Chamberfest: Berg's Lyric Suite and Gellman's Musings.

Today at noon marked the third to last concert of this year’s Chamberfest, which included not only Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet, but a world premiere of Steven Gellman’s Musings, commissioned and performed by none other than this year’s Chamberfest artistic directors, the Gryphon Trio. Hosted by Gary Kulesha, there was chance for the performers and Mr. Gellman to illuminate different aspects of the works presented.

The concert began with Steven Gellman introducting his work, giving the audience a chance to see into the inner workings of the composer. Gellman expounded on his phases as a composer, ranging from the extremely experimental, to his current take on creating works of greater depth and accessibility. While I disagree with the notion that experimental composition lacks depth, I understand his desire to more readily connect with his audience. With that in mind, his work showed a heritage of experimental practice combined with a sensibility of accessibility. Although I wasn’t that ‘into’ the work in it’s entirety, feeling like some things did not really come together, there were many interesting ideas in contrast and texture, and I found that the slow movement, a duet between the violin, stood apart from the rest.

The second piece on the program, Berg’s Lyric Suite, began with St. Lawrence String Quartet’s own Geoff Nuttall detailing not only the inner compositional workings of the piece, but also the ’secret’ programmatic aspect. Basically, nearly fifty years after the work’s inception, a score was discovered amongst Berg’s possessions that contained a detailed programme outlining how the piece relates to his love affair with a woman named Hannah Fuchs-Robettin.

The Lyric Suite being amongst my favourite works, I was excited and pleased to hear the St. Lawrence String Quartet perform. They attacked the music with the sort of intensity required to draw out its passion, moving from idea to idea, contrast to contrast in nearly seamless transition. To add to it, they also played with a sort of dramatic flair that much of the standard string quartet repertoire does not allow for.

Finally, the audience, as was my listening partner, seemed a little shaken by the police sirens and loudly revving motorbike accompinament provided by the street outside. However, it may be seen as testament to St. Lawrence’s engaging performance that the audience truly wanted to stay focused. I also cannot help to add that we do live in a loud modern world, and that post-John-Cagean philosophy tells us to embrace all listening moments, especially when we can’t to anything to change them!

Craig Pedersen
www.craigpedersen.com
www.newmusicottawa.blogspot.com
www.chamberfest.wordpress.com

Creative program at Chamberfest 2009

I feel like I have been attending more and more concerts and writing less and less. I went to three concerts yesterday, and one today! I am extremely impressed by the level of thoughful programming that has gone into this festival. I hate to pick favourites, so I won't! I will say, however, that every couple of days I find myself telling a friend that they missed something amazing, possibly the "best concert yet". Needless to say, I think it's time to let go of the quantifying and get to some qualifying, in an effort to pinpoint pieces of what it is that I find successful about the concerts I have attended.

I think it is safe to say that the concerts I have enjoyed the most have all taken place at the festival's late night "club" at St. Brigid's Centre for the Arts and Humanities. What is it, though, that makes this space so special?

For starters, the atmosphere is casual. Listeners are afforded the opportunity to have a drink, eat some food and share a conversation between songs without drawing too much attention. Second, the space, albeit crowded and hot, provides a sense of intimacy and connection between audience members and performers. Third, while it may seem safe to say that all the performers at the festival are performing at a high quality, there is something that seems to set some performers apart, that goes hand in hand with having an alternative venue. For me, alternative venues leave room for ALTERNATIVE AND CREATIVE PROGRAMMING that isn't always considered appropriate in the concert hall.

Take for instance the late night concerts which I have attended: Jonathan and Jennifer Swartz's violin/harp duo playing their own arrangements of twentieth-century classics. Fratelli Della Casa using barebones 'lead sheets' to arrange and improvised upon seventeenth-century popular tunes. Fright Night with Poe, in which performers created a theatrical and musical re-telling of Poe's works, including narration, visuals, acting and of course, great music and storytelling. Finally, this evening's concert with the New Berlin Ensemble and their set of music entitled L’accordéoniste in which they performed German, Italian and French cabaret music.

