May 31, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 31, 2007 at 07:41 PM
Tonight on The Signal with Laurie Brown, seven hundred fourth graders from Peel Region in Ontario come together to make a 'Parade of Noises' - new music from the next generation of composers, and young musicians who even made their own instruments for the occasion.
Then it’s time for 'Attendance' with pianist and composer Andy Creeggan and after the bell you can kick it old school with William Shatner. Don't be fooled - his "Has Been" CD with Ben Folds is a tour de force.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 31, 2007 at 05:37 PM
You may have heard some of the finalists of this year's edition of the Montreal International Musical Competition last week on Studio Sparks. This year's competition was devoted to voice, with 33 semi-finalists from 11 countries, competing for nearly $100,000.
Tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway, you'll hear highlights from some of the best performances from the semi-finals and finals.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 31, 2007 at 03:44 PM
Something special for spurned lovers tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch – a torch song trilogy featuring singers Sarah Vaughan, Mark Murphy and Doris Day all singing about the one that got away.
And if you should find that you’re suddenly feeling better, then give your hips a workout with Latin music from pianist Hilario Duran and Portugese diva Sara Tavares.
It all wraps up with vibraphonist Milt Jackson and saxophonist Stanley Turrentine's soulful version of "I Remember You."
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 31, 2007 at 03:19 PM
There is a lovely park near where I live in Toronto with free wireless coverage. When the weather's nice, I think I'll make some regular time to come here and post some thoughts about.... stuff.
So, I had promised to write a bit about some of the issues that were coming up both in comments to the blog and in conversations with those inside and outside of the CBC. And to get to the root of all of these, I think we need to look first at the word "culture".
Continue reading "Thoughts from the Grove: Culture" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 31, 2007 at 02:12 PM
Toronto's Luminato Festival is getting underway with a number of local and international highlights. Among them, a long-planned collaboration (of sorts) between composer Phillip Glass and poet Leonard Cohen.
Read more about the nature of this collaboration at Globe and Mail | Music News
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 31, 2007 at 11:14 AM
No, this does not mean the COC will be performing Paul Ziemba's "Dracula: The Opera". However, eight up-and-coming opera artists will join the Canadian Opera Company's ensemble studio for its 2007-2008 season, the troupe announced Wednesday.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 31, 2007 at 10:29 AM
I was nine years old.
The family was on the way to dinner on a Friday or Saturday night but we had to make a stop before we got to the restaurant. We pulled up in front of the Gould St. entrance of Sam the Record Man on Yonge St. and I went in by myself with my carefully saved allowance to buy my very first full length, brand new LP. It was The Beatles' "Let It Be" - complete with the poorly-bound book with pictures of the boys and Billy Preston and various producers, engineers and other characters who began to inhabit my musical mindscape.
Continue reading "So Long, Sam" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 31, 2007 at 09:41 AM
The National Arts Centre Orchestra is blessed with an extraordinary wind section. All great players on their own, the principal winds from NAC Orchestra join Eric Friesen and his live audience today for conversation and performance as an ensemble, in the second hour of Studio Sparks.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 31, 2007 at 06:55 AM
First of all, congratulations to listener Ken Howard, who recognized the lyrics from the Ringo Starr hit "The No No Song". Ringo had the hit but it was written by Hoyt Axton, who also wrote "Never Been To Spain", "The Pusher", "When the Morning Comes" and - perhaps most famously - "Joy To The World", the hit for Three Dog Night. But did you know that Hoyt's mother, Mae Boren Axton, was the co-author of "Heartbreak Hotel"?
Second, I'm not sure what's coming up on Here's To You today but I'm pretty sure there won't be any other Hoyt Axton connections.
May 30, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 30, 2007 at 07:28 PM
We're talking talking music tonight on The Signal with Laurie Brown.
Laurie looks at the way we speak, how we form words and thoughts, and how our vocal cords affect our musical tastes. You'll hear examples in the songs of Tunng, Jason Moran, and the electronic sounds of Questions in Dialect.
My question is whether or not she'll be playing Kurt Schwitters' "Ur Sonata".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 30, 2007 at 05:41 PM
Tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway, a concert in celebration of Asian Heritage Month.
First, Ottawa's Mushfiq Ensemble delivers dynamic performances of Indian classical and Afghan folk music using an array of instruments (harmonium, tabla, violin, acoustic tanpura) and an array of languages (about 12!).
Later, the Aber Diamond Debut series recital by Yuja Wang. At only 17, she wowed Ottawa audiences when she stepped in for an ailing Radu Lupu at an NAC Orchestra concert. This concert features music by Haydn, Chopin and Scarlatti.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 30, 2007 at 03:45 PM
"Exodus" by Bob Marley is one of those tracks I just want to go on and on every time I hear it. Robert Nesta Marley was a brilliant writer - whether it was the chugging reggae of "Exodus" or the sweet melodic sophistication of something like "No Woman, No Cry". Check out Charlie Hunter's eight-string guitar arrangement of that song some time.
Tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch, a piano arrangement of Marley's "Running Away" by Monty Alexander & Company.
Continuing with covers, guitarist Bill Coon and singer Denzal Sinclaire join forces for a lovely version of Nat King Cole's hit, "Mona Lisa." And Coco Zhao, a surprising Chinese vocalist, sings a lush ballad called "Full Moon, Blooming Flowers."
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 30, 2007 at 11:24 AM
The Canadian Opera Company's new small box office did big business this year at the Four Seasons Centre, pulling in nearly $18-million for the COC's first season in its new Toronto home.
Read the full story at The Globe and Mail | Music News.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 30, 2007 at 09:53 AM
Pianist Emanuel Ax returns to Studio Sparks with Eric Friesen in the second hour today with his series "The Concerto According to Manny".
This time, he turns his attention to Brahms' magisterial First Piano Concerto. Recordings used in this episode include performances by Leon Fleisher, Glenn Gould, Rudolf Serkin, and Ax himself.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 30, 2007 at 08:41 AM
Anybody recognize that line?
Hit the comment link below. I don't have any prizes to offer or anything but it's always fun to see what lurks in the corners of listeners' brains and record collections.
Speaking of that sunny island, though, this morning on Here's To You with Shelley Solmes, you'll hear the lovely "Majorcan Barcarolle" by Albeniz along with music by Dvorak, Rheinberger, Schumann and more.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 30, 2007 at 08:37 AM
The stage is set in Iqaluit for musicians and artists to come from as far away as Norway and Alaska in what organizers say will be the largest music and arts festival in Nunavut's history.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News.
May 29, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 29, 2007 at 07:43 PM
Tonight on The Signal with Laurie Brown, highlights from a concert by the Chris Tarry Quintet. Tarry plays heavy bass with a light touch on his piece "In The Beginning".
Plus, you'll hear a performance of Daniel Nelson's "Romantachycardia" by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. It'll get your heart all a flutter.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 29, 2007 at 05:54 PM
The response to Radio Two's all-day Victoria Day "Ring Cycle" marathon was spectacular - as were so many of the performances. Tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway, you'll hear one of those performers in a very different setting as soprano Adrianne Pieczonka offers an intimate recital titled “A Woman’s Life and Loves” .
Later, Toronto trumpeter Guido Basso teams up with the Calgary quintet Verismo in the Monday Night Jazz series at the University of Calgary.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 29, 2007 at 03:58 PM
I see that Cesaria Evora has a number of Canadian dates coming up in June. She really is something to see - relaxed beyond belief, barefooted, occasionally sitting to sip a beverage while her crack band carries on and her buttery voice continues to echo in your head - even when you're hours home from the show. There's just something about that Cape Verdean soul that seems to be the musical halfway point between Portuguese fado and Brazilian samba.
She'll hit the Royal in Victoria, the Winspear in Edmonton, Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto and the jazz festivals in Vancouver and Montréal. Until then, you can hear a tune by her countryman Horace Silver played by pianist Benny Green tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch.
Also on the show, a duet from Canada's Shane Philips and Dessy DiLoro and Latin influenced sounds from music's renaissance man, Gregory Charles.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 29, 2007 at 12:13 PM
The creator of Inspector Rebus novels is writing a libretto for Craig Armstrong, the Edinburgh composer of the "Moulin Rouge" score and others.
Read the whole story at Guardian Unlimited Music News
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 29, 2007 at 09:29 AM
Toronto’s Melissa McClelland is a coolly expressive singer, a gorgeously gritty lyricist, and a vivid painter of what she calls pop noir. She animates the characters in her songs and brings life to their sad stories. This short set is from a show during which she opened up for Jesse Cook.
Melissa McClelland at Concerts On Demand.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 29, 2007 at 08:31 AM
For those of you who missed it last night on Canada Live, look to the Concerts on Demand panel on this page. Jesse Cook weaves pure magic with a kaleidoscopic musical sampling of Spain, Africa, Egypt and Brazil. This Juno-winning guitarist has cast a spell with his easy-going charisma and intoxicating blend of Nuevo Flamenco stylings, world music textures and subtle jazz touches.
Jesse Cook live at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga at Concerts On Demand.
May 28, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 28, 2007 at 07:56 PM
Minds of out the gutter - I'm referring to the early Ford automobile models.
They used to show up - along with Packards and Studebakers and various other vintage cars - in the driveway of my childhood friend Brian. His dad was an antique car enthusiast (as was Ernie Coombes - Mr. Dress-Up - who sometimes visited too!).
Anyway, that whole family seemed to really love cars so it wasn't a surprise that in my lootbag at one of Brian's birthday parties, when I was about 6, was a colouring book about cars. It had Stanley Steamers and Model A's and T's and Bugati racers and Thunderbirds and a whole bunch more.
Continue reading "Future T & A" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 28, 2007 at 05:49 PM
Jesse Cook's amazing virtuosity on guitar is matched by his eclectic style, blending influences from Spain, Africa, Egypt and Brazil. Hear the Juno Award-winning guitarist tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway, in a concert of Nuevo Flamenco subtly flavoured with world music and jazz.
Later, Toronto's Melissa McClelland - a singer/songwriter who paints pictures in what she calls "pop noir".
And the host of Vinyl Tap, Randy Bachman, takes to the stage with a career retrospective, featuring everything from his early inspirations playing jazz guitar as a teenager to how that influenced some of his big hits with BTO and the Guess Who.
Come to think of it, sounds kind of like an edition of Vinyl Tap - only live!
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 28, 2007 at 03:55 PM
Tonight, Tonic with Katie Malloch visits the the Deep South with tunes from guitarist Russell Malone, pianist Cyrus Chestnut and singer Dinah Washington.
Katie then comes back north to spotlight two new releases by Canadians: from Michael Buble's latest CD, Johnny Mercer's "Dream" and a tune from the brand new big band CD from Canadian trombonist Ian McDougall.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 28, 2007 at 09:51 AM
Last night's concert at the Unitarian Church on De Maissoneuve was spectacular - a gathering of Arab-Israeli-Palestinian-Jewish Montréalers and their friends in an evening of music and poetry.
May and Ibrahim Naddaf, Talia and Samia. Mohamed Masmoudi, the Bagg St. Klezmer Band and poetry by Endre Farkas and Carolyn Souid.
Paul Kunigis was as brilliant on solo piano as he is fronting Jescze Raz.
Plus a special guest appearance by Israeli singer and peace activist Mariam Ohevetel Iron.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 28, 2007 at 09:51 AM
All this week on Studio Sparks with Eric Friesen, updates from the finals of the 2007 Montreal International Music Competition. This year, the competition is for classical vocalists.
On Thursday, you'll hear music from the winner!
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 28, 2007 at 06:56 AM
This morning on Here's To You, guest host Catherine Belyea has music by Marjan Mozetich, a Piano Concerto by Rachmaninov and a tune from "Sweeney Todd", Stephen Sondheim's musical about the murderous barber. Lots more too.
May 27, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 27, 2007 at 07:38 PM
There's this (guy/girl) I work with.....
......
...... what should I do?
Signed, Sally Solo or Don Duo
Tonight, The Signal with Pat Carrabré presents a second round of music by marrieds:
Gary Kulesha and Laryssa Kuzmenko, Alexina Louie and Alex Pauk, Alice Ho and Chan Ka Nin.
Plus, Pat explores the percussive, melodic and other musical uses of the piano.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 27, 2007 at 05:49 PM
Toronto horn virtuoso Jamie Sommerville was recently named the new Artistic Director of the Hamilton Philharmonic - adding conducting to his platform skills. He introduced himself to the Hamilton public in a recent program of chamber music, playing alongside principals of his new Hamilton orchestra.
You'll hear this getting-to-know-you concert tonight on Canada Live with Patti Schmidt in a programme including Mozart's "Quintet for Piano and Winds".
Also - if you haven't already checked it out already on the Concerts On Demand panel - tonight you can hear the return of English composer Gavin Bryars to Toronto after a hiatus of more than a dozen years in a concert recorded at Glenn Gould Studio. He's joined by Swedish soprano Anna Maria Friman, English tenor John Potter, Canadian instrumentalists Max Christie on bass clarinet and
Douglas Perry on viola, in a melding of contemporary and early music.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 27, 2007 at 03:55 PM
Tonight on Tonic with Tim Tamashiro, you'll hear homages to Joni Mitchell from Ian Shaw, Joshua Redman and Lori Cullen and a salute to the Blue Note label, with music from Renee Rosnes and Herbie Hancock.
But let's not get all formal about it, you can also just plain enjoy music from Daniel Barnes, The Ian McDougall Sextet and Art Farmer.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 27, 2007 at 02:45 PM
This should be a really interesting edition of Fuse, with Alan Neal:
Andrew Whiteman's Apostle of Hustle is already a fascinating meld of Afro-Cuban rhythm and jam-rock sensibilities and Tanya Tagaq is a bold pioneer in projecting her Inuit traditional sound into the spheres of rock, electronica and much more.
Today's Fuse brings them together and, with them, all the musical forces behind them as well as their joint spirit of experiment and discovery. Should be fantastic and inspiring.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 27, 2007 at 01:51 PM
Today on Roots & Wings with Philly Markowitz, three pieces of African music re-designed in Canada, plus some hauntingly beautiful instrumentals that bridge between world, ambient and jazz sounds.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 27, 2007 at 12:46 PM
Okay, here's what host Andre Alexis says about this week's Skylarking:
"This morning I woke up, spent a lovely morning in bed drinking hot chocolate and listening to the Singing Nun ("Dominique nique nique, s'en allais tout simplement..."). When, all of a suddenly (well, "all of a sudden" after I grew a bushy tail), I realized I wasn't awake at all. I was still sleeping, still sleeping, still sleeping...
