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Harold Hall Robinson 9 Une bouche aimée Beloved lips
An internationally acclaimed artist, Harold Hall Robinson is currently the principal Une bouche aimée a dit à mon coeur: Beloved lips said to my heart: contrabassist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Prior to this he spent ten seasons as principal “Viens, ô mon amour, ô toi, mon seul bonheur. “Come, O my love, O thou, my only joy. BOTTESINI bassist of the National Symphony Orchestra, eight seasons as associate principal of the Viens, ah! viens mon coeur, Come, ah, come, my heart, Houston Symphony Orchestra and three seasons as principal of the New Mexico Symphony ô toi, mon seul bonheur. O thou, my only joy. Orchestra. A prize-winner at the 1982 Isle of Man Solo competition, Harold Hall Robinson has Music for Double Bass and Piano • 2 performed concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony, Houston Adieu les tristes automnes. Farewell sad autumns, Symphony, New York Philharmonic, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, American Chamber Voici venir le printemps. Here comes the spring. Orchestra and the Greenville South Carolina Orchestra. In addition he is known for his La terre se couvre de fleurs, The earth is covered with flowers, Concerto No. 2 • Tutto che il mondo serra outstanding recitals and master classes throughout the United States. He is currently on the les rayons dorés ont tari ses pleurs. the golden rays have dried her tears. faculty of the Curtis Institute. Dans la feuille nouvelle In the new foliage Photo: Chris Lee chante la tourterelle. sings the turtle-dove. La sève des bourgeons entr’ouverts The sap of the half-opened buds Joel Quarrington, Double Bass James Campbell du parfum des bois des prés verts fills the air remplit les airs. with the scent of the woods and of the green meadows. Acclaimed by the Toronto Star as “Canada’s pre-eminent clarinetist and wind soloist”, James Andrew Burashko, Piano Campbell has performed solo and chamber music concerts in 25 countries, has been soloist with Mon cher amour, ma vie, My dear love, my life, over sixty orchestras, including the Boston Pops, the London Symphony, the Russian ah! viens, mon seul bonheur, Ah! Come, my only joy, Philharmonic, and the Montreal Symphony and has performed Copland’s Clarinet Concerto mon amour, mon bonheur.” my love, my joy.” five times with Aaron Copland conducting. He has appeared with over thirty string quartets, including the famous Amadeus Quartet when he replaced an ailing Benny Goodman for a tour Beloved lips said to my heart: of California. He has made over forty recordings, including the Debussy Rhapsody with Glenn Une bouche aimée a dit à mon coeur: “Viens, ô mon amour, ô toi, mon seul bonheur. “Come, O my love, O thou, my only joy.
Photo: Bruno Schrecker Gould, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, and the première recording of the Berio arrangement of Brahms’s F minor Sonata with the London Symphony. His recording of Viens, ah! viens mon coeur, Come, ah, come, my heart, Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet was chosen by the BBC and The Times in London as the best ô toi, mon seul bonheur, O thou, my only joy, available. He has been awarded a Juno (Canada’s Grammy), Canada’s Artist of the Year, the mon cher amour, ma vie. Viens mon coeur. my dear love, my life. Come my heart. Queen’s Jubilee Medal, and Canada’s highest honour, the Order of Canada. James Campbell has been Professor of Viens, ô mon seul bonheur, Come, O my only joy, Music at Indiana University since 1988 and Artistic Director of the Festival of the Sound since 1985. Viens.” Come.” 0 Tutto che il mondo serra All that the world holds Monica Whicher Tutto che il mondo serra di più caro per me da me All that the world holds that is dearest to me Monica Whicher has been heard with orchestras and opera companies in Germany, Spain, the s’invola, ah! is slipping away from me, ah! United Kingdom, Asia, the United States and Canada. Her concerts and recitals are broadcast Oggi per sempre ed ogni gaudio perdo e ogni speranza, Today I lose for ever all joy and all hope frequently by CBC radio, and her recordings of Bach, Schubert, Hatzis, Somers and Greer can Che l’amara terra dall’esilio feconda For my troubles serve only to feed be found on Marquis and other labels. Recent performances include the rôle of Dido in Esser non puote se non d’affanno. The bitter land of exile. Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, The Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and the Female Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. Her critically acclaimed performance of Mérope in Lully’s Persée can be seen on the EuroArts English translations by Keith Anderson DVD, and she appears as Telaïre on the Naxos recording of Rameau’s Castor et Pollux Photo: Michael de Sadlier (8.660118-19).
