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Volume 22 Issue 4 - December 2016/January 2017

  • Text
  • December
  • Toronto
  • Arts
  • January
  • Symphony
  • February
  • Jazz
  • Performing
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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!

a painter preparing a

a painter preparing a pencil sketch with the bassist there to add colour and depth. Drummer Tomas Fujiwara provides a backbeat when needed, but generally uses his rolls and cymbal clicks as if he were a highclass publicist: making the others look good without drawing attention to himself. The key to the ripened interaction displayed here is how most tunes retain an undercurrent of cultured swing in any circumstance. This doesn’t make the session smooth jazz by any stretch of the imagination though. Since the CD is named for the scientific label of the sweetly scented but also poisonous woodland plant also known as Lily of the Valley, hidden – and sometimes not-so-hidden – prickliness galvanizes the date. Although she uses the same six-string throughout, Halvorson can sound folksy and almost acoustic, as on Sampsonian Rhythms or spew out opaque chording and flanges on Screaming Piha, where her electronically enhanced judders are such that her pumped-up chords appear to be searching for a heavy-metal connection. Despite this and Fujiwara’s busy resounds, the bassist’s sophisticated downward string sluices move everyone’s output into overlapping interaction. Throughout, Formanek’s intertwining motions provide the perfect backdrop for the guitarist, with her timbres freely resembling those of a saxophone (on Tail of the Sad Dog) or a mandolin (as on Trigger). With composing credits divided almost equally among the three, it seems obvious that this Thumbscrew project warrants two thumbs up. Ken Waxman Concert Note: The Secret Keeper duo of guitarist Mary Halvorson and bassist Stephen Crump perform at Ratio, 283 College St. on Saturday, December 10 POT POURRI So Many Things Anne Sofie von Otter Naïve V5436 !! The eloquent and versatile Anne Sofie von Otter is much admired for her ability to cross over genres effortlessly in a manner far more hip than many of the classical persuasion. Teaming up with the equally fluid string quartet Brooklyn Rider, well-known for collaborations with artists in genres from jazz to world music, they explore on this recording an eclectic collection of repertoire from John Adams to Björk to Elvis Costello with great affinity and intelligent interpretation. As well as the performers’ favourite selections, there are pieces included that were created specifically for them: Nico Muhly’s So Many Things and For Sixty Cents, an amusing New York vignette by the quartet’s violinist Colin Jacobsen. Pulitzer Prizewinner Caroline Shaw offered her Cant voi l’aube, a modern reworking of a 12th-century trouvère song. Songs of unconventional love affairs such as Kate Bush’s Pi and Sting’s Practical Arrangement are remedies to the common love song, providing the listener with another insightful glimpse into urban life. Ending with a nod to the fusion of opera and popular music, they perform Les feux d’artifice t’appellent, the closing aria from Rufus Wainwright’s debut opera, Prima Donna. Dianne Wells Silence On Joue Take 2 Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà Analekta AN 2 8743-4 !! Quebec violin star Angèle Dubeau has chosen diverse movie music to perform with her ensemble La Pietà in this double-CD release which marks a number of personal milestones and is dedicated to her audience. CD 1, named Sweet, features 15 tracks of a laid-back variety, while CD 2 named Salty, has 12 more toe-tapping tracks. The clever arrangements are true to their soundtrack roots and highlight the strengths of Dubeau and the strings, harp and piano performers. Initially I questioned the separation of Sweet and Salty styles but then I was never bored listening. Highlights from Sweet include Unchained Melody – Orchestral from Ghost with a soaring opening violin line leading to a colourful instrumental trading off of the famous earworm melody. And what is movie music without the familiar, strings -friendly music like Suite Harry Potter and John Williams’ Across the Stars from Star Wars – Episode II: Attack of the Clones. The minimalistic harmonic and broken chord changes driving Einaudi’s Sotto falso nome succeed independently even without its closely linked visuals. From Salty, Tubular Bells from The Exorcist actually works without the original percussion, while If I Were a Rich Man from Fiddler on the Roof is a natural choice with Dubeau’s great violin playing of the famous melody against an upbeat backdrop. The diverse, easy listening music never feels lost without the visuals, which is a great reminder of the talents of film composers, performers, arrangers and producers. Listen and celebrate Angèle Dubeau’s exceptional musicality, phrasing and technique across the styles! Tiina Kiik New Shoes The Bombadils Borealis Records BCD243 (borealisrecords.com) L/R !! While the roots music duo The Bombadils live in Montreal they do get around, recording this, their third album, New Shoes, in a Bowen Island, BC, studio. Canadian Maritimer Luke Fraser and self-described “prairie girl” Sarah Frank share an abiding affection for North American and Celtic folk songs, fiddle tunes as well as European classical music. The resonance of those traditions permeates the album. Frank’s supple soft voice is featured on most tracks accompanied by her idiomatically expressive fiddle and claw-hammer banjo. Fraser sings and plays incisive guitar and mandolin. Not that long ago both studied classical music at Montreal’s McGill University, their various affiliations coming through clearly in the clever La fille aux cheveux de lin. It borrows its melody from Claude Debussy’s piano piece of the same title, neatly adapted by Frank and set to a French poem by Parnassian poet Charles Marie René Leconte de Lisle. They also pay respects to the late American singer-guitarist Doc Watson and Rosa Lee Watson’s classic Bluegrass song Lone [Long] Journey in a classically tinged arrangement enriched with cello, their two voices neatly paired. Fraser and Frank’s own songs are marked by originality. Even their arrangements are not allowed to fall into banality, but are rather infused with an old-timey feel while given the tang of the new. It’s a winning combination that’s quite satisfying musically. Twelve guest musicians – including Canadian banjoist extraordinaire Jayme Stone, cellist Kaitlyn Raitz and the expressive jazzy flute of Anh Phung – lend the album additional texture and musical polish. I find New Shoes a wistful, charming and musically sure-handed outing, and look to the further evolution of this abundantly talented duo. Andrew Timar Parallels…to South Asian music from around the world Vandana Vishwas Independent VV003 (vandanavishwas.com) L/R !! While the Indo- Canadian singer and songwriter Vandana Vishwas was trained in the rigours of North Indian classical vocal music, her own songs and singing style inhabit the lighter world of contemporary sugam sangeet. Vishwas’ website translates the term as “Easy Listening Music,” though more generally sugam sangeet refers to songs which employ readily understood lyrics and 88 | December 1, 2016 - February 7, 2017 thewholenote.com