Makes you think, don't it?"
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 27, 2007 at 12:01 PM
That's where I am today - where I have the pleasure of hosting the annual "Concert For Peace" presented by the Montréal Dialogue Group at the Unitarian Church on De Maissoneuve Ouest.
The concert features music by The Bagg Street Klezmer Band, Talia and Samia of Genero Band, May and Ibrahim Naddaf, Mohamed Masmoudi and Juno Award winner Paul Kunigis (of Jescze Raz). Plus the poetry of Endre Farkas and Carolyn Souaid.
Doors open at 7:30. Please come by and say hello if you're in the 'hood.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 27, 2007 at 11:00 AM
No, this is not about being subjected to a marathon of old Allan McPhee broadcasts - though that would actually be delightful!
I'm always pleased to hear the music of Colin McPhee get some profile. He was a visionary and one of those Canadians we claim - even though he was so frustrated by his experience in Canada that he had to leave to find the direction in his work that would consume his musical life. He got a very rough ride from the Canadian music establishment and yet the appreciation for his work in Canada and around the world has grown beyond that clique well after his death in 1964 in Los Angeles, where he was professor of ethnomusicology at UCLA.
Continue reading "Enduring McPhee" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 27, 2007 at 09:42 AM
Today on The Singer and the Song, Catherine Belyea has plenty of new releases along with some sneak preview goodies for Luna, the opera gala from Roy Thomson Hall on Friday June 8th that will be broadcast
LIVE across the country on Canada Live!!
You'll hear from Isabel Bayrakdarian, Russell Braun and Adrianne Pieczonka - three great representatives of the 10 singers taking part in Luna.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 27, 2007 at 07:47 AM
Symphony Hall with Katherine Duncan today features Yamandu Costa, master of the 7-string guitar.
He gets a little back up from the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Roberto Minczuk in a concert that includes music by Bizet, Maurilho, Copland and Ginastera.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 27, 2007 at 05:26 AM
Howard Dyck is no longer hosting Saturday Afternoon at the Opera but the remainder of his conducting, writing and hosting schedule seems largely intact - including hosting Choral Concert - which means there's probably some extra resonance in this week's edition, which is subtitled: "To Everything There is a Season"
It's a farewell celebration for Toronto Children's Chorus Founder and Artistic Director Jean Ashworth Bartle.
Bartle's talent and energy have contributed to her 29 years of success with the renowned Toronto Children's Chorus and you'll hear the results on today's show.
May 26, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 26, 2007 at 10:07 PM
The Rome kickoff to Barbra Streisand's upcoming European tour has apparently been scrapped, amid a brouhaha by Italian consumer groups over high ticket prices for the famed performer's show.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 26, 2007 at 07:52 PM
Tonight on The Signal with Pat Carrabré, Pat starts off with music made by bands built around married couples. No, there will be no Captain & Tenille or Sonny & Cher. However, you will hear The Dears, the Arcade Fire, and Hexes & Ohs.
Then, Part One of a concert from the Music Gallery in Toronto: singer/cellist extraordinaire Anne Bourne reunites with guitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist John Oswald. They're joined onstage by Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) on violin and Wilbert deJoode on bass for a memorable musical collaboration.
That concert is also available from the Concerts On Demand panel.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 26, 2007 at 05:48 PM
Jay Semko, front man for the Saskatchewan band The Northern Pikes, showcases his second solo CD, "Redberry", tonight on Canada Live with Patti Schmidt coming to you from Regina.
Later, Kim Fontaine and her band bring a unique blend of folk, rock, jazz and country as they showcase her second solo release, "Life Happens."
Then, the producer of Kim's CD, David J. Taylor, steps into the limelight with a concert of original tunes.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 26, 2007 at 03:44 PM
Tonight on Tonic with Tim Tamashiro, Jimi Henrix and Van Morrison get the jazz treatment - from whom I'm not exactly sure but I hear their skin looks fantastic.
Also, a nod to New York and some great tango and flamenco. As well, you'll encounter a different side of guitarist Sean Bray, along with a track from Jane Monheit's new disc.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 26, 2007 at 11:21 AM
At age 5, my parents found me walking out of our motel room in Elliot Lake toward the highway. That's the only time I know of that I've ever sleepwalked. Any good stories out there? Hit the COMMENT link below.
Today on Saturday Afternoon at the Opera with host Peter Phoi, it's the Vienna State Opera with Bellini's 6th opera, "La Sonnambula", starring Michele Pertusi, Anna Netrebko and Antonio Siragusa. Pier Giorgio Morandi conducts.
"La Sonnambula" debuted March 6th, 1831 at the Teatro Carcano in Milan at a time when somnambulism was all the rage - not about doing it, I mean, but there were books and plays and other operas about it. If only Freud were around at the time he'd have had a field day.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 26, 2007 at 09:52 AM
I was working at a restaurant when Hiram Walker first introduced Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya vodkas to Canada. For the launch, they had frozen multiple bottles into blocks of ice and had the chef prepare steak tartare and caviar with baskets of pumpernickel bread.
I can still feel the ice-cold burn of the vodka chasing the velvety caviar. Magnificent.
If only today's edition ofSound Advice with Rick Phillips had been on in the background because this week the spotlight
Continue reading "Mmmmm.... Vodka" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 26, 2007 at 07:45 AM
This morning in the Vinyl Cafe from St. John's, Stuart McLean welcomes special musical guests Hey Rosetta and the Great Big Three (wonder where they got that name?).
Stuart also has the story of what happens when Sam takes advantage of his parents' absence to sleep late and avoid eating vegetables - with the result that he turns green!
May 25, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 25, 2007 at 07:53 PM
Smokers can get into a shrink-wrapped pack of smokes in micro-seconds. Manufacturers provide handy tabs for their addicts/customers to get at their nicotine as quickly as possible.
So why is it that the manufacturers of CDs - even when they do provide pull tabs - seem determined to keep me from my music addiction as long as they can. They've even gone to the extent of putting an extra layer of barrier - sometimes two - in the form of those plastic stickers that never peel off cleanly.
There is a special place in hell reserved for the person who came up with the idea of adding those to CD packaging.
Continue reading "Shrink Wrap" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 25, 2007 at 05:53 PM
Tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway, Canada's one-man blues encyclopedia Colin James recorded on the final stop of his "Little Big Band 3" tour in Edmonton.
Then, New York pianist Polly Ferman has been called "Musical Ambassador of the Americas".
She's joined by Edmonton accordionist Antonio Peruch and percussionist Mario Allende, plus string players from the University of Alberta and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. The concert featured music by the
undisputed master of the Tango, Astor Piazzolla, and the torchbearer of his cause, Daniel Binelli.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 25, 2007 at 03:46 PM
That's for all the people gathered wherever this weekend to celebrate the birthday of the late great Miles Davis.
To follow his wildly evolutionary 50 year career is really to study the history of jazz. And in spite of some pretty awful outfits in his later years, he remains the ultimate image of 'cool'.
I remember seeing him blow just a few precious notes during a concert at the old Ontario Place Forum. The place must have confounded him. After all, his practice was to turn his back to the audience but there was no escape on that old revolving stage.http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/programs.html?TONIC_MTL
Continue reading "Aisles of Miles" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 25, 2007 at 02:10 PM
Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier's "Dancer in the Dark" will be made into an opera, Denmark's Royal Theatre said yesterday. The theatre has commissioned Danish composer Poul Ruders to write the music for the work, while the libretto, in English, will be written by Henrik Engelbrecht, head of dramaturgy at the theatre.
Ruders is known in Canada for the score of the opera version of Margaret Atwood's "A Handmaid's Tale".
Read the whole story at The Globe and Mail - Music News
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 25, 2007 at 11:48 AM
The Courthouse, Toronto’s newest jazz venue, hosts composer-pianist-improviser and now bandleader Glenn Buhr. This concert celebrates the release of Buhr’s new CD Thru the Wounded Sky.
The music is an eclectic mix from jazzed Mozart to Asian-influenced urban sounds, and steamy blues. Glenn Buhr plays the piano and is joined by seven musicians, from Toronto and Winnipeg.
Glenn Buhr Band Live@Courthouse at Concerts On Demand
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 25, 2007 at 09:59 AM
A few weeks ago, 12 young musicians gathered at the National Arts Centre for a special concert showcasing the instruments they had been awarded (at least temporarily) from the Canada Council Instrument Bank. Studio Sparks with Eric Friesen presents that concert -- "Stradissimo!" in the second and third hours of the show today.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 25, 2007 at 06:31 AM
I remember being in the basement at the home of my friends Chris and John - brothers whose parents were astounded that I was friends with both of them - and listening to the soundtrack LP of the Errol Flynn film "Captain Blood". It was my introduction to the music of Erich Korngold. Ever since then, I've found the guy fascinating - the son of a music critic, a prodigy, annointed by Mahler at an early age and then plucked from a fledgling composing career in his native Brno (then Austria-Hungary, now the Czech Republic) and parachuted into Hollywood. He went back to Austria but soon accepted a return invitation to score Flynn's "Adventures of Robin Hood" just as the Anschluss took place and the condition of Jews in Austria became very perilous. Korngold later would say the film score of Robin Hood saved his life.
You'll hear his music today on Here's To You with Shelley Solmes along with music by Sarasate, Rachmaninov, the "Spanish Dances" by Granados and more,
May 24, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 24, 2007 at 07:44 PM
Tonight on The Signal with Laurie Brown, the Penderecki String Quartet performs the George Crumb work "Black Angels"; perhaps the only quartet to have been inspired by the Vietnam War. It's a kind of parable on a troubled world, and it draws on a wide variety of sounds including whistling and whispering as well and maracas and crystal glasses.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 24, 2007 at 05:40 PM
Tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway, two of Canada's most promising young opera singers - soprano Joni Henson and bass Robert Gleadow - sing arias from operas by Mozart and Massenet. Richard Bradshaw conducts the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, recorded at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto.
Later, composer-pianist-improviser Glenn Buhr, with an eclectic mix from jazzed Mozart to Asian-influenced urban sounds and steamy blues.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 24, 2007 at 03:51 PM
Gil Scott-Heron?
He was part of my musical firmament in the early '80's. His highly charged proto-rap jazz poetry was of a piece with The Clash, UB40, Black Uhuru and others who were confronting the Reagan-Thatcher politics of the day through music.
What I didn't know at the time was that Scott-Heron was already established as a poet and novelist since he was a teenager in the '60's. He re-emerged briefly in the mid-'90s with an album called "Spirit" that included a famously pointed message to the rappers of the day to stop the posturing. I'm not sure it worked.
Continue reading "Where on Earth is..." »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 24, 2007 at 12:50 PM
The world's first museum in honour of legendary Swedish pop group ABBA will open its doors in an old customs building in central Stockholm in 2009, organizers announced yesterday.
Read the whole story at Globe and Mail Music News
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 24, 2007 at 12:38 PM
Traditional sevdah music was one of the casualties of the Bosnian war. But it saved Amira Medunjanin, a young accountant and translator who emerged from the rubble to become 'Bosnia's Billie Holiday'.
Read the whole story at Guardian Music News:
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 24, 2007 at 11:19 AM
In this concert Great Lake Swimmers play the last show of a cross country tour in support of their latest CD entitled “Ongiara”. The concert took place at The Church of The Redeemer on Bloor Street in Toronto.
The band were joined on stage by some special guests. Bob Egan - pedal steel and guitar - is best known for his work with Blue Rodeo. Owen Pallett - violin - is a renowned composer, arranger and violinist and winner of the 2006 Polaris Prize for Independent Music. Basia Bulat - backing vocals - is a rising star in the Canadian independent music scene.
Great Lake Swimmers at Concerts On Demand.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 24, 2007 at 10:12 AM
A few years ago my mother handed me a cheque for $120 for no apparent reason.
"What's this?", I asked.
"That's to settle a bet we made when you were 15, with interest."
My mother had bet me some time around 1975 that Elton John - whose posters adorned my bedroom walls and who's music spun out of my crappy stereo nearly constantly - would not endure for more than a couple of years.
Continue reading "A Betting Man" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 24, 2007 at 06:47 AM
If Victoria Day put you in the mood for regal selections, tune in to Here's To You with Shelley Solmes this morning for a performance by pianist Leslie Howard who plays Franz Liszt's version of "God Save the Queen".
Plus, Charles Dutoit conducts the Montreal Sinfonietta in Joseph Haydn's "La Reine" symphony NO. 85 and The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra plays Boccherini's "Minuet".
May 23, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 23, 2007 at 08:21 PM
You’ll see a number of concerts appearing at the Concerts On Demand over the next week. Here’s what we’ve got lined up.
The Glenn Buhr Band from Live@Courthouse in Toronto.
Jesse Cook at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga.
Melissa McClelland from the same venue.
Guido Basso with Verismo in Calgary.
Jenny Whitely in Vancouver.
Stay tuned.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 23, 2007 at 08:18 PM
Ben Weisman, a songwriter Elvis Presley called "the mad professor," died Sunday in a long-term care hospital in Los Angeles.
Read the full story at CBC | Music News:
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 23, 2007 at 07:40 PM
Tonight on The Signal with Laurie Brown, music backwards and forwards. They'll reverse-engineer a song by Avey Tare and Kria Brekkan to hear what it sounded like before they turned it on its head.
You'll also experience the global soundscapes of Chris Cutler and his travelling band of sound recordists. And there's a highlight from a concert featuring the renowned Penderecki String Quartet, performing R. Murray Shafer's "'Waves' String Quartet #2".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 23, 2007 at 05:53 PM
Tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway, you'll hear music by Vancouver's Red Chamber Ensemble, featuring a quintet of women on a variety of traditional Chinese plucked instruments: Guilian Liu on the Pipa; Ling Yang on Pipa, Ruan and Liuqin; Mei Han on Zheng and Liuqin; Geling Jiang on Sanxian and Ruan; and Zhi Min Yu on Ruan and Daruan.
PLUS, Canada's YouTube sensation Jeremy Fischer, who was recently picked up in the U.S. by indie label Wind Up Records.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 23, 2007 at 03:53 PM
Tonight's edition of Tonic with Katie Malloch is bookended with music by Jake Langley and the library in between fills in nicely with everything from Feist to Quincy Jones and Moe Koffman to Stan Getz.
Plus, you'll hear Ray Charles' rendition of John Lennon's "Imagine" with full gospel backing.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 23, 2007 at 03:39 PM
Thousands of fans stood in heavy rain listening to rock acts such as My Chemical Romance and The Killers at Vancouver's first Virgin Music Festival.