What here, is the common trend which the late night venue aptly supports? Musicians who think outside of the box and are involved in not only performing music, but arranging, writing and perhaps most importantly, interacting with it. To quote Gary Kulesha at last night's "New Music Dialogues": Music is a living art form!

Craig Pedersen
www.craigpedersen.com
www.newmusicottawa.blogspot.com
www.chamberfest.wordpress.com

Mussorgsky and Symond.

Last night's Fright Night at Saint Brigid's was an experience in storytelling. During first half, as I listened to Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, a few thoughts came to me. I was reflecting upon the way that great storytelling can be what separates a good singer from a great. Take for instance, Pomakov and the Mussorgsky. Here we have a work that ponders different aspects of death - from that of a child, to a mother, to nature and finally the death of soldiers in war. The objective elements of the music are in place: the notes, rhythms, dynamics, etc., and of course the text or story. The storytelling paradox of the work, however, lies in the fact that the text is in Russian, and that the average western concert-goer will not explicitly understand the meaning of the text. We are left then, with the performer, Pomakov, who, having mastered the objective standards of the song, must then imply the meaning of the text through his control of emotion, nuance, body language, and movement, in an effort draw in the audience, and share with them the content of the repertoire. This is no small feat, and may account for why we can consider Pomakov's performance last night to be not only good, but great.

Unbeknown to me, the second half of the concert would share a different treatment of storytelling, as performers took the stage to present Canadian composer Norm Symonds' setting of Oscar Wylde's The Canterville Ghost. Here, however, the text was explicit and easy to understand, while the accompanying music was more abstract. Instead of the musical expression illuminating the meaning of the text, as in the Mussorgsky, the text in Symonds' work served, in a way, to illustrate the meaning of the sounds which accompanied it.

I found that in many ways, Symonds' musical accompaniment was reminiscent of the music we often find backing a cartoon - extremely programmatic, over the top, often whimsical and at times serious (if not a hair overdramatic). In reflection, I can see how one may used those same descriptors to describe the literary work's of Wilde. It was this way that Symonds was able to marry the text with music. The piece was well executed and extremely entertaining.

This concert was an example of the type of artistic and innovative programming that creates a stimulating musical atmosphere in which our art form can be supported and flourish. Keep it up!


Craig Pedersen
www.craigpedersen.com
www.newmusicottawa.blogspot.com
(cross-posted at www.chamberfest.wordpress.com)

Chamberfest: Opening Night.

Opening Night.

The James Ehnes/Jon Kimura Parker concert last night was wonderful. I really only have one point to touch upon in this entry. For me, it was a delight to see the interaction and interplay between these two performers. Chamber music is largely dependent upon the abilities of performers to connect to one another’s musical sensibilities and then present a united front whereby they can turn outwards and share the music with their audience. Knowing that the repertoire for last evening’s concert is dependent upon such interplay – whether it was Mozart’s exploration of the interactive potential between the violin and piano or Ravel’s belief that the instruments are “fundamentally incompatible” – I went into the concert with a real sense of what to listen for.

From the outset of the Mozart, it was clear that both Ehnes and Parker are seasoned professionals that share a musical intuition and sense of storytelling. Their abilities to shift gears at the drop of a hat, or to turn their energies on a dime is a treat for concert-goers. From beginning to end, they created their space and shared with the audience their appreciation for this music, even through the less compelling parts of the repertoire.

Craig Pedersen
www.craigpedersen.com
www.newmusicottawa.blogspot.com
(this post has been cross-posted at chamberfest.wordpress.com)

Chamber Music Festival.

Hey all,

I've updated the calendar to include all things relevant from the upcoming Ottawa Chamber Music Festival.

This year I have been asked to blog all the concerts I go to, so expect to see some posts here in the next couple of weeks. Also check out http://chamberfest.wordpress.com/ to see what other people are saying.

Keep it real,


Craig

Jazz Festival?