straightforward melodies. Hindustani music practitioners distinguish their “classical music” practice from sugam sangeet partly in that the former is firmly based on a large repertoire of ragas (complex melodic modal-tonal frameworks for composition and improvisation) and talas (cyclical rhythmic-metric phrases). Sugam sangeet, on the other hand, is an approach to music performance where adherence to ragabound rules is loosened or dispensed with entirely, and experimentation with various genre combinations is expected. The discussion brings us neatly to Vishwas’ intriguing new album. Its full title is Parallels…to South Asian music from around the world, and that is what she sets out to explore. It helps to understand that “South Asian” in this context invokes a narrow range of Hindustani music genres from an entire subcontinent’s worth of possibilities. Vishwas and her crack team of studio musicians deliver on the title’s promise in quite surprising ways. For example the opening track Mai Bequid is first rendered in a flamenco setting. Later it reappears in an unexpected country arrangement embellished with dobro, banjo and drum set. Fiqr E Manzil, on the other hand, sets out to map parallels between Vishwas’ ghazal singing and the rock trinity of distorted electric guitar, bass and metal-worthy drum set authoritatively played by Mark Kelso. It’s one of my favourites on the album. If you keep a genre-open mind, you too may find your own favourite Parallels. Andrew Timar Sexsmith Swinghammer Songs Lori Cullen True North Records TRD618 (loricullen.com) !! Contemporary jazz/pop vocalist Lori Cullen’s latest release is an appealing and innovative project that is the result of an inspired collaboration between Cullen herself and two noted musicians – composer/ guitarist Kurt Swinghammer and composer/ lyricist Ron Sexsmith. It was Sexsmith who first suggested to Swinghammer that they write an album together specifically tailored for Cullen. The 12 tracks on the CD all feature lyrics by Sexsmith and are rife with Swinghammer’s carefully placed stylistic elements of the artists who defined the fertile pop eras of the 1960s and 1970s, including tips of the hat to Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Webb and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Produced by bassist Maury Lafoy (who appears on the project), the musicians also include drummer Mark Mariash, keyboardist Robbie Grunwald and Swinghammer on guitar. Although Fender Rhodes and guitar are central to the instrumentation, the compelling, acoustic arrangements by Swinghammer also involve an array of diverse instrumental contributions, including finely crafted enhancements on trumpet, trombone, oboe, clarinet, vibraphone, marimba, English horn, recorder and more. Cullen’s angelic voice wraps itself around each sumptuous melodic line and every composition has been constructed to highlight her superb, crystalline vocal instrument and intuitive knack for delivering frank emotional content and a quirky lyric. Memorable tracks include the gently swinging and faintly ironic The Face of Emily, which features a lush vocal arrangement, and the groovy, lighter-than-air bossa nova, New Love. A true gem is the heartrending duet between Cullen and Sexsmith, Off Somewhere. This thoroughly pleasing and unabashedly romantic recording is a triumph for all three of these gifted artists and a stunning example of creative, musical symbiosis. Lesley Mitchell-Clarke Concert note: On December 2, Lori Cullen and David Matheson perform jazz covers, pop hits, original tunes and selections from the album Sexsmith Swinghammer Songs at Sharon-Hope United Church, East Gwillimbury. DoVira DoVira