Volume 27 Issue 4 - February 2022
Gould's Wall -- Philip Akin's "breadcrumb trail; orchestras buying into hope; silver linings to the music theatre lockdown blues; Charlotte Siegel's watershed moments; Deep Wireless at 20; and guess who is Back in Focus. All this and more, now online for your reading pleasure.
Gould's Wall -- Philip Akin's "breadcrumb trail; orchestras buying into hope; silver linings to the music theatre lockdown blues; Charlotte Siegel's watershed moments; Deep Wireless at 20; and guess who is Back in Focus. All this and more, now online for your reading pleasure.
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Mario Davidovsky’s Synchronism No.6<br />
(also using electronics) is a brilliant work.<br />
The immediately arresting nature of artistic<br />
expression gives pause and it is no wonder<br />
this work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize<br />
in 1971. Petrowska Quilico performs<br />
Davidovsky’s masterpiece with stunning<br />
mastery and her interpretation can easily<br />
be considered among the most significant<br />
among the many recordings of this important<br />
work. In her seemingly inexhaustible efforts<br />
toward releasing recordings of the highest<br />
quality, Petrowska Quilico delvers yet another<br />
gift for our ears.<br />
Adam Scime<br />
Dai Fujikura – Glorious Clouds<br />
Various Artists<br />
Minabel (daifujikura.com/#discography)<br />
Dai Fujikura – Koto Concerto<br />
LEO<br />
Nippon Columbia<br />
(daifujikura.com/#discography)<br />
! Prolific Londonbased<br />
Japanese<br />
composer Dai<br />
Fujikura (b.1977)<br />
used to dream of<br />
composing music<br />
for the movies.<br />
His studies at<br />
Trinity College<br />
of Music of the<br />
scores of Pierre Boulez, Tōru Takemitsu and<br />
György Ligeti, however, propelled him decisively<br />
in another direction: toward the<br />
concert stage. Fujikura’s compositions have<br />
since been championed by musical notables<br />
including the London Sinfonietta,<br />
Ensemble Intercontemporain, Boulez and<br />
many others. In Toronto, Arraymusic, Thin<br />
Edge New Music Collective and the University<br />
of Toronto’s Faculty of Music coproduced<br />
the Dai Fujikura: Mini Marathon concert<br />
in 2020, showcasing “one of the most active<br />
composers on the international stage.”<br />
At close to two and a half hours of music,<br />
Fujikura’s ambitious album Glorious Clouds<br />
comprises 15 substantial works for orchestra,<br />
ensembles and soloists, embracing concerti,<br />
chamber music, art song, instrumental<br />
solos and electronic genres. Sadly, I can only<br />
touch on a few samples of this rich musical<br />
horde here.<br />
The impressive orchestral Glorious Clouds,<br />
evocatively performed by the Nagoya<br />
Philharmonic Orchestra, was inspired by<br />
the interconnected microbiomic networks<br />
found everywhere on Earth, rather than by<br />
the atmospheric phenomena suggested by<br />
the title. Recounts the composer: “I thought,<br />
Ah!!! Various small microorganisms make<br />
the survival of the whole world possible –<br />
just like processes within an orchestra.”<br />
Glorious Clouds maintains a dynamic tension<br />
between floating, swirling sonic textures and<br />
an overall harmonic structure and thematic<br />
progression. My ear was initially reminded of<br />
Debussyan orchestral sonorities and colours,<br />
yet soon enough Fujikura’s emerging strident<br />
effects, sonic shapes teetering on melody,<br />
plus novel orchestration and formal balances<br />
were reminders that we’re in another<br />
century entirely.<br />
Sparkling Orbit for electronics and electric<br />
guitar follows, incisively performed by<br />
Daniel Lippel. Opening with atmospheric<br />
passages, it turns abrasive and edgy, the guitar<br />
repeating in the last section a rhythmically<br />
complex distorted chime-like overtone<br />
pattern over electronic craquelure. Serene,<br />
derived from Fujikura’s Recorder Concerto, is<br />
quite distinct again. Its three solo movements<br />
are given a powerfully dramatic performance<br />
by recorder virtuoso Jeremias Schwarzer<br />
on three contrasting recorders. I found the<br />
middle movement opening, scored for the<br />
sopranino, evocative of the nohkan, the characteristically<br />
bracing, high-pitched Japanese<br />
transverse bamboo flute commonly played in<br />
Noh and Kabuki theatre. While a recent work,<br />
I can see Serene being widely adopted as a<br />
standard recital piece; it’s that good.<br />
Finally for this review, Motion Notions<br />
features Mari Kimura’s brilliant violin<br />
playing. In addition, she’s also strapped a<br />
motion sensor to her bow arm wrist. It<br />
sounds like it controls various types of<br />
synthesized sounds and perhaps also live<br />
processing. The result is an interactively polyphonic,<br />
slithery texture, an unusual, and very<br />
effective, musical dialogue between the<br />
violinist’s acoustic music and the electronic<br />
sounds directed by her motion sensor. It’s<br />
another album favourite of mine.<br />
Fujikura shares<br />
album credits on a<br />
second release with<br />
rising star LEO (Leo<br />
Konno b.1998 in<br />
Yokohama) who the<br />
label calls today’s<br />
“hottest koto artist.”<br />
The record features<br />
the premiere<br />
recording of the substantial single-movement<br />
Koto Concerto with the Yomiuri Nippon<br />
Symphony Orchestra conducted by Masato<br />
Suzuki, plus three related solo works for koto,<br />
all scored by Fujikura.<br />
While the 25’42” concerto is an impressive<br />
work judicially illustrated with the<br />
composer’s signature deft orchestration, the<br />
three solos make a strong case for the koto<br />
achieving its finest, most delicate, satisfying<br />
musical moments in a solo capacity.<br />
All the works here are rendered with sensitive<br />
bravura by LEO and vibrantly recorded<br />
by Nippon Columbia’s engineers. Bravos<br />
all around.<br />
Andrew Timar<br />
What we're listening to this month:<br />
thewholenote.com/listening<br />
Brahms String Quartets<br />
The Alexander String Quartet<br />
Declared “a stunning<br />
achievement,” this release marks<br />
the completion of the ASQ’s eightyear,<br />
six-album, collaborative<br />
compendium<br />
— The Brahms Project.<br />
As She Sings<br />
David Tanenbaum<br />
Luminary guitarist releases "As<br />
She Sings", a compilation of works<br />
written for him reflecting a rich<br />
trajectory of aesthetics on the<br />
instrument.<br />
confined.speak<br />
Ensemble Dal Niente<br />
A collection programmed<br />
in streaming performances<br />
during this past year, despite the<br />
formidable hurdles associated<br />
with ensemble playing during the<br />
lockdown, collaborating across<br />
vast distances<br />
Plays Well With Others<br />
loadbang<br />
This unique ensemble of baritone<br />
voice, trumpet, trombone, and<br />
bass clarinet pairs with a string<br />
orchestra for adventurous,<br />
challenging works that explore<br />
lush soundscapes.<br />
thewholenote.com <strong>February</strong> <strong>2022</strong> | 47