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Hot REVIEWS: CDs • DVDs • BOOKs • INSTRUMENTs • GIFTs

www.scena.org ISSUE 11 Winter 2006 •Vol. 4.2 $4.95

Jazz and the Word Higher Education Guide The State of Arts Philanthropy in Canada Dr. Stuart Davis, Philanthropist Association of Canadian Choral Conductors at 25 at 75 COC's Götterdammerung Concert Picks Ottawa, , Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria

Guillermo Silva-Marin Dreaming Big tms_4-2_layout/02-21 2005-11-16 10:21 Page 2



 

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RECORDS OF THE YEAR in Gramophone Magazine These fabulous four recordings and artists were set aside from the rest as the best of the year in each of their categories—have you heard them yet?

Best of category (Baroque Vocal), Best of category (Choral) and Gramophone Award winner and best Gramophone Award winner 2005 record of the Year from any category 2005

Bach Cantatas Vol. 1 Haydn The Seasons Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra Marlis Peterson; Werner Güra; Sir John Eliot Gardiner Dietrich Henschel; RIAS-Kammerchor; Freiburger Barockorchester / René Jacobs

SDG101 801929/30

Editor’s choice 2005 Artist of the Year 2005 Gramophone Magazine Gramophone Magazine Michael Tilson Thomas

Rachmaninov Piano Concertos; We invited our readers to vote for the 2005 Artist of Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; the Year—from the six nominations, Stephen Hough; the San Francisco Symphony's music director, Dallas Symphony Orchestra / Andrew Litton Michael Tilson Thomas, swept to victory...

CDA67501/2 SFS6009

FOR STORE LOCATIONS PLEASE EMAIL [email protected] tms_4-2_layout/02-21 11/15/05 12:48 AM Page 4

THEATRE OF EARLY MUSIC EXCLUSIVELY WITH BIS

JAMES BOWMAN DANIEL TAYLOR with RALPH FIENNES

“The visionary eloquence of the brilliant countertenor Daniel Taylor as he now turns his attention to Conducting his ensemble of virtuoso musicians in performances that are honest and undeniably true...” (The TIMES, UK)

Theatre of Early Music in Concert in a new work by Choreographer James Kudelka and the new Dance Ensemble Coleman/Lemieux Vivaldi Stabat Mater January 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 2006 at the Salle Pierre-Mercure, Montreal Theatre of Early Music in Concert with star Soprano Emma Kirkby Pergolesi Stabat Mater February 22nd, 2006, St-Leon de Westmount, Montreal as part of the Montreal High Lights Festival February 26th, 2006, Trinity St-Pauls, Toronto

Contact 514 982-2535 or e-mail [email protected]

Upcoming engagements with Daniel Taylor include Messiah with the San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Deutche Philharmonie and the Munich Radio Orchestra

AVAILABLE IN DECEMBER AT GREGORIAN, HMV, ARCHAMBAULT AND ALL FINE RECORD STORES

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Opera McGill

Dixie Ross-Neill, director of studies presents Candide by Leonard Bernstein

McGill Symphony Orchestra Julian Wachner, conductor Guillermo Silva-Marin, stage director

$25 / $20, seniors and students

January 25, 26, 27, 28, 2006, Pollack Hall, 7:30 p.m.

CBC/McGill Concert Series A Mozart après-midi Celebrate Mozart’s 250th Birthday

Les vents classiques du Québec Mathieu Lussier, director Tom Beghin, fortepiano

January 29, 2006,Tanna Schulich Hall, 3:00 p.m.

Information : (514) 398-5145 or www.mcgill.ca/music/events/concerts tms_4-2_layout/02-21 11/16/05 9:13 AM Page 6

Contents

18 Guillermo Silva-Marin Dreaming Big

NEWS & PERFORMANCE JAZZ 8 Notes 48 Jazz and Opera Come Together on Stage 16 ACCC Celebrates 25 years 48 Jazzpoetry: The Music of the Words 28 Maureen Forrester Remembered 49 Jazz CD Reviews 31 Previews REVIEWS PHILANTHROPY IN FOCUS 17 New in Instruments 10 The Davis Organ: A Labour of Love 38 Our Gift Giving Guide for the Holidays 12 Encouraging Arts Philanthropy 40 Handel’s Messiah Revisited 41 Rick’s Picks MUSICAL EDUCATION 42 CD Reviews 22 Guide to Higher Education 17 Funding a Music Education 27 Education News

NEXT ISSUE - SPRING 2006 Music Camps • Careers • Rising Stars Street Date: March 2006 Advertising Deadline: February 15, 2006. Visit ads.scena.org for details. The Music Scene The Music 6 Fall 2005 tms_4-2_layout/02-21 2005-11-16 09:30 Page 7

Exciting Titles From UNIVERSAL CLASSICS

RUSSELL WATSON Amore Musica HAYLEY WESTENRA THE VOICE RETURNS! “The People's Tenor” is back with his “The Voice of an Angel” - THE TIMES fourth album of arias and love songs. Beautiful and stunningly gifted Hayley Westenra has sold over 2 million albums worldwide and she is still only just 18 years old! Hayley's first “All the songs are about concert on DVD takes us on a love, music, peace, This incredible $14.99 journey that album includes happiness and hope... showcases her LIVE From the gorgeous It's a record to hold hands rare ability to Joni Mitchell New Zealand ODYSSEY effortlessly cross to... It's a different sound... Classics "Both the musical Sides Now", It's about Russell Watson boundaries- “Prayer”, combining classical, singing from the heart and “Ave Maria” pop, folk and the and a classical I don't think I've ever done native Maori music Crossover that before.” of her homeland. duet with $14.99 Wonderful bonus - RUSSELL WATSON Andrea Bocelli. B000544002 footage of Look out for Hayley's 0743085 New Zealand B000443902 Canadian tour February / and exclusive March 2006. interviews.

A UNIVERSAL MUSIC COMPANY www.russell-watson.com A UNIVERSAL MUSIC COMPANY www.hayleywestenra.com CECILIA BARTOLI RENÉE FLEMING Sacred Songs Opera Proibita Renée Fleming has recorded sublimely Rome at the dawn of the 18th beautiful and poignant interpretations of the century... Cecilia Bartoli celebrates a best loved sacred arias, along with some less well known 20th Century compositions, which unique period in the musical history may become new classics of the genre. of her home city Arias by George Renée Fleming has unquestionably become Frideric Handel, Alessandro Scarlatti the most celebrated soprano of her day. and Antonio Caldara www.reneefleming.com www.ceciliabartolionline.com www.universalclassics.com Limited Edition CD 4756924 B000519302

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th Notes from the files of scena.org cene MICHAEL VINCENT, KAT HAMMER, WAH KEUNG CHAN, DANIELLE DUBOIS IN MEMORIAM their tune and decided to go back to work, but Winter 2006 Vol. 4.2 they were refused entry when they showed up Harry Freedman (Lodz, Poland, 1922 - at the door. "We are ready to play uncondition- Publisher La Scène Musicale / The Music Scene Toronto, Canada, 2005) ally and immediately, but apparently we've Directors Wah Keung Chan (pres.), Sandro Scola, Joan The composer Harry Freedman, who arrived been locked out," said David Lennon, president Gauthier in Canada at the age of three, was one of the of Local 802. A Radio City spokesman Editor Wah Keung Chan Assistant Editor Réjean Beaucage country’s most prolific and most often per- responded by saying, "We told the musicians in CD/Books Editor Réjean Beaucage formed composers. First attracted by visual no uncertain terms that until there is an agree- Jazz Editor Marc Chénard arts, he eventually ment, and there is no possibility of them walk- Contributors Misha Aster, Claire Marie Blaustein, Christopher Bourne, Kenna Burima, Marc Chénard, Charles Collard, John developed a taste for ing out on future performances, they remain on Defayette, Jacques Desjardins, Danielle Dubois, W.S. Habington, jazz, and finally, for strike." MV Felix Hamel, Kat Hammer, Holly Higgins Jonas, Robert Jordan, Norman Lebrecht, Gordon Morash, Rick Phillips, Isabelle Picard, classical music. Initially Bill Shoemaker, Paul Serralheiro, Joseph K. So, Mike Vincent a clarinetist and an UK Orchestras 'face revenue crisis' Cover Photo Gary Beechey Translators Christopher Bourne, Jane Brierly, Danielle Dubois oboist, in the end he A major blunder in miscalculated insurance Proofreaders Danielle Dubois, Eric Ginestier, Annie Prothin, dedicated himself to payments in the UK is threatening financial Lionel Siegel the English horn, an instability for UK orchestras. Since a change in Graphics Christopher Bourne, Albert Cormier, Adam E. Norris instrument he played labour laws in 1998, freelance singers and Website Normand Vandray, Mike Vincent, Linda Lee, Kat Hammer 24 years as a member musicians have been classed as employees for Admin. Assistant Christopher Bourne, Adam E. Norris of the Toronto insurance purposes, but self-employed for tax Regional Calendar Eric Legault Accounting Joanne Dufour Symphony before he turned to composing. purposes. An investigation by the government Bookkeeper Kamal Ait Mouhoub Symphonies, ballets, works for orchestra or has now found that orchestras have not been Fundraising Gillian Pritchett Volunteers Maria Bandrauk-Ignatow, Wah Wing Chan, John choir, chamber music and film music - there is paying enough insurance and said the money Defayette, Amalia Dinut, Dean Jobin-Bevans, Lilian Liganor no genre Freedman did not try his hand at. will need to be reimbursed. According to an Distribution Over two hundred of his works can be found at industry body, this means that 55 UK orches- Ottawa, Southern Ontario, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, the Canadian Music Centre. He liked to quote tras face closure if forced to pay a £33M Vancouver & Victoria (42,000 copies) the following phrase from Aaron Copland, with National Insurance bill. M V Address 5409 Waverly St., Montreal whom he studied for a short time: "Music must Quebec, Canada H2T 2X8 be as simple as possible, but not more!" This Uproar over budget cuts at La Scala Tel.: (514) 948-2520 / Fax: (514) 274-9456 Editorial (514) 274-1128 advice helped Freedman become one of the Italy has announced €230 million in budget rare Canadian composers able to live from his cuts to the arts, including €164 million in cuts Advertising Mike Webber (514) 667-1059 trade. Freedman passed away in Toronto last to opera over the next three years. Italy's prime Mario Felton-Coletti (514) 948-0509 September 16th. DD minister, Silvio Berlusconi, accused La Scala of David Christiani (450) 466-1457 Kimberly Krautle (514) 807-5447 employing more than twice as much staff as

[email protected] • Web : www.scena.org Montreal Symphony Orchestra necessary. The opera house has been attempt- production – artwork : [email protected] Returns ing to return to normal after the hostile depar- The Music Scene is the English Canada sister publication of La The musicians and the board of the ture of music director Richard Muti and manag- Scena Musicale. It is dedicated to the promotion of classical Montreal Symphony Orchestra have reached an er Mauro Meli earlier this year. The attacks on La music and jazz. TMS is published four times a year by La Scène Musicale/The agreement, ending the musicians' five-month Scala came just as Fedele Confalonieri, chairman Music Scene, a registered non-profit organization and charity. strike. The new contract includes pay raises of of the television company Mediaset, was Inside, readers will find articles, interviews and reviews. La Scena Musicale is Italian for The Music Scene. 17% over the next five years, time off in lieu of preparing to step down from La Scala's board of Subscriptions overtime pay and longer rehearsals among the directors. Confalonieri was a strong supporter Surface mail subscriptions (Canada) cost $20/yr or $35/2 yrs concessions from both sides. The orchestra will of Muti and is very close to Berlusconi. This (taxes included) to cover postage and handling costs. Please mail, fax or email your name, address, telephone no., fax no., and email now be able to record and tour with new con- announcement comes at a particularly bad time, address. ductor Kent Nagano. The MSO's first perform- as the season opens soon, and there is concern Donations are always welcome. (no. 14199 6579 RR0001) ance following the new agreement was the that this could scare off sponsors. KH Ver:2005-11-14 © La Scène Musicale / The Music Scene. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro- national anthem at the start of the October duced without the written permission of La Scena Musicale / 22nd Montreal Alouettes football game. KH St. John's Choir wins prestigious The Music Scene. ISSN 1703-8189 (Print) ISSN 1703-8197 (Online) choral competition Canada Post Publication Mail Sales Agreement No. 40025257 Radio City's musicians replaced A small group of young choristers from St. with canned songs John's, Newfoundland, has just won the 37th The Radio City Music Hall management has annual Tolosa International Choral Festival, locked out the 35-member orchestra and held in Spain. This award is significant in that it replaced it with canned music, over an escalat- pits some of the world's best choirs against For Advertising: ing labour dispute with Local 802 of the each other and allows for a free exchange of American Federation of Musicians. In reaction musical styles and interpretations. Susan (514) 948-0509 to the musicians' walking out minutes before a Knight, founder and artistic director of the Wednesday night preview show, the manage- group, said in a statement from Spain, "These http://ads.scena.org ment said it could no longer trust the orches- awards are a testament to the dedication, skill tra. The following day, the musicians changed and hard work of the young choristers." The 8 Winter 2006 tms_4-2_layout/08-09/14-15 11/16/05 2:51 PM Page 9

choir will complete a four-city tour in Europe Conductor Valery Gergiev wins Virtual Classical Music in Alberta before returning home on November 6th. MV Polar Music Prize Schools Russian conductor Valery Gergiev has been Thanks to a partnership between the Western Canadian Music Awards announced as a winner of Sweden's Polar Music National Arts Centre and Bell, more than The winners of the 2005 Western Canadian Prize, "for the way his unique electrifying musi- 8,700 elementary school students from across Music Awards were presented October 23rd, in cal skills have deepened and renewed our rela- Alberta watched a real-time concert by Vancouver. Land's End Chamber Ensemble tied tionship with the grand tradition; and for how Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra for he has managed to develop and amplify the (NAC) last Nov. 14. The concert featured two the Outstanding Classical Recording award. importance of artistic music in these modern, young Alberta soloists, Meghan Nenninger, 13, Land's End's CD Four Degrees of Freedom fea- changing times.” Gergiev is the Artistic and of Calgary, and Maria van der Sloot, 12, of tures works by Antheil, Takemitsu, Gubaidulina, General Director of Russia's Mariinsky Theatre, Medicine Hat, performing Vivaldi, and was web- Milhaud, and Canadian composers Gordon which he has turned into one of the foremost cast via the Alberta SuperNet to more than Rumson and Kelly-Marie Murphy. The ESO's opera companies in Europe. He has also organ- 130 schools, the majority of which are located CD Frenergy features the music of composer- ised many international music festivals and con- in rural Alberta. The performance also featured in-residence John Estacio. ducted most of the major orchestras in the native storyteller and Composer Stephen Chatman won the world. Most recently he was appointed Principal singer/songwriter Joseph Naytowhow. "We are Outstanding Classical Composition award with Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. so happy to be able to use the Alberta his orchestral piece, Proud Music of the Storm. The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989, SuperNet to bring this concert to students Chatman is the head of the composition when Stig Anderson, manager and lyricist for the because it means we can reach so many more department at the University of British pop group ABBA, children," said NAC Music Education Director Columbia. K H made a large dona- Claire Speed. The tour is just one of 90 educa- tion to the Royal tional events staged by the NAC in Alberta and Canadians Excel at Operalia 2005 Swedish Academy of Saskatchewan in honour of the centennials of Canadian tenor Joseph Kaiser won 2nd prize Music. Each recipient those provinces. Danielle Dubois and baritone Joshua Langston Hopkins took is awarded 1 million rd 3 prize at the 2005 Placido Domingo Swedish Kroner, Operalia competition this summer. The first approximately $135, prize was shared by Russian baritone Vasily 000 US. The prize La Scena Musicale Ladyuk and American soprano Susanna Phillips, will be presented by 10th Anniversary Gala who also took home the Audience Prize. Kaiser Sweden's King Carl was recently cited by Domingo, in a recent XVI. Gustaf Gergiev Organization Committee spontaneous interview in the Montreal will conduct the We will be celebrating our 10th Gazette, as one of the top tenors of the new Royal Philharmonic anniversary in print this coming generation. WKC Orchestra in Shotakovitch's 11th Symphony at the awards ceremony. Past winners of the prize include September. We are looking for Composer R. Murray Schafer Wins Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Sofia keen and talented individuals to Prize Gubaidulina, Pierre Boulez and Isaac Stern. KH Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer has assist in the organization and been announced as the winner of the Walter Cuban Singers Defect in Toronto planning of this gala celebration. Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Eleven members of a Cuban choir on tour in Arts. Schafer was chosen for the prize based on Canada dodged security officers and jumped Please call (514) 274-1128 or his large volume of compositions, including into waiting cars after concerts in Toronto. It is email [email protected]. chamber, choral and orchestral works, and believed that they are in safe houses and plan- works designed for performances in specific ning to apply for refugee status. The Coro natural locations, such as Music for Wilderness Nacional de Cuba was founded in 1959 by Che Lake. In addition to his compositions, Schafer's Guevara and tours the world, singing folk and CROSSWORD JACQUES DESJARDINS book, The Tuning of the World, documented classical music to promote Cuba's Communist Solution to last issue. Next crossword - Spring 2006 the work of the World Soundscape Project, regime. The twenty-nine remaining members of which introduced the concept of acoustic ecol- the choir continued with the tour, performing ogy. Schafer is currently Artist in Residence at in Vancouver. No concerts were cancelled. K H Concordia University. The prize is awarded by the Canada Council Why Singing Makes you Fat and was created through a $1.1 million dona- Research carried out by Dr Peter Osin, tion by Toronto businessman Walter Carsen. Consultant at London's Royal Marsden Hospital, Previous winners of the prize were dancer suggests that a singer's constant use of their Veronica Tennant, playwright John Murrell and lungs triggers an overdose in the excretion of choreographer/director Brian Macdonald. leptin, causing the brain to build up a resistance The jury for this year's prize consisted of com- to the protein. Leptin is a hormone, a protein posers Anthony Genge and Jacques Hétu, made in fat cells that helps the brain assess how pianist Jon Kimura Parker, former CBC Radio much fat the body is storing. The resistance to music head Janet Lea, and jazz pianist and leptin suggests that the physical action of bassist Don Thomson. K H singing can actually make you gain weight. WKC

music scene Winter 2006 9 tms_4-2_layout/02-21 11/15/05 12:45 AM Page 10

Rarities in Performance BY DANIELLE DUBOIS Guillermo Silva-Marin, General Director The Davis La Griselda Organ Concert Antonio Vivaldi Based on A LEGACY OF LOVE II Decamerone by Bocaccio tuart Davis was a private, unassuming immediately, man, unknown to those who worked at and the S the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra money safely (ESO) office. That changed, however, one day stowed in the THE in August 2000, when Davis showed up on his Edmonton VIVALDI bicycle at the stage door of the Winspear Concert Hall PROJECT Centre. He wanted to make a donation to build an Foundation’s organ in memory of his late wife, Winona Davis. bank account. Marion Newman Would two million dollars be enough? "When it "He later Carla Huhtanen became apparent what he was prepared to told me Stuart and Winona Davis Lynne McMurtry offer, the office stopped," recalls Julian Mayne, laughingly Colin Ainsworth the Winspear Centre manager and the organ that he had a whole bunch more shares, which Sean Watson project manager at the time. were now worth five cents," says Mayne. Yet, ARADIA Stuart Davis, born in Lethbridge on June 15, for all of his fortune, Dr Davis remained a very ENSEMBLE 1917, had been a long-time music lover. Back in humble man. After his wife’s death in 1994, he Kevin Mallon, the days when Stuart was a chemical engineer- continued to live in their modest bungalow Conductor ing student at the University of Alberta, he and near the university. Most of the time he trav- his future wife Winona Turner, a pharmacy stu- eled by bus or bicycle, often pedalling across dent, would attend monthly organ concerts the University of Alberta campus. "Moreover, Sunday, given by Professor Nicols. As his love of the he owned a beat-up 1984 Volvo that probably January 29 organ grew, so did his love of Winona, and the didn’t comply with current regulations," shares at 2:30 pm two were married in 1940. Elaine Calder, managing director and CEO of After obtaining his PhD from McGill the Winspear Centre since 2001. In every way University, Dr Davis was hired to teach in the a true gentleman, Dr Davis enjoyed curling and chemistry department of his alma mater. On cards, and had a large circle of friends. the side, the professor emeritus steadily built He also regularly attended Symphony con- up his investment portfolio, increasing his prof- certs and was dis-

Sponsored by it margin on a $75,000 legacy he had inherit- turbed by the large ed in the 1970s. The money for the organ, hole left in the Davis told the Winspear Centre marketing W inspear director, would come from the sale of some Centre Season shares he owned. The shares were in FinaleMazepaMazepa Nortel, at that time worth over $124 apiece. According to stan- dard procedure, the stocks PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY were sold Raisa Nakhmanovich, Music Director & Pianist Peter McGillivray Nikolay Cherkasov Katerina Tchoubar and special guest Emilia Boteva The Opera in Concert Chorus, Robert Cooper, Chorus Director Sponsored by Jackman Foundation Sun. March 26 at 2:30 pm JANE MALLETT THEATRE 27 Front Street East, Toronto 416-366-7723 • 1-800-708-6754 www.stlc.com

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after its construction. Thinking that “Nona” would have been pleased to hear an organ in this impressive new hall, Dr Davis thought to remedy the state of affairs. What he learned on his August 2000 visit was that the plans to build an organ had already been in place for four years. In 1996, when it was made known that $500,000 from Francis Winspear’s Opera Weekend in Toronto donation was being put aside for the organ, the Götterdämmerung (Wagner) Quebec organ builder Létourneau was selected for the job. Rounding up the rest February 4, 2006 at 6 p.m. of the funds proved dif- Backstage Tour (afternoon) ficult, however, and energy for the project was beginning to dwindle. It was John David Sterne, the CEO of the Winspear Centre at the time, who put the project back on the books. "He was instrumental in making the 1 (888) 371-6151 (Voyage LM) project work," recalls Mayne. "It was his vision." Shortly after Dr Davis Number of tickets limited. sold his shares in Nortel, the contract with Létourneau was signed. But in the end, the projected $2 million was not enough to cover the costs. TO BENEFIT Getting the organ into the hall, a major engineering and architectural La Scena Musicale / undertaking, would cost an additional $1.5 million, which was obtained The Music Scene through a combination of grants and fundraising. Dr Davis kept an interested eye on the building and installation of the Opus 50 organ. "He would come almost always every third day to watch and chat about how the project was going," says Mayne. This was famil- iar territory for Dr Davis, who had played a role in designing part of the chemistry buildings at the University of Alberta. Thanks to his generous donation, all the wishes on the organ committee’s list came true, among these a second console to allow the organist to play onstage with the orchestra instead of behind the choir loft, and a second, portative organ. "In the old days, the symphony used an electronic organ for its concerts; there was nothing else available," remembers Mayne. "Dr Davis was always so happy when he heard the organ used," says Calder. "Physically, the organ has transformed the performance hall right, left and centre." The octogenarian habitually chose to admire the organ from a seat in the front row, centre of the gallery, the best place in the hall for sound according to the acousticians. When asked what he would like to hear at the Organ Gala’s inaugural concert in September 2002, Dr Davis picked the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony. It was performed by Christopher Herrick, who subsequently recorded his Organ Works X on the Davis Concert Organ. Dr Davis died unexpectedly last July following a serious illness. In his will he left a final parting gift to the ESO, as well as the University of Alberta and the University Hospital Foundation. Along with this gift he made a final request that the organ be well maintained. If the musical community has its way, there will be little difficulty honouring Dr Davis' request. Since its inaugural concert, Edmontonians have had the privi- lege of hearing important organ repertoire performed on this wonderful instrument by world-class artists like Dame Gillian Weir and Christopher Herrick. The Davis Concert Organ also gets played regularly in the Sunday Afternoon Series concerts, a series sponsored by Dr Davis that will be continued in honour of the man remembered as Edmonton’s patron saint of music. p

