Tue 6 Dec 2011

Stile Antico: Not at all of the Phlegmish School

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I had another sickening love-in visit from yet another early music ensemble thanks to Early-Music Vancouver.

Stile Antico is a group of twelve singers who are actually thirteen singers from the UK who specialize in pre-Bach choral music. We’re told they’re supposed to be young and if you’re old, they probably are.

To the four or five of us in the audience tonight who didn’t qualify as the latter, all we needed to be told was to shut up, turn off our cell-phones (Which we did), and sit in rapt amazement at feat after feat of sensuous vocal athleticism. Granted, the choir is on an ambitious tour and still suffering from jet-lag so there was a little throatiness in the first half but it was the sort of thing that would only bother you if you’re the sort of person that lives to be bothered by such things and write about them in your pathetic blog that nobody reads anyway.

Who could be bothered by the fabulous Ashby sisters floating about the stage with narry a wobble or the magnificient sound of the fabulous Oliver “The-Bass-That-Could-Be-A-Bass-Section” Hunt? I should emphasize that they really did a good job in stacking the sopranos in their deck the way they did. If you want amazing blend in your treble voices, you’re going to have to breed them. Sorry.

You can make all sorts of seemingly rushed and ill-informed judgements about a choir by it’s unison and you’d be quite right to do so. Hearing eight or more people sing your line can be a bit of a head-game when you’re trying to be precise and it takes a good musician to be confident and sing without breaking ensemble: Was that a hair of a wobble? Was it me? Was it Jim? No wait… was it a wobble at all?

If you feel that singing early music exposes you, then singing a unison chant line to open a concert should make you feel like streaking to work is a modest alternative. ‘Twas a scrumptious blend, and a diction that didn’t make you feel like we were supposed to be eating the text instead of listening to it.

I’ll see them again.

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Sat 20 Aug 2011

SongDrama: Clara/Clara

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Listening to a Schumann song cycle can sometimes feel like you’re sitting down to see how many baked potatoes you can eat in one sitting. Most of us who’ve done so will tell you that there are only three good ones: The first two and the last one.

The first potato beckons seductively from it’s plate like a scoop of ice cream dropped onto the floor of a cafeteria filled with fat children. When you’ve finished suckling at every last crumb and every drop of buttery spittle, the surprise of a second potato delights you to no end. Amazing! A chance to relive the toe-curling bliss of what was once new. Except, it’s not new. By the time you get to the end of the second potato you’re feeling a little full. You’ve probably gurgled some variation of, “I couldn’t eat another bite.” or “Wait… is this whole fucking thing in German?”.

Not much happens after potato number two until you get to the last one. This is where it gets interesting. Some people feel a flush of relief at the end. Their tribulations are over and if there were any way they could loosen their belt any more they might sit up and take another bite. Another type of person might pause thoughtfully at the end to ponder what has just passed them by. The intensity of the act is gluttonous to the extreme but has the unintentional effect of exercising the glutton’s taste to a very high degree. The glutton might look back and realise that some of their potatoes they were going through the motions for were actually quite special and deserving of the attention they gave to the first two potatoes. They might decide to check them out again when they’re not so full. In short, they’re hungry again while still being full.

SongDrama productions now has three shows under it’s belt. They’ve been presenting songs from the classical canon using a novel format that does an enviable job of getting us away from the stiff presentation of most songbirding. Most classical voice recitals suffer from their own formality. Singers are propped up next to the piano like a stack of two by fours and expected to intimate in an environment far too sterile to even support life. SongDrama’s concept is to take these familiar songs from the repertoire and weave a story (As well as some tasteful sets and costuming) between them that not only serves to tie the evening together into a very pleasing whole, but gives the singer a set of tools to break out of the stiffness of the traditional format.

