2018 Discovery Series, our recommendations for you to discover or re-discover.
Click on the underlined title to go to the audio link. Make sure your sound is turned on or up.
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Kelly Marie Murphy – One for Solitude, solo violin
I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society. Henry David Thoreau.
Written for the 2010 Concours Musical International de Montréal as the imposed piece. It is meant to challenge the performers and to showcase their excellence both technically and musically.
Kelly-Marie Murphy – The Lonely Road, cello and piano
Inspired by the painting of the same name, by Frederick H. Varley, located at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa
Malcolm Forsyth – Lines to Fanny Brawne, soprano and piano
Fanny Brawne was the love of the life of the poet John Keats and the text are lines supposedly written to her and pleading for her to understand his devotion.
Malcolm Forsyth – Rondo in Stride, cello and piano
The composer wrote about this piece: The legendary jazz pianist Fats Waller developed a unique style, which became known as “Stride Piano”, in which the left hand made striding leaps of a tenth, as it moved through the harmonic sequence. This, and other cute clichés of classic jazz, such as the string pizzicato with double stops and slides, are parodied in this tongue-in-cheek morsel.
Marc Fortier – Toccata for piano
This triptych for piano is a unique piece of music : it features the left hand in the first movement, the right one in the second and concludes with the use of both hands. It displays different styles of music writing from Classical to Serial and it can be taught to advanced pupils in order to develop the virtuosity of both hands. It might be performed in a concert or as an encore in total or in parts.
John Beckwith – Etudes, piano
Etudes No 1 – Opposed Sonorties; Etudes No 2 – Repeated Notes and Octaves; Etudes No 3 – Glides; Etudes No 4 – Opposed Sonorities 2; Etudes No 5 – Harp; Etudes No 6 – Clusters and Chords
What the composer has always been fascinated with the étude genre was the concept of deriving musical expression from the physical actions involved in playing. The Études display inter-related variable pitch sets (sets of twelve pitch classes arranged symmetrically with varied interval makeup). The movement titles are self-explanatory.
Gary Kulesha – Sonata for flute and piano
Mov’t 1 – Allegro molto; Mov’t 2 – Slowly, Freely; Mov’t 3 – Moderately Fast
The composer has always approached composing for the flute with some trepidation. The instrument lends itself so naturally to lyrical and florid writing that it seemed almost impossible to create something else. I set out to compose music which explores other qualities.
Donald Steven – Sapphire Song, solo clarinet
Written for Robert Riseling, this work is contemplative, somewhat in the character of the Traditional shakuhatchi
(bamboo flute) folk-art music of Japan. It is, for the most part, completely written out, but it contains several passages of varying lengths in which the performer improvises on previous material, within certain restrictions.
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Toward the Unknown Region, chorus and orchestra
A most wonderful and at least in North America, neglected choral work, with orchestra which needs to be re-discovered and performed.
Eric Robertson – Voices – A Fantasy for organ
Written for Mary Gardiner in 1981, the impetus for this piece is a passage from the Chimes by Charles Dickens which talks about being alone in a church at night with the wind howling…
