Volume 25 Issue 1 - September 2019

CANADIAN MUSIC
Neil Crory’s
Legacy of
Support
DAVID JAEGER
Much has already been penned in celebration
of the remarkable career of the late Neil Crory
(1950–2019). The tributes often focus on Crory’s
enthusiasm for and support of classical singers in Canada.
And indeed Crory’s influence in the musical community
was far reaching.
Surprisingly little has been mentioned thus far, though, about his
strong support of Canadian composition. But in fact, Crory had a
keen interest in the development of Canadian composers. Through his
activities as a member of the national radio music department of CBC
Radio, he initiated numerous commissions and creative projects for
CBC Radio music programs. The program I created for CBC Radio Two,
Two New Hours (1978–2007), was fortunate to be the place where
many of Crory’s projects were aired, enabling our listeners to witness
the exuberant programming that was the hallmark of his creativity.
Some of our most ambitious Two New Hours productions, in the
cause of original Canadian music, benefited from Crory’s participation.
An example of this: Glenn Buhr’s large-scale work, Cathedral
Songs, commissioned as an expression of musical community
building, to celebrate the newly opened Canadian Broadcasting Centre
in Toronto and to be performed in-the-round in the Barbara Frum
Atrium, by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Nexus, the Toronto
Children’s Choir, and the Hannaford Street Silver Band. In March
of 1995, these forces duly assembled for a concert titled “Cathedral
Songs,” in which the eponymous composition by Glenn Buhr had its
premiere. As the CBC Radio Music liason with the Toronto Symphony,
Crory made sure that the TSO was at the centre of it all. The Atrium’s
700 seats were full, and the concert was broadcast live-to-air, serving
an audience of thousands of listeners across Canada. The concert, the
broadcast, Buhr’s new work and all the other pieces performed in that
broadcast made a statement: Canadians creating together and aspiring
Neil Crory 2015
for excellence can achieve greatness by harnessing the creative juices
of a community. Alec Frame, vice president of CBC Radio at the time
told me, “I wish that concert could have gone on forever!”
Another example: Crory was involved with commissioning the
late Harry Freedman’s (1922–2005) major composition, Borealis, in
1997, which combined the forces of the TSO, the Danish National
Radio Choir, the Swedish Radio Choir, the Elmer Iseler Singers and
the Toronto Childrens’ Chorus, all under the direction of conductor
Jukka-Pekka Saraste and deployed surrounding the audience, from
the ground floor up into the various levels of balconies, ringing the
ten-story Barbara Frum Atrium. The occasion in this case was our
collaboration with the “Northern Encounters Circumpolar Festival
of the Arts,” organized by Soundstreams Canada. The effect of the
music was stunning. Freedman himself considered it one of his finest
achievements in writing for large-scale musical forces, calling it “A
summation.”
Chris Paul Harman (b. 1970) was one of the Canadian composers
that Crory commissioned several times. Harman was, at age 19, the
youngest Grand Prize winner in the history of the CBC/Radio-Canada
Council National Competition for Young Composers (1973–2003).
Crory was a close follower of all the various CBC/Radio-Canada music
competitions, and he was impressed by the promise of this talented
emerging composer. “Neil’s commissions, especially those for the
St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ) and for the CBC Radio National
Competition for Young Performers would have lasting impact on my
career,” Harman told me. The SLSQ went on to commission a second
quartet from Harman, and played both works in Canada, the US
and abroad. Later, Harman’s Globus Hystericus, commissioned for
the Young Performers’ competition, was subsequently taken up by
several pianists including Christina Petrowska Quilico, (who recorded
it for Centrediscs), as well as Stephen Clarke and Simon Docking,
among others.
Hong Kong-born Chan Ka Nin (b.1949) was another Canadian
composer for whom Crory had a special affinity, and he commissioned
several of Chan’s works. Chan told me, “As I was starting out to teach
LINDA LITWACK
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