{"id":45985,"date":"2017-06-12T14:41:17","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T18:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=45985"},"modified":"2017-06-12T14:57:20","modified_gmt":"2017-06-12T18:57:20","slug":"scrutiny-blythwood-winds-shows-off-five-female-composers-on-the-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/06\/12\/scrutiny-blythwood-winds-shows-off-five-female-composers-on-the-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Blythwood Winds Shows Off Five Female Composers On The Rise"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Blythwood
Blythwood Winds (Photo courtesy Blythwood Winds)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blythwood Winds at\u00a0Heliconian Hall. June 10.<\/h3>\n

It is no secret there is a crisis surrounding gender balance in classical music composition.\u00a0But in Toronto\u2019s Heliconian Hall Saturday night, the scales were tipped, at least temporarily.<\/p>\n

Blythwood Winds, a woodwind quintet founded in 2010 by five Toronto-based wind players, presented a concert of all Canadian female composers entitled \u201cVoices of Canadian Women.\u201d\u00a0 The program included works by Abigail Richardson-Schulte, Ana Sokolovi\u0107, Anna H\u00f6stman, Norma Beecroft, Elizabeth Raum, Linda Caitlin Smith and Bekah Simms.<\/p>\n

The five composers featured varied in levels of age and experience, yet each composition displayed a unique and vital compositional voice, brought to life through the vibrant playing of the Blythwood Winds.<\/p>\n

Pieces ranged in levels of tonality and use of extended techniques, beginning with Elizabeth Raum\u2019s \u201cKing Lear Fantasy.\u201d Originally composed for a production of King Lear<\/em>, Raum\u2019s piece featured a playful dialogue between instruments as well as a distinctly medieval flare, transporting the listener into the Shakespearean age.<\/p>\n

Following Elizabeth Raum\u2019s piece, Anna H\u00f6stman brought the audience to a more meditative landscape with \u201cfloat,\u201d a piece based on Fran\u00e7ois Couperin\u2019s Les barricades myst\u00e9rieuses. <\/em>Pianist Cheryl Duvall joined the ensemble onstage as the woodwind quintet encircled the audience, playing clumsy, dissonant interjections through Duvall\u2019s French-flavoured wash of colour and tonality.<\/p>\n

Abigail Richardson-Schulte, who has served as composer-in-residence for the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra since 2012, next presented her first ever professional composition, \u201cemerge.\u201d Originally composed for the Festival of the Sound in Parrysound, Richardson-Schulte admitted to the audience she had been commissioned to compose based on a painting she \u201cwouldn\u2019t have chosen for herself.\u201d Her composition played vibrantly by the Blythwood Winds, features distinctly narrative qualities and a true Canadian feel. It\u2019s not hard so see why Richardson-Schulte has enjoyed so much success in Ontario and abroad.<\/p>\n

The next piece we heard was by Norma Beecroft, a pioneer in Canadian composition in the 1960\u2019s and 70s, particularly in the realm of electronics. She remarked in the program notes that her piece, \u201cImages,\u201d found inspiration in the music of Debussy. Beecroft\u2019s \u201cImages\u201d felt much more bombastic and less meditative than Debussy\u2019s Images<\/em>, though the fragmentary qualities and ambiguous tonality of her work could be considered a nod to French music. Tim Crouch\u2019s lovely flute solo loosely evoked Debussy\u2019s Pr\u00e9lude<\/em> \u00e0 l’apr\u00e8s-midi d’un faune.<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the most exciting works of the night came from emerging composer Bekah Simms in \u201cThe Formula.\u201d Commissioned by Blythwood Winds in 2016 as part of a series inspired by Toronto\u2019s graffiti art, Simms describes in the program that her piece depicts an anti-capitalist mural by Joel Richardson which was \u201cunceremoniously buffed\u201d by the City of Toronto. Simms\u2019 musical depiction brimmed with frenetic energy. Musical lines were punctuated by sharp, angular rhythms while tonality and melody emerged for fleeting moments out of a fog of extended techniques. Even when writing for an ensemble as classic as a woodwind quintet, Simms\u2019 music felt distinctly of our time.<\/p>\n

After Simms\u2019 piece we heard another meditative, still work by Linda Caitlin Smith, whose works have been recorded by ensembles including Tafelmusik, Tapestry Opera, and the Penderecki and Bozzini string quartets. Her piece\u2019s effect on its audience was penetrable, as the air in the hall fell still and tranquil.<\/p>\n

Finally, we heard Sokolovi\u0107\u2019s Chansons <\/em>\u00e0<\/em> boire<\/em>, a set of drinking songs for woodwind quintet.<\/p>\n

Sokolovi\u0107 has gained much acclaim for her vocal works, and the Canadian Opera Company recently announced a commission of Sokolovi\u0107 for a mainstage work to premiere in the 2019\/2020 season. Sokolovi\u0107\u2019s story-telling abilities came through in these six, short songs, filled with frenetic energy and evocations of debauchery. The piece\u2019s melodies emerged in and out of Sokolovi\u0107\u2019s subtle usages of extended techniques and hiccup motives.<\/p>\n

The concert presented by Blythwood Winds on Saturday night certainly demonstrated the wealth of riches Canada possesses in the way of female composers. Now it\u2019s up to us to hold our arts organisations accountable and make sure we hear more and more of them.<\/p>\n

For more REVIEWS, click HERE<\/u><\/a><\/span>.<\/h3>\n

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

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