COVER STORY (2) CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGEanything with anyinstrument.I spend a lot oftime trying to understandwhat emotionthe composer wastrying to evoke.Ultimately I have toopen my heart to letthe music comein ..... When themusic is deep insideofme I can authenti- '~, ·cally present it. Mu- •sic making is about 'sharing what I havelearned. If I playfrom my heart with "'--"'~""'-'=.o.nthat kind of convic- Bach's harpsichord. What would it soundtion and give itlike today?freely then theaudience will understand.Dawn Lyons, with Den Ciul, Claviers BaroquesWe don't particularly think about 'authenticity' or 'beauty', althoughwe are big on 'real', 'true', 'honest' and especially 'works'. We are notcurators. The age of instruments we work on or hear is a minor consideration;it is the quality we are interested in. Most really old instrumentsare in museums and unplayable anyway, the harpsichord-building traditionbroken for nearly a hundred years. Decent harpsichords only startedbeing built again late in the 20th century and a lot of junk is still outthere getting played. So if you don't like harpsichords it may not be yourfault, you just may have a discerning ear.We 've heard magical, illuminating, convincing and passionate musicof all periods made on all kinds of instruments. Often it is unexpected,like Joseph Petric's Scarlatti on the accordion. John Kameel Farah, atrue musical omnivore, has woven the influence of Elizabethan composerWilliam Byrd into his techno, electronic and ambient improvisations,but when you hear John play straight Byrd on the harpsichord you understandin your bones that the harpsichord 's father is the lute, and itsgrandfather is the oud of Arabia. . .What the composer thought is unknowable unless they said somethingabout it or can be asked, and (having met living composers and heard whatthey had to say about their music) may be irrelevant anyway. The point isnot what was in their mind, but what happens in mine.Bruno Weil, at the Klang and Raum Festival in Irsee, Germany,talking about his Beethoven symphonies recording collaborationwith Tafelmusik. He will conduct Beethoven s 7'h and 8'1, Symphonieswith Tafelmusik, beginning March 27.Beethoven wrote these pieces for a period group. He wrote (for)these instruments that Tafelmusik is using. So, if you want to have anauthentic approach to Beethoven's symphonies, you have to do them inthat way.He wrote clear metronome markings to determine the tempos, becausehe was already unhappy during his lifetime, about different performances ofthe symphonies. So, to be the composer's advocate means to do thesemetronome markings and they are very, very difficult.We approach them as though they are the very very first performance.We have not played them before as Tafelmusik. We approachthem as though they had been composed yesterday. We try to findthe truth of the composer. That's the real thing, there 's no routine, everybody'sgiving everything possible, for this music ... and playing with afull heart and a full soul and spirit. That is the secret to a great performance.To go new ways with friends, that's a miracle and that keepsgrowing.Note: AUTHENTIC BEAUTY (2) can be found on page 53March brings more challengesthan just highly unpredictableweather. First there isMarch Break, March 10 to14, when many people getaway for the week with theirfamilies , and then there isEaster on March 23, justabout as early as it can be ,reducing rehearsal time byseveral weeks compared tothe more typical early- tomid-April timing.Canadian ContentThe first thing that struck meas I looked over the I istingswas the number of performancesthat included works byCanadian composers, particularlyin the first week ofMarch . These events are notHarpist Judy Loman celebrates her 50thseason as a professional musician inToronto at a concert on March 24.presented as concerts of cutting-edge contemporary music but just,for lack of a better word, "regular" concerts. There are three onMarch 1 alone: Oakville Chamber Orchestra playing Godfrey Ridout'sBallade for Viola; the Cathedral Bluffs