer Claude Vivier, as they prepare to perform his music; Vancouver gets ready to host international festival ISCM World New Music Days, which is coming to Canada for the second time since its inception in 1923; one of the founders of Artword Artbar, one of Hamilton’s staple music venues, on the eve of the 5th annual Steel City Jazz Festival, muses on keeping urban music venues alive; and a conversation with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, as he prepares for an ambitious recital in Toronto. These and other stories, in our October 2017 issue of the magazine.
In this issue: a look at why musicians experience stage fright, and how to combat it; an inside look at the second Kensington Market Jazz Festival, which zeros in on one of Toronto’s true ‘music villages’; an in-depth interview with Elisa Citterio, new music director of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; and The WholeNote’s guide to TIFF, with suggestions for the 20 most musical films at this year’s festival. These and other stories, in our September 2017 issue of the magazine!
CBC Radio's Lost Horizon; Pinocchio as Po-Mo Operatic Poster Boy; Meet the Curators (Crow, Bernstein, Ridge); a Global Music Orchestra is born; and festivals, festivals, festivals in our 13th annual summer music Green Pages. All this and more in our three-month June-through August summer special issue, now available in flipthrough HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday June 1.
From science fact in "Integral Man: Music and the Movies," to science fiction in the editor's opener; from World Fiddle Day at the Aga Khan Museum to three Canadians at the Cliburn; from wanting to sashay across the 401 to Chamberfest in Montreal to exploring the Continuum of Jumblies Theatre's 20-year commitment to the Community Play (there's a pun in there somewhere!).
In this issue: Our podcast ramps up with interviews in March with fight director Jenny Parr, countertenor Daniel Taylor, and baritone Russell Braun; two views of composer John Beckwith at 90; how music’s connection to memory can assist with the care of patients with Alzheimer’s; musical celebrations in film and jazz, at National Canadian Film Day and Jazz Day; and a preview of Louis Riel, which opens this month at the COC. These and other stories, in our April 2017 issue of the magazine!
On our cover: Owen Pallett's musical palette on display at New Creations. Spring brings thoughts of summer music education! (It's never too late.). For Marc-Andre Hamelin the score is king. Ella at 100 has the tributes happening. All; this and more.
In this issue: an interview with composer/vocalist Jeremy Dutcher, on his upcoming debut album and unique compositional voice; a conversation with Boston Symphony hornist James Sommerville, as as the BSO gets ready to come to his hometown; Stuart Hamilton, fondly remembered; and an inside look at Hugh’s Room, as it enters a complicated chapter in the story of its life in the complex fabric of our musical city. These and other stories, as we celebrate the past and look forward to the rest of 2016/17, the first glimpses of 2017/18, and beyond!
In this issue: a conversation with pianist Stewart Goodyear, in advance of his upcoming show at Koerner Hall; a preview of the annual New Year’s phenomenon that is Bravissimo!/Salute to Vienna; an inside look at music performance in Toronto’s health-care centres; and a reflection on the incredible life and lasting influence of the late Pauline Oliveros. These and more, in a special December/January combined issue!
In this issue: David Jaeger and Alex Pauk’s most memorable R. Murray Schafer collabs, in this month’s installment of Jaeger’s CBC Radio Two: The Living Legacy; an interview with flutist Claire Chase, who brings new music and mindset to Toronto this month; an investigation into the strange coincidence of three simultaneous Mendelssohn Elijahs this Nov 5; and of course, our annual Blue Pages, a who’s who of southern Ontario’s live music scene- a community as prolific and multifaceted as ever. These and more, as we move full-force into the 2016/17 concert season- all aboard!
Music lover's TIFF (our fifth annual guide to the Toronto International Film Festival); Aix Marks the Spot (how Brexit could impact on operatic co-production); The Unstoppable Howard Cable (an affectionate memoir of a late chapter in the life of of a great Canadian arranger; Kensington Jazz Story (the newest kid on the festival block flexes its muscles). These stories and much more as we say a lingering goodbye to summer and turn to the task, for the 22nd season, of covering the live and recorded music that make Southern Ontario tick.
