CD and Book Reviews - my/maSCENA

CD Review | Je me souviens (Musicor Québécor Média, 2022)

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By Justin Bernard on 26 July 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Popular Music

Je me souviens Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil; Alexandre Da Costa, violin, conductor Musicor Québécor Média, 2022 The new album by the Orchestre sympho- nique de Longueuil (OSDL), conducted by Alexandre Da Costa, sets out to celebrate those small musical pleasures we enjoyed before the pandemic. It’s also a way of reminding us how well the orchestra served audiences during COVID via its series of socially distanced concerts entitled Balcons symphoniques, launched on April 14, 2020. Well, it’s all that you could desire. Listeners will discover or rediscover the music of these unusual concerts: French—especially Québécois songs—as well as anglophone hits…

CD Review | Chasing Light & Sound: The Tuba Music of Elizabeth Raum (Centrediscs, 2022)

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By Zenith Wolfe on 26 July 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Piano, Winds

Chasing Light & Sound: The Tuba Music of Elizabeth Raum Tom McCaslin, tuba; Akiko Tominaga, piano Centrediscs, 2022 Originally commissioned by tuba maestro John Griffiths in the 1990s, the works composed by Elizabeth Raum and featured on the album Chasing Light & Sound have become staples of the solo tuba repertoire. Since Tom McCaslin was a student of John Griffiths, he is aiming quite high by recording this album. When paired with Akiko Tominaga’s strong piano-playing style, McCaslin’s gentle tuba-playing style tends to get overpowered. He opts to give Tominaga room to express herself, so the busy piano melodies make…

CD Review | Journey Through Night: Canadian Music for String Quartet (Akashic Entertainment Recordings, 2021)

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By Zenith Wolfe on 26 July 2022 Canadian Music, CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Contemporary, Strings

Journey Through Night: Canadian Music for String Quartet Alex Toskov, Laurence Schaufele and Tanya Charles Iveniuk, violin; Samuel Bisson, cello Akashic Entertainment Recordings, 2021 The Odin Quartet’s conductor and cellist, Samuel Bisson, has an affinity for atmospheric chamber music: his work as a film-score composer has brought him onboard such projects as Yan Ma’s Up We Soar (2020) and Kacey Kox’s Finding Manny (2020). But Journey Through Night poses a different challenge for him—with no visuals to complement, Bisson must generate ambience through music alone, while also showcasing contemporary Canadian composers in an accessible way. Though this is only the…

CD Review | Music of the City and the Stars (Centrediscs, 2022)

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By Zenith Wolfe on 26 July 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Contemporary, Strings

Music of the City and the Stars Andrew Paul MacDonald, electric guitar; Quatuor Saguenay Centrediscs, 2022 Canadian composer Andrew Paul MacDonald has attempted something unprecedented in the two original compositions featured on the album Music of the City and the Stars: a fusion of electric guitar and a string ensemble. There is a noticeable difference between the two instruments, but this is exactly why the album’s overarching theme works so well. The first concerto is Lyra, a seven-movement work that recounts the history of the lyre in Greek mythology. The work begins with Apollo’s conception of the instrument, follows Orpheus…

CD Review | Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 4, 9 & 10 (Analekta, 2021)

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By Zenith Wolfe on 26 July 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Piano, Violin

Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 4, 9 & 10 Andrew Wan, violin; Charles Richard-Hamelin, piano Analekta, 2021 What more can be said about Beethoven’s music that hasn’t already been heard a thousand times? According to violinist Andrew Wan and pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin, quite a lot. This album is the third and final entry in the pair’s series of Beethoven violin sonatas, which began in 2018. Much like its predecessors, this album demonstrates the pair’s distinguishable technical prowess regarding the interweaving of string and piano melodies. The Allegro molto movement of Sonata No. 4 is by far the best example of this,…

CD Review | Leon Fleisher Live Vol. 3 (1956-1964) (DOREMI DHR-8171/2 – 2 CDs)

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By Paul E. Robinson on 26 July 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music

