Volume 23 Issue 3 - November 2017

Barn Dance from The Red Ear of Corn. This too gradually passes as
the work slows and diminishes, giving way to the sound of the wind
again and the return of the Indigenous choir singing the joyous Inuit
Sivuniksangat – The Future of Inuit by Sylvia Clouthier, the final
lines of which are translated as “There is strength in who we are / We
mustn’t forget that we are in this together.” A sentiment we would all
do well to keep in mind.
These are two important additions to Canada’s orchestral repertoire
and to paraphrase Corigliano, they should be played often. Kudos
to Ho, to the WSO for recognizing and fostering his potential and to
Centrediscs for a fabulous recording.
One of the perks of working at (my day job)
New Music Concerts – beyond the privilege
of daily contact with one of this nation’s
foremost artists, Robert Aitken – is getting
to meet some of the most brilliant minds
in the field of contemporary music from
around the world. Among my most cherished
memories is the time spent with the
late Elliott Carter (1908-2012) during several
of his visits to Toronto, the last of which took place on the occasion of
his 97th birthday. Arrangements were in place to bring him back five
years later for a concert celebrating his 102nd, but a major snow storm
in New York City curtailed his travel plans and we had to present the
historic concert in Carter’s absence. On that occasion Carter’s associate
Virgil Blackwell gave the very first performance of Concertino for
bass clarinet and ensemble and Aitken gave the Canadian premiere
of his Flute Concerto. Carter died in November 2012, just a month
before his 104th birthday, and since that time New Music Concerts
has presented one of his late works each December in honour of the
iconic composer who took part in our concerts on seven occasions
over the years.
And this brings me to a new Ondine release, Elliott Carter – Late
Works (ODE 1296-2), which features among its titles several pieces
presented by New Music Concerts in the past decade. Dialogues
(2003) for piano and ensemble is here performed by pianist Pierre-
Laurent Aimard with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group,
along with Epigrams (2012) for piano trio, which features Aimard with
Isabelle Faust and Jean-Guihen Queyras. Aimard, a frequent Carter
collaborator, is also featured with the Birmingham group in Dialogues
II (2010) and, with percussionist Colin Currie, on Two Controversies
and a Conversation (2011) for piano, percussion and chamber
ensemble, plus Interventions (2007) and Soundings (2005) with the
BBC Symphony Orchestra under Oliver Knussen’s direction. The brief
orchestral work Instances, from Carter’s final year, completes the disc.
In his later years, Carter’s music became a bit less craggy and
unapproachable, although he never joined the ranks of “friendly
music” composers. As Robert Aitken likes to say, good music “must
challenge someone – the composer, the performer, the listener; preferably
all three” and Carter’s music certainly continued to do that to
the end. Back in 1990, before I joined the New Music Concerts team,
I had the privilege of attending two rehearsals and a performance of
the Canadian premiere of the String Quartet No.4 (1986) by Accordes.
I was amazed that at each listening the work sounded unfamiliar, as if
I had never heard it before. There were simply no touchstones for my
relatively unsophisticated ears to grasp onto in the complexity of the
score where seemingly each of the four parts moved independently.
As I say, there is no compromise in the late works, but somehow
they do not seem as daunting. Perhaps it is my own development over
the past two and a half decades, but I do think that the music itself
also changed, becoming more genial and perhaps warmer. A case in
point is the Two Controversies and a Conversation, which began as
a single-movement concerto for piano and percussion, to which the
two brief introductory movements were added at the invitation of
Knussen. There is both playfulness and tension, harmony and discord.
As the comprehensive notes by John Link tell us, “… from the final
movement’s opening chords, the soloists quickly separate to engage
in rapid fire exchanges with the orchestra and each other. The pianist
proposes slow music, but is diverted by auto-horn-like blasts in the
orchestra, which lead to a pianistic scherzando. Undaunted the piano
returns to its rhapsodic music, speeding up and slowing down in long
phrases that enact a would-be reconciliation […] The final gesture
leaves the two conversationalists both far apart and exactly together.”
This also happens time and again in my favourite piece on this disc,
Epigrams, in 12 brief movements lasting just 14 minutes. I wonder if
my comfort level is a result of having heard Stephen Sitarski, David
Hetherington and Gregory Oh play it on a New Music Concert back in
December 2014. Is it possible that Carter’s music can sound familiar
after all? This new disc is a wonderful way to find out for yourself.
Concert note: On December 3, members of Accordes will perform
Carter’s String Trio from 2011, one of his very last works, on our
“Concertos” concert at Betty Oliphant Theatre.
One of the loveliest World/pop-inflected discs
to cross my desk in recent memory is Golpes
y Flores by singer-songwriter Eliana Cuevas,
who has made her home in Toronto for the
last two decades. Released by Alma Records
(ACD98172 almarecords.com), the disc is
dedicated to her two daughters and her
native country, Venezuela. Afro-Venezuelan
rhythms permeate the entire project, which
L/R
Like the review? Listen to some tracks from all the recordings in the ads
below at The WholeNote.com/Listening
L/R
Musique Sacree en Nouvelle-France
Studio de musique ancienne de
Montréal; Christopher Jackson
This album illustrates musical life
during the French colonization of
the Americas, when sacred music
accompanied many daily activities.
Klezmer Dreams
André Moisan; Jean Saulnier; The
Molinari Quartet
Clarinettist André Moisan, pianist Jean
Saulnier, and the Molinari Quartet
immerse themselves in the poignant
and festive world of klezmer music.
Love Songs of James Joyce
Donna Greenberg
A “song cycle” by Donna Greenberg
set to poems from Chamber Music
(1907), an early poetry collection
by the famous Irish writer James
Joyce.
NOTTURNO
Eliane Rodrigues
Pianist Eliane Rodrigues takes a
fresh look at Chopin’s complete
nocturnes and ballades on her
Navona release.
thewholenote.com November 2017 | 67