Read the whole story at CBC | Music News:
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 23, 2007 at 11:10 AM
Are you familiar with that book by Thomas Pynchon?
I highly recommend it. Plus, it's a really slim volume so you can get through it in no time - this is no "Gravity's Rainbow".
Essentially, it's about the murderous intrigues, espionage and double-crossings that were part of the battle for the lucrative contracts to deliver the U.S. Mail back in the frontier days of the Pony Express, Pinkerton's et al.
I think of this book often as I watch the various movements around control of the media.
Continue reading "The Crying of Lot 49?" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 23, 2007 at 09:50 AM
I know he had performed with the New York Philharmonic and the Kalamazoo Symphony and I certainly know him as a radio star and essayist as host of "The Prairie Home Companion" but I did not know he was a composer.
He may not be but he's listed as such in a piece you'll hear today on Here's To You with Shelley Solmes.
Also on the show today, Tafelmusik plays Handel, Violons du Roy plays Mozart and Laurence Perkins plays "The Playful Pachyderm".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 23, 2007 at 09:44 AM
Emmanuel Ax' guest spot on Studio Sparks with Eric Friesen continues today as they present part 5 of "The Concerto According to Manny"
Chopin's "Piano Concerto no. 2 in F Minor" is a pinncle of the romantic piano tradition. Manny walks Eric and the rest of us through it today in the second hour of the show.
Add that to lots of great music in the first hour and you have a really nice lunch break!
May 22, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 22, 2007 at 07:35 PM
I think it was an article in the New Music Express back in the mid-'80's in which the author argued that the 20th Century had given birth to a brand new aesthetic - the aesthetic of speed. The article was in context of a review of a Simple Minds album and he certainly had that right (although Simple Minds themselves sadly slowed right down a few years later) but it was territory mined by a number of artists and writers including J.G. Ballard.
It seems we are living in that aesthetic to an increasing depth - from the pace of editing and the crawl of
Continue reading "Signal's Aesthetic of Speed" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 22, 2007 at 05:46 PM
Features the Skye Consort and Michael Slattery plus the Quatuor de Guitares du Canada et de Salzbourg.
I'm guessing it's four guitars from Canada and Salzbourg.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 22, 2007 at 03:29 PM
Tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and pianist Art Tatum get things started with "Hallelujah!".
Later, Queen Latifah takes a turn at a Marvin Gaye-inspired tune called "Paper." (By the way, if you haven't seen "Stranger Than Fiction" in which Queen Latifah stars alongside Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhall and Dustin Hoffman, I highly recommend it - don't know why it didn't get an Oscar nod).
And later still, pianist Eric Reed explores the musical depths of Irving Berlin's tune "How Deep is the Ocean."
There's lots more too, of course.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 22, 2007 at 11:39 AM
Paul McCartney may have his "Mull of Kintyre" but Durness, a remote village in the Scottish Highlands, has announced it will be holding a three-day festival in September in honour of the late John Lennon.
Read the whole story at
CBC | Music News:
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 22, 2007 at 10:36 AM
R&B; and pop icon Fats Domino took the stage at a New Orleans club Saturday night, in his first public performance since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005.
Read the full story at
CBC | Music:
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 22, 2007 at 09:32 AM
To coincide with the Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound in Kitchener, Ont. The Music Gallery and Rough Idea joined forces to regroup the trio of Fred Frith, Anne Bourne and John Oswald — the unearthly improvising team that produced dearness for the Spool label in 2002 (recorded live at the Rivoli in 1998).
In this performance from the Music Gallery the trio perform together for the first set, and then are joined for the second set by special guests, violinist Owen Pallett a.k.a. Final Fantasy, and bassist Wilbert de Joode (Amsterdam) to create a one-night-only quintet.
The Bourne, Frith, Oswald Trio at Concerts On Demand.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 22, 2007 at 07:25 AM
Mozart, Dvorak, Liszt, Poulenc, Beethoven, Bach, Hayden....
String quartets, guitars, cello, piano....
Jane Coop, Yoyo Ma.....
And you KNOW Tom will have some stories about his weekend.
Tune into Music & Company with Tom Allen.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 22, 2007 at 07:11 AM
It is such a milestone holiday for so many Canadians. It's the true marker of the end of winter - even when it's still a little bit cold. Why we have decided to link it with Queen Victoria is beyond me but then I'm not much of a royal-watcher, I admit. (I wonder if I'm going to get in trouble for writing that? A pledge to the Queen used to be part of CBC contracts).
Continue reading "How Was Your Weekend?" »
May 21, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 21, 2007 at 09:44 PM
The "Ring in a Day" broadcast pre-empts the first two hours of The Signal tonight, but at midnight (12:30 NT), Laurie Brown and her crew will come out ringing (or perhaps I meant swinging) with music from the Books, Cibelle, Do Make Say Think and Bill Frisell.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 21, 2007 at 05:00 PM
Starts at 7:05pm, 7:35 in Newfoundland.
Learn more about "Götterdämmerung".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 21, 2007 at 12:49 PM
Starts at 2:55pm, 3:25 in Newfoundland.
Learn more about "Siegfried".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 21, 2007 at 08:39 AM
Starts at 10:50am, 11:20 in Newfoundland.
Learn more about "Die Walküre".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 21, 2007 at 06:00 AM
Starts at 8:10am, 8:40 in Newfoundland.
Learn more about "Das Rheingold".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 21, 2007 at 05:21 AM
Start with musical fireworks, end with.... well.... fireworks.
Today, CBC Radio Two runs through the entirety of Wagner's Ring Cycle. Bill Richardson is your guide for the day through Wagner's fantastic and stunning creation.
There’s nothing in music quite like Richard Wagner’s "Der Ring des Nibelungen". The length – four hefty operas – is grand. The characters include gods and mortals, giants and dwarves, valkyries and other mythological creatures. The story itself is cosmic; it embraces love, power, incest, murder and the end of the world. Wagner scores The Ring with Freudian ingenuity and a new sound in the orchestra, a new style of singing, and a whole new stage presence.
May 20, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 20, 2007 at 07:49 PM
Tonight, The Signal celebrates Asian Heritage Month with music written, performed or influenced by Eastern tradition. You'll hear music based on the rhythm of haiku by Ray Luedeke, plus music for solo pipa by Chinese composer Liu De-hai and music for flute and piano by Chinese-Canadian composer Chan Ka Nin.
Plus music about storytelling -- from bedtime fairytales to creepy ghost stories. Vancouver avant-jazz crew Inhabitants present their version of a princess story, and experimental popsters Deerhoof take you through both a day and a night in the forest.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 20, 2007 at 05:44 PM
Tonight on Canada Live, Patti Schmidt presents the concert that opened this year's "Music at Memorial" concert series in St. John's Newfoundland.
First, cellist Theo Weber and pianist Kristina Szutor repeat the recital that won them international acclaim in Rio de Janeiro this past summer.
Later, Amarcord, a remarkable six-man singing ensemble from Germany, joins forces with the male voices of Shallaway and Newman Sound at Gower Street United Church in St. John's. After a dazzling display of vocal gymnastics by the German guests, S-way and N-Sound join them for a burst of Newfoundland folksongs to close the show.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 20, 2007 at 03:40 PM
Tonight on Tonic with Tim Tamashiro, you'll find out who had Billie Holiday for a godmother and whose mother had Peggy Lee for a roommate!.
Tim also heads for Denmark for great jazz from Povo and Lars Jansson.
And, you'll hear innovative covers of tunes by Gordon Lightfoot plus music from Laila Biali, Holly Cole and Johnny Hodges.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 20, 2007 at 03:00 PM
Patrick Watson (the Montréal singer, not the former CBC Head) is making waves with his atmospheric music and ethereal voice.
Torngat is a trio without a voice...but their instrumental melodies speak beautifully clearly.
Together, Torngat and Patrick Watson craft layers of moody music, sweeping songs and duelling drums. Hear them collide on Fuse, with Alan Neal.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 20, 2007 at 02:00 PM
Roots & Wings reaches show number Six Hundred this week!
To celebrate this landmark event, Philly will be playing great world music that can be traced back 600 years, including Pakistani Qawwali, gamelan from Indonesia, West African kora and Sephardic music from Spain.
And to sweeten the pot, she'll also give away six copies of a fabulous two-disc compilation from the world's foremost world music label - tune in to find out which one!
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 20, 2007 at 01:01 PM
In High Park, near where I live in Toronto, there's a bench overlooking Grenadier Pond. I found myself in a melancholy mood one day sitting on this bench watching the geese and the afternoon anglers when I noticed a small plaque on one of the rungs of the bench. It was inscribed with a fragment of a poem by Rilke that read:
I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,
and I have been circling for a thousand years,
and I still don't know if I am a falcon, or a storm,
or a great song.
The plaque was dedicated to a young man who had died at age 18. It was the perfect message at the perfect time in a perfect place.
Continue reading "Pure Poetry" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 20, 2007 at 10:57 AM
Today OnStage with Shelley Solmes, pianist Janina Fialkowska returns to Glenn Gould Studio in the company of the Chamber Players of Canada for an all-Mozart program, in that composer's own rarely-heard chamber versions of two popular piano concertos.
Janina and the Chamber Players worked similar magic in recordings of Chopin Piano Concertos, as adapted by Chopin for piano and string quartet.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 20, 2007 at 09:54 AM
The spotlight's on Argentinian-born mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink this week on The Singer & The Song with Catherine Belyea. Fink sings a duet with her brother Marcos as well as solo songs by Dvorak and Brahms.
You'll hear folk-like "Wunderhorn" songs by Brahms and Mahler, songs by Richard Strauss sung by Swedish soprano Katerina Karneus, and two historic recordings, one featuring Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and the other, contralto Kathleen Ferrier.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 20, 2007 at 07:50 AM
This morning on Symphony Hall with Katherine Duncan, pianist Janina Fialkowska joins Orchestra London in a concert that features music by Edvard Grieg and Jeffrey Ryan.
Later, violinist Stephen Sitarski joins the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in a program that includes Dvorak's "Violin Concerto in A Minor".
(By the way, you can hear more great music performed by Janina Fialkowska later today on OnStage).
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 20, 2007 at 05:37 AM
Appropriate for the weekend on which we (of all the people on the earth) celebrate the birthday of Queen Victoria, this morning Choral Concert with Howard Dyckpresents a choral foray into the lives of the great women rulers of history: from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Queen Elizabeth the Second.
There's one story I would add to playlist: the story of Queen Kap'iolani of Hawai'i. She wasn't the great ruler but she wrote a beautiful piece of music that has been done in some beautiful choral renditions.
Her husband, King Kalakaua, was on a diplomatic mission trying to secure the best deal for his people - who were about to be colonized by either the U.S., France or Britain. In his absence, she composed Ipo Lei Manu as a welcome home gift but the final verse describes him as hele loa (gone forever). He died on January 20, 1891 in San Francisco, and never heard the song.
May 19, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 19, 2007 at 07:38 PM
Call me a snob but this drives me crazy: people who make the whooshy-whooshy movement when declaring they like Indian classical music because it's "so mellow".
While some ragas are certainly intended to reflect a late night or early morning kind of reflection (in that sense, Indian musicians are the inventors of the "3AM Eternal" chill-out lounge), for the most part, even just a few minutes spent learning the fundamentals of Indian music would reveal it to be heard as some of the most riveting, involving, thrilling, edge-of-your-seat-listening music in the world.
Continue reading "Signals from India" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 19, 2007 at 05:44 PM
Brazilian-born Monica Freire mixes traditional Afro-Brazilian rhythms with electronica and sampled sounds on her most recent CD. She'll showcase that new recording at Montreal's Lions D'Or tonight on Canada Live with Patti Schmidt.
Later, Jane Bunnett leads her band through a hot night of Cuban-influenced jazz touched with North American blues and Louisiana 'Gumbo'.
Mmmmmm....gumbo.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 19, 2007 at 03:50 PM
This evening on Tonic with Tim Tamashiro, it's a jazz violin showcase, with music from Regina Carter and Stephane Grapelli.
Then, Paris Combo, Diana Krall and Pink Martini do a jazz shout out to the City of Lights.
And you'll learn at last which artist lost his or her memory and had to relearn how to play.
Plus, music from Denzal Sinclaire, Oliver Gannon and Matt Dusk. (Quick, somebody go through the playlists - has there been an episode of Tonic yet without Denzal Sinclaire?)
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 19, 2007 at 02:27 PM
Dragon Fli Empire:
Dragon Fli Empire is on the rise. The Calgary based hip-hop duo, comprised of Cosm (DJ, producer) and Teekay (emcee, producer) have quickly become one of the city’s more popular groups, gaining respect from a wide variety of music lovers for their upbeat, melodic and positive sound.
They performed this show at the Marquee Room in Calgary.
Dragon Fli Empire at Concerts On Demand
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 19, 2007 at 12:30 PM
I had lots of comments on my post about upcoming further changes to Radio Two - especially in regard to the new classical performance show planned for Sunday afternoons. You'll find a little more detail than I had to offer in this story on CBC | Arts online coverage.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 19, 2007 at 11:27 AM
More from the Vienna State Opera this week on Saturday Afternoon at the Opera - a production of Massenet's version of "Manon", starring Anna Netrebko, Roberto Alagna, Ain Anger and Adrian Eröd. Bertrand de Billy conducts.
Peter Phoi is this week's special Guest Host.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 19, 2007 at 10:01 AM
Whenever Rick Phillips spotlights music by Mahler on Sound Advice, the mailbag overflows; there are obviously a lot of fans out there, which is a little surprising, given how difficult Mahler's music can be.
This week, Rick spotlights a new recording of Mahler's "Symphony No. 9", played by the Berlin State Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim.
Meanwhile, in the Library, more of "Slava", Rick's series on cellist, pianist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich. This week, the focus is on Haydn's "Cello Concerto No. 1", one of the cellist's favourite works.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 19, 2007 at 07:59 AM
I was working at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto managing a friendly Sunday afternoon music programme geared toward introducing new talent - mostly local. That's how I first met Ron Sexsmith. He was the most humble and shy kind of guy. The simplest request he was reluctant to make, lest he be "any trouble".
Continue reading "Ron at the Vinyl Café" »
May 18, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 18, 2007 at 07:47 PM
Geoff Berner is a musician I keep encountering at festivals across the country. We've had some interesting conversations (slightly drunken and otherwise) and I have a huge admiration for his performances, which always seems to hover on the edge of good taste and right when you think he might teeter over that edge he delivers some piece of wisdom or poetry or insight so beautiful or so appropriate that you just have to gasp.
