What's good for Regina is not necessarily helpful for Toronto, where every day is Culture Day

Culture Days, the nationwide did-you-know-there-are-artists-iving-among-us? celebration being held over the next three days, is a great idea. But how do you deal with it in a city like Toronto, where every day is a Culture Day?

Oh, and don't forget that next weekend is Nuit Blanche.

Being a pan-Canadian affair, Culture Days must by political necessity treat a market town in agricultural country the same way as a regional centre or the nation's capital.

On top of that, Culture Days is a voluntary effort, so any local coordination depends on the strength and stamina of the people trying to get the job done.

There is so much going on here that Toronto would need its own website to help manage the choices. Instead, Torontonians are being presented with a mad jumble of options that they have to take the time and energy to sort through. It's a worthwhile effort, given how many artists, musicians, dancers and large producers have lined up special, free events for this grand arts-tasting menu. But how many people who don't already have a sense of what their interests are will make the effort to figure this out? How many people will keep on keeping on with whatever they would normally do during a nice early-fall weekend?

Lost in all of this are regularly-scheduled events. Here are a couple of small-scale musical efforts backed up by large-scale talents that are not part of Culture Days:

*Tapestry New Opera Works has harvested its latest crop of opera kernels, sown at an its annual composer-librettist laboratory, and will serve them up, gently roasted and buttered at the company's spacious rehearsal studio in the Distillery District, this evening to Sunday. Details here.

*Parkdale's Gallery 345 has a recital series called The Art of the Piano, which has three very different, yet equally compelling offerings:
-Tonight: Eckhardt-Gramatte competition laureate Claudia Chan plays a clever mid-century programme, divided evenly between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries;
-Saturday: New works by Toronto's inventive composer-improviser-pianist John Kameel Farah on Saturday evening;
-Sunday: Adam Sherkin presents an eclectic programme that includes new work of his own alongside John Adams' China Gates and some of Rachmaninov's Corelli Variations. Hmm.

To give you a taste of Sherkin, here's a freshly made music video of him performing his own work, Three Preludes, form 2003. True to the spirit of the 19th century prelude, each effort sounds as if Sherkin is making it up as he goes along:

Tendency to prejudice and stereotype seem to come naturally to the human mind

Out of professional politeness, I try to avoid commenting on the Star, but I can't help myself this morning, in the cause of illustrating prejudice.

In citing a new study published in University of Chicago's Journal of Consumer Research, an editor has chosen to illustrate possible genetic personality traits with music, in the headline: Prefer jazz to opera? Blame DNA, study says.

The study appears to be about adventurous versus cautious people. Fair enough, but the headline implies that each genre of music has a particular quality. We all know this is wrong, but I think most of us carry around preconceptions anyway.

It made me think of a friend, Kelly, who is an accomplished decorative painter. The first time I painted my own place, he volunteered to help me choose colours. More than two decades later, I still can't forget how he started the exercise.

"When I say 'green,' what colour do you see in your mind?" he asked.

I confessed that I was thinking something chartreuse-y.

For yellow, it was a bright-banana shade. For orange, it was something that belonged on a crossing guard's vest.

Kelly then explained that whenever people are asked to imagine a colour out of the blue, so to speak, they inevitably imagine the ugliest, most garish shade in the spectrum. Pale lichen inevitably loses out to irradiated pond scum in our brain's imaginary colour wheel.

Today's newspaper headline suggests there's a similar unconscious reduction happening in people's minds when they're asked to characterise a genre of music out of the blue -- i.e. opera: screeching; jazz: cool; rock: head-bangers, and so on.

As with my colour sense, these reactions to music ignore the full, rich spectrum of possibility within each genre of music. 

Is this the way our brains always work, or is there something we can do to demolish stereotypes?

In case you're a doubter, here are two examples from the world of classical music, brought to you today by the letter O:

1. Organ music. What do you hear in your head?

Here is Daniel Roth, titular organist at the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, playing "Pastorale" from Louis Vierne's 24 Pieces in Free Style at the Cvaillé-Coll organ at the church of Saint-Louis-des-Quinze-Vingts:

2. Opera. What's the first thing that comes to mind?

Here is a fun take on Samuel Barber's A Hand of Bridge, presented by University of Nevada students Nicole Dzadek, Therese Curatolo, Adam Machart and Kyle Rea:

BBC Proms' Bach Day resurrects massive orchestral transcriptions alongside period-performance finery

It was Bach Day at the Proms yesterday, all captured on audio and available for free streaming until next weekend.