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Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889) the string at certain points, rather than pressing it to the The Duetto for two basses is probably the earliest Joel Quarrington Music for Double Bass and Piano • 2 fingerboard). Double stops and busy passagework, and most etude-like work on this disc, from a set of staple “tricks” of Dragonetti’s generation, are the three dedicated to Bottesini’s teacher, Luigi Rossi. The Reviewing Joel Quarrington’s début recital for the International Society of Bassists It was a curious twist of fate that produced the examples. He wrote about a dozen operas, from exception rather than the rule here. Concerto No. 2, sometimes referred to as in A minor, or Oklahoma City convention in June 2007, England’s Double Bassist magazine said, “his nineteenth century’s reigning double bass virtuoso. Cristoforo Colombo while resident in Havana in 1846-7, Not surprisingly, the best source for most of in B minor, for complicated reasons arising from old- performance was mesmerizing - his trademark bel canto playing style brought an When a lad of fourteen, Giovanni Bottesini had already to Vinciguerro il bandito which had a run of forty Bottesini’s works is Parma’s Conservatory library. fashioned tuning conventions, is a fully mature work, otherworldly quality to Bottesini’s Elegy in D…he demonstrated impeccable articulation, a greatly developed his musical talents, as a choirboy, a performances in Paris in 1870, and La regina di Nepal When he examined the holdings there, Joel Quarrington from the well proportioned, somewhat laconic first rich tonal palette, absolute control and crystalline clarity. A memorable night…” Reviews violinist, and a timpani player. His father sought a place for Turin in 1880. He also composed eleven string found fair copies in Bottesini’s hand; that is, not movement, through the simply singing second, to the such as this have confirmed his reputation as one of today’s leading double bassists. Born in for him in the Milan Conservatory, but found only two quartets, a genre scarcely noticed in nineteenth-century sketches or composition drafts, but final product, third, driven by a rhythmic figure typical of the Toronto, Joel Quarrington began playing the bass at the age of eleven and is a winner of the were available: for bassoon and for double bass. Double Italy, songs, some sacred music, and a few orchestral perhaps intended to be an authoritative or archival polonaise (and the Cuban bolero). Geneva International Competition. For over thirty years he has served as the Principal bass it was, then. He prepared a successful audition in a works. It was only his music for double bass, however, version. Of course, multiple authoritative versions often Other selections emphasize the essential vocality of Double Bassist of many ensembles, including the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto matter of weeks, and only four years later, a surprisingly and only some of that, that outlived him. exist: for example, a solo piece with accompaniment for Bottesini’s inspiration, most explicitly in the Bellini Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Joel Quarrington short time by the standards of the day, still a teenager, As a conductor and music director, Bottesini at one piano, or string quartet, or full orchestra. Since Bottesini Fantasia, but stylistically so in the pairings of bass, teaches at Montreal’s McGill University and in the summers, Mt. Orford Quebec, where his he left with a prize of 300 francs for solo playing. This time or another held major posts at theatres in London, spent most of his career as a touring virtuoso, sometimes always singing, now with clarinet, now with soprano. master-classes have attracted players from around the world. He has performed with many Photo: Fred Cattroll money financed the acquisition of an instrument by Paris, Palermo, Madrid, and Barcelona. Music history, travelling with a partner but even then often The anonymous texts are routine bourgeois expressions of the world’s leading string quartets and is a regular performer with the Pinchas Zukerman Carlo Testore, and a globe-trotting career as “the however, notices most that he conducted the première collaborating with local players as arranged by the of popular Romantic sentiment; but in the case of Tutto Chamber Players. In April 2005 he had the honour of playing the world première of John Harbison’s Concerto for Paganini of the Double Bass” was launched. performance of Aida in Cairo, to commemorate the concert promoter, it was important to be able to work che il mondo the music is very well known - Chopin’s Bass Viol with the Toronto Symphony and Hugh Wolf. He performs on an Italian bass made in 1630 by the Italian The anecdote should be read not just as a curious 1871 opening of the new Cairo opera house. Verdi had with varying resources. Those concerts were almost Etude Op. 25, No. 7. The Bach transcription is perfectly master, Santo Paolo Maggini. chapter in the biography of a prodigy, but also as early been a close friend since they met in Venice twenty always eclectic, “something for everyone”, like a straightforward. Can there be any instrument without a evidence of the extraordinary versatility that Bottesini years before, and nearly twenty years after Aida he television variety show of the 1950s, and by modern transcription of this piece? The Adagio melancolico exhibited for the rest of his life. He toured throughout nominated Bottesini as Director of the Parma standards, protracted affairs. An 1865 London concert projects that characteristic elegiac mood, demanding a Europe, Latin America, and the United States, Conservatory, his last post, which he assumed only a included a symphonic overture and scherzo, a flute virtuosity of feeling at least as much as of just impressing audiences with his musicality as much as he few months before his death in 1889. piece, a piano duet, a waltz, two arias, and the Duetto technique, that Bottesini perfected for many of his Andrew Burashko astounded them with