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PHILANTHROPY EncouragingArts Philanthropy BY GILLIAN PRITCHETT

ith rising costs and reduced public funding, it’s opera." Patrons such as these often give with the hope of seeing both little wonder then that arts groups across musicians and concerts attain a higher level of quality. Canada are in desperate need of enhanced financial support from the corporate sector as Encouraging philanthropy well as from private individuals. And yet, Despite the ferocious competition for scarce donor dollars, there are although an overwhelming majority of many Canadians ready to give to the arts, especially when approached WCanadians recognize the importance of culture, according to an opinion in the right way and shown the importance of their contributions. The poll by Ipsos Reid, when it comes to donations, the arts rank low on their administration of the COC has no qualms telling opera-lovers that the list of priorities, attracting a mere 3% of total charitable giving. price of the tickets they are buying cover only 30-40% of the actual production costs. Opera-goers invariably respond favourably to the call Sources of revenue for help by making donations. This is a sad state of affairs given that, typically, ticket sales account for Arts groups are recognizing the urgent need to broaden their donor only 40% of a music group's annual income (theatre groups show a base and are targeting ethnic groups, adolescents, the young profession- slightly higher average at 56%). With public government-funding al and the elderly, offering them a variety of donation mechanisms such accounting for another 30% of revenues, most musical groups are forced as payroll deduction; partnering to provide an employee giving program; to rely heavily on private donations to make up the remaining 30% of on-line donations facilities; affinity credit cards; monthly giving schemes their operating budgets. and professional advice for donors likely to donate life assurance poli- cies, real estate, or to make bequests. Canada’s donors But perhaps the most essential element of fundraising is ensuring The National Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating (NSGVP) that donors feel appreciated. Sometimes this can involve naming a facil- conducted in 2000 portrays the average donor as over 45 (57% of ity after a generous patron. For example the Four Seasons Centre in donors), university-educated (38%), and with a household income Toronto recognizes the generosity of the Four Seasons hotel group. But exceeding $50,000 (71%). According to Statistics Canada, 25% of recognition can be as simple as inviting sponsors to visit the organiza- donors give over 75% of total donations, making the arts highly depend- tion and its staff so that they can see personally what their dollars are ent on a limited number of generous patrons. Toronto Symphony achieving. Increasingly, philanthropy is approached as the building of a Orchestra knows this only too well. The majority of its private funding long-term relationship. If donors feel like a vital part of the organization, comes from some 60 very generous patrons and is rounded off by small- they are more likely to make regular contributions. Opéra de Montréal er amounts (less than $1,000) from a further 6,000 donors. Things are endeavours to give its patrons this type of recognition by inviting their much the same at the Canadian Opera Company (COC), where half the principal sponsors and donors to an onstage tour, and offering them funding comes from private donors making contributions of less than seats at the dress rehearsal of an upcoming production. $2,000. There as well, the bulk comes from some 60 patrons. What we are seeing are two clear trends: a limited number of high People give to people value donations and a high number of smaller donations that, over the Seizing the attention of prospective donors is one thing, converting years, make for a significant contribution. Not to be ignored is the work them into loyal supporters is quite another. Yet, as successful art organ- of volunteers who are generally not the same people as those making izations know, winning the heart of one philanthropist can result in the financial donations. By giving their time, volunteers significantly reduce acquisition of others. As Noel Spinelli said, “There is no great secret to the financial burden for arts organizations - NSGVP 2000 calculates that collecting money; the simple truth is that people enjoy giving to people.” the hours they donate represent over 159,000 full-time jobs. Our archetypal philanthropist not only gives generously from his person- al wealth but demonstrates a high level of activism in recruiting other Why give? donors. The flip side is that this breed of philanthropist expects arts A variety of factors compel people to donate to the arts. Volunteers groups to demonstrate a high level of accountability, robust management questioned responded with “Volunteering is my way of helping whilst and good stewardship practices. Although a reasonable expectation, it also getting to enjoy great music that I could not otherwise afford.” highlights the all too common perception that urgently needs to be dis- Prominent music patrons such as Noël Spinelli, Mario Létourneau and pelled, namely that cultural organizations are lacking in these areas. Hans Black all admit that their urge to give stems from the important role These high worth patrons invariably occupy senior positions in the that music has played in their own lives. Noël Spinelli's childhood years business world and thus are also well placed to facilitate creative collab- fostered his enormous love of music, and for Mario Létourneau, "Having orations between arts groups and businesses. These points were made Raoul Jobin sing in my living room when I was a child made me love eloquently in the 2004 Kenneth Myer lecture, as well as by participants

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SYMPOSIUM C 9 - 13 anff B INTERNATIONAL August he he TH T 5 2006 CARE OF THE PROFESSIONAL & OCCUPATIONAL VOICE INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS AND CAPTIVATING TOPICS AND MASTER CLASSES

INCLUDING… - Understanding the Accent SCIENCE Method - Scientific Underpinnings BREATH - Emotions and the Voice - Education in Speakers and - Particles in the Air: How they - My musical life before and Singers get off and on the larynx and after BAHA their danger to health. ARTS MEDICINE -Voice Problems: Prevalence, -Breathing Coordination - Repetitive Strain Risks and Preventions BRAIN - Acting and the Singing Voice MEDICAL - The Brain and the Voice - Benefits of Acupuncture in REHAB MANAGEMENT AND Treatment of Voice PREVENTION - Current Concepts in Reflux - Framework for Adherence in - Using Endoscopy to under- Voice Therapy stand the mechanics of voice -Working with Public Singers - Confusion to Consensus: - Behavioral Interventions in Diagnosis and Assessment Children -Irritable Larynx Syndrome MASTERCLASSES SUCH AS… Teaching Classical Western Art Canadian Voice Care Foundation Singing Accent Method Tel: (403) 284-9590 or Classical (403) 282-2177 Fax: (403) 289-4988 The Breath E-mail: [email protected] Popular Musical Theatre Voice www.canadianvoicecarefdn.com Overtone Singing Speech Level Singing tms_4-2_layout/02-21 11/15/05 12:43 AM Page 13

of the 2004 Round Table on Philanthropy in the performing arts held in Ottawa. Showing the human side of an arts organisation is vital. When donors can see that their dollars will be used to establish a new prize for musi- Take part in cians and attend a concert given by the winner, or when they enjoy a concert using instruments from an instrument bank, not only does the promoting Classical essential “feel-good” factor come into play, but they are more likely to make further contributions and encourage their families and friends to do so too. Music in Canada.

What next? Although the erosion of our cultural patrimony is less visible than the Make a donation to challenges facing our health service, it is equally insidious. When a peo- ple no longer exist their culture lives on and culture is the monument of The Music Scene / a people. Arts organizations need to foster a way of thinking so that a culture of giving becomes the norm rather than the exception. Certainly, taking a collaborative approach to obtaining financial support, and lob- La Scène Musicale bying government to provide greater incentives to giving, would provide much needed visibility to the current crisis. p

PHILANTROPY NOTES

$1 Million Gift to the Vancouver Symphony The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra has received a $1 million dona- tion from local philanthropist Martha Lou Henley. The gift is for the Direct your gift to: VSO's Endowment Campaign, which aims to raise $20 million in total, $8 in this phase. The endowment fund will provide ongoing revenue to ensure long-term stability. This is the largest single dona- _____ General Operations tion the VSO has ever received. _____ Circle of Friends Henley has provided support to over 75 arts organisations in the _____ Website Vancouver area. In 2004 she donated $1 million to the Vancouver Opera. Her extensive philanthropy has been recognized through many awards, including the Lescarbot Award for Volunteerism, the All donations of $10 or more will be gratefully Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian con- acknowledged, and will be issued a tax receipt. federation, the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Volunteerism of the Governor General’s Awards, an award for philanthropy and volun- tarism from the BC Arts Council, the Commemorative Medal for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, and the Vancouver Arts Awards’ 2004 name ...... Honoree for Philanthropy. address ...... city ...... province ...... Manitoba Chamber Orchestra country ...... Farm equipment magnate John Buhler and his wife, Bonnie, have postal code ...... donated $250,000 to the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra’s endow- phone ...... ment fund, previously at $226,000. The orchestra hopes for a matching donation from the Winnipeg Foundation and Canadian email ...... Heritage to bring the fund to $750,000. Buhler, who donates $1 donation amount ...... million per year to worthy causes, hopes to see the orchestra play Credit Card nº ...... regularly at Buhler Hall, in his hometown of Gretna, Manitoba. C B (Visa, Mastercard, Amex accepted) exp...... / ...... signature ......

Met Opera radio broadcasts saved The future of the New York ’s legendary radio Send to: broadcasts has been under threat since Chevron-Texaco withdrew The Music Scene / La Scène Musicale financial support in 2003. A majority of the broadcast’s $6 million 5409 Waverly, Montréal (Québec) H2T 2X8 seasonal budget will now be donated by Toll Brothers, a Horsham, Tel.: (514) 948-2520 Fax: (514) 274-9456 Pennsylvania-based luxury home building company. The donation email: [email protected] will ensure the survival of the broadcasts for four more years. * Gifts are tax deductible for both Canadian & US returns. Charitable Tax No. 141996579 RR0001.

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SYMPOSIUM C 9 - 13 anff B INTERNATIONAL August he he TH T 5 2006 CARE OF THE PROFESSIONAL Faculty List Moya Lorna & OCCUPATIONAL VOICE Andrews MacDonald Professionals Symposium: Margaret Allan Monk (Residents, Physicians, Speech-Language Pathologists, (all fees are in Canadian Funds) Baroody Bram Teachers, Performers, Professional or Occupational Voice Users) Registration fees include Michael Morrison $ 00 Early Bird (received by May 1, 2006) 595 all “Care of the Benninger 00 Murray Regular 695 $———–— Professional & Occupational Voice” sym- Tom Morrison Students (with valid ID) /Spouses: posium sessions, master Cleveland Elaine $ 00 Early Bird (received by May 1, 2006) 250 classes, workshops, reg- Steven Flam Overholt Regular 35000 $ ———–— istration kit, networking Dinah Harris Emil F. directory, entrance to ple- Daily Rates $18000 $ Pascarelli ———–— nary sessions and recep- Sara Harris Linda BBQ, tion. Register early to Tom Harris $ 00 Rammage Saturday August 12, 2006 15 $———–— avoid disappointments. Markus Hess CVCF Associate Seth Riggs Tour Bus, Tour the Banff Canadian Rockies Anthony Jahn Including a Picnic Lunch Members are entitled to Clark Rosen $ 00 Wednesday August 9th, 2006 30 $———–— 10% off registration fees. Jesai Jayhmes Ronald Opera Mozart “The Magic Flute” Book Accomodations Scherer Wednesday August 9. 7:30pm curtain. Gwen Korovin $ 00 before May 1 to avoid David Stroud Eric Harvie Theatre. 20 $———–— Karen Kost dissapointment. Ingo Titze Jurgen August is high season Lamprecht Eva Van Leer in Canadian Rockies Faculty List Christy Moya Andrews Sara Harris Jurgen Elaine Overholt David Stroud Ludlow Margaret Tom Harris Lamprecht Emil F. Ingo Titze Baroody Markus Hess Christy Ludlow Pascarelli Eva Van Leer Michael Anthony Jahn Lorna Linda Rammage Benninger MacDonald Jesai Jayhmes Seth Riggs Tom Cleveland Allan Monk Gwen Korovin Clark Rosen Steven Flam Bram Morrison Karen Kost Ronald Scherer Dinah Harris Murray Morrison Canadian Voice Care Foundation For additional information Tel: (403) 284-9590 or (403) 282-2177 see our online brochure. Fax: (403) 289-4988 Book Accomodations early E-mail: [email protected] to avoid disappointment. www.canadianvoicecarefdn.com tms_4-2_layout/02-21 11/15/05 12:40 AM Page 16

Association of Profile: Patricia Abbot atricia Abbott, part time executive director since 1993, is responsible Canadian Choral P for keeping all the ACCC cylinders firing. A graduate of three universities (Carleton, Concordia, and McGill) with a Conductors Celebrates Master’s degree in Vocal Pedagogy, Abbott has pursued many careers, including being HOLLY HIGGINS JONAS an editor and consumer journalist. Since ould it be that all the Cs in ACCC ference. Its concerts are broadcast nationally 1982, she has been conducting the Choral stand for celebration? 2005 marks on Choral Concert, CBC Radio Two. In 1998, de Gesù women’s choir and has progressive- C the 25th anniversary of the the Conducting Apprenticeship Program was ly honed her conducting skills by attending Association of Canadian Choral Conductors, added, through which a promising young con- workshops led by many of Canada’s fore- and judging by its many accomplishments ductor gets to work with the NYC and its mas- most musicians. She has conducted the over the years, there is certainly just cause for ter conductor as an apprentice. English Montreal School Board Chorale celebration. To encourage Canadian choral music, the since 1990 and is artist-in-residence at The ACCC’s beginnings go back to 1979 ACCC organizes a biennial choral composition FACE school in Montreal. Still, she finds when representatives of provincial choral competition. In addition to being performed by time to lead workshops for the Alliance des organizations met in Calgary to brainstorm on choirs at PODIUM, the winning works are pub- chorales du Québec and the CAMMAC the concept of creating a national entity lished. The ACCC also grants the National Music Centre and at locations in Canada, capable of handling activities that cannot eas- Choral Awards to recognize outstanding contri- France, Belgium, and the United States. ily be handled locally, while giving conductors butions in the categories of choral publication, What is Abbott's “wish list” for the across Canada a chance to net- ACCC’s future? She hopes the National work. The meeting resulted in Youth Choir will become an annual gather- the formation of the ACCC as a ing as it provides young singers with a great national body to serve the stepping-stone for beginning their profes- needs of choral conductors. The sional careers. "These talented young peo- ACCC was inaugurated in ple become tomorrow’s choral and opera Calgary in November 1980 with performers, conductors, music educators Robert Solem of Saskatoon as and church musicians," says Abbott. its first president. The associa- "Wouldn’t it be wonderful if some corporate tion has since grown healthily body with vision would support this proj- and now counts some 540 mem- ect?" Like most art organizations, the bers, who usually conduct more ACCC runs on a very limited budget. Abbott than one choir each. The dedi- hopes for enough funds to transform the cated board of directors Executive Directorship into a full-time position. includes a representative from Abbott’s passion for choral music is what each of the provincial choral The National Youth Choir gives her the energy to dedicate herself to associations, thus enhancing an the choral community. She says of Canadian aura of partnership and teamwork. choral work, choral recording, innovative spon- choral conductors, “They help to nurture The aims of the ACCC are to support and sorship and distinguished service. the bond between people in our communi- encourage participation and excellence in The ACCC’s magazine Anacrusis (a musical ties - who come from all walks of life and all choral music at all levels, to encourage the term referring to a conductor’s upbeat) is an layers of society - on a weekly basis in a way composition and performance of Canadian invaluable communication tool for members, that few other activities can. There is choral music and to cooperate with organiza- consisting of feature articles, choral news, nothing like getting together with others to tions with similar aims both provincially and reviews, conference details and dates of future re-create a beautiful piece of art with the internationally. Thus, providing appropriate choral festivals. Other publications include a personal instrument that is the voice, and training and resources to choral conductors is Membership and Professional Directory and then sharing that art within the larger key. Since its inception in 1982, PODIUM, a the Recommended Canadian Repertoire scope of a concert, worship service, or spe- biennial national conference for conductors, Series, featuring sacred, secular and folk cial event. It is very special and it happens offers workshops, master classes and concerts music. in every single community in Canada”. * of outstanding quality. One of the confer- As part of its anniversary celebrations, the In recognition of Abbott's immense con- ence's regular highlights is a performance by ACCC has inaugurated the 25-Year Club to tribution towards developing choral excel- the National Youth Choir (NYC). Inaugurated honour members who have been conducting lence in this country, she was awarded the by the ACCC in 1984, the NYC consists of for 25 years or more. At PODIUM 2006, a ACCC National Choral Award for four singers from each province selected by new category for the National Awards will be Distinguished Service in 2002, and a simi- audition. The 40 selected singers, aged 18 to added: choral dissertation or thesis. A new, lar award from the Alliance des chorales de 25, congregate in the PODIUM host city to exciting initiative will organize its members to Québec in 2004. rehearse intensively with the selected conduc- offer master classes for local conductors, tor for concerts there and throughout the thereby giving local choirs the chance to work * From In Their Own Words: Canadian host province. The NYC also gives workshops with different conductors. p Choral Conductors by Holly Higgins Jonas, in schools and acts as a lab choir for the con- Dundurn Press, which received the ACCC National Choral Award in 2002. 16 Winter 2006 tms_4-2_layout/17 11/15/05 12:38 AM Page 17

Funding a Music Education CHRISTOPHER BOURNE

Music support Music performance and promotion require a virtual army of support staffing, from ushers to front-of-house staff, and library assistants. Start with the school's concert hall then check local venues. uggling work, school and practising is always a challenge, but for Rates: $8 to $10/hr. many music students making ends meet means taking on a part- time job. Musical talent and knowledge can come in handy. Scholarships and Bursaries J LaScena Musicale looks at various ways students can fund their Many schools have entrance scholarship programs and some in-course musical training during the school year. awards for the top students. In addition, many community groups and organisations offer various assistance programs to encourage talented Paid gigs young musicians. Being paid to perform. This kind of work doubles as practice time, and students learn valuable lessons about a performer's life. Whether Tuition Rates Shopping playing in community ensembles, for weddings or funerals, singing in Tuition rates for music programs can vary greatly across Canada. local churches, joining groups, or busking in the metro, students earn Tuition rates do not necessarily reflect the quality of education. their keep while keeping their chops in musical form. Plunging into this Research what each school has to offer, and how a higher tuition rate world will help establish a network of contacts for later careers. benefits you. Quebec schools in particular are renowned for their rel- Rates: vary. atively low tuition rates for residents. Canadian students born outside Quebec should investigate ways of becoming a resident, which can be Teaching as simple as living in the province twelve months without going to Giving private lessons to beginners, junior musicians and adults is school full time. another answer. Although voice and piano are more in demand, there are students for most instruments. One can advertise with posters Teaching and Research Assistantships and classified ads in local papers and LSM, or join a music school. Graduate students and undergraduate seniors often have the option of Talented pianists can find work as accompanists for aspiring singers. working for a professor as either a teaching or a research assistant. Rates: $15 to $30/hr. Teaching assistants help out with larger undergraduate classes, often grad- ing assignments. Research assistants in music will rarely be involved in per- formance-related tasks, but rather ones involving music history, theory, or electronic music. p

he Borgani family have been crafting New in Instruments T saxophones for over 130 years CHRISTOPHER BOURNE as a tailor creates made-to- measure clothes, careful selec- he Choralex Compact, by The Black Folder, is slim and lightweight, with straps for both the tion of materials, high precision Tsupporting hand as well as across the bottom for larger scores. Up to twenty elasticized of manufacture, extreme care in chords run the length of the inner spine to hold folded music. all details. Their artisans cre- The entire affair is covered by a durable, one-piece back ate the instruments out of panel. a variety of precious metals, each with unique tonal qualities. Although the '130' limited edition has sold out, this company promises many onn-Selmer has introduced a new line of new innovations. Cwoodwind accessories that answer typical player complaints with creative new products. The new OTION™ music composition and perform- Fortissimo Multi-Instrument Stand is Nance software features samples of the compact enough to be stored safely London Symphony Orchestra recorded in Abbey inside a flute headjoint, yet cleverly Road Studios for unmatched playback, and unfolds into a secure, yet unobtrusive, NTEMPO™ real-time tempo and phrasing con- flute stand. The stand easily holds a piccolo as trol for live accompaniment. With intuitive well and, with a stand adapter, can also hold a soprano clarinet or notation, built-in sequencing and performance- oboe. quality playback in one program, it’s never been easier to realize music.

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Guillermo Silva-Marin: Dreaming Big

The dynamic stage director reflects on the past and anticipates the future.

JOSEPH SO

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enor, stage director, educator, administrator, impresario, TMS: What is the mandate of OIC? fundraiser, theatre buff – Puerto Rican-born Guillermo GSM: Two things: to present non standard and to promote the Silva-Marin, or “Bill Silva” as he is known to friends and development of young Canadian singers by presenting them in leading associates, admits to being a workaholic. Juggling the roles. The vision has expanded a little in the range of repertoire, but I responsibilities of three companies, Opera in Concert, haven’t strayed too much. That’s what gives OIC value and validity. Toronto Operetta Theatre, and Summer Opera Lyric Thirty-two years ago, there was the COC and not much more. OIC fit Theatre,T Silva is the proverbial multitasker. When I arrived to interview him nicely in the overall tapestry of the performing arts. Even though there at the Edward Jackman Centre, the new home of OIC and TOT, it was is more competition now, OIC still has a place because there is no opera Friday evening, when most people had already packed it in and left for the company in Canada that does 100% non-standard repertoire and fea- weekend. Not Bill – he was busy auditioning singers, in this case mezzo tures 100% Canadians. Michèle Bogdanowicz. His spacious office was nicely decorated with posters from previous productions, and a striking abstract canvas hung by TMS: What are the future challenges for OIC? the window. Family photos were displayed in one corner of a pleasantly GSM: We need to be more responsive to the community; to step up to cluttered desk, which was taken up by a huge computer, piles of paper- a new level. We are thinking of surtitles, and perhaps to do more pieces work, books, CDs and opera scores, including Bernstein’s Candide, which with orchestra. To the audiences who have resisted coming because it he was preparing for Opera McGill for the following Monday. Throughout is unknown repertoire and unknown singers, we need to tell them to the hour-long interview, our conversation was punctuated every once in a come and enjoy it as much as if they were going to Butterfly, Bohème or while by a loud ping from his computer, announcing the arrival of new e- Traviata. And I’d love to experiment with the semi-staged format, and mail. A self-professed night person, he was worried about having to get up with the cast having memorized the material. early enough to catch the train to Montreal. TMS: Have you done semi-staged productions before? GSM: It leaves at 6:50 am! I am an owl – if you let me I can sleep until GSM: I think Stuart did L’enfant et les Sortilèges with a bit of staging, and 10 or 11 in the morning. But I’ll get up grudgingly by 8, 8:30, and I don’t he did La voix humaine – the Poulenc opera and the Cocteau play, as a go to bed until 12 or 1 in the morning. double-bill, staged and memorized. There is repertoire that lends itself to experimentation and this is a new challenge for OIC. All this means money. TMS: You run three companies, you stage direct and you teach. Where do you find the energy? TMS: Speaking of money, Stuart told me he is amazed that you can GSM: I am crazy! (Laughter) I am one of those who burn the candle at do so much with so little money. Is finance a challenge? both ends. I am fascinated by the creative process of producing, of put- GSM: Yes – for what company isn’t it? It is a major struggle to find ting things together – that’s what keeps me going. I am motivated funding and we are battling with that. There used to be a time when the because I adore the art form. government was more generous to the arts but that is no longer the case. We look to the private sector like the Metcalf Foundation and TMS: How did you first get involved with Opera in Concert? other private corporations. We get a little bit of help from Sun Life GSM: When Stuart Hamilton started OIC in 1974, he approached me Financial. There is progress. I am an optimist and a romantic at heart. to understudy the lead in – I was a baritone then. As a silly Sometimes you have to be realistic, but you also have to dream – close young man, just graduated from the U of T opera school, I learned the your eyes and say you’ve got to do it! aria and a couple of duets, thinking that I would never get to do the role. I remember being on tour with the COC performing Faust in Ottawa TMS: Is that how OIC got its new home, the Edward Jackman when I got the call from Stuart: “The baritone is sick, and if you don’t Centre? know this role I am going to burn your house down!” That was a week GSM: We had trouble securing rehearsal space; we were nomads, basi- before the performance. cally. You have to provide artists with a space that is clean, safe, and conducive to the creative process. It got to a point that too many of TMS: I guess you learned it really fast! our venues were cancelled at the last minute. One of the locations was GSM: That’s how my career started in 1974. I was already a chorister. In a Presbyterian Church. We had been rehearsing in the banquet hall at those days you either joined the chorus, or packed your bags and went the back of the church, or in the sanctuary downstairs. But in a house to Europe. Most went to Germany. I tried that route but I couldn’t hack of God, if God needs the space, you are out on the street! One day I it. I came back and sang in the COC chorus. wandered up to this building (that belongs to the church) I didn’t know existed. There were all these little dusty, ugly rooms, but the space was TMS: You took over as director of OIC in 1994? empty. I called the church and found out they were looking for a ten- GSM: Yes. Twenty years later, Stuart said, “Enough, I want somebody ant, but we couldn’t afford their offer. I went to the board and did my else to do it!” I was still having a fairly good career as a soloist, but I had pushing and grunting and begging, saying we’ve got to do this for the already started with Toronto Operetta Theatre and was experimenting artists and for our own growth. That’s how it got done. We raised with staging. I was thrilled, of course – those were big shoes to fill. $30,000 to renovate the space, in exchange for a 10-year-lease from the church for very little. TMS: Stuart has great things to say about you… GSM: He is a friend and mentor, like he has been to so many singers. TMS: Would you say you are a big dreamer? He was so generous with me, and I take great pride in trying to be like GSM: Yeah… you have to dream. You have to dream but also be some- him. If I can do something of benefit to the artistic community, I would what realistic, and pull back until you can dream some more. like to do that.