Clara/Clara is a story of the two sides of pianist/composer Clara Schumann’s personality. Her artistic side pines for her music making in direct conflict with her domestic side’s urge to be Robert Schumann’s wife. All the while, the pair of singers have the veiled form of Robert Schumann looming at the back of the stage. Singers Emily Forsyth and Debi Wong played these two sides of Clara Schumann while Damien Jinx provided a lush accompaniment as the shadow of Robert Schumann. I have to admit that I was worried when I heard that “singers” were going to be trying to pull off something that can typically give capital-T Thespians a run for their money. This sort of drama seems to magnify the prominence of the most subtle stagecraft. A look here, a bowed shoulder, or a well-timed delay are the most powerful tools in the arsenal. My relief was immense when, after the intermission, I really started to see two distinct Claras on the stage grappling with their conflict of wants.

If at this point you’re asking yourself, “Wait, how is this not Opera?”, then don’t worry. I’m still with you. The director and writer, Adrienne Paulson, agreed with me that most of the ways in which you might distinguish Opera from SongDrama’s Not-pera were pointlessly nit-picky. We did, however, manage to find one point at which we agreed the distinction was worth noting. Traditional Opera seems to be more a vehicle for voices. That is to say, you could really just slap any story on to a stage since the whole point of Opera is huge singing propped up on storytelling. SongDrama’s format is different in that even if the voices were weak, and in this production they were certainly anything but, the production would still work because we’re after the storytelling and not necessarily vocal pyrotechnics.

Great concert. Where the hell were you?

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Thu 11 Aug 2011

Purcell’s King Arthur – Vancouver Early Music

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Let me preface this post by saying that I think I’m in love with early music people. I love their weird instruments, I love that an integral aspect of being an early music nerd is being a bigger nerd than the person next to you, I love their anal-retentive adherence to a modestly documented performance practice, I love that when you corner them on this they throw their hands up in a, “Well, what can you do?” sort of gesture and redirect the conversation towards the yet more obscure, and I especially love their sense of play.

I’m starting to think that this sense of play comes from how early music seems to demand an alchemical discipline rather than a chemical one. The documentation we have from this period is from scholars who existed before a formalized scientific method so many aspects of early music end up reeking of more myth than science. Scholars just hadn’t yet been gifted the rigorous documentation skills that led to mankind’s ability to build science on the shoulders of those who had come before which leaves a lot of room for questions surrounding exactly how it was done. Moreover, if you’re being completely honest you’ll have to admit that it’s pretty much impossible to document performance practice with 100% accuracy. Don’t believe me? Talk to a jazz musician about the concept of “swing”.

Early Music Vancouver mounted a semi-demi-staged version of Purcell’s King Arthur last night at the Chan that they playfully dubbed “A Restoration Spectacular”. Alex Weimann led the charge and was backed by Early Music Vancouver’s Festival Orchestra and Chorus. There was plenty of solo material to distribute amongst the chorus-members and they all seemed to relish the chance to attack this score. It was unfortunate that counter-tenor Matthew-White was, as the program put it, “indisposed” but American mezzo Meg Bragle did an admirable job as a sub. Perhaps the only place we truly missed him was the trio, “For Folded Flocks, on Fruitful Plains” for bass, tenor and counter-tenor. It just would have been nice to hear such an unusual trio of voices sing given the evening’s high standard of performance.

The first rule about Purcell’s King Arthur is that you have to talk about the Cold Genius scene if you talk about Purcell’s King Arthur. The titular aria from this scene has been popularized by a diverse cast of music makers (Probably most diverse of all would be Klaus Nomi) who are probably drawn to the gorgeous and surprising turns of harmony as much as (And this is typical of Purcell) the vivid picture it paints of a slumbering frozen giant waking from a deep slumber. Scholars disagree on exactly what Purcell was trying to indicate in his score but their seems to be some consensus that the singer is supposed to sing the line with some kind of tremolo in order to give the impression of chattering teeth. The notation used in the score isn’t standard by common-practice standards and this is reflected in the variety of approaches singers bring to the piece. Observe:

Our beloved Klaus Nomi:

…and different but equally unusual:

Overall the evening was full of that geeky sense of play that is unique to early music folks. I caught an especially sly glance between Weimann and archlutist Sylvain Bergeron as Weimann teetered on the edge of pulling a Jerry Lee Lewis at his harpsichord during the Chaconne at the end of the night. Although I’m sure that he’s such a nerd that he knew that by not kicking his bench out into the audience he was failing to adhere to standardized performance practice.

