DISCOVERIES | RECORDINGS
DISCOVERIES | RECORDINGS REVIEWED Editor's Corner has gone fishing! DAVID OLDS DISCoveries IS AWOL (absent with leave, that is), but for fans of our recordings review section, I’d like to emphasize that its disappearance from this spot is only a temporary phenomenon as we get caught up on the haul of discs and digital releases we have netted over the summer. DISCoveries will reappear in our October/November issue, right here in its usual place. String quartets plus The following is just one cluster of the dozens of titles we are considering for Volume 32 No. 2. I was intrigued by the different aspects of the string quartet represented when I looked at the discs on offer: Terry Riley’s The Holy Liftoff features American flutist Clare Chase with the JACK quartet in Samuel Clay Birmaher’s realization of a work based on a book of sketches Riley began in 2022. Icelandic clarinetist Rúnar Óskarsson is joined by the Siggi String Quartet (among others) to perform Johannes Brahms’ Complete Clarinet Works. Canadian Nicole Lizée’s Zonely Hearts is a collection of multi-media works created in collaboration with the Kronos Quartet (CD and DVD included on the Centrediscs release). The Penderecki String Quartet joins Toronto jazz pianist Brian Dickinson on his disc October Songs which also features saxophonist Kelly Jefferson and bassist Jim Vivian. And in a more traditional vein, columnist Terry Robbins is considering an archival reissue of music by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven by the Fine Arts Quartet for his Strings Attached column, along with new discs by the Lydian, Friction and Terra string quartets. And this just scratches the surface of the new arrivals which have accumulated in the past three months … Stay tuned for more! And while I have your attention, I’d like to take this opportunity to make amends to composer Mark Abel, whose chamber release 4.2.2 was reviewed in our Summer issue. First, one factual correction: Mr. Abel was born in 1948, not 1949. Second, our reviewer was seemingly unaware of the extent of Abel’s repertoire across a range of larger forms, including the three-act opera Home is a Harbor, released on Delos in 2016 and currently available on Apple Music. 4.2.2, a collection of recent chamber works, is Abel’s sixth Delos album following several independent releases. If you are reading this online, you can listen to three tracks from the album here, or if in print, you can find your way to our Listening Room at thewholenote. com by following the links provided at the foot of this page. See you next month! David Olds can be reached at discoveries@thewholenote.com For your listening pleasure The WholeNote Listening Room Enjoy listening to a selection of recordings we've reviewed by browsing through the carousel of album covers. Or browse the entire list of Listening Room titles, dating back to 2014! Listen Watch Videos Click to Buy Toronto guitarist David Occhipinti is joined by violinist Aline Homzy, violist Steven Dann and cellist Maria Zachariadou for a slightly different string quartet configuration on his newest disc Looking Glass, which also features guest spots from percussionist Beverley Johnston and singers Alex Hetherington and Charlotte Mundy. thewholenote.com/listening 30 | September 2026 thewholenote.com
Molly Johnson, humanitarian continued from page 7 The simplest solution would have been to pay the artists as well, but with activist June Callwood at her side and Denise Donlon riding administrative shotgun, she took a novel approach. “I decided let’s create something where everything’s donated. Every. Single. Thing. So when our artists walk out on the stage they’re not the only ones giving up their royalties for a couple of days - like Rush did, like Tom Cochrane did, big big Canadian acts, you name them. They all wrote it off, and I felt really comfortable asking them because EVERYTHING was donated, even the venue, the insurance … It’s a great way to ask an artist to do something for nothing, because everyone’s doing something for nothing.” It would be tempting to describe the Kumbaya years as some kind of epiphany - a change of direction. Not at all, she says. “Philanthropy is in my DNA,” she is