Volume 29 Issue 5 | April & May 2024

The answer is quite

The answer is quite clearly in the use of uncommon instrumental voicing to mirror the poetics of a composer’s work that once combined vocal sensuousness with spectral imagery daubed onto the darkened sonic canvas. The cello’s bow sweeps across the strings of the instrument in an alternating movement of flux and flow. Meanwhile the trombone moans – almost always pianissimo – with a deeply religious intensity pouring out in solemn, elliptical melodic lines. Meanwhile the piano provides the harmonic glue as an overwhelming sense of mystery pervades the ensuing music. As sculpted phrases are created from notes that leap off the staved paper dancing and pirouetting in rarefied air around us, we find ourselves in the ephemeral world – literally and figuratively speaking – of Boulanger, the younger of the two legendary French musician-sisters. The subtle chromaticism of Boulanger’s songful music comes brilliantly alive. These are songs without words, every bit as compellingly delicate in a Mendelssohnian way, and the music sparkles like stars shooting across a glittering soundscape. Raul da Gama American Spiritual Michael Lee Independent ML202301 (leaf-music.ca) ! Although some more than others (professors, teachers, music critics, authors), we are all canon formers one way or another. While we may think that our musical decisions about what we “like” or “don’t like” is based upon our individual agency and personhood, in truth our tastes have been shaped and formed by friends, teachers, disc jockeys, books, or, increasingly, a Stockholm-based AI chatbot that algorithmically suggests playlists based upon our Spotify listening habits. Next, we in turn pass on said formed tastes to others, reinforcing our personal musical canon with our listening, artistic preferences and the concerts we choose to attend. The point of this review, however, is not to go down a Theodor Adorno-inspired Marxist rabbit hole about the illusion of choice, but rather to say that musical canons, like taste, are both fluid and malleable. And a good thing too. In the last number of years, there has been a concerted effort by symphonies, artistic societies and record labels to feature greater diversity and inclusion in their offerings, broadening the range of the artists whom they have chosen to platform. Michael Lee, a DMA scholar, current faculty member at his alma mater the University of Toronto, and a tremendous pianist, has taken on this responsibility of canon expansion with seriousness, aplomb and care. And, supported by an arts grant from ArtsNL (The Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council), Lee has made a beautiful recording capturing a number of major piano works from BIPOC composers. American Spiritual seamlessly bridges European Art Music with important American Spiritual compositions of Florence Price, Margaret Bonds and the Niagara Fallsborn Canadian/American composer Robert Nathaniel Dett. The 2023 recording is top shelf, and the canonic expansion to include these important compositional voices most welcome. Andrew Scott Luna Anna Lapwood (organ) Sony Classical 19658831402 (sonyclassical. com/releases/releases-details/luna) ! The pipe organ is considered by many to be a fossil: an academic, inflexible instrument that exists in large, inaccessible places and plays long, complex music – or a hymn-churning jukebox – depending on who you ask. “My grandmother played the organ at [insert small local church here]” is a line that organists hear dozens of times a year, and it is this relatively limited window of exposure that makes the organ a public relations challenge. Enter Anna Lapwood. With over one million followers on social media, Lapwood is introducing a new international audience to the pipe organ through behind-thescenes videos, genre-bending collaborations and open access to some of the world’s finest instruments. According to the album’s press release, “The power of social media gives the ability to demystify the outdated baggage the organ once carried along with it, throwing open the doors to new music, new possibilities, and new audiences.” Luna, Lapwood’s recently released recording, features 15 tracks including transcriptions of film and piano scores, as well as new music. There is a great range of material here, from the Interstellar and Pride and Prejudice soundtracks to Philip Glass, Chopin and Debussy, as well as two selections performed by Lapwood’s choir at the Chapel of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Much like Lapwood’s social media presence, this recording is an ideal vehicle for acquainting new audiences with the organ. The music is light and easy to listen to, expertly prepared and performed, and recorded in a way that captures the rich acoustic palate of the instrument. For experienced organophiles desiring the depth and density of Bach and Widor, it is best to look elsewhere; for those seeking an accessible and enjoyable introduction