Volume 30 Issue 4 | December 2024 & January 2025

intrinsic to life. As

intrinsic to life. As living beings on this planet, it is one of our mostimportant resources that requires our full respect and protection.”Amen to that.Elsewhere in these pages you will findreviews of guitar-centric discs featuring“classical” composers Graham Flett and TimBrady, and jazz guitarists Jocelyn Gould andthe late Emily Remler. Each of those discsshowcases, primarily, one style of music,albeit there is quite a range in each of thepresentations. The next disc also focuses onguitar, but in this case it appears in manyforms and contexts. ADJACENCE – newchamber works for guitar (new focus recordings FCR 423 danlippelguitar.bandcamp.com/album/adjacence)features the talents of DanLippel on traditional and microtonal classical guitars, electric guitarand electric bass in a variety of ensembles and settings.The 2CD set features the work of a dozen living composers andincludes pieces by the late Mario Davidovsky (Cantione Sine Textu forwordless soprano, clarinet/bass clarinet, flutes, guitar and bass) andCharles Wuorinen (Electric Quartet performed by Bodies Electric inwhich Lippel is joined by electric guitarists Oren Fader, John Changand William Anderson). There are works for solo guitar, multi-trackedguitars, an unusual string trio comprised of guitar, viola and hammerdulcimer, a variety of duets such as piccolo and guitar and percussionand guitar, and a number of quartets of varied instrumentation.One of my favourites is Tyshawn Sorey's homage to a Seattle-basedpianist/composer. Titled Ode to Gust Burns it is an extended workscored for bassoon, guitar, piano and percussion, with the bassoonadding a particularly expressive note to the tribute. Another is Lippel’sown Utopian Prelude that opens the set, on which he plays both electricguitar and a micro-tonally tuned acoustic instrument. Ken Ueno’sGhost Flowers is another extended work, composed for the unusualtrio mentioned above. It begins with eerie string rubbing sounds fromthe guitar before droning viola and percussive dulcimer join the mix.The next ten minutes get busier and busier with overlapping texturesand rhythms before subsiding gradually into gentle harmonics.Peter Adriaansz’s Serenades II to IV (No.23) for electric guitar andelectric bass ends the first disc, with Lippel playing both parts. SidneyMarquez Boquiren’s Five Prayers of Hope is performed by counter)induction, a quartet consisting of violin, viola, guitar and piano. Thehaunting opening prayer Beacon is juxtaposed with a variety ofmoods in the subsequent Bridges, Silence Breakers, Sanctuary andHome. The second disc ends with Dystopian Reprise which Lippeldescribes as “a fusion-inspired improvisation using the final minutesof Adriaansz’s Serenade IV as a canvas.” Throughout the more thantwo hours of Adjacence Lippel and his colleagues kept me enthralledwith the breadth and range of an instrument it is all too easy to takefor granted.In closing I will mention one guilty pleasureof the past month. Although I certainlydidn’t need another recording of OlivierMessiaen’s mammoth symphonic work,as it is one of favourites I was pleased toadd Messiaen – Turangalîla Symphony(Deutsche Grammophon deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/messiaen-turangalla-nelsons-13655)to my collection. Featuring Yuja Wang, Cécile Lartigau and theBoston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Andris Nelsons,the recording offers all the excitement, scintillating effects anddynamic range that this exhilarating work requires. Another one forthe ages!We invite submissions. CDs and DVDs should be sent to: DISCoveries,The WholeNote c/o Music Alive, The Centre for Social Innovation,720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S 2R4. Comments and digitalreleases are welcome at discoveries@thewholenote.com.STRINGSATTACHEDTERRY ROBBINSBaroque violinist Marie Nadeau-Tremblayadmits to having an obsessive personalityand to