He's an accordion player - great as a solo artist or within a group - who
Continue reading "A New Chapter for the Whiskey Rabbi" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 18, 2007 at 05:53 PM
...which is just one of the many awards heaped on PEI-born singer-songwriter Lennie Gallant.
He lives in Halifax now but last summer, I did a little road trip to PEI with Lennie. I have to tell you, nothing opens more doors or gets you stopped in the street more than a trip to PEI with Lennie Gallant. Everyone just loves him. And for good reason: he's a great guy who writes and sings some great songs. You'll hear him in performance tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway.
Later in the show, New Zealand-born harmonica wizard Brendan Power and British guitar virtuoso Andrew White in concert. And finally, internationally-acclaimed jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player Ingrid Jensen.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 18, 2007 at 03:49 PM
In 1938, Charles Trenet was supposed to sing 3 songs to open the show for another artist at a venue in France. The audience kept calling him back. He ultimately did 12 tunes and the headliner never took the stage.
That event echoed his own retirement - which he announced in the 1970's,
Continue reading "Upstaged" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 18, 2007 at 11:27 AM
The changes to the schedule here at CBC Radio Two in recent months (loved by some, loathed by others - but then that's inevitable, isn't it?) are just phase one of a three-part revamp of the service.
At a telemeeting yesterday attended by staff across the country, some details were offered as to the look and sound of Phase Two, which should be in effect by next fall. This set of changes only affects the weekends.
Among the changes, a brand new Sunday afternoon classical music performance programme to feature Canadian and international artists (mostly Canadian, actually) recorded live in venues across the country - kind of like a classical-only version of Canada Live with an emphasis on the heavyweights.
Continue reading "Change Gonna Come" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 18, 2007 at 10:42 AM
Canadian jazz great Oscar Peterson has cancelled a June 26 appearance at the Toronto Jazz Festival because of illness.
Read the story at CBC | Music News.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 18, 2007 at 06:54 AM
This morning, in anticipation of Monday's all-day Ring extravaganza, Here's to You offers an encore presentation of a special program originally broadcast when the new Four Seasons Opera Centre opened in Toronto last year. Shelley hosts the first, request-based part of the program, then Catherine Belyea takes you on a visit to the COC's kids' summer opera camp - including their impressions of "The Ring".
May 17, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 17, 2007 at 08:07 PM
Just going through the playlist from tonight's edition of The Signal with Laurie Brown and it looks as if they've been at my CD collection again.
I have this theory that maybe they're sneaking into my place while I'm out and making curating my collection according to their own impulses. It's actually kind of a neat way of re-discovering music you may have forgotten. We develop habits, skip certain tracks, concentrate on others, pair certain things.
But it's all there: from David Sylvian to the Amici Strings to Broken Social Scene to William Orbit to the Aphex Twin to Bruce Cockburn - all strung together in a fascinating way. Now there is some stuff in there that they must have added in from their own collection but I'll have to have a word with them anyway
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 17, 2007 at 05:39 PM
Two concerts from Montreal tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway. First, it's Fete Francaise, featuring Pentaedre. The Montreal-based wind quintet plays works by French composers Darius Milhaud and Jean Françaix, plus the world premiere of a work by Quebec composer Denis Dion commissioned to celebrate their 20th anniversary season.
Later, French-American singer Madeleine Peyroux performs old-style jazz tunes, as well as chanson française with a jazzy twist, for her fans in Montreal.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 17, 2007 at 03:25 PM
I think the list of most frequently played songs in the world goes something like: "Yesterday" by the Beatles, "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen and others and Joao Gilberto's classic "The Girl from Ipanema". I'm not sure of the order (but then I'm not sure anyone really could be).
Now, for me personally, "Yesterday" I have to turn off right away because no matter how good a song it is, it is just too dripping with sentiment for me to enjoy it repeatedly. "Louie Louie" causes my friend John to look for something tall to jump off of - requiring a contingent of his rugby mates to be close at hand to pick him up so I can't hear that one without feeling some trepidation. Of the three,
Continue reading "Ipanema Revisited.... Again" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 17, 2007 at 12:49 PM
U.S. singer Bo Diddley is in intensive care after suffering a stroke in western Iowa.
Read the whole story at CBC Arts online.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 17, 2007 at 12:33 PM
The British education secretary casts doubts on the Prime Minister's guitar-playing prowess, but praises his ability to recognise English hard-rock supergroups on the radio.
(Read more at Guardian Unlimited Music.)
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 17, 2007 at 10:04 AM
It started much earlier in the east but you can still catch Shelley Solmes on Here's To You as it rolls across the country on our Listen Live Panel.
And that's appropriate because this morning Shelley rolls Mozart's "Musical Game of Dice".
She'll also have music by Arne, Lambe and Stravinsky. And for Organ Thursday, Jurgen Petrenko has Keith John playing Edward Elgar's "First Sonata".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 17, 2007 at 09:55 AM
Young soprano Nicole Cabell has been captivating opera audiences ever since she won the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition two years ago. She will be Eric Friesen's guest for a special performance in front of a live studio audience at CBC Ottawa today on Studio Sparks.
May 16, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 16, 2007 at 07:30 PM
Steve Reich is known as the Grand Master of minimalist music. And he's the darling of percussionists around the globe - he's kept many of them in paying gigs for many years (including the core of Toronto's Nexus ensemble who were regular members of his own earliest groups).
Tonight on The Signal with Laurie Brown, hear a concert built around one of his works, "Music for Mallet instruments, Voices and Organ", played by l'Atelier de Percussion de l'Universite de Montreal.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 16, 2007 at 05:47 PM
Norah Jones is the daughter of the great Ravi Shankar but she grew up with her mother in Texas.
Her half-sister Anoushka Shankar grew up very much in her famous father's shadow. But in recent years she's been emerging as her own unique musical voice.
Tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway, you'll hear her lead the Anoushka Shankar Project in a concert recorded at the Epcor Centre in Calgary.
Later, Lullaby Baxter and the Lily String Quartet, also at the Centre. It's part of the annual Combo to Go series, which I posted about earlier today since it's also available in our Concerts On Demand panel.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 16, 2007 at 03:52 PM
There are jingles, there are themes and there are "soundmarks".
The first includes things like Barry Manilow's "You Deserve a Break Today" for McDonald's; the second includes things like the stabbing strings of Bernard Herrman's "Psycho" score; and the final includes things like the four-note signature on all the audio and video materials of computer chip maker Intel.
For me, a piece of music that comes closest to performing all three functions is Henry Mancini's theme from "The Pink Panther". Even just that first four-note phrase - ba-da-ba-dum - is enough to summon the entire Pink Panther "brand" to mind: films, spinoffs, cartoons, spoofs, trenchcoats, pratfalls, the whole bit.
The guy who played that famously raspy saxophone intro was Plas Johnson. He also played the sax part in the theme to the "Odd Couple" TV series.
Continue reading "The Pink Panther" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 16, 2007 at 01:50 PM
Erran Baron Cohen, the real life brother of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Borat), attended the premiere of a composition he wrote for the West Kazakhstan Philharmonic Orchestra last week in London. The piece received its debut in Kazakhstan the following Monday. Haven't seen the reviews as yet.
(Read more at CBC | Music News.)
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 16, 2007 at 12:43 PM
Lullaby Baxter & the Lily String Quartet is the first show in the annual Combo to Go series presented by CBC Radio and the Epcor Centre. We ask musicians from different musical backgrounds or different musical styles to work together and see what happens.
In this program - the first of three Combo to Go concerts - you’ll hear what happens when a classical string quartet tackles the quirky pop songs of Lullaby Baxter - and you’ll hear how Lullaby Baxter adds quirkiness to a Mendelssohn String Quartet.
Recorded in the lobby of Jack Singer Concert Hall . . . Lullaby and Lilly at Concerts On Demand.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 16, 2007 at 10:03 AM
By the way, I didn't mean to imply with the last post that Shelley featured "The Rites of Spring" today. In fact, it was his "Rake's Progress". It just reminded me of the Southbank thing.
Also on Here's To You today, the Dambusters were the British pilots who destroyed the dams of Germany's Ruhr Valley 64 years ago today, doing significant damage to German industry during the Second World War. There's a rousing march in honour of the Dambusters, written by Eric Coates.
Plus, "76 Trombones" from Meredith Willson's "The Music Man".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 16, 2007 at 09:53 AM
Just listening to a little Stravinsky on Here's To You with Shelley Solmes (I was on the Atlantic feed so you can still catch it west of that zone) and I was reminded of my visit to London on the weekend. The whole Southbank Centre and Festival Hal is undergoing a huge renovation that is nearly complete. At least, it had better be - they re-open next month!
Among the offerings for the new season, digital artist Klaus Obermaier, conductor Marin Alsop and the London Philharmonic Orchestra create a 21st century realisation of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring". As the London Philharmonic Orchestra play Stravinsky's driving, rhythmic score live, a single dancer, Julia Mach, performs on stage. Working with interactive designers from the Ars Electronica Futurelab, Obermaier creates a form of cyber choreography where performers and technology interact to create a completely new perception of the body.
The audience experience fascinating distorted visual effects by wearing 3-D glasses, as real-time movements combine with virtual spaces and the dancer's body appears to deconstruct, morph, multiply and engulf the audience. Stravinsky's powerful music dictates the choreography, as well as the subsequent 3D projections.
Philip Glass' Prelude from Akhnaten and Edgard Varese's urban masterpiece Arcana complete this evening of surprise and innovation.
Tickets to London, anyone?
May 15, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 15, 2007 at 07:48 PM
Catch a creative jazz session from the Lina Allemano Four tonight on The Signal with Laurie Brown Lina's trend-setting trumpet playing sets the tone for explorations in contemporary jazz that include the sounds of a busy Manhattan street in the piece 'Gridjam', and a playful re-imagining of "Baubles, Bangles and Beads", called "Baw Baw Be". Lina is joined by Brodie West on alto saxophone, Nick Fraser on drums, and Andrew Downing on bass.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 15, 2007 at 05:53 PM
I had the great privilege of sitting on an Arts Council jury with Pierre Schryer a couple of years ago and we really hit it off. He's a wonderful guy with a wonderful view of the world and a particular pride about his Franco-Ontarian roots - all bound together by a spirit of musical generosity as both a player and as a listener. I had the further pleasure of introducing him just a few weeks ago at a concert in his home region of Thunder Bay. I watched as he dazzled with some virtuoso fiddling, then stepped back to let the guitar player shine and later crept on stage to lend a little support to some talented young players from the Kam Valley Fiddlers.
You'll hear all of that spirit come through in concert tonight as the Pierre Schryer Band joins the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Rae Hotoda tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway. It's a concert that features everything from bluegrass to Celtic, Gershwin to Grappelli.
Later, bassist extraordinaire Alain Caron and pianist Francois Bourassa recorded at the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre in St. Boniface, at the end of their first tour together. The music is melodic, enchanting and brilliantly played - improvisation at its best!
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 15, 2007 at 04:24 PM
I just got off the phone with my mother who told me the details of her driving trip this weekend to Cape Cod.
Then I go to check my Gmail account for word from Katie Malloch about what she's spinning tonight on Tonic. On my Google homepage I've got a "This Day In History" feed in my custom panel and it tells me:
"On this day in 1602, Europeans first landed at Cape Cod."
And even then, it was so expensive they couldn't afford to stay.
So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Katie's playlist tonight includes Patti Page's classic tune "Old Cape Cod."
Katie will also have "Hiro Chill" from the latest CD release by the Los Angeles jazz ensemble Hiroshima, along with Jazz Jamaica's sizzling rendition of Wayne Shorter's composition "Night Dreamer".
Got a good coincidence story? Share it under the ADD A COMMENT link.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 15, 2007 at 04:19 PM
I wrote earlier that Bono and Gavin Friday were brothers.
As one reader pointed out, they're not related.
They've been friends since they were teens in Dublin when Bono was better known as Paul Hewson and Friday was better known as Fionan Hanvey.
They have collaborated on a number of projects over the years including three songs for the film "In the Name of the Father".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 15, 2007 at 10:36 AM
During a recent television appearance, British Prime Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown appealed to Rufus for tickets to his upcoming concert.
Has he forgotten about the Arctic Monkeys, already?"
(Via Guardian Unlimited Music.)
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 15, 2007 at 06:42 AM
I have to confess that I've never liked Tom Lehrer or his ilk.
I grew up listening to his albums because my parents listened to him and I had no choice in the matter. Since that time, I've always had a bit of a shudder when music - something that at its best manages to be timeless - is yoked to the headlines of the day in the service of satire.
Nevertheless, Lehrer recalls "Bright College Days" this morning on Here's to You with Shelley Solmes.
Shelley also has "Four Norwegian Dances" by Grieg and "Peter and the Wolf" by Prokofiev - which I also listened to very much as a child but with much more pleasure. In fact, just yesterday at a bookshop in Greenwich I picked up a CD/book of "Peter & The Wolf" as performed by Gavin Friday and the Friday-Seezer Ensemble with illustrations by Bono (Friday's brother) and his daughter.
Shelley and I are just so in sync!
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 15, 2007 at 05:20 AM
In the true style of the tradition of which he was so much a part, hundreds of mourners joined a funeral jazz procession honouring the late clarinetist Alvin Batiste, as it wound its way through New Orleans' French Quarter on Saturday"
(Read the full story at CBC | Music News.)
May 14, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 14, 2007 at 07:47 PM
Tonight on The Signal with Laurie Brown, music made by machines, from the Frankenstein-ian mind of Maxime De La Rochefoucauld - wonderful and strange mechanical musicians that make surprisingly beautiful sounds.
You'll also hear from Patrick Watson, Bjork, and Cor Fuhler (all very much human musicians... as far as we know).
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 14, 2007 at 05:54 PM
Tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway, "Requiem Flamenco: In Praise of the Earth" by flamenco guitarist Paco Pena and friends, with the Vancouver Chamber Choir under the direction of Jon Washburn.
Later, Dharmakasa, a unique collaboration between two widely divergent Asian musicians - Alcvin Ramos, master of the Japanese flute and the didgeridoo, and Andrew Kim, a keen inventor of stringed instruments with a background in both Indian sitar and African music . They're joined for this concert by tabla player Tarun Nayar.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 14, 2007 at 03:59 PM
In Booker T. and the MGs, do you know what "MGs" stood for? Not the British sports car but the "Memphis Guitars".
