Volume 4 Issue 6 - March 1999

three Canadian world premieres
by Canadians Paul Dol den, Chris
Paul Hannan and Alex Pauk, as
well as a brand new work by
Gennan composer Klaus Hinrich
Staluner. Erica Goodman is the
soloist for composer/conductor
Alex Pauk's Concerto for Harp
and Orchestra. ·
Surprisingly, the harp part
was created first and can stand
alone as an wtaccompanied work.
"This is not a typical concerto in
the 19th century sense of a
dramatic conflict between
individual and group," says the
composer. "htstead, the harp part
is 'embraced' by the orchestra, '
and the ensemble enhances and .
supports the soloist's material.".
Unconventional approaches
to composing are extended in
Chris Paul Hannan's Axle, which
is actually built from the musical
material found in Pauk's work.
Hannan has derived his ideas
from the sketches for the
concerto, in a process he
describes as akin to
"musicogenetic cell splicing and
engineering". "I don't know yet
what Chris has done," says Pauk,
"the only restriction provided
was that he not use a harp in the
orchestration. ht the end, our
works may remain forever fused -
rather like siamese twins in a
David Cronenberg film!" Paul
Dolden's Resonant Twilight for
orchestra and computer electronics
extends some of the techniques
from his previous work for
Esprit, TI1e Heart Tears Itself
Apart with the Power oflts Own
Muscles, although it promises a
Itlore atmospheric and impressionistic
quality. Lastly, Klaus
Hinrich Staluner's May they
come, may they disembark, may
they stay and rest awhile in
peace, takes·its inspiration from
Henry Miller's book "Colossus of
Marouss". Esprit is well represented
on CD (four titles on CBC
Records), with Hannan's
Iridesence found on their
recording of the same name.
TI1e rising young composer h~s
just been nominated for a 1999
JUNO Award for his Sonata for
Viola and Piano, recorded by
Rivka Golani on Centrediscs.
Paul Dolden's explorations of
electronics with acoustic instruments
can be heard on several
discs, with two titles devoted
entirely to his music -·"The
Threshold of Deafening Silence"
(Ironia Disc) and "L'ivresse de
Ia vitesse" (IMED).
Down Here On Earth - a
dark, disturbing experimental
music theatre piece set in a
nightmarish, abandoned urban
landscape - is being remounted at
Harbourfront's du Maurier
.Theatre for two shows only
(March 19, I :30 and 8:00 PM),
prior to moving on for a run in
Montreal.. Created by Victoria
Ward (librettist) and Rainer
Wiens (composer), and directed
by Thom Sokoloski, Down Here
On Earth delves into the interior
worlds pf two homeless characters,
Red and Mercy, who are
trapped by their memories of.a
mysterious lost child. An
exceptionally challenging vocal
work, it requires perfonners with
solid backgrounds in extended
voice techniques. Richard
Armstrong, Fides Krucker and
Susanna Hood reprise their roles
in this revised production, three
singers who were more than
capable of negotiating the hair-
Hear & Now continues page 12