having crafted her new albumObsession with that in mind. She issupported by Mélisande Corriveau on violada gamba, Eric Milnes on harpsichord andorgan, and Kerry Bursey on lute (ATMAClassique ACD2 2825 atmaclassique.com/en/product/obsession).Nadeau-Tremblay notes that obsessivecharacteristics are present in each of the works here – as themes andvariations, repeated ground bass lines or returning rondo themes –with the album consisting entirely of minor key pieces adding to thefeeling of being stuck in an obsessive loop.An engrossing recital of predominantly late 17th-century worksincludes two by Biber – his Sonata No.2 in D Minor, C139 and RosarySonata No.1 in D Minor, “Annunciation” – two by Buxtehude – hisTrio Sonata in A Minor, BuxWV272 and Trio Sonata in G Minor,BuxWV261 – Michel Farinel’s Faronells Division Upon a Ground (LaFolia) and François Francœur’s Sonata for Violin and Continuo in GMinor, Op.2 No.6.Bursey is the tenor soloist in the lovely, anonymous Une jeunefillette, and Nadeau-Tremblay is terrific in Louis-Robert Guillemain’sextremely difficult Amusement for violin solo, Op.18 No.1 “LaFurstemberg” from 1755.Nadeau-Tremblay plays with outstanding clarity and beauty, herflawless technical facility married to an innate and sensitive musicianshipin a superb release.One – New Music for UnaccompaniedViolin, a collection of world premiererecordings, is violinist Patrick Yim’s thirdalbum of solo violin music and featuressix works commissioned between 2020and 2023 (New Focus Recordings FCR411newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/patrick-yim-one-new-music-for-unaccompanied-violin).Ilari Kaila’s high-energy moto perpetuoSolitude opens the disc. Juri Soo’s title track One is a cycle of 12widely-varied vignettes representing the months of the year. All fouropening works on the CD were written during the pandemic lockdown,Takuma Itoh’s A Melody from an Unknown Place and PállRagnar Pálsson’s Hermitage are both meditations on the lonelinessand spirituality of the isolation. Matthew Schreibeis’ FragileRemembrance and John Liberatore’s Strange, High Sky are both from2023, the former essentially an ABA arc and the latter inspired by LuSun’s Wild Grass stories.“Yim plays with virtuosity and powerful expression,” says therelease blurb in a perfect assessment.52 | February & March 2025 thewholenote.com

On the digital release Viola Fantasiesviolist Mischa Galaganov presents the 12Fantasies for Bass Viol (1735) by GeorgPhilip Telemann, the first recording on violaof the only known solo works from a majorBaroque composer to almost ideally complementthe modern viola’s range and tonalcharacteristics (Navona NV6692 navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6692).Galaganov uses gut strings andmodern tunings in his own arrangements of the works, with suchissues as dynamics, tempi and ornamentation being determinedby his research, experience and instincts. If you are familiar withTelemann’s12 Fantasies for Solo Violin then you will know what toexpect here: a set of short, inventive works, mostly of three brief andcontrasting movements, that require a great deal more technical skillthan you might imagine given the deceptively easy flow of the music.Galaganov is superb throughout a fascinating recital, with the twoVivaces and the Presto in the four-movement Fantasie No.2 particularstandouts.The release publicity referred to these works as “soon-to-be violastandards,” and it’s easy to see – and hear – why.Violinist Francesca Dego completes hercelebration of Ferruccio Busoni’s centenaryyear with Busoni Violin Sonatas & FourBagatelles, accompanied by her regularrecital pianist Francesca Leonardi (ChandosCHAN 20304 chandos.net/products/reviews/CHAN_20304).The two sonatas, No.1 Op.29 K234 andNo.2 Op.36a K244 are both in E minorand reflect the composer’s grounding inthe German Romantic tradition. The first, from 1890 is close to theBrahms D minor sonata in feel, while the second, from 1900 is amore complex