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THIS PAGE: Silva-Marin as Bepe in I Pagliani OPPOSITE LEFT: Silva-Marin as Dandini in La Cenerentola OPPOSITE RIGHT: Silva-Marin teaching students early in his career

TMS: How does Toronto Operetta Theatre fit into all this? It has a TMS: What advice would you give to these aspiring professionals? very special niche, doesn’t it? GSM: They have to be absolutely prepared vocally. For some it may take five GSM: There is no other company like TOT in Canada. It sort of fell into my or ten years; for others it might just be a couple of years. Some just get up, lap and I wasn’t looking for it. In 1986-7, an organization produced Land of open their mouths and sing, and you ask, “how is this monster born?!” Smiles, and it was such a success with the audience that they felt they need- (laughs) Once that is done, they need to prepare dramatically. Today you ed to establish a company. They asked me to take it on. I knew that by tak- have directors who want Mimì to look consumptive and Mignon to look 15. ing on administration, it would have an impact on my career as a performer. If you are not 15, you need to use your body and your technique to por- But I was concerned that a lot of my colleagues weren’t getting work, and tray it, because stage directors and even conductors demand it. they weren’t getting stage experience to develop artistically. I firmly believe you learn as you go; you’ve got to get onstage. With TOT I could provide TMS: I find, generally speaking, singers don’t feel comfortable with the artistic community with another option – that’s what motivated me. their bodies. GSM: That’s because while actors spend most of their time dealing with TMS: As if that wasn’t enough, you also have Summer Opera Lyric their bodies, singers spend most of their time dealing with the two little Theatre. muscles (in their throat). Looking the part and casting by type have GSM: That also started in the late 80s. There are lots of opera singers become a problem for many. I tell singers that they have to have a realis- who do nothing in the summer, so it is a good time to recharge and to tic sense of where they fit in the art form. Of course they want to be able look at new things in terms of interpretation. We don’t teach voice – it to do Puccini, Wagner, Handel, Mozart – sometimes that’s impossible – is not a program to help singers sing, but to help singers find ways to not everybody can be a Renée Fleming! She is one of those not afraid of better conceive and interpret their roles through the structure of a the range that is there. Not everybody is born like a Maria Callas or a workshop. Various people, like Lorna Macdonald, Dixie Ross Neill, Stuart Pavarotti; these personalities are bigger than life. Let’s face it, the major- Hamilton, give master classes. I also have people like Marshall Pynkoski, ity of us belong to the general population of artists who earn a living who has a very special approach to acting that’s grounded in the singing and have satisfying careers (without being bigger than life). baroque style. In 2005, there are lots of demands on the performer. In Mozart’s time, they were performing in Italian and it would be their nat- TMS: Tell me how you came to be involved with Opera McGill. ural language. Today, artists have to know baroque, classical, romantic, GSM: In 1999, because of my involvement with training singers and verismo, and contemporary styles. As a performer myself, I can sympa- through my association with Bill and Dixie Ross Neill, I was called to teach thize and understand the challenges of young singers today. at McGill. We did a production of L’enfant in an experimental space – a

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converted swimming pool in a high school! Since then, I have staged Semele, L’Elisir d’amore, and Nozze di Figaro for them. In Nozze, I had Jonathan Carl, Frédérique Vezina, and Joshua Hopkins. My last full production there was , featuring some phenomenal singers. I had Jessica Muirhead as Ilia – she is now doing Pamina at the Volksoper. McGill has produced marvelous singers and it has been a privilege to work there.

TMS: Do you ever teach voice? GSM: I’ve been curious about it, but I am so busy that if I take on any more, I’m just going to die! (hearty laugh) I tell everybody that I don’t want a long-suffering illness. If I had my choice I would like to go like Leonard Warren: onstage. Very dramatic! Of course heaven knows what the future has in store. If I had my wish, I would just work and work and work with singers and to help them, and be involved in the whole aspect of the creative process.

Opera in Concert presents Samson et Dalilah by Camille Saint-Saëns, Sunday, December 4, 2005, and La Griselda by Antonio Vivaldi, on Sunday, January 29, 2006. Performances at 2:30 pm at the Jane Mallet Theatre, St Lawrence Centre. Tickets: Visit box office or call 416-366- Favourite Singers of all time - Oralia Dominguez, Maria Callas, 7723 or 1-800-708-6754, or buy online at box office hours (noon to Carlo Bergonzi, Alfredo Kraus and 6 pm, Monday - Saturday). Favourite Neglected composer - Rameau Toronto Operetta Theatre presents Wiener Blut by Johann Strauss, on Favourite work - Verdi's December 27, 28, 30, and 31, 2005, and January 4, 6, 7, and 8, 2006, Currently reading - Lee Strasberg's A Dream of Passion at the Jane Mallet Theatre, St Lawrence Centre. Evening performances Current Cell phone Ring tone - Horror! I am repelled by their at 8 PM, matinees at 2 pm. Tickets: call above phone numbers or buy sounds - any of them. online at www.torontooperetta.com * Choices subject to change.

My Baritone-Tenor Transition A change from baritone to tenor can be a daunting endeavour espe- cially if it happens during the course of a professional career, but it need BY GUILLERMO SILVA-MARIN not be as traumatic as it seems. Voice is generally defined by colour or My voice was classified as a lyric baritone early in my professional timbre rather than by range. Of course singing the "money" notes is career, with wide range and good agility. Two of my early successes always a plus when advancing to the international arena but first of all, were the role of Figaro in Rossini's Barber of Seville and the baritone any singer, regardless of where they find themselves classified, must solos in Orff's Carmina Burana, considered borderline roles in the deal with issues of vocal identity. This is never so clear during the early baritone repertoire. stages of development. In my case, I was always able to sing high notes. In the late 1970s I participated in the Bruce Yarnell Voice Having a bright timbre and an open approach to singing in the upper Competition (exclusively for baritones and basses) in . register facilitated a smooth switch to the tenor repertoire. Two of the three judges recommended to me that I should check out My biggest challenge was not so much technical as psychological. the tenor option. I was shocked and resisted their assessment but I Singing high occasionally is quite different from singing high perpetual- went ahead and consulted with Stuart Hamilton, Lotfi Mansouri ly. It requires not only an ability to stay up in the stratosphere but also (COC) and others in the business. The consensus was that I should a willingness to do so. I must admit that my willingness to change from try. I found excellent assistance with Daniel Ferro in New York and baritone to tenor was not as strong in the beginning of the process as tenor Carlo Bergonzi in Italy. By 1981 I made my tenor debut as Carlo it was later on. Once I faced the reality of my resistance and let go in Linda di Chamounix for OIC and the rest is left to history – New of my attachment to the baritone repertoire that was dear to me, it was York City Opera, the Met and continued work with COC. that much easier to succeed as a tenor. There are a significant precedent-setting number of voice changes A lot of young singers will find themselves in the predicament of from baritone, and mezzos for that matter – Carlo Bergonzi, Placido divergent opinions as to who and what they are. Singers should Domingo, Shirley Verrett, Grace Bumbry, to name a few – that sup- remain open to advice and respect those who are trustworthy and port these transitions. Young singers should not be afraid as long as savvy. Ultimately, singers must take ownership of their instruments there is clear and solid support on which to base consideration. and be happy with their personal choice, whatever it may be.

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HIGHER MUSIC EDUCATION Higher Music Education Guide 2005 To help students find information on music education, the edition of this month’s The Music Scene offers a guide to the major educational institutions in Canada. An information coupon is available on page 26. Happy searching!

NOVA SCOTIA Programs offered Facilities Description B. Mus.: Concentrations in The Dalhousie Arts Centre’s facilities Experience the opportunities of a Performance, Composition, History and include the Rebecca Cohn large campus with the personalized Literature, Contemporary Musics, Auditorium, Sir James Dunn Theatre, benefits of a small department. Instruction, & Self-Directed. teaching studios and classrooms, Located in vibrant Halifax, NS, the practice studios, recording studio, Dalhousie Music Department offers BA & B.Sc. combined honours, BA and computer lab. many program options and a high concentration in music, BA music & level of training from nationally and theatre. Teachers internationally known faculty DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC, 12 full-time, 26 part-time members. Many performance DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY All orchestral instruments, piano, Students opportunities and masterclasses. Room 514, 6101 University Ave voice, saxophone, and guitar. 125 full-time, 5-10 part-time Foundation preparatory classes and Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2 many music electives also offered. Phone: (902) 494-2418 Tuition fees Fax: (902) 494-2801 Domestic: $8,292 / year [email protected] International: $ 13,932 http://music.dal.ca QUEBEC Programmes offerts Studio de musique électroacoustique Étudiant étranger: entre 5 248 $ Baccalauréat en éducation musicale; Studio de musique ancienne et 5 833 $ par session (15 crédits), Baccalauréat en musique avec men- 47 studios d'enseignement selon le cycle et le domaine d'étude tion, selon le cas, en composition, en 117 studios de travail avec piano, Description histoire, en interprétation classique 3 orgues, 6 clavecins Établissement renommé dans les et en interprétation jazz et musique Bibliothèque de musique domaines de l'éducation musicale, la populaire; Certificat en culture musi- Professeurs musicologie, l'interprétation (clas- cale. 24 à temps plein sique, jazz et musique populaire), la FACULTÉ DE MUSIQUE DE Maîtrise en composition, didactique 120 à temps partiel didactique instrumentale et la com- instrumentale, éducation musicale, L’UNIVERSITÉ LAVAL Étudiants position. Instruments : bois et cui- Pavillon Louis-Jacques-Casault interprétation et musicologie. Doctorat vres, chant, cordes, guitare, luth, (Ph.D.) en éducation musicale et 280 à temps plein Québec, Québec G1K 7P4 150 à temps partiel orgue, percussion et piano. Téléphone : (418) 656-7061 musicologie. Microprogrammes Nombreuses activités artistiques Télécopieur : (418) 656-7365 Frais de scolarité présentées chaque année : concerts, [email protected] Installations Étudiant canadien: entre 1 048 $ concours, conférences, cours de www.mus.ulaval.ca/ Deux salles de concert et 2 539 $ par session (15 crédits), maître, etc. (240 et 680 places) selon le cycle d'étude et le lieu de Laboratoire d'informatique musicale résidence

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Programs offered 100 practice rooms School of Music of McGill University. B.Mus., B.A. Marvin Duchow Music Library This 20 million dollar gift will create Licentiate, Artist Diploma Centre for Interdisciplinary Research approximately 40 Schulich scholars M. Mus., M.A. in Music Media and Technology annually, as well as two endowed D. Mus., Ph.D. Teachers chairs, and additional scholarshop Undergraduate and Graduate pro- 50 full-time, 150 part-time and facilities support.Canada’s grams in Performance, Orchestral Students: 840 largest university-level music school Training, Opera, Jazz, Early Music, 600 undergraduate combines professional training with Composition, Musicology, 240 graduate outstanding undergraduate and Education, Technology, Tuition fees graduate education. Building on a SCHULICH SCHOOL OF MUSIC OF Theory, Sound Recording. Quebec students: $1,700 strong base of studio and classroom MCGILL UNIVERSITY Facilities Non-Quebec students: $4,500 teaching, McGill is renowned for its 555 Sherbrooke W. 3 concert halls (600/200/177 seats) International students: $12,500 ensemble programs and for its Montreal, Quebec H3A 1E3 100-seat lecture hall Description award-winning creative and research Phone: (514) 398-4535 Recording studios Recently, an unprecedented philan- work in humanities-based and Fax: (514) 398-8061 Digital Composition Studio thropic gift resulted in the naming of scientific-technical study of music. www.mcgill.ca/music Music Technology Labs the Faculty of Music to the Schulich Programs offered Facilities Description Bachelor’s degree: General, Salle Claude-Champagne (1000-seat Welcomes the most graduate Musicology, Performance (classical, concert hall), two other concert halls, students of all music faculties in jazz), Composition, Writing electroacoustic and multitrack compo- Canada. Partners with foreign insti- sition studios tutions for exchange programs. Master’s degree: Musicology, Faculty Scholarships available at all levels. Ethnomusicology, Performance, 142 (professors and instructors) Substantial research on musicology, Composition, Conducting popular music, performance and FACULTY OF MUSIC Students: 685 Diplôme d’études supérieures Undergraduate: 424 creation, including through the UNIVERSITÉ DE MONTRÉAL Laboratoire de recherche sur les P.O. Box 6128, succursale Centre-ville spécialisées (specialized graduate Graduate: 261 diploma) in Performance (classical, Tuition musiques du monde Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7 (ethnomusicology) and the Telephone: (514) 343-6427 jazz), Orchestral Repertory (per full-time semester, bachelor’s) Quebec residents: $835 Observatoire international de la Fax: (514) 343-5727 Doctorate: Musicology, création musicale (XXth century [email protected] Canadians from outside Quebec: $2,326 Ethnomusicology, Performance, Foreign: $5,620 music). [email protected] Composition, Conducting www.musique.umontreal.ca Programs offered Cultural Centre of the University of of Music students all aim to meet the B. Mus. in Performance (Classical Sherbrooke (1900 seats). demands of the professional sphere and Jazz), Music and Culture, Music Centre de Longueil: large classroom while producing versatile and self- Education, and Multimedia) and document center. sufficient musicians; witness the high Certificate in Musical Culture Faculty number of the school’s graduates Artist Diploma in Performance and in 5 full time, 30 part time currently working in the musical field. Choral Conducting Students The Artist Diploma in Music Facilities 94 full time, 67 part time Performance allows students to University of Sherbrooke Campus: develop their autonomous skills while SCHOOL OF MUSIC, UNIVERSITY Tuition Auditorium Serge-Garant (85 seats), 1 year, 30 credits: approx. $2,500 producing diversified and complete OF SHERBROOKE 2500 University Blvd. music library, four classrooms includ- Description artistic portfolios. The program Sherbrooke, Quebec J1K 2R1 ing a percussion studio and a jazz Ever vigilant of new developments in includes concert performance in combo studio, one computer lab, one the world of musical study, the venues across the region. Several Telephone : (819) 821-8040 electronic piano studio, and individ- University of Sherbrooke’s School of specializations are possible. FAX: (819) 821-7635 [email protected] ual practice, chamber music, and Music is renowned for its vitality and http://www.usherbrooke.ca/musique instrumental instruction studios. for the high quality of its programs. Certain concerts take place in the The five options available to Bachelor Undergraduate Programs Digital 16-track Recording Studio Description Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Oscar Peterson Concert Hall - Concordia's Music Department pro- BFA in Electroacoustic Studies 600 seats vides a rich environment for students BFA in Integrative Music Studies from diverse backgrounds to perform, Specialization in Jazz Studies Teachers compose and improvise in different Specialization in Music 10 full-time languages including jazz, classical, Performance Studies 53 part-time and elecroacoustics. The focus on Specialization in Music Composition contemporary music is informed by a MUSIC DEPARTMENT Students Minor in Electroacoustic Studies 176 full-time diversity of historical styles and gen- of CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY Minor in Music res studied through analysis, history, Faculty of Fine Arts 110 part-time 10 graduate and performance. The vibrant Faculty Music Department - Refectory Building Graduate Program of Fine Arts provides excellent oppor- 7141 Sherbrooke West Diploma in Advanced Music Tuition fees tunities for collaborations. Montreal, Quebec H4B 1R6 Performance Studies 1 academic year, full-time: Phone: (514) 848-2424 ext. 4705 Canadian - QC Resident: $2,637.60 FAX: (514) 848-2808 Facilities: Canadian - Non-QC Resident: [email protected] 7 Electroacoustic Studios $4,827.60 music.concordia.ca

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Programs offered Teachers Description DEC in music (2-year pre-university 3 full-time Building on a tradition of excellence program) 35 part-time at Marianopolis, music students Double DECs in Music and Science; benefit from the program's Music and Social Science; Music and Students association with the Faculty of Music Creative Arts, Literature and 35 full-time at McGill. The size of the department Languages allows for individual attention from (3-year pre-university programs) Tuition fees teachers and for a warm personal 1 academic year, full-time: atmosphere. All music students take MARIANOPOLIS COLLEGE Facilities $3,080 private lessons with instructors at 3880, Côte-des-Neiges Recital hall with two grand pianos International students: McGill University. Students also Montreal, Quebec H3H 1W1 Music computer lab $4,714 additional participate in the University Phone: (514) 931-8792 Digital sound recording equipment orchestra, choirs, wind symphony Fax: (514) 931-8790 Practice rooms and other large and small www.marianopolis.edu Access to McGill University Faculty of ensembles. Music library and practice rooms ONTARIO Programs offered: Undergraduate Technology & research: the newly intimate atmosphere, and our programs include the Baccalaureate opened 1.3 million dollar Piano facilities are the envy of many of Music and the Baccalaureate of Pedagogy Research Laboratory, institutions. Performance Arts honours and concentration, electronic music studio, music and opportunities for students abound, which can be combined with a con- computers lab, and the latest both within the department centration in arts administration, recording technology (orchestra, concert wind ensemble, and a certificate in piano pedagogy. Library: Isobel Firestone Music opera, choirs and many other The programs include options in per- Resource Centre ensembles) and in the greater formance, music education, piano Nb of faculty (full-time): 19 community, thanks to close ties with pedagogy, composition, theory and Nb of faculty (part-time): 48 arts organizations such as the Department of Music musicology. Graduate programs Nb of full-time students: 247 Ottawa Symphony Orchestra and University of Ottawa include the Master of Music, Master Nb of part-time students: 48 Opera Lyra Ottawa. With a campus 50 University Street, Room103 of Arts and two new Graduate Tuition fees (1 academic year, full- located in the heart of the national Certificates in Orchestral Studies and time): $4,603.89(undergraduate); capital, our students find it easy to Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 Piano Pedagogy Research. $4,147.98 (graduate) enjoy the bilingual and multicultural Phone:613-562-5733 Performance venues: Freiman Our faculty is constituted of active milieu of the region and the rich Fax: 613-562-5140 Recital Hall and Tabaret Hall performers on the national and cultural life of Ottawa, home of the [email protected] Rehearsal studios: two large international scene and scholars at world’s largest Chamber Music www.music.uottawa.ca rehearsal halls and dozens of prac- the top of their fields. Small classes, Festival. www.musique.uottawa.ca tice studios in English and French, create an Undergraduate Programs Students music pedagogy. Studio options BFA Honours in Music (performance, 411 undergraduate, 55 graduate include instrumental and vocal composition) Tuition fees performance in western classical BA Major, Minor and Honours in (1 academic year, full-time): music, jazz, contemporary repertoire, Music (history, theory) Undergraduate - $4,180 (domestic) world music, improvisation, electro- Graduate Programs Graduate - $4,860 (domestic) acoustic, digital and popular music. MA in Musicology; Ethnomusicology; Description The department showcases student Composition; Jazz Studies; Popular Based in Canada’s largest Faculty of and faculty talent in more than 125 Music Studies Fine Arts, York’s Music Department public concerts each year. DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC PhD in Ethnomusicology/Musicology; offers comprehensive programs Performances include solo recitals, 4700 Keele St. Jazz Studies; Popular Music Studies integrating intensive studio training chamber ensembles, jazz workshops, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3 Combined MBA/MA in Music and academic studies across a wide more than a dozen different world Phone: (416) 736-5186 Faculty range of musical cultures and music ensembles, the York University traditions. Streams of study combine symphony orchestra, concert choir, Fax: (416) 736-5321 102: 23 full-time, 88 part-time. courses in music history and theory, women’s choir and world music [email protected] Facilities performance, contemporary technolo- chorus, electronic orchestra, wind www.yorku.ca/finearts/music New Music Department building in 2006 with specialized instruction, gies, musicianship, composition and symphony and four jazz choirs. rehersal and performance facilities. arranging, ethnomusicology and Undergraduate Programs Theatre (seats 815), Electroacoustic music studies. Each year we attract BMus – Performance (Classical & and Recording studios outstanding young musicians from Jazz), Composition, Education, Keyboard labs, extensive practice across Canada and around the world. History & Theory rooms, one of Canada’s largest and As part of the , Artist Diploma most complete libraries in North our students have access to all of the Diploma in Operatic Performance America. services, diversity, and intellectual Advanced Certificate in Performance Teachers opportunities of the largest research Graduate Programs Full Time – 45, Part Time - 150 university in Canada. Master of Music – Performance Students Many of our graduates are now suc- FACULTY OF MUSIC, UNIVERSITY (Classical, Jazz & Opera), 550 cessful performers, educators, com- OF TORONTO Composition, & Education Tuition fees posers… A large part of that suc- Edward Johnson Building Master of Arts – History & Theory Undergraduate Full Year (Sept. – May) cess comes from the complete musi- 80 Queen’s Park Doctor of Music – Composition, $5,149.86 - Domestic cal education that the Faculty of Music provides. The Faculty of Music Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C5 History & Theory $14,124.71 - International Doctor of Philosophy – Education, ensures that our students receive the Phone: (416) 978-3741 Description History & Theory finest instruction for musical excel- Fax: (416) 946-3353 The Faculty of Music has a great tra- Facilities dition and reputation as one of the lence within a supportive community [email protected] Walter Hall (seats 425), MacMillan environment. www.music.utoronto.ca finest institutions in North America for

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BRITISH COLUMBIA Programs offered Historical Musicology, Tuition fees B.Mus. in Composition, Opera, Voice, Ethnomusicology, Music Theory) B. Mus. (30 credits) $4,092 Guitar, Harpsichord, Music Diploma in Collaborative Piano Studies (Canadian, landed immigrants) Scholarship, Orchestral Instruments, Diploma in Music Performance B. Mus. (30 credits) $16,634 (non- Organ, Piano and General Studies. Facilities Canadians, visa students) B.A. Major, Minor and Honours in Recital Hall (289 seats) Description Music The Chan Centre for the Performing Situated within a large university Graduate Programs Arts (1200 seats) with extensive research and learning M. Mus. in Composition, Piano, Gessler Hall (80 seats) resources on a campus near ocean SCHOOL OF MUSIC, UNIVERSITY Orchestral Instruments, Organ, Practice studios and mountains, the UBC School of OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Harpsichord, Guitar, Opera, Voice, Computer music studio Music offers you an inspiring setting, 6361 Memorial Road and Choral Conducting. Music library many program options, and a high Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z2 M.A. in Musicology, Music Theory, and Multimedia centre level of training from dedicated and Phone: (604) 822-3113 Ethnomusicology Teachers internationally respected faculty Fax: (604) 822-4884 D.M.A. in Composition, Piano, Voice 29 full-time, 60 part-time members plus masterclasses and [email protected] and Orchestral Instruments Students workshops from renowned guest www.music.ubc.ca Ph.D. in Musicology (concentrations: 260 undergraduate, 100 graduate artists, composers and scholars. Programs offered Self-directed studies: instruction at Tuition fees Post-secondary Foundation Year (1 all levels in piano, voice, orchestral Foundation Year:$4,000 (Domestic) year) and Diploma in Music (2 years): instruments, theory, composition. $9,600 (International). majors in Piano, Collaborative Piano, Ensembles, chamber music, Opera Diploma in Music: $5,000 (Domestic) Violin, Viola, Cello, Classical Guitar, Studio, master classes. $12,000 (International). Flute, Voice, Composition, Jazz Studies. Teacher Training: $2,000 plus fees for Facilities Teacher Training: majors in Piano, Alix Goolden Performance Hall (800 Theory and individual instruction. Violin, Viola, Cello, Classical Guitar, seats) Open Studio $900 VICTORIA CONSERVATORY OF Flute, Voice. Robin and Winifred Wood Recital Hall Fees may change, please consult website Description MUSIC Summer Vocal Academy and (100 seats) The Victoria Conservatory of Music 900 Johnson Street Summer String Academy: master Teaching and practice studios, provides professional music Victoria, British Columbia V8V 3N4 classes with renowned guest artists, ensemble rehearsal rooms, Music education and outstanding individual instruction, and Library Phone: (250) 386-5311 performance venues in a beautiful performance opportunities. Fax: (250) 386-6602 Faculty century-old heritage building. [email protected] Summer Jazz Workshop: big band 162 Students benefit from small classes, www.vcm.bc.ca and combo experience with Students considerable one-on-one instruction, established jazz artists. 50 full-time, 2000 part-time and performance opportunities.

Thursday 5:30 - 6:30 pm January 19 or by appointment

John Molson School of Business Concordia University

2708 Email: [email protected]

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SUMMER INSTITUTES Programs offered Faculty Description An intensive 14-day residency in 27 full-time, including Jeanne Led by some of the world's leading baroque period performance with a Lamon, Music Director; Ivars Taurins, period performance specialists, the focus on orchestral and choral Chamber Choir Director; Charlotte institute includes: master classes; performance. Programme is available Nediger, Artistic Coordinator. private lessons; rehearsals for for voice, flute, oboe, bassoon, orchestra and choir members as well trumpet, harpsichord, violin, viola, Students as chamber ensembles; classes in cello, bass, viola d’amore, lute and 75 full-time baroque opera, dance, and continuo; conductors/directors. lectures and reading sessions; and TAFELMUSIK BAROQUE SUMMER Tuition fees faculty and participant concerts. INSTITUTE JUNE 7-20, 2006 $995 - full institute 427 Bloor St W Facilities Toronto, ON M5S 1X7 Takes place at the Faculty of Music $650 - conductors programme Phone: (416) 964-9562 at the University of Toronto. Several Fax: (416) 964-2782 classrooms, performance spaces, scholarships available [email protected] and practice rooms available. http://www.tafelmusik.org

Programs offered Students The 6th annual Conductors’ Young Artists’ Programme: more than 70 students Programme provides a valuable June 12 to July 1, 2006 opportunity in Canada for conductors Conductors’ Programme: Faculty to develop under the expert guidance June 20 - 29, 2006 Pinchas Zukerman, artistic director, of accomplished orchestra leaders with 19 professors and to rehearse and conduct Tuition Fees Canada’s National Arts Centre $2500 - Young Artists’ Programme Description Orchestra. CANADA’S NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE (includes room and board) The NAC’s 8th annual Young Artists’ SUMMER MUSIC INSTITUTE 53 Elgin St $1500 - Conductors’ Programme Programme, directed by Pinchas Ottawa, ON K1P 5W1 (participant) Zukerman, seeks to identify and fos- Phone: 613-947-7000 ext 568 $350 - Conductors Programme ter young, exceptional musical talent Fax: 613-943-1400 (auditor) through intensive instruction with a [email protected] respected and internationally www.nac-cna.ca renowned faculty. Information Request Coupon All requests for information will be forwaded to the selected institutions .