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Tue 28 Sep 2010

Forehead Forum 2010 and lots of but(t)s…

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I debated with myself for exactly one second about whether or not I would mention the extreme amount of dead air this blog has been piping out for the past few months.  First instincts were against it, as mentioning dead air has all the usefulness of telling someone who chortles quietly to themselves to pipe the fuck down with the assistance of a megaphone. But then where to send the unwashed masses who clamor for such vocubularic gems as, “wailing major seventh pinch”, “out of the piano like a bad smell”, or “duck fat enema”? Upon whose robust stoop would they lay down their offerings, only to scamper away to a safe distance lest they be smotten by linguistic acrobatics?

Moving on.

You may or may not know that the composer, John Estacio is set to have his new opera, “Lillian Alling” premiered next month. He gave a brief talk in the UBC recital hall on monday, with Stephen Chatman dutifully playing a tempered James Lipton to Estacio’s Keanu Reeves, where he spoke briefly about his writing process and his career path. The later was the most interesting to me and as the majority of seats in the room were occupied by fellow baby-faced composers, I don’t think I was the only one.

A not-so-brief word about that….

Estacio does not have a normal career. Fresh out of school (Okay, 3-4-5 years out) he manages to get picked up as the composer in residence for the Edmonton Symphony for a 10 week stint which eventually becomes 8 years. I’m going to re-iterate that for those of us who go to great pains and financial expense to have an orchestral piece read through: 8 years of having all his orchestral music played. Scratch that, I’m still not doing it justice. 8 years of having his orchestral music REHEARSED AND PERFORMED. I bet you could literally make grad students bare-knuckle box in a pit filled with human excrement for an opportunity like that.

This is really nitpicky but I feel like I have to play devil’s advocate for just a second here, if only to distract the reader from the depths of absurdity I’m willing to go to for a laugh. This will paint me slight shade of pessimistic but my stomach turned a little at the thought of Estacio being held up as the model. Don’t get me wrong, I love that he’s been able to do what he does. I also love that it’s him that has been able to do it. He seems like a genuinely nice guy without a huge ego that can follow a lot of successful artists around like a bad smell. It’s just that to have someone who has taken this completely unrealistic career path come to an institution that can be quite fairly accused of glossing over certain details in managing a career in the arts and not have the conversation qualified with a big BUT struck me me as a bit… hmmm… icky.

BUT…BUTT

Where ELSE is Estacio going to go and give a talk? It’s not like he can fill a stadium with people awestruck by the light glancing off his majestic forehead. He may as well speak at the institution in town that caters the most (And most enthusiastically) to his craft!


Subtle butt.....(Ahem…. the CMC anyone?).

In the end, some questions were asked that nobody really listened too or thought much about and we saw and heard an excerpt from his first opera, “Filumena” which looks and sounds stupendous. I must have the DVD.

Fun stuff:

Fulton’s “Revolutions” is getting performed on friday by the Cantata Singers and Turning Point and I’m driving myself insane choosing between that and a musica intima concert where they’re performing one of my favorite pieces by one of my favorite composers.

…and that’s the kickoff.

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Sun 4 Jul 2010

Something You Do With Your Ears

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I’ve wanted to write something about this piece for a while now: Concubia Nocte by Jacopo Baboni-Schilingi.

I first heard it on the CBC as I was going to bed.  I had just finished my nightly rituals and was setting my alarm, clicking it past the radio option to the alarm-radio option, and happened to end up on the CBC feed which was broadcasting their contractually-obligated-fifteen-minutes-of-written-down-music-by-people-who-aren’t-dead commonly referred to as, The Signal. I heard enough of the preamble to pick out that the title of the piece was Concubia Nocte and that it was for live electronics and a solo singer.  The singer in this case was Rosemarie van der Hooft who trained in early music but has been blazing a trail into the bowels of contemporary music.  Her voice was a big reason that the piece worked for me.  I know the opera camp will start lecturing me on how this particular style of singing is a minefield of tension and a regular rest stop on the highway to vocal oblivion but I.  Just.  Love.  It.  I realize the idea is that the freely vibrating voice commonly associated with opera is vibrating because it has less tension.  But that doesn’t mean it’s my ideal quality.  I love the sound of pure pitch with nothing but the most hesitant exit chuckle of a vibrato to sweeten the tone.  It’s almost an aroma.  Pure sex for the nostrils.  Except for your ears.