technical mastery of a “cumbrous” Italian opera in the style of Donizetti and the for clarinet and bass recorded here and that was all stand-alone solo pieces. instrument. An English writer who heard his London younger Verdi is obviously the fundamental language of before the interval. Since his brilliant début with the Toronto Symphony at the age of seventeen under the baton début performance in 1849 recalled that “It was not only Bottesini’s instrumental works, and that means an Jeffrey L. Stokes of Sir Andrew Davis, Andrew Burashko has established himself as one of the most sought- marvellous as a tour de force, but the consummate skill exaltation of melody above all else. The elaborate after soloists in Canada. He has performed extensively around the world collaborating with of this great artist enabled him to produce a result chromatic harmony and motivic manipulation of a among others, conductors Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Pinchas Zukerman, Marin Alsop, Peter delightful even for the most fastidious musician to listen Wagner, the subtle and abstract formal structures of a Oundjian and Bramwell Tovey. Passionately dedicated to the music of our time as well as to.” Brahms, are not to be found. Rather, Bottesini’s music the great piano master-works of the past, Andrew Burashko has developed a reputation for
That innate musicality naturally opened toward two insists on relatively straightforward singing, sometimes Photo: John Launer versatility and brilliantly conceived programmes. He has given numerous Canadian and complementary paths, as a conductor and as a in a declamatory mode, but mostly in chains of regular, world premières, including the Canadian première of Schnittke’s Piano Concerto. His composer. It was of course expected that the lyrical phrases, only loosely related motivically, often musical dexterity and commitment to building a future audience for classical music brought instrumental virtuosi would compose works to dissolving into a mini-cadenza to close a section, him in 1998 to the artistic directorship of the Art of Time Ensemble, a chamber music showcase their personal prowess. For example, whereupon a fresh cycle commences. The first society comprised of the finest classical and jazz players on the Canadian scene. Andrew Dragonetti, the greatest bassist of the preceding challenge for a performer is to offer “purity of tone and Burashko is on the faculty of the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music generation, turned out dozens of somewhat mechanistic intonation, perfect taste in phrasing”, to borrow words in Toronto. pieces that tend to dazzle listeners more than to move used to describe the composer’s own playing. The most them; a genius composer-performer like Liszt, on the common virtuoso gesture is a rapid traverse of the other hand, could craft virtuoso pieces that transcend instrument’s whole range; and that range is greatly mere display, and indeed could transcend his own extended on the high side by an exploitation of instrument. Bottesini falls between such extreme harmonics (flute-like sounds produced by just touching
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Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889) the string at certain points, rather than pressing it to the The Duetto for two basses is probably the earliest Joel Quarrington Music for Double Bass and Piano • 2 fingerboard). Double stops and busy passagework, and most etude-like work on this disc, from a set of staple “tricks” of Dragonetti’s generation, are the three dedicated to Bottesini’s teacher, Luigi Rossi. The Reviewing Joel Quarrington’s début recital for the International Society of Bassists It was a curious twist of fate that produced the examples. He wrote about a dozen operas, from exception rather than the rule here. Concerto No. 2, sometimes referred to as in A minor, or Oklahoma City convention in June 2007, England’s Double Bassist magazine said, “his nineteenth century’s reigning double bass virtuoso. Cristoforo Colombo while resident in Havana in 1846-7, Not surprisingly, the best source for most of in B minor, for complicated reasons arising from old- performance was mesmerizing - his trademark bel canto playing style brought an When a lad of fourteen, Giovanni Bottesini had already to Vinciguerro il bandito which had a run of forty Bottesini’s works is Parma’s Conservatory library. fashioned tuning conventions, is a fully mature work, otherworldly quality to Bottesini’s Elegy in D…he demonstrated impeccable articulation, a greatly developed his musical talents, as a choirboy, a performances in Paris in 1870, and La regina di Nepal When he examined the holdings there, Joel Quarrington from the well proportioned, somewhat laconic first rich tonal palette, absolute control and crystalline clarity. A memorable night…” Reviews violinist, and a timpani player. His father sought a place for Turin in 1880. He also composed eleven string found fair copies in Bottesini’s hand; that is, not movement, through the simply singing second, to the such as this have confirmed his reputation as one of today’s leading double bassists. Born in for him in the Milan Conservatory, but found only two quartets, a genre scarcely noticed in nineteenth-century sketches or composition drafts, but final product, third, driven by a rhythmic figure typical of the Toronto, Joel Quarrington began playing the bass at the age of eleven and is a winner of the were available: for bassoon and for double bass. Double Italy, songs, some sacred music, and a few orchestral perhaps intended to be an authoritative or archival polonaise (and the Cuban bolero). Geneva International Competition. For over thirty years he has served as the Principal bass it was, then. He prepared a successful audition in a works. It was only his music for double bass, however, version. Of course, multiple authoritative versions often Other selections emphasize the essential vocality of Double Bassist of many ensembles, including the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto matter of weeks, and only four