Hey, it's not the sort of thing we usually post on this blog, but (A) there ain't much else goin' on, and (B) these look pretty interesting. The 2008 festival's "Ottawa Composers Collective" concert was certainly something of interest to new music enthusiasts.

This year's festival offers a number of workshops that sound promising. You can find them here.

You may also want to check out Dave Douglas's "Brass Ectasy" on June 25th. Maria Schneider is also an amazing composer and arranger, playing on the 29th.

Hey, Weinzweig!

R.

June!

Hey music lovers,

Is everyone looking as forward to tonight's Musica Nova concert as I am? Things are starting to happen in the capital city!

Well, they were. April was a pretty good month for new music if you dug deep enough. May wasn't bad. June and July appear to be drier than a witch's... well, you get the idea. What a bummer!

I have added two items to the calendar. The bad news is, they're both for tomorrow, and the worse news is, they're at the exact same time!

One is the Ottawa Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition, which will have some Hindemith and Wieniawski. The other show is pianist Dina Namer, playing music of 20th-C. Israeli (is that a redundancy?) composers and Bloch, in honour of the 50th anniversary of his death. I've got a bit of an inside scoop, because Dina lives next door - she sounds amazing!! :)

Here's hoping something comes together for June and July. I'll be out of town during the chamber music festival, but I know there'll be something for us there, so I'll do my best to get events on the calendar.

If things don't pick up, we may have to take matters into our own hands!! Actually, we are! Craig and I, along with flutist/composer Aura Giles, are working on a new music concert series, kicking off in the fall. You can be absolutely sure that we will advertise like crazy on this blog for those shows!!

Enjoy the rain!

-Ryan

May

It's a busy time of year!! I will continue to update this blog, but for the moment, I'll focus on getting events onto the calendar. Check out all the events for May, and let us know if we're missing anything.

Don't miss the Celebration of Canadian Music on the 29th!

More About April

April 4 (yes, tomorrow!): Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji will be playing Schubert, Beethoven, Bloch, and a piece she commissioned from Avner Dorman. Since winning First Prize at the 1999 Paganini Competition - the first Japanese and youngest artist to do so - Shoji is regularly invited to perform on some the world's most prestigious stages. Recent highlights include performances at the Salzburg Easter Festival with the Berlin Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons, the London Symphony Orchestra's 100th Anniversary Asia tour with Sir Colin Davis, highly successful tours of Europe and South America with the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Bychkov, and of Japan with the New York Philharmonic and Lorin Maazel. Her accompanist is French pianist Julien Quentin, and they'll be playing at St. John's Church (Elgin & Somerset). Tickets, at $40 general, $30 for seniors, $20 for students and $60 for reserved seats near the stage, are available online at arsnova.ca and will be sold at the door. Information: 819-682-2693.

April 5: Concerts-in-the-Glebe, Glebe-St. James United Church (Lyon St. and First Ave.), 4 p.m. Joan Harrison, cello, and Elaine Keillor, piano present "Musical Links between France and Canada", works by Farrenc, Coulthard, and Guerrero. $7-15 or pay what you can.

April 16: Together with Swedish musicians Roland Pöntinen (piano) and Svante Henrysson (cello), Martin Fröst presents his "Beyond All Clarinet History Project" (B.A.C.H.). Martin Fröst performs regularly in leading concert halls and with major orchestras worldwide. Fröst is a charismatic and multitalented soloist and his ambition to explore new aspects of musical creativity is also a great inspiration to many composers. In 2008 he was nominated for a Swedish Grammy and for the prestigious Swedish Export Prize. The concert is at St. Matthew's Church at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets: www.arsnova.ca Reserved: $60.00 General: $40.00
Seniors: $30.00 (65 & over) Students: $20.00

April 24: As part of the BC Scene goings-on, the Borealis String Quartet has programmed some music by one of my favorite Canadian composers, Imant Raminsh. National Gallery of Canada, Rideau Chapel. 12:00 noon, $8. click here for details.

