{"id":41882,"date":"2017-01-20T19:01:39","date_gmt":"2017-01-21T00:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=41882"},"modified":"2017-01-23T10:50:56","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T15:50:56","slug":"canada-mosaic-alain-lefevre-tso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/01\/20\/canada-mosaic-alain-lefevre-tso\/","title":{"rendered":"CANADA MOSAIC | Alain Lef\u00e8vre On The Eve Of A Canadian Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Conversation with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra\u2019s Canada Mosaic Initiative, Part 1: Alain Lef\u00e8vre.<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Welcome to Part One of a special six-part miniseries on the TSO\u2019s Canada Mosaic led by writer and researcher Nicholas Godsoe.\u00a0<\/span>The idea is to examine and document this momentous initiative. Emphasis will\u00a0be placed on discussing how this national musical celebration is playing a unique role in reconnecting Canadians with both their music and their national identity.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span>When you do an interview, you don\u2019t need to make a revolution, but you need to be honest.\u201d This is what Alain Lef\u00e8vre said to me following our interview at Roy Thomson Hall.<\/p>\n

While he was careful to note that he does not support Donald Trump, Lef\u00e8vre cited a lack of honesty in politics to Trump\u2019s rise in the United States: \u201cPeople are fed up with the usual bullshit. You need to say things the way they are.\u201d And that he did. His commentary on the state of Canadian classical music was frank and revealing. Lef\u00e8vre did not hold back.<\/p>\n

Lef\u00e8vre \u2014 a world-renowned Canadian pianist who currently lives in Greece \u2014 is in Toronto to perform as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for the kickoff concert<\/a> of the Canada Mosaic initiative. Funded with a generous $7.5 million from the federal government, the Canada Mosaic project aims to be a \u201cnational celebration of Canadian music<\/a>.\u201d With the leadership of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, more than forty orchestras from coast to coast will collectively engage with Canadian music new and old on an unprecedented scale. The TSO will present a robust lineup of performances throughout 2017<\/a> that will diligently feature music from Canada\u2019s past and present. This initiative will recognize the country\u2019s leading composers and performers with a host of exciting commissions and collaborations.<\/p>\n

The concert this Saturday is titled \u201cCanadian Legacy<\/a>,\u201d and will primarily feature works by well-known Canadian composers from the twentieth century. But the centerpiece of the concert will be Alain Lef\u00e8vre\u2019s performance of Andr\u00e9 Mathieu\u2019s 1958 Rhapsodie Romantique <\/em>for piano and orchestra. <\/em>Lef\u00e8vre is no stranger to the music of Mathieu, a composer who is often regarded as a \u201cCanadian Mozart.\u201d In fact, Lef\u00e8vre and Mathieu have come to be understood as almost inseparable. Lef\u00e8vre played a key role in the rediscovery of Mathieu\u2019s long-lost Fourth Piano Concerto, and has taken it upon himself to popularize and defend Mathieu\u2019s music around the world.<\/p>\n

