DISCOVERIES | RECORDINGS REVIEWEDEditor’s CornerTwin PassionsDAVID OLDSIf there’s one thing I like as much as sittingin my easy chair with my feet up listeningto music, it’s sitting in that chair reading agreat book. There was a time when my veryfavourite thing was doing both at once but Imust confess that as my 60th birthday rapidlyapproaches it’s getting harder and harderto multi-task in that way. So what is now aspecial treat is settling into the Lazy Boy andcurling up with a book that takes me on amusical adventure.Books: I first encountered the novels ofRichard Powers in 1991 when my successorat CKLN-FM, local choral director andGeorgian vocal specialist Alan Gasser, giftedme with The Gold Bug Variations, a spectaculartour-de-force interweaving themesof Bach’s counterpoint and Poe’s fiction withstrands of molecular biology. It is a multilayeredmasterpiece that juxtaposes twolove stories, one set in the present and onein 1950s academe where the search for theDNA genome was in full swing. The eminencegrise, always present but never mentionedby name, is a certain Canadian pianist whoseyouthful 1955 recording of Bach’s GoldbergVariations stood the music world on its ear.If you haven’t read it I urge you to do yourselfa favour and pick up a copy at your earliestconvenience.Since that time I have read and re-read allten of Powers’ outstanding novels which,beginning in 1985 with Three Farmers onTheir Way to a Dance, have appeared everytwo or three years to much critical acclaim(and to my delight). Some years ago in thiscolumn I raved about Powers’ The Time ofOur Singing (2003) in which, among otherthings, the development of the historicallyinformed performance practices of theperiod-instrument movement was juxtaposedwith just about every significant politicalhappening of the 20th century through theeyes of a very special family whose membersalways seemed to be present, at least on theperiphery, at these events. Again I would urgeyou to check it out.Powers’ subject matter is extreme in itsdiversity, from medical research and psychologicaldisorders, to nuclear physics, environmentalconcerns, advanced technology, forcedconfinement and terrorism. Music is presentin one way or another in most of his books,but for me it is those in which music is centralto the plot that are the most satisfying. It wastherefore a real pleasure to find that, after apublishing hiatus of nearly five years, his 11thbook – Orfeo (HarperCollins ISBN 978-1-44342-290-1) – returns to the double themeof musical composition and genetic engineering.The main character is a composer,Peter Els, who comesof age in the 1950sand 60s, a tumultuoustime when the postwargeneration tookWestern art music tothe very brink. I won’tgo into much detail ofthe plot, but will saythat we follow Els ona protracted journeyfrom his adolescentvision of composition as divine inspiration,through academic struggles with serialconstraints and avant-garde freedoms, tominimalist structures and neo-Romanticregression, with many stops and side tripsalong the way. Ultimately Els is at a loss as tohow to take music itself any further and heeventually returns to the scientific interestsof his youth. In the decades that have passedgenetic engineering has blossomed and theinternet has made it possible for anyone withaccess to a computer to build a sophisticatedhome laboratory. In the end the agingcomposer decides that writing genetic codeis the future of composition and sets aboutwriting a work for the ages using DNA itself.Through a comedy of errors this leads to hisbeing taken for a bio-terrorist and the chase(and fun) begins.Powers is a master at describing and givingcontext to the examples of great music hechooses to include, and his insights areenlightening. Time and again I found myselfrushing to my library to dig out a favouriterecording and it was refreshing to re-visitthe works in question and to hear them with“new ears” as it were. Els’ own epiphany wasa recording of Mozart’s “Jupiter” symphonyfrom his father’s collection. I chose to goback to the recording I had grown up with,an LP of Otto Klemperer conducting thePhilharmonia Orchestra (now available onCD from EMI Classics). (Realizing that usingfull-sized 20th century orchestral forces in18th-century repertoire is no longer politicallycorrect, I asked Bruce Surtees for arecommendation and he suggested Jos vanImmerseel conducting