to the organ, however, there is a wealth of material here that will be utterly delightful. Matthew Whitfield MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY Messiaen – Turangalîla Symphony Marc-André Hamelin; Nathalie Forget; Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Gustavo Gimeno Harmonia Mundi HMM 905366 (harmoniamundi.com/en/albums/ messiaen-turangalila-symphonie/) ! As I was preparing this review, I learned that the long-ailing Seiji Ozawa had died in Tokyo on February 6th at the age of 88. It seems a fitting memorial then in any discussion of this centennial celebration recording from the Toronto Symphony to also honour the legacy of the musician whom Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) described as “the greatest conductor I have known.” Messiaen’s monumental ten-movement hymn to love was commissioned for the Boston Symphony, by Serge Koussevitzky. Leonard Bernstein, filling in for an indisposed Koussevitzky, premiered the work in 1949, though he never recorded it himself. Among Bernstein’s many conducting assistants during his legendary tenure at the New York Philharmonic a young Japanese conductor by the name of Seiji Ozawa stood out. In 1965 Bernstein called TSO managing director Walter Homburger to recommend Ozawa as an ideal candidate to replace the departing Walter Susskind. Homburger eagerly signed him up and Ozawa soon rose to international prominence, culminating in his directorship of the Boston Symphony for an unprecedented three decades. He later confided in a 1996 interview with the Globe and Mail that “Every repertoire I ever conducted in Toronto, I did for the first time in my life – Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mahler, everything.” Canada’s Centennial Commission saw fit to subsidize the landmark recording of Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony in 1967. It was a wise investment indeed. The acclaim this recording received promptly landed Ozawa, the Toronto Symphony and the composition itself firmly on the map of great performances. Subsequently the thoroughly hyped Ozawa eagerly suggested to Homberger that the TSO should stage a festival of Messiaen’s music. Alas, his proposal was summarily dismissed. For some reason Messiaen is a tough sell in Toronto; perhaps there is too much of a muchness about it all for some. I myself witnessed how the TSO audience trickled away in a 2008 performance (in the series “Messiaen at 100” – yet 68 | April & May 2024 thewholenote.com

another centennial!) of this sprawling work under Peter Oundjian’s direction. Let us return to our recordings however. In comparison to Gimeno’s bold and impulsive interpretation, Ozawa’s tempi for all ten movements are consistently fractionally slower than their modern counterpart by an average of 30 seconds. The analog sound of the era and the rich acoustic of the Massey Hall venue lend a welcome warmth to the sound – the bass register projects wonderfully. Our modern Roy Thomson Hall is comparatively weak at those frequencies but provides greater clarity for the often dense orchestral textures. This is especially notable in Gimeno’s superbly performed fifth movement whose complicated rhythms are dispatched at a blistering pace that would have been a severe technical challenge for the musicians of the 1960s. Kudos as well to the precision of the expanded percussion section, a sterling example of what a hotbed of the percussive arts Toronto has become. It is also important to note that the performance is that of the revised orchestration of the work that Messiaen issued in 1990. The 2023 recording is mostly sourced from live performances and a patching session without, as far as I can tell, any digital jiggerypokery from the Harmonia Mundi engineers. The Ozawa performance (originally released on vinyl in 1968) was recorded under the supervision of Messiaen himself with Yvonne Loriod as piano soloist and her sister Jeanne Loriod playing the ondes Martenot. It was remastered for a Japanese CD release in 2004 on the RCA Red Seal label and is also available on a 2016 compilation disc from Sony (88875192952). Both TSO recordings are essential components in the discography of this seminal masterpiece of the 20th century. Daniel Foley Recurrence ICOT Chamber Orchestra Leaf Music LM256 (leaf-music.ca) ! The ICOT Chamber Orchestra was founded by five Torontobased composers and musicians of Iranian descent who set out to produce concerts that musically bridge Canadian and Iranian culture. Over the last 13 years it has produced operas, ballets and works for orchestra, chamber ensemble and voice. ICOT’s newest release Recurrence explores the many nuances of the notion of musical repetition through new compositions by Canadian composers Jordan Nobles, Nicole Lizée, Keyan Emami, Maziar Heidari and Saman Shahi. For this project ICOT consisted of strings (New Orford String Quartet), flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, upright and electric bass, piano and two