piece on this recording is surely Barber’sString Quartet, if only because of the famousAdagio, most often heard arranged for stringorchestra. Here, the warmly resonant stringsfurther heighten the movement’s elegiacmood. Equally elegiac is the brief Largo forviolin, clarinet and piano by Charles Ives.Insurance broker by day and composer onthe weekend, Ives was very much an individualist.His approach to music was distinctlyAmerican, and I liken the introspective moodof this piece from 1901 to those stark urbanlandscapes by Edward Hopper created 30years later. Elliott Carter’s Elegy for viola andpiano from 1943 is marked by a romanticconservatism not seen in his later style.So it would seem that during the 1930s and40s, there was more going on musically inAmerica than the jitterbug and big bands andthis CD proves it admirably. Kudos to JamesEhnes and his group from Seattle for bringingto light some treasures that most certainlydeserve greater exposure.Richard HaskellThe TranscendentalistIvan IlicHeresy Records 015(heresyrecords.com)When it comes tonew music the averagemusic lover, includingmyself, is in anunknown territory (ordownright ignorant)and that can provokehostility and aversionat times. This new discby Ivan Ilic, a distinguished American pianistof Serbian descent, does an immeasurableservice to smoothen the road to acceptance bythe back door, so to speak.It’s a masterstroke to devise a program withthe likes of Cage, Feldman or Wollschleger bytracing them backwards to “fall on branchesdescending from Frédéric Chopin.” It’s alsoall the more surprising – says Mr. Ilic – thatScriabin, one of the greatest innovators in theearly 20th century, took Chopin as a point ofdeparture. And this is the point at which thisremarkable journey begins.Scriabin’s Prelude Op.16, No.1 indeedsounds a bit like a Chopin Nocturne witha charming little melody developed nicelyand it’s over in two minutes. Fine… everyoneis happy about that, but our pianist nowpresents an early piece by John Cage, Dream(1948), and we immediately sense the relationshipto Scriabin. The hesitant fragmentsmoving at an even pace like moving in andout of our subconscious, laying out slowlya wonderful oriental landscape, sometimesinterrupted by deep and disturbing chords…yes, indeed, we feel the connection, but alsoexperience the departure into a new worldwith a mesmerizing, hypnotic effect.“Transcendental meditation?” The phrasehere takes on a new meaning under the magichands of Ilic who is guaranteed to hypnotizeyou like no other into the mysteries ofanother universe, but at the same time playsScriabin’s gorgeous D-flat major PreludeOp.31, No.1 so beautifully that you canperhaps endure the vicissitudes of this hereuniverse.Janos GardonyiHosokawa – Orchestral Works 2Royal Scottish National Orchestra;Orchestre National de Lyon; Jun MärklNaxos 8.573276Toshio Hosokawa isin some way a visualartist disguised as acomposer. The threepieces on this collectionof orchestralmusic bear a strikingsimilarity of form;they remind me ofSt. Exupéry’s descriptions of his childishdrawings of boa constrictors who swallowedelephants. The author never succeeded inconveying how fearsome these images wereto him; Hosokawa’s music, on the other hand,delivers moments of awe and terror, borderedby serenity and contemplation.Each work opens with a sustained unison Bflat, shimmering and pulsing; eventually eacharrives at a final unison elsewhere. Hosokawarejects artifice and architecture, preferringthe organic. He depicts development, origins,growth. The first piece, Woven Dreams,traces an imaginary passage from the womb.Blossoming II and Circulating Ocean arereflections on the natural world. In the linernotes he describes the signature unison openingsas fluid, amniotic or aquatic. One hearsbirdsong and water droplets, earthquakesand storms.Though Hosokawa’s forms have curvededges, his orchestral effects often jar. Hediscovers new dissonances through notebends and microtonal juxtaposition. Deepbooming percussion nearly overwhelms.At times his orchestration reminds me ofSchnittke, at others of Mahler. He will usethe orchestra as a huge macabre organ andthen exploit individual instruments forpassagework.Unlike his senior compatriot, ToruTakemitsu, Hosokawa chose to embrace ratherthan distance himself from his own culture.He often uses canonic melodic entries, oftencascades in the treble winds. He refers to thistechnique as Oibuki, featured in a style ofJapanese court music called Gagaku. WhereTakemitsu was repelled by the militarismhe witnessed as boy, Hosokawa worries hisculture is too ready to adopt external modelsrather than grow from its own roots.Two