years later, a surprisingly and only some of that, that outlived him. exist: for example, a solo piece with accompaniment for Bottesini’s inspiration, most explicitly in the Bellini Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Joel Quarrington short time by the standards of the day, still a teenager, As a conductor and music director, Bottesini at one piano, or string quartet, or full orchestra. Since Bottesini Fantasia, but stylistically so in the pairings of bass, teaches at Montreal’s McGill University and in the summers, Mt. Orford Quebec, where his he left with a prize of 300 francs for solo playing. This time or another held major posts at theatres in London, spent most of his career as a touring virtuoso, sometimes always singing, now with clarinet, now with soprano. master-classes have attracted players from around the world. He has performed with many Photo: Fred Cattroll money financed the acquisition of an instrument by Paris, Palermo, Madrid, and Barcelona. Music history, travelling with a partner but even then often The anonymous texts are routine bourgeois expressions of the world’s leading string quartets and is a regular performer with the Pinchas Zukerman Carlo Testore, and a globe-trotting career as “the however, notices most that he conducted the première collaborating with local players as arranged by the of popular Romantic sentiment; but in the case of Tutto Chamber Players. In April 2005 he had the honour of playing the world première of John Harbison’s Concerto for Paganini of the Double Bass” was launched. performance of Aida in Cairo, to commemorate the concert promoter, it was important to be able to work che il mondo the music is very well known - Chopin’s Bass Viol with the Toronto Symphony and Hugh Wolf. He performs on an Italian bass made in 1630 by the Italian The anecdote should be read not just as a curious 1871 opening of the new Cairo opera house. Verdi had with varying resources. Those concerts were almost Etude Op. 25, No. 7. The Bach transcription is perfectly master, Santo Paolo Maggini. chapter in the biography of a prodigy, but also as early been a close friend since they met in Venice twenty always eclectic, “something for everyone”, like a straightforward. Can there be any instrument without a evidence of the extraordinary versatility that Bottesini years before, and nearly twenty years after Aida he television variety show of the 1950s, and by modern transcription of this piece? The Adagio melancolico exhibited for the rest of his life. He toured throughout nominated Bottesini as Director of the Parma standards, protracted affairs. An 1865 London concert projects that characteristic elegiac mood, demanding a Europe, Latin America, and the United States, Conservatory, his last post, which he assumed only a included a symphonic overture and scherzo, a flute virtuosity of feeling at least as much as of just impressing audiences with his musicality as much as he few months before his death in 1889. piece, a piano duet, a waltz, two arias, and the Duetto technique, that Bottesini perfected for many of his Andrew Burashko astounded them with technical mastery of a “cumbrous” Italian opera in the style of Donizetti and the for clarinet and bass recorded here and that was all stand-alone solo pieces. instrument. An English writer who heard his London younger Verdi is obviously the fundamental language of before the interval. Since his brilliant début with the Toronto Symphony at the age of seventeen under the baton début performance in 1849 recalled that “It was not only Bottesini’s instrumental works, and that means an Jeffrey L. Stokes of Sir Andrew Davis, Andrew Burashko has established himself as one of the most sought- marvellous as a tour de force, but the consummate skill exaltation of melody above all else. The elaborate after soloists in Canada. He has performed extensively around the world collaborating with of this great artist enabled him to produce a result chromatic harmony and motivic manipulation of a among others, conductors Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Pinchas Zukerman, Marin Alsop, Peter delightful even for the most fastidious musician to listen Wagner, the subtle and abstract formal structures of a Oundjian and Bramwell Tovey. Passionately dedicated to the music of our time as well as to.” Brahms, are not to be found. Rather, Bottesini’s music the great piano master-works of the past, Andrew Burashko has developed a reputation for
That innate musicality naturally opened toward two insists on relatively straightforward singing, sometimes Photo: John Launer versatility and brilliantly conceived programmes. He has given numerous Canadian and complementary paths, as a conductor and as a in a declamatory mode, but mostly in chains of regular, world premières, including the Canadian première of Schnittke’s Piano Concerto. His composer. It was of course expected that the lyrical phrases, only loosely related motivically, often musical dexterity and commitment to building a future audience for classical music brought instrumental virtuosi would compose works to dissolving into a mini-cadenza to close a section, him in 1998 to the artistic directorship of the Art of Time Ensemble, a chamber music showcase their personal prowess. For example, whereupon a fresh cycle commences. The first society comprised of the finest classical and jazz players on the Canadian scene. Andrew Dragonetti, the greatest bassist of the preceding challenge for a performer is to offer “purity of tone and Burashko is on the faculty of the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music generation, turned out dozens of somewhat mechanistic intonation, perfect taste in phrasing”, to borrow words in Toronto. pieces that tend to dazzle listeners more than to move used to describe the composer’s own playing. The most them; a genius composer-performer like Liszt, on the common virtuoso gesture is a rapid traverse of the other hand, could craft virtuoso pieces that transcend instrument’s whole range; and that range is greatly mere display, and indeed could transcend his own extended on the high side by an exploitation of instrument. Bottesini falls between such extreme harmonics (flute-like sounds produced by just touching