So, to digress, I was big into the voice but the piece itself is the real star.  It clocks in at a flippant radio-defying 20 minutes and is dedicated to the late Luciano Berio.  An approximate translation of the title seems to be something along the lines of, “The First Sleep Of Night”.  The piece is full of wide textures punctured by prickling sub-surface effects that evoke the huge depths hinted at in the title with breathtaking effectiveness.  Without a score in hand, I’m unable to post excerpts.  One of the gnarliest effects was having a section featuring a series of rapid lines sung by the soloist looped in order to build a sort of vapor of sound.  When the consonants pop out of the cloud, the tandem effect is that of a dark cloud crackling with energy.

I suppose the most extra-musical aspect of the piece that excited me (And the increasing frequency at which this comes up makes me think I’m at the cusp of learning something important about myself, life, an everything else) was the economy of it.  We have a huge piece of music (20 minutes of huge to be precise) that is about a huge theme that we all have in common (It doesn’t get much more penultimate than death now does it?) set for the most modest of resources (Some lady with a laptop computer).  Now compare that with THIS. It’s practically from another planet.

I’ve uploaded an mp3 I ripped from the podcast.  Enjoy!

Concubia Nocte, by Jacopo Baboni-Schilingi

Recording posted with permission of the composer.

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Mon 28 Jun 2010

Cosmophony

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Rachel Iwaasa performed her Cosmophony set for us at the Western Front last night.  The set is compromised of a set of pieces composed by local composers using the planets of the solar system as subject matter centered around George Crumb’s Makrokosmos.  To aid in the narrative, an image of each stellar artifact was modestly animated and projected on to a screen on the stage.

This was ambitious pianism.  Even the more spartanly textured pieces (Marci Rabe’s Venus comes immediately to mind) had the challenge of painting a fragile pianissimo for an audience attentive enough for a marimba made of sewing needles.  A non-musician audience member (How many of THOSE do you find at a new music concert these days?) remarked to me at intermission on the feat of memory we witnessed.  There was a lot of music, for sure.  You could argue that one of the dangers with a long set of music in this idiom would be a strain on the audience’s attention span but I never felt like there was too much being asked of the listener.  Variety was an ally here.

What little music of Crumb’s I’ve heard brings to mind episodes of tripping mystics going out into the desert do dose mescaline and other recreational chemical condiments.  There’s an earthiness to his music that seems in conflict with the sound world his music inhabits.  Harmonies crash in a manner with a freedom that brings to mind academia.  Not mysticism.  Gabbing with people at half-time made me realize this sentiment wasn’t unique to me.

The most powerful moment for me was the final movement of the Crumb and it involved the screen at the back of the stage upon-which narrative-aiding images were broadcast throughout the evening.  The practical application was to guide us through the first half of the set.  Between each piece, the composer’s name and the title would be shown, followed by a modest animation of the piece’s subject matter.  Text was done away with in Makrokosmos and I quickly tuned out the screen and focused on the music.  I had essentially forgotten the projections were even happening until the final movement.  During the Agnus Dei, an image of the Earth was projected.  This might seem like a cheeky bookend to a concert about the cosmos but it takes on a more lugubrious vibe if you know the translation of the text (Intoned for us in drones and whispers):

Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

Agnus Dei

One couldn’t help but invoke the pummeling we’ve been delivering to our little planet for the past umpteen generations.  It’s probably unnecessary to throw a spotlight on specifics, but I couldn’t help but feel I was witnessing a very public display of the very narrative that has been going on inside my head for the past few years.  There was an undeniable aroma of a very real and frightening desperation about it.

Good concert.  Where the hell were you?