You'll hear the Booker T classic "Soul Man" tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch as well as a cool Latin tune from the soon-to-be-released CD by Canadian vocalist Sophie Milman and a little more Latin as Brazilian trombonist Raul De Souza plays "Estamos Ai".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 14, 2007 at 06:55 AM
Find a nice shady tree and curl up under it with a glass of lemonade and your radio because Here's to You is paying tribute to trees this morning, and you want to create the right atmosphere.
It's an eclectic mix of music, from Arnold Bax's "Tale the Pine-Trees Knew" through "Five Sacred Trees" (for Bassoon and Orchestra) by John Williams. Plus a few old - forgive me - chestnuts along the way!
May 13, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 07:52 PM
Tonight on The Signal with Pat Carrabré, composer/pianist Heather Schmidt plays music inspired by cell phones...along with music that inspires her dog named Echo.
Plus the three finalists from the Eckhardt-Gramatte Competition for the performance of Canadian music.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 05:49 PM
Tonight on Canada Live with Patti Schmidt:
The Song of Songs, rapturous love poetry from the Old Testament, has inspired generations of composers to write some of the most sensual music in the repertoire. The CBC/McGill series presents countertenor Matthew White, a quintet of internationally acclaimed singers and an instrumental ensemble under lute virtuoso Stephen Stubbs in music from Renaissance England to 20th century Canada.
Later, the award winning Steve Amirault Trio, reunited for the Jazz and Justice series.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 03:46 PM
Tonight on Tonic with Tim Tamashiro, Tim and the gang explore the trio format in different settings with Robert Glasper, the Bad Plus and Oscar Peterson.
Also on the show, music from the Kevin Dean Quintet, David Benoit and Sonny Stitt, Oliver Jones, Canefire and Hilario Duran.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 02:57 PM
I don't know where CBC is at with working out more licenses for more programmes "on demand" but today's episode of Fuse should be cause for a demand for more.
The Creaking Tree String Quartet isn't your usual quartet--they've got mandolins, guitar, and a bluegrass attitude and they are hot, hot players. I have the good fortune of living in the neighbourhood where they have a Tuesday night residency and they have never failed to blow the room away with sheer great musicianship.
Kevin Breit you might know from his extraordinary list of session credits or his recent Juno win with his outfit The Sisters Euclid. If you don't know him, he's one of those guitar players who makes other guitar players' jaws drop.
Alan Neal brings Creaking Tree and Kevin Breit together today and I'm not sure the world will ever be the same.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 01:59 PM
Macedonian Roma singer Esma Redzepova is a Peace Ambassador for the UN and UNICEF who is the mother of 47 adopted orphan children. She's also known as the "Queen of Gyspy Music".
You can check out some of the extraordinary range of humanitarian projects she's involved in here and you can check out her music this afternoon on Roots & Wings with Philly Markowitz.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 12:51 PM
So, I haven't actually heard all the programmes in advance, as I'm sure you've already assumed. What I do get are advance notices from various hosts and producers as to what's coming up. The blurbettes I get from André Alexis and/or Ruben Maan about forthcoming episodes of Skylarkin' are always distinctive - if not exactly descriptive.
This week's blurb is fairly descriptive but I have to make the sad confession that I'm unfamiliar with the emotion of which it speaks. If you are, more power to you and I'm sure you'll want to tune in today. Here's the blurb as I received it:
Ever find yourself skipping merrily home? Laughing because the sun's shining on a cricket crawling on your back porch? Do the wonders of this world make you almost unbearably happy? Well, don't despair. We sometimes feel the same way. Today on Skylarking…Happiness, curse of the sensitive class.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 11:11 AM
Sarah just popped a handful of postcards from Andalusia - complete with Spanish postage - into a mailbox outside Greenwich Station in the hopes that someone from the Royal Mail would look kindly on these errant rectangles and send them onto Canada anyway - what with the whole EU thing and all.
It's been just that kind of day...
Continue reading "Periana Postcard" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 10:57 AM
OnStage is pre-empted today for a special broadcast from the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, hosted by Eric Friesen.
In celebration of the Canada Council's 50th anniversary, the Canada Council for the Arts and the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NAC Orchestra) put together a major concert featuring the twelve winners of the 2006 Musical Instrument Bank competition, together with cellist Denis Brott and the NAC Orchestra, under the direction of trombonist and conductor Alain Trudel. The 12 talented young winners obtained the loan of rare and historic musical instruments with a total value of almost 20 million dollars.
The concert features them in performance on the instruments they were awarded in works by Paganini, Brahms, Stravinsky, Popper, Bach, Champagne, Estacio, Handel and Dompierre.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 08:30 AM
I'm sure conducting is challenging and rewarding work but I sometimes wonder what it's like for the great instrumentalists who've picked up the baton to not be in the trenches, as it were.
Clearly there's a calling for some to get back in there just to remind themselves what it's like from the other side of the orchestra.
That's why Pinchas Zukerman hands the baton to guest conductor Gustavo Dudamel, and picks up his viola, today on Symphony Hall with Katherine Duncan, in a concert featuring the National Arts Centre Orchestra in works by Barber, Bartok and Beethoven.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 05:44 AM
Either this is a really fast turnaround time for a concert recorded last month or the folks at Choral Concert are working from the calendar for another planet because this sounds an awful lot like an "Earth Day" show:
Join host Howard Dyck as Jon Washbrun leads the Vancouver Chamber Choir in a concert titled "To Mother Earth". The featured work is Paco Pena's Requiem Flamenco, In Praise of Mother Earth. Also, Paul Winter's "Missa Gaia".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 05:27 AM
Happy Mother's Day.
Breakfast in bed. CBC Radio Two on. That's a pretty good start, I'd say.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 05:20 AM
The Boston Pops kicked off its new season with a bang - and perhaps a pow! and a boom! - Wednesday night, after a barroom-type brawl interrupted the programme of music from the film "Gigi".
Well, you know how those "Gigi" fans get. It occurred to me looking at the footage that it looked as if an episode of "The Jerry Springer Show" had broken out in the balcony. And then it occurred to me that since "Jerry Springer: The Opera" is now a working production, that maybe they had the programme wrong - or maybe that Jerry might want to consider taking up orchestra conducting.
(Read the whole story at CBC | Music News.)
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 13, 2007 at 05:01 AM
In an apparent case of right-song-wrong-coast, Halifax singer-songwriter Ian Sherwood has won three awards, including the grand prize, in the West Coast Songwriters International Song Contest.
(Read the whole story at CBC | Music News.)
May 12, 2007
Posted by on May 12, 2007 at 09:03 PM
It could be like a computer game where the click of the mouse takes you down one path, never to return to what might have been.
Click.
"It was a dark and stormy night, and we'd spent a fortune on black clothes and eyeliner. All we needed was some appropriately dark music."
Click.
"It was an optimistic, zippy kinda night. All we needed was some buoyant inventive fiddle playing."
Fortunately The Signal is not a computer game. They don't work that well on radio. Also fortunately, it frequently finds it not at all difficult to tell all kinds of musical stories within the same show.
Take tonight, for example. Pat Carrabré continues his series of Gothic picks, and checks in on the evolution of fiddler extraordinaire Jesse Zubot.
Posted by on May 12, 2007 at 06:50 PM
Canada has the indie market practically cornered. Or at least, we like to think so.
We go all glowing/parental every time the New York Times gushes about Feist or Arcade Fire, or Feist or Arcade Fire, or Feist or Arcade Fire...you get what I mean.
That said, we really do have a good solid indie scene.
And Canada Live presents a club recording of a good solid indie band tonight, the cinematic, sometimes Latin-esque Apostle of Hustle.
But wait, there's more!
The apostles of gospel music, all 85 of them. The second concert tonight is from the massed York University Gospel Choir.
There's also a third concert excerpt, but I'm tired of the apostle thing now. So here are the straight goods: Tenor saxman Kirk MacDonald from a concert recorded at The Rex, in Toronto.
Posted by on May 12, 2007 at 04:45 PM
It's interesting how the notion of what is jazz (a question some never tire of asking) has shifted and grown throughout its history.
Partly that's down to musicians, rarely pleased at being pigeonholed. Partly, in recent times, it's because of jazz festivals, which have become more and more diverse in the range of music they programme. And partly it's because of jazz radio.
Proof is in the Tonic.
Weekend Tonician, Tim Tamashiro (now there's a mouthful) has a lineup this evening that includes Bobby McFerrin, jazz from Australia, Marc Atkinson, Ranee Lee, Lullaby Baxter, Wynton Marsalis and, as they say in show biz, much much more.
Anyway, maybe it's best to try and avoid categorizing music altogether, when possible. As Duke Ellington is said to have said, “There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.”
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 12, 2007 at 03:47 PM
Members of roots rock group Blue Rodeo will be awarded honorary fellowships by the Royal Conservatory of Music, Canada's largest music school.
(Via CBC | Music News.)
Posted by on May 12, 2007 at 12:22 PM
Time to play...Spot The Amazing Coincidence!
The hints:
"Adrianne Pieczonka embodies Arabella in flesh and blood with her tireless vocal shimmer and perfect technique." (Opernglas, January 2007)
"Even a broken foot sustained a few days before the premiere couldn't hold Michael Schade's unyielding enthusiasm at bay, and the Canadian–German tenor poured his heart out as Matteo." (Opera News, March 2007)
Now YOU Spot The Amazing Coincidence!
a. Pieczonka also had a leg injury once...and yet still she sang!
b. Both are brilliant Canadian opera singers who sang in a production of Strauss' Arabella with the Vienna State Opera!
c. You can hear them performing Arabella today on Saturday Afternoon at the Opera!
d. All of the above!
Answer (would be written upside down if we had the technology): You guessed it, the answer is d!
Think that's more than enough silliness for one Saturday...hope you enjoy the broadcast.
Posted by on May 12, 2007 at 11:00 AM
When Mstislav Rostropovich died on April 27th, the world lost a brilliant musician -- one of the greatest 20th-century cellists -- and an extraordinary man. He famously stood up for the rights of Soviet-era dissidents, and on the musical side, was a champion for new music.
Continue reading "Remembering Rostropovich" »
Posted by on May 12, 2007 at 09:14 AM
I've restrained myself from blogging about the very weird incident that took place a few days ago at the Boston Pops opening night gala. Largely because it was all over the news and it seemed a case of "What's Left To Say?"
I'll get to why I caved in a minute. First the nutshell:
The alleged victim claims the guy in front of him wouldn't shut up during the music. And when he asked for some hush, the guy threatened to throw him off the balcony. Then he popped the shusher in the face.
Continue reading "Brawl At The Hall, Redux" »
May 11, 2007
Posted by on May 11, 2007 at 07:00 PM
Really low. So low that your overtones will start to whistle. Tonight on The Signal with Pat Carrabré: Part Two of the Low-Note Showdown, featuring Tuvan throat singing.
Funny to think that not so long ago Tuvan throat singing was practically unheard of, outside of the communities who practiced it. For generations, Tuvan herdsmen were busy singing and riding and being oppressed on the grasslands of Central Asia without anyone else paying much attention.
No more. Nowadays it's, well, maybe not quite all the rage, but certainly part of the fabric of international musical culture.
To find out more about Tuvan doings, check out FOT, aka Friends of Tuva.
And tune into The Signal tonight, for some truly thrilling music.
Posted by on May 11, 2007 at 06:00 PM
Here's what Caribou Records, Kim Barlow's label, (in some kind of co-pro with Jericho Beach) has to say about her:
"Kim Barlow is a leaf set in stone: jagged as a Yukon horizon; tender as spring."
Goodness. And here I thought she was a folksy singer-songwriter based in Whitehorse, born in Quebec, raised in rural Nova Scotia, and graduated from Florida State University with a BA in music.
I guess she can be a leaf too though. Heck, why not. As long as she can do that AND play the banjo.
You can hear Kim tonight on Canada Live, a concert recorded at the CD release party for her latest, "CHAMP."
Posted by on May 11, 2007 at 05:00 PM
Probably we all have some memory of a moment when we came face to face with one of our musical idols. Sometimes this leads to blithering incoherence, sometimes a sense of actual connection. On one occasion in my life it led to a lovely if slightly odd few minutes.
It happened at a now defunct Toronto jazz club. So many, sadly. This one was The Senator. Long narrow room, enraptured fans. All eyes trained on Betty.
Continue reading "Betty's Smile, Irving's 117th" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 11, 2007 at 02:30 PM
Derek Olive and Johnny Eden are guitarists and songwriters and they're touring together this summer starting today. They're a musical odd couple but that's not the only thing odd about the tour. When they leave the show in Powell River BC tonight it will be by bicycle. They've got 6500km to cover before the final show of the tour on September 8th in Petite Riviere Nova Scotia.
I'll check in on them from time to time but you can follow the tour virtually on their blog.
Bon voyage, guys!
Posted by on May 11, 2007 at 10:45 AM
Giorgia Fumanti. Say it loud and there's music playing. Say it soft, and it's almost like praying.
Whoops, wrong genre.
Actually, not entirely. The Italian-born, Montreal based soprano Giorgia Fumanti not only has a lovely name, she's also had a most interesting "cross-over" career to date, and she does include themes from "the film repertoire" in her book.
She's also toured with Jose Carreras, and sung the Canadian national anthem at the NHL All-Star game, to cite two other examples of cross-overness.
And today you can hear her perform for Eric, a live studio audience and you, on Studio Sparks.
Posted by on May 11, 2007 at 09:10 AM
Canadian/American Idol doesn't have a patch on Eurovision, the annual fantastic (in the most traditional sense of the word) international song competition, coming to its frothy head tomorrow night in Helsinki.
Where Idol is merely jaw-droppingly crass, Eurovision is sublimely cheesy, and therein lies the latter's great beauty. To be fair, they have had time to get it right -- Eurovision began back in 1956.
This year Britain seems to think they're at the front of the pack. Of course it doesn't hurt that they, along with Germany, Spain and France, automatically qualify for the final, since their respective public broadcasters give the Eurovision folks a lot of dough. Oh well, no one ever said life was fair.
Anyway, my personal fav is in fact a Brit band, "Scooch." And to pump up their fans, Scooch takes us behind the scenes, via a video dance lesson -- so we can learn the moves in preparation for their performance in the final.
I don't think she really gets the head rolls though, do you?
Posted by on May 11, 2007 at 06:00 AM
Who will end up in the hurricanrana? Tune in to Music & Co. this morning to find out.