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Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889) the string at certain points, rather than pressing it to the The Duetto for two basses is probably the earliest Joel Quarrington Music for Double Bass and Piano • 2 fingerboard). Double stops and busy passagework, and most etude-like work on this disc, from a set of staple “tricks” of Dragonetti’s generation, are the three dedicated to Bottesini’s teacher, Luigi Rossi. The Reviewing Joel Quarrington’s début recital for the International Society of Bassists It was a curious twist of fate that produced the examples. He wrote about a dozen operas, from exception rather than the rule here. Concerto No. 2, sometimes referred to as in A minor, or Oklahoma City convention in June 2007, England’s Double Bassist magazine said, “his nineteenth century’s reigning double bass virtuoso. Cristoforo Colombo while resident in Havana in 1846-7, Not surprisingly, the best source for most of in B minor, for complicated reasons arising from old- performance was mesmerizing - his trademark bel canto playing style brought an When a lad of fourteen, Giovanni Bottesini had already to Vinciguerro il bandito which had a run of forty Bottesini’s works is Parma’s Conservatory library. fashioned tuning conventions, is a fully mature work, otherworldly quality to Bottesini’s Elegy in D…he demonstrated impeccable articulation, a greatly developed his musical talents, as a choirboy, a performances in Paris in 1870, and La regina di Nepal When he examined the holdings there, Joel Quarrington from the well proportioned, somewhat laconic first rich tonal palette, absolute control and crystalline clarity. A memorable night…” Reviews violinist, and a timpani player. His father sought a place for Turin in 1880. He also composed eleven string found fair copies in Bottesini’s hand; that is, not movement, through the simply singing second, to the such as this have confirmed his reputation as one of today’s leading double bassists. Born in for him in the Milan Conservatory, but found only two quartets, a genre scarcely noticed in nineteenth-century sketches or composition drafts, but final product, third, driven by a rhythmic figure typical of the Toronto, Joel Quarrington began playing the bass at the age of eleven and is a winner of the were available: for bassoon and for double bass. Double Italy, songs, some sacred music, and a few orchestral perhaps intended to be an authoritative or archival polonaise (and the Cuban bolero). Geneva International Competition. For over thirty years he has served as the Principal bass it was, then. He prepared a successful audition in a works. It was only his music for double bass, however, version. Of course, multiple authoritative versions often Other selections emphasize the essential vocality of Double Bassist of many ensembles, including the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto matter of weeks, and only four years later, a surprisingly and only some of that, that outlived him. exist: for example, a solo piece with accompaniment for Bottesini’s inspiration, most explicitly in the Bellini Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Joel Quarrington short time by the standards of the day, still a teenager, As a conductor and music director, Bottesini at one piano, or string quartet, or full orchestra. Since Bottesini Fantasia, but stylistically so in the pairings of bass, teaches at Montreal’s McGill University and in the summers, Mt. Orford Quebec, where his he left with a prize of 300 francs for solo playing. This time or another held major posts at theatres in London, spent most of his career as a touring virtuoso, sometimes always singing, now with clarinet, now with soprano. master-classes have attracted players from around the world. He has performed with many Photo: Fred Cattroll money financed the acquisition of an instrument by Paris, Palermo, Madrid, and Barcelona. Music history, travelling with a partner but even then often The anonymous texts are routine bourgeois expressions of the world’s leading string quartets and is a regular performer with the Pinchas Zukerman Carlo Testore, and a globe-trotting career as “the however, notices most that he conducted the première collaborating with local players as arranged by the of popular Romantic sentiment; but in the case of Tutto Chamber Players. In April 2005 he had the honour of playing the world première of John Harbison’s Concerto for Paganini of the Double Bass” was launched. performance of Aida in Cairo, to commemorate the concert promoter, it was important to be able to work che il mondo the music is very well known - Chopin’s Bass Viol with the Toronto Symphony and Hugh Wolf. He performs on an Italian bass made in 1630 by the Italian The anecdote should be read not just as a curious 1871 opening of the new Cairo opera house. Verdi had with varying resources. Those concerts were almost Etude Op. 25, No. 7. The Bach transcription is perfectly master, Santo Paolo Maggini. chapter in the biography of a prodigy, but also as early been a close friend since they met in Venice twenty always eclectic, “something for everyone”, like a straightforward. Can there be any instrument without a evidence of the extraordinary versatility that Bottesini years before, and nearly twenty years after Aida he television variety show of the 1950s, and by modern transcription of this piece? The Adagio melancolico exhibited for the rest of his life. He toured throughout nominated Bottesini as Director of the Parma standards, protracted affairs. An 1865 London concert projects that characteristic elegiac mood, demanding a Europe, Latin America, and the United States, Conservatory, his last post, which he assumed only a included a symphonic overture and scherzo, a flute virtuosity of feeling at least as much as of just impressing audiences with his musicality as much as he few months before his death