It's combined June/July/August summer issue time with, we hope, enough between the covers to keep you dipping into it all through the coming lazy, hazy days. From Jazz Vans racing round "The Island" delivering pop-up brass breakouts at the roadside, to Bach flute ambushes strolling "The Grove, " to dozens of reasons to stay in the city. May yours be a summer where you find undiscovered musical treasures, and, better still, when, unexpectedly, the music finds you.
INSIDE: The Canaries Are Here! 116 choirs to choose from, so take the plunge! The Nylons hit the road after one last SING! Fling. Jazz writer Steve Wallace wonders "Watts Goode" rather than "what's new?" Paul Ennis has the musical picks of the HotDocs crop. David Jaeger's CBC Radio continues golden for a little while yet. Douglas McNabney is Music's Child. Leipzig meets Damascus in Alison Mackay's fertile imagination. And "C" is for KRONOS in Wende Bartley's koverage of the third annual 21C Festival. All this and as usual much much more. Enjoy.
From 30 camp profiles to spark thoughts of being your summer musical best, to testing LUDWIG as you while away the rest of so-called winter; from Scottish Opera and the Danish Midtvest, to a first Toronto recital appearance by violin superstar Maxim Vengerov; from musings on New Creations and new creation, to the boy who made a habit of crying Beowulf; it's a month of merry meetings and rousing recordings reviewed, all here to discover in The WholeNote.
2016 is off to a flying start! We chronicle the Artful Times of Andrew Burashko, the violistic versatility of Teng Li, the ageless ebullience of jazz pianist Gene DiNovi and the ninetieth birthday of trumpeter Johnny Cowell. Jaeger remembers Boulez; Waxman recalls Bley's influence, and Olds finds Bowie haunting Editor's Corner. Oh, and did we mention there's all that music? Hello (and goodbye) to the February blues, and here's to swinging through the musical vines of the Year of the Monkey.
What's a vinyl renaissance? What happens when Handel's Messiah runs afoul of the rumba rhythm setting on a (gasp!) Hammond organ? What work does Marc-Andre Hamelin say he would be content to have on every recital program he plays? What are Steve Wallace's favourite fifty Christmas recordings? Why is violinist Daniel Hope celebrating Yehudi Menuhin's 100th birthday at Koerner Hall January 28? Answers to all these questions (and a whole lot more) in the Dec/Jan issue of The WholeNote.
"Come" seems to be the verb that knits this month's issue together. Sondra Radvanovsky comes to Koerner, William Norris comes to Tafel as their new GM, opera comes to Canadian Stage; and (a long time coming!) Jane Bunnett's musicianship and mentorship are honoured with the Premier's award for excellence; plus David Jaeger's ongoing series on the golden years of CBC Radio Two, Andrew Timar on hybridity, a bumper crop of record reviews and much much more. Come on in!
Vol 21 No 2 is now available for your viewing pleasure, and it's a bumper crop, right at the harvest moon. First ever Canadian opera on the Four Seasons Centre main stage gets double coverage with Wende Bartley interviewing Pyramus and Thisbe composer Barbara Monk Feldman and Chris Hoile connecting with director Christopher Alden; Paul Ennis digs into the musical mind of pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, and pianist Eve Egoyan is "On the Record" in conversation with publisher David Perlman ahead of the Oct release concert for her tenth recording. And at the heart of it all the 16th edition of our annual BLUE PAGES directory of presenters profile the season now well and truly under way.
Paul Ennis's annual TIFF TIPS (27 festival films of potential particular musical interest); Wu Man, Yo-Yo Ma and Jeffrey Beecher on the Silk Road; David Jaeger on CBC Radio Music in the days it was committed to commissioning; the LISTENING ROOM continues to grow on line; DISCoveries is back, bigger than ever; and Mary Lou Fallis says Trinity-St. Paul's is Just the Spot (especially this coming Sept 25!).
