{"id":38999,"date":"2016-10-06T14:01:22","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T18:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=38999"},"modified":"2016-10-06T14:01:22","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T18:01:22","slug":"scrutiny-westwood-concerts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/10\/06\/scrutiny-westwood-concerts\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Strings, Flute, Clarinet And Harp Combine In A Perfect Musical Recipe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Westwood
Westwood Concerts (Photo: Robin Roger)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Westwood Concerts<\/a><\/span> with Burning Bridge String Quartet, Sharlene Wallace, Kenneth Hall and Michael Westwood at Gallery 345, Oct. 5.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you buy a baking or cooking ingredient such as flour, chocolate or even a vegetable, it will often come with a recipe attached or a link to a website with recipes. These recipes are usually quite dependable because the vendor wants you to enjoy the ingredient and return to purchase more.\u00a0 It\u2019s a clever merchandising technique that has resulted in the wide distribution of such recipe classics as Toll House Cookies (by Nestle, whose produce is the chocolate chips).<\/p>\n

Instrument companies have exploited the same device, with equally delicious results.\u00a0 In 1905 the Erard company commissioned Maurice Ravel to compose a piece that would showcase their newfangled double-action pedal harp \u2014 an alternative to the cross-strung harp.\u00a0 Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet, which premiered in Paris in 1907 was the result.\u00a0 If that performance matched the presentation at Gallery 345 on Wednesday evening, sales for the Erard harp should have skyrocketed.<\/p>\n

Just as Nestle combines the chocolate chips they are promoting with a blend of other enhancing ingredients, Ravel wisely surrounded the harp with a medley of luxurious sounds that allowed the harp to show off its expressive range, from mystical to mysterious to celestial to piquant to serene to haunting.\u00a0 In this respect, it is not exactly a mini-concerto for harp with accompanying instruments, but an ensemble piece, until the culminating cadenza, which is riveting.<\/p>\n

Although the piece is called an introduction<\/em>,\u00a0 at this concert it was performed as the last number, by which time we were well acquainted with the superlative skills of harpist Sharlene Wallace who had already indulged us with a rich medley of 20th-century, contemporary and traditional compositions for solo harp as well duets for harp and flute and harp and clarinet. \u00a0This included the world premiere of Fantasy for Clarinet and Harp<\/em>, by Colin Eatock who was in attendance.\u00a0 His preliminary comments about the challenge of writing for an instrument that is played with the hands and <\/em>the feet, which operate seven pedals,<\/em> increased my appreciation of his work and the performer\u2019s virtuosity enormously. Two compositions by Wallace gave the harp\u2019s voice a mellow tenderness as well as a jazzy resilience.\u00a0 She also performed on both a pedal harp and a Celtic harp, which has a set of levers instead of pedals, treating us to a greater range of the instrument\u2019s colours.<\/p>\n

At an intimate venue such as Gallery 345, which is in a converted loft, the audience sits on the same plane as the performers \u2014 a pleasant change from looking up at them.\u00a0 The visual aspect of an instrumental performance may be secondary to the sound but just as the dancer cannot be separated from the dance, the physical, choreographic artistry of the musicians is a significant component of the sounds they produce. This is especially true of the harpist, who is usually not as visible as Wallace was.\u00a0 The harpist\u2019s posture, leaning forward with arms extended on both sides of the strings, face to one side,\u00a0 hands stroking and fingers plucking, creates the sense that the harp is being held in a loving embrace.\u00a0 Wallace also bobbed her head in rhythm with her playing at times, creating the illusion that she and the harp were partners agreeing with each other in mutual dialogue.<\/p>\n

The evening was a star turn for the harp, but the rest of the ensemble held its own.\u00a0 The Burning Bridge String Quartet opened the program with one of Brahms\u2019 three quartets, Opus 51<\/em>\u00a0No. 2<\/em>\u00a0in A-minor, a demanding half-hour piece with a great many qualifications from the composer, who wanted the movements to be \u201cnon-troppo\u201d or \u201cquasi\u201d or \u201cmoderato\u201d or \u201cnon assai\u201d.\u00a0 They were more than equal to these nuances, and especially in the finale, \u201cAllegro non assai\u201d demonstrated why they call themselves burning<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Like the small but essential amount of baking soda in the Toll House cookies, Michael Westwood on clarinet and Kenneth Hall on flute added the lifting sounds that elevated their pieces. \u00a0The expression \u201cI\u2019ve got it in my pocket\u201d, meaning that something is under control, or fully mastered, took on new meaning when Hall pulled his fife out of his pants pocket, after playing on the modern flute.<\/p>\n

Westwood Concerts has three more concerts in their 2016\u201317 season that showcase an intriguing collection of musicians from home and abroad, who have studied at the finest schools with legendary teachers, as well as a stimulating combination of original compositions and beloved classics.\u00a0 Hearing these works in a relaxed venue, for an affordable price, is an opportunity that music lovers in Toronto are lucky to have.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and review\u00a0before anyone else finds out? Get our exclusive newsletter\u00a0<\/em>here<\/a><\/em><\/span>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0<\/em>Facebook<\/a><\/span> for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With all the ingredients in place, Westwood Concerts cooks up a musical feast at Gallery 345.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":39002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5723,76,19,52],"tags":[6414,6416,6417,6415,5471],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/10\/westwood_concerts-Oct_5-2016.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-a91","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38999"}],"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\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38999"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39006,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38999\/revisions\/39006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38999"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=38999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}