different orchestras supply the music,under the able direction of Jun Märkl, whoseparents bridge the east-west musical divide,a German violinist for a father, his mother aJapanese pianist.Max ChristieJAZZ AND IMPROVISED MUSICSilent PartnerJohn MacMurchy(johnmacmurchy.com)Very often I receivea CD with all originalmaterial and it raisesa warning flag. Willthere be melodic andharmonic contentthat will stand a lotof re-listening? Inthis case I have nosuch doubts. Silent Partner is a thoroughlyenjoyable program of original compositionsplayed by groups of varying sizes andincluding contributions by Bruce Cassidy,flugelhorn and EVI, pianist Mark Kieswetter,guitarist Dan Ionescu, Ross MacIntyre,bass, Daniel Barnes, drums, and AlanHetherington, percussion. They all makevaluable contributions to the success of thisrecording.As I mentioned the songs are allMacMurchy originals. He has a beautifulsound on clarinet and his compositions,whether ballad or up-tempo, are little gems.I particularly enjoyed the somewhat melancholy“The Stars Were Out Of Order” and“A Good Day To Be Happy.” In fact listeningto this music helps to make it a good day. Asuperior recording by superior musicians. Ihighly recommend this CD.Jim GallowaySaloon StandardJoe Coughlin & Mark Eisenmanindiepool JCJAZZ 008 (joecoughlinjazz.com)With the releaseof Saloon Standard,veteran BC-basedCanadian jazz vocalistJoe Coughlin andskilled pianist/arranger MarkEisenman have donethe near-impossible –created a triumph of a recording that not onlycelebrates the art of vocal jazz, but honoursthe symbiotic relationship between piano andvoice, all the while thrilling us with 13 tracksthat not only venerate the jazz “standard”but break our hearts with almost unbearablebeauty and fathomless emotional subtext.Although Coughlin and Eisenman (whohave worked together since their 20s) havecreated a program of finely crafted ballads,there is no “pearls before swine” posing here.Whether Coughlin is plying his stirring,voluptuous baritone to the rarely performedmovie theme, The Bad and the Beautiful(a tune that proved too vocally difficult forTony Bennett, by the way) or plumbing thedepths of heartbreak and renewal with MichelLeGrand/Alan and Marilyn Bergman’s You80 | November 1 - December 7, 2014 thewholenote.com
Must Believe in Spring, every note and everynuance is totally accessible and eminentlysatisfying... no gratuitous scat singingand other tasteless vocal grandstandingare welcome in the “Saloon” tradition ofJoe Coughlin.Other tasty tracks include Rogers andHart’s You’re Nearer from the 1940 film TooMany Girls; a lilting, almost bluesy take onBernstein/Comden and Green’s Lucky to beMe from the hit Judy Holliday musical BellsAre Ringing; Cole Porter’s romantic DreamDancing (sung with the rarely performedverse) and Hague/Horwitt’s moving balladYoung and Foolish.This CD is of such a high level of excellencethat it would be well-served with a Part Two!Lesley Mitchell-ClarkeSomething in the AirMixing Advanced Jazz with Program MusicCreating an entire program ofintegrated story and soundhas long been a hallmark ofwestern music. Just because the20th and 21st centuries have givencomposers not only more instrumentsand modes to work with butalso the possibility of adding aleatoricpassages hasn`t lessened suchprojects’ appeal. Unlike the sometimesill-conceived so-calledjazz musicals of the past, today’simprovisers have the skills neededto link a coherent story line withcreative sounds.Science fiction in its many formsfascinates many of these composersand the appeal of Intergalactic Beings(FPE Records FPE 02 fperecords.com)is how composer/flutist Nicole Mitchellleads her ten-member ensemble in interpretinga theme that’s far from common.Mitchell’s nine-part suite uses vocal andinstrumental emphasis to interpret theXenogenesis trilogy of books by OctaviaButler (1947-2006), whose post-feministAfro-futurism deals with racial and sexualambiguity. Briefly Intergalactic Beings positsa post-apocalyptic world where the fewremaining humans must mate with tentaclegraspingaliens with superior genes in orderfor humanity to survive. This obviously isn’tHello Dolly or Chicago. Throughout the alternatinglyrical soprano and guttural alto shadingsof Mankwe Ndosi’s voice express thenuances of the tale, with tracks like “Cycle ofMetamorphosis” including such phrases as“transformation to save the nation” to propelthe storyline. As Ndosi’s verbal expositionmoves through pseudo-orgasmic cries, renalmurmurs and finally triumphant cosmic-likehallelujahs, the score is advanced by timbraldislocation. Chamber-like concentration,mostly from violin, cello and double bass,KEN