Ute Lemper’s musical retrospective with the FILMharmonic Orchestra
by Elena Mandolini
It had been a long time since Ute Lemper had performed in Montreal. The musical legend treated an appreciative Maison Symphonique to a lengthy program retracing the highlights of a career spanning several decades. She was accompanied by the FILMharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Francis Choinière.
The program was original, featuring well-known works interpreted in a refreshingly refined manner. We admired the power and warmth of Ute Lemper’s voice and her stage presence. She’s full of energy, dancing upstage and demonstrating her acting skills. All eyes are on her. It’s clear that the works she presents are significant, not only historically, but also personally. In the first part, she intersperses each song with context and stories about her life.
We laugh a lot, we cry sometimes, and we’re touched in many ways. We also realize that nothing changes, and that history is doomed to repeat itself, again and again. Indeed, Ute Lemper doesn’t shy away from commenting on current political events: allusions to current wars, women’s rights and widespread political disillusionment. Lemper doesn’t hold back, but you can’t blame her, given that most of the works in her repertoire were written with the same sentiments, even 100 years earlier. She even changes some of the lyrics to suit current events. The effect is both funny and troubling.
What’s striking about FILMharmonique is their ability to adapt. After all, at film concerts, the music is set to the beat, of course. That said, the FILMharmonique’s role here was purely that of accompanist, having to adapt to the liberties taken by Lemper and his vocal improvisations. And the orchestra once again demonstrated its excellence. Francis Choinière directed the musicians while being completely in tune with the soloist. Every time, the synchronization was perfect, with everyone on stage breathing at Ute Lemper’s pace. Towards the end of the concert, the singer herself conducts the orchestra, in a way, asking certain musicians to improvise.
Throughout the evening, the orchestra performed several arrangements for solo orchestra of well-known music-hall songs. Here, the FILMharmonic took center stage, without compromise, once again demonstrating its superb versatility. The few feedback problems at the start of the concert were quickly resolved, allowing us to fully appreciate the very long concert (perhaps too long, lasting almost 2.5 hours). What’s certain is that the audience was delighted.
To find out about upcoming FILMharmonic concerts, click HERE!
Opéra McGill | The Magical World of Cinderella on Stage
by Elena Mandolini
Every year, students at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music stage an opera. This year, it was Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon, which the entire cast carried off with brio, delivering a high-calibre performance. The evening was filled with magic, humour and sumptuous music. A resounding success!
In an interview with PAN M 360 earlier this week, Stephen Hargreaves (artistic and musical director) and David Lefkowich (guest stage director) confided that Massenet’s score contained passages that would give even professional companies a hard time. As a member of the audience, we recognize that some passages are difficult, both for the orchestra and the singers. But the performers give the impression that these passages are actually very easy. Even the fastest, most virtuosic passages are performed with solidity and confidence.
There’s no denying the exceptional quality of Opera McGill’s cast (impressive in number, especially as two casts share the three performances). From the very first bars, the orchestra asserts itself and delivers a performance of consistent quality, despite Cendrillon’s two-hour running time. Massenet’s writing is highly evocative, and the orchestra can musically convey the plot, the grandeur of the nobility, the melancholy and the magic concealed in this work.
The same praise can be heaped on the singers who share the stage. There is a fine variety of voices, all solid and remarkable. Particularly commendable is the perfect diction of the French text: every syllable is captured. The English text is projected above the stage, as is customary, but we would also have benefited from the French text, to savour even more the humour of Henri Caïn’s libretto. This humour, which is immediately apparent on reading the opera text, is sublimated by the staging. The performers have fun on stage, and their acting makes us laugh a lot. Some liberties are taken, and the acting is sometimes exaggerated, but all these elements have their raison d’être and make for a most enjoyable evening. The set design and costumes, by Vincent Lefèvre and Ginette Grenier respectively, do much to transport the audience into the magical world of Cinderella.
