CD and Book Reviews - my/maSCENA

Michael Formanek Kolossus Ensemble

Orchestras of our time: three views

By Marc Chénard on 1 April 2016 CD and Book Reviews, Mainstream Jazz, Scena Jazz

In the Swing Era, big bands reigned supreme, but in the post-World War II years, many would disband, succumbing to changing popular tastes. Some lamented their disappearance, equating their fate to that of dinosaurs, but in fact, they never completely vanished. Forced out of dance halls, jazz orchestras would find new homes in music schools introducing jazz study programs into their curricula. Nowadays a resurgence of interest in them can be seen by the increasing number of live performances and new recordings of big bands: here are three discs issued since the New Year. Michael Formanek Kolossus Ensemble Distance ECM…

Review: R Murray Schafer’s Apocalypsis

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 April 2016 Canadian Music, CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary

David Fallis, conductor; A Luminato Festival Production Analekta AN 2 8784-5. 1 hr 53 min 24 s. For its 10th Anniversary last June, Toronto’s Luminato Festival staged its most ambitious work to date, R. Murray Schafer’s Apocalypsis. Over 1000 performers from across Canada, both professional and amateur, united to realize this historic music-theatre work, which was performed and recorded in the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. Due to the massive scale of the work, this is only the second time it was performed (the first was in London, Ontario in 1980), and the first time it had been recorded…

Book Review: River Music by Mary Sonderstrom

By Rebecca Anne Clark on 1 February 2016 CD and Book Reviews, Literature

River Music Mary Soderstrom Cormorant Books, 276 pages River Music, the sixth novel from Montréaler Mary Soderstrom, follows the life of Gloria, a pianist who struggles to make her way as a female musician in mid-20th-century Montréal. From early childhood, Gloria learns how the “river of music” can carry her away from a life fraught with troubles, but that same river will lead her to much struggle and even disappointment as she must fight for opportunities to realize her musical potential. While music remains important throughout Gloria’s life, its raw power increasingly takes a back seat to her career and…

André Gagnon Baroque (ATMA)

CD Review: André Gagnon Baroque (ATMA)

By Michèle-Andrée Lanoue on 1 February 2016 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary, Quebec Music

André Gagnon Baroque Mes Quatre saisons – Les Turluteries Jean-Willy Kunz, harpsichord Orchestre symphonique Vallée du Haut-Saint-Laurent, Daniel Constantineau ATMA Classique. 2015. ACD22715. 65 min 17 s André Gagnon’s Mes quatre saisons (1969) and Les turluteries (1972) are infused with a new breath of life with this new disc on which baroque and popular music blend joyfully. With a style approaching that of Bach and Vivaldi, Jean-Willy Kunz on harpsichord interprets and transforms the melodies of Léveillée, Vigneault, Leclerc and la Bolduc’s “turlutes”, along with the Orchestre symphonique de la Vallée-du-Haut-Saint-Laurent directed by Daniel Constantineau. Its unique character comes across…

CD Découverte – Ewald Cheung et Philip Chiu

By Michele Duguay on 20 May 2015 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Orchestral, Piano, Romantic, Strings, Violin

Ewald Cheung et Philip Chiu Cette semaine, La Scena Musicale en collaboration avec Espace 21 offre à ses abonnés un enregistrement d’oeuvres de Brahms par Ewald Cheung (violon) et Philip Chiu (piano). Les deux artistes s’impliquent beaucoup sur la scène musicale actuelle et dans leurs champs respectifs. Le violoniste Ewald Cheung est l’un des membres fondateurs du groupe de musique Geistrio et du Quatuor à cordes Roddick. De son côté, le pianiste Philip Chiu est le fondateur et le directeur du programme de piano d’accompagnement du Domaine Forget. Ils ont enregistré les trois sonates pour violon et piano de Johannes Brahms,…