Orchestra playing MurrayAdaskin's Divertimento No. 6 and the Oriana Women 's Choirperforming a program of commissioned works, all, it appears, byCanadian composers. On March 2, not including the Esprit Orchestra,there are four: the Orpheus Choir performing Derek Holman'sRequiem and a work by Sir Ernest MacMillan; pianist, Peter Longworth,performing works by Anton Kuerti; the Koffler Centre ChamberOrchestra with a mostly Canadian program and Montreal pianists,Luba and Ireneus Zuk, with a program that includes works byCanadians John Burge and George Fiala. On March 4 the GryphonTrio will premiere a new work by Marjan Mozetich, for whomQueen's University presented a concert on January 12 this year, celebratinghis sixtieth birthday. On March 5 we will be able to hearhighlights from Alexander Rapoport's new children's opera Dragon inthe Rocks. On March 6 Tafelmusik will include works by HealeyWillan and Christos Hatzis in its program, "In the Garden of EarthlyDelights." Sir Ernest MacMillan's name comes up yet again , thistime on March 7, when his Two Sketches on French-Canadian Airswill be performed by Sinfonia Toronto.Recurring SingersSomething else that "jumped out at me, " as they say, was the namesof singers appearing in a variety of contexts. Soprano Janet CatherineDea, for example, will do a solo recital on March 12 with harpistKristen Moss, at the Halton Hills Cultural Centre. On March 18 sheis at the Heliconian Hall in a fundraiser for the Heliconian ScholarshipFund. On April 5 she will perform Italian repertoire with theCanadian Sinfonietta.There may be some of you who , now that the Women's MusicalClub series is sold out, are wondering why you didn 't get a subscriptionwhen they were still available, especially with a concert by theexciting young talent Shannon Mercer coming up on March 6. Youwill be pleased to know that there will be another opportunity to hearher on March 9 in St. Catharines, where she is doing a recital withpianist, Stephen Philcox, as part of the Primavera Concerts series.Baritone Russell Braun, who needs no introduction, will performtwice in March: March 15 as part of the Royal Conservatory of Music'sGreat Artist Series, and on March 28 with long time colleague,tenor Michael Schade, at Roy Thomson Hall, as part of the InternationalVocal Recitals series. Braun's wife, Carolyn Maule, will be thecollaborative pianist at both events.14 WWW. TH EWHOLENOTE.COM MARCH 1 - APRIL 7 2008
mSinfqnia1oronLoNURHAN ARMANMUSIC DIRECTORToronto's Chamber OrchestraGrace Church on-the-Hill - 300 Lonsdale adult, senior, student - cheaper onlinewww.sinfoniatoronto.com 416-499-0403MARY-ELIZABETH BROWNViolinistFriday, March, 7, 8 pmMOZART Divertimento K137BACH Violin Concerto in A MinorMACMILLAN Two SketchesVERDI SinfoniaSTRAUSS & SWING VIENNESE BALL March 292008-2009 Masterpiece Series on sale atsinfoniatoronto.com 416-499-0403HEATHER SCHMIDT, PianistFriday, April 4, 8 pmBACH Piano Concerto in F MinorSCHMIDT Piano Concerto No. 3TCHAIKOVSKY SerenadeJlJDY KANG, ViolinistFriday, May 9, 8 pmPREVOST HommageTARTINI Devil's TrillKREISLER LiebesleidKREISLER LiebesfreudDVORAK SerenadePrincipals on DisplayCall the St. Lawrence Centre Box Officeat 416-366-7723 or 1-800-708-6754or book on-line at www.stlc.comVisit us at www.hssb.caSunday, April 13, 2008, 3 p.m., Jane Mallett TheatreCurtis Metcalf, Resident ConductorAndrew Mccandless, Trumpet Soloist; Neil Deland, Horn SoloistGordon Wolfe, Trombone SoloistSponsored byR~DVirtuoso soloists are the hallmark of any great band concert, and this concert has three! AndrewMccandless, Neil Deland and Gordon Wolfe all hold Principal Brass positions in The Toronto SymphonyOrchestra. Together they perform the premier of a new triple concerto by Gary Kulesha, commissionedby the HSSB. Principals on Display is the Grand Finale to our annual Festival of Brass Weekend.The Hannaford Street Silver Band is grateful for the assistance received from its co rporate and its many individual donors, and from the following"'' I """""' . I . "d,,,., Jb..••• ~~ 1;;~"';:" Canada' .1>, ;:;:::i."::"' ~:::.:."'..' " ·,.,"l/ ~o ,ont