percussionists. A notion such as repetition is an intriguing theme for a series of compositions – one which each of the composers decided to make their own via real-world lenses. Ecology, geological processes, social (in)justice, mathematics and fashion design were all themes harnessed. Two approaches caught my attention. Lizée cites visionary fashion designer Alexander McQueen as a direct inspiration for her Blissphemy. It reflects his work’s embrace of beauty in unexpected places and reach for artistic risks – much like the composer herself. Emami’s Kian in Rainbows is a moving musical memorial to those who died in 2022 in Iran, shot by government security forces during the crackdown on the Mahsa Amini protests. The nine-year old Kian Pirfalak was one of the victims, his memory evoking the innocence and fleeting beauty of childhood. Another sad inspiration for Kian in Rainbows: the sudden death last year of Canadian composer Jocelyn Morlock at 53. Andrew Timar Primavera IV the heart Matt Haimowitz PentaTone Oxingale Series (theprimaveraproject.com) ! I was excited to find that the new Matt Haimovitz album The Primavera Project is based on a collaboration between two great works of art and 81 contemporary composers. The dynamic and athletic cellist’s latest release is number four in a cycle of six CDs; with his vast experience in contemporary and classical music, the cellist makes this major undertaking look easy. The two visual works in the spotlight are Botticelli’s Renaissance Primavera (c.1480) and contemporary artist Charline von Heyl’s triptych Primavera (2020). You could just dive into the CD with no reference at all, but I would recommend starting with the website accompaniment which displays the von Heyl painting and the accompanying map of the corresponding musical chapters: The Wind, The Rabbits, The Vessel and now the fourth in the collection, The Heart. Seeds of inspiration are sprinkled on von Heyl’s painting as live hyperlinks, which then open to each playlist. A stark contrast to the Botticelli version, Von Heyl notes “Kitsch is not ironic the way I use it. Kitsch, for me, means a raw emotion that is accessible to everybody, not just somebody who knows about art. That’s where kitsch comes from to begin with: it was basically art for the people.” (evenmagazine.com/ charline-von-heyl) Haimovitz tears into every nuance of colour from the compositions, and our journey takes on many of this decade’s greatest composers and musical storytellers. Each track references a particular motif notated in either painting. Justine Chen’s playful Iridescent Gest and Nina C. Young’s pentimento for solo cello and electronics are standouts, as are Tyshawn Sorey’s edgy and cinematic Three Graces and Canadian Vincent Ho’s jazzinspired Blindfolded Cupid (which Haimovitz pulls off as if he wrote it). The album closes with Gordon Getty’s richly melodic miniature-sonata Winter Song. Explore the website dedicated to the project. The creative and beautiful videos include visuals of von Heyl’s work on YouTube; they bring the artwork to life, anchoring the disc within the scope of the project. Haimovitz plays with an energetic and powerful core, and a dedication to each composition that only his stunning skills could match. Cheryl Ockrant Jean Derome – La chaleur de la pensee Various Artists (including Ensemble SuperMusique) ambiences magnetiques AM 276 CD (actuellecd.com/en/accueil) ! I looked at some images from the great early surrealist artist Francisco Goya while listening to the new release of quasi-improvisatory pieces by Jean Derome. Somehow the one activity made the other more terrifying. It’s hard to express praise or admiration for this composer’s output, but the effectiveness of his creativity is undeniable. This is high-concept and/or/but high-quality artistic material. Derome provides a visual reference to Onze Super (petit) Totems: pictures of his own somewhat crude sculptures; protections, per the liner notes, against various evils. A through-composed sectional work, the totems are distinct sonic explorations, with one or two segues. The first one is full of mad birdsong alternating between chaotic twittering chirps and sustained chords of close treble voices, punctuated by deep huffing yells that spur the switching between those textures. The Tombeau de Marin Mersenne provides relief of a kind. Three movements (Tombeau, Rigaudon, Galope), materially determined by the arcane formulae of a16th century mathematician. At first blush they just seem a bit mechanical and dispassionate. Perhaps that’s the point. I’m not sure how flattered I’d be by this Tombeau if I were the ghost of Mersenne, but Derome has a fascination with the crossover of music and math. The inaptly titled Galope hobbles from slightly up-tempo to the near opposite, like a click track disturbed by the percussive interjections to continuous running hemi- or semi-quavers in the piano. The title track features improvisatory thewholenote.com April & May 2024 | 69