work centred on a chorale from the Anna MagdalenaNotebook and feeling like a single-movement arc, its ten mostly shortsections played without a break.The Four Bagatelles Op.28 K229 from 1888 that end the disc arebrief – only just over six minutes in total – early works written forthe 7-year-old child prodigy Egon Petri, who would later become aBusoni student.As always, Dego plays with warmth and style, sensitively supportedby Leonardi.Inspired by her research project “Latvian Classical Violin Music inTransition, c.1980-2000” the Australia-based Latvian violinist SophiaKirsanova presents world premiere recordings of stylistically diverseworks for violin by Latvian composers on The Morning Mist, a musicalWhat we're listening to this month:reflection on a significant period that sawthe collapse of the Soviet Union and Latviaregaining its independence (SKANI LMIC167sophiakirsanova.com).Three works represent music of today’sLatvia: Ēriks Ešenvalds’ title track, withpianist Agnese Eglina; Linda Leimane’sArchitectonics of a Crystal Soul, with theSyzygy Ensemble; and Platon Buravicky’sAngel’s Gaze, with pianist Georgina Lewis.Amir Farid is the pianist for Pēteris Vasks’ Little Summer Music, a setof five brief but delightful pieces, but the highlight here is AivarsKalējs’ monumental Toccata for Solo Violin Op.40, a striking work,heavily influenced by Bach, that draws particularly outstandingplaying from Kirsanova, who handles a variety of styles and techniqueswith ease and musical intelligence throughout the CD.James Ehnes switches to viola onEhnes & Armstrong Play Brahms &Schumann, accompanied by his regularrecital partner Andrew Armstrong –and it’s not just any viola, but the 1696“Archinto” Stradivarius viola on loanfrom the Royal Academy of Music (OnyxONYX4256 onyxclassics.com/release/ehnes-armstrong-play-brahms-schumann-brahms-sonatas-op-120-weigenliedschumann-marchenbilder).The Schumann work that opens the disc is the Märchenbilder(Fairy-Tale Pictures) Op.113, a group of four pieces written in amere few days in March 1851. They create a sense of fantasy ratherthan depicting specific scenes, and are full of strong rhythmic andmelodic contrast.Brahms had advised his publisher that he was considering retirementwhen he encountered the exceptional playing of clarinetistRichard Mühlfeld, the four works he wrote for him – the Clarinet TrioOp.114, the Clarinet Quintet Op.115 and the two Clarinet SonatasOp.120 – being the last chamber compositions of Brahms’ career. It’sthe latter works that are featured here: the Sonata in F Minor Op.120No.1 and the Sonata in E Major Op.120 No.2, both in the arrangementsmade by the composer. His Wiegenlied Op.49 No.4 – the well-knownBrahms Lullaby – completes the recital.The playing is all that you would expect: warm, expressive perfectionfrom Ehnes and sensitive, resonant support from Armstrong.Encircling, the new CD from violist Daphne Gerling and pianistTomoko Kashiwagi, features music by the English violist andcomposer Rebecca Clarke and three of her female contemporaries.It was inspired by Gerling’s doctoral research that celebratedthewholenote.com/listeningencirclingDaphne Gerling, violaTomoko Kashiwagi, pianoA rich strand by French and Britishwomen long overdue thoroughexploration. "Outstandingambassadors, finely recorded,and the booklet is first class".MusicWeb InternationalLearn To Wait:Britten, Asheim & LigetiOslo String QuartetOSQ, one of Scandinavia's mostrenowned chamber ensembles,showcases their virtuosity ona new album that spans bothtradition and modernity.The Mata Hari SongbookPatricia O'Callaghan& John BurgeSoprano Patricia O'Callaghanstars in this two-act, cabaret-stylemusical that brings to life theremarkable story of exotic dancerand courtesan Mata Hari.Poetry ProjectD.D.JacksonJazz ambitiously set to poetry insong by the multi-Emmy & Junowinningpianist/composer - “A trueCanadian classic.” “[Five stars outof 5]” - The Free Pressthewholenote.com February & March 2025 | 53