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Volume 18 Issue 3 - November 2012

  • Text
  • November
  • Toronto
  • December
  • Jazz
  • Arts
  • Theatre
  • Symphony
  • Orchestra
  • Choir
  • Concerts

(baroque violin),

(baroque violin), Katherine Hill (soprano), Joëlle Morton (violas dagamba), Sara-Anne Churchill (harpsichord) and Kirk Elliott (aptlydubbed “one-man-band”). “Lions and Tigers and Bears, O My!” takesplace at Victoria College Chapel on December 1.Two violinists in Toronto on the same weekend approach the performanceof early music from different perspectives. November 7 to11, one of the foremost international baroque violinists appears withTafelmusik: Gottfried von der Goltz began his career as a “modern”player but decided to switch to the baroque style; in so doing,he found everything he needed to build an international career.Now violinist and director of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, he isTafelmusik’s guest in “Mozart’s World,” as soloist in the Mozart ViolinConcerto in A and as director in works by Haydn, Franz Beck andJosef Kraus.Also on November 11, a violinist you may haveheard last June in Toronto’s Luminato Festivalperforming the solo violin role of Einstein inPhilip Glass’ opera Einstein on the Beach,appears in recital at RCM’s Mazzoleni Hall.Jennifer Koh is a consummate and verythoughtful artist who believes strongly thatconnections exist in all music from early tomodern, since music reflects humanity’s commonexperiences in every society and every age.This conviction has led to the evolution of her project“Bach and Beyond” — a set of three recitals thatseeks to reveal the connections in solo violinrepertoire, from Bach’s six Sonatas andPartitas through to newly commissionedworks. Her recital in Torontois the second of these. She’ll performtwo solo works by Bach,plus the Bartók Solo Sonata anda world premiere: Kline’s PartitaJennifer Koh.for Solo Violin, written for her.internationally renowned bass viol duo Les Voix Humaines. Theirconcert titled “The Sun Queen” refers to King Louis XIV’s favouriteinstrument, the viola da gamba, and includes original compositionsand arrangements of French chamber music of the 17thcentury. This is music which (in their words) “reflects thegrowing taste for private pleasures, making use of a languagewhich is at once moving and discreet, evoking a worldwhere freedom and intimacy go hand in hand.”!!Choral concerts involving early music are well represented;here are a few of them: Cantemus Singers: “MakeWe Merry!” (November 17 and 18); Georgetown BachChorale: Handel’s Messiah (November 17 in Goderich,November 18 in Brampton, November 23 and 25in Georgetown); Melos Choir and ChamberOrchestra: “Celebrating the Diamond Jubileeof Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II”with Handel’s Coronation Anthems(November 18 in Kingston);Larkin Singers: “Bach Motets”(November 24); Elmer IselerSingers: Handel’s Messiah(November 30); Tafelmusik:“French Baroque Christmas”(December 5, 6, 7, 8, 9);U of T Schola Cantorum: Handel’sCoronation Anthems (December 7).For details of all these and more, pleasesee The WholeNote’s daily listings.Simone Desilets is a long-time contributorto The WholeNote in several capacitieswho plays the viola da gamba. She can becontacted at earlymusic@thewholenote.com.JANETTE BECKMANOTHERS!!November 17 at the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society:Canadian pianist Shoshana Telner has enjoyed a flourishing career assoloist, chamber musician and teacher and currently teaches in themusic faculty of McMaster University. In this concert she performsBach’s Six Keyboard Partitas — music (described by one listener) thatputs you “within that holy moment.”!!November 17 and 18 (Toronto), November 24 (Hamilton): CapellaIntima was founded in 2008 by the talented tenor and baroque guitarist,Bud Roach, expressly to present vocal chamber music of the 17thcentury. Roach has recently been immersed in research into the lostart of the self-accompanied singer, work that’s resulted in a beautifulrecording of secular arias by Grandi. (Go to Capella Intima’s websiteto hear excerpts and find out more about the project.) Some ofthis music will be presented in the three upcoming performances:intimate arias by Grandi, Sances and Strossi, featuring soprano EmilyKlassen and tenor Bud Roach, who also accompanies the songs onbaroque guitar.!!November 18: Organist Philip Fournier came to Toronto from theUSA in 2007, bringing with him an impressive history of scholarshipand experience in the fields of organ performance and choral directorship.He gives a recital, “Organ Music of the 17th Century,” on themagnificent three-manual mechanical action organ at The Oratory,Holy Family Church — music by Praetorius, Sweelinck, Scheidt,Frescobaldi, Byrd and Bach.!!November 18: The Windermere String Quartet on period instrumentscontinue their journey through the “Golden Age” of stringquartets with a performance dedicated to youthful works. In “YoungBlood” they play works by Mozart, Schubert and Arriaga — musicalgeniuses who, by the age of 19, had already displayed their mastery ofthe form. Lucky for us that they were so precocious because they hadnot much time to develop: they all died tragically young.!!November 27 also at the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber MusicSociety: Lovers of the viol should flock to this concert given by the20 thewholenote.com November 1 – December 7, 2012