in 1889. piece, a piano duet, a waltz, two arias, and the Duetto technique, that Bottesini perfected for many of his Andrew Burashko astounded them with technical mastery of a “cumbrous” Italian opera in the style of Donizetti and the for clarinet and bass recorded here and that was all stand-alone solo pieces. instrument. An English writer who heard his London younger Verdi is obviously the fundamental language of before the interval. Since his brilliant début with the Toronto Symphony at the age of seventeen under the baton début performance in 1849 recalled that “It was not only Bottesini’s instrumental works, and that means an Jeffrey L. Stokes of Sir Andrew Davis, Andrew Burashko has established himself as one of the most sought- marvellous as a tour de force, but the consummate skill exaltation of melody above all else. The elaborate after soloists in Canada. He has performed extensively around the world collaborating with of this great artist enabled him to produce a result chromatic harmony and motivic manipulation of a among others, conductors Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Pinchas Zukerman, Marin Alsop, Peter delightful even for the most fastidious musician to listen Wagner, the subtle and abstract formal structures of a Oundjian and Bramwell Tovey. Passionately dedicated to the music of our time as well as to.” Brahms, are not to be found. Rather, Bottesini’s music the great piano master-works of the past, Andrew Burashko has developed a reputation for
That innate musicality naturally opened toward two insists on relatively straightforward singing, sometimes Photo: John Launer versatility and brilliantly conceived programmes. He has given numerous Canadian and complementary paths, as a conductor and as a in a declamatory mode, but mostly in chains of regular, world premières, including the Canadian première of Schnittke’s Piano Concerto. His composer. It was of course expected that the lyrical phrases, only loosely related motivically, often musical dexterity and commitment to building a future audience for classical music brought instrumental virtuosi would compose works to dissolving into a mini-cadenza to close a section, him in 1998 to the artistic directorship of the Art of Time Ensemble, a chamber music showcase their personal prowess. For example, whereupon a fresh cycle commences. The first society comprised of the finest classical and jazz players on the Canadian scene. Andrew Dragonetti, the greatest bassist of the preceding challenge for a performer is to offer “purity of tone and Burashko is on the faculty of the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music generation, turned out dozens of somewhat mechanistic intonation, perfect taste in phrasing”, to borrow words in Toronto. pieces that tend to dazzle listeners more than to move used to describe the composer’s own playing. The most them; a genius composer-performer like Liszt, on the common virtuoso gesture is a rapid traverse of the other hand, could craft virtuoso pieces that transcend instrument’s whole range; and that range is greatly mere display, and indeed could transcend his own extended on the high side by an exploitation of instrument. Bottesini falls between such extreme harmonics (flute-like sounds produced by just touching
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Harold Hall Robinson 9 Une bouche aimée Beloved lips
An internationally acclaimed artist, Harold Hall Robinson is currently the principal Une bouche aimée a dit à mon coeur: Beloved lips said to my heart: contrabassist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Prior to this he spent ten seasons as principal “Viens, ô mon amour, ô toi, mon seul bonheur. “Come, O my love, O thou, my only joy. BOTTESINI bassist of the National Symphony Orchestra, eight seasons as associate principal of the Viens, ah! viens mon coeur, Come, ah, come, my heart, Houston Symphony Orchestra and three seasons as principal of the New Mexico Symphony ô toi, mon seul bonheur. O thou, my only joy. Orchestra. A prize-winner at the 1982 Isle of Man Solo competition, Harold Hall Robinson has Music for Double Bass and Piano • 2 performed concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony, Houston Adieu les tristes automnes. Farewell sad autumns, Symphony, New York Philharmonic, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, American Chamber Voici venir le printemps. Here comes the spring. Orchestra and the Greenville South Carolina Orchestra. In addition he is known for his La terre se couvre de fleurs, The earth is covered with flowers, Concerto No. 2 • Tutto che il mondo serra outstanding recitals and master classes throughout the United States. He is currently on the les rayons dorés ont tari ses pleurs. the golden rays have dried her tears. faculty of the Curtis Institute. Dans la feuille nouvelle In the new foliage Photo: Chris Lee chante la tourterelle. sings the turtle-dove. La sève des bourgeons entr’ouverts The sap of the half-opened buds Joel Quarrington, Double Bass James Campbell du parfum des bois des prés verts fills the air remplit les airs. with the scent of the woods and of the green meadows. Acclaimed by the Toronto Star as “Canada’s pre-eminent clarinetist and wind soloist”, James Andrew Burashko, Piano Campbell has performed solo and chamber music concerts in 25 countries, has been soloist with Mon cher amour, ma vie, My dear love, my life, over sixty orchestras, including the Boston Pops, the London Symphony, the Russian ah! viens, mon seul bonheur, Ah! Come, my only joy, Philharmonic, and the Montreal Symphony and has performed Copland’s Clarinet Concerto mon amour, mon bonheur.” my love, my joy.” five times with Aaron Copland conducting. He has appeared with over thirty string quartets, including the famous Amadeus Quartet when he replaced an ailing Benny Goodman for a tour Beloved lips said to my heart: of California. He has made over forty recordings, including the Debussy Rhapsody with Glenn Une bouche aimée a dit à mon coeur: “Viens, ô mon amour, ô toi, mon seul bonheur. “Come, O my love, O thou, my only joy.
