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Volume 13 - Issue 5 - February 2008

DIS·j~;~U_;~~EDITOR'S

DIS·j~;~U_;~~EDITOR'S CORNERcontinued from page I OBenjamin Britten's Phantasy Quartet for oboeand strings. Originally written for LawrenceCherney and the Penderecki quartet, NormandForget proves himself more than up to themulti-tasking lead, alternating warmth andlovely tone with barking multi-phonics as required.Concert note: The Penderecki Quartetperforms for the Algoma ConservatoryConcerts in Sault Ste. Marie on February 9 andat the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber MusicSociety on February 13. Joseph Petric is featuredin Gubaidulina's Seven Words with cellistDavid Hetherington in Soundstreams' presentation"The Seven Last Words" on March 16here in Toronto."Beginning to See the Light" is the latestoffering from the True North Brass(www.truenorthbrass.com) and it features awell-balanced overviewof the diverseinterests of thisaccomplished ensemble.They taketurns in the spotlightwith unusual foraysinto the world ofmelody from bassmembers Alistair Kay on trombone in LondonderryAir and Scott Irvine on tuba in Ellington's title track. Jim Gardner and RaymondTizzard share trumpet duties, blending andphrasing seamlessly, and Joan Watson is, asalways, impeccable on the horn. But as if thiswere not enough, they have brought in a ringerin the form of guest artist Guido Basso whosemellow flugelhorn is featured on three of thejazzier tracks. The disc includes extendedsuites by brass stalwarts Morley Calvert andHoward Cable along with Trois Hommages byJim McGrath, a Toronto composer best knownfor his film and television work, and a tribute toGlenn Gould in the form of Scott lrvine's statelyarrangement of the aria from The GoldbergVariations. Concert note: The True NorthBrass will be featured in concert with theSudbury Symphony Orchestra on SaturdayMarch I at 2:00.One final note, in something of a departurefrom its usual modus operandi MooredaleConcerts wi II present an afternoon of choralmusic this month featuring the excellent Norwegianensemble Nordic Voices. The sixvoice,conductorless choir's most recent CDRegis Terrae - Music from the Time ofCharles V (Chandos CHSA 5050) featuresmusic composed during the reign of the HolyRoman Emperor who was also the King ofSpain from 1516 until his abdication in 1556.Composers Manchicourt, Morales, Clemens"non Papa", Guerreroand Gombertare featured on thisstunning SuperAudio disc. Myonly nominal complaintis that therepertoire, exquisiteand beautifullyperformed as it is,has a certain sameness due to its narrow focusand didn 't sustain my interest throughout.Concert note: This quibble will be moot howeverwhen Nordic Voices perform on February3'd at Walter Hall. The concert promises musicfrom the l 6th to the 21 st centuries includingmicrotonal Norwegian folk music & Tuvanovertone singing.We welcome your feedback and invite subm issions.CDs and comments should be sent to:The WholeNote, 503 - 720 Bathurst St. TorontoON M5S 2R4. We also welcome your inputvia our website, www.thewholenote.com.David OldsD/SCoveries Editordiscoveries@thewholenote.comWINTER REVIEWScontinue on page 5712For The Performing Arts"Simply intoxicating"San Francisco Examiner"Totally winning ...witty and sassy"New York PostFRIDAY, FEB 22 - 8PMticketmaster.ca I 416.872.2262 I GROUPS: 416.393.7463sonycentre.ca'J'()RONTO - STARtJ1ci,l~U.OlllWWW.THEWHOLENOTE.COMTAKE TWO!You know us best.You know your friends' tastes.Make a friend happy byintroducing them toWholeNote Magazine!Take 2 copiesand pass one along.FEBR UARY 1 - M ARC H 7 2008

