Volume 6 Issue 9 - June 2001

the piece. I was very interested
in returning to Queen of
Puddings' roots - exploring
challenging and difficult
contemporary music in a theatric
context that allows audiences to
become involved in the
experience, without requiring
'accessible' music, so I began
with the 25 minute work by
Juhan Puhm for soprano and
piano, and continued by
searching for works that would
frame it."
"Puhm's work explores
death through a series of nature
and bird metaphors, and I
decided that every work in this
show would have a bird
reference; also, I was looking for
repertoire that was for two female
voices with or without piano.
What started revealing itself was
a series of works that reversed
chronologically by season.
Through this we had our theme,
the seasons - a metaphor for the
cycle of life through death. In
searching for music, I made the
pleasant discovery of the German
composer Manfred Trojahn, who
amongst several works for voice,
has written two very beautiful a
cappella duets for two sopranos,
one about spring and one about
autumn, settings of poems by
Apollinaire. Juhan Puhm
introduced me to Estonian
composer Veljo Tormis, and the
rest of the programme consists of
music I was already familiar
with."
"In shaping a program, I'm
looking to combine music in such
a way that the eµiotional journey
can be much more extreme than
one normally could create within
the confines of a single work.
We're very conscious of each
work and its emotional impact,
individually and collectively.
Telling a story or creating an
expectaiion through the
combining of dispa,rate works
allows us
to be very bold
.in our
programming
and yet, keep a
meaningful
connection
with our
audience."
Israeli stamp of Schoenberg
anticipated events make this
another interesting month of
. new music in Toronto. I suspect
we'll hear outgoing Toronto
Symphony Orchestra music
director Jukka-Pekka Saraste at
Specializ:iilg in custom reproductions
of classic double bass Amati, Busan.
Pete,r
c·HANDLER
Luthier; maker of fine double bass,
cello, viola a11d violin. ·
Hi ill! Ivan Dr., R.R. I, Ildc1ton, ON.
NOM 2AO On Hwy. 22, 25 Kilometres
· N.W. of London
his impassioned best when
he tackles Schoenberg's epic
Gurreleider (1900 - 1911) on the
14th of June at Roy Thomson
Hall. Schoenberg's score calls
for an enormous orchestra of
5 solo voices, 3 four-part male
choruses, an eight-part mixed
chorus, 4 piccolos, 4 flutes, 3
oboes, 2 English horns, 7
clarinets, 5 bassoons, 10 horns, 7
trumpets, 7 trombones, tuba, 6
timpani, celesta, xylophone, 4
harps, and a multitude of
unpitched percussion, and was
composed using texts by Jens
Peter Jacobsen (translated from
Danish into German by Robert
Franz Arnold). A highly _
expressionistic work written
JuNE 1, 2001 - JuLv 7, 2001 wholenote 15