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Volume 9 Issue 2 - October 2003

  • Text
  • Toronto
  • October
  • Jazz
  • Theatre
  • November
  • Choir
  • Musical
  • Orchestra
  • Concerts
  • Symphony

"The finest brass band

"The finest brass band on the continent~' North American Record Guide S U B S C R I B E T 0 DA v ··! 2003/2004 Season Celebration 1983-2003 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2003, 3 P.M. JANE MALLETI THEATRE Euphoria SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2003, 3 P.M. JANE MALLETI THEATRE The Great Toronto Carol Si.ng TUESDAY, DEC. 16, 2003, 8 P.M. ST. JAMES~ CATHEDRAL Pageantry & Proc~ssions SUNDAY, MARCH 14, 2004, 3 P.M. JANE MALLETI THEATRE Celtic In Brass SUNDAY, APRIL 25, 2004, 3 P.M. JANE MALLETI THEATRE ·virtuoso Brass SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2004, 3 P.M. JANE MALLETI THEATRE 4/5/6 C:~ncert packa~es Special rates for students and seniors Call the St. Lawrence· Centre Box Office 416-366-7723 or 1-800-708-6754. · ' . The Hannaford Street Silver Band ·is gr~tefu l for the assistance received from its corporate and its many individual donors, and from the following: Y.;imaha Canada Music ltd. www.hannafordband.com .1m - Long & McQuade Musical lnstuments Deloltte &Touche [ re. M tlh5£caL Dlat131 ] by Colin Eatock September 16, 2003: One of the peculiar side-effects of being a music critic is that you end up with a CD collection full of recordings that you didn't choose to own. Record companies and publicists bombard you with free compact discs, in the hopes that you will write something nice about 'them (or, at least, write something abou~ them). And so a few times a year I survey the-constantly growing pile of CDs in my living-room with an eye to culling the herd. I select a few I'm not likely to listen to again, and head for a used record store. · ' That's what I did today, arriving late in the afternoon at Secorid Vinyl, a modest little shop near the comer of Queen and McCaul. The proprietor, Dino Wong, doesn't always buy everything I bring him, and he checks my half-dozen discs with an expert eye. As he examines my CDs, it occurs to me that the owner of Second Vinyl might have a privileged perspective on Toronto's classical music tastes. ·"So how's business?" I ask. "The classical market is pretty small," he replies, explaining that his shop is essentially a hobby. "People come in and buy one or two things at a time - you won't make a million in this business!" He's been buying and selling for 1:? years now - but he denies· any deep knowledge ofthe city's interests in classical music. This is · because he's iri the used CD business. "People come in and ask if we have this or that. Ifwe have it, we have it - and if we don't, we don't," he replies w\th a shrug. "I can't order things for people." I leave his store richer, but still wondering what the local CD market says about classical music in Toronto. / September 19, 2003: In search of answers, I visit L 'Atelier Grigorian, an upscale store in Yorkville that's been selling mostly classical and jazz recordings for about two deeaqes. There I meet with Harmik Grigorian .. He has plenty to say about this city's musical tastes - and some of what he says surprises me. "There are a lot of CD collectors in Toronto - 'and many young people who buy serious classical music," he says. "Most classical-music collectors have the basics, like Bach; Brahms and Mozart. Now they're very interested in modem music. There's a big interest in Arvo Part's music - also Schnittke, Bryars, Crumb and Cage. People like it because it's great-music." He goes on to observe that early music (especially baroque) on period instruments is also a big seller. As for the standard repertoire, "Beethoven, Br,ahms, Chopin and Mahler are still strong. Twenty years ago nobody was listening to Bruckner - but now everybody wants his symphonies. Shostakovich is very much respected. In this.store, Mozart and Bach probably have the highest sales." · And what record labels are doing well? "It's very expensive to record the Berlin Philharmonic, and sometimes these big orchestras don't sell. So there aren't as many releases from the big companies as there used to be. But the independent labels are going strong: Chandos, Hyperioi:i and Harmonia Mundi." CBC discs have a respectable turnover in Grigorian's store - but he points out that there's still some prejudice in Toronto against Canadian artists. "Sometimes people will see Mozart overtures conducted by Mario Bernardi, but they will buy a recording by Colin Davis instead." ijis generally optimistic words stand in stark contrast to the doom-and-gloom stories about the recording industry that often appear in the press. While it's true that there aren't as many classical record shops in Toronto as there used to be, it seems that classical music is thriving chez Grigorian. Who would have thought that there was money to be made from selling Arvo Piirt? , - One. final revelation surprises me: over the years he's been in busines&, Grigorian has seen an increase in the number of women who purchase CDs. Apparently, once upon a time, reeordings were a predominantly male interest. "Now," says Grigorian with a smile, "I have a lot ofladies." Colin Eatock is a composer and writer in Toronto who contributes to the Globe and Mail and other publications. His T. 0 . Musical Diary is a regular monthly feature ofThe WholeNote. 12 www.thewholenote.com Oct ~be r 1 - November 7 2003

Between 1941-1944 over 15,000 children were numbered amongst thousands of Jews who were held captive by the Nazis, in the ghetto of Terezin,a small town northwest of Prague, in Czechoslovakia. Most of those in Terezin were transporied to the death camps and executed. Composed by Ruth Fazal, Oratorio Terezin is set ·in the context of the Holocaust, using some of the children's poetry that was written during their time in Terezin, woven together with the Hebrew scriptures. MUSICAL INSTRUMENT EXPERTS, MAKERS AND DEALERS SINCE 1890 Visit our newly expanded Bloor Street location for even greater selection of the world's great Pianos, Fine String Instruments, Print)vfusic and Children's Music Specialties Rem house of en y mus 1 c 210 BLOOR ST. WEST 416.961.3111 (just W. of Avenue Rd., City Parking in Rear) www.remenyi.com October 1 - November 7 2003 -....vt,,. wwwJhewholenote.com 1

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