Very funny moments rub shoulders with extremely touching and sumptuous ones. The scenes featuring the fairy (Kate Fogg) are breathtaking, both for their magical scenography and for the interpreter’s high-quality performance. The duets are also full of emotion, from the love songs between Cinderella (Bri Jones) and Prince Charming (MacKenzie Sechi) to the one in which Cinderella’s father, Pandolfe (Nicholas Murphy), proposes that she leave her wicked stepmother’s house and return to the peaceful country life of yesteryear. Last but not least, moments involving the chorus transport the audience to the king’s court, or a forest inhabited by spirits and mysteries.
This exceptional evening demonstrated just how ready young music students are to take on major challenges, and their ability to shine and excel at the same time.
Cendrillon by Jules Massenet, with Opéra McGill and the McGill Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Hargreaves. Additional performances January 27 at 7:30 p.m. and January 28 at 2 p.m. INFO AND TICKETS HERE!
For the complete program of events at the Schulich School of Music, click HERE!
Photo credit: Stephanie Sedlbauer
Cédrik St-Onge Condenses the Verre Bouteille
by Théo Reinhardt
On the evening of January 23, amidst the buzz of Le Verre Bouteille, I waited to see Cédrik St-Onge’s recent album, Osoyoos, performed live. Thanks to an extra date added to his December 5 launch – and which landed far away – I was able to attend, having missed the first event. I was really looking forward to it and wondered how the album’s lush, grandiose sound would translate to this small venue.
Unsurprisingly, the stage is packed: the singer-songwriter is joined by Marc-Antoine Beaudoin and Bruno St-Laurent, his bandmates from Vendôme, as well as Alexis Leroy-Pleshoyano (Mada Mada), Jérémie Essiambre (La Faune, Cosmophone), Flavie Melançon and Marilyse San James. It’s hard to see them all at once when you’re at the back of the room, so you identify them by the sound of their instruments. After 20 minutes, you can maybe make out the drummer between the heads, another 20 and a glimpse of the keyboardist’s nose. Maybe. Like I say, it’s packed.
The show begins, and what’s immediately striking about the first track, Un jour à la fois, is its immediacy. Even the softer moments are channelled into higher energy than on the album. Which makes you look forward to the highlights. Next comes Ce qu’on veut pas entendre, which confirms what the previous song suggested to me. The great contrasts in volume on this track make it one of the most bewitching. Barely ten minutes after it starts, I’m thinking in my head that this concert is already a success.
At one point between songs, St-Onge asks the crowd to shout out his grandmother’s name so he can record a video for her. Naturally, we get carried away, and here we are in an impromptu number where everyone sings « Josette » to the tune of “olé, olé olé olé…”. The musicians, like true professionals, join in. A little 15-second madness. A fleeting pleasure for the evening.
Back to the music. The songs are all delightfully reinvigorated, animated by a sensitivity between the musicians, an energy highway. The combination is solid: the backing vocals are hauntingly right; the guitar playing is precise when it needs to be; the drummer takes the liberty of playing with the rhythms, adding details and new punches that provoke joyful shouts. For all these reasons and others I couldn’t name, the live experience of this album was particularly different from listening to the standard material. The songs Ce qu’on veut pas entendre and Headlights are particularly well rendered, and the memory of their live version will tint all my future listening. For an album with rich, grandiose instrumentations, the small stage at Le Verre Bouteille proved surprisingly more than adequate to do it justice.
Maybe it was the proximity of the artists on stage. Maybe it was the fact that this was my first concert of 2024 and that I was in a positive mood at the idea of once again running between shows of artists I enjoy. No matter, this warmly coloured album was an affront to the cold outside, probably much more so this time than in early December. Not much more evocative, in this case, than the windows dripping with condensation you notice on your way out. Osoyoos and its creators were a delightful ball of warmth on my January 23 evening.