This coupon is also available at www.scena.org

❍ Memorial University ❍ University of Ottawa Name ❍ Dalhousie University ❍ York University Address ❍ Université Laval ❍ University of Toronto ❍ Université de Montréal ❍ University of British Columbia ❍ Université de Sherbrooke ❍ Victoria Conservatory of Music ❍ McGill University ❍ Domaine Forget E-mail ❍ Concordia University ❍ National Arts Centre ❍ Collège Marianopolis ❍ Tafelmusik send to 5409, rue Waverly, Montréal QC H2T 2X8

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McGill Music renamed Schulich Donation levels playing field at Yale School of Music Music School On September 30th, McGill University's The Yale School of Music has recently Education Faculty of Music officially announced it will be remov- opened a new building and at ing the financial burden of the same time was renamed the tuition on its undergraduate Notes Schulich School of Music for and graduate students effec- businessman and philanthropist tive September 2006. This professor at the University of Rochester's Seymour Schulich. The new announcement came in Eastman School of Music: "When a precedent building designed by architect response to a $100-million is set by a major school of music, others are Gilles Saucier houses a state-of- (U.S.) donation from an going to have to look at the possibility and re- the-art recording rehearsal facil- anonymous source, which evaluate their fundraising efforts to go this ity, the music library and a 200 effectively eliminated the way." M V seat recital hall. Forty percent of university's financial need to Mr. Schulich’s $20 million dona- continue to collect the cur-

tion was applied to financing Schulich School of Music rent $23,750 (U.S.) per year the Tanna Schulich recital hall, in tuition from its students. Fine Arts Faculty receives $1.2 with the remaining 60% being "It will be an important Million Donation invested to annually generate wake-up call to all schools University of Calgary alumnus John Lefebvre $400,000 for bursaries and scholarships. The that graduate students, by nature, are poor has donated $1.2 million to the Fine Arts Schulich School of Music hopes to rival none and need help," said Richard Killmer, an oboe Faculty at the U of C. Lefebvre studied law less than New York’s Juilliard. C B at the U of C in the late 1970s. During that time he was active in the music department. He believes those musical experiences were CLASSIFIED ADS crucial to his success in his law studies. He and other major opera houses. Visit made this gift because, he says, “Art is a FOR SALE www.immortalperformances.org MUSICIANS VIOLONS - ALTOS - VIOLONCELLES - WANTED way for people to step up and express ARCHETS / VIOLINS - VIOLA - VIOLON- Just Graduated as a Performance themselves as human beings. Every time you CELLOS - BOWS Réglage / Sound Major? What are your next steps to do that, it makes you a better person. And adjustment. Achat-vente / Buy-Sales. DONATIONS DONATE TO THE MUSIC SCENE / LA launch, sustain and advance your every time you hear or see the expression Montreal: career? You've invested four years, now 514-827-3163. [email protected] SCENE MUSICALE a registered charity of somebody else, it touches you, and you th invest four hours. CULTURAL SUPPORT USA: 203-453-2011, Michel Gagnon, promoting music, now in our 10 year. become a better person. Cultured people In addition to cash donations, we are SERVICES: Fine Violins Ltd www.fineviolinsltd.com 519-662-3499, [email protected] are compassionate people.” looking for used computers and soft- The donation will be used to establish ware. Our current needs include Filemaker Pro Server 3 for Windows. MISCELLANEOUS four new entrance scholarships for Fine Arts RECORDINGS Visit http://donations.scena.org for a students, one each in music, drama, dance DISCOVER THE FINEST in historic P, ILY, Z full list of our needs. A tax receipt for broadcast recordings. Gems from the and art. It will also fund the John Peter Lee the fair market value will be issued. Metropolitan Opera, Toscanini, Russian Roberts Distinguished Professorship in Fine Arts, the Joyce and Quentin Doolittle Fine 12 $ / 120 characters • 5 $ / 40 additional characters Arts Studio, and special projects. K H Tel.: (514) 948-2520 [email protected]

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Personal reminiscences of a great artist on the occasion of her 76th year

Left: publicity headshot BY JOSEPH SO Upper right: Maureen Forrester Remembering singing with Ruth Morawetz at the piano Bottom: Maureen Forrester and Quebec Premier Jean Charest in April 2004

Maureen Forrester, one of the greatest contraltos in the I have learned that in the intervening 18 months, her health Maureenworld, turned 75 last July. I remember her birthday well, as it was has seriously deteriorated. Like other dementia sufferers, her ill- around that time five years ago that I wrote a tribute to her, on ness has robbed her of the most precious thing in life. Recently, a the occasion of her receiving the first Opera Canada (Creative friend, pianist Ruth Morawetz, and I went to see her at a long-term Artist) Award. I vividly recall that interview, at a residence for care facility where she resides. On the door to her room is the retired artists in downtown Toronto on a sunny summer morning. cover of her 1956 New York Town Hall debut recital program, with Then 70 years old, she felt she still had a lot to give. My most a beautiful picture of the young singer. It was a warm and sunny Mvivid memory of that conversation was when she smilingly afternoon, so we decided to push her wheelchair down to the quipped, “I tell people that the day they put me in a box, I’d lovely garden courtyard. It is always difficult to gauge one’s level probably open the door and say, ‘Hey wait a minute, here’s of awareness, but I felt an inexplicable urge to “reach” her. We sat another song!’” face to face, making eye contact, and I held her hand. I told her Five years is a long time in Maureen Forrester’s life. Although how much I loved her singing, how much her voice had meant to the public was unaware at the time, people in the “industry” me and to countless others over the years. We sat mostly in essentially knew that she had been ill for some time. I think that silence amidst the flowers and the gentle breezes. “You sweet man interview might have been the last one she gave formally. The – warm…” she said out of the blue, before remaining silent again media have always been protective of her and her privacy. Even for the rest of my visit. I was stunned by her words. It was a bit- today, most of us prefer to remember her for the way she was – a tersweet moment. great artist and a warm human being, with a quick wit, easy smile It seems trite to say it: flesh decays but art lives on. For those and a hearty laugh. It seems so strange that she should be a vic- of us who enjoyed the artistry of Maureen Forrester, we are fortu- tim of the dreaded disease of dementia. I had not seen her since nate to have it preserved in recordings, films, and, in her autobi- April 2004, at a ceremony at which Quebec premier Jean Charest ography Out of Character – words. In a career that lasted half a bestowed on Maureen the Order of Quebec. Although she didn’t century, her recorded legacy is huge, some elements dating back speak a word, it was almost vintage Maureen that afternoon – all to the earliest days. She made her professional debut in Montreal decked out in full regalia and looking like a million dollars. in 1951, in Elgar’s The Music Makers, and her opera debut as a

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sewing girl in Charpentier’s Louise in 1953. Good things happened shortly after: singing in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Montreal under Otto Klemperer, Messiah in Toronto, her European debut in Paris in 1955 and her New York debut in 1956. A defining moment came in February,1957, when the great Bruno Walter chose her as the soloist in Mahler’s Second Symphony, in performanc- es that marked Walter’s farewell. In her long career, Forrester sang for many other great conductors including Barbirolli, Beecham, Bernstein, Karajan, Krips, Reiner, and Stokowski, but her collaboration with Walter had the greatest impact on her career. Under his tutelage, Forrester became one of the most celebrated Mahler interpreters of our time. Her “Abschied” from Das Lied von der Erde is supremely moving. So it is too bad that for contractual reasons, Forrester – an RCA artist at the time – was unable to record it with Walter for Columbia. Fortunately, a live recording of Walter’s very last Das Lied with Forrester and Richard Lewis, taped in Carnegie Hall in 1960, is available on CD (Music & Arts 4206). In its prime, the Forrester voice is best described as a force of nature – a big sound that comes from deep with- PHOTO: JOSEPH SO in and envelops the listener with its smooth, opulent, dark Council (1983-88). By the timbre, in a range that descends from mezzo-soprano 1990s, she had scaled back highs to the most resonant of contralto lows, all employed her international activities, with intelligence and musicianship. Besides being a superb but continued to be active Mahlerian, Forrester was a fine exponent of the music of on the concert stage. In the the great masters spanning three centuries, from Bach and mid 90s, composer-pianist Handel to Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Schumann, David Warrack wrote Strauss, Wagner, Rachmaninoff, and 20th century com- Interpretations of a Life, a posers. Despite her international fame – in her heyday she collection of bittersweet gave 120 performances a year on five continents – she songs based on material remained quintessentially Canadian, averaging 30 per- from her life and career. The formances a year in her home country. She toured China two took it on tour across and Japan as a representative of Canada on several occa- Canada and the songs are sions. Many Canadian composers like Srul Irving Glick, recorded on CD. As her ill- Oskar Morawetz, and R. Murray Schafer, wrote music espe- ness advanced, she per- cially for her. formed only occasionally. To Primarily a concert artist, the bulk of Forrester’s oper- the best of my knowledge, atic performances happened fairly late in her career. Still, her final public performance she was a noted Brangaene (captured on video with Jon was a full-length benefit Vickers and Roberta Knie from Montreal), Dame Quickly, concert for the Toronto Erda, Ulrica, Madame Flora, the Old Countess in Pique Sinfonietta in June, 2001. Dame, Herodias, Klytemnestra, and the Old Prioress in With the help of friends and Dialogues of the Carmelites. Her searing portrayal of family, she continued to Madame de Croissy in her death throes in a Canadian appear as guest at various Opera Company production of the Poulenc opera is public functions and galas. unforgettable. Despite possessing histrionic skills to wring Research tells us that the last tears from an audience, Forrester was a happy per- long-term memory is the son in public. Her entrance into a room was announced last to go – Maureen con- PHOTO: JOSEPH SO with her resonant speaking voice, her infectious, hearty tinues to respond to the sound of music. I recall a concert laugh followed by her smiling face. “I never had any prob- given by soprano Mirela Tafaj in a private home in lems with conductors. They like me because I show up on Maureen’s presence about three years ago. She not only time, know my part, and I am cheerful.” came alive and responded vividly to the singing, but It is doubtful that any Canadian classical singer is as shared the finer points of vocal production, her tricks of decorated as Maureen Forrester. The recipient of 30 hon- the trade as it were, with the singer after the concert. orary degrees, she was named Companion of the Order of Later she sat by the piano to join in a round of familiar Canada (1967), was Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier songs. Once again, she was in her element. This is how I University (1986-90), and served as chair of the Canada would like to remember Maureen Forrester. p

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ness, the couple prepares to part. “It is a rather “What is amazing though, is what Brünnhilde is odd situation really,” Albery describes, “with talking about. Here we are, at the end of a six HUMANITY Brünnhide playing both wife and mother roles, hour opera at the end of this massive cycle, sending Siegfried out into the world saying, and she basically dismisses the whole story as AND ‘Well then, I’ve taught you everything, now off irrelevant. It is the supreme act of abnegation you go and be good.’” where she essentially says, ‘Gods are all well Siegfried rides down the Rhine to the king- and good as symbols, but ultimately, we COMPLEXITY dom ruled by Gunther, his sister Gutrune (the humans need to transcend the mess of greed, Twilight for our Times Gibichungs) and their half-brother Hagen. lust and ambition ourselves if we are to survive.’ Hagen is the human son of Wotan’s arch-neme- She is the real heroine of the Ring Cycle BY MISHA ASTER sis, Alberich, and himself has designs on the because of this message; she is the one who fabled ring. Hagen instigates a plot to destroy understands that it is love that takes us closer ohengrin’s a feeble piece of drama.” Tim Siegfried and Brünnhilde, betrothing each to to the Gods.” Albery is not one to pull his punches. A his ineffectual half-siblings with the aid of a Speaking of production designer and L tall string-bean of a man with a devilish- potion. “The central problem of Rheingold director Michael Levine, Albery com- ly quick wit and a veritable encyclopedia of Götterdammerung is really quite simple: ments, “It really is his Ring. We have worked par- knowledge swirling behind narrow, attentive Siegfried forgets who he is married to,” Albery ticularly closely as Götterdammerung pairs with eyes, the British-Canadian stage director is wryly remarks. “The drink, however, is really just Rheingold, both dramatically and metaphorically. unfazed by the scale of the task before him. A a metaphor. Brünnhilde and Siegfried live in a The entire Cycle is imagined as a journey from few weeks prior to commencing rehearsals for kind of mother-son relationship, she providing Rheingold in the 19th Century to the Canadian Opera Company’s new produc- him with warmth, comfort, safety, but none of Götterdammerung in the 21st, but in tion of ’s epic the instinctive, sexual, sensual need the myste- Götterdammerung, some characters, such as Götterdammerung, Albery, the only member of rious Gudrune presents. She is like a first girl- Alberich, remain as remnants from previous times, the COC’s Ring Team to have already done a friend who gets forgotten when someone new while other things will happen that will not make Ring Cycle reviews his past encounters with the and more exciting appears on the scene. The sense until Rheingold [which Toronto audiences German composer: “I saw Chereau’s Ring potion is just a plot device facilitating an expe- will only see in Sept. 2006].” A number of other (Bayreuth, 1976) on television, then I saw rience many of us know. “visual linkages” can also be expected in Richard Jones’s cycle at Covent Garden in the Hagen cons Brünnhilde into revealing Brünnhilde, “who will continue to be encumbered mid-1990s. I did at ENO, but that Siegfried’s mortal weakness, then stabs the by the weight of her past,” while a connection will experience just gave me a greater appreciation hero in the back while on a hunting expedition. be revealed between the Rheinmaidens at the for the Ring. One can see how Wagner’s drama Brünnhilde, meanwhile, has learned about end of the culminating opera and the three mys- developed from a rather rudimentary tussle Hagen’s treachery from the Rheinmaidens, and tical Norns who preface it. between light and dark (Lohengrin) into some- in the Cycle’s climactic scene, commits her As for the cataclysmic final scene, Albery is thing much more subtle and complex.” husband’s body to a great funeral pyre before coy, yet remains true to his credo of the time- In Götterdammerung, the Gods have grown charging into the roaring inferno herself. The liness in the timeless. “Every generation finds in weak over the preceding episodes, and the pyre’s flames rise up to consume Walhalla while the Götterdammerung a new beginning. It was focus now shifts to a world inhabited almost the Rhine River breaks its banks and floods the true in 1919 or in 1946, and is true also today. exclusively by humans. At the end of Siegfried, world. Hagen drowns cursing the With the growth of fundamentalism, and our the hero of the title discovers and weds Rheinmaidens, who return the ring to the awareness of the frightening force of nature,” Brünnhilde, Wotan’s disgraced Walküre daugh- watery bosom from where the Rheingold first he says, “there is an inherent sense of unease ter, crowning their love with the cursed came. “The last quarter among people. No matter how you choose to Nibelung ring. As Götterdammerung begins, hour of Götterdammerung present it theatrically, depicting the annihila- Siegfried is feeling restless, and Brünnhilde is comprises some of the tion of the world will powerfully resonate with experiencing dis- most evocative and an audience that knows our tentative hold on quieting pre- thrilling music ever this world is largely due to our own follies. As monitions. written,” says Albery. Brünnhilde warns, the Gods are over. We can Vowing eter- no longer rely on mythology to solve our prob- nal faithful- lems. ‘Dämmerung’ in German means twilight both at sunrise and sunset. Through this ambivalence, she offers us the chance at a new beginning.” With opera at its most complex yet most utterly human, direc- tor and heroine throw down the gauntlet: now it is our responsibility. p

Wagner’s Götterdammerung, Tim Albery (right) with fellow members of the Canadian Opera Company, directed Ring Cycle creative team Michael Levine by Timothy Albery. www.coc.ca (centre) and Richard Bradshaw (left) ; Behind: 416 - 363-8231. Jan. 30, Feb. 2, 4, 7, Gotterdammerung production sketches 10 , & 12

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Winter 2006 Concert Picks Previews

Bramwell Tovey Susan Platts The Gryphon Trio Brett Polegato

Victoria Preview Music group performs Feb. 12. On the same soprano Jennie Such, alto Susan Platts, tenor JOHN DEFAYETTE day, the Symphony plays Reel Music. Piano Colin Balzer and bass Gregory Dahl. The VCC lovers should note that May Link Kwok is the will be joined by the eminently capable Laudate Living in Victoria, you very often hear people soloist at the Sidney Classical Orchestra con- Singers and accompanied by the CBC Radio commenting on how lucky they are. This will be cert Feb. 17. The Early Music group performs a Orchestra conducted by the VCC’s founding especially true for music lovers in the upcom- Violin Sonata on Feb. 18 while the Symphony music director, Jon Washburn. Performances are ing 2006 season. The Cathedral Festival performs Handel, Mozart and Schubert Feb. Dec. 9-10 at the Orpheum Theatre. Orchestra rings in New Year’s Day with 19 . A v enta has an innovative programme of U. But Christmas is not over for the VCC with "" at the Cathedral. Aventa and the Vic. composers Feb. 19-21. And not to be Messiah. On Dec. 16 and 18 (the latter at 3 pm), Victoria Symphony are next, Jan. 7, with the missed is the Youth Orchestra pairing up with the choir presents “Here Are We in Bethlehem: a Ligetti Chamber Concerto. The following day, the Victoria Symphony for Mahler's First Healey Willan Christmas” at Ryerson United the Symphony presents Tango Nuevo. The Symphony Feb. 26-27. Church to commemorate the increasingly popu- Conservatory hosts a local and well-known Although we can never tell whether March will lar composer’s birthday 125 years ago. Organist pianist, Robert Holliston, on the 14th, and a come in as a lamb or a lion, there will probably Bryn Nixon and harpist Rita Costanzi will add faculty concert, Romantic Strings, on the 15th. be many spring flowers in bloom on the 1st, with sonic variety to a generous offering of Willan’s The Victoria Symphony has a full schedule the Mélodie Française at the Conservatory. Mar. motets, anthems, the Great O Antiphons for presenting a Russian Music evening on Jan. 14 4 is busy with the Civic Orchestra playing Advent and, of course, carols galore. There will and 16, followed by Piano pops Jan. 19-21, and Hungarian compositions while the Faculty con- also be a performance of Washburn’s completion a kids program on Jan. 22. The Galiano cert promises a program of Russian Masters. In of The Annunciation, a work left unfinished by Ensemble is also busy Jan. 22 performing works addition, the Symphony is presenting celtic Willan at his death in 1968. www.vancouvercham- by Bartok and Janacek. A new group to Victoria, music Mar. 2-4 and the Young Musicians berchoir.com (604) 738-6822 Global Rhythms, presents Alpha Ya Ya Diallo Concerto Showcase Mar. 5. Paul Galbraith, clas- The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra takes Jan. 23. There are two concerts at the end of sical guitarist, plays at the Conservatory Mar. 6, over the Orpheum for two performances of January at the Conservatory: Gorvan followed by choral music from the Portland Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 (Dec. Krivokopic, classical guitarist, performs Jan. 24, Oregon group Capella Romana with a program 11 and 12). Although I have been fascinated by while the faculty show their skills Jan. 28, per- entitled Fall of Byzantium. the music of Shostakovich for more than 35 forming music from Canadian, British and Further information on any of the aforemen- years, I have yet to hear the Leningrad live in French composers. The same evening, The tioned concerts is available at 250-598-3442 concert. Written during the Nazi siege of Early Music Society features a program of 17th or [email protected]. Leningrad (1941-44), it is a potent testimonial century love songs. Finally, the Symphony will to the resilience of the human spirit in the face present Beethoven and Weill compositions Jan. Vancouver Mid-Season of overwhelming adversity. Performances are 29 and 30. Picks rare these days, so when VSO music director February is almost as busy, starting with The ROBERT JORDAN Bramwell Tovey steers the orchestra through Global Rhythms and Raco Pena Flamenco on this massive opus, I’ll certainly be there. the 1st, followed on the 4th by The Palm Court Christmas begins early this year. Nov. 27 is the With music from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Orchestra, whose program is entitled “Ain't first Sunday in Advent and already the ballet on the program, I suppose the VSO is Misbehaving.” We are also lucky to have the Christmas musical bounty is upon us with the giving a nod to the Christmas season and, if Pacific Opera artist director Timothy Vernon. usual, the unusual and even some anomalies. If Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini He recently received the Ruby Award for out- I had carte blanche, here is where I would go, (with pianist Mark Zeltser) also seems a little standing contributions to opera in Canada. not only during the Christmas season but also incongruous next to the anguish and drama of Jane Heffelfinger should also be thanked for during the following months. Unless otherwise the Leningrad, so be it. www.vancouversympho- her 28 years of support during which she noted, all concerts start at 8 pm. ny.ca (604) 684-9100 served as general manager and sat on the It’s the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s turn to At Holy Rosary Cathedral on Dec. 17, at Board of Directors. The opera Rape of Lucretia tackle Handel’s Messiah, and this year has a 2:30 pm, and again at 3 pm the next day at is slated for Feb. 9-18. The Celebration of particularly attractive line-up of soloists, with West Vancouver United Church, the Vancouver

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Cantata Singers present their annual free and marimba, electronics, and video. Its pro- Christmas concert. This year, “A Christmas gram will feature live performances with images Reprise” (celebrating the choir’s new Christmas and music by John Abram, Belinda Reynolds, CD) is “an hour-long program of traditional Ron Ford, and Louis Andriessen, and film by and contemporary Christmas music with a J.C. Mol, Betsy Torenbos, and Hal Hartley. calming and concentrated focus in the midst of www.ffa.ucalgary.ca the busy Christmas shopping scene.” Seating is Lastly, on Jan. 28, New Works Calgary pres- first-come, first-served and seats go fast – so ents "Cloud Walking." Composer and pianist arrive early! www.cantata.org (604) 730-8856 Diana McIntosh and Canada’s prima percus- On the evening of Dec. 18, Ramona Luengen’s sionist Beverley Johnston present a colourful Phoenix Chamber Choir presents its annual A program of duos, solos and theatrical music in Phoenix Christmas at Shaughnessy Heights various combinations of percussion, piano, United Church. This year, the choir is joined by tape and spoken text. A highlight will be the organist Roy Campbell as well as Janet Kyle’s premiere of a newly commissioned piece by Soundwave Handbell Choir for Christmas music Calgary composer Quenten Doolittle based on familiar and unfamiliar, readings and sing-a- the life of Calamity Jane. Aspects of her tumul- longs. There is also the world premiere of a tuous career in the Wild West, both true and newly commissioned arrangement of I Wonder as attributed, will be portrayed by words, sound I Wander by Jonathan Rathbone, former music Frédérique Vézina and music. www.newworkscalgary.ca director of the Swingle Singers. www.phoenix- reflects the opera’s rich palette of humour, sad- As is customary, Calgary’s Mountain View chamberchoir.bc.ca (604) 986-7520 ness, rage and conflict.” With Brett Polegato Connection offers excellent small format con- If you’re ready for a dashing brace of disso- as the irredeemable Don, Carol Wilson as certs for the discerning vocal and chamber nance by January, I recommend the Emerson Donna Anna, Angela Fout as Donna Elvira and music lover. On Jan. 15 the Mountain View Quartet at the Vancouver Playhouse on Jan. 10 Nathalie Paulin as Zerlina, this Vancouver Connection presents "Mozartiad" in the to break the post-Christmas concert lull. The incarnation should be stunningly well sung, Eckhardt-Gramatté Recital Hall. Soprano Allison program is fabulous – Mozart’s Quartet in C too. www.vancouveropera.ca (604) 683-0222 Angelo, violinist Edmond Agopian, the Mountain Major, K. 465 “Dissonance,” Bartok’s Quartet View Chamber Ensemble and pianists Kathleen No. 2 and Sibelius’s “Voces Intimae” Quartet. van Mourik and Charles Foreman will offer rarely www.friendsofchambermusic.ca (604) 437- The Calgary Music heard Mozart concert arias performed with 5747 Scene orchestra. www.mountainviewconnection.com The American Emerson Quartet is a legend in KENNA BURIMA The following month, Mountain View contin- its own time but the Gryphon Trio is in the ues its season with the concert "Vienna and the same interpretive league and, what’s more, For some odd reason December is a quiet Turn of the XIXth Century" on Feb. 5 in the they’re Canadian! The Toronto-based three- month in Calgary’s classical music scene. Eckhardt-Gramatté Recital Hall. Audiences will some (violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon, cellist Luckily the same does not apply for the New have the opportunity to journey with Mahler, Roman Borys and pianist Jamie Parker) play in Year. If the month of January is any indication Wolf, Berg, Strauss and other composers who the Koerner Recital Hall of the Vancouver of the 2006 season, classical audiences will called Vienna their home during the last glory Academy of Music February 21-24 at 10:30 am have their fill of great performances by local days of 's Habsburg Empire. The con- (coffee will be served in the lobby at 10 am). and international musicians. cert will feature soprano Frédérique Vézina Music in the Morning is coy about what reper- January is a busy month for modern music and with pianists Kathleen van Mourik and toire the Gryphons are playing but does say the lovers and performers as the University of Charles Foreman. www.mountainviewconnec- program “includes” Dvorˇa´k’s Dumky Trio. It’s a Calgary presents its annual new music festival tion.com lovely piece, but let’s hope there’s more, much "Happening," running Jan. 23 to 28. The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra contin- more. www.musicinthemorning.org (604) 873- Throughout the festival, the Eckhardt- ues in full swing with "Influences and 4612 Gramatté Hall will house numerous lectures, Inspirations" on Jan. 25 in the Jack Singer On Feb. 24, Early Music Vancouver brings panels, discussions, master classes, recitals and Concert Hall. Conductor Jean-François Rivest top-notch baroque violinist John Holloway to concerts dedicated to new music. Running con- leads an innovative program with Sir Michael the UBC Recital Hall to play three of Bach’s six currently this year with Happening is sympo- Tippett’s tribute to the music of Corelli. sonatas and partitas for solo violin – the sium "Perspectives on Music in Canada," which www.cpo-live.com sonata in A Minor and the partitas in E Major features guest artists and lecturers dealing No February would be complete without a and D Minor. The latter, of course, has the with all aspects of Canadian music. performance of Wagner’s Prelude and monumental “Chaconne” as its finale, a single There are three concerts of note in the Liebestod from to put movement in which a wealth of profound Happening schedule. The Land’s End Chamber everyone in the mood for Valentine’s Day. The human emotion is enshrined. It’s one of Ensemble concert on Jan. 26 features its CPO presents "Classics for Lovers" on Feb. Western civilization’s musical pinnacles. "Alberta Saskatchewan Centennial Project." It 10 -11 in the Jack Singer Concert Hall. Music www.earlymusic.bc.ca (604) 732-1610 will be a fitting tribute to prairie music with pre- Director Roberto Minczuk and violinist Leila Finally, on Mar. 4, 7, 9, 11 and 13, at 7:30 mieres of music by Roger Feria Jr., Shane Fage Josefowicz will entertain audiences with pm, Vancouver Opera presents Mozart’s Don and John Abram. www.landsendensemble.ca Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, op. 64, in e Giovanni at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. This The second concert of note finds four minor, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite, and particular opera is on many an opera buff’s dynamic and talented women taking the stage of course Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod. desert island list. Directed by Michael on January 27. The powerful all female ensem- www.cpo-live.com Cavanagh and conducted by Jonathan ble Electra presents "The Canada Connection, Following in the footsteps of the Alberta Darlington, this “sumptuous production Music and Film" with soprano, recorders, violin Theatre Projects with its successful run of Peter

