Volume 10 Issue 4 - December 2004

when opera-trained voices take on
lighter fare. The disc also includes
the lovely Serenade for Strings.
Samuel Barber's first published
work.
Another treat that came my way
this month is entitled "English Fancy"'
(Analekta AN 2 9905) with a
Montreal period instrumem ensemble
I was not previously aware of,
Masques, founded by artistic director
Olivier Fonin and featuring soprano
Shannon Mercer. This
charming collection includes such
vocal gems as Purcell's Nymphs
and Shepherds and Music for a
While, and Campion's Come Away
and Her Rosie Cheeks, cleverly
interspersed with instrumental selections
by Purcell and John
Jenkins. Highly recommended.
Concert Note: Music of Campion
(and Dowland) will be featured in
the Musicians in Ordinary presentation
"Contayning Divine and
Moral! Songs" on January 29.
Jumping forward several centuries
and leaping an ocean as well, we
come to the CBC Records release
"So much to tell'" (SMCD 5234)
which features the exceptional
voice of Canadian soprano Measha
Brueggergosman. Accompanied
here by the Manitoba Chamber
Orchestra under the direction of
Roy Goodman, Brueggergosman
seems particularly at home in the
mid-century American an song
re.pertoire presented: Copland's
Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson
and Barber's Knoxville: Summer of
1915, a setting of James Agee's autobiographical
stream-of-consciousness
text. She is equally comfortable
with the three Gershwin
songs included here in orchestral
arrangements by Adrian Williams:
Embraceable You: By Strauss and
I've Got a Crush 011 You. These are
performed in a totally convincing
manner and don't suffer from the
over-singing that so often occurs
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My final selection this month is
something quite different, a concc:r1ed
work for electric guitar by
Montreal composer Tim Brady.
The title work from "Playing Guitar:
Symphony #1" (Ambiances
Magnetiques AM 125 CD) was
composed for Lorraine Yaillancourt's
Nouvel Ensemble Moderne.
Al times Brady's guitar with
its many electronic extensions is
fully integrated into the 15-piece
ensemble and at times this is more
of a concerto, with guitar solos and
an extended cadenza. Clocking in
at nearly 50 minutes Playing Guitar
varies from energy-driven,
quasi-minimalist "wall of sound"
movements that present Brady at
his most boisterous and ebullient,
to lengthy contemplative sections
dominated by mournfully tuneful
brass instruments and "weeping"
guitar - this really is a work of
symphonic scale.
Concert Note: Tim Brady will be
in Toronto performing with Bradyworks
at the Music Gallery on
December 12. On January 22 and
23 New Mµsic Concerts presents
his chamber opera Three Cities in
the Life of Dr. Norman Bethune.
That evening will also include guitar
works by Wende Bartley, R.
Murray Schafer and Rene Lussier.
along with a solo guitar movement
from Brady's Playing Guitar:
Symphony# 1.
We welcome your feedback and invite
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copies of CDs and comments
should be sent to: The WholeNote,
720 Bathurst St.. Suite 503, Toronto
ON M5S 2R4. We also welcome
your input via our website.
www.thewholenote.com.
David Olds
Editor, DlSCoveries
DISCoveries continues
on page 74
DECfMB(R 1 2004 - FEBRUARY 7 2005