Ensemble Tesse and Le Vivier | Breaking The Mould of Musical Experience
by Elena Mandolini
The year 2024 at Le Vivier kicks off with concerts featuring the next generation of today’s music scene. Last night, the newly-formed Ensemble Tesse presented its first concert. For the occasion, the event was presented in a rather different way: an ambulatory concert. The format of this concert proved to be very enjoyable and allowed us to appreciate the works of the program in a new way.
On entering the hall, the audience was invited to sit on the floor, on stage, around a structure that would be occupied by the musicians. Between each piece, the audience was invited to stand up and move around. There was also the option of standing or even lying down. The audience lent itself to the game, moving silently around the structure at opportune moments. This movement didn’t make the concert any slower or heavier – on the contrary, the musicians also moved around and lay down on the floor when it wasn’t their turn to play.
The program featured works that were “comprovisées”, composed as well as improvised. Co-creation is one of Ensemble Tesse’s objectives, and it fulfills its mandate perfectly. The listening and dialogue between the musicians are remarkable. The works presented are above all studies in sonority, in which each musician pushes the sonic limits of his or her respective instrument. It is essential to underline the quality of each performer, both in their consistently excellent playing and in their ensemble playing.
Each piece showcased a different member of the ensemble, each time in a different instrumental combination. Each work presented a different sound universe. Although the concept remained the same – collective improvisations – the evening never felt repetitive, and the musical ideas followed one another judiciously. More meditative moments rubbed shoulders with noisy, rhythmic passages, and sometimes with great melody.
The concert was enthusiastically received by the audience. The scenography and lighting helped to place listeners in an experimental atmosphere, a little out of time and space, where all frameworks were broken and reconfigured. Ensemble Tesse is proof positive that it’s possible to do things differently and still deliver a memorable and enjoyable concert experience. Watch out for their next projects!
Ensemble Tesse
NOAM BIERSTONE (percussions)
AUDRÉANNE FILION (cello)
CHARLOTTE LAYEC (bass clarinet)
OFER PELZ (piano)
MARILÈNE PROVENCHER-LEDUC (flutes)
GABRIEL TROTTIER (horn)
To find out about upcoming concerts presented by Le Vivier, click HERE!
Arriving at the Centre Pierre-Péladeau on a dreadfully cold Sunday afternoon, I was a bit surprised to see a huge crowd gathered in front of the concert hall. It seems the event organisers at Pro Musica were equally impressed with the turnout, expressing their excitement in their opening remarks. But perhaps it’s no surprise really.
Fazil Say has distinguished himself as a world-class performer in his 25 year tenure as a concert pianist. With 1.2 million followers on his social media accounts he has done what might be the envy of every concert pianist, bridging the gap between classical music and a popular audience. Hailing from the Turkish capital of Ankara, Say attracts scores of his countrymen wherever he tours, many of whom no doubt came out to see him perform here.
Taking to the stage with a relaxed stride, Mr. Say quickly makes himself at home and within a few seconds, the nebulous and crystalline harmonies of Claude Debussy fill the hall. One quickly gathers from watching Mr. Say performance is how attuned he is to sound and its manipulation. Throughout his performance he would often gesture to the strings of the piano as if he were conversing with the piano itself, or at least the sound hovering about it. Thus the most virtuous aspect about Say is not necessarily his technique per se, but his ability to create such fine nuances in the dynamic. In this respect, the inclusion of Debussy in the repertoire was an excellent choice and made for wonderful synergy between composer and performer. The first half of the programme culminated in a performance of Clair de Lune, which is such a masterful composition that it will arguably never lose its charm.
While the second half was enjoyable, things took a decidedly more romantic turn. With compositions from Beethoven and Liszt, this romantic repertoire with its dramatic and grave tone, as the romantic, dramatic, tended to evade the clarity and delicacy of Say’s playing. Still, by all means, Say displayed formidable command of this repertoire and it was particularly nice to hear the programme end with a composition from the performer himself. For this piece Say took more liberties with the piano, playing with the strings, drawing out some percussive and arabesque melodies before getting a bit jazzy. Finally by the end, the audience could let out all the enthusiasm and appreciation they had been holding, and Say certainly revelled in his encores and his standing ovations. A fine start to the Piano symphonique series !