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Janina Fialkowska Frances Ginzer William Eddins Tra c y Dahl

Schafer’s Amadeus in September, the CPO cel- self-described City of Champions – a moniker and Edward Elgar’s massive and seldom-per- ebrates the birth of Mozart 250 years ago on derived from the numerous Stanley and Grey formed The Dream of Gerontius with the ESO Feb. 22 in the Jack Singer Concert Hall. Cups acquired over the years – provides much (Apr. 30). Pizza – as well as scene-setting com- Principal Baroque Conductor Ivars Taurins will competition to Edmonton’s cultural side. In a mentaries and question-and-answer sessions lead the CPO with Canadian guest soprano city that has been known for the Oilers and with composers – is the popular pre-perform- Karina Gauvin. www.cpo-live.com Eskimos, a vibrantly active theatre community, ance enticer. The CPO continues its ode to Mozart with and some nationally acclaimed restaurants Even the ESO has its entry-point program "Mozart and Tchaikovsky" on Mar. 3 and 4 in such as The Hardware Grill and Jack’s Grill, just called the Pulse8 Club, designed for music the Jack Singer Concert Hall. Calgary’s how do you put bums in the seats for a bur- lovers aged 18-29. The draw here is free mem- favourite guest conductor Bramwell Tovey geoning classical season? Even when you have bership, $15 tickets, and a club members’ Web Conductor, and pianist Janina Fialkowska, will prime acoustic real estate in the Francis site, with personably eccentric postings from join the CPO. www.cpo-live.com Winspear Centre for Music or newly renovated ESO music director Eddins and orchestra The Calgary Opera hasn’t skipped a beat performance halls such as the Northern players. For more information, go to upon returning to its home in the Jubilee Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, it’s hardly a guaran- www.pulse8club.com. Auditorium. It begins the new year in an unusu- tee that bums – and ears – will gather on cue. A Choral Christmas: The Francis Winspear al manner with the Canadian premiere of Dead In the case of the Edmonton Symphony Centre for Music will be festively alive with no Man Walking. Based on the book by Sister Orchestra, you could hire a socially outgoing, fewer than 10 Christmas concerts set for the Helen Prejean, the award-winning film of the precocious, headline-grabbing music director venue. These range from Pro Coro Canada’s same name has been adapted to operatic form by the name of William (“Call me Bill”) Eddins. traditional A Pro Coro Christmas with the by author Jake Heggie. It will run Jan. 28, and Or you might take the pizza route, as done Cantillon Choirs and Jubiloso! Handbells (Dec. Feb, 1 and 3. www.calgaryopera.com by at least three musical organizations. Several 4), to Handel’s Messiah with the ESO and Calgary’s Pro Musica Society presents years ago, Edmonton Opera inaugurated its Richard Eaton Singers (Dec. 16-17), to the "Close Encounters With Music" on Jan. 16 at Explorers’ Club, designed to draw prospective popular live broadcast Christmas Bureau the University Theatre. For more than 18 years, opera fans aged 18-29. In addition to a night Singalong (Dec. 23), which last year drew a full Close Encounters has been presenting themat- at the opera for $20 a ticket, a cold beer and house to sing with the more than 300 choris- ic concerts of chamber music with commen- pizza is provided during intermission. Annual ters in the choir loft and on stage. For a full list tary. Pro Musica's "Discoveries" concert will club dues are $40; for more information call of concerts, go to www.winspearcentre.com. include piano trios by Joaquin Turina, Robert (780) 429-1000 or go to www.edmonton- Edmonton Opera: On Feb. 4, 7 and 9, EO Schumann and Anton Arensky. www.calgar- opera.com. offers what has now become a traditional pair- ypromusica.org. Pro Coro Canada has Friends of the Quire, ing of two modern classics. Robert Lepage’s New Works Calgary presents Saint Crispin's which over the past year has undergone a ten- production of Bluebeard’s Castle by Béla Bartók Chamber Ensemble on Mar. 4 in the Eckhardt- fold increase in membership. The trick to its and Erwartung by Arnold Schoenberg hits the Gramatté Recital Hall, including some of the growth? “We simply got rid of the membership Jubilee Auditorium stage. EO describes the best classical players in Edmonton. The planned fee,” says David Garber, Pro Coro’s administra- package as “the single most important and program will feature new and commissioned tive director. Restricted to chorus lovers aged unanimously praised operatic event ever to works from Calgary composers Hope Lee and 15 -25, Friends of the Quire offers best seats come out of Canada.” Soprano Susan Marie Sonya Guha-Thakurta, as well as various available for $14, a logo baseball cap, and Pierson will sing the roles of Judith in Edmonton composers. www.newworkscalgary.ca pizza in the Winspear’s Founder’s Lounge dur- Bluebeard’s Castle and The Woman in The Millenium Music Foundation offers a ing the intermission. And that spelling, quire, is Erwartung. Welsh baritone Jason Howard will concert with the world renowned King’s not only absolutely and cheekily correct, but sing the title role of Bluebeard. In keeping with Singers, Feb. 21 at the Rozsa Centre of the appropriate. Says Garber: “If you look up the its promotional bent, EO has paired up with University of Calgary. The program promises a word ‘quire’ in the dictionary, it means a group the Delta Edmonton South hotel for the Jubilee variety of works, both ancient and modern, to of 24 or 25 pages. Which is what we as a choir Dinners program, which provides a meal and showcase the power and range of this breath- of 24 or 25 voices are.” For details, phone wine at the auditorium. (Edmonton Opera, taking ensemble. www.kingssingers.com (780) 420-1247 or go to www.procoro.ab.ca. (780) 424-4040, www.edmontonopera.com) The Richard Eaton Singers, Edmonton’s 140- Edmonton Symphony Orchestra: The ESO voice symphonic choir, has an educational pro- will have the movies on show on Mar. 2, when Edmonton Scene gram for high school students that this season William Eddins conducts “Hollywood: Behind GORDON MORASH welcomes them to the dress rehearsal perform- the Silver Screen.” Among the works: Howard ances of its Mozart-Haydn-Beethoven concert Shore’s Suite from The Lord of the Rings, selec- Edmonton is a hockey and football town. The with the Alberta Baroque Ensemble (Feb. 5) tions from Bernard Hermann’s scores for

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Citizen Kane and Psycho, and selections from singing Mozart, Wolf, Debussy, Villa-Lobos, and The Godfather and Romeo and Juliet by Nino the world premiere of a work by Andrew Ager, Rota. The concert will serve as a prelude of Goddess Excellently Bright. She will be accompa- sorts for the highly anticipated Apr. 20 presen- nied by Steven Philcox, coach and assistant con- tation of City Lights, when Eddins will conduct ductor of the COC and teacher at the Royal the original Charlie Chaplin score as the silent Conservatory of Music in Toronto (Jan. 26 Jane movie unspools above the stage in the Mallet Theatre). Tickets are available at 1-800- Winspear. (Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, 708-6754 or (416) 366-7723, or online at (780) 428-1414 or 1-800-563-5081, www.stlc.com. www.edmontonsymphony.com) Off Centre Music Salon will present a tribute Pro Coro Canada: For the 250th birthday of to Albert Einstein, who is reputed to have said “if , Edmonton’s 25- I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musi- voice professional chorus offers up a perform- cian. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in ance of the Coronation Mass on Jan. 22. music. It is my violin that brings me the greatest Richard Sparks conducts, the Pro Coro joy in life.” Baritone Jason Nedecky and mezzo Chamber Orchestra accompanies, but as of Allyson McHardy will join violinist Michail deadline, soloists had not been named. As a Louis Lortie Gantvarg in a program of Einstein’s favourite festive addendum, those preferring a small- composers: Bach, Mozart, Schubert and Brahms. chorus treatment of Messiah will need to travel would you believe it has never been done by (Jan. 22, 2 pm, Glenn Gould Studio, (416) 205- to Red Deer, south of Edmonton, where Pro the COC? (Opera in Concert, Dec. 4 2:30 pm 5555). Known for its inventive programming, Off Coro will perform the oratorio with the Red at Jane Mallet Theatre, (1-800-708-6754, Centre will present an afternoon of “Laughing Deer Symphony Orchestra on Dec.10. (Pro (416) 366-7723) Another important highlight Musically: Greeting Winter ‘Off Centre’ Style,” Coro Canada, (780) 420-1247 or 1-800- is Vivaldi's La Griselda, put on by OIC with featuring the husband-wife team of Anne Grimm 563-5081, www.procoro.ab.ca) orchestra, on Jan. 29, 2:30 pm, at the Jane and Benjamin Butterfield, joined by pianists Inna Alberta Baroque Ensemble: Mozart will Mallet Theatre. This will be the Canadian pre- Perkis and Boris Zarankin, musicians from the also be on the minds of the players in the ABE miere of this opera in complete form. This work Toronto Symphony, and the redoubtable Stuart on Jan. 22, with guest Martin Riseley, the ESO’s is so rare that OIC General Director Guillermo Hamilton (Dec. 4, 2 pm, GGS, (416) 205-5555). concertmaster since 1994. On the bill for “A Silva-Marin had to commission a translation of And let’s not forget December means Taste of Mozart” are Symphony No. 1 in E Flat the libretto for the occasion – an event not to Messiah month in English Canada. As usual, Major K. 16, Three Church Sonatas, Symphony be missed. Torontonians will have a variety to choose No. 10 in G Major K. 74, and Violin Concerto Also a must-see will be COC’s sole presenta- from. TSO bills its own version as “Toronto’s in B Flat Major K. 207. (Alberta Baroque tion for its winter season – Wagner’s Best Messiah,” and I will let you be the judge. Ensemble, (780) 467-6531, www.alberta- Götterdämmerung. This will be the third install- This year, Jane Glover conducts Nathalie baroque.com) ment of the COC Ring Cycle, starring Frances Paulin, Susan Platts, Michael Colvin, and Ginzer, Christian Franz, John Fanning and Nathan Berg (Dec. 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, RTH). If Richard Paul Fink. The director is Tim Albery. you like a more intimate experience, try Southern Ontario Vocal This is arguably the most vocally and musically Ta felmusik’s version (Dec. 14-17, Trinity-St. Preview demanding of the four Ring operas, so it will be Paul’s Centre, (416) 964-6337). The soloists JOSEPH K. SO interesting to see how the COC meets its fear- are Anne Grimm, Laura Pudwell, Benjamin some challenges (Jan. 30, Feb. 2, 4, 7, 10, 12, Butterfield, and Christopheren Nomura. If audi- With the concert and opera season in full (416) 363-8231). ence participation is your thing, by all means swing, there are plenty of delectable morsels There is a wide selection of concerts and go to their popular “Sing along Messiah,” with for vocal buffs to choose from. On the opera recitals on offer in the next three months. Last the same soloists, at Massey Hall (Dec. 18, 2 front, the COC Ensemble Studio is presenting heard at a highly successful Roy Thomson Hall pm). The excellent Les Violons du Roy will also Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, an ideal work to solo recital in May, Canada’s newest prima be in town, offering Bach Cantatas for showcase young artists with fresh voices. An donna, , will give a benefit Christmas and the New Year (Nos 63, 110, additional attraction is the presence of the concert at the University of Toronto 151 , 171 ), with a fabulous cast of Karina renowned musicologist Andrew Porter, who will Convocation Hall on Nov. 25, 8 pm, to raise Gauvin, Christoph Prégardien, Christophe be directing the show. All three performances funds towards the restoration of the century-old Dumaux, and Brett Polegato, under the baton are already sold out, but you can try for pipe organ in the historic building. Ms. of Bernard Labadie. (Dec. 16, 8 pm, RTH) returns (Dec. 16, 18, 20 at the Macmillan Bayrakdarian is an alumna of the U of T School Theatre, (416) 872-2262). of Engineering. Tickets are available through Opera Hamilton offers “Popera,” an evening UofTTix.ca or at (416) 978-8849. Toronto Area of operatic potpourri, with an all-Canadian If you are more “pop” oriented, you might be Instrumental Preview cast – soprano Tra c y Dahl, mezzo Allyson interested in hearing tenor Russell Watson at CLAIRE MARIE BLAUSTEIN McHardy, tenor Gordon Gietz, and baritone Roy Thomson Hall on the same evening. James Westman. This is a good chance to catch Bayrakdarian will team up with the ever popular January 27, 2006 would be Mozart’s 250th this excellent quartet of singers, whom we Canadian baritone Russell Braun in a joint con- birthday, were he fortunate enough to have hardly ever get to hear in this neck of the cert of arias and duets for Opera Ontario (Jan.15 found the elixir of life. To celebrate, most of the woods (Nov. 24, 26, Hamilton, Nov. 25 & 22, Hamilton). performing ensembles in the Toronto area will Kitchener-Waterloo). Lyric soprano and former COC Ensemble be putting on their finest to tip their hats to Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalilah is an opera member Shannon Mercer will be the featured the great composer. unjustly neglected by Canadian companies – artist in the Music Toronto “Discovery” Series, The Toronto Symphony Orchestra

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(www.tso.on.ca – (416) 593-4828) will be cel- TV: Bayrakdarian's Journey Home ebrating with their “Mozart @ 250 Festival.” In the spring of 2004, Armenian-Canadian There will be three separate programs. “Mozart: soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian traveled to her The Singing Voice,” on Jan. 18-19, will feature homeland Armenia for the first time. In this Viktoria Mullova, violin, playing Mozart’s fourth Stormy Nights Production documentary, direc- violin concerto and Isabel Bayrakdarian, sopra- tor Eileen Thalenberg captures Bayrakdarian's no performing a selection of arias. “Mozart: The first experience of her native land and her Symphonist” will be on Jan. 21-22, showing off musical collaborations with local musicians in the composer’s skill with the orchestra through various historical and religious settings. his Jupiter Symphony and his Symphony No. 1, Narrated by interviews with the international as well as the 22 Piano Concerto with soloist soprano, the video is slow moving. The gems Yefim Bronfman. Finally, we will get a deeper are the numerous excellent performances of look into the life of this prolific and sometimes Armenian folk songs and plainchant, which troubled composer through “Mozart: A Life in make up almost half of the 60 minute docu- Letters,” a program developed by Michael mentary. A Long Journey Home airs on January Schade. It will present a selection of Mozart’s 19 , 2006 on CBC TV's Opening Night. WKC letters to family and friends alongside the music they inspired. Joining Schade will be soprano Karina Gauvin, baritone Russell Braun, and con- Mozart’s music and loves, featuring Lorna And for something multidisciplinary, Via ductor Peter Oundjian (Jan. 26-27, RTH). MacDonald, soprano, Cameron Stowe, piano, Erika Salzburg returns to Glenn Gould Studio For another glimpse into Mozart’s life, we Raum, violin, and Peter Stoll, clarinet (Jan. 27). (glenngouldstudio.cbc.ca - (416) 205-5555) can go to Tafelmusik (www.tafelmusik.org – For something closer to the confectionary end with “Mozart and More,” a program with dancer (416) 964-6337) for Amadeo: Mozart in Italy of birthday celebrations, Sinfonia Toronto and choreographer Naoko Murakoshi collabo- (Feb. 3-5, 7-9). Designed by violist Elly Winer, (www.sinfoniatoronto.com - (416) 499-0403) rating with the Via Salzburg String Quartet this program follows the young Wolfgang on has their “Mozart in Jeans” series. First will be a (Dec. 8-9). The concert will include Mozart's one of his earliest trips to Italy through his let- program of music and dance to Mozart’s Eine Divertimento in D major for strings and two ters and his music. Kleine Nachtmusik Jan. 28, and on Feb. 5, a pro- horns KV334, as well as Ravel’s First string The University of Toronto (www.music.to- gram entitled “Mozart’s Moods,” with violinist quartet. Murakoshi will also present the pre- ronto.ca - (416) 978-3744) is joining the literary Etsuko Kimura, and a guest artist who will be miere of a contemporary work that features live bastion with “Marrying Mozart,” a program translating the imagery of the music onto canvas musicians and dancers, and is set to inspired by the novel by Stephanie Cowell about as it happens. Penderecki's String Quartet No. 1.

An exciting and spellbinding operetta garnished with some of the most beautiful melodies of the Waltz King.

Guillermo Silva-Marin Founder and General Director SUNDAY DECEMBER 11, 2005 3 P.M. JOHANN STRAUSS A wonderful holiday treat for the REJOICE! whole family. A great gift! CHRISTMAS ARIAS WITH BAROQUE TRUMPET BACH, HANDEL, CORELLI, BOYCE, MONTEVERDI Conductor Kevin Mallon Stage Director Guillermo Silva-Marin LISE MAISONNEUVE SOPRANO JOSH COHEN BAROQUE TRUMPET with Jackalyn Short, Mark DuBois, Katerina Tchoubar, Carla Huhtanen, Marcel van Neer, Sean Watson SUNDAY JANUARY 29, 2006 3 P.M.

Dec. 27 (preview), 28, 30, 31* JOHANNE COUTURE: & Jan. 6, 7 at 8 pm THE FRENCH VIRTUOSO HARPSICHORD Jan. 4 & 8 at 2 pm KEVIN JAMES BAROQUE VIOLIN NewYear ’sEveGala BARBARA ZUCHOWICZ VIOLA DA GAMBA * LISE MAISONNEUVE SOPRANO

“One of Canada’s finest harpsichordists makes her Ottawa début with La Fav. The best of French High baroque: Forqueray, Rameau, Duphly, Jacquet de la Guerre” JANE MALLETT THEATRE ST. LAWRENCE CENTRE FOR THE ARTS All Saints‚ Anglican Church Westboro 347 Richmond Rd., Ottawa 27 FRONT STREET EAST, TORONTO Tickets: $20 regular /$15 students Collected Works 1242 Wellington Media Call 416-366-7723 or 1-800-708-6754 Sponsor: or visit www.stlc.com The Leading Note 370 Elgin www.lafavoritte.com (613) 729-6404

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James Avery and Robert Aitken Shannon Mercer Russel Braun Kyung-Wha Chung

If you’re looking for something a little less inter- the Music of Latin America (Jan. 29). Joaquin Youth Singers, mezzo Marion Newman and other textual, there are several concerts that will be fea- Valdepenas, one of the most distinguished soloists, all under the direction on Matthew turing Mozart’s chamber music – the Kitchener- clarinettists of his generation, will explore the Larkin (www.ottawachoralsociety.com). Waterloo Chamber Music Society – (886-1673 - music of Latin America, featuring works by Dec. 5, it’s a Baroque European Christmas www.k-wcms.com) will have two concerts, one for Heras, Marquez, Chavez, Poulenc and Martinu. with the Thirteen Strings chamber orchestra Mozart’s actual birthday on Jan. 27, with Kerry One can always expect new and exciting and guest conductor Thomas Annand DuWors & Min-Jeong Koh, violins, Karen Moffatt, music from New Music Concerts (www.newmu- (www.thirteenstrings.ca). Luminous Canadian Nancy Nehring, violas, Mark Rudoff, cello per- sicconcerts.com - (416) 961-9594) but their soprano Shannon Mercer joins them in works forming Mozart’s Quintet, K. 614, his magnificent upcoming concert on Feb. 26 will be new on a by Christian Corrette, Vivaldi, Bach, Charpentier Trio, K. 563 (some think it Mozart’s greatest much grander scale. “New at New Music” will and others. piece), and the Duo, K. 423 for violin and viola. feature four world premieres, three by Dec. 9, the University of Ottawa’s Faculty and Then on Feb. 1, the Penderecki Quartet will be Canadian composers. The New Music Concert Friends Series presents the Lumière Quartet playing two of Mozart’s quartets and the Viola ensemble, with pianist James Avery and flutist (www.music.uottawa.ca). The group will perform Quintet K. 174 with guest artist Douglas Perry. and director Robert Aitken, will perform works Beethoven’s String Quartet op. 18, no. 6, Hamilton ChamberWORKS! (www.chamberwork- by Charles Wuorinen, André Ristic, Denis Dion, Boccherini’s “Fandango” Quartet and smusicensemble.com - (905) 522-7529) will also and Juliet Kiri Palmer. Mendelssohn’s String Quartet op. 44, no. 2. Dec. have an all Mozart program (Feb. 5) featuring his Now, just because Mozart is hitting the big 12 at the Maison de la Culture de Gatineau, the Kegelstatt Trio in Eb major for clarinet, viola and two-five-oh doesn’t mean we want to forget his orchestra of the Conservatoire de musique de piano. And Music Toronto (www.music- younger counterparts. This year also marks the Gatineau, conducted by Yves Leveillé, performs toronto.com - (416) 366-7723) will present the 10 0 th anniversary of the birth of Dmitri Sibelius’s Finlandia, Rachmaninov’s Piano Concert world renowned Tokyo String Quartet and clar- Shostakovich, a composer as prolific as he was no. 2 (with soloist Geneviève Danveau) and inettist Sabiene Meyer in an all Mozart Program politically influential. He’s being celebrated in Mozart’s Symphony no. 40 (www.ville.gatineau. on Jan. 19. Selections will include the King of several concerts, including the Toronto qc.ca/mcg/spectacles_calendrier.htm). Prussia String Quartet and the beautiful disso- Symphony Orchestra’s “Shostakovich Although it’s only three years old, the Ottawa nant Clarinet Quintet in A Major. Remembered” festival. The first of these concerts Bach Choir, directed by Lisette Canton, has The Toronto International Chamber Music is on Feb. 15 -16, with cellist Enrico Dindo. He quickly gained a reputation as one of the area’s Festival (www.torontochambermusic.com - will be playing Shostakovich’s First (Feb. 15) and premiere vocal ensembles. The Choir will be (416) 763-5066) will also be going on from Second (Feb. 16) cello concertos, and both con- launching its new CD, A Christmas Story, with Jan. 27-29, and their Opening Gala concert certs will include Shostakovich’s 11th Symphony, two concerts featuring the women in the group, (Jan. 27) will be full of birthday wishes. With the “The Year 1905,” a piece that represents the Dec. 13-14. (www.ottawabachchoir.ca) Vienna Symphony Virtuosi, The Eastman Brass, slaughter of demonstrators by czarist forces, an Fresh from a wildly successful tour of Western and Austrian pianist Felicitas Keil, they’ll be play- event that would lead to the widespread revolu- Canada in November, the National Arts Centre ing a variety of music, including a brass arrange- tion later sweeping Russia. Music Toronto will Orchestra takes over the NAC’s Southam Hall for ment of the Alleluia from Exultate Jubilate, and bring us the amazing St Lawrence String Quartet its annual Messiah, Dec. 14-15 (www.nac-cna.ca). the Allegro for Trombone and Piano. on Feb. 9, performing Shostakovich’s 7th String Baroque specialist Julian Wachner conducts the Finally, there will be a rare recital perform- Quartet in F sharp, as well as Beethoven’s heart- NACO, and the massed choirs of the Ottawa ance by pianist Louis Lortie on Jan. 29 at rending String Quartet Op. 131. Choral Society, Seventeen Voyces. This year’s Glenn Gould Studios. The program will include soloists are Dominique Labelle, soprano, Allyson pieces composed by Mozart and inspired by McHardy, mezzo, Frédéric Antoun, tenor, and him: the Sonata in B-flat major, K. 333, and the Ottawa Music Calendar James Westman, bass-baritone. Fantasie in D minor, K. 397, as well as Chopin's NATASHA GAUTHIER Dec. 17, it’s guaranteed warm yuletide fuzzies Variations on Mozart's "La ci darem la mano" and with “Christmas with the NACO.” The tradition- Liszt's Concert paraphrase on themes from From Schütz to Schoenberg, Lupu to al carol sing-along features the massed voices of Mozart's . Bayrakdarian, black-tie opera soirées to student the Cantata Singers, the Opera Lyra Chorus and For those who are tired of the “All Mozart, All recitals, it’s going to be a very busy few months the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir, all led by Frank The Time” feeling of the winter season, there are in the nation’s capital. Here are some top picks: McNamara (www.cantatsingers.ottawa.on.ca). plenty of ensembles out there waiting to cleanse They’ll have some pretty fierce competition: that musical palates with new and unusual offerings. December same night, the luscious soprano Isabel At the Royal Conservatory of Music, To kick off the festive music season, the Ottawa Bayrakdarian will be packing them in across (www.rcmusic.ca - (416) 408-2824, ext. 321) Choral Society presents its Christmas concert town, courtesy of the Cathedral Arts Series the Great Artists Series will have a program on Dec. 4. The concert features the Cantabile (www.cathedralarts.ca).

