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8 years ago

Volume 7 Issue 5 - February 2002

  • Text
  • Toronto
  • February
  • Theatre
  • Jazz
  • Symphony
  • Arts
  • Orchestra
  • Glenn
  • Musical
  • Faculty

Linda Catlin Smith

Linda Catlin Smith continued from page 16 reason I'm so attracted to Gregorian slow motion, but intimacy. I want chant, with its intimate melodic to bring it up very close, so that it meanderings. almost becomes your world. You , STEENHUISEN: Do you make any precompositimwl decisions? SMITH: Not really. Sometimes the preparation might be through listening to music with the same instrumentation. I don't really have a bag of compositional techniques that I use. For each work, I develop the techniques that the music requires, in order to get at what is inspiring me. I seek a particular sound, or texture, and I try to get further involved in it, to render (to use Copland's word) the "sonorous" image". I might experiment with varied repetition, trying things backwards and forwards, upside down, but it's intuitive, s.peculative, and non-methodical, definitely not a preplanned paint-by-numbers approach - it's about seeking the potential of the material. I want the mu~ic to be a meditative experience, as opposed to a narrative, rhetorical experience. I want to allow the state of the piece to continue to radiate, and expand itself, to allow . the substance to spread over the surface of time that we're in, in an' evolutionary way. To that end, I've always been fascinated by slow movements in music of the previous century. Part of it is· being able to hear everything, but I also love to expand time, to make it bi!!!!er than it normally is . It's not TRIBUTE TO GEORGE could stand on a beach and look at millions of pebbles, or you could bring one up very close and it's bigger than the ocean, with all of its subtlety and nuances and gradations. I'm only in the beginning stages of getting at that. STEENHUISEN: ls there a directly political yiew in your work? Are you reacting against something? SMITH: Not directly. It's more that I wanted to embrace the music that inspired me. Elaine Scarry (On Beauty and Being Just) quoted Wittgenstein_ as saying that when faced with something beautiful, one wants to replica~e it. That happened to me, and that was what got me started as a composer. I heard something beautiful, and wanted to make it myself, to continue it, to surround myself with it. But yes, making work is political, and I am interested in artists who go their own way, and are experimental, turning something on its head. There are huge political stakes involved, because the choices you make in art have impact on so many different things. For more information on Linda C Smith's music, visit http:// www.vex.net/rikscafe/LCSmith.html MEMORY FORMS is available from ARTIFACT MUSIC http:// · ww":'.interlog.com/-artifact/ ARRISON SHANTI RELEASE: Tribute CD titled SHAKTl-BHAKTl-MUKTI Ragas for Meditation & Soham Shakti Music for the Peace on Earth by Sitarist Shambhu Das, the man who taught Ex-Beetle George Harrison to play sitar & played sitar in his Wonderwalt album. London Fre.e P.ress: Theatre was turned into a FESTIVAL OF MUSIC temple by Sitarist Shambhu Das .. lncence burned OANCE MUSIC FUSION as Mr. Das sat m a half lotus position to play the ancient stringed instrument. MAY 2002 .Countertenor exfravaganza deaths of Bach and Handel through the romantic period. It's very important to add sympathetic literature for the voice because it enlarges the repertoire." Bowman has commissioned works from British composers like Geoffrey Burgan, which he has recorded on an EMI disc called Acquainted With Night. Taylor recently recorded a work for CBC by Canadian composer Christos Hatzis called Everlasting Light. Both Bowman and Taylor received their early musical educations as boy sopranos in church choirs, Bowman at Ely Cathedral in England, Taylor at St. Matthew's Church in Ottawa. Neither ever questioned his vocal identity. As they matured and their voices broke, they simply moved into the alto section. "If anyone had told me to sing baritone, I'd have told him to go get lost, " says Bowman wryly. continued from page ,8 James Palace in London as a Gentleman of Her Majesty's Chapel Royal, following in the exalted footsteps of his predecessors Purcell and Blow. Taylor, on the other hand, addresses the spiritual aspect of music by putting together a group of "likeminded musicians" called the Theatre of Early Music, which will be performing with Taylor and Bowman: "I want to reintroduce the idea of the sacred into concerts," he says. "I think a great function of music is to help heal people - it's not just for aesthetic enjoyment. A concert can have a greater purpose, but this so often is missing. We're trying to bring dramatic spectacle and a sense of occasion to what w«'re doing- that's why we call it theatre. I'm trying to address the human element: why people come to concerts and why the performers are there." In any case, Taylor promises us a memorable concert on March ~: Bowman maintains a prestigious 'Tm interested in giving people the ecclesiastical career. Every Sunday kind of experience that they are gohe sings in the Chapel Royal at St. ing to remember years from now." James Bowman and Daniel Taylor pelform duets and solo songs by Henry Purcell and John Blow at Bpm March 2 at the Trinity-St. Paul's Centre in Toronto. Concert presenter InnerMusica, which previously presented I! Giardino Annonico, and.fiddler Mark O'Connor, at Trinity-St Paul's is the entrepreneurial creation of music-lover (and, by profession, engineer) Trevor Moat. Daniel Taylor will also.be appearing as Tolomeo with the Canadian Opera Company !n Handel's Julius Caesar at the Hummingbird Centre in Toronto from April 6 to April 21. . MIKROKOSMOS 314 Churchill Ave Toronto, Ontario M2R 1 E7 Canada Tel: (1) 416-224- 1956 Fax: (1) 416-224-2964 www. mi krokosmos. com We buy your classical LP coll~ction (classical, such as Beethoven, Mozart, Stockhausen) we travel anywhere for good collection 44 www.thewholenote.com