The Next Generation of Musicians Shines Brightly at Salle Claude-Champagne
by Elena Mandolini
Satuday night in Salle Claude-Champagne, Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Music, was the 2024 edition of the Étoile Montante concert, featuring the Orchestre de l’Université de Montréal (OUM). The event also featured student soloists (Fiona Wu, piano and Catherine Chabot, flute), conductors (Lori Antounian and Marie-France Mathieu) and composers (Edwin H. Ng and Luis Ernesto Peña Laguna). A colourful evening of breathtaking interpretations!
The first part of the concert featured the premiere of Of breath, movement and boxing by Edwin H. Ng, winner of the 2023 OUM Composition Competition. The piece is enigmatic, evocative and animated by an anxious energy. The textural interplay in this piece is particularly interesting: you could hear the wind, at times soft and melodic, at other times percussive, echoing, as it were, the freezing temperatures the audience had to brave to attend this concert.
And the audience was rewarded! The second piece on the program, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, performed by Fiona Wu, 3rd prizewinner in the OUM Concerto Competition, was breathtaking. The pianist interpreted the most virtuosic passages with lightness, ease and suppleness, while demonstrating remarkable strength and power in the passages requiring a stronger attack. The melodies, passing from one hand to the other, are always clearly audible. What’s more, the OUM’s ensemble playing and the dialogue between orchestra and soloist are impeccable, and the sound balance is excellent.
After intermission, the audience is treated to a second premiere, of the work SAR by Luis Ernesto Peña Laguna, also winner of the OUM Composition Competition. This work, which contrasts with the first premiere, is just as magnificent. More tonal, this work is filled with movement, which we guess is cyclical, since the work begins and ends in similar ways. High-pitched spun tones in the strings give way to beautiful melodic flights from the rest of the orchestra. The use of percussion is also noteworthy: sometimes subtle, it is always present, adding an interesting texture.
The evening closes with a solid and convincing performance of Conversations for flute and orchestra by Denis Gougeon, with Catherine Chabot as soloist. The work unfolds with precision. The soloist’s clear sound fills the hall effortlessly, and she attacks the fast passages with assurance and flexibility. For its part, the OUM plays its role perfectly as accompanist, but also as interlocutor (as the title of the work suggests). The orchestra shows great solidity and restraint in the slower first movement, and precision in attacks and cuts in the more percussive second movement.
The two student conductors also did an outstanding job, successfully leading these demanding works. On stage, it was clear that the enjoyment and love of music were in abundance. After an evening like this, there’s no need to worry: the next generation of musicians is in good hands.
For the complete program of the Université de Montréal Faculty of Music, click HERE!
Until 9 pm, the Igloofest playground slowly filled up. Thursday evening saw the return of the container-stocked venues, now transformed into multi-purpose structures (terraces, screens, bars, etc.) Four consecutive weekends began on Thursday, January 18, with a succession of DJ producers who clearly didn’t stand out from the crowd, and then…
For those who think that Igloofest has become an event whose programming is definitively formatted, here’s a striking counter-example … or a convincing example of the still quivering audacity of its artistic direction: the hour spent with Marc Rebillet that can’t be compared to any of the (thousands of) sets presented at Igloofest since its foundation in 2007.
Lightly clad, the guy opens hostilities with a thunderous “Why the fuck is it so hot here!” It was below -10 degrees on the crowd floor, but on stage, it was visibly hot! Born of a French father and an American mother, the American artist is one of the rare creatures of the electronic movement to offer such an hour of improvisation.
Marc Rebillet appears before the thousands of one-pieces and their occupants with his provocative looks, but also with his uncommon ability to improvise in real-time: with his electronic equipment, needless to say, but also with keyboards and his voice, the powerful voice of a pop-soul singer.