Photo: Bruno Schrecker Gould, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, and the première recording of the Berio arrangement of Brahms’s F minor Sonata with the London Symphony. His recording of Viens, ah! viens mon coeur, Come, ah, come, my heart, Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet was chosen by the BBC and The Times in London as the best ô toi, mon seul bonheur, O thou, my only joy, available. He has been awarded a Juno (Canada’s Grammy), Canada’s Artist of the Year, the mon cher amour, ma vie. Viens mon coeur. my dear love, my life. Come my heart. Queen’s Jubilee Medal, and Canada’s highest honour, the Order of Canada. James Campbell has been Professor of Viens, ô mon seul bonheur, Come, O my only joy, Music at Indiana University since 1988 and Artistic Director of the Festival of the Sound since 1985. Viens.” Come.” 0 Tutto che il mondo serra All that the world holds Monica Whicher Tutto che il mondo serra di più caro per me da me All that the world holds that is dearest to me Monica Whicher has been heard with orchestras and opera companies in Germany, Spain, the s’invola, ah! is slipping away from me, ah! United Kingdom, Asia, the United States and Canada. Her concerts and recitals are broadcast Oggi per sempre ed ogni gaudio perdo e ogni speranza, Today I lose for ever all joy and all hope frequently by CBC radio, and her recordings of Bach, Schubert, Hatzis, Somers and Greer can Che l’amara terra dall’esilio feconda For my troubles serve only to feed be found on Marquis and other labels. Recent performances include the rôle of Dido in Esser non puote se non d’affanno. The bitter land of exile. Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, The Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and the Female Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. Her critically acclaimed performance of Mérope in Lully’s Persée can be seen on the EuroArts English translations by Keith Anderson DVD, and she appears as Telaïre on the Naxos recording of Rameau’s Castor et Pollux Photo: Michael de Sadlier (8.660118-19).
8.557042 5 6 8.557042 557042 bk Bottesini US 1/15/08 12:03 PM Page 5
Harold Hall Robinson 9 Une bouche aimée Beloved lips
An internationally acclaimed artist, Harold Hall Robinson is currently the principal Une bouche aimée a dit à mon coeur: Beloved lips said to my heart: contrabassist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Prior to this he spent ten seasons as principal “Viens, ô mon amour, ô toi, mon seul bonheur. “Come, O my love, O thou, my only joy. BOTTESINI bassist of the National Symphony Orchestra, eight seasons as associate principal of the Viens, ah! viens mon coeur, Come, ah, come, my heart, Houston Symphony Orchestra and three seasons as principal of the New Mexico Symphony ô toi, mon seul bonheur. O thou, my only joy. Orchestra. A prize-winner at the 1982 Isle of Man Solo competition, Harold Hall Robinson has Music for Double Bass and Piano • 2 performed concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony, Houston Adieu les tristes automnes. Farewell sad autumns, Symphony, New York Philharmonic, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, American Chamber Voici venir le printemps. Here comes the spring. Orchestra and the Greenville South Carolina Orchestra. In addition he is known for his La terre se couvre de fleurs, The earth is covered with flowers, Concerto No. 2 • Tutto che il mondo serra outstanding recitals and master classes throughout the United States. He is currently on the les rayons dorés ont tari ses pleurs. the golden rays have dried her tears. faculty of the Curtis Institute. Dans la feuille nouvelle In the new foliage Photo: Chris Lee chante la tourterelle. sings the turtle-dove. La sève des bourgeons entr’ouverts The sap of the half-opened buds Joel Quarrington, Double Bass James Campbell du parfum des bois des prés verts fills the air remplit les airs. with the scent of the woods and of the green meadows. Acclaimed by the Toronto Star as “Canada’s pre-eminent clarinetist and wind soloist”, James Andrew Burashko, Piano Campbell has performed solo and chamber music concerts in 25 countries, has been soloist with Mon cher amour, ma vie, My dear love, my life, over sixty orchestras, including the Boston Pops, the London Symphony, the Russian ah! viens, mon seul bonheur, Ah! Come, my only joy, Philharmonic, and the Montreal Symphony and has performed Copland’s Clarinet Concerto mon amour, mon bonheur.” my love, my joy.” five times with Aaron Copland conducting. He has appeared with over thirty string quartets, including the famous Amadeus Quartet when he replaced an ailing Benny Goodman for a tour Beloved lips said to my heart: of California. He has made over forty recordings, including the Debussy Rhapsody with Glenn Une bouche aimée a dit à mon coeur: “Viens, ô mon amour, ô toi, mon seul bonheur. “Come, O my love, O thou, my only joy.