April 27: Also part of the BC Scene - Francois Houle! Don't miss this one. National Gallery of Canada, Rideau Chapel. 12:00 noon, $8. click here for details.

May 1: BC Scene presents the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra with some music by BC composer Jeffrey Ryan. 8pm at the NAC. click here for details.

Late March & April Lineup

March 20: workshop of Dean Burry's opera-in-progress, "The Bremen Town Musicians". 12pm at the NAC Fourth Stage. It's a family (read: child-friendly) opera, so it may not be too envelope-pushing, but it's a great opportunity to see the process of art.

March 22: An evening of vocal music featuring Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, Debussy's Ariettes oubliées, an aria from Mozart's opera Mitridate, re di Ponto, and songs by Ives and Britten. Susan Lines (soprano), Carole Portelance (mezzo), Teresa van den Boogaard (piano), and Marlene Basarab (piano). St. Luke's Anglican Church, 760 Somerset West.

March 29: Anne-Julie Caron, marimba. Works by Piazzolla and Abe. Centre culturel du Vieux-Aylmer, 120 Rue Principale, Gatineau.

April 3: Thirteen Strings and Anne-Julie Caron (again!!), marimba. Music of Raats, Sejourne, Vasks, and others. 8pm at St. Andrew's Church (Kent at Wellington).

April 18 & 19: Cantata Singers of Ottawa present music by Willan, Dallapicolla, Lauridsen, Whitacre, Sjolund, and Henderson. Apr. 18: Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, 30 Cleary Ave., 8pm Apr. 19: Orleans United Church, 1111 Orleans blvd., 3pm.

April 30: Alain Trudel conducts the NACO in a concert of music by British Columbian composers. Features Sharman, Morlock, and others. National Arts Centre, 8pm.

March Already?

Yes. It's March. And this blog has been silent for a while. Sorry about that.

There are a few exciting events coming up, and they've been added to the calendar.

March 6th at 3:30pm, A lecture recital with composer Aris Carastathis. Carleton University, Loeb A900. Carleton Music's Contemporary Music Ensemble, aided by some special guests, will perform his works.

On March 8th, at 7:30pm, Trillium will perform the music of Piazzolla, Martinu, and two Ottawa composers: Glen Morley and Margrit Cattell. We really shouldn't miss this one! It's at St. Luke's (760 Somerset West). Trillium is Cathy Baerg (flute), Steven Smith (cello), and Joan Milliken (piano).

On March 15th, at the Centre culturel du Vieux-Aylmer, salle La Basoche (120 rue Principale, Gatineau (Aylmer sector)), there's a concert accordion recital by Pierre-Paul Provencher featuring works by Kusyakov and Abbott. Here's the kicker: it's at 11am! Hope to see you there.

On March 18th, at 12:15pm, there's a saxophone and piano recital at First Baptist Church Ottawa (Laurier at Elgin). No word on the repertoire, but the odds are good that it'll be modern. Billy Boulet, sax, and Tony Dunn, piano.

March 21st brings us the music of Ottawa composer Jan Jarvlepp. At 8pm, l'Orchestre Symphonique de Gatineau will play his Double Concerto for Flute and English Horn, at the Salle Odyssée de la Maison de la culture de Gatineau. The program is otherwise all-Ravel!

That should keep us all satisfied for the next few weeks!

Two documents

Hey everyone.

Calendar update coming soon.

In the mean time, here are 2 articles which I have written. I hope you will enjoy!
The first is a review of Kenny Werner's Effortless Mastery
http://www.craigpedersen.com/pdfs/review-effortlessmastery.pdf

and the second is a paper on improvisation and semiotics
http://www.craigpedersen.com/pdfs/improvisation.pdf

Enjoy!

Craig

Answers to "Some Questions"

For my Business of Music course at the University of Ottawa, we were asked to read this article by Greg Sandow, and provide a synopsis and reflection. I've chosen to post my response here. Enjoy. ---Craig.


In his reflection, “Some Questions”, Sandow presents a series of inquiries to help explain why the classical music industry is shrinking, and potentially failing. Seeing as his reflections and questions are based mainly on his own experiences, I would like to reflect upon his questions through my own perspective.