He triggers a house beat, techno beat, or a more tribal one, with which he can juxtapose voices in real-time. He can howl at the moon or improvise a melodic line, he can loop a series of chords laid over a rhythmic framework, he can swing engine rumblings, he can harangue the crowd and provoke it with absurd humour, especially when he screeches in impeccable French (with a charming accent) that he doesn’t speak French.
His harmonic jazz and funk keyboards add even more depth to his show, which is clearly atypical in the context of Igloofest. Few artists of this kind are capable of capturing attention by stopping the machines for long minutes and slipping in very simple vocal melodies or other borborygmus, then restarting the party to the delight of festival-goers. What a beast! And that’s a promise of things to come, for there are still 11 evenings left of Igloofest, where fire can burn through ice.
Photo Credit: Madeleine Plamondon
Searching for Goya : Absolute Flamenco, and More
by Frédéric Cardin
Last night at Théâtre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts, was the Canadian premiere of Searching for Goya, an existential choreography based on classical flamenco, above all, but also modern dance and a little ballet. Productions Nuits d’Afrique did us a favor (a rose in our hair, no doubt!) by inviting New York company Soledad Barrio and Noche flamenca to present their show in Montreal, shortly after the premiere in Seattle a few weeks ago.
Photo credit: Peter Graham
Searching for Goya is inspired, you guessed it, by the art of Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), the great Spanish painter who revolutionized painting in his day and remains one of the greatest visual artists of all time. Even today, his visceral, sometimes explosive art, his message and his style remain totally modern and visionary, without having aged a single day.
That said, if you’re not a Goya specialist, you’ll have to look for Goya in the choreography, as the title suggests. The presence of the painter and his work remains in the background, like a ghost, a presence sublimated rather than exposed, although some passages are more obvious. But in the end, this detail is not decisive, because the irrepressible emotional force that emanates from the stage work of dancer Soledad Barrio and director Martin Santangelo overwhelms the spectator. We are caught up in a flamenco that is both rooted in tradition and in an expansive vision in which modern dance and symbolism come together holistically.
The set is almost bare, with few props apart from a few chairs and simple costumes, embellished by a few rare additions, such as the wings (of angels?) seen at the beginning and very end of the piece. There is no projection of paintings or engravings by Goya. This is not a pop show of the kind currently in vogue. We are elsewhere. In the unspoken, in the allusion, in a depth that demands concentration on the part of the spectator.
Modo de volar (1819) and Witches’ Flight (1798), Francisco de Goya
But in the end, it’s the flamenco that says it all. And the performance by the 13 or so artists on stage is equal to the task. Stunning in its rhythmic perfection, its overall coherence and coordination, its incandescent expressiveness, its sensory fire. There’s never a gap between the kicks, the claps, the guitar attacks. Everything is timed to the split second. It leaves you breathless.
Perhaps we could have benefited from supertitles, to match what we see with what we hear, sung or chanted. That’s the only nuance I would add to the appreciation of this unique and original show. If you’re not a Goya connoisseur, or if you don’t speak Spanish, or both, you won’t get the full experience. That’s how good Searching for Goya is, if, despite these shortcomings, the average audience member comes away delighted and hugely impressed.
MSO and Rafael Payare start 2024 with Mahler’s Symphony No. 7
by Alain Brunet
The Montreal Symphony Orchestra is back in action at dawn of 2024, the Maison symphonique is vibrating this week to the sounds of Mahler and Szymanowski, and its occupants are doing just fine.
Simone Lamsma is not on the Wikipedia list of top Dutch violinists, but she will be soon. Indeed, it takes a hell of a sound to transcend the score of Karol Szymanowski’s fabulous Violin Concerto No. 1, which regularly frequents the high frequencies, particularly in the parts without symphonic accompaniment.
The notes must be particularly well supported to avoid any irritation in the treble, which the musician achieves in the best possible conditions. What’s more, Simone Lamsma’s sparkling playing includes flawless articulation in high velocity, and the intelligibility of her interpretation is rarely impaired by the orchestra, whose support the maestro has provided with near-perfection.
