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CD Review – 1747 : C.P.E. Bach

By Philippe Gervais on 7 February 2018 Baroque and Early, Canadian Music, CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Quebec Music

1747 : C.P.E. Bach Infusion Baroque, Sonates en trio Wq.145 à 148 et Wq. 150, Leaf Music, 63 min 48 s In 1747, J.S. Bach traveled to Berlin to visit his son Carl Philipp Emanuel. There he composed The Musical Offering, at the heart of which is a trio sonata. This may have inspired C.P.E. In the same year, he reworked several trio sonatas he had written at 17 in collaboration with his father. He offered a modern version, halfway between baroque aesthetics and the new galant style. The Montreal ensemble Infusion Baroque made a wise choice by selecting this seductive repertoire, still…

CD Review – Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1

By Paul E. Robinson on 7 February 2018 Canadian Music, CD and Book Reviews, Classical, Classical Music, Contemporary, Piano

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1 Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3. Forsyth: Piano Concerto. Jane Coop, piano. Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra/Mario Bernardi. Skylark Music Sky1703. Total Time: 67:01. Born in New Brunswick and raised in Calgary, Jane Coop studied with Anton Kuerti in Toronto and went on to teach at the University of British Columbia from 1980 to 2012. In an era of limited recording, Coop has done the next best thing in re-issuing recordings from the 1980s, originally produced by the now defunct CBC Records. Her collaborations with the late Mario Bernardi (1930-2013) invariably produced excellent results. Short at 16 minutes,…

CD REVIEW – Inspired by Canada Notre Pays

By Paul E. Robinson on 6 February 2018 Canadian Music, CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Contemporary

Inspired by Canada Notre Pays Music by Seitz, Léveillée, Joni Mitchell, etc. Amici Chamber Ensemble. Mireille Asselin, soprano; Joaquin Valdepeñas, clarinet; David Hetherington, cello and Serouj Kradjian, piano. Marquis 774718148520. Total time: 62:00. The Amici Chamber Ensemble recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. It is amazing that the group (clarinetist Joaquin Valdepeñas, cellist David Hetherington and pianist Serouj Kradjian, who has succeeded the retired Patricia Parr) has endured for so long considering that apart from trios by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms, there is little important repertoire for this configuration of instruments. Amici gets around this problem by performing duos (for clarinet…

OPERA MCGILL: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR. PHOTO: BRENT CALIS

La Scena Concert Reviews

By La Scena Musicale Team on 6 February 2018 Canadian Music, Classical, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Quebec Music

Lucia di Lammermoor 4.5 Stars Opera McGill. Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor. Brittany Rae, Marcel d’Entremont, Bryan De Parsia, Jean-Philippe Mc Clish, Amelia Lubrano, Sébastien Comtois, Patrick McGill, Saraha Dufresne. McGill Symphony Orchestra, Stephen Hargreaves, conductor. Direction by Patrick Hansen. Monument National, Jan. 28. Performance 9/10 What you missed: Bumper crop at Opera McGill. Soprano Brittany Rae of Calgary, the third of three Lucias, combined pure tone, brilliant highs, natural acting and a fetching way with a phrase. Mad scenes are not always so believable. Good projection by tenor Marcel d’Entremont as Edgardo. Sturdy Enrico from baritone Bryan De Parsia, a…

PHOTO: FRANCOIS GOUPIL

Orchestre Métropolitain: Hitting the Big Time, Having a Good Time in Europe

By Arthur Kaptainis on 6 February 2018 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Orchestral, Quebec Music

The year 2017 will be remembered as a great one for Yannick Nézet-Séguin and his Orchestre Métropolitain — even in 2018. Their seven-concert whirlwind tour of Europe, starting in the Dortmund Konzerthaus on Nov. 26 and ending in the Paris Philharmonie on Dec. 3, has been nominated for a Grand Prix by the Conseil des arts de Montréal. The winner will be announced in March. As I noted in a dispatch from Paris, the tour was a success on every level: “Audiences were charmed by the newcomers. Playing standards were high. Above all, the tour was an apotheosis for an…

When Youth Meets the Masters

By Marie-Claire Fafard-Blais on 5 February 2018 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Education, Orchestral, Quebec Music

This year, the Association des orchestres de jeunes du Québec (AOJQ) presents the 20th edition of its Quebec Festival of Youth Orchestras. The festival allows eight youth orchestras to be matched with four distinguished guest conductors, one of whom is Alain Trudel, who also happens to be the event’s spokesperson. In addition to performing onstage at the Salle André-Mathieu in Laval under the direction of their respective conductors, the orchestras will be grouped in pairs and will receive the guidance of a mentoring musician. They will then present the fruits of their labour during a gala concert held at the…

Udistik Orkestra Crédit: Pierre-Alexandre Saint-Yves.

The Oud: Artistically Bridging Orient and Occident

By Hassan Laghcha on 5 February 2018 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Contemporary, Quebec Music, Strings

The innovative production company La Nef presents Udistik Orkestra, a concert showcasing the oud – the Oriental lute – and directed by composer, performer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Wells-Oberegger. The show’s organizers promise a trip across various artistic universes. Concertgoers will be exposed to different currents of Middle-Eastern music, novel rearrangements of Western masterpieces and original compositions by Udistik Orkestra that explore the overlap between Oriental and Occidental traditions, all thanks to the marvelous potentialities of the oud, ancestor of the lute. This is not the only case of cultural intermingling. Wells-Oberegger offers the example of the violin, which has become…

Stella Musica Festival: Empowering Women

By Arnaud G. Veydarier on 4 February 2018 Canadian Music, Classical, Classical Music, Quebec Music, Vocal

Established in Montreal’s cultural landscape for three years, Stella Musica devotes its programing each year to women in classical music. Although more women are taking on roles traditionally reserved for men, female composers, conductors and performers still often remain in the shadow of their male peers. The pianist and artistic director Katarzyna Musial founded the festival to emphasize the work of female musicians and to encourage young women to pursue music. Thematic Concerts This fourth edition commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice by presenting concerts revolving around the theme of psychological distress. Music will be explored for…

Infusion Baroque photo Elizabeth Delage

Infusion Baroque: Exploring the Wonders and Mysteries of the Baroque

By Hassan Laghcha on 4 February 2018 Baroque and Early, Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Quebec Music

Alexa Raine-Wright, Sallynee Amawat, Andrea Stewart and Rona Nadler are rising stars of baroque music. In 2013, the ensemble founded Infusion Baroque because of their common passion for fine-tuning early music. In February 2017, the group launched their first album featuring sonatas by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The 2017-18 season cements their innovative qualities beyond musical performances. Infusion Baroque’s uniqueness lies not only in artistic sensitivity but also in a fondness for musical and historical research. The players present baroque music to new audiences, combining other artistic media with chamber music. This modernization breathes new life into the historical context…

Marie-Josée Lord photo: Laurence Labat

Marie-Josée Lord : A voice of her own

By Adrian Rodriguez on 4 February 2018 Canadian Music, Classical Music, Opera, Quebec Music, Vocal

Marie-Josée Lord is a soprano on the move. We caught her by phone while she was in Toronto for an intensive two-week workshop with the Volcano Theatre Company. Lord is participating in their reboot of Treemonisha, the opera written by Scott Joplin in 1910 and first performed in 1972. The company is replacing the libretto while keeping Joplin’s original characters. Meredith Potter, producer of the show, explains that the original manuscript with an orchestration was lost. Now a vocal/piano score is the only vestige. The new orchestration and arrangements by Jessie Montgomery and Jannina Norpoth are a fusion of classical…

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