Volume 21 Issue 3 - November 2015

night in Naples.”
At Kaljuste’s request Tüür arranged Gesualdo’s O crux benedicta for
strings (adding some “fragile sound clouds” to the original material)
and composed L’ombra della croce especially for this recording. The
latter reflects the sensibility of Gesualdo’s music with its sombre mood
and slowly descending melody, with a brief light and joyous section
just past the mid-point before returning to the murky depths.
The disc concludes with Psalmody, an earlier work which has its
roots in Tüür’s prog-rock band In Spe (1979-1982). Although not
composed until 1993, Tüür says it was “a retrospective commentary on
the music I had created in [those] years.” It stands in marked contrast
to the other works on the disc. Originally written for mixed chorus
and the early music ensemble Hortus Musicus, it was conceived as a
vehicle to bring together a minimalist diatonicism and complex atonality.
In its several incarnations the atonal aspects were excised and
in 2012 it was re-orchestrated and reworked for choir, double winds
and brass, percussion, keyboard and strings. It is a joyous and energetic
work in which the composer “aimed to step into a dialogue with
the mainstream of minimalism that originates from America.” I think
fans of Steve Reich and John Adams would be suitably impressed. I
know I was.
The other discs to pique my interest this month were a direct result
of my association with New Music Concerts over the past 16 years. I
first encountered the composer and clarinet virtuoso Jörg Widmann in
October 2005 when Robert Aitken invited him to curate a concert of
his own music on the series. He was just 32 but well on his way to a
stellar double career. Since then he has returned to Toronto several
times, at the invitation of the Toronto Symphony in 2012 to take part
in the New Creations Festival with conductor/composer Peter Eötvös
and again in 2014 for another portrait concert with NMC and to
rehearse with the TSO for their European tour.
On that first NMC concert he played music
of Alban Berg with pianist David Swan and
three works of his own with our musicians.
The highlight of the concert for me however
was the Accordes’ performance of Widmann’s
Jagdquartett – String Quartet No.3 with its
vocal and extra-musical interjections and
flamboyant gestures. That came right back to
me while listening to a new Wergo 2CD set
Jörg Widmann – Streichquartette which features all five numbered
string quartets plus two short early works for the strings performed by
the Minguet Quartet (WER 7316 2). The Minguet has worked extensively
with Widmann over the past decade. This is actually their
second recording of his quartet cycle so I think we can consider these
definitive performances of very challenging works that employ myriad
extended techniques.
The quartets are presented in chronological order and, as discussed
extensively in the comprehensive liner notes, treated as five movements
of one large work. In this way I am reminded of the Orford
Quartet recording of the first five quartets of R. Murray Schafer as
recorded for Centrediscs back in 1990. At the time producer David
Jaeger suggested the same thing about Schafer’s cycle with its interlocking
themes and motives. There are other parallels between the
Widmann and Schafer quartets, particularly with the vocal outbursts
in both third quartets and the use of soprano (albeit much more
extensively by Widmann – Claron McFadden is superb) in their
respective fifths. Of course Schafer has gone on to expand his set to an
even dozen, all interconnecting and all recorded by Quatuor Molinari
for ATMA (atmaclassique.com). I wonder if Widmann will continue in
the same fashion. At 42 he certainly has time to consider it, but he is
currently booked for years in advance with opera and orchestral
commissions. It has been a decade since he composed his fifth quartet
and so, for the time being, we must content ourselves with this testament
to the outstanding contribution to the genre by a young
composer who has moved on to larger projects. The set also includes
the youthful Absences for string quartet and a brief moto perpetuo
movement entitled 180 beats per minute for the somewhat unusual
combination of two violins, viola and three cellos. A marvellous
“portrait of the artist as a young man.”
The most recent New Music Concert featured
the Turning Point Ensemble from Vancouver,
a large group whose members include cellist
Ariel Barnes (featured in a concertante role in
Linda Catlin Smith’s Gold Leaf) and harpist
Heidi Krutzen (not present for the Toronto
performance). Together these two formed
the ensemble Couloir in 2011 and have since
commissioned a number of works for this
somewhat unusual combination. Released in 2013 but previously
unknown to me, Wine Dark Sea (Revello Records RR7879 couloir.ca)
presents three of these original works: Three Meditations on Light by
Jocelyn Morlock; Drifting Seeds by Baljinder Sekhon; and A monk,
dancing by Glenn Buhr.
The disc opens with Vancouver composer Morlock’s Meditations.
The birds breathe the morning light begins quietly with the harp
providing pointillistic accompaniment to a high, falling melody
in the chanterelle range of the cello which gradually develops
denser textures without ever losing its contemplative mood.
Bioluminescence, the subtitle for which gives the album its title,
while still gentle is a more dance-like movement with rhythmic harp
motives shimmering under the lyrical cello melodies. Absence of
Light – Gradual Reawakening begins, as we might expect, in darkness
and the depths of the instruments’ registers but eventually leads us
back to the light with some bird-like sounds along the way, ending in
warm long tones from the cello.
Sekhon is a composer and percussionist living and teaching in
Florida. There are world music influences and extended techniques in
his 2012 Drifting Seeds which he says “explores the social and cultural
connections between individuals and societies. … While composing
this work I was very interested in the idea that we are all different
versions of each other.” He does this by juxtaposing, layering and
What if you could
listen in?
Now you can!
• Read the review
• Click to listen
• Click to buy
NEW
from
OUR Recordings
New this month to the
Listening Room
TheWholeNote.com/Listening
For more information Thom McKercher at thom@thewholenote.com
www.ourrecordings.com
Known for his large-scale
compositions, Bernstein also wrote
extensively for his own instrument
- performed beautifully here by
Brazilian pianist Alexandre Dossin
thewholenote.com Nov 1 - Dec 7, 2015 | 63