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Sun 20 Jun 2010

Duck Fat Enema

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The worst food I’ve ever eaten wasn’t something that tasted bad.  It smelled good, it looked good, and most importantly: I could make it FAST and CHEAP.  Little did I know that I hadn’t anything similar to an accurate representation of ‘good‘ in mind when I was doling out adjectives.  At the time, the important thing was to satisfy a student-sized appetite as quickly as possible so that I could get back to work.  I also hungered for that feeling of fullness and contentment that comes with an epic spread.   The only way to accomplish this on a student’s budget is to lower the quality towards forced-gag-reflex-inducing levels  until you’re out of the red.

By contrast, the best food I’ve ever eaten was probably something I ate only once.  I still had the feeling of fullness but I didn’t hunger for that feeling as much as I hungered for the hunger itself: Hungering for hunger.  I’ll probably get into THAT concept another time.  Once I had that bar set for me and I realized how deep the rabbit hole went it gave me some perspective and I started making little changes to the worst food I’ve ever eaten.  Before long the worst food I’d ever eaten became the most non-descript food I’d ever eaten with all the unlimited potential of creativity splashed on the table around it like so many dollops of no-name tomato sauce.

If you’re now wondering what a music blog is doing talking about food, then you’re doing it wrong.

For some perspective, take this fantastic performance of the final movement of Arvo Part’s Berlin Mass.

Like a duck fat enema, it’s rich and filling.

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Mon 19 Apr 2010

Sonic Boom 2010

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I was very fortunate to have the Nu:BC ensemble perform a piece of mine at Sonic Boom this year.  It’s an extended piece scored for flute, clarinet, cello, and piano called ‘A Perfect Focus’. I’m not really interested in going into a huge diatribe on what the piece is about and why it’s about anything but a serviceable blog topic can be whipped up to shine a light on one of my favorite spots.

The section immediately after the opening is an extended fog for the piano with the clarinet droning notes that sound something like a walk near the water at night.

The section ends on a long winding arpeggio that reaches up to a pregnant tremor on F# and A.  The cello ends up sounding all the more fragile and delicate next to such a brittle sound.  After a playful lilt, a strange atonal chord falls out of the piano like a bad smell and the cello is left alone to set up the build to the extended violence that compromises the middle of the piece.  Click the graphic to hear the excerpt:

Also worth noting is the fact that the Georgia Straight’s review of the concert does not mention me, my piece, or my excellent taste in news publications.

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Wed 31 Mar 2010

CITR and a cure for a disease of your choice if we have time…

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As much as I hate hearing the sound of my own voice on a recording (still?), I feel like I should post it here because it features both some of my dots and a polite conversation with minimal swearing in which the finer points of dot-making are discussed.

Simply follow  this feed to hear me ramble on about everything from applause at concerts to alternate names for favorite 80s hair metal bands.

Sadly there will not be enough time for our secondary topic due to our feature presentation.

Shuffle out quietly.

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Sun 28 Mar 2010

Im Wunderschönen Monat April

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Here we are once again preparing for spring concerts.  Often at this time of year I’m in a state of near-hysterics as I furiously  revise and mail, mail and revise, revise and mail and re-revise before re-mailing.  This year is different somehow.  When I go to clutch my skull in frustration I find that not only am I lacking in frustration but I no longer have large clumps of hair suspiciously similar to my own in my hands.  It’s good.

Let’s break it down.

I’ll be doing an interview/roundtable discussion tomorrow on CITR‘s radio show “The Rib” at 4pm.

Friday the 9th will find me/us hearing the Nu:BC ensemble perform a revised version of “A Perfect Focus” for cello/clarinet/piano/flute.

Saturday the 10th is Savage Parade, a recital put together by SongDrama.

On Sunday the 11th, Paolo Bartolussi and Rachel Iwaasa are workshopping BlisterCuffs which I clamored about in a previous blog entry.

Last but certainly not least is a performance on May 2nd of A Cruel Circumstance by a collective of Eva’s devising.

….and then in May I leave for Hungary to sun myself in a cafe in Budapest.

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