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Browsing: Contemporary

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

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 | Almost Touching (People Places Records, 2022)

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

Almost Touching An-Laurence Higgins, guitar and voice People Places Records, 2022 Rarely has anything similar been heard. This new album by Montreal guitarist An-Laurence Higgins offers an explosive mix of several musical styles. The work by Kim Farris-Manning that lends its name to the album, Almost Touching, gives as much importance to the voice as to the guitar in a very contemporary language. Several effects are exploited: full resonance strings, metallic friction, harmonics superior to the guitar, breaths, strong inspirations, hoarse voice, etc. Similar vocal effects can be found in Amy Brandon’s Artificial Light, but here they mingle with a…

CD Review | William Bolcom: The Complete Rags (Hyperion, 2022)

By Justin Bernard on 26 July 2022 Classical Music, Contemporary, Piano

William Bolcom: The Complete Rags Marc-André Hamelin, piano Hyperion, 2022 We are used to the virtuoso pianist Marc-André Hamelin unearthing rare treasures from the 19th and 20th centuries and playing them with his customary brilliance. This time, however, he eschews Leopold Godowsky, Nikolai Medtner and Samuil Feinberg for the U.S. composer William Bolcom, born in 1938. Out on the British independent label Hyperion, Hamelin’s new album has him playing a repertoire he’s never tackled before: the ragtime music usually associated with the African-American Scott Joplin. Although now famous for The Entertainer, Joplin wasn’t always very well-known and, until 1967, the…

CD Review | to you through (Redshift Records, 2022)

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

to you through India Gailey, cello Redshift Records, 2022 This new album by cellist and American-Canadian multidisciplinary artist India Gailey is unique to her. It brings together the musical works that have been important in her life and which, with time, have taken on a particular significance. As she explains in the text that accompanies the album, Gailey feels that these works are now a part of herself. She is capable of appreciating them to a different degree than other works of art to which she has been exposed. It is, therefore, a desire to share across borders that motivates…

The company of Lincoln Center Theater's EPIPHANY; photo: Jeremy Daniel

An Evening of Epiphany in a Blizzard of Ideas

By Charles Geyer on 6 July 2022 Arts Industry, Contemporary, Theatre

REVIEW: of Epiphany, a new play by Brian Watkins, presented by New York City’s Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, running through July 24 (viewed here June 29). On a treacherously snowy evening in the doldrums of January, eight guests have braved the elements to attend an exclusive soiree in a ramshackle old Victorian house, probably located north of New York City along the banks of the Hudson. The evening’s irresistible allure lies in its promised guest of honor – a certain renowned and reclusive philosopher, cultural critic and highbrow polymath named Gabriel. That’s the launch point…

Marie-Annick Béliveau. Photo: Michelle Boudreau

Chants Libres: A New Generation

By Justin Bernard on 9 June 2022 Contemporary, Opera

The seventh Oper’Actuel project by Chants Libres will be the first project under the artistic direction of mezzo-soprano and musician Marie-Annick Béliveau, who will take over from Pauline Vaillancourt, Chants Libres founder and historic figure in the creation of vocal works. Béliveau would like to create an artistic community of her own, though she is cognizant of the requirements and principles Chants Libres has held for more than 30 years. “Leading a company as a musician is a unique opportunity,” Béliveau said. “This, of course, means that I will ask people to collaborate with me and I will create teams.…

CD Review | Night Light (Leaf music, 2022)

By Zenith Wolfe on 4 June 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary

Night Light Philip Chiu, piano; Lara Deutsch, flute Leaf Music, 2022 As the central inspiration behind Chiu and Deutsch’s album Night Light, the concept of the “dream” takes on many forms, though some of these forms work better than others. The flutist and pianist take turns as the lead musicians in Takashi Yoshimatsu’s Digital Bird Suite, Op. 15 and Jocelyn Morlock’s I conversed with you in a dream to evoke the contradictory emotions associated with flying in a dream—the euphoria at having achieved an impossible task, and the disappointment at the task’s falsity that settles in after waking up. The…

CD Review | iFugue: A World of Fugues (ODEG, 2022)

By Justin Bernard on 4 June 2022 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary

iFugue: A World of Fugues Ensemble Vivant Opening Day Entertainment Group (ODEG), 2022 Do you know what fusion is? A mix of rock and jazz probably leaps to mind. But there is classical fusion, too. That is exactly what Ensemble Vivant deals with in this recording as it steps into the world of fugues with a selection of 15 pieces that come from both the baroque (Vivaldi, Bach) and more modern times (with the likes of Aldemaro Romero, Astor Piazzolla, Dimitri Shostakovich, Heitor Villa-Lobos and César Franck). Rounding out this 300-year sampling are three world premières by two Canadian composers:…

CD Review | The Equation of Time (Leaf music, 2022)

By Zenith Wolfe on 4 June 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary

The Equation of Time Derek Charke, flute; Eugene Cormier, guitar; Celso Machado, percussion Leaf Music, 2022 The Equation of Time is a thorough exploration of how listeners, performers, and composers experience music differently in relation to time. In the first six works, composed by Celso Machado, the upbeat nature of the Charke-Cormier Duo’s guitar and flute is complemented by the reserved and quiet percussion instruments, performed by Machado himself. The explicit presence of the rhythm emphasizes changes in the time signature, though the percussion’s low volume allows the Duo’s bouncy melodies to dominate the works, evoking the imagery of a…

CD Review: lumena (Self-produced, 2022)

By Justin Bernard on 31 March 2022 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary

lumena The Topaz Duo; Kaili Maimets, flute, Angela Schwarzkopf, harp. Self-produced, 2022 Having met each other for the first time as music undergrads, flutist Kaili Maimets and harpist Angela Schwarzkopf decided soon thereafter to perform as a duo. Yet, it took them more than 12 years of playing together to make their recording debut. By common accord they wanted to present completely new works, of which the Sonata for Flute and Harp op. 56 by Lowell Liebermann and lumena by Riho Esko Maimets (brother of the flutist) are featured alongside another sonata for flute and harp by Marjan Mozetich and…

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