The musical relationship between Rafael Payare, the MSO and the soloist certainly augurs well for future encounters. The choice of Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 is to be applauded, as this composer, born in a border area of Poland (now part of Ukraine), worked during the same period as the great pre-modern and modern composers, i.e. at the early beginning of the previous century. The harmonic advances, rhythmic diversity, melodic modernity and orchestrations are comparable to those of the most popular composers of the period.
A judicious choice on the part of the OSM’s artistic director, who is also banking on the discovery of a modern repertoire, including this work considered by specialists to be the first modern concerto for violin and orchestra.
As for Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, a colossal 77-minute work divided into 5 movements, the effect is more than striking – not to mention the inappropriate clapping of a part of the audience that is never reprimanded by the OSM, a choice of accessibility that is certainly defensible, but that tests the tolerance of the majority of music lovers present in the hall.
While it takes a thorough knowledge of Mahler’s best interpretations of this 7th symphony to detect the minor flaws perceived on Tuesday evening, a few adjustments will be required to reach the excellence of the 5th, masterfully played by the OSM and Payare last winter. In the first of three concerts on the same program, everything indicated that the Montreal orchestra and its conductor could already delight the audience, and that the adjustments made this week would lead to a top-notch performance.
As we saw and heard in the first movement, a little less successful than the others, it’s very difficult to capture this orchestral dialectic between the shadows of night and the light of day, between moments of little happiness embodied by lighter arias and dark, dramatic moods.Gustav Mahler was undoubtedly a tormented man, but we can’t accuse him of not having sought out the brighter side of human existence, hence the chiaroscuro deployed throughout this 7th symphony, built around a central scherzo. This scherzo is enveloped by two dark, star-spangled nocturnal movements, the famous Nachtmusik 1 and 2, topped by a rondo-finale.
The fifth and final movement ironically evokes the quest for happiness, if we are attentive to its subtle caricature. An almost impossible quest in Mahler’s universe… doesn’t the darkness eventually win out, paradoxically to our delight?The fifth and final movement ironically evokes the quest for happiness, if we are attentive to its subtle caricature. An almost impossible quest in Mahler’s universe… doesn’t the darkness eventually win out, paradoxically to our bliss?
photo: Antoine Saito
Schulich School of Music | Martin Luther King, Drum Major
by Frédéric Cardin
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated every third Monday in January, not only in the United States but also here in Canada. Last night, Montreal held its commemorative event with a concert in McGill University’s Tanna Schulich Hall. The concert featured a work by John Hollenbeck for three trombones, drums, piano, accordion, electric guitar, marimba and vibraphone, The Drum Major Instinct: Three Settings of MLK Jr’s Last Sermon. The premise is as follows: based on a recording of MLK’s (Martin Luther King) last sermon, given on 3 April 1968 in a Memphis church, two months before his assassination, composer Hollenbeck, who is also a McGill professor, created three different sound worlds, built around a balance between improvisation and written score.
The sermon itself is a convincing example of Martin Luther King’s oratorical genius. Using a passage from the Bible, he built an entire narrative around the principle of the Drum Major Instinct, which can be summed up as each person’s desire to lead the parade, to be better than others, or even superior. He deploys this discourse effectively thanks to his remarkable oratorical ability to build tension and evolving emotion that leads to an effective and meaningful paroxysm. MLK opens the perspective to the issues of the time and of his struggles, namely a condemnation of the Vietnam War and racial inequalities (the Drum Major Instinct of white people leads them to believe they are superior). Aesthetically speaking, it’s a hell of a success. Hollenbeck wrote his three versions on this basis, and they are performed one after the other. So we hear the same speech three times, with different musical accompaniments, as if to show just how adaptable it can be in every conceivable way. On this subject, I would point out that, with all due respect for MLK’s immense verbal skills, listening to the same religious preach, albeit with a strong political, humanistic and philosophical bent, becomes tiresome. Those who don’t like the religious proselytizing that lurks behind the dramatically intense chanting of “Jesus!!!!” will end up being very irritated. Warning.