the Anima EternaOrchestra of Bruges on the Zig-Zag label.)As a burgeoning clarinetist Els is introducedto Zemlinsky’s Trio in D Minor, Op.3 by theyoung cellist who becomes his first love. Iwas glad to be reminded that I had Amici’sversion of this rarely recorded work in mycollection and happy to have an excuse torevisit it (Summit Records). For Mahler’sKindertotenlieder I found that I was notoverly satisfied with the recordings in mycollection and once again went to an expertfor advice. Daniel Foley says: “Among thewomen, Janet Baker’s 1967 recording withthe Hallé Orchestra under Barbirolli (EMI)is unquestionably the most moving interpretationof the dozens I know... My heroFischer-Dieskau’s recording with Karl Böhmand the Berlin Philharmonic was recordedin 1963 and remastered in 2011 (DeutscheGrammophon).”For Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin dutemps I have many, more than a dozen,recordings to choose from, but once again Ichose our local Amici ensemble. The complicationwas which of their recordings toselect. Ultimately I decided to go with theiroriginal 1995 performance with violinistShmuel Ashkenasi (Summit Records) ratherthan the 1999 recording with Scott St. John(Naxos). It was a tough choice that did notcome down to the violinists, but rather cellistDavid Hetherington’s performance of thefifth movement, marked infiniment lent,extatique, which is fully 15 percent slower(i.e. more infinitely lent) on the earlier disc.Both his performances however are totallyconvincing as are those of clarinetist JoaquinValdepeñas and pianist Patricia Parr.For the Shostakovich Symphony No.5 Iturned to a reissue of the set of completesymphonies recorded by West German Radioduring the 1990s featuring Rudolf Barshaiat the helm of the WDR Sinfonieorchester(Brilliant Classics). When it came to theextended descriptions of the John Cage“Happenings” Musicircus and HPSCHD I wasleft thinking, despite having an old Nonesuchvinyl record of the latter piece, that you probablyhad to have been there to really get it. Idid turn back to my LP collection howeverfor Harry Partch’s classic Barstow (ColumbiaMusic of Our Time). As far as I can tell this isnot available on CD, but you should check itout on YouTube.I have quite an extensive collection ofSteve Reich recordings on vinyl and CD,but I missed Proverb – an extended riff onLudwig Wittgenstein’s sentence “How small athought it takes to fill a whole life!” for threesopranos, two tenors, two vibraphones andtwo electric organs – when it came out in1996. The disc seems to be out of print at themoment but is available as a digital downloadfrom Nonesuch, and again, is availablefor streaming on YouTube (accompanied bythe following comment from Roger Brunyate:“Do read (preferably while simultaneouslylistening) Richard Powers’ sublime descriptionof this piece on pages 245–254 of his newnovel Orfeo.”There are many other pieces mentioned inmore or less detail during the book, includingBerg’s Violin Concerto, Strauss’ Four LastSongs, Shostakovich’s String Quartet No.3and, although not by name, Copland’sAppalachian Spring. One of the mostmoving moments is the description of PeterLieberson’s Neruda Songs, written for hiswife Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and premieredjust a few months before her death, makingthe lyric “My love, if I die and you don’t”even more poignant. I found that track onYouTube, but the whole cycle of five songs isfeatured on a Nonesuch recording with theBoston Symphony Orchestra under JamesLevine’s direction. It was the soprano’s finalrecording.Perhaps the most intriguing descriptionin Orfeo is of Els’ own opera based on theAnabaptist uprising of 1534 in Münster. We52 | March 1 – April 7, 2014 thewholenote.com
