{"id":10880,"date":"2013-03-24T06:27:35","date_gmt":"2013-03-24T11:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=10880"},"modified":"2013-03-24T06:27:35","modified_gmt":"2013-03-24T11:27:35","slug":"concert-review-montreals-ensemble-paramirabo-liven-heliconian-hall-with-sounds-of-toy-piano-composers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2013\/03\/24\/concert-review-montreals-ensemble-paramirabo-liven-heliconian-hall-with-sounds-of-toy-piano-composers\/","title":{"rendered":"Concert review: Montreal’s Ensemble Paramirabo liven Heliconian Hall with sounds of Toy Piano Composers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ensemble<\/a>
Ensemble Paramirabo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saturday\u2019s \u201cThreshold\/Le seuil\u201d concert at the Heliconian Hall was a match made in heaven between Toronto\u2019s emerging Toy Piano Composers collective and the Montreal-based Ensemble Paramirabo, both committed to new music by Canadian composers.<\/p>\n

The idea for Ensemble Paramirabo to take the works by Toy Piano Composers on tour after a February residency in Banff came from a conversation between Paramirabo artistic director Jeffrey Stonehouse and Toy Piano Composer Chris Thornborrow after the latter\u2019s doctoral recital at the University of Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cThreshold\/Le Seuil\u201d \u2014 featuring Genevi\u00e8ve Liboiron on violin, Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde on cello, Gabrielle Gingras on toy piano, Fran\u00e7ois Gagn\u00e9 on clarinet and Stonehouse on flute \u2014 had already been heard in Banff, Regina and Hamilton before Saturday night\u2019s Toronto concert.<\/p>\n

Ensemble Paramirabo also prepared another programme entitled \u201cFolklore, Myth and legend,\u201d which went to Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina before being heard in Toronto this past Wednesday at Gallery 345.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s concert included a chamber-ensemble arrangement by TSO affiliate composer Kevin Lau<\/a>\u00a0 of Igor Stravinsky\u2019s Rite of Spring<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Such an intensive and elaborate tour is impressive considering Ensemble Paramirabo is only in its second season, and it speaks to the abilities of each performer both on and off the stage.<\/p>\n

Much of the music by the Toy Piano Composers in Saturday\u2019s programme spoke for itself, thanks to Ensemble Paramirabo\u2019s engaged and committed performances. Even without the TPC\u2019s lively spoken introductions, much of what the pieces intended to convey came through clearly.<\/p>\n

Correia\u2019s film score-like Phases<\/i> opened the programme. It is a flowing, meditative piece filled with deceptively simple musical lines that aptly conjured images of people moving through phases of their lives.<\/p>\n

Ryan\u2019s Portal<\/i> featured duets between violin and viola as well as clarinet and flute. It highlighted each of Ensemble Paramirabo\u2019s individual players while also showing off how they play together as one.<\/p>\n

Pearce\u2019s Connotations<\/i> established a musical idea, then expressed contrasting shifts on it. Tam\u2019s Envoi<\/i> used the performers\u2019 physical movements to create a Zen-like musical experience.<\/p>\n

Denberg\u2019s energetic Rondo<\/i> was the most abstract with almost jarring contrasting materials. Thornborrow\u2019s \u00a0This Changing View<\/i> depicted the passage of time by contrasting rapid urban development against a relatively static natural landscape, but the piece begged for more of the urban sonic cues.<\/p>\n

Each piece showed a different approach to incorporating the sonority and texture of the toy piano in a chamber ensemble. Having been to a few Toy Piano Composers concerts, it is fascinating to hear how the music of each composer has matured and what threads carry through each new work.<\/p>\n

Hearing Ensemble Paramirabo for the first time, their level of musicianship is top notch, but what makes them special is a devotion and commitment to new works, which they clearly love.<\/p>\n

\u201cThreshold\/Le seuil\u201d marked the end of Toy Piano Composers\u2019 fourth concert season, and the last stop of Ensemble Paramirabo\u2019s Canadian tour before a return home for a final concert in Montreal on Monday.<\/p>\n

Both groups have embarked on a path of cultivating a vibrant space for Canadian composers and engaging contemporary audiences. Let\u2019s keep our eyes peeled for more of these collaborations that serve to further music as a living and relevant art.<\/p>\n

Margaret Lam
\n<\/em>You can find out more about Margaret Lam at margism.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday\u2019s \u201cThreshold\/Le seuil\u201d concert at the Heliconian Hall was a match made in heaven between Toronto\u2019s emerging Toy Piano Composers collective and the Montreal-based Ensemble Paramirabo, both committed to new music by Canadian composers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,10,19,36,38,52,63,1],"tags":[6451,857,1166,1544,2079,6471,3370],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/03\/paramirabo.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-2Pu","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10880"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=10880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}