1.) Sandow asks “Why isn’t the audience more active in the classical music world”, and more pertinently, “why don’t they get more involved with the music itself?” When I consider my personal experience of studying music, having done so enthusiastically for almost 10 years before understanding that listening to music is a dialogue, and before discovering the literature the communities that understood that music works beyond sound and relationships, that it is an organism that lives as long as we live, and that we must care for it, communicate to it, tend to it, and make the effort to understand it, and then still have questions of what it is and how it works and why it matters obscured I wonder the following: If after ten years of searching and caring, I finally barely understand this, can we blame the average listener, who started in the same place and had the same formative education as me, for be not being active and involved?

2.) Next, Sandow asks why people inside classical music institutions don’t talk about music more? He wonders why there are not more musician-conductor-staff-board-audience dialogues? I don’t really have an answer to this, but to me, a lack of communication indicates a serious problem. There is something in the ‘hierarchy’ of the classical music industry that promotes this attitude. In amateur music circles, musicians are passionate about music, playing with fervor, and care. Yet, for many in the average professional music world, however, the spark seems gone. However, it seems to me that an antiquated view professionalism is employed daily in the music world. To clarify, professionalism often means “show up on time, keep your mouth shut and play it right, the first time.” It’s the latter two points that interest me the most. What is to become of an art form when there is no room for or the dialogue. Part of passion is the drive to push oneself to the limits, exploring and trying new artistic ideas. I’m certain that art is not about doing it right.

3.) Why do we advertise classical music so badly? Sandow seems to conclude that most press releases and program notes are ego based, talking about the apparent greatness of the performer, composer, work, or all three. It is arguable that many of my colleagues were educated in institutions that valued ‘fact’ and ‘reason’ over emotional content. We were taught to develop rational skills, and to view the world – including the arts – through this lens. Music is wonderful because it allows us to explore other, experiential, human aspects of our life. There are things in the world that exists as a combination of mind and heart. But we’re never ever told this. This is the big secret. And so, what do we have but ‘facts’ and ‘history’ in our advertising.

4.) What do we ourselves get from all these concerts? I would like to argue that many performers, don’t get much out of the experience. For many, it’s a job. A job they love, but ultimately, a job. For me, it’s always been about learning the skills, playing it right and then maybe, just maybe having time to add your personal interpretation, and connect to the experience. Far too often I feel like we are craftsmen, or even technicians? Why do so many talented musicians leave the field? Is it because it’s not rewarding enough? And I’m not talking financially. The good players always have a gig. But it’s not rewarding to be a technician of music. It’s not what we signed up for, but it’s what the industry Sandow speaks of can resign us to.

5.) Why doesn’t classical music get closer to pop? There is a divide between “high” and “low” art. As Sandow pointed out, some pop is truly cheap and commercial, while some is not. To refute all popular music on the basis of the cheap and commercial is to refute all classical music because of Andre Rieu. Consider that serious pop music accepts and promotes dialogue between performer and the listener. Furthermore, I’ve never known my friends in popular music to be afraid of expression or doing making their music ‘wrong.’ Most of my colleagues who write and perform popular music use it as a medium to express something personal the them.

6.) Why don’t we play more new music? We do. It’s just a little bit more ‘underground’. Furthermore, maybe the industry has alienated people. Maybe it has been too intellectual, or too uncompromising. Maybe the balance is off. Maybe people do try to care, but when there’s nothing there but a brick wall that says ‘you don’t know shit, so don’t even bother, man”.

7.) Why aren’t we part of contemporary life? I don’t know. I feel like I can understand, but that in order to express it I would need to be in a dialogue with everyone who is reading this.

Sandow raises one final question: Why are we in crisis? Why haven’t we attracted a new audience? For the answer to these questions and more, see #1 through 7 above.

Hatzis's Constantinople Canceled!

Yeah. What a bummer. No word on why it was canceled. I had put it on the calendar, but I hadn't posted about it yet. Click here to read about Constantinople.

