Volume 27 Issue 5 | March 4 - April 15, 2022
"Hard to watch and impossible to ignore"--on the Russian invasion of Ukraine; Tafelmusik goes live again in a tribute to Jeanne Lamon; TSO MD reunion as Centennial Countdown kicks off; PASS=Performing Arts Sunday Series at the Hamilton Conservatory of the Arts ...; crosstown to the TRANZAC, Matthew Fava on the move; all this and more ....
"Hard to watch and impossible to ignore"--on the Russian invasion of Ukraine; Tafelmusik goes live again in a tribute to Jeanne Lamon; TSO MD reunion as Centennial Countdown kicks off; PASS=Performing Arts Sunday Series at the Hamilton Conservatory of the Arts ...; crosstown to the TRANZAC, Matthew Fava on the move; all this and more ....
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OTHER FINE VINTAGES<br />
New to the Listening Room<br />
Don’t Look Back<br />
Bernie Senensky Quartet/Quintet w/Bob Mover; Sam Noto<br />
Cellar Music CM040321 (cellarlive.com)<br />
! During the COVID-19 pandemic, and<br />
the fluctuating lockdowns and closures that<br />
have accompanied it, musicians have gotten<br />
creative at navigating this difficult artistic<br />
landscape. Some have done remote recordings,<br />
others are on hiatus and a handful<br />
of musicians like Toronto stalwart Bernie<br />
Senensky have dug into the archives to<br />
release pre-pandemic music.<br />
In a time when many of us are nostalgic about the past, Don’t Look<br />
Back brings the listener back to some of Toronto’s heydays, featuring<br />
an exciting repertoire choice and hard-grooving band. Trumpeter Sam<br />
Noto and saxophonist Bob Mover have since left the GTA, while bassist<br />
Neil Swainson and drummer Barry Elmes are still on the scene.<br />
Originally recorded in 1989, this album encapsulates this time period<br />
perfectly. The opening track and several others share a 1960s’ Blue Note<br />
aesthetic, but more 80s- and 90s-inspired offerings like Senensky’s<br />
rhythmically complex arrangement of I Hear a Rhapsody are no less at<br />
home. The versatile band closes out the recording with a rousing version<br />
of Gershwin’s Who Cares, which this band tackles in a manner that pays<br />
tribute to jazz greats of the past without ever sounding dated or clichéd.<br />
This album is a true time capsule that sounds right at home today,<br />
which is a testament to not only the musicians playing, but to Jeremy<br />
Darby’s mixing job and Peter Letros’ mastering, which has brought<br />
this Unity Records tape back to life on CD and throughout the<br />
streaming world.<br />
Sam Dickinson<br />
Peter Maxwell Davies – Eight Songs for a Mad King<br />
Psappha Ensemble (Dov Goldberg; Benedict Holland; Tim Williams;<br />
Kelvin Thomas; Richard Casey; Jennifer Langridge; Conrad<br />
Marshall)<br />
Psappha PSA1007 (naxosdirect.com/search/5029385997656)<br />
! Music can depict madness, but can’t<br />
derive from the mind of the insane person,<br />
at least not according to Jonathan Miller. As<br />
if in defiance of that outlook, Eight Songs<br />
for a Mad King, by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies<br />
(1934-2016), with a libretto by Randolph<br />
Stow, even cribs some of the writing (musical<br />
as well as literary) of King George III, the<br />
lone protagonist in this musical drama. It’s<br />
heartbreaking to listen to. I wonder, can it be relevant or worthwhile<br />
committing the attention, time and even anguish the piece demands?<br />
While he ruled England, George III suffered from a severe mental<br />
disorder, at times lucid and at others not. Davies and Stow depict the<br />
suffering of a terrified, befuddled and sad man, using his own words.<br />
Even without staging, the humanity and horror come through.<br />
The work picks up where its arguable predecessor, Schoenberg’s<br />
Pierrot Lunaire, left off. There’s a good deal of extended techniques<br />
shared among the six instrumentalists, while shrieks and guttural<br />
growls challenge the soloist’s larynx. Musical events alternate between<br />
synchronous and the opposite. The ensemble, as caged birds in the<br />
monarch’s aviary, whistle and call in response to the music box George<br />
is said to have used to try to teach them to sing.<br />
Originally released on limited edition vinyl to celebrate the 80th<br />
birthday of its patron Davies in 2014, the Psappha ensemble has<br />
re-issued this 2012 recording on vinyl and digital formats in conjunction<br />
with the NMC Recordings label. Their assurance and familiarity<br />
with the dense and difficult material (they worked closely with<br />
Davies for years), make this as close as one could want to a definitive<br />
performance.<br />
Max Christie<br />
Reviewed in this issue<br />
39 Golden Dolden Box Set<br />
Paul Dolden<br />
40 SYLVIUS LEOPOLD WEISS<br />
Alan Rinehart<br />
40 HERITAGE<br />
Aisha Syed Castro<br />
41 Lennox in Paris<br />
Emmanuel Bach<br />
42 Restless Nation<br />
Andy Teirstein<br />
42 Messiah<br />
Ensemble Caprice<br />
43 From Rags to Riches<br />
New York Festival of Song, Stephanie Blythe,<br />
William Burden, Steven Blier<br />
46 Popov • Schulhoff<br />
Quartet Berlin-Tokyo<br />
47 Marimba Collage<br />
Nicholas Papador and the University of<br />
Windsor Percussion Ensemble<br />
50 … AND NOTHING REMAINS THE SAME…<br />
Eight Strings & a Whistle<br />
51 Gail Kubik: Symphony Concertante<br />
Boston Modern Orchestra Project<br />
52 Sandburg Songs<br />
Matthew Schreibeis<br />
53 O Mistress Moon (Canadian Edition)<br />
Jennifer King<br />
Previously reviewed, in <strong>Volume</strong> <strong>27</strong> no. 4<br />
53 Bones<br />
Millerd Meyers<br />
53 Fleur Revisited<br />
Philippe Côté<br />
54 Were We Where We Were<br />
Michael Formanek Drome Trio<br />
55 Love for Connoisseurs<br />
Angela Verbrugge<br />
56 LOGUSLABUSMUZIKUS<br />
JAZZLAB ORCHESTRA<br />
42 Home Suite Home<br />
Fraser Jackson & Monique de Margerie<br />
47 Dai Fujikura: Koto Concerto<br />
LEO<br />
Read the reviews here, then visit<br />
thewholenote.com/listening<br />
thewholenote.com <strong>March</strong> 4 – <strong>April</strong> <strong>15</strong>, <strong>2022</strong> | 61