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By Tyler Versluis on January 30, 2015
In general, I find the best concert-going experiences are when not only the music is excellent but when the experience delivers a revelation. A presumptuous attitude, perhaps, but I feel this is what divides an entertaining experience from an artistic one...
(Continue reading)By Michael Vincent on January 30, 2015
A lot of people talk about how lucky we are to have a boutique orchestra devoted to the performance of contemporary work. And we are. The problem is, Esprit Orchestra only produces four concert per season and, by those numbers, there is a lot riding on every show...
(Continue reading)By Paul E. Robinson on January 29, 2015
Ukraine has often been in the news lately, and for all the wrong reasons. It is not easy sharing a border with Russia, especially after gaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Russia under Vladimir Putin resents Ukraine’s aspirations to move closer to the West and has acted militarily to crush them. First it was Crimea and now it is eastern Ukraine. NATO has been acting to support Ukraine but whether its efforts will be enough remains to be seen...
(Continue reading)By Jay Caron on January 28, 2015
I am always skeptical of what I would call “fusion” composition; I would briefly describe this as taking the harmonic language, rhythms, or instruments of some non-western culture, or the elements of a popular music genre, and unceremoniously shoving them into the context of western art music. This could perhaps be analogized as mixing water and oil; things that are, on their own, valuable, but which resist amalgamation. The result can often leave me wondering whether greater care could have been taken to present each separate element in its best light. It is a technique dangerously prone to superficiality...
(Continue reading)By Neil Crory on January 25, 2015
Contrary to popular belief, critics and reviewers do not - for the most part - enjoy writing negative commentary. I know that I don't. But what can be said about the Canadian Opera Company's new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts which opened on Saturday afternoon?
(Continue reading)By Michael Vincent on January 23, 2015
Over the last quarter-century, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra has enjoyed the kind of PR that other arts organizations can only dream of. But to compare it with other orchestras is unfair, or is it?
(Continue reading)By Menon Dwarka on January 23, 2015
The Afiara Quartet has one of those reputations that immediately make them suspect. There’s an almost universal stamp of approval for what they do, from festival, schools, and various other cultural institutions, that one might suspect them of being little more than masters of political machinations...
(Continue reading)By Colin Eatock on January 21, 2015
Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer is more than four decades older than the young Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov – but they saw eye-to-eye in their Thursday evening recital at Koerner Hall. The varied program started well, and only got better when the duo was joined by cellist Giedre Dirvanauskaite...
(Continue reading)By Michael Vincent on January 17, 2015
There may have been no birthday cake served for Mozart’s party on Thursday night, but patrons at Roy Thomson Hall were treated to fulsome cuisine, complete with one serenade, one piano concerto, one sonata and, for dessert (flambéed, of course), a symphony...
(Continue reading)By Paul E. Robinson on January 15, 2015
Most music-lovers and performers too take it for granted that they know pretty much what Brahms should sound like. No need for the historically informed folks to get involved. In fact, however, there are still issues to be considered and we do need to look at period performance practice. Neither of these new sets claims to be “historically informed” but one in particular – the Chailly with the Gewandhausorchestra – shows that a lot of thinking and research has gone into the preparation and rehearsal process...
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