Views
8 years ago

Volume 13 - Issue 3 - November 2007

WholeNote

WholeNote MarketPlaceEducationEducationHow I MET MY TEACHER:DoNNA Woon: 1920-2007CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGEThe Art of the FluteA method, perfected over many yearswith many students, of one step at atime guidance to playing the flute.Studios near Yonge& St. Clair and RoyalYork & Bloor West.Allan Pulker 416-926-1578November 4, 4 pm. St. James' CathedralDecember 9, 3 pm, Gallery 345, 345 Sorauren Avenue• 1' All Ages )) All Levels 1' All Stylesff' 1' Motivating Beginners' Groups)) Private LessonsPIANO KEYBOARD GUITAR VIOLIN FLUTE SAX CLARINET DRUMSMuJi~,i~ioL 416-224-5590www.yamahamusicschool.ca G YAMAHANORTH TORONTO INSTITUTE OF MUSIC.,.,#Private instruction and exampreparation by qualified teachersin the heart of Toronto.• Piano • Voice • Guitar • Strings• Woodwinds • Percussion • Theory• Music Theatre • Pre-school550 Eglinton Avenue East4 l 6-488-2588 www.nlimusic.como."0~ 7'1y...- ~~ Vnivetsity Sett ement? . · ~ Music & Arts School160~ ~; Est. 1921

thoroughly modern Monteverdi continued trom page 10"There are problems in resolving his figuredbasses, there are problems in performancepractice, especially in relation to the singers. "So too for the staging, acting, and costuming.Authentic Monteverdi, like authentic Shakespeare,is at best an educated hypothesis.Harnoncourt and Ponnelle imaginativelyrecreate for a contemporary audience, an earlyseventeenth century stage set, and how performerswithin it would move and sing.As to the music, Monteverdi's scoreswere deliberately partial, only the figuredbass and voice line. The composer and hismusicians knew how to fill things out. Restrictinginformation protected them againstpirating. Sort of a Baroque Digital Rightsmanagement scheme, if you will. Harnoncourt,with his deep knowledge of all of Monteverdi'soutput, must make calls at everyturn.Twenty-five years later, Harnoncourt returnedto the Opernhaus Zurich with a verydifferent ll ritomo (available as an ArtHuasDVD). A period instrument ensemble is combinedwith a starkly minimalist staging evokingJerzy Grotowski's "poor theatre" movement.There is a logic to this approach, sort of. Seventeenthcentury Venetian staging gloried in goingover the top ; approaching myth in an extravagantfashion was a way to enthrall their audience.So how does one enthrall a contemporaryaudience? Minimalism, they seem toargue, has that resonance. Besides, that wayMonteverdi' s ingenious, path-breaking marriageof words and music will shine through,especially in the scholarly hands of Harnoncourt.That it doesn't work has something to dowith the way people process operatic information.The earlier version's "mind's eye Baroque"has a majesty and dignity that the 2002Zurich production does not match, even thoughthe latter production is beautifully executed.The same comments apply, in my view, to a2003 Virgin Classics DVD featuring WilliamChristie's Les Arts Florissants ensemble, withits radically staged prologue, where the representativeof Humanity sings in the buff. So doesHumanity in Glen Wilson and Pierre Audi'sproduction of ll ritorno at De NederlanseOpera, on an ArtHaus DVD). Only this timeHumanity is a woman discreetly covered byher flowing blond hair.Somehow I think that we .don't have tostrip to indicate that we're all naked beforethe gods.•DIGITAL•MISTER' SMASTERINGHOUSEHomeServicesRecording'.EDITINGCD MASTERINGLIVE RECORDINGOP EN REEL &CASSETTE TRANS FERS96/ 24 CAPA BI LITYCONTACT: KARL MACHAT416 503 3060" 647 227 KARLMISTERS. MAS TE RS@SYM PATICO.CA, ServicesProfessional & HealthAffordable web sitesfor performing artists"We keep your site up-to-date!"Visit www. verit ygraphics corn forclient list and examples of our work.pet er@veritygraphics. com 416-3 51 -7171the business of the arts· fundraising· development· publicity· marketing•It\ If t AJLERwww.lauraadlers.comT. (416) 467-0634lau ra@lauraadlers.corn

Volumes 26-29 (2020- )

Volumes 21-25 (2015-2020)

Volumes 16-20 (2010-2015)

Volumes 11-15 (2004-2010)

Volumes 6 - 10 (2000 - 2006)

Volumes 1-5 (1994-2000)