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The Christmas concert season winds down Dec. Wha Chung. Accompanied by pianist Akira present a “capricious” program: Tchaikovsky’s 21 , when the Ottawa Chamber Music Society pres- Eguchi, she’ll be performing Beethoven, italien and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio ents a varied program (including Bach, Wagner, Schubert, and Mozart. The following evening, espagnol, both with special guest the Ottawa Youth Schoenberg and Reinecke) and a multitude of Opera Lyra hosts its annual Black and White Orchestra. soloists, including soprano Wanda Procyshyn, the Opera Soirée at the National Arts Centre, one of Rideau Lakes Brass, organist and harpsichordist the biggest social events in Ottawa. At press time, Early March Thomas Annand, pianists Stéphane Lemelin and the list of soloists had yet to be confirmed. Lisette Canton and the Ottawa Bach Choir get in Andrew Tunis, clarinetist Kimball Sykes and many Brit Stephen Hough brings his formidable the Lenten spirit Mar. 5 with Bach’s St. John others (www.chamberfest.com). keyboard virtuosity to the NACO Feb. 22-23, Passion. The choir is joined by instrumental when he performs Mozart’s Piano Concert no. group the Theatre of Early Music and an impres- January 21 . Guest conductor Carlos Kalmar also leads sive quintet of soloists: soprano Gillian Keith, 2006 marks Mozart’s 250th birthday, so it’s no the orchestra in Dvorak’s Symphony no. 7 and countertenor (and Ottawa favourite son) Daniel surprise that the composer pops up all over the world premiere of a new commission by Taylor, tenor Charles Daniels (one of the world’s the place, especially in January, his birthday Canadian composer Alexina Louie. most sought-after Evangelists), and basses Peter month. Ottawa-born soprano Donna Brown Feb. 27, The Ottawa Symphony and David Currie Harvey (as Jesus) and Daniel Lichti. and baritone Russell Braun get the ball rolling Jan. 9 at the NAC with a program of Mozart solos and duets. Pianist Carolyn Maule – who appears on Braun’s recent recording of Die New Music Concerts 2006 Events Winterreise – accompanies. Jan. 12-13, Finnish conductor Eri Klas leads the 35th Anniversary Season • Robert Aitken, Artistic Director NACO in Arvo Pärt’s Fratres, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no. 2, with French virtuoso Jean-Philippe Collard. Sunday January 8, 2006 • Grettir — an Icelandic Saga Collard sticks around for a chamber concert Jan. music by Thorkell Sigurbjörnsson 15 at the National Gallery; he’ll be joined by libretto by Bödvar Gudmundsson musicians from the NACO for works by Bliss, Cast of the Bayreuth Youth Festival. Hersant and, of course, Mozart. Betty Oliphant Theatre | 230 + 800 Performances There’s more Mozart and more NACO Jan. 18-19, when artistic director Pinchas Sunday February 26, 2006 • New at New Music Zukerman returns to the podium after a break with Robert Aitken and pianist James Avery. of a few weeks. On the program are the com- Premieres by Palmer, Ristic, Dion & Wuorinen. poser’s Adagio for Violin and Orchestra, his Glenn Gould Studio| 715 Intro • 800 Concert Linz Symphony (no. 36) and the Bassoon Concerto, with soloist Christopher Millard. Sunday April 30, 2006 • Baltic Currents Jan. 20, the Appassionata Ensemble and the Montreal Guitar Trio join forces under the Guest composer Raminta Serksnyte curates a concert of direction of Daniel Myssyk. Also on Jan. 20, works by Ciurlionis, Martinaitis, Tulve, Dzenitis & Serksnyte. chamber orchestra Thirteen Strings performs a Glenn Gould Studio| 715 Intro • 800 Concert Klezmer-inspired program with guest conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni and guests Kleztory. Jan. Saturday+Sunday May 27/28, 2006 • Elliott Carter at 97 23, David Currie leads the Ottawa Symphony in folk-flavoured works by Kodály, Sibelius and Two concerts of recent works and a biographical film. François Dompierre (www.ottawsymphony.com). The Music Gallery (27th) | 715 Film • 845 Concert The Cantata Singers of Ottawa and new Glenn Gould Studio (28th) | 800 Concert artistic director Michael Zaugg bring January to a close on the 29th with a 500-year journey Friday June 9, 2006 • Music of Iannis Xenakis through choral settings of the Book of Psalms, One of the most important composers of the 20th century. including works by Schütz and Mendelssohn. Glenn Gould Studio | 715 Intro • 800 Concert Programs, artists and venues subject to change without notice. February The February calendar starts off on the 8th with a Visit www.NewMusicConcerts.com for updates and full season details. highly anticipated Schubert and Schumann recital by Radu Lupu. The legendary pianist was scheduled to appear at the same time last year, but had to cancel due to minor surgery. Feb. 9- 10 , another big-name soloist, violinist Vadim Repin, joins Zukerman and the NACO for Shostakotvitch’s Violin Concerto no. 1; Bach’s Third Orchestral Suite and Haydn’s Symphony Admission: $25 regular | $15 seniors |$5 students (Cheapseats) no. 98 round out the program. Music Gallery 416 204–1080 | Glenn Gould Studio 416 205–5555 | For Betty Oliphant tickets, Feb. 17, the Ottawa Chamber Society presents information and special packages call at – | the superb, elegant artistry of violinist Kyung- New Music Concerts 416 961 9594 [email protected]

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THE MUSIC SCENE STAFF’S ANNUAL GIFT SUGGESTIONS Gifts Barenboim West-Eastern Divan Orchestra ed with Christmas, this new recording of his Carl Davis: A Christmas Carol Warner Classics 2564 “Saul” would be a welcome addition to any Kerridge, Walker, Choir and the Northern Ballet 62190-5 (CD + DVD) music lover’s collection on Christmas morning. Theatre, BBC Philharmonic/John Pryce-Jones On one hand, Daniel Over the last few years, conductor Rene Jacobs (86 min) Arthaus 101 193 Barenboim’s West- has released a number of stellar recordings – This DVD captures a Eastern Divan Orchestra is last year’s Grammy-award winning release of 1992 performance of the a purely musical Arab- “Le Nozze di Figaro” by Mozart, would be just ballet based on Dickens’ Israeli peace initiative. one. “Saul” is one of the most dramatic orato- A Christmas Carol. It is a On the other, these rios composed by Handel, and Jacobs and his generous entertainment youthful musicians from Israel and Arab coun- talented forces beautifully catch his brilliant which also answers the tries make marvelous music together, if this 2004 depiction and characterization here. Rick question, “How do you Geneva concert – Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. Phillips create a ballet from a 5, Verdi’s Force of Destiny Overture and story as familiar as this?” Sibelius’s Valse Triste – are anything to go by. Rossini: Il Turco in Italia It takes a good score tai- This recording is recommended for the Bartoli, Raimondi, Widmer, Rumetz, Macias, Chorus lored to the concept. Here Carl Davis (his tremendous performances alone – but there’s and Orchestra of the Zurich Opera House/Franz music is a Yuletide pastiche of Aaron Copeland more: a film of the above concert, a documen- Welser-Möst (140 min) and Sir Arthur Bliss) meshes very well with tary on the orchestra and 83 minutes of wide- Arthaus 100 369 Massimo Morricone's choreography. Newly ranging conversations between Israel-born This could be the funni- released, this DVD could easily become a sea- Barenboim and Palestinian-American scholar est opera production son standard.S H Edward Said, on which their book Parallels and ever. It is shrewdly direct- Paradoxes is based. Robert Jordan ed by Cesare Lievi to BPO Europa-Konzert 2002 Palermo achieve a buffa-with-a- Gil Shaham (violin) Berlin Philharmonic Glenn Gould at the Movies vengeance effect. Orchestra/Claudio Abbado (112 min) Sony Costumes and scenery, EuroArts 2051987 In 1972 I attended, with body language and even Every year, the BPO is my future wife Peg, a facial expressions taste- somewhere else in Europe piano student, a showing fully induce laughter. The wayward Donna as musical ambassadors of Slaughterhouse-Five, Florilla might even come to be regarded as the for the capital of a united directed by George Roy definitive stage role for Cecilia Bartoli because Germany. In 2002, the Hill from Kurt Vonnegut's Lievi fully exploits her tendency to comic excess. destination was the glori- novel. The soundtrack Ruggero Raimondi is perfect as the Turk and ous Teatro Massimo in was performed by Glenn Gould and contained Paolo Rumetz gives a Chaplinesque portrayal of Palermo. The concert a number of newly recorded Bach pieces from the long-suffering Don Geronio. Franz Welser- opens with Beethoven’s the Goldberg Variations and Brandenburg Möst makes the score sparkle and even seizes Egmont Overture and Concerto, as well as some incidental music control of the stage action to bring the opera to concludes with Verdi’s Overture to I vespri composed by Gould. The movie remains, the an end. Stephen Habington Siciliani. In between, there is a sumptuous perfect blend of image and music, and contains account of the Brahms Violin Concerto with Gil some splendid playing by Gould. It was also my Bernstein: Wonderful Town Shaham as the soloist and an incandescent introduction to the piano pieces of Bach. The Criswell, McDonald, Hampson, European Voices, Dvorˇák Symphony No 9, From the New World. original soundtrack is now out of print, though Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle The BPO is in top form and Abbado surpasses Sony has released it, with other Gould film work (76 min) EuroArts 2052298 his previous recordings of the principal works. (from The Wars, and Thirty-Two Short Films Why not celebrate the SH About Glenn Gould) on Glenn Gould at the New Year as they did in Movies. Gordon Morash the Berlin Philharmonic in Gala Reopening of the Teatro La Fenice 2002? Simon Rattle dis- Vocal soloists, Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Christmas Wish pensed with the tradi- La Fenice/Riccardo Muti G.F. Handel: Saul tional lashings of Wagner (66 min) TDK DVW-CORLF Rosemary Joshua, Emma Bell, Lawrence Zazzo, and Verdi to present a The Gran Teatro La Fenice Jeremy Ovenden, Gidon Saks, etc., RIAS- semi-staged performance was built in 1792 and Kammerchor, Concerto of Lenny’s breeziest musi- destroyed by fire (for the Koln/Rene Jacobs cal comedy. The import- second time) in 1996. Harmonia Mundi HMC ed American singers are idiomatically perfect The reopening of the the- 801877.78 and the BPO shows that it can really swing. atre, restored to its for- Although the oratorio The fun is extended with a complete encore of mer splendour, called for “Messiah” by Handel is Conga! S H a special concert pro- the one closely associat- gramme of pieces with

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specific Venetian associations. It consists of the Beethoven overture, Consecration of the House, Stravinsky’s Symphonie de psaumes, the Te Deum by Antonio Caldara and two Wagner selections: Kaisermarsch and Huldigungsmarsch. The DVD enshrines splendid performances, entirely ® appropriate to the occasion. S H Popera Haydn: String Quartets The Lindsay Quartet; Peter Cropper, Ronald Birks (vio- Celebrate with Maestro Daniel Lipton lins), Robin Ireland (viola), Bernard Gregor-Smith (cello) (172 min – 2 DVDs) Opus Arte OA 0920 D his 20th anniversary of Popera The Lindsays have been an internationally top- rated string quartet for decades and now they are joining him on stage are retiring. This set shows them at work in some of Tracy Dahl, Allyson McHardy, their key repertory, filmed at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in 2004. The performances of Gordon Gietz and James Westman seven quartets (Opp 20/2 & 5, 33/3, 42, 54/1 :: & 2 and 76/4) are sublime. The DVD includes an November 24 & 26, 8 pm extra feature in the form of a 52-minute docu- Hamilton Place Theatre mentary by Reiner E. Moritz on string quartets. S H Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro November 25, 8 pm Fischer-Dieskau, Te Kanawa, Freni, Prey, Ewing, Centre In The Square, Kitchener Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Karl Böhm (181 min – 2DVDs) DG 00440 073 4034 :: A Jean-Pierre Ponnelle staged, directed and designed feature film, Hermann Prey reprises the role of Figaro in this 1976 production of the Great Singers Recital Series Beaumarchais sequel to Barbiere. With Dietrich ntario e Fischer- Dieskau as the Count and Kiri Te Kanewa pera O hav O hted to the Contessa fighting it out in their mid-life crisis, is delig Mirella Freni’s resolute Susanna and Mari Ewing’s hilarious Cherubino, this is a Mozart movie that should not be missed. S H ISABEL BAYRAKDARIAN Dressed to kill Beloved iPod looking a little...naked? Check out the online store at www.vajacases.com. Vaja crafts chic, durable leather cases for just about every portable gizmo on the planet, including the Nano, the Sony PSP and the Samsung Napster. For about $80 USD, they'll dress your MP3 player in customized haute and couture. Pick from luxe colours like Biscotti, Chocolate and Passion. Trick it out with crystals, studs or embossing. Everything's hand-made, so orders take RUSSELL BRAUN about 20 days. You can even get a matching pouch for your mobile, Blackberry or digital camera--classy! Natasha Gauthier

La Scena Musicale Holiday e-Cards Visit www.scena.org to send your musical holiday greetings. Featured artists include Daniel Taylor, Susie LeBlanc, Karina Gauvin, Marc-André Appear together Hamelin, and Luciano Pavarotti. at the first annual Great Singers Recital Series. :: January 15, 2006 at 2 pm Singing Lessons in Ottawa Centre In The Square :: Christine Jenkins January 22, 2006 at 2 pm A. Mus., R.M.T., NATS Hamilton Place Theatre :: All musical styles taught, Box office: 1-800-265-8977 new semester starts January 30 Mon-Fri 10-8 Saturday 10-6 www.AfterTheFire.com (613) 741-2739 905-526-6556 Mon-Fri 10-4

music scene Winter 2006 39 tms_4-2_layout/28-51 11/14/05 10:52 PM Page 40

it'sHallelujah Messiah in miniature

BY NORMAN LEBRECHT

he English may not know much about music, but they know what they like and they assume an attitude of reverent ownership in the T face of Messiah. George Frideric Handel's oratorio was, until the Beatles, our most universal musical creation, adored on all five conti- nents. Composed in London in 24 summer days of 1741, it was pre- miered in Dublin the next Easter, and while London audiences proved somewhat more sceptical, the work being neither outright entertainment nor religious rite, when the King rose at the words “for the lord God omnipotent reigneth” in the Hallelujah chorus, the entire nation shot to Handel in the BL score often omitted barlines, whether in the heat of its feet and has continued to do so ever since. invention or because they impeded an effect. Singers and musicians An English tradition was established for doing Messiah on the grand unthinkingly emphasize the first note in a bar, not realising that the bar- scale, swelling by the late 19th century to 4,500 musicians and a crowd rier was inserted by some over-zealous printer, not by the composer. of 88,000 at Crystal Palace. Latterly, “scratch performances” have packed Playing the music without bars gives a free-flowing rhythm, devoid of jar- the Royal Albert Hall with 5,000 participants, some carving their own ring stops and starts. instruments for the concert. Handel intended Messiah for the greater Where Handel sought emphasis, he cut against the rhythmic grain. A good of mankind, giving away the proceeds of early performances and note is placed on what appears to be a wrong syllable – the penultimate staging annual benefits on behalf of Thomas Coram's Foundling Hospital of “incorruptible”, for instance. “The English are very quick to say Handel, in Bloomsbury, to which he left a precious set of parts in his will. The a German, couldn't speak English,” scolds Harnoncourt. “I couldn't Coram Boy, a new play at the National Theatre based on Jamila Gavin's believe that because, as a musician, Handel had an ear for languages, and Whitbread-winning children's thriller about an escaped slave boy and an he had the English librettist (Charles Jennens) at his side. He used English unwanted nobleman's son, is constructed around one of these orphanage as it was spoken in his time – “incorrupteeble,” in the French manner. In fundraisers, with Messiah serving as a harbinger of hope amid despair. fact, in the same aria he uses both ways of pronouncing the word, and Nobody does Messiah like the English. We own the score (at the that's what I follow.” It may well be that the pronunciation followed class British Library), the language, the history, the continuity, the board divisions and that Handel wanted to reflect both levels of society. game. We have the music in our bloodstream, the motives in our nation- Harnoncourt was first alerted to English eccentricities during a 1970s al character. Band Aid, Live Aid and all similar philanthropic outpourings Messiah conducted by the retired countertenor Alfred Deller, who called are, wittingly or not, offshoots of Handel's example in his London in a tympanist of national authority: the Keeper of prints and drawings Messiah. So when some continental comes along with a baton and tells at the British Museum, no less. Edward Croft-Murray was an antiquarian us we're doing it all wrong, we can't count crotchets in Comfort-Ye or tell of noble birth and period enthusiasms. He dressed in 18th century mili- a pp from a ppp, we're not, for once, going to nod obeisance and say tary garb and had his instruments set up by a frock-coated butler. In a musical Europe always knows best. Hands to ears, we English don't need small Kent church, he drowned the Hallelujah chorus with his jolly ham- to be told how to sing Messiah, right? mering. “That was not Messiah,” says Harnoncourt dryly. Unless the instructor is Nikolaus Harnoncourt, that is. Harnoncourt, Using Handel's dimensions, Harnoncourt employs a chamber orches- 75, is the market leader in period practice, a thoughtful musician, who in tra and chorus of 35 apiece, and opens Hallelujah at something like sotto more than 440 recordings has used primary sources to reveal how com- voce. “Handel specifies that the trumpets must come in softly,” he notes, posers wanted their music to sound. A descendant of Habsburg emper- inferring that all else is tamped down. The effect is an unexpected clari- ors and Huguenot refugees, reduced by 20th century circumstances to ty, a gradual parting of clouds to reveal the ultimate glory. Some will find common musicianship, Harnoncourt has been thinking about Messiah his approach unsatisfying, lacking the necessary catharsis, but the for half a century – ever since, as a salaried cellist in the Vienna adjustment is both illuminating and intimately beautiful. Symphony Orchestra, he submitted to the showy conductorship of Sir Harnoncourt, who stands above the vicious bickering of period con- Malcolm Sargent, who brought along a chorus from Huddersfield ductors, makes no definitive claim for his interpretation and respects the because no one in Europe was loud enough. “The ladies were like tanks,” work's singular importance in the English tradition. “I am not interested laughs Harnoncourt. “When they opened their mouths the in repeating a performance of a special day in the 18th century. After all Musikvereinsaal shivered.” we have survived – in life, in politics, in art – the message of a work It was not just the noise that bothered him. The English singing was changes. You can project the message better by using the possibilities of “too precise, almost zombie-like.” The absence of passion, allied to the time, but not always. When there is a tradition that has grown for two encrusted tradition, sent Harnoncourt in search of Handel autographs, centuries, a lot of things that don't belong to the work are added, and not just analysing the notes between staves but employing a grapholo- they become part of the country, of the national identity.” gist to study the pressure of the master's hand as it raced across the That tradition, persistent in tsunami, earthquake and Armistice Day paper, where it skimmed, where it pierced. “I have seen every pencil poppy appeals, was the core of the great composer's message. After the stroke of Handel in Messiah,” he maintains, “and I found very interesting first London performance in 1743, a friendly member of the aristocracy con- things that were generally overlooked.” gratulated him for the pleasure he had given. “My Lord,” said Handel, “I The results, freshly recorded on Sony-BMG, are startlingly flexible. should be sorry if I only entertained them. I wished to make them better.” p

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CDs Rick’s Picks RICK PHILLIPS Rick Phillips reviews four of his top ten picks for the current issue of The awe of the work. The soloists are all strong. I espe- Music Scene. Phillips is Host and Producer of SOUND ADVICE, the weekly cially liked the young Korean-born soprano Sunhae guide to classical music and recordings on CBC Radio. Tune in Saturdays Im. Her voice is bright and agile – perfectly suited at 12 :05 PM (1:05 AT, 1:35 in Nfld.) on CBC Radio Two, and Sunday to the work. The choir and orchestra are scaled evenings at 6:30 PM (7:30 AT, 8:00 in Nfld.) on CBC Radio One. down, but alert and responsive. If you think you 1) J. S. Bach: Alles Mit Gott und Nichts ohn’ ihm, BWV. 1127 might miss out on some of the grandeur of The Elin Manahan Thomas, English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner Creation with a period-instrument ensemble and Soli Deo Gloria • SDG 114 the historically informed approach, don’t worry – the faster tempos 2) F. J. Haydn: Die Schopfung (The Creation) and energy of this performance more than make up for the smaller Sunhae Im, Jan Kobow, Hanno Muller-Brachmann, VokalEnsemble forces. And the recording has a nice bloom to the sound, in keeping with Koln, Capella Augustina/Andreas Spering • Naxos 8.557380-81 the approach and size of the performing ensemble. 3) F. Couperin: Keyboard Music, Vol. 3 Angela Hewitt, piano • Hyperion CDA 67520 5) G.P. Telemann: “Tutti Flauti” – Concertos for Flutes & Recorders 4) P.I. Tchaikovsky: 18 Pieces, Op. 72 Arion/Jaap ter Linden Mikhail Pletnev, piano • DGG 00289 477 5378 early-music.com EMCCD-7763 5) G. P. Telemann: “Tutti Flauti” The Montreal-based early music group Arion is cel- th Concertos for Flutes & Recorders ebrating its 25 anniversary this season. Back in Arion/Jaap ter Linden • early-music.com EMCCD-7763 1980, Arion was one of the first early-music groups 6) D. Scarlatti: 18 Sonatas in Montreal, and in many ways, set the standard for Vincent Boucher, organ • Atma SACD 22341 the many that followed. Montreal is now a hotbed of early-music activity in North America. Arion 7) C. Le Jeune: Autant en Emporte le Vent & other chansons Ensemble Clement Janequin/Dominique Visse started out as a quartet but now expands as reper- Harmonia Mundi HMC 901863 toire demands, and world-renowned guest conductors regularly work with the ensemble. The latest recording, on their own record label, is a 8) G. Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli disc called “Tutti Flauti” – a collection of concertos by Telemann for Ta llis Scholars/Peter Phillips • Gimell GIMSE 401 recorders and/or flutes with strings, guest-conducted by the noted 9) A. Scarlatti: Keyboard Music, Vol. 1 – Toccatas Dutch cellist and conductor Jaap ter Linden. It’s up to Arion’s usual high Alexander Weimann, harpsichord • Atma ACD 22321 standards, showing off some of the young, up-and-coming musicians as 10) Concerti Virtuosi well as the veterans. Best wishes for another successful 25 years, and Ta felmusik/Jeanne Lamon • Analekta AN 29815 keep the recordings coming!

