by Anthony Kershaw
There are so many great recordings of the Beethoven Symphonies, anything new has an ‘angle’ or should aspire to be something special. This new recording by Joshua Bell directing from the concertmaster’s chair attempts both.
The orchestra in question is the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and the repertoire, my two favourite Beethoven Symphonies, 4 and 7. Bell has recently been named the ASMF’s new music director. An interesting choice and the first since the retirement of founder Sir Neville Marriner.
The orchestra’s members are made up from many of the A list pros from London orchestras and freelancers. Does this a crack band make? Surely, a great orchestra is more than the sum of its parts. Even the great Abbado pick up vehicle, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, presents a mini season or three each year. The Academy is primarily a touring and recording band.
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by Michael Levy
It is a new year and may I wish everyone a happy and prosperous year. Much of interest has happened, so first I want to apologize for taking so long between parts of this article, but I spent a lot of my time working on this project, and there was the matter of the Las Vegas CES and THE SHOW, and then the flu.
The displays at CES and THE SHOW confirmed some of my theories on where the audiophile community is headed, and there were superb new products displayed. I had the pleasure of touring the show with Marty Appel and Henry Wilkinson.
I was also there to meet some of my suppliers. There is a wonderful network of parts distributors, designers, and manufacturers for the loudspeaker industry. The sourcing is worldwide, and the suppliers can vary in size from garage operations to huge corporations. My interest is to locate the best products that would suite my design goals with a keen eye for the newest technologies.
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Victoria Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, Terence Tam.
Upcoming March 15, 2013. McPherson Playhouse, Victoria, BC — For many years, Victoria was known as home of the ‘newly wed and the nearly dead!’. Not any more. Victoria is a thriving, vibrant city blessed with the only Mediterranean climate in Canada (which is enough for me to want to live there) and fine cultural institutions such as the Victoria Symphony Orchestra.
The Symphony wanted to pay tribute to Victoria’s Chinese cultural heritage, its famous Chinatown in particular. ‘A Chinatown Celebration’ is the result — a six week festival of cultural events culminating in a very special concert on March 15. Chinese/Canadian composer Chan Ka Nin will premiere a new commission inspired by the Gates of Harmonious Interest, the entry way to Chinatown. The piece itself will include both narrative and theatrical elements. Also included is the beautiful Chinese ‘Butterfly Lovers Concerto’, performed by the orchestra’s concertmaster, Terence Tam. The concert will be conducted by the Symphony’s dynamic music director, Tania Miller.
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by Anthony Kershaw
Feb 14, 2013. Walter Hall, Toronto, ON — The members of The Duke Piano Trio are leading teachers in three of Canada’s major university music programs. Violinist Mark Fewer teaches at McGill in Montreal, cellist Tom Wiebe is encamped in London, ON at Western and Peter Longworth is a longtime professor at Glenn Gould, here in Toronto. All three have lengthy and equally impressive performing CVs.
The group has played together for almost twenty years. Just like the most combustible rock bands, classical chamber groups can experience problems: money, travel, relationships, health. Sounds like a marriage. Actually, it is a musical marriage of the most intimate kind. From the splendid music making I heard yesterday, this musical marriage seems very happy.
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Martin Appel reports:
Another year has come and gone and our team has returned from the bombast of Las Vegas with a mixed bag of impressions and experiences that make these shows worthwhile. The big names were well represented and some not so well represented.
We spend so much effort in trying to see and hear everything, that one sometimes forget that this is supposed to be fun! Seeing old friends, making new ones, establishing relationships, listening to new equipment is all part of what we do. We also understand that conditions at a show are not ideal, and, whether first impressions are positive or negative, it is only the start of any evaluation process.
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by Anthony Kershaw
Jan 31, 2013. Markham Theatre, Markham, ON — A homecoming of sorts for virtuoso, Leila Josefowicz. The 35 year old violinist was born in Mississauga but moved with her family to sunny California when she was three. Her scientist parents believed in a strong, public education and coupled this with immersion in the Suzuki Method (parents and young children take music lessons together on the same instrument). Her facility was recognized early and the family upped sticks to Philadelphia so the 13 year old Leila could to study at famed Curtis.
Beautiful and talented, Josefowicz was courted by Chanel and employed as a model at 20. But that life and a much publicized divorce (from Estonian conductor, Kristjan Järvi) are in the past. Josefowicz and her sons, Lucas and Rex, now make their home in New York City.
Josefowicz has been the inspiration for the publication and premieres of new works for the violin. Composers such as John Adams, Oliver Knussen and Esa Pekka Salonen have written works for her.
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by Anthony Kershaw
The following are my choices for the top orchestral flutists, active or retired. A pretty obscure (and somewhat silly) Top Ten, but fun for me and other flutists. Of course, all the players (and many more) are great soloists in their own right, but in the unique and very difficult job of orchestral principal, the following are brilliant. Happily, all these great artists are captured many times on your favourite records.
And, for once, the order is particular.
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