Volume 16 Issue 5 - February 2011

Editor’s CornerAS WE ENTER the New Year you’llnotice a couple of new aspects toDISCoveries. “Strings Attached” is acolumn in which Terry Robbins will “roundup”recent releases featuring the violinfamily – concertos, sonatas and chambermusic offerings from the international catalogueon a monthly basis. We also welcomeJason van Eyk, long familiar for his “InWith The New” column in these pages, toon a new piano disc by Rachel Kiyo Iwaasain the Modern and Contemporary reviews.As for my own column, as the snow piledup outside my window over the past twomonths, so have the mounds of CDs on mydesk. I’ve had lots of listening time to exploreinnumerable new releases which onlymakes the task of selecting what to includehighlights from my hibernation are includedbelow.In my other life as general manager ofNew Music Concerts I have had the pleasureof being exposed to the music of someof the world’s most exciting compositionaltalents over the past decade. Last May, in aconcert curated by Brian Current, CanadiansNicole Lizée and Analia Llugdar were featuredalongside Frenchman Fabien Levy andGermans Enno Poppe and Oliver Schneller.Schneller’s delicate Trio (1998) for accordion,cello and piano was featured on thaton a new Wergomore recent Schneller compositions (WER6579-2). Trio and Aqua Vit (1999) for eightinstruments are theonly purely acousticcompositions on thedisc, with all of themore recent worksinvolving live electronics.Schneller’sfascination withthe nature of sounditself is evident even in the instrumentalcompositions, as he examines textures andtimbres as if through a microscope. Thisconcern is taken further with his use oftechnology in the later works, most notablyStratigraphie I (2006) and II (2010), bothDAVID OLDSfor six instruments and live electronics.Also of note is his alluring addition to thetwo pianos/two percussion repertoire withResonant Space, a compelling work whichadds live sound manipulation to the mix.The most recent New Music Concertfeatured Quatuor Diotima, a Paris-basedensemble whose repertoire spans threecenturies with a particular interest and expertisein the work of living composers. Ofthe works they performed in Toronto, byfar the most intriguing was Madhares, thethird string quartet by Thomas Larcher, whowas born in Austria in 1963. This extendedwork called upon the musicians to employa number of extended techniques, includingtapping on the strings with wooden mutesto make eerie pointillistic glissandi up theneck of their instruments. The dynamicrange varied from sub-audible to shriekinglyloud in moments reminiscent of the showerscene from Psycho. But the piece was alsoimbued with beautiful melodies harkeningback to pre-classical times and moments oflanguid calm. You can hear the work foryourself performed by Diotima on an ECMNew Series release (ECM 2111) which alsoincludes Larcher’sBöse Zelten forpiano and orchestraand Still for violaand chamber orchestrawith soloists TillFellner and KimKashkashian and theMunich ChamberOrchestra under Dennis nis Russell Davies.Both of the concerted works have the intimacyof chamber music while exploitingthe full resources of the orchestra. As withOliver Schneller, the exploration of sounditself is paramount. The prepared piano isparticularly effective in Böse Zelten whosetitle translates as Malign Cells.On the most recent release by QuatuorDiotima the group is joined by sopranoSandrine Piau and Canadian contraltoMarie-Nicole Lemieux in works by Berg,Webern and Schoenberg (Naïve V 5240).Piau’s impeccable vocals are expected inSchoenberg’s String Quartet No. 2 wherethe third and fourth movements are settingsof texts by StefanGeorge, but anunexpected treatis the sixth movementof Berg’sLyric Suite whereLemieux sings thetext inscribed bythe composer in aminiature copy of the score sent to his “beloved”Hanna Fuchs. That only came to lightthanks to Fuchs’ daughter after the death ofBerg’s widow in 1976. I’m not sure if this isLemieux makes a convincing case for it. Thequartet is impeccable in their interpretationsof all the works, including the purely instrumentalSechs Bagatelles of Anton Webern.Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996) andDmitri Shostakovich (1906-1974) sharea remarkably similar voice and seem tothought that much of Shostakovich’s interestin Jewish music stemmed from his friendshipwith the younger Pole. Weinberg’s PianoTrio was composed in 1945, two years beforethe masterpiece in the same genre byworks featured on a new recording by TrioVoce, an ensemble which includes Americanviolinist Jasmine Lin and Canadians MarinaHoover, founding cellist of the St. LawrenceString Quartet, and Alberta pianist PatriciaTao. The disc, entitled Inscapes (Con BrioCBR21045, www.conbriorecordings.com),includes not only the Weinberg trio Op.24and Shostakovich’s familiar Op.67, but alsoa rare performanceof the latter’s earlyperformances aresensitively nuancedand dynamic and therecording, done atWFMT Studios inChicago last May, isimmaculate.I’m not sure why, but it seems like kindof a “guilty pleasure” to revisit some of themasterworks of the past century upon whichthat so many of my generation never seemto get beyond the pop music they heard intheir formative years, yet I also realize thatthe music which informed my own artisticdevelopment still remains my favourite. Soit is with a grain of salt that I recommendCanada’s best classical & jazz onlinegrigorian.com60 thewholenote.comFebruary 1 - March 7, 2011