1) J.S. Bach: Alles Mit Gott und Nichts ohn’ ihm, BWV. 1127 8) G. Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli Elin Manahan Thomas, The English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner The Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips Soli Deo Gloria SDG 114 Gimell GIMSE 401 It’s not often that a new work by one of the great This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the composers is discovered, and even rarer that the English record label Gimell, set up in 1980 to composer is J. S. Bach. The last time a complete record The Tallis Scholars directed by Peter Phillips. vocal work by Bach was found was 1935! The pres- One of their first releases contained the Missa ent one was discovered serendipitously, with a bulk Papae Marcelli by Palestrina, the famous Miserere of dusty printed library material this past summer in by Allegri and Vox Patris Caelestis by the 16th- Weimar. The musicologist who found it couldn’t Century English composer William Mundy. It was an believe his eyes – or his luck. It’s a twelve-stanza song intended for the immediate artistic and commercial success, making it to No. 1 on the Duke of Saxe-Weimar's birthday in 1713. Bach, who had just obtained his classical chart in the U.K. in 1981. This recording set a standard for both first major appointment, was only 28 years old and yet the song has all the performance and recording of Renaissance sacred music. Many feel the traits of the mature master. Gardiner and his forces recorded only that these are the definitive versions of the Palestrina and the Allegri three of the twelve stanzas for inclusion on this sampler disc of high- works in question. In honour of the 25th anniversary of the Gimell label, lights from their planned cycle of the complete cantatas. But the twelve it has been re-issued at budget-price, making it all the more attractive. ■ minutes of song are enough to illustrate the talent, skill and craft of the young Bach. A true find!

2) F. J. Haydn: Die Schopfung (The Creation) Soloists, VokalEnsemble Koln, Capella Augustina/Andreas Spering Naxos 8.557380-81 If you’re looking for a good, period-instrument version of The Creation, the great oratorio by Haydn, at budget price, look no further. This new one from Naxos, of the German version, Die Schopfung, is youthful, fresh and energetic, nicely capturing the wide-eyed innocence, mystery and

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with elegance, handling speed, cantabile, and Chamber music breath control with ease. His dramatic pres- ence is masterful, and his subtle expression of François Couperin emotion is everywhere. This is perhaps one of Les Concerts Royaux Reviews his finest recitals, and the Cara sposa is cer- Le Concert des Nations, tainly one of the most moving renditions on Jordi Savall, viol and conductor Review Policy: While we review all the best CDs record. The musicians of the Accademia Aliavox AV9840 (62 min 54 s) we get, we don’t always receive every new Bizantina accompany him to the split second ★★★★★✩ $$$$ release available. Therefore, if a new recording is (they backed him two years earlier on a CD of Jordi Savall is a man on not covered in the print version of LSM, it does newly discovered Italian cantatas). They make a whom you can rely. In not necessarily imply that it is inferior. Many point of always performing to the same high 1976 he opened the more CD reviews can be viewed on our Web site standard, the same attention to detail, but Astrée collection—one of at www.scena.org. always transcended by virtuosity, a fine sense the finest ever devoted to ★★★★★★ AMUST! of rhythm, and beautifully worked coloration baroque music—with a ★★★★★✩ EXCELLENT (two harpsichords for the continuo!). An aria memorable recording of ★★★★✩✩ VERY GOOD by Antonio Lotti gives us a chance to hear the two suites for viol by Couperin. Thirty years ★★★✩✩✩ GOOD first violin playing solo; another aria, this time later, he has brought together a few of the ★★✩✩✩✩ SO-SO by Allessandro Scarlatti, gives free rain to the finest of his earlier group (Hantaï, Cocset, ★✩✩✩✩✩ MEDIOCRE enthusiastic humour of the horn players. Kraemer & Co.!) for a further homage to the $ < 10 $ Cecilia Bartoli may be the nec plus ultra for composer. Savall, who is steeped in French cul- $$ 10–14.99 $ those looking for a baroque song recital, but ture, speaks fervently of Couperin as the “Poet $$$ 15–20 $ Andreas Scholl, in the ideal and sustained use Musician.” He refuses to consider the Concerts $$$$ > 20 $ of such musical associates, is equally fine. Royaux as merely ordinary works of their time. Reviewers Philippe Gervais “They epitomize a grace more lovely than beauty itself,” he says, citing La Fontaine. A RB Réjean Beaucage FC Frédéric Cardin Tallis somewhat faded grace, perhaps, since PG Philippe Gervais Gaude gloriosa, Magnificat Couperin was writing at the end of Louis XIV’s WSH W.S. Habington The Cardinall's Musick / Andrew Carwood reign, but with a charm that still holds us, espe- IP Isabelle Picard Hyperion CDA67548 (69 min 15 s) cially when Savall is conducting. He has taken JKS Joseph K. So ★★★★★✩ $$$$ extraordinary care with this recording, tasteful- Thomas Tallis (1505- ly varying the instrumentation, as he is quite 1585 ) lived in what was free to do. For example, on occasion we hear a Vocal probably the most violent veritable small orchestra made up of the eight period of England’s reli- instrumentalists (a superb, deep-toned prel- Arias for Senesino gious history. He was born ude in the fourth concert), elsewhere a rippling Works by Handel, Albinoni, Lotti, Porpora in a Roman Catholic violin or flute courante, or a tender air on the and A. Scarlatti country and had risen to viol. Needless to say, all the soloists have mas- Andreas Scholl, countertenor; prominence when Henry VIII closed down and tered their instruments to perfection. Alfredo Accademia Bizantina / Ottavio Dantone emptied abbeys throughout the land and Bernardini’s oboe playing is particularly capti- Decca 475 6569 (65 min 30 s) transferred all Church property to the State. vating. In addition, Philippe Beaussant’s pro- ★★★★★★ $$$ Under his elder daughter, Queen Mary, the gram notes provide a brief but inspired com- Between 1707 and 1740, country returned to Roman Catholicism, only mentary on each piece. PG the alto castrato Frances- to become Protestant once more under Queen co Bernardi was sought Elizabeth I. Tallis navigated skilfully between [OCT] Henri-Joseph Rigel after and idolized the shoals of this turbulent period. His works Quatuors dialogués, (Quartet Dialogues), throughout Europe, from generally express an abiding interest in mod- Opus 10 Franz Joseph Quartet Italy to Dresden to ernism: techniques handed down by past mas- Atma ACD2 2348 (76 min 44 s) London—as much for his ters, such as the cantus firmus and melismatic ★★★★✩✩ $$$ acting talents as for his voice. He was a superb (embellished) phrasing, virtually disappeared Rigel was a French com- performer of Handel, incarnating the roles of from his mature work. The motet form is seen poser of German birth Giulio Cesare, Ottone, Orlando, and Rinaldo, here, a happy blend of Italian tradition and who lived between 1741 among others. The present program is English sensitivity, and one of the most accom- and 1799, and came to designed to relive various moments in the plished musical works of the entire Paris in 1767. Henri- astonishing career of the man who was nick- Renaissance. Perhaps because of the circum- Joseph Rigel (born Hein- named Senesino ("the little one from Sienna"). stances in which Tallis worked, but assuredly rich-Joseph Riegel) is It cleverly mixes well-known Handel arias with a thanks to his exceptional talent, he is one of pretty well forgotten in our day. The Franz number of unpublished works by less celebrat- the most important, inspiring, and original Joseph Quartet, featuring Olivier Brault and ed composers such as Lotti and Porpora. composers of the pre-baroque era. He devel- Jacques Houle on violin, Hélène Plouffe on Senesino’s range wasn’t as great as Farinelli’s, oped a unique and absolutely transcending viola, and Marcel Saint-Cyr on cello, have been but the former was admired for his good taste, musical language. It is difficult to imagine a inspired to study this unexplored repertoire. perfect technique, and superb singing—quali- performance that does greater justice to this Here they give us what may well be the first ties that Andreas Scholl possesses to the high- work than that of the musicians on this record- recording of the six quartets of Rigel’s Opus est degree. He performs the vocally difficult ing. Frédéric Cardin 10 . The special aspect of these four dialogues

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is the melodic line, which, rather than being given to the first violin, passes from one performer to another, creating a kind of dialogue • Over 3,000 titles among the instruments, with the performers taking turns being either •All digital recordings accompanists or soloists. Sometimes, even within a phrase, the melodic •New recordings and compositions monthly line switches instruments in what seems a perfectly natural way. The • Critical acclaim in all key result is music full of variety, elegance, and subtlety, without any great classical publications dramatic tension, but interesting to follow nevertheless. The musicians • Featuring great Canadian artists use period instruments to render the music with a fresh charm. Isabelle Picard All this at an astonishingly low price! Contemporary Music The world’s leading Naturel - Musiques Montréal-Liège Classical Music label! Works by Defresne, Mather, Pousseur, Gonneville, Laporte Francis Orval (horn); Jean-Pierre Peuvion (clarinet); Yolande Parent (soprano); Feature of the Month Launeddas Ensemble; Quatuor Tellus; Quatuor Euterpe ATMA Classique ACD2 2363 (66 min) ★★★★✩✩ $$$$ This recording is the fruit of an exchange between the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and the Conservatoire Royal de Liège. It brings together composers interested in sound research in a non- tempered harmonic context. Henri Pousseur is the

main inspiration, and his work Naturel for solo horn 8557827 8557460-62 offers an example of the use of natural harmonics. Villa-Lobos – Bachianas Ana María Martínez It’s also an irreplaceable reference work for the instrument, giving a Brasileiras (Complete) Soprano Arias major boost to the repertoire for soloists. Michel Gonneville was a pupil Kenneth Schermerhorn, conductor Steven Mercurio, conductor of Pousseur, whose influence is evident in Île arc-en-ciel, (Rainbow Island) for soprano and microtonal organ. The use of microtones is no The 4 CDs below available Dec. 13 longer the novelty it was in Wyschnegrasdky’s time. We can now appre- ciate its beauty. Regrettably, Gonneville gives us only an excerpt of his piece Îles (1991), which is 45-minute long. Jean-François Laporte is a composer whose music is beginning, as here, to be heard in recordings. De la matière première is a highly exploratory work, with members of the Quatuor Euterpe putting their instruments through their paces with fierce intensity. Bruce Mather is our apostle of microtonality, and his Quintette for clarinet and strings is performed here with impressive 8557521 mastery, producing a sparkling rendition of his dream-like coloration. On 8557747 this CD we also meet the work of composer Paula Defresne, whom we’d Schumann/Handel/ Schoenberg like to hear more of. Réjean Beaucage Haydn/Telemann Six A Cappella Mixed Choruses Concertos For Four Horns Robert Craft, conductor [OCT] Steve Reich American Horn Quartet Different Trains The Smith Quartet Signum Classics SIGCD064 (47 min) ★★★★★★ $$ The Smith Quartet (Britain) has been performing Steve Reich’s Different Trains (1988) for some years, and it’s great to have it on CD (the has already done it, and the Quatuor

Bozzini is about to release their version.). Coupling 8557375 8557568 it with Triple Quartet (1999) and the short Duet Willan Schubert – Poets Of Sensibility (1994) provides us with a magnificent portrait of Organ Works Wolfgang Holzmair, baritone the American composer’s writing for this type of ensemble . . . and more! Patrick Wedd, organ Ulrich Eisenlohr, fortepiano The composer has added tracks over the quartet that literally multiply the performance—up to four times for DT, three for TQ. In Duet, a trib- Available at L’Atelier Grigorian ute to Yehudi Menuhin, we have a really far-out duo with two solo vio- 70 Yorkville Avenue, TORONTO lins, four violas, and four cellos. There are also snatches of speech that 620 Richmond Street, LONDON form the background of DT, a reminder of Reich’s very first works, with 210 Lakeshore Road E., OAKVILLE train whistles as well. This work is far more dynamic in its construction than his youthful works, and we certainly can’t accuse Reich of minimal- Pick up your 2005 NAXOS Catalogue ism nowadays. He has long been a master of mixed music. RB or visit www.naxos.com

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Naxos (Harp Showpieces - 8554347) will know the Tennstedt era. This generous spirit is also Chamber Music what to expect here. This recital demands con- demonstrated in the selections from the summate precision and timing but the perform- Hungarian Dances. Louise Farrenc: Chamber Works ances are truly great by virtue of the artist’s Although, the Abbado set of Brahms sym- Nonette pour cordes et vents Op 38 (1), Mélodie intuitive grasp of the music and her ability to phonies and choral works (DG 435 683-2) still (2), Variations concertantes pour violon et piano recreate every expressive nuance conceived by looks unbeatable; Alsop's is a clear first choice Op 20 (3), Études Op 26 (4), Trio pour clarinette, the composer. The programme is especially in the mid-price and below range. The disc is violoncelle et piano Op 44 (5): Philippe Bernold well chosen. The longest piece is Carlos expertly engineered by Tim Handley. WSH (flute - 1), François Leleux (oboe - 1), Romain Salzédo’s Ballade, Op 28, at just under ten Guyot (clarinet 1, 5), André Cazelet (Horn - 1), minutes. Loman honours her former teacher at Felix Draeseke: Orchestral Works Gilbert Audin (bassoon - 1), Guillaume Sutre (violin the Curtis Institute with an exquisite account Symphonies Nos 1 & 4, Gudrun Overture: NDR - 1, 3), Miguel da Silva (viola - 1), François Salque of this early (1913) composition. All ten of the Radiophilharmonie/Jörg-Peter Weigle (cello - 1), Vincent Pasquier (double bass), Brigitte miniatures on the disc are rendered in a man- CPO 999 746-2 (68 min 58 sec) Engerer (piano 2, 3, 5), Jean-Frédéric Neuberger ner that will convince you that perfection is an ★★★★✩✩ $$$$ (piano - 4) attainable state. In recognition of Loman’s The appearance of this Naïve V5033 (74 min 31 sec) retirement after 42 years as the principal fine disc reinforces the ★★★★✩✩ $$$ harpist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, suspicion that CPO Those contemplating a the CBC commissioned Canadian composer (Classic Production Osna- New Year's resolution to Kelly-Marie Murphy to write a harp concerto brück) really stands for get more pure enjoyment (And then at night I paint the stars) dedicated ‘Classical’s Precious out of the music emanat- to Loman. The four-minute third movement Obscurities’. Filed chrono- ing from the home sound cadenza absolutely scintillates. Loman contin- logically by the composers’ date of birth, CDs system would do well to ues to teach at the U of T, the Royal of the music of Felix Draeseke (1835-1913) add this refreshing disc to Conservatory in Toronto and the Curtis would occupy shelf space with other under- their collections. Louise Farrenc will already be Institute in Philadelphia. WSH appreciated symphonists such as Max Bruch, familiar to collectors fortunate enough to have Friedrich Gernsheim and Herman Goetz. Yet, to acquired the CPO discs of her orchestral works paraphrase 's self-effacing quip, (999 603-2 and 999 820-2) performed by Orchestral Music “Draeseke may have been a second-rate com- the NDR Radiophilharmonie under Johannes poser, but he was a first-class second-rate com- Goritski. These revealed a composer of merit Johannes Brahms: Orchestral Works poser.” His First Symphony lacks the cohesion and originality from an era in French music Symphony No 2, Hungarian Dances Nos 1, 3, 10, of the Second and Third (CPO 999 719-2 and which had seemed to begin and end with and 17-21: London Philharmonic Orchestra/Marin 999 581-2, respectively) but it is bursting with Hector Berlioz. This formidable woman Alsop good ideas. Symphony No 4 Symphonia achieved the virtually impossible in the 19th Naxos 8557429 (65 min 06 sec) Comica, was completed in 1912, twenty-six century. As a pianist, composer and teacher, ★★★★★✩ $ years after No 3. This compositional postscript she earned an ample living in music. Her com- Typically, most conduc- shows the devoted Liszt adherent to have land- positions were much admired by Robert tors (such stalwarts as ed stylistically on the threshold of the 20th Schumann. Furtwängler, Karajan and century. The Overture to Draeseke’s 1882 This sampler of her chamber works presents Böhm among them) bring opera, Gudrun, makes an attractive coupling. the composer in an intimate light. The Nonet is in the opening movement Jörg-Peter Weigle succeeds in presenting the the essence of Farrenc –Mozartian charm and of the Brahms Second in music to best advantage and his Hanover Gallic elegance to open the programme. less than fifteen minutes. orchestra responds with enthusiasm. This issue Scintillating piano miniatures follow and the Like the 1988 Claudio Abbado benchmark completes the CPO cycle of Draeseke sym- disc concludes with the lively Trio. The perform- recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, Marin phonies. The label has also recently released ers are among the finest musicians in France and Alsop fully honours the immaculate recapitula- an impressive disc of Symphonies Nos 2 and 5 the playing (recorded live in concert at the tion and the exposition repeat of the Allegro by Mahler contemporary Emil Nikolaus von Louvre in January 2005) is splendid. The sound non troppo and takes over twenty minutes to Reznicek. In the near future, we can also look quality is excellent. W.S. Habington render the movement. This is how Brahms con- forward to recordings of symphonies from ducted it himself. more ‘precious obscurities’ including Joseph Judy Loman: The Romantic Harp The first installment in the Alsop Brahms Eybler, Ludwig Thuille, FLA Kunzen, Georg Works for solo harp by Grandjany, Tournier, Rota, symphony cycle (No 1 with the Tragic and Gerson and Eduard Erdmann. WSH Pierné, de Falla, Fauré, Prokofiev, Salzédo and Academic Festival Overtures) was greeted with Murphy – Judy Loman (harp) wide acclaim when it appeared earlier this year. Modest Mussorgsky: Stokowski Transcriptions Naxos 8554561 (59 min 25 s) This account of the second is even finer rival- A Night on Bare Mountain, Entr’acte to Act IV of ★★★★★✩ $ ing the recent and highly rated recording from Khovanshchina, Symphonic Synthesis of Boris In the right hands and Mariss Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Godunov, Pictures at an Exhibition, coupled with with the right music, the (RCO 05002). Alsop gives us a warmly enlight- transcriptions of: Tchaikovsky: Humoresque, harp can ravish. The art of ened performance that accords with the com- Solitude and Stokowski: Traditional Slavic Judy Loman gently takes poser’s conception of expansive optimism. Christmas Music – Bournemouth Symphony us beyond harmonic sen- Alsop enjoys the eager cooperation of the Orchestra/José Serebrier sualities to a blessed LPO’s battle-hardened veterans; there is a Naxos 6110101 Hybrid SACD (76 min 47 sec) state of rapture. Readers spark in the orchestral playing that has not ★★★★★✩ $ acquainted with her previous solo album for been as consistently evident on record since José Serebrier has maintained an active record-

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ing schedule in recent Selections of classical pieces arranged for solo ‘Barcarolle” from Les Contes d’Hoffmann, years with notable discs voices, choir, and chamber ensemble while others are almost totally rearranged for for BIS, Warner and ISB CD 5109 www.isbamusic.com voice, such as the Adagietto from Mahler’s Naxos. Releases for the ★★★★★✩ $$$ Fifth. Choquette sings with a girlishly ‘white’ latter label received a For those looking for tone that is devoid of vibrato, an approach couple Grammy nomina- Christmas stocking stuf- that actually suits the music and the chamber tions in 2004 and the fers in the ‘easy listening’ arrangements well. Occasionally she tosses in recording of his own arrangement of a Carmen genre, these two discs will a high note to show off her upward extension. Symphony after Bizet was honoured with a prove quite irresistible. Understandably, some selections are more Latin Grammy. Serebrier usually contributes The star on both is successful than others. The Hoffmann duet is authoritative booklet notes and in the present Natalie Choquette, the lovely, her voice blending nicely with the issue, these are of great value because gifted soprano and clas- countertenor. On the other hand, one misses Stokowski was an influential mentor for the sical comedienne, who the argent quality of a tenor sound in ‘Una young Serebrier. has delighted audiences furtiva lagrima’ – her otherworldly, disembod- Stokowski’s orchestration of A Night on Bare worldwide with her ied approach is not to my taste. But overall, Mountain is well known from the soundtrack of sidesplitting antics for these two releases are terrific choices for the Disney’s Fantasia of 1940. The Serebrier per- the past decade. What is Yuletide season. Joseph K. So formance is even more sinister and violent than sometimes overlooked is the master’s own. The excerpt from Khovansh- the fact that Choquette possesses a modest- Christmas with Winchester College Chapel Choir china is a reminder of the extraordinary quality sized but lovely instrument of range and flex- Sara Macliver, soprano of the opera and that is exactly what Stokowski ibility. In these two albums, she has eschewed Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, had in mind when he transcribed it. The her usual comic impulses for ‘straight’ rendi- William Lacey, conductor Stokowski treatment of Pictures is radically dif- tions of sacred and classical pieces, re- Naxos 8.557965 (66 m 21 s) ferent from the familiar Ravel orchestration. He arranged by the talented Éric Lagacé to suit ★★★★✩✩ $$ dispensed with the Tuileries and Market Place her vocal gifts. For some selections, she is This disc will put you in at Limoges passages entirely and exerted him- joined by Noëlla Huet, alto, and the excellent the Christmas mood. It self to make the piece more Mussorgskian. countertenor David DQ Lee. Also on the disc features the Winchester Serebrier makes a very convincing case for this is treble Éléonora Lagacé, the soprano’s College Chapel Choir per- version although he is not ready to forsake the seven-year-old daughter. The first album, forming the chestnuts one Ravel either. It is certainly worth hearing and Aeterna, released in November 2004, has has come to love during the music lends itself to 5.0 SACD surround sold 25,000 copie, and recently received an the Yuletide season, plus sound; the stereo tracks are also impressive. ADISQ award as Album on the Year – a few less familiar modern pieces. The first four The Bournemouth SO is more than equal to Classical Soloist and Small Ensemble. selections are sung a capella, with the old stan- the challenge of this demanding music. The Choquette took it on tour last season. Part of dard ‘O come, all ye faithful’, the Bach cantatas additional material makes for an interesting the proceeds from sales of these discs will and Handel’s Messiah accompanied by the and generous programme. WSH benefit La Fondation Québécoise du Cancer, Hong Kong Philharmonic. The treble voices are of which Choquette is the spokesperson. lovely, but elsewhere the blending of male voic- Building on the success of Aeterna, es can be a bit spotty. Australian Sara Macliver Holiday Choquette has released Aeterna Romantica, has a pretty, light soprano with good coloratu- based on the same format, and definitely not ra and just a touch more vibrato than your typ- Aeterna for purists. All the pieces are re-orchestrated, ical “nymphs and shepherds”-type voice one Natalie Choquette, soprano; Noëlla Huet, alto; some drastically; and often the melodic line has come to expect in this repertoire. She is Éléonore Lagacé, treble designated for instruments is replaced by the standout on this disc. The orchestra uses Selections of sacred pieces with solo voices, choir, voice and/or choir. If you are not bothered by modern instruments, so if you are looking for and chamber ensemble that – and I am not – these discs are for you. authentic baroque sound, you won’t find it ISB CD 5107 www.isbamusic.com They are beautifully produced and highly here. The conducting of William Lacey is ★★★★★✩ $$$ enjoyable. Choquette and music director Éric leisurely. If you like your cantatas and oratorios Aeterna Romantica Lagacé have chosen the most musically acces- a bit more full-bodied, you will find this disc Natalie Choquette, soprano; David DQ Lee, coun- sible pieces, some retained in their original quite enjoyable. Included are substantial selec- tertenor; Éléonora Lagacé, treble form with little tinkering, for example the tions from Handel’s Messiah, plus bits and

We buy collections of CONSERVATORS & PURVEYORS classical (Liszt, Bach, OF Fine & Rare Violins Mozart) vinyl records. Expert Opinions. If you have more than Appraisals – Private & Estate Curators for Corporate & Institutional collections a 100 classical records,

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Winter 2006 45 tms_4-2_layout/28-51 2005-11-15 16:28 Page 46

Sikora: Vancouver's CD Valhalla BY CLAIRE BLAUSTEIN veryone has their own idea of heav- music as were its founders. tickets to events, Sikora’s keeps itself actively en. As a classical musician, I always Working in a classical music store had not involved in the musical community. But the pictured my Valhalla as a big record been in the stars for either of the men. “I have store itself is also a community, especially for E store in the sky, with thousands and a BSc in Cell/Molecular Biology and an MSc in the people who have been shopping there thousands of CDs to pick from. But it turns out Genetics,” Savenye said about his academic since the beginning. I don’t have to wait for the afterlife for my background. “I have taken some basic piano “We offer a great selection of the music vision to come true. I could just go to lessons to a certain level.” Roger Scobie does people know and love from their experiences Vancouver instead. have a degree in music – he studied piano at growing up and attending concerts,” Savenye Vancouver’s Sikora’s Classical Records has a the Victoria Conservatory – though he doesn’t said. “We have a great, friendly and knowledge- stock of 25,000 albums. Twenty-five THOU- play any longer. Yet, it’s apparent that both are able staff - it makes for a good impression and SAND. Everything is there: classical CDs, classi- equally devoted to music and excited about a great experience shopping at the store. cal concert and opera DVD/Videos, Super their work. People feel good about coming here to shop.” Audio CDs, and DVD-Audios, as well as vinyl LPs For Ed Savenye and Roger Scobie, Sikora’s is With larger chain stores becoming the norm, there is a fear that smaller businesses may not be able to compete. So far, Sikora’s hasn’t been affected. “Things have remained pretty stable overall here,” said Savenye. “Our LARGE selection of classical titles keeps us in good (or better) standing with respect to any competition. Customers tell us the other outlets are cutting back significantly on their classical inventory, so our selection puts us in a relatively good position.” Although business is going well, it hasn’t been an entirely smooth path for Scobie and Savenye. As they’ll tell you, any enterprise of this magnitude has its ups and downs. “We haven't had any real difficulties with the basic operation of the store,” Savenye said. for those who prefer older technological forms. more than a store, it’s a part of the classical “[But] Roger and I were just handed the store Sikora’s has been up and running for over music community in Vancouver. “We have a very when Rod developed some serious health con- 25 years, an impressive feat for any business, broad base of regular customers here who have cerns. That was a very emotionally shocking especially one dealing in the niche market of been regular customers for many, many years,” event - with a very STEEP learning curve I can classical music. It got started in 1978 when Scobie said. “And we do a lot of promotion for tell you!” Rod Horsley got together with Dick and local concerts, selling tickets.” “Probably the worst thing was the four Dorothy Sikora and decided that Vancouver “We’re located right next to the large print months of Transit strike that started just as needed a store that would help foster a strong music shop in Vancouver [Long and Roger and I took over the store from Rod. The classical presence in the city. McQuade]…and that’s where the young musi- best – [it’s] hard to say. I think the privilege of Although Dick is still involved with the cians come to get their scores. So a lot of being at the store, working here, being able to store, he has turned over the day-to-day busi- young musicians come through here trying to say one truly enjoys their job - the ‘Sikora's ness to Ed Savenye and Roger Scobie, who are promote their concerts.” experience’ as a whole has to be the best.” as dedicated to the distribution of classical Through promoting local artists and selling

SIKORA’S TOP 5 STAFF CD PICKS: Schulhoff: Piano Music, Kathryn Stott Berlioz: Les Nuits d'ete; Ravel, - a lesser known but very delightful composer BIS CD 1249 Sheherazade; songs by Poulenc and - on the same disc with some well-loved Contemporary piano music by Czech com- Debussy, Regine Crespin Mozart and Gluck arias, performed by the poser Ervin Schulhoff performed by the ever- Decca CD 460 973 2 magnificent Magdalena Kozena. fascinating Kathryn Stott. The legendary Regine Crespin in a number of her most outstanding performances, all at a Rameau: Une Symphonie Imaginaire, Les Cavalieri: Lamentations budget price! Musiciens du Louvre, Alpha CD 011 Marc Minkowski Everything on the Alpha label is exceptional. Le belle immagini: Myslivecek, Mozart Archiv 477 557 8 This is a masterful and historically authentic and Gluck opera arias, Magdalena Kozena Energetic French Baroque music interpreted performance of Italian Baroque music which is DG CD 471 334 2 by some of the best musicians in the field. beautifully packaged with a 32-page booklet. It is refreshing and exciting to hear Myslivicek Delightful.