When I first asked Lef\u00e8vre how the rehearsals were going, he immediately expressed ambivalence about the situation. While he acknowledged that he was \u201cvery happy to play this great composer with the TSO,\u201d he was quick to point our that this would be Andr\u00e9 Mathieu\u2019s Toronto premiere.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo tell you the truth, it\u2019s surprising \u2026 I\u2019m moved, it\u2019s emotional for me. I\u2019ve been defending Mathieu for the past 35 years. Of course, there\u2019s a little part of myself that does not understand why I have to wait until 2017 to play Mathieu in Toronto. I\u2019m very moved, and at the same time, it\u2019s a strange feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lef\u00e8vre draws attention to an apparent lack of enthusiasm from Canadian orchestras and artists to outwardly advocate for Canadian composers, and Andr\u00e9 Mathieu\u2019s music in particular.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ashamed,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know that next week, the world premiere of [Mathieu\u2019s Fourth] Piano Concerto that I rediscovered \u2014 it took me 35 years \u2014 will be performed in Buffalo with an American orchestra, American conductor, and recorded in the States \u2026 Why didn\u2019t a Canadian orchestra say \u2018we have to do that, we\u2019re proud to be Canadian.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alain
Alain Lefe\u0300vre (Photo: Caroline Bergeron)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This all speaks to a key point that surfaced again and again throughout our discussion: for Lef\u00e8vre, defending Canadian music is an internalized responsibility. Lef\u00e8vre\u2019s commitment to promoting Canadian music is remarkable, but it also makes obvious some harsher truths:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe TSO\u2019s initiative to promote Canadian composers is a very important one because our history is so little. We don\u2019t have the backbone like the American people \u2026 They always try to put their music in the program. In Canada, there\u2019s a lot of work to do. Poor Canadian composers \u2026 I\u2019ve received between 200-250 demands from Canadian composers to be played. I cannot do all of them \u2026 but it means that very few of my colleagues defend Canadian music. How many of them do you see going outside the country and defending Canadian composers?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He goes on to describe the pressures of being a Canadian music activist in the international classical music network: \u201cI go to Carnegie Hall, and I have to defend my own career, and I have to defend a composer nobody knows. It is difficult.\u201d His Berlin debut, however, reveals that such activism can be worthwhile:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey were asking me to play Beethoven 5: I said no. Tchaikovsky 1: I said no \u2026 I said listen; I want to do the Mathieu \u2026 So I had to wait for two years. But the day I came to Berlin \u2026 and I saw \u2018Beethoven, Mathieu,\u2019 I was moved because that was the goal. So, of course, it\u2019s extraordinary to have musicians from Canada who make great careers. This is good; this is cool. But it is always good to see a Canadian artist who is able \u2014 or will have the balls \u2014 to defend Canadian composers. Because if us, Canadian artists, do not defend our own composers, who is going to?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To build on this, I asked Lef\u00e8vre if he thought the Canada Mosaic initiative has the potential to ignite new enthusiasm and support towards Canadian music:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a fantastic idea. I think it\u2019s very courageous\u00a0because as you know today it\u2019s much easier to sell Lady Gaga getting naked on stage \u2026 than classical music. The idea to sell Canadian music is even more incredible, more difficult, more challenging. We\u2019re not going to lie to ourselves when there is a contemporary piece that\u2019s played by a Canadian orchestra, we know that people try to know what time the piece will finish \u2026 this is very sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lef\u00e8vre believes Canadian music has come to be associated with complex and inaccessible styles. This is why he is so excited to perform Andr\u00e9 Mathieu\u2019s music in Toronto on Saturday evening. He thinks Mathieu\u2019s more approachable style will encourage audiences to be \u201cless frightened of Canadian music. Canadian music is not just the contemporary work \u2026 [Mathieu\u2019s music] is like an old friend \u2026 it\u2019s not challenging.\u201d Lef\u00e8vre continued:<\/p>\n

\u201cEach time I have to talk about Mathieu in Canada I have to \u2014 not to fight\u00a0because it’s not my temper \u2014 but I have to convince. Sometimes people give me strange answers, saying Mathieu is a passivist because in the 40s and 50s Mathieu was composing more like Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff. And I always say listen: I\u2019m not trying to say that Mathieu is the greatest composer of all time … I\u2019m just saying that for our story\u2014for Canada\u2014Mathieu is representing a link, a very important link.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the start of the Canada Mosaic initiative tomorrow evening, Canadian music \u2014 with all its beauty and all its baggage \u2014 will become a central means through which Canada\u2019s sesquicentennial is recognized. This is an exciting prospect; how will we look back on this year of music in 2067? How will this year shape the face of Canadian music as time pulls ahead?<\/p>\n

Perhaps this conversation with Alain Lef\u00e8vre, then, should serve as a reminder that while we may certainly enjoy this national musical celebration, we should also be critical and objective about Canada\u2019s musical past, present and future. This initiative will build Canadian music history just as much as it celebrates it. \u201cWe\u2019re young,\u201d Alain said at the end of our interview. \u201cWe have to start somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canada Mosiac: French Canadian pianist Alain Lef\u00e8vre talks about the state of Canadian classical music \u2013\u00a0the good and the bad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":41884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6439,8603,4967,60,63],"tags":[202,7377,3360],"yst_prominent_words":[8516,8514,8512,7070,8511,8510,7140,7778,8509,6715,7599,8520,8517,8515,8513,6616,8523,8521,6827,6825],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/01\/Alain-Lefe\u0300vre-AN2-9295-Photo-cover-ANALEKTA-hi-res.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-aTw","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41882"}],"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\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41882"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42039,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41882\/revisions\/42039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41882"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=41882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}