It's either the "Flower Duet" from Lakme or "La Fleur que tu m'avais jetee" from Carmen.
Yes, it's a "flowers for mother's day" cage match.
Though if truth be told (and Tom told me, so it must be true), Lakme is about a girl who falls for a guy from the wrong side of the fence, and Carmen is about a soldier brought to ruin by a femme fatale.
In both cases Mom tells them to get wise to themselves, but do they pay attention? No they do not. This is why we do not celebrate anything called "daughter's day."
Although, speaking as a daughter, I don't see why we shouldn't, come to think of it.
Tom, got any ideas for a daughters' cage match? Or maybe daughters vs. sons? (We'll get the sons in the hurricanrana, just you wait...)
May 10, 2007
Posted by on May 10, 2007 at 08:45 PM
The folks at The Signal describe tonight's concert of improvisation from guitar legend Fred Frith, cellist Ann Bourne and alto sax player John Oswald (of Plunderphonics fame) as being "out of thin air."
Think on that for a minute. Is the music there when no one is playing it? (Sort of an audio version of the tree and the forest thing?)
Then there's an expression Canadian composer/sax player David Mott uses: "Music always ever was."
Continue reading "The Air Is Not So Thin" »
Posted by on May 10, 2007 at 06:15 PM
I hope someone, somewhere, is penning (inputting?) a composition about Pluto. What a sorry day that was, when Pluto was declared a planet no more.
Plenty of other planets have their day on Canada Live tonight though, as cellist Alban Gerhardt joins the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall in a special live-to-air concert, featuring a not-a-planet-related piece, Schumann's Cello Concerto, and then the Planets by Gustav Holst, plus the world premiere of The Unnamed Planet, by Canadian composer Abigail Richardson.
Ms. Richardson, you know that unnamed planet piece? Can we talk?
Posted by on May 10, 2007 at 04:16 PM
When I read the lineup for Tonic tonight, I felt chagrined when I saw that a featured track would be "The loungy nu jazz stylings of Was a Bee with their ultra-popular tune, 'This is What You Are.'"
The who? With the what?
I slunk un-hiply off to my computer and googled Was A Bee, no quotes, hoping for instant cred on the Was A Bee tip.
Instead, I got some Wikipedia entry that said: "Hello. Let's make wikipedia good. My Japanese account page is here."
I thought, "No, that can't be the loungy, nu jazz Was A Bee, can it?"
My keen journalistic powers led me next to a blog about one man's seminal devastating childhood experience of trapping a bumble bee in his shirt, then fainting. (And I'm thinking, wait a minute, do bumble bees sting? I don't think so. What was his problem?)
Finally, I found out what all those in the loungy nu jazz know knew for ages and ages. The singer is an Italian Barry White type called Mario Biondi. The video to the hit song, "This Is What You Are" is odd, but pleasing. As for What A Bee? Still don't know. I keep meaning to email Tonic's producer, putting it off. The shame, the shame.
But the song really is good.
Posted by on May 10, 2007 at 12:15 PM
Some record labels (and yes, we'll go on calling them that until they truly no longer exist) conjure up a sound, an approach, an attitude. Even when the music that they release is actually quite diverse.
ECM is one of those labels. As Montreal guitarist and composer Martin Gladu writes, over on allaboutjazz.com, what ECM created was an "aesthetic identity."
Gladu takes an in depth look at the 2007 Granta Books publication, "Horizons Touched: The Music Of ECM," edited by Steve Lake and Paul Griffiths.
It's prompted me to dig out the old Jan Garbarek and Dave Holland ECM records (in this case it's literal -- they're LPs) to musically recall some of the marvel of early listening experiences of ECM artists.
Anyone have any thoughts on other labels that have their own, highly recognizable aesthetic identity? Feel free to comment.
Posted by on May 10, 2007 at 10:07 AM
Who can resist a bad pun? I can, usually, but not this morning.
Not with the news that the truly fab Amy Winehouse leads the field with three nominations in this year's Mojo magazine awards, announced yesterday.
For my money, she's one of the best new singers on the jazz/retro pop (but with an original twist) horizon.
For more on the Mojo awards, go to BBC News.
Posted by on May 10, 2007 at 08:00 AM
Behind the scenes of Radio 1's new A&E; programme, "Q," there was talk recently of celebrating organ Thursday. In their case, I suspect it might mean a whole lot more Hammond B3 than is the case with today's Here's To You.
For the record, I'll take any old organ, in the right hands. Jimmy Smith? OK. Gerhard Weinberger? Ditto.
The hands on the Here's To you organ piece du jour are in fact none other than Gerhard Weinberger's. The piece is a beaut - Bach's Toccata and Fugue.
Continue reading "For Every Organ A Thursday" »
Posted by on May 10, 2007 at 07:10 AM
When this story first broke (inasmuch as a story involving the Rolling Stones and horses can be said to "break") I was agog.
I'd better put my cards on the table here. Not an animal activist, but I am a big fan of horses. And the idea that hundreds of horses in the vicinity of an upcoming Rolling Stones concert were going to be drugged so that they would not be agitated by the music struck me as, well, totally nuts.
So I was glad that Mick and the boys (notice how they're often called "Mick and the boys," like they're a syndicate or something?) finally decided to do the right thing.
Move the concert!
Let the "Bigger Bang" tour roll on...and the horses sleep standing up.
For more info on this riveting saga, go to:
BBC news.
May 09, 2007
Posted by on May 9, 2007 at 08:33 PM
Yes, a really old joke. But kind of nice to be able to use it again, in the context of a really great group, led by saxophonist Quinsin Nachoff. They're called the Rhodes Quartet, and you can hear them tonight in concert on The Signal. David Braid is the man on the Fender Rhodes, btw.
I have to admit, I associate the Rhodes with a certain kind of lounge. Not the nicest of associations, either.
And not one that its inventor, Harold Rhodes, would share. He invented the Rhodes in the second world war, so that injured servicemen could practice while still in bed. (Really!)
Besides, there's piles of music that wouldn't be the same, were it not for the Rhodes. Say, Herbie Hancock on "Miles in the Sky," or on a zillion other recordings. The Doors "Riders On The Storm." The entire canon of Weather Report!
OK, I take back the tacky lounge thing.
Posted by on May 9, 2007 at 07:30 PM
You've probably had moments when you've found yourself muttering, "Well, if I was in charge..."
I find they're usually shared with equally grumpy colleagues, kvetching about other people's decisions. Gripe gripe gripe.
Here's your chance not to fall into bad water cooler behavior, and actually take some positive action. The Canada Council for the Arts announced today it's seeking the public's input into what the future of our national arts funding agency should be. The public -- that's us. And for us who want musicians to continue touring across this vast country, and for musicians to develop innovative new projects for our enjoyment -- this stuff matters.
Continue reading "Have Your Say" »
Posted by on May 9, 2007 at 04:35 PM
In my neighborhood there's a popular spot called Allen's. It's not my regular, too pricey.* And I begrudge the day I was told the kitchen would not substitute fruit for something called fadge. (It's an Irish thing. The fadge, I mean.)
But I love the look of the place. It's got a real bar, you know, all dark and oaky and polished. Also a fantastic back patio, with great big trees and long cool drinks. And if you care about such things, at Allen's you're bound to see the famous and the quasi famous. And then the rest of us.
Some folks I'd say fall into the famous Canadian (musicians) category -- Murray McLaughalan, Ian Thomas, Marc Jordan and Cindy Church -- used to get together at Allen's. So when they formed a band they named it in honour of their regular. (Probably they prefer fadge to fruit, many do.)
You can hear Lunch at Allen's tonight on Canada Live. Singing and playing, that is, not lunching.
*CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the opinions of Li Robbins on what is, or is not, too pricey.
Posted by on May 9, 2007 at 01:47 PM
Yesterday I mentioned that the BBC had a listener poll for the most inane pop lyric in history. The winner was from 1990s Brit singer, Des’ree. The lyric?
"I don't want to see a ghost
It's the sight that I fear most
I'd rather have a piece of toast
Watch the evening news."
I thought I should share another lyric that made the top ten, from indie-rock band, Razorlight.
"And I met a girl
She asked me my name
I told her what it was."
Oh I know. Haven't we all been in that place?
(Got any favorite taxing lyrics of your own? Do tell.)
Posted by on May 9, 2007 at 12:30 PM
According to music/theatre critic Patrick Carnegy, "When Wagner went to meet the Kaiser at Bayreuth railway station for the premiere of the Ring in 1876, all the Kaiser could think of to say was, 'So, you've actually managed to get it done.' I'm pleased to have got it done."
I'll bet. It took Carnegy a mere 40 years to write "Wagner and the Art of the Theatre." Whereas Wagner only clocked in at a little over a quarter of a century for the Ring.
Last night Carnegy's book won the Royal Philharmonic Society prize for "creative communication."
To find out more about what the author thinks of Wagner, (demon? hero? neither?), not to mention the name of that award, go to: the Guardian.
Posted by on May 9, 2007 at 11:21 AM
This just in -- Manny root root roots for the Mets!
Although I still don't know where he stands on the concerto/baseball analogy. (Perhaps that's for the best though.)
Definitely for the best is finding out that at least he's not a Yankees or BoSox fan. Not in these trying (Jays) times.
Posted by on May 9, 2007 at 10:00 AM
I was thinking about piano concertos and baseball. The way they're a lot like life.
The highs, the lows. The striving, the yearning. The comedy, the tragedy. (Please no comments about the Jays -- that's just the tragedy. Or no, wait a minute, maybe it's actually the comedy?)
Anyway, piano virtuoso Emanuel Ax has done a fair bit of thinking about piano concertos himself. (Don't know where he stands on baseball.) Today he talks Beethoven's Concerto in G on Studio Sparks. It's considered groundbreaking by Manny, and he should know.
Posted by on May 9, 2007 at 06:35 AM
It's interesting watching how venerable music institutions develop and change. The Grammy Awards just announced they're branching out into a little sideline in honor of their upcoming 50th anniversary -- merchandising.
Among other things, they're planning to put out a coffee table book. According to the report this morning in the Globe and Mail, it will not eschew some of the Grammy's more difficult moments. (Think Milli Vanilli.)
Closer to home and considerably more uplifting: the recent announcement that roots rockers Blue Rodeo will be made Royal Conservatory of Music fellows. It's an annual award granted to Canadian artists who have made a lasting contribution. Blue Rodeo are in good company, predecessors include Isabel Bayrakdarian, Oscar Peterson, The Tragically Hip. (For the full story: CBC | Arts News.)
The RCM's view of what constitutes music worth recognizing in this country has also meant a broadening of its music education programmes in recent times, with the creation of a world music centre and an urban music department.
I wonder if you can get a silver medal in D.J. Fundamentals?
May 08, 2007
Posted by on May 8, 2007 at 08:30 PM
Influence peddling sounds like a term William Safire might gleefully dissect in his Sunday New York Times Magazine column.
Influence peddling might come on the heels of someone saying something about "government corruption," or "preferential treatment."
Influence peddling? It's a bad, bad thing.
Apparently not always.
In the case of music on The Signal this evening, influence peddling takes on a whole different shade of meaning, as Laurie plays music that's inspired other genres, music ahead of its time. Tonight, the influence being peddled is by Stockhausen. You'll hear a performance of "Stimmung," a piece for six voices and six microphones that Stockhausen wrote back in 1968.
Posted by on May 8, 2007 at 06:45 PM
This summer, Denzal Sinclaire, Canadian jazz singer (note I did not say "crooner," don't you think that's somehow faintly pejorative these days?) has a role in Soulpepper Theatre's production of William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life, a drama set in a San Francisco honkytonk at the end of the 1930s. Sounds well worth seeing.
Well worth hearing tonight is Sinclaire's concert on Canada Live, in the second half of the show.
The first half features Liverpudlian pianist Paul Lewis, from a recital series presented by the Vancouver Recital Society, a series in which he works his way through all of Beethoven's 32 sonatas.
Unrelated Paul Lewis trivia: In addition to coming from Liverpool, apparently Lewis never heard classical music when he was a kid. At age four, someone gave him a toy organ with less than an octave range, and that was enough to set him on his musical path.
I'm pretty sure you'll hear him cover more than an octave tonight though.
Posted by on May 8, 2007 at 03:30 PM
1. The Bjork: Her newest CD, with producer du jour, Timbaland, is being called more mainstream but still very Bjork by critics, including Canada's own Robert Everett-Green at The Globe and Mail.
2. The Blog: If you're a fan of New York Times music writers, Ben Ratliff and Jon Pareles, you'll be interested to know they've starting blogging as part of the newspaper's new endeavor, ArtsBeat.
Nice idea -- Ratliff et al reporting from festivals etc. as they never would in the paper itself. (Only quibble: What's wrong with "Arts Beat?" Why must two words so frequently become one these days? Maybe I should direct this query to the folks at And Sometimes Y, over on CBC Radio 1.)
3. The Bad: Last in this list of news briefs...BBC announced the results of a listener poll for most inane pop lyric in history recently. Here's a sample of the best worst lyric, from 1990s Brit singer, Des’ree:
I don't want to see a ghost
It's the sight that I fear most
I'd rather have a piece of toast
Watch the evening news.
Posted by on May 8, 2007 at 01:00 PM
...is the name of the latest recording by Maria Muldaur. She's never been one to shy away from the provocative. (Remember her version of "Don't You Make Me High, Don't You Feel My Leg?" I recall as a teenager feeling vaguely embarrassed when it was on the radio.)
Continue reading "Naughty, Bawdy And Blue" »
Posted by on May 8, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Sophie Dansereau, the VSO's Assistant Principal Bassoonist ran the Vancouver Marathon on the weekend, finishing with an impressive time: 3:25:45.
That's less than five minutes per kilometre, for 42 k's! (Ouch, knees hurt just thinking of it.)
Maybe she can start a whole new school of marathon training -- forget the treadmill, take up a woodwind?
Anyway, her performance means she qualifies for the Boston Marathon, good news for her running career.
Musically she's in shape too -- she's featured soloist in the upcoming "Symphony at the Roundhouse" program of contemporary music in Vancouver, called, “Perchance to Dream.”
Posted by on May 8, 2007 at 07:35 AM
At the CBC we have this thing called the Hotsheet, which sounds like something you'd carefully pick up by the corner and fan a few times before reading, but really it's just a list of what's coming up on the radio.
What seemed hottest this morning, or maybe oddest, was the name "Gum Suckers' March," a Percy Grainger composition Catherine Belyea's going to play on Here's To You.
"What's with the name?" I said to myself.