Discovery CD – Ewald Cheung and Philip Chiu

By Michele Duguay on 20 May 2015 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Orchestral, Piano, Romantic, Strings, Violin

Ewald Cheung and Philip ChiuThis week, La Scena Musicale, in collaboration with Espace 21, offers you a recording of Brahms’ work done by Canadians Ewald Cheung (violin) and Philip Chiu (piano) for our Discovery CD. Both artists are involved in the musical scene and in their respective fields. Ewald Cheung is one of the founders of the music groups Geistrio and the Roddick String Quartet. As for Philip Chiu, he’s the founder and director of the Domaine Forget Collaborative Piano Program.You can download the first track here : Track 1Back in 2012, one of our writers, L. H. Tiffany Hsieh,…

CD Découverte – Stéphan Sylvestre

By Michele Duguay on 22 April 2015 CD and Book Reviews, Piano, Romantic

CD Découverte – Stéphan Sylvestre Le CD découverte du pianiste canadien Stéphan Sylvestre propose des œuvres de Johannes Brahms dont huit pièces pour piano, deux rhapsodies, trois intermezzos et un Albumblatt en la mineur, opus posthume.Plusieurs critiques ont encensé Sylvestre, dont CBC Music qui affirme que son approche de Brahms est « beaucoup plus romantique [que celle de Perahia], mais aussi intéressante. Sa manière de jouer est introspective et réfléchie, et est accompagnée d’une sensibilité profonde ». Il a également été comparé à Artur Rubinstein pour son talent naturel (La Presse, Montréal). Sa carrière se déroule à l’internationale et il a donné des…

Alice Through the Looking-Glass

By Paul E. Robinson on 7 July 2014 CD and Book Reviews, Orchestral, Strings, Theatre

by Paul E. RobinsonStory by Lewis CarrollAdaptation for the stage by James ReaneyDirector: Jillian KelleyChoreographer: Dayna TekatchDesigner: Bretta GereckeComposer: Jonathan MunroSound Designer: John GzowskiAlice: Trish LindströmRed Queen: Cynthia DaleWhite Queen: Sarah OrensteinHumpty Dumpty: Brian TreeStratford Festival Avon TheatreJune 21, 2014It is one of the great mysteries of genius how a shy, stammering Oxford mathematics professor came to create the most enchanting children’s books in the history of the genre; not only that, but how these same stories about a young girl and her adventures with a vast panoply of absurd characters are so intellectually clever as to continue to challenge great…

A New Nagano Generation: The Artistry Continues

By Paul E. Robinson on 1 April 2014 CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music, Classical, Piano, Strings

Flash version here. Mozart: Piano Concertos No. 12 in A major K. 414 & No. 13 in C major K. 415 Karin Kei Nagano, piano; Cecilia String Quartet Analekta AN2 8765 (51 m) Is it in the genes? No, but genes play a major role in the creation of musical talent, especially so in the case of 15-year-old Karin Kei Nagano. Her father, Kent Nagano, has been the music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal since 2006 and recently renewed his contract until 2020. Karin’s mother, Mari Kodama, is herself a fine pianist with an international reputation. Against this background,…

Sternberg Collection Volume 2

By Paul E. Robinson on 5 January 2014 CD and Book Reviews, Classical, Orchestral, Piano

Schubert/Hoiby: Introduction, Theme and Variations Op. 82 No. 2/Rieti: Capers/Menotti: SebastianVienna State Opera Orchestra/Jonathan Sternberg Pierian 0050 (78 m 35 s)Jonathan Sternberg was music director of the Harkness Ballet in 1966-68. He led performances with the company on tour across the U.S. and in Europe and South America. These recordings were probably made during a tour of Europe in 1967, but they were never released.Leo Hoiby (1926-2011) was an American pianist-composer who often worked with the Harkness Ballet. He orchestrated an obscure piano four-hands piece by Schubert into a sort of concerto movement for piano and orchestra. It is a…

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