Leon Fleisher Live Vol. 3 (1956-1964), Beethoven: Piano Concertos 1-4, Kirchner: Piano Concerto No. 2 DOREMI DHR-8171/2 (2 CDs) Fleisher recorded all five Beethoven concertos with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra between 1959 and 1961 on the Epic label. But Fleisher live was often far more exciting as evidenced by these broadcast performances. We have a superb if sometimes bombastic First Concerto with Szell and the New York Philharmonic from 1963, a magisterial Fourth with Klemperer and the Cologne Radio Symphony (1956), a dynamic Second Concerto with Hans Rosbaud and the Cologne Radio Symphony (1957), and an acoustically dry…

CD Review | Found Frozen: Songs by Jeffrey Ryan (Centrediscs, 2022)

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By Justin Bernard on 26 July 2022 Canadian Music, CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Contemporary

Found Frozen: Songs by Jeffrey Ryan Danika Lorèn, soprano; Krisztina Szabó, mezzo-soprano; Dion Mazerolle, baritone; Steven Philcox, piano Centrediscs, 2022 The Canadian label Centrediscs specializes in contemporary music and has accustomed listeners to performances for all kinds of ensembles and instruments. Found Frozen, however, is a return to a more classical form—that of piano and voice. This collection features new songs by Canadian composer Jeffrey Ryan, gathered into cycles (except for one song), and performed by three different singers and a pianist, Steven Philcox. Like so many others, this project comes to fruition after long, pandemic-related delays. The album opens…

CD Review | 6 Changes (Self-produced, 2022)

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By Justin Bernard on 26 July 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary

6 Changes Architek Percussion, composition and interpretation Self-produced, 2022 After releasing four recordings with various record labels, including Centrediscs, Architek Percussion is back in force with its very first album as a self-producer. The percussion ensemble, composed of Noam Bierstone, Ben Duinker, Ben Reimer and Alessandro Valiante, presents 6 Changes, which is both the title of the album and of the work which logically includes six movements, for a duration of nearly 33 minutes. In When Will I Realize?, the listener is immediately struck by the full and enveloping resonances of the vibraphones. Listening on stereo speaker or headphones allows…

CD Review | Schubert: The Complete Sonatas and Major Works for Piano (Analekta, 2022)

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By Zenith Wolfe on 26 July 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Piano

Schubert: The Complete Sonatas and Major Works for Piano Mathieu Gaudet, piano Analekta, 2022 The three-part Sonata in A major, D.664 is perhaps one of Schubert’s most played works, and Mathieu Gaudet does a fantastic job of showing why in his newest album. The pianist allows the works to thoroughly explore their respective emotions: the first movement’s erratic melodic jumps and quick tempo establish a sense of urgency, the second movement offers a period of respite with a slower and more contemplative passage, and the third movement bursts into a joyous celebration of all that is good. But Gaudet is…

CD Review | Canadian Soundscapes (Live) (Centrediscs, 2022)

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By Zenith Wolfe on 26 July 2022 Canadian Music, CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Orchestral

Canadian Soundscapes (Live) Carmen Harris, Eeva-Maria Kopp, soprano; Guy Few, trumpet; Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, piano; Melissa Williams, violin; Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Centrediscs, 2022 The three concertos on the album Canadian Soundscapes have been plucked from the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra’s years of live performances with several guest performers. The orchestra begins with its astounding rendition of R. Murray Schafer’s The Falcon’s Trumpet, replete with a sense of urgency that makes 22 minutes feel very short. Guy Few inserts himself seamlessly into the wild cacophony of string instruments with a trumpet performance whose evoked feeling of uncertain bravery guides the listener through the…

Browsing: CD and Book Reviews

CD Review | Je me souviens (Musicor Québécor Média, 2022)

CD Review | Chasing Light & Sound: The Tuba Music of Elizabeth Raum (Centrediscs, 2022)

CD Review | Journey Through Night: Canadian Music for String Quartet (Akashic Entertainment Recordings, 2021)

CD Review | Music of the City and the Stars (Centrediscs, 2022)

CD Review | Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 4, 9 & 10 (Analekta, 2021)

CD Review | Leon Fleisher Live Vol. 3 (1956-1964) (DOREMI DHR-8171/2 – 2 CDs)

CD Review | Found Frozen: Songs by Jeffrey Ryan (Centrediscs, 2022)

CD Review | 6 Changes (Self-produced, 2022)

CD Review | Schubert: The Complete Sonatas and Major Works for Piano (Analekta, 2022)

CD Review | Canadian Soundscapes (Live) (Centrediscs, 2022)

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