The Grainger fans immediately answered: "Sheesh, don't you know about the Gum Sucker?"
To which I popped my gum and said, "Nope."
Apparently the name is Aussie slang for Australians born in Victoria, Grainger's home state. The ubiquitous eucalyptus trees there are called "gums," the shoots at the trunk are called "suckers," and somehow this came to mean a native son of Victoria.
Now, if I'd only thought of Kookaburra I'd have known that right away. Because of course he sits in the old gum tree and laughs, as anyone who ever went to summer camp knows.
Posted by on May 8, 2007 at 07:15 AM
The great New Orleans clarinetist, Alvin Batiste, died on the weekend of an apparent heart attack.
For the New Orleans musical community attending this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival -- this was losing one of the family.
Batiste was the first African-American soloist with the New Orleans Phil, he jammed with Ornette Coleman, he was an extraordinary force in N.O. music education, and most recently, was set to perform at the the festival with Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. on Sunday.
When Mr. Batiste passed, just hours before the scheduled performance, the festival apparently considered canceling the show. Instead, they held something of a jazz funeral.
For an exploration of Alvin Batiste's musical legacy, go to Doug Ramsey's blog, Rifftides.
May 07, 2007
Posted by on May 7, 2007 at 06:45 PM
Tonight on Canada Live you can hear some of the music that's made Canadians from Yellowknife to St. John's get off their sofas and into the vertical soft seats -- recorded at the first stop on the MSO's much publicized, first coast to coast tour. As conductor Kent Nagano told the assembled flock at the symphony's season launch:
“Canada is part of who the MSO is. It’s part of Montreal and Quebec, but it’s also part of this profound and huge nation. I didn’t want our first tour to be overseas. We are, after all, a Canadian orchestra.”
Nice to get nationalistic for musical reasons. Also nice to celebrate cultural activity "rooted in place," as some would have it. (Though this always makes me picture culture as some weed growing through cracks in the sidewalk. Hmm...) Anyway, the point is, it's a Montreal double bill, with the second concert from a recording done at a CBC/McGill concert series, featuring flute music from renaissance dances to Celtic tunes.
Posted by on May 7, 2007 at 05:37 PM
Here’s just one of many reasons to tune into R2 this evening. On Tonic tonight you can hear some music from an artist some call “the new voice of bossa nova,” Luca Mundaca. (Actually she's probably as much a singer-songwriter as she is a singer of bossa, but we won't quibble unduly.) Need another reason? Oliver Jones backed by an orchestra. Sumptuous.
Posted by on May 7, 2007 at 04:31 PM
"Fascinating rhythm, you've got me on the go, fascinating rhythm, I'm all aquiver..."
Got a little rhythm that pitter pats in your brain? Well, one cure for being stuck in some unwelcome syncopation is to go the other way -- to what The Signal is calling "hypnotizing rhythms." In other words, music less likely to have you tapping your foot, more likely to induce some kind of trance-ish state.
(So maybe an appropriate update of the Gershwin lyric for tonight's edition of The Signal might go something like this: "Hypnotizing rhythm, you've got me on the, you've got me on the, you've got me on the...")
But seriously folks, tune in tonight to listen through the subtle shifts of music from the likes of The Dastan Ensemble, Gaia, and Legion of Green Men.
Posted by on May 7, 2007 at 03:53 PM
I was listening to The Signal with Pat Carrabré on Saturday night, and he was playing a version of Radiohead's Paranoid Android, arranged for string quartet. Radiohead songs get covered a lot. Sometimes this is good -- Brad Mehldau's take on that same song, for instance. Sometimes this is not, as is the case with this Radiohead medley, performed by a college marching band. But the impulse to interpret the music of bands like Radiohead is no surprise, not when you realize that songs like Paranoid Android are about as awe inspiring as one could wish music to be.
So it's very cool that so many musicians are blurring the lines between chamber music, new music, jazz and non-commercial pop in various ways these days. (Hands up all you art-pop musicians currently using string arrangements...huh, that was everyone in the room.)
There was some good writing not long ago on this very subject by New Yorker critic Alex Ross.
And there's also some good music coming up on tonight's version of the Signal too -- more on that a little later.
Posted by on May 7, 2007 at 01:39 PM
...check out this video of Segovia, playing Fernando Sor's "Variations on a Theme by Mozart." Lovely sepia toned video, lovely playing...although guitar nerds are all too happy to debate the master's interpretation.
Posted by on May 7, 2007 at 09:46 AM
If you are a regular reader of the Radio 2 Blog, you may have noticed that your usual genial blogger (blogophonist?) isn't posting today. Fear not, Jowi is just taking a little break, one perhaps involving sangria, flamenco music and warm Mediterranean breezes.
Annoying, I know.
Anyway, by way of introduction...my name is Li Robbins, I'm a music journalist (the Globe and Mail, CBC Radio, obscure magazines) and I'm filling in for Mr. Taylor this week.
He and I go way back. When we were practically children we both hosted music shows on a community radio station, CKLN-FM. JT's show came later in the day, so it was a matter of months before we met in person. As a result, when I'd "promo" his show, (reading his name from the day's log), I'd pronounce JOW as though it rhymed with WOW.
How shocked was I when we finally met and he introduced himself? Very.
The moral of the story? Listen to your radio!
P.S. In case you’re wondering, “Li” rhymes with “we.” (You know, like the "i" in Jowi.)
Posted by on May 7, 2007 at 07:59 AM
What do the Orchid Ensemble, the CBC Radio Orchestra and the VSO have in common? There's the obvious -- they're all music ensembles of considerable stature. And the marginally less obvious -- they're all based in British Columbia.
Guest host Catherine Belyea makes the left coast connection this morning on Here's To You. (No coincidence, since Ms. Belyea grew up in Vancouver, and is happy to share her love of B.C. and its music makers.)
Posted by on May 7, 2007 at 07:24 AM
Good Monday morning.
It's lovely waking up to Music and Company at 6 a.m.
Tom sounds a little sleepy at first, like most of us at that time of day, but quickly brightens up (unlike most of us) as he starts talking about the "architecture" of C.P.E. Bach's music. Then it's music from France, specifically Versailles, since today is the anniversary of the inauguration of the palace in 1664. (We're starting to wake up!)
Next, Tom plays music inspired by birdsong at Versailles, which prompts some slightly less sleepy thinking about how musicians of all times have been fascinated by birdsong, and questioned how it fits into our ideas of what music is.
Musician and philosopher David Rothenberg writes about that in a book that came out recently called Why Birds Sing: A Journey Into the Mystery of Bird Song.
"Just because science demonstrates that a song has a specific territorial or sexual purpose," he writes, "doesn't mean that birds aren't singing because they love to."
Ah yes, the places Tom Allen can take us.
May 06, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 6, 2007 at 07:56 PM
Tonight on The Signal with Pat Carrabré, you'll hear railway-related tunes by Jocelyn Morlock, Carpet Musics and Michael Bushnell.
Then, more semi-finalists from the Eckhardt-Grammate competition, on this weekend in Brandon, Manitoba.
And a concert featuring New Music in New Places. The Ottawa Chamber Music Society takes their chops to Maxwell's Bistro.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 6, 2007 at 05:53 PM
Tonight on Canada Live with Patti Schmidt, Walter Delahunt returns to his home province - Nova Scotia - to demonstrate why he is one of the world's top classical pianists and teachers. The program features Chopin's "Piano Sonata in B minor".
Later, Doug Riley - Doctor Music himself - plays piano and Hammond B-3 in an intimate studio session in front of a very happy audience in Halifax.
And finally, a trio of jazz greats - Neil Swainson, Dave Restivo and Gene Smith - recorded in a special concert at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 6, 2007 at 03:51 PM
Tonight on Tonic with Tim Tamashiro, it's all about Swing - with great music from the Jonny Favorite Swing Orchestra, Louis Armstrong and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
Tim and the crew celebrate the wonderful Putumayo World Music compilation discs with some Global Soul and Brazilian blends.
You'll also hear from up and comer Sophie Berkal-Sarbit, Dizzy Gillespie, Michael Bublé and Sophie Milman.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 6, 2007 at 02:49 PM
Royal Wood is the kind of torchlight piano and guitar musician whose songs float and soar through romance and heartbreak. Priya Thomas is all about barbed-wire guitar and scotch-soaked drums pounding underneath a tour-de-force voice. The clash of these brilliant sounds sparks this episode of Fuse, with Alan Neal.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 6, 2007 at 01:46 PM
This week on Roots and Wings with Philly Markowitz you'll hear new sounds from some of the biggest names in world music including Brazil's Bebel Gilberto and Cuba's late great Ibrahim Ferrer.
Plus a duet from jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater's new disc "Red Earth", which was recorded in Mali and features the extraordinary voice of Oumou Sangare.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 6, 2007 at 10:51 AM
This week, in a program dedicated to Victor Frankenstein, PhD, Skylarking host André Alexis offers more collage: poems, bits of prose, songs, songs songs and then some more songs. He throws the switch of his wit to animate it all.
If you don't like the show, assemble a mob and get yourself some torches and pitchforks. But you'll see that the show really just wants love.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 6, 2007 at 10:40 AM
According to multi-instrumentalist (and guitar specialist) Harry Manx, "Blues is like the earth and Indian music is like the heavens. What I do is find the balance between the two."
Harry welcomes one of Canada's top guitarists, Kevin Breit, along with bassist George Koller and others, including South Asian vocalist Samidha Joglekar, to his performance for On Stage with Shelley Solmes this afternoon.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 6, 2007 at 09:58 AM
I loved waitering - not quite as much as bartending but I loved it.
I worked in a few different kinds of restaurants. My favourite was a place called Karin in Yorkville in Toronto. The chef shopped every morning, using the previous day's leftover ingredients to come up with the lunch menu while he (and she) contemplated what to make of the market for the dinner menu.
I loved talking to people about the food and the combinations and the wines. It wasn't a pretentious place. I've written about it once already because Harry Somers and his wife Barbara Chilcott-Somers were regulars there. And that's the thing - there were all kinds of creative people among the staff and the clientele.
Continue reading "A Noble Profession" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 6, 2007 at 05:36 AM
Take it easy today and let your radio do all the work.
Start with Choral Concert with Howard Dyck, celebrating the Elektra Women's Choir 20th Anniversary Concert - a festive celebration of 20 years of choral excellence, featuring works by Hasse, Orban and Elgar, plus world premieres by Canadian composers Ramona Luengen and Jeff Ryan. Diane Loomer and Ramona Edmundson share the conducting duties.
Then, on Symphony Hall with Katherine Duncan, pianist Michelle Gregoire joins the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra under conductor/ trombonist Alain Trudel. The concert features the world premiere of a work commissioned from her by CBC, along with works by Michael Daugherty, George Gershwin, John Adams and more.
Then drift into mid-day with Catherine Belyea and The Singer and the Song. Today, Catherine welcomes English soprano Susan Bullock as her special guest. Susan is currently singing the title role in 'Elektra' with the Canadian Opera Company, following her triumph as Brunnhilde in the Ring Cycle last fall. You'll hear some of Susan's favourite singers: Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra, as well as Astrid Varnay and Bryn Terfel. Of course, you'll also hear Susan herself, singing songs by Prokofiev and Ned Rorem.
May 05, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 5, 2007 at 08:00 PM
I've seen my share of all three today en route from London to Malaga to Periana.
But tonight on the Signal with Pat Carrabré, they travel the globe in search of new music in their PT&A; special. From Do Make Say Think to Christos Hatzis to Carsick, Pat and his team explore the collision between music and transportation.
Plus the first in a series: Pat goes Gothic with a selection of dark and scary music, including Kilar's "Dracula." Then, it's off to the Eckhardt-Gramatte competition this weekend in Brandon, Manitoba, to hear the pianists compete in the semi-finals.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 5, 2007 at 05:28 PM
It's true.
Jim Bryson is the kind of singer/songwriter who builds a cult following thanks to great writing and fine musicianship, but often without getting the kind of popular attention he deserves. Maybe that will change after you hear him tonight on Canada Live with Patti Schmidt in a concert recorded at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, Quebec. Honestly, the man writes gems.
Later, jazz bassist John Geggie welcomes three equally talented friends for a sold-out concert of instrumental tunes at the National Arts Centre.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 5, 2007 at 03:53 PM
OK, who remembers that classic track?
Long John Baldry from the "It Ain't Easy" album and the classic courtroom dialog moment where the prosecution intones about the "strange sounds of boojie woojie music".
Tim Tamashiro comes to its defense tonight on Tonic with tunes by some of the best boogie woogie piano stars around! You'll hear the legendary Fats Waller, along with Canada's Doug Riley and Michael Kaeshammer. You'll also hear from Blossom Dearie, Colleen Allen and Joe Sample.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 5, 2007 at 11:21 AM
The Metropolitan Opera broadcast season wraps up this week on Saturday Afternoon at the Opera with Howard Dyck, featuring a production of Gluck's classic Orfeo ed Euridice, starring Lisa Milne, Heidi Grant Murphy and David Daniels. James Levine conducts.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 5, 2007 at 09:46 AM
Today on Sound Advice with Rick Phillips, Rick spotlights German Romantic including works by Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schumann. Among them is a new recording of Symphony No. 3 by Brahms, made by conductor Marin Alsop with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
In the Library, Rick wraps up the series on Cecile Chaminade, the turn-of-the-last-century composer who has now been well-celebrated by Rick, if not by everyone else. He'll conclude with a look at some of her songs and the singers who recorded them.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 5, 2007 at 08:03 AM
That's where I'm beginning my weekend.
When I was a kid thumbing through the music magazines, all the photos seemed to have been taken at Heathrow airport in London. Elton John returning from a triumphant tour, Todd Rundgren and Bebe Buell slipping through a service door to avoid the paparazzi. I always assumed I'd bump into a bunch of famous people if I ever found myself at Heathrow but I always seemed to fly into Gatwick when I went to London.
Well, I've now been to Heathrow several times and I still haven't seen anyone famous.... yet.
Much more of a security presence than the last time I was here - feels a bit like Belgrade Airport in 2001 - but no music celebrities. I'll let you know if I see anyone
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 5, 2007 at 07:10 AM
Well, I'm not sure what Peter's got lined up for the Weekend this week but it's always impeccable so you're good to go as the sun begins to creep into the room and the coffee starts to drip.
Once you're up, washed and have cracked the papers, you'll be ready for the Vinyl Café.
Newfoundland songsmith Ron Hynes joins Stuart this week in a concert from St. John's.
