Tonight we heard the Cantus Ensemble, from Zagreb, Croatia perform a series of pieces, mostly from Croatian composers. For me the program was hit and miss, delivering a couple good pieces and a couple forgettable. The program started off with my least favourite of the evening, a rather straightforward, unimaginative three movement work. However things quickly changed directions with the second piece, disORDER by Kresimir Seletkovic. I found myself unable to follow where the composer was going throughout the piece, but always intrigued to find out where we'd end up. The only Canadian piece on the program, Michael Pepa's Isomorphe, rounded out the first half. This piece featured the ensemble plus violin, accordion and mezzo soloists. The quieter moments were particular notable, as was the solo violin part. The piece ended beautifully with a soft, static harmony held in the strings and pizzicato bass on a repeated note.
The second half started with a piece written by the ensemble's conductor, Berislav Sipus. This work came dangerously close to over-reliance on texture and colour, but didn't quite overdo it. The second piece of this half, Srdjan Dedic's Ich Vergesse Dich Nicht (I Won't Forget You) is ironically-titled at best. This 3-movement work lost me near the beginning of the second movement and never got me back. I'll most definitely forget it.
The concert ended with a work called Dolce Furioso by Dubravko Detoni. The title is extremely apt, as the piece constantly moves back and forth between soft and loud sections, often quite violently. This piece featured a brief but very dramatic and effective section in the middle where the entire ensemble mimes playing their instruments in a "furioso" section. It was quite striking to watch the whole ensemble appearing to play madly, with not a sound coming from the stage. Unfortunately some in the audience found this more comical than dramatic, which really takes away from the significance of it.
But enough about the music, because ultimately, at least in my opinion, this concert was about the ensemble, not the repertoire. These guys are absolutely awesome. Technically, expressively, they're the whole package. Particular standouts were the cellist, flautist and trombonist. Even in the very rhythmically demanding Dolce Furioso, the ensemble was razor-sharp. Unison passages were played so perfectly I had to watch sometimes to see what instruments were playing.
This is two nights in a row we've been treated to exceptional, world-class performers. What a treat. It's also two nights in a row I've wanted the concert to keep going, though for very different reasons. Last night I just wanted to keep hearing Lori Freedman and Frances-Marie Uitti keep playing. Tonight, I wanted to hear this fantastic ensemble dig into some classics of the chamber orchestra rep, because it would've been truly memorable to hear them played by such a fine group.
1 comment:
I was sorry to miss last night's soundaXis concert that Les Amis put on at the Gould. I was at Arrayumusic's Young Perfomer's/Young Composer's concert. The two composers being featured this year were Evan Ware (Ottawa) and Gabriel Dharmoo (Montreal). Both pieces were completely different in style and form. Evan's piece "In Between" experimented with time, inspired by the music of Brian Current. I loved Ware's orchestration for percussionist Rick Sacks, and how he played it against the piano. Then Dharmoo's piece "Quator" was completely different, as he had Sacks perform on a bass drum, doing everything from wiping the drum skin with a wet finger, to beating it with a steady pulse. "Quator" introduced really interesting spurts of thematic material, then moved onward. Both pieces were engaging, and complimented one another nicely. they were both written for double bass, violin, piano and percussion. If the 23 year history of this Young Composers Workshop are any indication, these two composers are well on their way to highly successful careers as composers, adding themselves to a rich lineage of Canadian composers to evolve from working with Array. Then then inaugural Young Performer's Workshop ended the programme, with a performance of Claude Vivier's "Pulau dewata", belted out with extreme precision by members of Array alongside the young performers Vira Bursmenko on violin, Steven Arsenault on trumpet, and Amie Watson on percussion. I commend the folks at Array for continuing to evolve with this new addition of a Young Performers workshop, as it will certainly help foster a new generation of talented performers in Canada.
To the future!
Rich Marsella
Post a Comment