Volume 28 Issue 1 | September 20 - November 8, 2022

SARO ONDINE
Magnus
Lindberg
At the TSO
A good example of this lies with two October concerts presented
by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. On their October 12 concert, the
programming includes a work by Christina Volpini, a Hamilton/Toronto
based composer whose music is known for its subtle and nuanced
textures, and the Canadian premiere of subito con forza (2020) by
Korean-born/Berlin-based composer Unsuk Chin. Volpini’s piece is one
of the five Celebration Preludes commissioned from GTA composers
for the 2022/23 season. These recently composed pieces stand alongside
20th-century master Ligeti’s Atmosphères and classic compositions
by Haydn and Beethoven. Chin’s piece was composed for the
2020 Beethoven anniversary year, and quotes from his 1807 Coriolan
Overture are shape-shifted and woven throughout the orchestra.
Other references to Beethoven’s music in Chin’s densely textured piece
Unsuk Chin
PRISKA KETTERER.
include the Fifth Symphony’s opening rhythm
and flourishes from the Emperor Concerto.
On October 20, two more premieres are
programmed: Janet Sit’s Celebration Prelude
and Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg’s
Piano Concerto No.3. Again, these works
appear alongside an older work, a 19th-century
symphony by Bruckner. Lindberg predominantly
composes orchestral music using a highly
complex musical language. In the early 1980s
he was part of a Finnish group of composers
that formed the Ears Open Society in order to
advocate for contemporary music, a group that
includes Kaija Saariaho and conductor-composer
Esa-Pekka Salonen. As a touchstone for local
audiences, Saariaho’s music was featured in
the 2015 21C festival in Toronto. Lindberg’s new
work is a co-commission between the New York
Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony,
Orchestre de Paris, China NCPA Orchestra,
Norddeutscher Rundfunk, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Earlier in Lindberg’s career, he was influenced by Gérard Grisey,
the developer of spectral music, and also by the experimental work
at IRCAM, a Paris-based institute dedicated to the research of music
and sound founded by composer Pierre Boulez. Lindberg has a very
practical and rigorous approach to writing orchestral music. In a 2019
interview for the online publication Adventures in Music he describes
his approach in this way: “The fun part of being a composer is that at
first you get to be a visionary, with your utopia. Then you have to be a
realist, set up your worksite and have a meeting with the engineers,
so to speak. Next, you become a blue-collar worker, in order to get
the job done. At the final stages you put in the last touches with your
client, to get the finished product.”
CONCERTS AND
FREE PRESENTATIONS
LIVE IN TORONTO AND
ONLINE AT FUTURESTOPS.ORG
September 29 –October 1, 2022
CANADIAN PREMIERES
2022 Pulitzer Prize for Music Winner “Voiceless Mass” by Raven Chacon with Arraymusic
Amina Claudine Myers’ “Improvisational Suite” with Nathaniel Dett Chorale
Composers Premiering New Works Including
Kara-Lis Coverdale, Rashaan Rori Allwood
21st Century Repertoire Performances by
Thomas Mellan, Matthew Larkin
Sarah Svendsen
Radical and Diverse Approaches to the Organ
FUJI|||||||||TA, Sandra Boss, Charlemagne Palestine
Free Artist Talks and Presentations Including
Jean-Willy Kunz, Sarah Davachi
George Rahi, Kevin Komisaruk
Kali Malone, Orgues Létourneau
Juget-Sinclair Organbuilders
MIDIWorks
Gala Reception with the Jeff McLeod Organ Trio
thewholenote.com September 20 - November 8, 2022 | 21