Independent (doviraband.com) !! One of the many great aspects of living as a musician in Toronto is being exposed to music from diverse cultures without ever really leaving home, and subsequently being influenced by it in one’s own music. Listening to DoVira’s music is proof of this. Eight of the 10 tracks are their arrangements of traditional Ukrainian material. The tunes’ melodies and lyrics are still Ukrainian, but the rest of the music world surfaces with a blast. Opening track Yest’Na Sviti opens with a more traditional rendition by vocalist/ keyboardist Stacey Yerofeyeva which builds to a bigger rhythmic sound. A stadium rock setting is established in Dyki Husy with a busy drum groove (Derek Gray), bass (Mark Rynkun), guitars (Patrick O’Reilly) and sopilka (Mike Romaniak). A slower brief interchange between Yerofeyeva’s wailing vocals and guest Ernie Tollar’s saxophone lyric riffs is followed by a fast sax solo and a big instrumental blast ending. Folk music meets the avant garde in Oy Zijdy Ziron’ko as guest accordionist Emilyn Stam matches the vocal line and holds notes against repetitive rhythms, space-age effects and washes, leading to melodic folk material. Kolo, the closing original tune, is a toe-tapping fast get-up-and-boogie tune featuring virtuosic sopilka (Ukrainian wooden flute) playing and guest vocalist harmonies. All the performers are great, with special kudos to Yerofeyeva’s colourful, wide-ranging vocal stylings. An English translation of the titles would add to the listening experience. This is world fusion music at its best! Tiina Kiik Shadow & Light – The Rumi Experience duoJalal Bridge Records 9469 (bridgerecords.com) L/R !! Formed some seven years ago, duoJalal reflects the musical marriage of the classically trained virtuosa violist Kathryn Lockwood and ace percussionist Yousif Sheronick. In their gifted hands and ecumenical spirit, the unusual combination of viola and world percussion are elegantly married. Moreover, duoJalal’s eclectic repertoire mines a deep motherlode of multiple cultural traditions and musical styles. One of the motivic throughlines in Shadow & Light is that each of the six compositions is paired with a philosophical poem by the 13th-century Persian poet Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī. Taking inspiration from the poet’s vision of a world where diverse religions, cultures and races are bridged and even mystically conjoined, duoJalal has chosen works by an international cast of composers: Giovanni Sollima, Evan Ziporyn, Shirish Korde, Somei Satoh, Ljova and Zhao Jiping. The liner notes further echo Rūmī’s core tenets, arguing that they are as “relevant today as they were 800 years ago. From East Asia to the Middle East, the United States to Eastern Europe, the ‘Rumi Experience’ seeks to foster peaceful coexistence on a worldwide basis.” Two of the works on the CD were commissioned for the project, Honey From Alast by Evan Ziporyn and Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin’s Shadow and Light. The latter work aims, in the composer’s turn of phrase, to shine “a different thickness of light into [the] space” of each of its four movements. On the other hand Ziporyn’s two-movement work explores notions of music as a “sign from the spiritual world,” but also as a physical object and a generative force. Taken as a whole, this collection of works makes a strong case for the duo’s mission of cultural inclusion expressed in music. And it is musicking of a high order, well-conceived, brilliantly played and lovingly presented on this CD. Andrew Timar thewholenote.com December 1, 2016 - February 7, 2017 | 89

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