Musically, though, Hollenbeck’s (you can find his Bandcamp page here) approach is fascinating and highly stimulating. The first iteration, for trombones and drums in the dark, attempts to create an atmosphere of conflict and opposition. The three brass instruments make abstract declamations using improvised dots and dashes of sound, what I call pointraitism (Points and Traits, or lines), typical of avant-garde art music. It’s not jazz, then, but contemporary music informed by jazz, as inflections here and there hint at the universe from which the subject comes, that of Black reality in the 1960s. The drums (Hollenbeck himself) accompany this sequence in a very discreet, restrained way.
The second version is the opposite. Gone are the trombones and drums, welcome are accordion, electric guitar, vibraphone, marimba and piano (Hollenbeck again). The light returns to a gentle, almost ethereal world. The effect is remarkable: MLK’s speech, heard a second time, takes on a different personality. The humanist tendencies are more noticeable, and the lyrics are more audible! It sounds like something between ambient minimalism and Feldmanian etherism (Morton Feldman, the great unclassifiable composer of the 20th century). Very fine work by the accordionist and guitarist, who let delicate and sustained notes percolate through the framework.
The third version calls everyone on stage, in a kind of syncretic ecumenism between the power of the trombones and the gentleness of the other instruments. This time, however, the three brass instruments are less abstract, and more singing, with more obvious reminiscences of jazz and even blues. The final minutes resemble a marching band parade that finally dissolves into a kind of funeral march. Luther King had only two months to live.
Warm applause for the excellent musicians on stage: Ed Neumeister, Kalun Leung, Felix Del Tredici, trombone; Gentiane Michaud-Gagnon, accordion; Oliver Tremblay-Noël, marimba/vibraphone; Roman Munoz Bueno, electric guitar; John Hollenbeck, drumkit and piano.
The end result is impressive and thought-provoking because the Drum Major Instinct evoked by MLK has not disappeared from the world – quite the contrary. While I found Hollenbeck’s writing a joy to behold, I do wonder about the hierarchy that eventually permeates the whole thing. The threefold repetition of MLK’s speech (over and above the caveat mentioned earlier in connection with the religious preacher’s mute), to which the music is subservient, means that the Drum Major Instinct evoked by MLK is ultimately monopolized by the text, to the detriment of the score. Instead, the score takes on the role of a soundtrack, commenting a little, but without being able to fulfill its much greater potential. Clearly, I would have liked not to hear the sermon a third time (at least), and to let the music transcend, even sublimate, MLK’s words. That is the immense power of music, which words, even from one of the greatest orators in history, cannot match, or at least not in the same way. I would have loved to have been able to delve into myself, to cogitate on the meaning and depth of MLK’s speech through music alone. I think that would have been even more effective than hearing the recording over and over again. At a certain point, it ends up sounding like the worst kind of religious sermonizing: forcing things into our heads through incessant and deeply tiresome repetition.
Please don’t misunderstand me: John Hollenbeck’s The Drum Major Instinct: Three Settings of MLK Jr’s Last Sermon is a superior work, perhaps an authentic masterpiece. But it’s his music that takes MLK’s text into new realms of meaning, beyond even what the speaker could have foreseen. Not the other way around. So it is only my sincere wish that this work be put forward more equitably, in recognition of its great musical quality.
For the full programming of theSchulich School of Music, click HERE!
Schulich School of Music | Spotlight on Women Composers at McGill
by Frédéric Cardin
Last Saturday evening, January 13, in McGill University’s Pollack Hall, we were treated to an evening of music under the banner of femininity or even feminism. But far beyond these simplistic categories, it was first and foremost an evening of great music, performed by top-flight artists, professors and students, testifying once again to the very high quality of this music school, one of the best in America.
The programme included, in reverse chronological order, Amy Beach’s Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 150 (1938), Cécile Chaminade’s Piano Trio No. 1 in G minor, Op. 11 (1881) and Fanny Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 11 (1847). A broad overview of the female compositional act, not only in temporal terms but also geographically (one American, one French and one German) and stylistically.