are presented with a very detailed précis ofthis imaginary opus and its premiere whichcoincided with the strikingly similar eventsthat took place in Waco, Texas in 1993. Asalways, Powers’ blending of fact and fictionkeeps us on the edge of our seats. Orfeo thenovel, and by extension its complex musicalworlds – real and imagined – provided oneof the most satisfying literary adventures I’vehad in a long time. I highly recommend it.Another bookI enjoyed overthe recent holidaysalso led me tomy music library.The Apartment(Twelve ISBN978-1-4555-7478-0)by the Americanauthor Greg Baxterwho now makes hishome in Germany,takes place over the period of one day in anunnamed European city. It is a book in whichnothing of note happens except in the formof memories of the time the narrator spentin Iraq and of the life he abandoned in theUnited States. Nevertheless it is a compellingread. The musical interest here is arecital by Japanese violin students where thefeatured work is the Ciaccona (Chaconne)from Bach’s Partita for Violin No.2. After therecital the narrator strikes up a conversationwith Schmetterling, the German violinteacher, who launches into a lecture abouthow the Ciaccona encompasses “a profundityand intensity heretofore unknown in music.[…and which] resulted in the ascension of theviolin as the most venerated of all Westerninstruments.” There are five or six pagesdevoted to Schmetterling’s appreciation ofthe work and his claim that “On one stave, fora small instrument, the man writes a wholeworld of the deepest thoughts and mostpowerful feelings.” However, he goes on tosay “a spiritual sympathy with the piece … [is]… virtually non-existent in violinists underthe age of thirty… perhaps forty.” As takenas I was by the elegance and emotion of hisspeech, this last sounded like a challenge andoff I headed to my CD shelves. What I cameback with was a favourite of mine, a 2CD setof the Bach Sonatas and Partitas which JamesEhnes recorded in 1999 at the tender age of 23(Analekta FL 2 3147-8). I am quite preparedto accept that his understanding and depthof knowledge of the Ciaccona, and the repertoirein general forthat matter, will onlyincrease with time,but I must say thatif this early testamentis any indication,we can all lookforward to a truly aweinspiringinterpretationfrom Ehnes in theyears to come.Music: Books aside, sometimes it’s enoughjust to focus on the music…On the eve of Elliott Carter’s 102ndbirthday back in December 2010 Toronto’sNew Music Concerts presented an eveningof his recent works under the banner“Elliott Carter at 102.” Were it not for lastminute health and weather complications itwould have been Mr. Carter’s seventh visitto Toronto at the invitation of New MusicConcerts. As it was, the concert went on asplanned – including the world premiere ofthe Concertino for bass clarinet and chamberorchestra and the Canadian premiere of theFlute Concerto – and the audience was treatedto a taped telephone message from the iconiccomposer expressing his delight. Carterrecovered his health and went on to composemost of a dozen more works in the followingyear and a half before the final illness thatled to his death just a month before his 104thbirthday. New Music Concerts continued itspractice of celebrating the long and creativelife of this gentle man with Toronto premieresof Trije glasbeniki in 2011 and the DoubleTrio in 2012.The New Yorkpremieres of thesetwo works took placeat the 92nd StreetY on December 8,2011 as part of ElliottCarter’s 103rdBirthday Concert.That festive occasionincluded worldpremieres of fournew works rangingfrom Mnemosynefor solo violin (Rolf Schulte) to A Sunbeam’sArchitecture, a cycle of six songs on texts byE.E. Cummings for tenor (Nicholas Phan)and large chamber ensemble. The concert,organized by and under the artistic directionof cellist and long-time Carter associateFred Sherry, has now been released onthe British NMC label (NMC DVD193). Otherthan the solo harp piece Bariolage from 1992,the 12 works featured all date from Carter’s11th decade. What a treat it is to see Carterfêted in such a creative way and to see thecomposer’s pleasure in the performances.Still uncompromising in its rhythmic andharmonic complexity, the music is perhapsa bit more approachable than earlier worksbecause of its vigour and gestural exuberance– an amazing testament to Carter’s longevityand joie de vivre.The concert concludes with a seeminglyspontaneous performance of HappyBirthday and bows from the beaming centenarian.The film continues with moving tributesfrom leading British composers GeorgeBenjamin, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, AlexanderGoehr, Oliver Knussen and Colin Matthews.The booklet contains an extensive biographyand program notes. This is a wonderful celebrationof the artist as an old man for thosefamiliar with the work of Elliott Carter. Itwould serve as a wonderful point of entry tothose who are not.As someone who has spent much of myadult life (folk) singing and accompanyingmyself on the guitar it strikes me as a bitstrange