Photo: Bruno Schrecker Gould, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, and the première recording of the Berio arrangement of Brahms’s F minor Sonata with the London Symphony. His recording of Viens, ah! viens mon coeur, Come, ah, come, my heart, Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet was chosen by the BBC and The Times in London as the best ô toi, mon seul bonheur, O thou, my only joy, available. He has been awarded a Juno (Canada’s Grammy), Canada’s Artist of the Year, the mon cher amour, ma vie. Viens mon coeur. my dear love, my life. Come my heart. Queen’s Jubilee Medal, and Canada’s highest honour, the Order of Canada. James Campbell has been Professor of Viens, ô mon seul bonheur, Come, O my only joy, Music at Indiana University since 1988 and Artistic Director of the Festival of the Sound since 1985. Viens.” Come.” 0 Tutto che il mondo serra All that the world holds Monica Whicher Tutto che il mondo serra di più caro per me da me All that the world holds that is dearest to me Monica Whicher has been heard with orchestras and opera companies in Germany, Spain, the s’invola, ah! is slipping away from me, ah! United Kingdom, Asia, the United States and Canada. Her concerts and recitals are broadcast Oggi per sempre ed ogni gaudio perdo e ogni speranza, Today I lose for ever all joy and all hope frequently by CBC radio, and her recordings of Bach, Schubert, Hatzis, Somers and Greer can Che l’amara terra dall’esilio feconda For my troubles serve only to feed be found on Marquis and other labels. Recent performances include the rôle of Dido in Esser non puote se non d’affanno. The bitter land of exile. Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, The Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and the Female Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. Her critically acclaimed performance of Mérope in Lully’s Persée can be seen on the EuroArts English translations by Keith Anderson DVD, and she appears as Telaïre on the Naxos recording of Rameau’s Castor et Pollux Photo: Michael de Sadlier (8.660118-19).
8.557042 5 6 8.557042 NAXOS NAXOS Giovanni Bottesini enjoyed a globe-trotting career as “the Paganini of the double bass”. He was also a successful conductor and a composer, although only the music he wrote for his own instrument has outlived him. Many of the works on this recording emphasize the essential bel canto quality of Bottesini’s inspiration, most explicitly in the dazzling Bellini Fantasia, but also in the duets with clarinet and soprano which demand virtuosity of both feeling and technique. The Concerto No. 2 is 8.557042
BOTTESINI: a fully mature work, from the somewhat laconic first movement, through the simply singing second, BOTTESINI: to the third, driven by a rhythmic figure typical of the polonaise and the Cuban bolero. DDD Giovanni Playing Time BOTTESINI 68:51 (1821-1889)
ui o Double Bass and Piano • 2 Music for Music for Double Bass and Piano • 2 Double Bass and Piano • 2 Music for Gran Duetto No. 3 1 11:58 7 Duetto for Clarinet 1 Andantino 4:05 and Double Bass 4 9:43 2 Presto 7:53 8 Fantasia on Bellini’s Concerto No. 2 2 14:22 Beatrice di Tenda 5 11:00 3 Moderato 5:28 9 Une bouche aimée 6 5:14 4 Andante 4:39 0 Tutto che il mondo serra: 5 Finale: Allegro 4:15 Chopin Terzetto (tr. Chopin: 7 6 Adagio melancolico ed Etude, Op. 25, No. 7) 4:47 www.naxos.com Disc made in Canada. Printed and assembled USA. Booklet notes in English Naxos Rights International Ltd. 3 8 appassionato 6:35 ! Meditazione: Aria di Bach 5:13 & Joel Quarrington, Double Bass Andrew Burashko, Piano 2-8 2008 Harold Hall Robinson, Double Bass 1 James Campbell, Clarinet 4 Monica Whicher, Soprano 6, 7 Sung texts and English translations included The sung texts and translations can also be accessed at www.naxos.com/libretti/557042.htm Recorded at Grace Church on-the-Hill, Toronto, Canada, on 16th February, 2004 (tracks 1-2); at the Performing Arts Centre, The Country Day School, King City, Ontario, from 27th to 29th July, 2005
8.557042 (tracks 3-8 and 11); and at Glenn Gould Studio, CBC, Toronto, on 3rd July, 2006 (tracks 9 and 10) 8.557042 Producers: Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver • Engineer: Norbert Kraft • Editor: Bonnie Silver Editions used: I. Caimmi (tracks 1 and 2); Pollard/Slatford (tracks 3-5); Quarrington (tracks 6-11) Booklet notes: Jeffrey L. Stokes • Cover image: The Raincloud by Antonio Fontanesi (1818-1882) (Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Florence, Italy / www.bridgeman.co.uk)