Volume 28 Issue 4 | February - March 2023
Volume 28 no.4, covering Feb, March and into early April '23! David Olds remembers composer John Beckwith; Andrew Timar reflects on the life and times of artistic polymath Michael Snow; Mezzo Emily Fons, in town for Figaro, on trouser roles, the life of a mezzo-soprano on the road and more; Colin Story on the Soft-Seat beat; tracks from 22 new recordings added to our Listening Room. All this and more.
Volume 28 no.4, covering Feb, March and into early April '23! David Olds remembers composer John Beckwith; Andrew Timar reflects on the life and times of artistic polymath Michael Snow; Mezzo Emily Fons, in town for Figaro, on trouser roles, the life of a mezzo-soprano on the road and more; Colin Story on the Soft-Seat beat; tracks from 22 new recordings added to our Listening Room. All this and more.
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
EARLY MUSIC<br />
To Everything there is a Season ... or Four<br />
Like the “O Fortuna’’ chorus from Orff’s Carmina Burana<br />
and the first bars of Rossini’s William Tell Overture,<br />
Vivaldi’s Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons) has<br />
a ubiquitous presence in the soundtrack of our lives via<br />
films, television commercials, malls and elevators. Thanks<br />
to the desire of audiences to experience these concerti<br />
repeatedly, and the ambition of many virtuoso violinists to<br />
play them, there are many thousands of recordings to date<br />
and countless yearly performances of symphonies all over<br />
North America and Europe. In fact, Toronto audiences<br />
who were quick enough off the mark will have their<br />
next opportunity to hear this classic work revisited on<br />
<strong>February</strong> 7 when Anne-Sophie Mutter and Mutter Virtuosi<br />
perform it at Roy Thomson Hall. I will be among them.<br />
STEPHANIE CONN<br />
Anne-Sophie Mutter and Mutter Virtuosi<br />
at Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo<br />
Domingo, Bogotá, Colombia (2019)<br />
Our endless fascination with<br />
this set of four violin concerti<br />
from Vivaldi’s Opus 8 suggests<br />
that, rather than being overplayed<br />
as some suggest, perhaps<br />
they contain layers of nuance<br />
and meaning that are worth<br />
unpacking again and again<br />
almost 300 years after their<br />
creation. First published in<br />
Amsterdam in 1725 as part<br />
of Vivaldi’s Op.8 Il cimento<br />
dell’armonia e dell’inventione<br />
(The Contest between Harmony<br />
Anne-Sophie Mutter<br />
and Invention), the four<br />
concerti known as Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons) had been<br />
composed years before and their manuscripts were already circulating.<br />
Vivaldi brought them together for Il cimento, Op.8 and added<br />
descriptive sonnets to accompany each of the movements, meant<br />
to suggest the characteristic of each season that Vivaldi illustrates<br />
in music; these are of unknown authorship but thought to be the<br />
JUAN DIEGO CASTILLO BARTEK BARCZYK<br />
CHORAL PASSIONTIDE<br />
DEVOTION<br />
PALM SUNDAY, APRIL 2, <strong>2023</strong> AT 4:30 p.m.<br />
A vocal and instrumental expression of faith for Holy Week and Easter.<br />
Presented by the Yorkminster Park Choir with William Maddox, Organist and Director<br />
and Sharon Beckstead, Associate Musician<br />
1585 Yonge Street | 416-922-1167 | yorkminsterpark.com<br />
22 | <strong>February</strong> & <strong>March</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> thewholenote.com
Change language