{"id":49289,"date":"2017-11-21T18:19:27","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T23:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=49289"},"modified":"2017-11-21T18:22:26","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T23:22:26","slug":"record-keeping-jordan-pal-reckons-with-rapture-on-into-the-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/11\/21\/record-keeping-jordan-pal-reckons-with-rapture-on-into-the-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"RECORD KEEPING | Jordan Pal Reckons With Rapture On “Into The Wonder”"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Canada\u2019s most interesting young composers, Jordan Pal’s first record is an expansive personal awakening.<\/h3>\n
\"Jordan
Jordan Pal: Starling: Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano and Orchestra*. Into the Wonder. Gryphon Trio*. Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra\/Arthur Post. Analekta AN2 9521. Total Time: 60:19.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those of us who live in Toronto, with its remarkable range of classical music offerings, often forget that beyond the borders of our fair city there is a lot going on, about which we know far too little, this new CD from the enterprising Quebec label Analekta being a case in point. I wonder how many Toronto music-lovers were even aware that Thunder Bay had a professional orchestra. Here it is, with world premiere recordings of two major works it commisioned from one of Canada\u2019s most interesting young composers.<\/p>\n

Jordan Pal writes colourful, tuneful and invariably entertaining tonal music that is immediately accessible to a general audience. Pal studied with composer Gary Kulesha, earned his doctorate from the University of Toronto, and is currently the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Affiliate Composer with the Toronto Symphony (TSO), which recently took his composition Iris <\/em>on tour to Israel.<\/p>\n

It is not easy for a composer to write about his own music; after all, had he wanted to express himself in words, he would have done so. Instead, he said what he wanted to say in music. Such is the case here. Pal\u2019s notes about the two works on this recording tend toward the hyperbolically metaphorical and opaque. About Starling, <\/em>he writes that his hope is \u201cto inspire a greater appreciation of our environment\u201d and that \u201cmusic is possibly the only human endeavor that has the potential to match nature\u2019s evanescent splendor.\u201d Although these are grand themes and Pal is certainly entitled to promote them, such comments really shed very little light on his music. That said, in giving the title, \u201cAwakening of happy feelings on arriving in the country,\u201d to the first movement of his 6th<\/span> symphony, Beethoven didn\u2019t tell us much about his music either. Ultimately, music is music and mostly speaks for itself.<\/p>\n