DISCOVERIES THE WHOLENOTE'S CD FORUM DISCOVER/ES is a CD review section designed to complement and enhance our pre-eminent coverage of Toronto's live classical and new music concert scene, featuring reviews by WholeNote columnists and independent contributors. CDs are considered for review in the following five categories: 1. "Concert prep" - CDs, new or otherwise, which tie in with events being featured in the current issue of the magazine. Note that many . discs in the other categories also relate to upcoming events as noted; 2. New and Recent Releases - newly released CDs relevant to our ' magazine's coverage of the music scene; 3. "Worth repeating" - CDs newly re-issued, or previously released but still generally available, deemed particularly noteworthy by a member of our editorial panel; 4. "Indie list" - Small label and independent release CDs, often featuring individuals or groups active on the local music scene: 5. "Disc(s) of the month" - Discs of special interest, often with a particular connection to the month's concert activities. We think DISCOVERIES is a logical and exciting extension of The Whole Note 's -coverage of the Toronto music scene. We welcome your feedback and invite submissions. Catalogues, review copies of CDs and com111ents should be sent to: The WholeNote, 60 Bellevue Avenue, Toronto ON M5T 2N4. We also welcome your input via our website, www.thewholenote.com. David Olds, Editor, DISCOVERIES IN DISCOVERIES THIS ISSUE CONCERT PREP page 46 -Britten: three Suites for Violoncello Solor Peter Wispelwey -Britten: Cello Suites 1-3 Truis Mork -Britten: Cello Suites and Sonata, Mstislav Rostropovich -Joe Trio NEW AND RECENT RELEASES pages46-49 -Sanctuary, Jeff Reilly, bass clarinet; Peter Togni, organ; Chjristoph Both, cello -Russian Serenade, Martin Beaver, violin, K-W Symphony -Jslamey: 4 Russian composers, Vancouver S.O. ·-None But The Lonely Heart: Russian Romances, Joanne Kolomyjec, soprano, Janina Fialkowska, piano -From the Heart: Pat Labarbera & band -Chopin the Romantic: Piano Music Vol. 11, Alan Hobbins, Piano -Chopin on Violin: Catherine Manoukian, violin -Chopin Sonate, etc: Therese Motard, . Louise-Andree Baril, piano -Telemann Chamber Cantatas -French Music on Two Harpsichords -The Lord of the Rings INDEPENDENT & SMALL LABEL RELEASES pages 49-51 -Cycle de son · -The Absolute Faith Orch__estra -Music Works -Timothy Sullivan: Golden Fire, Linda Maguire, Kathleen Brett, Duo Turgeon -Humeurde Facteur -Ben and Teddy WORTH REPEATING pages 51-52 -Mr. Rigoletto (Quilico) -The #l BaroqueAlbum DISCS OFTHE MONTH page 52 , -Beethoven: Sonatas for Piano and Violin, Jane Coop, piano; Andrew Dawes, violin -Countertenor duets and solos by Henry Purcell and John Blow: James Bowman and Michael Chance, counter tenors February 1 -- March 7 2002 www.thewholenote.com

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