that such a thing is quite rare inthe world of Art Song. Of course not manylieder singers accompany themselves on thepiano either and I am willing to accept thatin the world of classical music it is a life’swork to master even one medium. So it waswith pleasure that I received a new disc fromRenaissance man Doug MacNaughton onwhich he accompanies his own distinctivebaritone voice with panache on a beautifulsoundingclassical guitar constructed byEdward Klein. Guitarias (DougMacNaughton.com) features original works written forMacNaughton byCanadian composersJohn Beckwith, LeslieUyeda and WilliamBeauvais (who itseems has also servedas guitar teacher andmentor to the singer).The most immediately appealing workon the album, Shadows, is a collection ofsongs by British composer John Rutter, bestknown for his lush choral settings. The appealhowever turns out to be from familiarity; hissettings of 16th-century poetry sound charminglyanachronistic in their mimicking oflute songs of that era. That being said theyare lovely and provide a contrast to the morecontemporary sounds of the precedingtracks. Which is not to imply that the otherworks are not lyrical. Beckwith’s settings ofSamuel Beckett’s poetic texts are surprisingto this auditor who is more familiar with thebleak prose writings of the Nobel laureatewhose motto might well have been the finalsentences from The Unnamable: “I can’t goon. I”ll go on.” Uyeda’s Flower Arranger isa gently angular setting of a poignant poemfrom Joy Kogawa’s collection A Garden ofAnchors. The most idiomatic writing for theguitar, not surprisingly, comes from Beauvaisin his cycle of songs on texts by NativeAmerican poet Linda Hogan. There are occasionalextended techniques involved in theguitar writing which MacNaughton handleswith apparent ease and without becomingdistracted from his lyrical delivery of thevocal lines. I bet he could even walk and chewgum at the same time! My only quibble is theamount of reverb on the recording whichseems a bit excessive. All in all though, animpressive solo release from a multi-talentedartist. We welcome your feedback and invitesubmissions. CDs and comments should besent to: The WholeNote, Centre for SocialInnovation, 503 – 720 Bathurst St. TorontoON M5S 2R4. We also encourage you to visitour website thewholenote.com where you canfind added features including direct links toperformers, composers and record labels, andadditional, expanded and archival reviews.David Olds, DISCoveries Editordiscoveries@thewholenote.com.thewholenote.com March 1 – April 7, 2014 | 53
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Choral Scene: Uncharted territory: three choirs finding paths forward; Music Theatre: Loose Tea on the boil with Alaina Viau’s Dead Reckoning; In with the New: what happens to soundart when climate change meets COVID-19; Call to action: diversity, accountability, and reform in post-secondary jazz studies; 9th Annual TIFF Tips: a filmfest like no other; Remembering: Leon Fleisher; DISCoveries: a NY state of mind; 25th anniversary stroll-through; and more. Online in flip through here, and on stands commencing Tues SEP 1.
Following the Goldberg trail from Gould to Lang Lang; Measha Brueggergosman and Edwin Huizinga on face to face collaboration in strange times; diggings into dance as FFDN keeps live alive; "Classical unicorn?" - Luke Welch reflects on life as a Black classical pianist; Debashis Sinha's adventures in sound art; choral lessons from Skagit Valley; and the 21st annual WholeNote Blue Pages (part 1 of 3) in print and online. Here now. And, yes, still in print, with distribution starting Thursday October 1.
Alanis Obomsawin's art of life; fifteen Exquisite Departures; UnCovered re(dis)covered; jazz in the kitchen; three takes on managing record releases in times of plague; baroque for babies; presenter directory (blue pages) part two; and, here at the WholeNote, work in progress on four brick walls (or is it five?). All this and more available in flipthrough HERE, and in print Tuesday Nov 3.
In this issue: Beautiful Exceptions, Sing-Alone Messiahs, Livingston’s Vocal Pleasures, Chamber Beethoven, Online Opera (Plexiglass & All), Playlist for the Winter of our Discontent, The Oud & the Fuzz, Who is Alex Trebek? All this and more available in flipthrough HERE, and in print Friday December 4.
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!).