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pieces from Bach's Cantatas 10, 42, 147, and between video and audio, just enough to be SUBSCRIBE NOW! ✁ 236. The recording was made when the choir annoying. But given the excellent singing, it is Don’t miss an issue was on tour in Hong Kong in December 2004. well worth the hefty price. JKS The booklet includes a brief essay on the LaScenaMusicale pieces, a listing of all the choir members, artist Claudio Monteverdi: L’incoronazione di Poppea bios, texts and translations, plus several pica- Live Recording from the Netherlands Opera 1994. resque photos of the chapel and the choir. The Cynthia Haymon (Poppea), Brigitte Balleys sound is good without too much reverberation. (Nerone), Ning Liang (Ottavia), Michael Chance JKS (Ottone), Harry van der Kamp (Seneca), Heidi & Grant Murphy (Drusilla), Jean-Paul Fouchécourt Buy a 2-year subscription for $69 ((Arnalta), Dominique Visse (Nutrice), et al, Les (taxes included) and receive a free DVD Talents Lyriques/ Christophe Rousset CD,along with 20 issues of La Stage Director: Pierre Audi, Video Director: Scena Musicale and 8 issues of The Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Concert Hans Hutscher Music Scene Mussorgsky Songs and Dances of Death, Respighi Opus Arte OA0925 D (219 min – 2 DVDs) Save 57% off the newsstand price. The Pines of Rome, arias from Un ballo in Sound 2.0 & 5.1 maschera, Don Carlo, Barbiere di Siviglia ★★★★★✩ $$$ CHOOSE A CD FROM THE FOLLOWING: Orchestre symphonique de Montreal, Charles Monteverdi’s masterpiece Dutoit, conductor for the stage was com- EMI Classics Analekta Live performance at Lanaudiere Festival, July 1998 posed to a libretto by VAI DVD 4330 (54 min) Busenello after Tacitus ★★★★★✩ $$$$ and Suetonius. The 1642 We seem to be enjoying a premiere of Poppea in ‘golden age’ when it Venice was a landmark in ❑ ❑ comes to baritones. Even the still new art form of St. Lawrence String Alain Lefèvre in an extremely crowded opera. It is a dramatiza- Quartet Hommage à André field, Dmitri tion of historical facts; real people snared in Christopher Hatzis Mathieu Hvorostovsky stands out lethal affairs of state (a genre that Giuseppe as the proverbial crème Verdi would ultimately master). The plot de la crème. Arguably revolves around the illicit love of Nerone and there is nobody today, Poppea, with the muses of Fortune and Virtue CBC with the possible excep- taking a beating from Cupid. With the passage Records tion of Bryn Terfel, who can touch the Siberian of time, Poppea stands as a searing indictment ❑ ❑ when it comes to sheer beauty of voice and of the human condition in the nexus of lust and stage charisma. While the Welshman may be power. Measha Isabel Bayrakdarian more versatile in terms of repertoire, in sheer Poppea, presented here in almost complete Brueggergosman Copland, etc Cleopatra vocal terms, Hvorostovsky’s smooth-as-silk form, must now be recognized as a great music baritone and amazingly long breath-line are drama by the standards of any age. hard to beat. The castrato role of Nerone is taken by This concert, taped live in summer 1998 at mezzo-soprano Brigitte Balleys with distinc- Naxos the Lanaudiere Festival, when Hvorostovsky tion. Counter-tenor, Michael Chance, exhibits was only 35, captures the Russian at his youth- remarkable stage presence as Ottone, cuckold ful prime. He opens with Songs and Dances of and would-be cross-dressing assassin. As ❑ ❑ Death, a cycle of galvanizing intensity. He has Seneca, the doomed philosopher, Harry van Belini Norma Verdi previously recorded it on the Philips label, one der Kamp is superb. The remainder of the cast Maria Callas Aida of his earliest recordings. If anything, his inter- (with over twenty named roles) is consistently YES,I WANT TO SUBSCRIBE TO LA SCENA pretation has deepened in the intervening excellent. ❑ years. The three Verdi arias that followed show Conductor Christophe Rousset contributes MUSICALE AND THE MUSIC SCENE his timbre to be absolutely ideal in this reper- a very useful book which explains the musical (2 YEARS) FOR ONLY $69! toire. Everything is sung with unfailing beauty approach: “... the ‘orchestra’ consists of only ❑ 1 year ($40, without CD) of tone, and one cannot ask for a more two violins, a viola, a cello, a bass, two harpsi- ❑ Donation resplendent top. In Rossini, his ‘Largo al facto- chords and two lutes.” These are augmented tum’ shows flair for comedy not normally asso- by cornets, recorders, theorbo and viola da NAME ciated with him. The audience responded with gamba, which Monteverdi tended to favour in ADDRESS warm applause after the Mussorgsky. With other works. The drama in Poppea is carried by CITY each succeeding aria, the ovations increased in the recitative and Rousset’s songful accompa- PROVINCE intensity until he brought the house down with niment is marvelous. COUNTRY the Rossini. The concert ended with the tradi- Consult the DVD extras before viewing the POSTAL CODE tional Russian melody, ‘Dark Eyes’. At 54 min- opera for the helpful illustrated synopsis. Set PHONE utes, the DVD is on the ungenerous side, and designer Michael Simon succeeds with three typical of VAI products, there is a minimum of austere layouts and Jean Kalman provide excel- EMAIL information and zero program notes. Another lent lighting. WSH VISA/MC/AMEX NO. blemish is the slight synchronization problem EXP. / The Music Scene, 5409 Waverly st., Montreal music Winter 2006 47 (Quebec) H2T 2X8 • Fax: 514 274.9456 • scene [email protected] tms_4-2_layout/48-51 11/16/05 2:21 PM Page 48

JAZZ Jazzpoetry: The Music of Words PAUL SERRALHEIRO ombining music and words is a practice of nearly all musical tradi- C tions. In jazz, the blending seems natural, the art having evolved within the Photo: Dave Carter song form. In classical music, the more Yoon Choi & Hayden Beale - Scene from “Québécité” common practice has been to compose MARC CHÉNARD “settings” for words. Over time, jazz com- posers have gone beyond writing in the basic song format, but have also written Arias of swing settings for words, and with some notewor- Close Encounters of the Unusual Kind thy results, too. Probably the first to approach the set- azz and opera, opera and jazz… Whatever sounds in “L’Enfant et les Sortilèges”. More ting of poetry in jazz was , way one chooses to look at it, no two striking was Ernst Krenek’s “Johnny Spielt auf” who, with Billy Strayhorn, rendered musical J genres seem so far apart from each other in 1927, a work that met such resounding suc- impressions of Shakespeare for a work com- as this pair. A bourgeois art par excellence, cess after its premiere, that 42 more perform- missioned by the Stratford Theatre Festival opera remains the grand theatrical spectacle ances were staged that same year. in 1956. The result was “Such Sweet for well-heeled audiences. Jazz, in stark con- But these were all forerunners to George Thunder,” a suite in which the composers trast, is a perpetual renegade stigmatized by Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”, surely the most and the band put their distinctive stamp on its strictly proleterian beginnings. Yet, music is successful American opera of all times. the bard, with pieces like “Lady Mac Waltz,” an adventure across borders, and more so in Because the composer cleverly straddled the “Sonnet in Search of a Moor,” “Star-Crossed these post-this and neo-that times. lines between popular and serious music, he Lovers,” and “Madness in Great Ones.” In September 2003, a jazz opera was pre- enjoyed a degree of legitimacy in both camps, Around the same time, the Beat poets miered right here in Canada. Commissioned by and his numerous hit songs took on a life of were reading their words to jazz accompa- the Guelph Jazz Festival on the occasion of its their own as jazz standards. niments. While dismissed by some as a fad, tenth anniversay, “Québécité” was a collabora- Although classical music drew on jazz in the practice which showed much creative tive effort between composer-pianist D.D. decades past, it took much longer for acknowl- promise had its precursors in the blues and Jackson and librettist George Elliot Clark. An edged jazz composers to measure up to the in works of poets like Langston Hughes. interracial love story based on the life of the operatic challenge. Pianist Anthony Davis, for Notable sessions teamed Jack Kerouac composer’s own parents, this drama (which one, has written no less than four operas over with David Amram or Al Cohn and Zoot operas usually are) was performed by a small a ten-year span. Beginning with “X” (aka “The Sims, while poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti and stage cast, with backing provided by a jazz Life and Times of Malcolm X") in 1986, he fol- Kenneth Rexroth developed the art to a quintet. Since its premiere, and a reprise in lowed with “Under the Double Moon” (1989), high level, mostly with lesser-known musi- Vancouver shortly thereafter, this work has “Tania” (1991, based on the Patti Hearst cians. After the Beats came the Last Poets slipped quietly out of the spotlight. Far from story) and “Amistad” (1997). and Amiri Baraka, extending the counter- having said his last word in this medium, Yet, when it comes to ambition, no one beats culture expression to serve larger political Jackson received a new commission last June, Anthony Braxton. Indeed, his projected “Trillium agendas. this time from Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre. Series” will comprise, by writing’s end – if he While the Beat phenomenon was large- Written in tandem with librettist Clark, this new gets there – no less than 36 one-act operas, all ly about poets being influenced by jazz, work, entitled “Vistas,” will revolve around the of which can be mixed and matched in any musicians where also drawn to the writers. career of former Canadian Prime Minister sequence or number for a given performance. A perfect case in point is Steve Lacy. His Pierre Elliott Trudeau, its premiere slated for In Europe, opera’s cradle, other such ven- “Beat Suite,” which takes an art song that institution’s next season. tures are worth noting, most notably those by approach, is based on the work of ten This kind of undertaking has historical the Swiss pianist and composer George Gruntz writer friends (which include Kerouac, antecedents. In fact, one can go back as far as (see record review in this section). Rexroth, and Ginsberg). Lacy works much Scott Joplin’s turn of the century “Tremonisha”, “Cosmopolitan Greetings” (libretto by Allan like a Schubert setting the poetry of Heine taking into account that the composer wrote Ginsberg) was premiered in Hamburg in 1987 and Müller. Lacy’s other word-music pro in a pre-jazz idiom, ragtime. But in the Roaring and, more recently, he spun out a jazz version of jects includes “Futurities,” settings of Twenties, European classical composers were the venerable “Magic Flute”, complete with a poems by Robert Creeley and Kenneth fascinated by the rhythms of the New Amerian cast of American singers and compatriot instru- Noland, and The Cry, based on the poetry music and incorporated it into their scores, in mentalists. Although cursory this survey is of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin. spite of their cursory understanding of it. As indicative of the reach of jazz, even if its Viennese composer and trumpeter- early as 1924, Ravel integrated some of those encounters with opera are spotty at best. flugelhornist Franz Koglmann has done

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something similar in his strange and engaging “O tions of instrumentalists. In this case, his poet- Moon My Pin-Up,” which fused the poetry of ry is pure sound and the nuances of meaning Ezra Pound with a jazz-meets-expressionism are carried by the vowels and consonants of the musical idiom. The 1998 project based on human voice. The points of departure are often Pound’s “Pisan Cantos” shows the possibilities of “poetry scores,” idiosyncratic graphic cue creating music using the complex architecture of sheets for blending music and voice. an extended poetic creation. Pianist Fred Hersch The meeting of jazz and classical approach- recently collaborated with singer Kurt Elling (who es to the art of words and sounds was recent- once wrote and directed a theatrical homage to ly exemplified on May 15, 2005, at Carnegie Allen Ginsberg) in a setting of Walt Whitman’s Hall when pianist Brad Mehldau and soprano Steve Lacy poems, now released on the CD “Intersections.” Renée Fleming performed the former’s musical and that Mehldau "has crossed over to my Dutch sound-poet and composer Jaap Blonk settings of four Rilke poems. Even if the singer world.” Based on this small sample alone, these is also an important voice in the choir of those released a jazz CD in 2005, she maintained in two worlds are not so far apart as one might who attempt to weld poetry to the improvisa- a recent interview that "these are art songs," think.

OFF THE RECORD MARC CHÉNARD, PAUL SERRALHEIRO Phil Nimmons an old friend of his, the recently departed Pino Minafra: Terronia (with the Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra) Harry Freedman. If music reflects the personal- Enja enj 9480 2 Canadian Composer Portraits ity of its creator, then this most gentlemanly ★★★★✩✩¶ Centre Discs CMCD11005 (3 CD Box set) music is totally in keeping with the man. MC Energy and excitement ★★★★✩✩ animate this recording At 82 years young, com- Vienna Art Orchestra: Swing and Affairs which is a passionate poser, arranger, educator EmArcy 060249874469 combination of various and clarinettist Phil ★★★★✩✩¶¶ musical languages—with Nimmons is the dean of This big band has survived one reservation however: all Canadian jazz musi- for over 25 years, no easy the use of jazz clichés in cians, even exceeding feat in this day and age. “Maccaroni,” and “La Danza del Grillo,” where Oscar Peterson by two Not only has it survived, it the intended humour of the Walt-Disney-like years. Unlike that internationally celebrated has made a name for itself phrases, followed by Satchmo scat imitations/ pianist, Nimmons carved out his niche in with serious jazz fans for parodies make this listener roll his eyes in dis- Canada, and Toronto in particular, where he its creative large ensem- belief. Notwithstanding this aesthetic lapse, wrote and composed extensively for the CBC. ble ways in terms of composition and arrange- the writing, playing and improvising on this Through it all, he kept up his jazz interests at ment, as well as for its high-calibre playing. The disc are polished and powerful. The opening the helm of his own band, known as “Nimmons big band has also been creative in its choice of “Canto General” on poetry by Pablo Neruda & Nine Plus Six”. To acknowledge his consider- repertoire, a fact evident here, where Mingus, and latter poetic passages for voices give able contribution, the Canadian Music Centre Eric Satie, , and Terronia a seriousness of intent, which the has released a remarkable document, a three- Johann Strauss all rub shoulders. With the pro- humorous tracks are but a counterpoint to. CD set. Disc one comprises a fifty-minute doc- gram on this disc, culled from eight of its pre- The charts are often boisterous, but capable of umentary, in which the musician talks about the vious program-based albums, the band is sure to finely shaded nuance, as in “A Mia Madre,” various stages of his career, starting from the gain an even wider audience, as it has become which features sensitive flugelhorn solo pas- then backwaters of Kamloops, B.C., his studies such a polished, tight unit with the sparkle of a sages by the leader, or the understated fanfare at New-York’s Juilliard School of Music and his first-rate show band. This very fact might disap- and vocal opening of “Mediterraneo.” The subsequent work in his adopted city. The point some of the older fans. The music is deliv- backgrounds and transitional sections in the remainder, however, is all music (and plenty of ered via a well-oiled machine, with solos that are extended pieces (most are over 10 minutes it, too), courtesy of the Dave McMurdo big always on the mark, displaying the professional long) are smoothly pulled off, as three different band. In over two and a half hours of a live club polish of the group more than its creative ensembles combine to render this ambitious performance, this big band tackles 17 originals, edge—an edge which is given up here in favour music: the sextet Sud Ensemble (Minafra is with the composer soloing very fluently on of showmanship. Disappointing in this regard is from the south eastern coast of Italy), the four of the tracks. Overall, CD two features the rather bland version of “Round Midnight” vocal quartet Faraualla, and the 22-piece older pieces which is attested to by the and the cheesy rhythms and voicings of “Tango Meridiana Multijazz Orchestra. The result is a squeaky-clean arrangements showing their age; from Obango.” That said, this is not music to be mass of sound reflecting the leader’s varied conversely, the last disc strikes more updated ashamed of at all. Tried and true though it may influences: the community “banda,” baroque chords, with some collective blowing and a few be, there are many a pleasant moment, such as and renaissance music (in the voicings of the heated solos, most notably by tenorist Alex Satie’s “Gnossienne No. 1”, which sounds fab- vocal and tutti passages) and the jazz band. Dean. Jazz big band fans will be well served ulous as a big band arrangement, or the This all comes together in the closing, title here, and those who’ve been around a bit will fluegelhorn theme of “Lisboa Reverie.” Finally, track, reminding us that jazz is alive and well surely enjoy the recollections of Mr. Nimmons. there are plenty of solos, played by some of and living in Italy. PS Just in passing, the liner notes were written by the most accomplished musicians around. PS

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OFF THE RECORD MARC CHÉNARD, FELIX HAMEL, PAUL SERRALHEIRO

Piano Works I: Joachim Kühn: Allegro Vivace A Proper Introduction Andrew Rathbun-Owen Howard Quintet: Days Act 9750-2 to Dodo Marmarosa: Dodo’s Dance Before and After ★★★★✩✩ Proper INTRO CD 2055 Fresh Sound New Talent FSNT 194CD German pianist Joachim ★★★★✩✩ ★★★✩✩✩ Kühn is truly one of the Dodo Marmarosa (1925- As the label name suggests, great virtuoso players on 2002) may be known to this is music by emerging the international jazz scene. the cognoscenti alone, musicians who have some- Since defecting from the mainly because of his thing to say. The freshness East in the mid-sixties, this steely-fingered key- playing on Charlie Parker’s comes from the lyrical com- boardist has led a chequered career, playing free legendary Dial sessions. But his West Coast activ- positions and the presence jazz, rock fusion, standards and classical reper- ities during the 1940’s did not lead him to a very of two guitars, a somewhat toire, the latter being prominently featured on this productive career, and he more or less retired from untypical choice for a jazz group. This last fact solo side. In the inaugural disc of a new series music by the early 60’s. Nevertheless, his record- makes for a special soundscape, as Ben Monder launched by Act Records, Kühn covers a lot of ed output includes some very interesting sides and Geoff Young bring a distinct blend of moody ground, tackling works by Couperin, Bach, Mozart, from that bygone era, either in solo or trio set- textures. Fellow Canadian expatriates and co-lead- Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and some of his own. tings, even as co-leader with another largely neg- ers, Andrew Rathbun on tenor and soprano, and His trademark impetuous runs work best with lected figure, the recently departed saxophonist Owen Howard on drums, have come up with mean- those of the latter three composers, but are fre- Lucky Thompson. True, the sound is at times ingful vehicles that obviously say something to the quently at odds with the former. What’s more, his sub-par (which was the case when records were instrumentalists. The closing “Nomad” gypsy readings seem stiff at times (most noticeable in cut for very small and elusive labels), but this theme and dreamy mood sum up the wistfulness Couperin’s Plainchant), and one gets the feeling should not deter one from the fact that this com- that permeates the album, aptly suggested by the he’s itching to break away from the scores. pilation is a good illustration of the spirit of title. The compositions are thoughtful, though not Obviously, the pianist wanted to please himself by those times, where the pianist shows us his mod- always surprising in their directions, as the harmon- crossing boundaries, but lovers of classical piano ernist and classicist leanings, including a clear ic colours vary very little from tune to tune where may find him too iconoclastic for their taste, while hint of French impressionism on two solo cuts, darkish tones predominate. Produced by saxo- jazz fans (and Kühn’s in particular) will view his aptly entitled Tone Paintings I & II. For piano afi- phonist Pat Labarbera, and also featuring bassist playing as too contained. Four stars for the musi- cionados and those seeking a good value, this very John Hebert, this is an offering that has sinewy cian, three for some of the renditions. M.C. reasonably priced disc is a definite keeper. F.H. reed solos, lots of depth to the guitar voicings and imaginative bass and drum underpinnings. P.S. Piano Works II: Paul Rutherford Ken Vandermark,Torsten Müller, George Gruntz: Ringing the Luminator Dylan van der Schyff Miles Perkin: Common Thread Act 9751-2 Hoxha Ombu 1009 ★★★★✩✩ Spool Line 26 ★★★✩✩✩ Amazingly, veteran Swiss ★★★★✩✩ This is a promising first pianist George Gruntz This co-op quartet is a col- album which combines recorded his first solo lection of four seasoned strong voices from the album in 2004, at 72. free music players starting Montreal jazz scene, led Given his long and varied with one of the pioneers of by Miles Perkin on bass, career, it stands to reason that a wealth of expe- this genre, British trombonist Paul Rutherford. with Erik Hove on alto, rience is embedded in his fingers. The release Sharing the front line here is the high-profiled Chet Doxas on tenor, Josh Rager on piano, opens with an intriguingly titled three-part suite reedman Ken Vandermark (on tenor and clarinet), Thom Gossage on drums, and the latter’s which gives its name to the disc, augmented by the lesser-known German expatriate to Canada, brother, flutist Dave Gossage, guesting on one another 12 pieces over this generous 68-minute bassist Torsten Müller and Vancouver’s one and track. There are many good moments, making side. As a European, there are obvious classicist only Dylan van der Schyff on drums. Six cuts this a worthwhile listening experience, as in the touches on the harmonic level, but there is bop- ranging from four minutes (including a minute opener “Common Thread Suite” or the funky, pish fluency as well, even touches of whimsy and and a half of unneeded applause) to 21 cover this bass-driven “Insane Asylum.” But there are some schmaltz. Never an innovator, but one who hour-plus side of musical fisticuffs. But all is not moments where things drag. With over 75 min- has certainly absorbed trends, George Gruntz Sturm und Drang here, for there are serene utes of music here, some cuts could have easi- may have waited a long time to do this, but he is moments as well. As is the case for music in this ly been made, like the popish “Orange a solid jazz citizen, and an all-round piano stylist idiom, it’s more the process, or the natural ebb Horizon,” which, despite its clever rhythmic in his own right. Piano fans take note: there are and flow of events that counts, and those best overlays, veers into rather saccharine melodi- now three more titles in this series, one by served by this outing were the audience at this cism, or “Game # 1” and “Fragile Innocence” American Bruce Barth, another by Cuban Ramon live performance in Portland, Oregon, in which are sluggish and bog down the proceed- Vallé (playing the music of Alberto Lecuona), and December 2004. One puzzle remains though, its ings. There is no question of the quality of the a compilation of romantic piano pieces per- title. Why would one name this recording after musicianship here, but greater selectivity in the formed by the aforementioned, and others as the Communist dictator who once ruled Albania editing process could have made this a well. M.C. with an iron fist? Go figure… M.C. stronger album. P.S.

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Eric Gorfain of The Section Quartet

Today’s sheet music.

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