WAXMANThe Great Lakes SuitesWadada Leo SmithTum Records Tum CD 041-2 (tumrecords.com)Trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith isone of the most ambitious and engagedcreators in jazz.In 2012 he recordedhis epic tribute to theAmerican civil rightsmovement, TenFreedom Years, afour-CD suite for hisjazz quintet andchamber ensemblethat had been over 30 years in the making.The same year he recorded Occupy the World,mates with tougher interjectionsfrom Jeff Parker’s flangingguitar twangs, crying tripletonguedmelisma from DavidBoykin’s reeds, plus the composer’stongue-fluttering, sometimesdoubled by Renée Baker’sviolin strokes. As concentratedmultiphonics from the strings,horns and dual percussionistsintersect in lumbering, gentlingor staccato sequences interminglingsexuality is alluded to andresolved. The verbalized “hopeis a memory” serves as a leitmotiffor the adjoining Webof Hope/Fields of Possibility asmarimba pops, trumpet bites and concentratedstring sweeps presage the resolution.By the final The Inevitable, combative dissonanceis put aside for a contrapuntal nearwaltzfrom strings and vocalist. Fortissimoflute patterns backed by magisterial drumclunks and muted triplets from trumpeterDavid Young confirm the humannessremaining in the newly born third gender.A descriptive coda recaps the initial fragilehuman theme, with jagged note patternstoughening it to suggest the existence of anew identity – and corpus.American literature with fantasticalimplants is the theme of Awaits SilentTristero’s Empire (Singlespeed MusicSSM-014 singlespeedmusic.com) by oboist/English horn player Kyle Bruckmann’s sevenpieceavant chamber ensemble Wrack. Thefour-part composition suggests moods engenderedby Thomas Pynchon’s best-knownnovels. Thematic, but not literal, the sometimesdour Pynchon would probably besurprised to hear how much buoyant humourBruckmann has injected into his interpretations.“Gravity’s Rainbow” for instance movesfrom discordant vibrations pumped out bywith the 22-member TUMO improvisingorchestra. His Great Lakes Suites spans twoCDs but the manpower is much more concentrated,a quartet in which Smith is joined bythree masters: Henry Threadgill on reeds,John Lindberg on bass and Jack DeJohnetteon drums.Smith’s interest in the Great Lakes focuseson the contrast between their flat surface andtheir potential turbulence, along with aspectsof transportation, communication and waveformation. The music is fittingly spare, attimes unfolding with a declarative simplicity.The emphasis on stark solo voices – whetherSmith’s trumpet or Threadgill’s saxophoneor flute – conveys the drama of great naturalforces. We are repeatedly drawn to his subject:scrubbing strings and siren-like brass untila rim shot from drummer Tim Daisy pushesthe theme into cabaret territory. From then onthe piece bounces from broken triplet tonespropelled by trumpeter Darren Johnston, aBurlington, Ontario native, backed by stringhammering from bassist Anton Hatwich; toslurping tonguing from Bruckmann and bassclarinetist Jason Stein; through a folk-likestretch from violist Jen Clare Paulson, finallydissolving into barnyard-like cacophony withmoos and caws mixed among instrumentaltones. Retreating from tailgate slurs fromtrombonist Jeb Bishop, the final sequencesuggests what would happen if a string duowas lost on the vast prairies. Wrack managesto add a contrapuntal tango beat from huffinghorns and stolid double bass into “The Cryingof Lot 49,” preceding Daisy’s scene-settingdrumming with the same finesse exhibitedin bass drum thumps, snare paradiddlesand cymbal clanks. But it’s V, Pynchon’sbest-known book which gets extensive treatment.Complex enough to zigzag throughmany themes and counter themes, the musicreflects the book’s time-dislocated thesis.Highlights include, on the somber side,Bishop’s dark and dirty blues sequence thatis accompanied by slap bass and two-beatdrumming; and for a lively change of pace,Stein’s hyper-macho descending split tonesthat are eventually moderated by airy fluttertonguing from English horn and trumpet. Incomplete contrast is a midsection line thatstarts off Jazz Age processional yet ends upwith freilicher-like joyousness propelled byparallel counterpoint from viola and oboe.The exaggerated swing that pops out here andthere throughout the tracks, like raisins incereal, is eventually regularized into a salutaryconclusion.To read how Austrians Franz Koglmannand Michael Lösch individually deal withthematic material, see the continuation ofthis column at thewholenote.com.thewholenote.com November 1 - December 7, 2014 | 81
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!).