Also on the show, the story of Dave's daughter Stephanie and her brief career as a waitress.
Ahhh, waiting tables. I'll write about that tomorrow.
May 04, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 4, 2007 at 07:38 PM
Tonight on The Signal with Pat Carrabré, the harp descends right into your radio. You'll hear music for harp by Jenn Grant, R. Murray Schafer, and Joanna Newsom.
Then the first installment of a new feature - the Low-Note Showdown, in which Pat and the gang ask just who can sing the lowest note. This week, The Blankket versus Tom Waits.
And, after all the kerfuffle over Prince's cover of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" (which I think is fabulous, omitted Canada references aside) you'll hear the remarkable Sufjan Stevens' take on "Free Man in Paris"
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 4, 2007 at 05:42 PM
A feast of jazz and blues from Montreal tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway. Montreal's Altsys Jazz Orchestra pays tribute to the great jazz organ player Jimmy Smith. Fifteen musicians play his favorite music onstage at Maison de la culture Frontenac.
Later, Espace musique's Soirée Blues - a cross-cultural presentation from Espace Musique and Radio One's Saturday Night Blues recorded at the Montreal Spectrum. This major blues event in Montreal featured great Canadian and American artists, including Curley Bridges, Chris Thomas King, Boo Boo Davis, Shakura S'Aida, Bill King and the Saturday Nite Fish Fry.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 4, 2007 at 03:57 PM
Tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch, it's a salute to the Big Apple, with New York tunes from Tony Bennett, Mark Whitfield and Dave Young.
Then, from the other side of the Pond, from Ronnie Scott's London nightclub, Van Morrison sings the jazz classic "That's Life."
And because it's Friday, they'll get a bit silly with Spike Jones' rendition of "Cocktails for Two".
Do you think those might be Manhattans?
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 4, 2007 at 12:03 PM
In what they claim is the biggest guitar ensemble in recorded history, a group of nearly 2,000 musicians gathered in a square in Warsaw on Tuesday to play a Jimi Hendrix tune.
Read the whole story at CBC | Music News.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 4, 2007 at 11:34 AM
This Just IN!!!!
Due to a scheduling conflict at the National Arts Centre, Studio Sparks isn't able to present the NAC-CBC Aber Diamond Debut recital live-to-air this afternoon as noted in the previous post. The concert is still being recorded, and we hope to play parts of it in the weeks ahead.... but Eric and the gang will not make their way down the Mall to be at the NAC live. Instead, they're going to present a terrific concert recording of Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony, and some of the winners of the Classical Brit Awards which were announced last night.
The joys of live radio... there's always something.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 4, 2007 at 09:53 AM
Today, Studio Sparks with Eric Friesen comes to you live from the lobby of the National Arts Centre for the NAC debut of Quebec City-born pianist Andrée-Anne Perras-Fortin. She made her orchestral debut at age 13, and she's won an armload of distinctions and awards since then. Her program for this recital includes music by Chopin, Beethoven, Hetu, and Ravel.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 4, 2007 at 06:45 AM
Victor Herbert wrote "Babes in Toyland" in 1903 following the success of a musical based on L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful World of Oz". Herbert's hop on the bandwagon is about two children who escape from a miserly uncle to the garden of Contrary Mary - gateway to Toyland. It's a stiff-legged little piece of music but you might enjoy "The March of the Toys" from "Babes" today on Here's To You with Shelley Solmes.
Also on the show, music by Barber, Elgar, Dvorak and more.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 4, 2007 at 05:53 AM
Four of Canada’s greatest songwriters inspire four of the country’s best vocal performers. The concert features Juno award-winning and internationally praised singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith, Juno-nominated singer Sarah Slean, Vancouver’s Veda Hille, and Montreal singer Marc Déry.
The impressive array of talent will perform works of legendary songwriters Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy Ste. Marie and Serge Fiori in arrangements created especially for this event by Canadian composer/arrangers Phil Dwyer, Glenn Buhr, Giorgio Magnanensi and the CBC Radio Orchestra’s own Alain Trudel.
The Great Canadian Songbook at Concerts On Demand
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 4, 2007 at 04:08 AM
It's Friday - and that means it's Tom Allen's weekly Cage Match - where the world's great composers take on the big issues and each other in a friendly musical duel.
En garde!!!
May 03, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 3, 2007 at 07:45 PM
Tonight on the Signal with Laurie Brown, it's all about Sanctuary.
Paul Frehner wrote a work called "Sanctuary" in response to the cataclysmic tsunami that struck parts of Asia on December 26, 2004. You'll hear it played by the Esprit Orchestra. You'll also be invited to take refuge in the beautiful music of the Halifax-based group Sanctuary and their album 'The Heart Has Its Reasons'.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 3, 2007 at 05:41 PM
It's a tradition as great as the great outdoors.
Tonight on Canada Live with Matt Galloway, Musical Director Robert Minczuk has been putting his own stamp on the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. And that's led to some interesting collaborations, including tonight's concert, featuring Brazilian cowboy guitarist Yamandu Costa, playing a concerto written especially for him in a Brazilian folk style.
Later, the Singer-Songwriter Circle: four Alberta singer/songwriters gathered at the Ironwood Stage in Calgary on a cold and stormy night. The weather kept the crowds away but it made for a cozy atmosphere for the performers. They are Jane Hawley, the mother-daughter combo Myrol, Rob Heath and Gord Mathews.
Listen on your radio, timeshift from the Listen Live panel or listen when you like at the Concerts On Demand link.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 3, 2007 at 03:39 PM
...to the previous post... ahem...
There have been many great versions of the Kurt Weill classic "Mack the Knife", from Bobby Darin's 1950s hit to Ella Fitzgerald's brilliant scat version, improvised when she forgot the words during a concert in Berlin. But wait 'til you hear "Mack" brought to life by Toronto pianist Bill King. Now, that's what keeps a tune interesting after endless listenings. You can hear it tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch.
She's also got legendary jazz diva Carol Sloane singing "While We're Young", and Abbey Lincoln with her take on a tune from "The Wizard of Oz", "If I Only Had a Brain".
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 3, 2007 at 11:30 AM
It doesn't necessarily mean you don't like the music, it's just that you don't really ever need to hear it again.
Actually, I really have never liked "Hotel California" by The Eagles but let's face it - you really don't ever need to hear that song again. It's long and boring and the entire thing unfolds on its own in your memory after the first bar or two. I'm the same with "Layla" by Derek and the Dominoes or "Stairway to Heaven".
What music is on your "Don't Play it Again Sam" list?
Let me know by hitting the COMMENT link below.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 3, 2007 at 08:59 AM
CBC recording crews are hard at work across the country picking up live music recordings for your ongoing listening pleasure - for Canada Live and Concerts On Demand.
Tonight, Small World Music and The Monayr Asha Foundation present The Lula World 2007 Opening Night Party at Toronto's Lula Lounge. Tape will be rolling as a host of performers give hope from the heart – for youth scholarships in developing nations. The results will air soon.
Also on the To-Do list in coming days, a recording in Ottawa of Stradissimo - a concert of 13 Canadian musicians who've been beneficiaries of the Canada Council Instrument Bank programme. That's all in celebration of 50 years of the Canada Council.
Plus, more from Ottawa at Quebec Scene - the successful follow up to the National Arts Centre's 2003 Atlantic Scene and 2005's Alberta Scene.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 3, 2007 at 06:58 AM
On a cold and stormy night in February, Gord Matthews, Jane Hawley, Haley and Joanne Myrol, and Ron Heath gathered at Calgary’s Ironwood Stage and Grill to perform a songwriters circle. A small but appreciative audience who braved the elements were treated to an evening of stories and music from these talented Alberta singer/songwriters. You don’t have to leave the comfort of your home, however, to enjoy this performance and sense of community for a long-standing musical tradition - the Songwriters Circle.
It's all available at a click right here at Concerts On Demand
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 3, 2007 at 06:47 AM
Haydn and Holst .
They're featured today on Here's to You with Shelley Solmes, along with an Irving Berlin tune that ran eerily through the movie version of Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit".
Plus music by Rodrigo and Stravinsky, Organ Thursday and more!
May 02, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 2, 2007 at 06:00 PM
Think about some of the great songs that have come out of Canada over the years. Now imagine these songs lushly orchestrated and recast for some of today's most compelling performers. The result is the Great Canadian Songbook.
Tune in to Canada Live with Matt Galloway tonight for music by Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Serge Fiori and Joni Mitchell sung by Sarah Slean, Veda Hille, Ron Sexmith and Marc Dery. They're backed by the CBC Radio Orchestra under the direction of Alain Trudel.
Later, legendary Canadian rock band Chilliwack, recorded at the Harmony Arts Festival in West Vancouver.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 2, 2007 at 02:04 PM
I was fortunate enough to be at a small press event upstairs at the HMV store on Yonge St. in Toronto a couple of years ago when Canada Post unveiled its Oscar Peterson stamp. There were about 20 - 30 of us milling about waiting for things to begin when Elvis Costello and Diana Krall walked through and took their seats in front of the tiny stage followed by Oscar in a wheelchair. Diana played a song with lyrics by Elvis in Oscar's honour and then Oscar took over the keyboard and played a short while on his own. He was completely charming.
Continue reading "Jobim and Oscar" »
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 2, 2007 at 12:02 PM
One of the world's most renowned orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic, said yesterday that it plans an investigation into its role during Germany's Nazi era. A book is to be published this year by Mischa Aster with the co-operation of the orchestra on the period from 1933 to 1945, and above all on the complex relationship that legendary conductor Wilhelm Furtwaengler had with top Nazis. An exhibition and TV movie are also planned.
(Via The Globe and Mail - Music News.)
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 2, 2007 at 09:36 AM
This week on Studio Sparks with Eric Friesen, you'll hear Part Two of "The Concerto According to Manny," the acclaimed series on the great piano concertos.
In this episode, pianist Emanuel Ax has chosen to present Mozart`s stormy "D Minor Concerto, K.466" to illustrate Mozart's genius in the piano concerto form.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 2, 2007 at 06:57 AM
Mona wrote in to say she was disappointed with the amount of coverage of the death of Mstislav Rostropovich here in this blog and elsewhere on the service.
The truth is, it does take time and resources to put things together that are of any substance. I'm also not the right person to pull together a fitting piece - I'll leave that to the true aficionados.
Mona, you and other Rostropovich fans will surely enjoy today's edition of Here's To You with Shelley Solmes. You'll hear the great conductor and musician accompanying soprano Galina Vishnevskaya on piano, and playing Dvorak's "Cello Concerto in B Minor" with the Berlin Philharmonic.
Also on the show, music by Handel, Pachelbel, Bartok and more.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 2, 2007 at 04:19 AM
It seems there's lots that people love about Tom Allen, according to the responses to my post last week. Gosh, I hope people didn't think I was actually taking Tom to serious task about letting me know about what's coming up on the show!
I'll tell you what I'm looking forward to later this week is the "Cage Match" (I think John Cage should win every week).
Do you think we could get Tom's Friday musical shootout into the weekly sports pools?
May 01, 2007
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 1, 2007 at 07:38 PM
If Handel were alive today, would he be composing with violas and harpsichords, or turntables and samplers? Hard to say, but he would surely find that water remains as compelling a theme for composers today as it was in the 18th century. Tonight on The Signal with Laurie Brown, you'll hear liquid sounds from a live concert by the Esprit Orchestra featuring the music of Brian Current and Gyorgy Ligeti. There's also thirsty music from the desert by Tinariwen, and water-themed tunes from the Legion of Green Men and Colleen.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 1, 2007 at 05:49 PM
Tonight on Canada Live with Matt Gallowy, hear Via Salzburg, one of Toronto’s top chamber ensembles.
Led by internationally-celebrated violinist Mayumi Seiler, in this concert Via Salzburg plays works by Arnold Schoenberg and Canadian composer Jose Evangelista.
Then it’s jazz with pianist, composer and vocalist Laila Biali. She’s won two National Jazz Awards, and opened for Diana Krall at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. In this performance, Laila is joined by an all-star line-up of musical friends as she showcases her own arrangements of songs by several Canadian songwriters.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 1, 2007 at 04:00 PM
I'd say one of my favourite Tom Waits songs is "Time".
Well the smart money's on Harlem and the moon is in the streets and the shadow boys are breaking all the laws. When you're east of East St. Louis and the wind is making speeches and the rain sounds like a round of applause.
Sigh.
Tonight on Tonic with Katie Malloch - in a related vein - Lyle Lovett and the Reverend Al Green cover "Funny How Time Slips Away". Pllus the flying fingers of Oliver Jones and "Bye Bye Country Boy" from the delightful Karen Allison. And much more, of course.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 1, 2007 at 03:13 PM
I believe Bjork is one of the most extraordinary musical artists of our time - that in many ways she has epitomized the the musical art of our time. She is a beating, earthy, human life force that animates our increasingly electronic soundscape. Her visual sense is similar and integrates better with her music than most artists.
She actually refutes some of what I've just said in a wonderful interview with The Guardian Unlimited.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 1, 2007 at 01:51 PM
Just back from beautiful Port Carling in Ontario's Muskoka Lakes district.
I was there for a performance by Canadian folk icon Valdy as part of the Muskoka Lakes Arts Festival.
It's so nice to be in a community like that at a show like that before the place goes crazy with cottagers and tourists - mostly just the local folks in the audience. It creates a nice intimate feel when the community knows the artist is there just for them.
Stayed at The Manse B&B; across from the community centre where the concert was held and spent part of the morning playing with 3 brand new kittens born in the house a few weeks ago. That's my excuse for not having anything to say about Here's To You - other than that I very much enjoyed the early music from Catalonia!
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 1, 2007 at 01:07 PM
The 12th edition of the Montreal Chamber Music Festival gets underway this week with an eclectic lineup that founder Denis Brott hopes will shock, awe and inspire concertgoers of all ages.
Read the whole story at CBC | Music News.
Posted by Jowi Taylor on May 1, 2007 at 08:42 AM
John Weinzweig was a giant of Canadian music. He was not only one of our finest composers, he was an outstanding teacher, and he founded both the Canadian League of composers and the Canadian Music Centre.
Weinzweig taught at least three generations of Canadian composers including Harry Somers, Harry Freedman, John Beckwith and R. Murray Schafer.
Weinzweig died in August 2006 at the age of 93. This concert celebrates his life through performances of his music and talks by composers and musicians who knew Weinzweig well.
The Radical Remembered - A Tribute to John Weinzweig using your Concerts on Demand panel.
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