T ALIV ALDIS KENINSremembered by Larry LakeCanadian composer Talivaldis Keninsdied on Sunday, January 20th. He was88. He was born in Latvia, studied inFrance and came to Canada in 1951.He taught at the University of Torontofrom 1952 until his retirement in 1984.He leaves a large body of work, includingsymphonies, concerti, cantatas,an oratorio and many solo andchamber works for instruments andvoice.Those are the bare facts about Talivaldis Kenins. What theydon't say is that Kenins was one of Canada's finest composers. Thequality of his music was second to none. His craft was honed bystudy in his native Latvia at the Conservatory at Riga with JosephWihtol and at the Paris Conservatory with Simone Ple-Caussade,Olivier Messiaen, and Tony Aubin. He'd had success as a composerbefore coming this country. His Septet was conducted by HermannScherchen at the Darmstadt Ferienkurse fiir neue Musik in 1950.He was also an outstanding performer. When Kenins and hiswife Valda came to Toronto in 1951 , he became organist and choirmasterof St. Andrew's Latvian Lutheran Church, where he foundedthe highly respected St. Andrew's Latvian Choir.Kenins was also a great teacher. His students included suchoutstanding Canadian musicians as Edward Laufer, Walter Kemp,Bruce Mather, Imant Raminsh, Arthur Ozolins, Tomas Dusatko,Robert Pritchard, James Rolfe, Ronald Bruce Smith and ScottWilkinson. Many remember him not just as Professor Kenins but as"Tali," their friend and mentor.Tali embodied the very definition of a European gentlemanof the old school. People meeting him for the first time were struckby his tall stature and aristocratic bearing. He looked like what hewas: a descendant of one of the first families of Latvia. Although hewas a musical prodigy, composing from the age of seven, he wasexpected to follow his father into diplomacy. When the Soviets invadedLatvia after the war, they systematically eliminated the Latvianelite, including many of the Kenins family . Tali told me that he hadno doubt that he'd have been killed if he'd remained in Latvia. Althoughhe spent the majority of his life in Canada, he was createdOfficer of the National Three-Star Order of the Republic of Latvia inrecognition of his musical achievements.I was proud to call him my friend. Over the years, I sharedmany moments with Tali. Although some of our conversations werebroadcast on the CBC, the most important were private. There wasalways something to learn from Tali and about him. Like most greatmen, he was complex. And make no mistake, Talivaldis Kenins wasa great man. He leaves a marvelous musical legacy, but to those ofus who knew him, he was most important because of who and whathe was. Canadians should be grateful that he graced us with hispresence for fifty-six of his eighty-eight years. Unfortunately, hismusic is all too rarely heard today. We owe it to him and to ourselvesto protect and promote the great legacy he left us.Friday Feb. 1BERNARDOPADRON GROUPCanada's passport to the newjazz-folk sound of Venezuelafeaturing Eliana Cuevas,Marilyn Lerner, Mark Duggan,Justin Haynes, AndrewDowning, Alan HetheringtonBpm • / member/ studentFriday Feb. 22DECAGE:A TRIBUTE TO FLUXUS&JOHN CAGEPerformed byLes Moineaux d'Entendre:D'Arcy Philip Grey& Nadia FrancavillaIncorporates pieces byChristian Wolff, Yoko Ono,Malcolm Goldstein,Pauline Oliveros + moreBpm • / member/ studentthe Music Gallery• 197 John St., Toronto ON, MST 1X6416-204-1080 • www.rnusicgallery.org!fJ, 1:;,·::~~· ~'.::!:.',_.., lo~ontcorh:ounc I ~ ~i.1:;,'~; 1~'!:.~~~t:'." ,.,,, l•I ~: •; 9 ;' ~;~;~· !;Qcf..i:JA significant portion of the Kenins legacy is available on compactdisc from the Canadian Music Centre www.musiccentre.ca. Ofparticular note are: the Kenins Anthology (CBC ACM 33-CD) withextended interviews with the composer in English and French plus3 CDs of music ranging from sonatas to orchestral works;Canadian Composers Portraits: Talivaldis Kenins (CMCCD 9403)with an hour-long documentary prepared by Eitan Cornfield andone CD of selected works; Talivaldis Kenins (CMCCD 5997) aCentrediscs release featuring works for cello and flute performedby David Hetherington and Robert Aitken respectively plus one ofKenins' most important chamber works, Piano Quartet No.2.F EBRUARY l - MARCH 7 2008 WWW.THEWHOLENOTE.COM 13

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