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Volume 6 Issue 6 - March 2001

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· •:• CONCERT Nons

· •:• CONCERT Nons •:• HEAR & Now (NEw Music) New Music by Paul Steenhuisen g~nerated probability calculations into rigorous, primal-sounding music. Stochastics were a method of concentrating thought on a target, a matter of controlling chance. For Xenakis, the limitations ·he applied engaged his creativity and~ paradoxically, liberated his sonic imagination. Xenakis' death inspired me to. think again about composi- . tional constraints, first in relation to their unprecedented manifestation in his work, and then more g~nerally - constraints and Charles Wuorinen a prominent Amercian ' '· compbser being featured by New Music Concerts in a Xenakis portrait concert, is a composer Gentle Stranger whose work has been Prior to looking for\vard to this focussed and clarified through month's concerts, I need to pay a particularly refined tribute to a 20th century ren- compositional method. egade. Influenced by the After an extended illness, compositional techniques of Greek/French composer Iannis Arnold Schoenberg and the Xenakis passed away in Paris on late music of Igor Stravinsky, 4 February, 2001. As a young Wuorinen's oeuvre of more man, plucked near-dead from the than 200 piece_s,has developed streets of Athens by his father using tightly controlled during his. time as a freedom (serial) methods of organizing fighter in the Greek Resistance, · musical materiaI. Through Xenakis escaped to France under this methodological filter, his the pseudonym Konstantin music reveals a vast array of Kastrounis, leaving behind his other interests, including fractal family and a warrant for his geometry (Mandelbrot), Jiteraarrest and execution. Following / ture (Rushdie, Virgil), and music prominent architectural work in of the past (Mozart, Handel, Le Corbusier's atelier, Xenakis Purcell, Campion, etc.). (whose name means "gentle ' On Sunday, March 4, 8 pm, stranger") embarked on a prolific at the Glenn Gould Studio, New and groundbreaking Music Concerts will perform 3 compositional career, in which works by Wuorinen; the "Piece his knowledge of mathematics in Two Parts" (1960), by Stefan and science was integral to his . Wolpe, and Peter Liebe.rson's music. As the pioneer of "Free and Easy Wanderer" computer-assisted composition, (1998). Wuorinen's pieces Xenakis often employed include "Lepton",(1998), for "stochastic" techniques, painstak- piano, harp, and celeste, the in~l_y_ t~a~c_ri~in~ c?1!1J::~c:!'~~-·-----~---~--~ David Tamblyr. limitations, chosen and/or impo~ed. What I find. interesting is how the predetermined limitations affect a piece of music, challenging and revealing various facets of the composer's musical personality. · These sorts of defining decisions can be as simple as the duration of a piece, its instrumentation, function or setting, or on a deeper !eye!, such as focussing on ·specific compositional techniques, a method of composition, an aesthetic, or philosophy. Wuorinen "Trombone Trio" (1985), and · "The River of Light", a 17- minute work which comprises the third part of his Dante trilogy. Originally a commission for string orchestra and percussion from the New York City Ballet, New Music Concerts will present the chamber version of "The River of Light", scored for 13 players. Wuorinen's colleague James Avery will also be prominently featured, as conductor and pianist. Those wishing to learn more about his work can attend the pre-concert discussion with Charles Wuorinen; beginning at 7: 1,5 at the Glenn Gould Studio, or "The Music and Ideas of Charles Wuorinen", presented 10:00 a,m. on Friday, March 2, in Room M308 .ofthe Royal Conservatory ofMtisic. New Music · • for Young Musicians Just. as a specific technique or metliod of composition can free a composer's imagination in. unexpected ways, so too can writing music for a specific performer or setting , with the potential to draw out unheard or ., hidden facets of her/his compositional voice. As the coordinator of the Canadian Music Centre's "New Music for Young Musicians" project, I have had the privilege of being involved in commissi.oning 30 new works which are to be performed by young musicians at the beginner and intermediate lev.el. In most cases, this is J;>e the student's first experience sttidying and performing (premiering) the work of a living ·composer. For the composers, it's often the first time they are writing a work for young people. Sirice most of the time we write music for adult virtuosi, the. seemingly limiting factors of. musical difficulty and the perfornier's age can actually serve .to broaden the composer's expressi~e range. As listeners, we are able to hear these works within the context of the project, as well as with reference to the other music written by that composer, whiCh makes for a multi~layered ljstening process. On 18 March, at 7:30 p.m., in the Ettore Mazzoleni Concert Hall at the Royal ~VALLILLE' E ~ ·.I . Digital Imaging Solutions exquisite Bows t-landmade in the F~e n,c~ ]:'r,~~itip".', Preserving your historic manuscripts Vallillee Digital Imaging Solutions 1815 Ironstone Manor - Suite 14 Pickering, Ontario, L 1 W 3W9 Tele: 905.420.6786 Fax: 905.420.8199 EMail:bruce@vallilleee.com 16 wholenote MARCH 1, 2001'- APRIL 7, 2001

Conservatory of Music, the CMC and RCM will present a free concert of new pieces by Michael Pepa, Chris Paul Harman, Svetlana Maksirnovic, Ronald by Jim Galloway Royer, Alexander Weinstangel, John Burge, Udo Kasemets, John Beware the Weinzweig, Ann Southam, ideas of March William Beauvais, Alexander It's that time of year when I am Levkovich, and me. Each of the in the thick of booking the pieces will be performed by Downtown Jazz festival - that musicians studying at the RCM. time when I have enough The New Music for Young musicians hoping for spots in the Musicians Project is a millenium . festival to fill 20 of them. I listen initiative of the Canadian Music to CDs and tapes, watch vide.os Centre, and has resulted in the ancl spend hours on the telcommission,ing of more than 100 ephone. And all the while I am new works nationwide. In aware of how . few openings there cooperation with numerous are for so many performers. And educational pwn for his work with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and before that the "Tonight" Show orches- JAzz NOTES continues AUDITIONS Noel Edison will be auditioning professional singers for the Elora Festival Singers in Toronto ~ on April 2nd, 2001. To book an audition please call Jake Neely, manager at (519} 846-9694. MARCH 1, 2001 - APRIL 7, 2001 wholenote 17

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