Beat by Beat | Choral SceneRepeat After MeBEN STEINCOURTESY CMCMilton Barnes.Paintings and sculptures occupy physical space. Da Vinci’sMona Lisa and Michelangelo’s David reside in the Louvre inperpetuity, guarded and revered, physical manifestations of“great art” in a hallowed space, ready for us to come and venerate.Music, by contrast, is a manipulation of sound and time and livesin our minds and ears. Music is a physical experience not a physicalobject. Without our minds and ears to translate, it cannot exist.Music needs to be iterated and reiterated to continue to live. Thegiants of the musical canon seem inviolate and firmly rooted, but evenestablished musical giants have been as subject to trend and fashionas any other musician. Bach needed Mendelssohn to reintroduce hiswork to the world. Mahler’s work was headed for obscurity when itwas championed by musical lion Leonard Bernstein. Vivaldi’s inescapableFour Seasons was actually a forgotten work at the beginning ofthe 20th century. Its rise in popularity corresponded with the rise ofrecording technology and turned a relatively obscure composer into ahousehold name.Because of its need to be constantly renewed, music is subject to theworld’s often wayward and chaotic currents of artistic fashion (as isliterature, theatre and architecture). Economics, technology, trend andfashion play a greater role in shaping our tastes than we understand orwill admit to.In Canada, a young nation swamped by European and Americancultural and economic influence, we are continually remindingourselves and each other that what we create here is worthy of advocacy.Canadian musicians whose careers may not have extended pastnational or even regional borders need and deserve our continuedinterest and awareness, especially after they are no longer in a positionto promote themselves.Barnes: One such composer isMilton Barnes who had a rich andvaried career centred in SouthernOntario but ranging over NorthAmerica. He had fruitful associationswith many musicians, ensemblesand dance companies. Trainedin modernist compositional techniques,he ultimately moved to amore accessible style that factoredin his background as a jazz drummer,his ease with popular musicand his knowledge of traditionalJewish music.Eleven years after his death, itwould be easy for Barnes’ work to pass into disuse — new composersare fighting for space in a crowded local and global market andCanadian artistic history is so young it is hard to conceive of it as atradition to be fostered, celebrated and renewed.So it is good to see two Toronto choirs collaborating in a concertThe Rose of ChristmasFeaturing “Fantasia on Christmas Carols”by R. Vaughan Williams, accompanied by British organistPeter Andrew Barley, (Limerick Cathedral)plus community carolling & “O Holy Night” by candlelightFred Kimball Graham, (Music Director)Sunday December 9 at 7 p.m.Eglinton St George’s United Church, 35 Lytton Blvd at DuplexFreewill offering to benefit “Out of the Cold”416-481-1141 ext 250, or www.esgunited.orgNovember 1 – December 7, 2012 thewholenote.com 21

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