Volume 29 Issue 3 | December 2023 & January 2024

soon had to fasten my seatbelt; a number of the 30 variations proved
to be as nimble and breathtaking as the young Gould’s renderings. It is
simply astounding to me that fingers can actually move that quickly
and articulately. That notwithstanding, the relationship between the
slow and fast movements and overall arc of the trajectory from
opening aria to closing reprise gave the impression of a thoughtful,
relaxed and balanced performance. It has always surprised me that a
work commissioned by an insomniac to ease him through long, sleepless
nights is quite so active and engaging. I would have expected the
intention to be more of a sleep-aid than an entertainment. In spite of
his virtuosic dexterity in the faster variations, I found Ólafsson’s interpretation
to be more in keeping with my own sensibilities in this
regard. I was quite surprised to find that this new recording is virtually
twice as long as Gould’s original, despite Ólafsson’s equally fast
tempos in some of the variations. I had to refer to the score to confirm
my suspicion that, as is somewhat common practice, Gould omitted
the second (and I think even some of the first) repeats, whereas
Ólafsson plays them all, giving an outstanding performance that lasts
some 74 minutes.
Concert Note: Vikingur Olafsson performs Bach's Goldberg Variations
at Koerner Hall on February 4.
One of my great pleasures this past summer
was reading Ma vie heureuse (My Happy
Life) by Darius Milhaud (1892-1974). I was
quite surprised to discover that this prolific
French composer, a member of Les Six, is
sadly underrepresented in current commercial
recordings and on websites like YouTube
and Spotify. My own collection, built over
the past half century, is thankfully more
complete than what’s out there currently, so
I was nonetheless able to revisit some of Milhaud’s wonderful
compositions in conjunction with his delightful memoire. That being
said, I was pleased to receive a new disc from clarinetist Yevgeny
Dokshansky recently featuring Milhaud’s Suite for Clarinet, Violin,
and Piano Op.157b (1936), comprising charming movements excepted
from the music for a play by Jean Anouilh. Around the World: Trios
for Clarinet, Violin and Piano performed by Ensemble Next Parallel
(Heritage Records HTGCD170 heritage-records.com) also includes
work by Milhaud’s contemporary, Armenian Aram Khachaturian, and
living composers Peter Schickele (USA) and Roger J. Henry (Trinidad
and Tobago). Khachaturian’s trio has a Romantic sensibility, and its
final movement draws on an Uzbek folk melody. In Serenade for
Three, Schickele is up to his usual tricks, particularly in the final
movement’s perpetually rising variations on a theme from his alter
ego PDQ Bach’s oratorio Oedipus Tex. Henry’s Caribbean infused
music is actually not dissimilar to the
sounds of Brazil that so inspired Milhaud
most of a century earlier.
Yevgeny Dokshansky also included his
earlier Heritage release featuring another
of my mid-century favourite composers –
From Jewish Life: The Music of Ernest Bloch
– on which he is accompanied by pianist
Richard Masters. Another welcome addition
to my collection.
Regional Roots Roundup:
As I write this in early November, I have just enjoyed a heady evening
at the new Hugh’s Room Live. It was my maiden voyage to the venue
on Broadview Avenue, and I must say I was mightily impressed
with the layout and the acoustics of the former Broadview Avenue
Congregational Church, an 1894 structure designed by iconic Toronto
architect E.J. Lennox. Unfortunately the venue is not yet wheelchair
accessible, but press releases assure us it is a priority to rectify this as
soon as possible.
The occasion of my outing involved the launch of the Andrew Collins
Trio CD The Rule of Three (andrewcollinstrio.com). The musicianship
of this band is outstanding; between the
three of them they cover mandolin(s),
mandola, mandocello, string bass, guitar
and fiddle(s). As to what kind of music they
play, Collins is the first to admit it’s hard to
describe. He’s even written a song about it
that you can check out on YouTube: I Don’t
Know (But I Like It). The influences are
diverse. While leaning heavily to bluegrass,
there’s a healthy mix of western swing, old-time, folky singer/songwriter,
a bit of pop – including a tune by Pink Floyd – and straight up
classical, with a remarkable rendition of Debussy’s Clair de Lune on
this new album. Although mostly a string band, not all of the repertoire
is instrumental. Vocals are mostly taken care of by Collins, with
bass player James McEleney providing sweet harmonies and occasional
leads. The Rule of Three opens with Contranym, which Collins
explained refers to words which are also their own opposites, such as
cleave or sanction. It’s not a word I was familiar with, but in one of
life’s little synchronicities Contranyms came up as a category on the
episode of Jeopardy I watched the very next day. Other highlights for
me include the raucous How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall, the balladic
title track, the dizzyingly virtuosic Fleabag and That Jethro Really
Burns!, a swinging tribute to Kenneth C. “Jethro” Burns of Homer and
Jethro fame.
Collins also spoke about the strange experience of sheltering in
place during the pandemic, a time spent
playing alone and writing mandolin tunes.
The result was the 2022 solo release Love
Away the Hate on which he performs
admirably as a one-man band, combining
mandolin, mandola, mandocello, violin
and guitar arrangements of ten tunes also
available in notation and tablature in an
thewholenote.com December 2023 & January 2024 | 49