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By Félix-Antoine Hamel on 1 October 2024 CD and Book Reviews, La Scena Online, Scena Jazz

Fresh sounds… AnchorsJason Stein, bass clarinet; Joshua Abrams, bass; Gerald Cleaver, drums; guest artist/co-producer Boon. TAO Forms (TAO 16), September 2024 Musicians who dedicate themselves solely to the bass clarinet are not legion. In jazz, it is possible to count them on the fingers of one hand; one thinks mostly of European reedmen, like Rudi Mahall, Thomas Savy, or the late Michel Pilz. Jason Stein is a rare American clarinetist who practises only the bigger horn, but he’s not exactly a newcomer. Twenty years ago, he was already teaming up with Ken Vandermark in the Bridge 61 quartet. The trio on…

CD Review | Ensemble ArtChoral — Art Choral, Vol. 1: Renaissance

By Kristen Whittle on 5 September 2024 CD and Book Reviews, Choral, Classical Music, Vocal

Art Choral, Vol. 1: Renaissance Ensemble ArtChoral; Matthias Maute, artistic director ATMA Classique, 2024 Ensemble ArtChoral’s newest installation to its collection spanning the history of choral singing returns to the origins of polyphony in Art Choral, Vol. 1: Renaissance. Under the direction of Matthias Maute, the ensemble performs early choral repertoire by composers from across Europe, including Cristóbal de Morales, Josquin des Prés, and William Byrd, to name a few. The album opens with No. 5, Adoramus te, Christe from Palestrina’s Recueil des morceaux de musique ancienne. Given Palestrina’s role in creating polyphonic technique, ArtChoral’s expert use of the push…

CD Review | George Benjamin: Picture a day like this

By Justin Bernard on 5 September 2024 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Opera, Vocal

George Benjamin: Picture a day like this George Benjamin, composer and musical direction; Martin Crimp, libretto; Marianne Crebassa, mezzo-soprano; Anna Prohaska, soprano; Beate Mordal, soprano; Cameron Shahbazi, countertenor; John Brancy, baritone; Mahler Chamber Orchestra Nimbus Records, 2024 The opera Written on Skin by George Benjamin had its Canadian premiere in the winter of 2020. The orchestration proved to be of great harmonic density. The overlap between the orchestral and vocal parts demonstrated extremely delicate work, playing a lot with crescendo and decrescendo effects. Benjamin also demonstrated a pronounced taste for notes held in a style that recalled the purity and ethereal…

CD Review | Benjamin Bernheim, Douce France, DG

By Gianmarco Segato on 4 September 2024 Art Song, CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Vocal

Douce France: Mélodies & Chansons Benjamin Bernheim, tenor; Carrie-Ann Matheson, piano Deutsche Grammophon, 2024 For his debut album of French mélodies and chansons, French-Swiss tenor Benjamin Bernheim and Canadian pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson have not shied away from some of the most performed, most recorded songs in the repertoire. Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été, three of Duparc’s glorious mélodies and even Chausson’s cycle, Poème de l’amour et de la mer are certainly not lacking in exposure. But as Bernheim notes in the program book, the Berlioz and Chausson sets have historically been the domain of high-voiced female singers, the Duparc often taken…

CD Review | Bruce Liu — Waves: Music by Satie; DG

By Kristen Whittle on 4 September 2024 CD and Book Reviews

Waves: Music by Satie Bruce Liu, piano Deutsche Grammophon, 2024 Bruce Liu’s solo piano album Waves: Music by Satie explores the composer’s six Gnossiennes through the timbral contrast created by grand versus upright pianos. These works by Satie were written between 1890 and 1897. The flexibility in tempi and shifting chord structures create a sense of longing that Liu captures well on both pianos. The Gnossiennes are played on the grand first, opening with the highly recognizable No. 1, “Lent.” Liu begins with a gentle approach that grows into a fuller sound by the end of each phrase. The playing…

CD Review | Carousel — John Wilson, Chandos

By Gianmarco Segato on 4 September 2024 CD and Book Reviews

Rodgers and Hammerstein — Carousel Tenors: Nathaniel Hackmann and Julian Ovenden; sopranos: Mikaela Bennett, Sierra Boggess and Francesca Chiejina; baritone, David Seadon-Young; Sinfonia of London; Carousel Ensemble; John Wilson, conductor Chandos, 2024 This new Chandos recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel builds on John Wilson and Sinfonia of London’s 2023 recording of the same legendary Broadway duo’s Oklahoma. The British conductor is now at a stage in his career where he has built his own troupe of bespoke artists, hand-picked for each project according to the repertoire— be it classic Broadway, English pastoral or French moderne. Several of the singers…

CD Review | Djely Tapa — Dankoroba, Influente

By Hassan Laghcha on 2 September 2024 CD and Book Reviews, World Music

Dankoroba Djely Tapa, singer-songwriter Disques Nuits d’Afrique, 2024 With her new single Dankoroba (Influente/Woman of Influence), singer-songwriter Djely Tapa gives us a taste of her next album announced for this fall. This opus is part of the development of the musical project of this Montrealer of Malian origin, Radio-Canada revelation and 2020 Juno prize winner of best World Music album for her first record Barokan. Resolutely Afro-futurist, the single reflects this artist’s sustained effort to spark a revival of West African Mandinka music. The mix between traditional and modern (in particular, African blues and electronic experiments) allows her to bring…

CD Review | Continuum — Didem Bașar; I Musici de Montréal

By Hassan Laghcha on 2 September 2024 CD and Book Reviews, World Music

Continuum Didem Bașar, kanun and composer; I Musici de Montréal, Jean-François Rivest, conductor; Patrick Graham, percussion Centre des musiciens du monde, 2024 Montreal kanun (Turkish zither) virtuoso Didem Başar and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal, conducted by Jean-François Rivest with the versatile percussionist Patrick Graham, have just completed a curious musical exploration. The album Continuum, produced by the Centre des musiciens du monde, includes compositions for kanun and string orchestra as well as arrangements of traditional pieces that sum up this artist’s journey between her native Turkey and her adopted city of Montreal, where she found the context…

CD Review | Strauss: Ein Heldenleben; Mahler: Rückert Lieder

By Joseph So on 2 September 2024 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Orchestral, Vocal

Strauss: Ein Heldenleben; Mahler: Rückert Lieder Sonya Yoncheva, soprano; Orchestre symphonique de Montréal; Rafael Payare, conductor Pentatone, 2024 Following their successful release last year on the Pentatone label of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony comes this new disc, by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under the felicitous baton of its music director, Rafael Payare. The forces are back with more Mahler—this time, the sublimely introspective Rückert Lieder (1901-02)—paired with the grand Ein Heldenleben (1898) by Richard Strauss. Pentatone’s press release points out the rather unusual, if not perplexing, pairing of an exuberant Strauss tone poem with an inwardly radiant and spiritual Mahler…

CD Review | François Dompierre — Requiem

By Kristen Whittle on 2 September 2024 CD and Book Reviews, Choral, Vocal

François Dompierre — Requiem Myriam Leblanc, soprano; Andrew Haji, tenor; Geoffroy Salvas, baritone Orchestre FILMharmonique and Ensemble ArtChoral; Francis Choinière, conductor Let Artists Be, 2024 François Dompierre’s Requiem is nothing short of cinematic in nature. Its 12 liturgical texts are set in a manner that takes the listener on a journey through a plethora of sonic environments that are unexpected but seamlessly blend with the character of the Requiem genre. The French horn carries the opening Kyrie with its moving response gestures to the choir. This, of course, comes after the magnificent string opening—two broken dissonant chords are closed by…

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