I'm going to be out of the country then anyhow... so I guess now I don't have to be sad about missing it. Still, it's too bad.

The Gryphon Trio, who were going to be producing and performing the multimedia work, will instead be performing an all-Beethoven fundraiser for the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival. The members of the Gryphon Trio are the artistic directors for the Chamber Festival, which just lost a lot of government funding. My guess is, they think they can sell more tickets to a concert of non-challenging "old chestnuts" (relatively speaking). They might be right. Maybe they'll take this fundraiser money and use it to mount Constantinople during the festival itself, perhaps to a larger audience. That's my baseless hope, anyway.

I'll drop them a line and see what I can find out.

-Ryan

ps- don't get me wrong; I love Beethoven. If I was going to be around to see the Gryphons and Nesrallah, I'd go. Being a knee-jerk supporter of creative concert music in Ottawa doesn't preclude the enjoyment of music by more established composers!

Some January events - UPDATED

Howdy, new music enthusiasts!

Well, the back half of December was unsettlingly traditional (attention fellow composers: we need to write some avant-garde xmas music!), but January has a few instances of new sounds for you.

Mike Essoudry kicks things off on the 10th with his jazz octet at the NAC's Fourth Stage. Yeah, it's not the sort of thing we usually plug on here, but with the amazing Petr Cancura on saxophone, we can be assured of things going in very exciting new directions. Also, the trumpet player is an old friend of mine, so, you know. It's $21 ($15 for students) and starts at 7pm.

Pianists Catherine Donkin & Amelie Langlois are putting on a recital of piano duets as part of the recital series at St. Luke's church. In addition to works by Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Brahms, they'll be performing the music of Derek Healy, who was, for a brief period during the 1970s, a Canadian composer. January 11th, St. Luke's Anglican Chuch (760 Somerset West), 7:30pm, admission by donation.

On January 16th, Ottawa's Thirteen Strings bring cellist Amanda Forsyth on board to play music by Joly Braga Santos and Dvarionas, among other Spanish composers. Tickets are $35 ($30 seniors, $10 students); the show starts at 8pm, at St. Andrew's Church (82 Kent st.).

Whose Solo is it Anyway? I'm not entirely sure what to expect from this show... but that fact alone convinced me to include it here. "Audience-directed musical improvisation... free jazz meets chamber music meets improv theatre". It could be a lot of fun. Nine musicians from the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra will be performing. 8pm on January 17th at the NAC Fourth Stage, $20.

Also on the 17th, Gatineau's Ensemble Prisme will put on a show called "Les Grands Quintettes", featuring quintet music by Hindemith, Hetu, Nielsen, and Beethoven (now that's the kind of balance I like to see). It's at 8pm, Salle Jean-Desprez (25 rue Laurier, Gatineau), and tickets are $22, $20 (seniors), and $10 (students). I'm really looking forward to this one - not only is there lots of music that's less than 100 years old, but I like the idea of a whole concert devoted to the genre of quintets. The Hindemith and Hetu are standard woodwind quintets, but the others are less usual combinations of instruments.

The Ottawa Chamber Music Society presents the Borodin Quartet, who'll be playing Beethoven, Borodin, and Shebalin on January 18th. It's at 3pm at Dominion-Chalmers United Church (355 Cooper St.). See the OCMS website for ticket info.

Capital Brassworks will be celebrating their tenth anniversary with a concert conducted by Alain Cazes. No official word on the repertoire, but between you and me, they'll be premiering something of mine; it definitely qualifies as 'new music' when the ink isn't quite dry! January 30th, 7:30pm, Centretown United Church (507 Bank street).

That's all for now - I'll do some more hunting and see what I can come up with. Aura Giles, if you're reading this, when does your concert series start?

-Ryan

Don't Panic!

No, this blog is not dead. There weren't many New Music events happening, and I guess I got fully into vacation mode.

There are some cool things coming up. I'm working on the calendar and a new post right now.

-Ryan