quoted as saying in the GG Award Citation. “Both my parents [Black Trinidadian-born father and white Canadianborn mother] were activists. Whenever possible, however small your powers are, you use them for good.” 26-27 SEASON Subscribe & save up to 40% All concerts take place at the JANE MALLETT THEATRE St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E, Toronto ON Extraordinary Chamber Music Experiences Roman Borys Artistic and Executive Director From Kumbaya to KMJF: it would be equally simplistic to see her path from Kumbaya to KMJF as some kind of philanthropic full circle. Better would be to see it as some kind of Mobius loop - an inversion. Instead of musicians, and everyone else, working for free, KMJF turns that notion inside out, functioning from day one on the principle that every penny at the door in any venue goes to the musicians playing that particular set. Given the significantly different capacity of the venues, it’s not a foolproof formula. Figuring out how to tweak it, out of the limelight, is the kind of KMJF work, behind the scenes, that Molly Johnson thrives on. Kumbaya capitalized on her ability to harness all the Canadian musicians in her musical rolodex to a life and death community cause. KMJF is the obverse: Kensington Market as a vibrant and resilient community doesn’t need to be the cause being supported. It is therefore ideally suited for nesting a festival where the musicians can be the beneficiaries. Kumbaya asked musicians to play real good for free. KMJF is about moving beyond the assumption that musicians should play for free just because they are doing what they love. So, on further reflection, this “back room” cover photo does just fine. It’s from a photo shoot by Chris Nicholls for the Talk to Me recording - another Molly Johnson “pay it forward” project for Canadian artists, among them her “beloved trio” - pianist Robi Botos, drummer Davide Direnzo and bassist Mike Downes. All three have been regulars at KMJF over the years, always with their own projects and priorities, and will be back again this year. The “Cameron House Records” T-shirt is a nice extra touch too, harkening back to the Queen West days, during which Molly Johnson as a creative artist came of age. Coda: Ed Mirvish’s “best advice I ever received” to five year old Molly Johnson was twofold: “Always look up and sing to the cheap seats. Those are the people who really love ya.” And “When they say your name, always count to five before you walk out on stage. Make people wait a little for you.” Unless of course it’s the KMJF performing spotlight you’re waiting for Molly to enter, because, as she says “It ain’t going to happen.” Last word to Molly, from her conversation with Denise Donlon: “I started the Kensington Jazz festival to support my many musical friends in the jazz genre. I wanted to build connection between artists and audience. It’s a wonderful festival, kind of crazy and kind of wild and really beautiful. At the end of the day, what I really love to do I still get to do. I get together with people I really like and I create music. That’s not a bad thing to be doing. If I can make somebody happy, or change somebody’s mood with this music, well that’s great.” David Perlman can be reached at publisher@thewholenote.com Pablo Ferrández 2026 Thu, Oct 8 7:30 pm Thu, Oct 22 7:30 pm Tue, Nov 3 7:30 pm *6:30 pm Pablo Ferrández cello Quatuor Danel Dinuk Wijeratne piano with the Canadian Chamber Orchestra *Pre-Concert talk: Jamie Parker Sun, Nov 15 4:00 pm What Makes It Great? ® — Mendelssohn Octet Tue, Nov 24 7:30 pm *6:30 pm Thu, Dec 10 7:30 pm Illia Ovcharenko piano *COSE Pre-Concert: Roan Ma violin Gryphon Trio with James Campbell clarinet 2027 Sun, Jan 17 4:00 pm What Makes It Great? ® — Beethoven Appassionata Sonata Thu, Feb 11 7:30 pm Tue, Feb 23 7:30 pm Tue, Mar 16 7:30 pm *6:30 pm Thu, Mar 25 7:30 pm *6:30 pm Sun, Apr 18 4:00 pm Thu, May 6 7:30 pm Esmé Quartet Esmé Quartet Duo Concertante with Dior Quartet Danny Driver piano *Pre-Concert talk: Jamie Parker Escher String Quartet *COSE Pre-Concert UofT chamber musicians Mayrig (Mother) with Karen Ouzounian cello Lembit Beecher piano New Orford String Quartet music-toronto.com thewholenote.com September 2026 | 31