Amy Beach displays a treasure trove of colours and textures in her Trio, which is solidly structured in a classical manner, but bears witness to a romantic temperament and shows stylistic inclinations that are not only impressionistic but also, in the final movement, a stimulating Allegro con brio, discreet but notable nods to jazz and American folklore. All this was rendered with force and conviction by the artists, Violaine Melançon on violin, Joshua Morris on cello and Kyoko Hashimoto on piano.
Unlike Beach’s Trio, a mature work (in fact the composer’s last piece of chamber music), Cécile Chaminade’s Trio is an early work, her very first for chamber ensemble. In the young Chaminade (she was 24), there is a great deal of light, with very limpid phrasing and fine lines. Very French music, in short. There are passages both delicate and virtuosic that Fauré would have been proud to have written. Elsewhere, it is Schumann who would have appreciated the melodic turns. Even if the sound space created by the trio as a whole was a little denser and fleshier than one would expect in this kind of music, one must still note the impeccable technique of each artist and the attentive listening of each to the others. Kyoko Hashimoto’s piano playing was particularly scintillating.
Finally, the concert ended with Fanny Mendelssohn’s eminently romantic Trio, again a mature work by the composer (even though she was still young, she was to die shortly afterwards). Nothing to envy to bro Félix, or any other male of the era. Filled with engaging melodies and affects that are both highly personal and finely controlled, this is a genuine masterpiece of German Romanticism. The performance by McGill’s representatives was worthy of an evening that ended with brilliance and, above all, immense satisfaction.
In 2024, we now have the great good fortune to enjoy this kind of musical gem more and more regularly, for too long overshadowed by the bad faith and stupid prejudices of a male patriarchy jealous of its prerogatives and self-proclaimed and granted privileges. So much worse for those fools who have never been able to recognize the immense value of this music in the past (but too bad for the women who have suffered as a result…). Justice is finally starting to be done, not just for music, but especially for us music lovers!
For the complete events calendar at the Schulich School of Music, click HERE!
Bugs Bunny at the Symphony | The Timeless Humour of Bugs Bunny
by Elena Mandolini
When you think of Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes, the first thing that comes to mind is rarely the music. The theme tune, perhaps, but more often than not the soundtrack that accompanies the cartoons that have accompanied the childhoods of many generations. However, once you get the hang of it, you’ll soon realize that classical music is at the forefront of many a cartoon. That’s what this concert, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, is all about. Not only are excerpts from operas, ballets and classical symphonies present in the soundtrack of these cartoons, but the original score skilfully arranges these excerpts to suit the images, without distorting the source material.
Bugs Bunny at the Symphony thus unfolds in the format of a ciné-concert. The Orchestre FILMharmonique, who perform the score for the Montreal version of this concert, are specialists in this genre and demonstrate their expertise in the field. The interpretation is flawless, with impeccable precision and exemplary dynamism. The orchestra is satisfactorily amplified. The only drawback: the click track used to synchronize sound and image is clearly audible during moments of silence.
On a large screen dominating the stage at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, several cartoons scroll past, to the delight of all. We rediscover the best-known cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny, of course, but also Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Elmer Fudd, and all our other favourite characters. A little surprise: new cartoons, created especially for this concert, are also presented. The excellent FILMharmonic Orchestra is conducted by George Daugherty, the creator of this concert. Throughout the evening, he shares anecdotes about the creation of Bugs Bunny and the music featured in it.
Throughout the evening, the audience is entertained, and many an exclamation is heard when melodies or characters are recognized. This is a very well-crafted concert, with beautifully performed music that will charm young and old alike.
Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, a local production by GFN Productions, with the Orchestre FILMharmonique and George Daugherty. Two more performances on Sunday, January 14, at 2pm and 7pm. TICKETS AND INFO HERE!
Crédit Photo credit: Martin Bélanger, courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery
