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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…

Elgar Conducts Elgar The Complete Recordings 1914-1925

By Paul E. Robinson on 5 January 2014 CD and Book Reviews, Orchestral, Romantic, Strings

Elgar Conducts Elgar The Complete Recordings 1914-1925, Elgar: Symphony No. 2/Violin Concerto (Marie Hall)/Cello Concerto (Beatrice Harrison)/Sea Pictures (Leila Megane)/Cockaigne Overture/In the South Overture, etc. Symphony Orchestra/Royal Albert Hall Orchestra/Sir Edward Elgar Producer & Transfer/Restoration Engineer: Lani Spahr Music & Arts CD-1257(4)(296 m 2 s)For collectors this is a gold mine of historic recordings. For music lovers – not so much. These are recordings from the acoustical era, and Elgar went on to make much better-sounding recordings of nearly all the same pieces using the electrical microphone. Frankly, ploughing through many of these performances is almost painful. Given the primitive…

“Shelter” Songs for Soprano and Cello. Music by Previn, Tavener, Honstein, Heggie and Rachmaninov

By Paul E. Robinson on 23 December 2013 CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music, Piano, Strings

Mela Dailey, soprano; Scott Kluksdahl, cello; Rick Rowley, pianoPierian 0047 (64 m 44 s)****Recital albums featuring young sopranos are not uncommon. But what makes this new release exceptional is the unusual choice of repertoire and the high quality of the performances.Who would have thought of putting together an album of contemporary music for soprano and cello? And who would have thought that the music for this combination could be of such high quality?Andre Previn’s Four Songs for Soprano, Cello and Piano of 1994 are settings of poems by Toni Morrison. These are beautiful songs, recalling Britten in their transparency, and…

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