The programme that most interested me was conductor Andrew Litton leading the day's final concert, made up of orchestral transcriptions of some of J.S. Bach's best-known works, supplemented by two new commissions.

The concert opens with Leopold Stokowski's incredibly ponderous reimagining of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor. I can't stand it, because, even though Litton does the best he can, the orchestration kills the essential life in the music.

It's too bad we only get to hear the beginning and end of a Bach orchestral suite arranged by Henry Wood, because these two movements, which follow the Stokowski, are full of light and life.

There is much more to hear, including a Proms premiere from the underappreciated Percy Grainger and William Walton's The Wise Virgins ballet score, all inspired by Bach.

If you feel like cleansing your palate between the two halves of the concert, you can listen to John Eliot Gardiner's rollicking readings (the opening of the horn-happy No. 1 sounds like a downtown traffic jam) of the Brandenburg Concertos with the English Baroque Soloists from earlier in the day.

The fantastic website includes extensive downloadable notes.

Organist Cameron Carpenter shows us how to colour words with sound in Schubert's Erlkönig

One of the most dramatic German art songs has to be Schubert's Erlkönig (Erl-King, the story of a father clutching his sick little boy as they ride on horseback to find help, while being pursued by death).

It is one of the pieces Cameron Carpenter has recorded on a Wurlitzer theatre organ for this new CD-DVD combination album, which I reviewed in today's Star. He adds so much colour to each sound -- while being rue to Schubert's music -- that I can alost forget there is no actual voice present.

You can see how Carpenter shaped his interpretation in a making-of video. But, first, here is the great Jessye Norman to sing it for us, first.

CD Review: The chamber music of Alexandre Boëly elegantly brought to life by Quatuor Mosaïques

QUATUOR MOSAIQUES

Boëly, Musique de chambre (Laborie)

*** (out of 4)

If you love the chamber music of Haydn and Beethoven, this album is worth hunting down (you can get a bit more info by clicking on the image).

Being born in Versailles to a court singer and teacher would normally be a great start for any future musician. Except that Alexandre Pierre François Boëly was born in 1785 and King Louis XVI had his head cut off in 1793.

Boëly grew up to be an organist-composer-violist at a time when, slogans of liberty and fraternity aside, the state had become the official religion.

Boëly was deeply conservative, championing the likes of J.S. Bach and Frescobaldi. Worse yet, Hector Berlioz was born in 1803. So, guess who died nearly penniless and overlooked in 1858?

Organists continue to play Boëly's nicely crafted compositions. But he wrote a lot of chamber music, too. An all-French effort led by Quatuor Mosaïques has gathered up some highlights on a new disc.

(The album comes with minimal printed notes -- in French, only. You can download a pdf of comprehensive background information here, but it, too, is in French only.)

Two of three substantial pieces on this generous disc were composed in 1827, the String Quartet No. 1, in A minor, and a D Major Sextet. The third is a String Trio from 1808. These works are separated by each of three recently found Mélodies for cello and swell organ ("orgue expressif"), played by Olivier Latry.

The larger works sound a lot like late Haydn or early Beethoven, with carefully laid-out themes and counterpoints. There is a lot to listen to here, and the various musicians involved in the recording have done a polished job.

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To give you a taste of Boëly's style, here is young Polish-born, French-based organist Maria Magdalena Kaczor playing a Fantasy and Fugue in B-flat Major at the church of Saint-Louis en l'Ile in Paris:

Viva! Youth Singers of Toronto present free lunchtime concert at Roy Thomson Hall

At 10 this season, Viva! Youth Singers of Toronto is one of the youngest of the many high-quality community choirs catering to children in the Greater Toronto Area. Like most large youth choruses, Viva divides the kids up by age and ability, giving the talented or hard-working the opportunity to move up into more challenging repertoire. Unlike most choirs, Viva also has a group for children with special needs.

The leaders and prime motivators are husband-and-wife team of Carol Woodward Ratzlaff, who teaches music at North Toronto Collegiate, and Brad Ratzlaff, the music director at Trinity-St. Paul's Church and artistic director of the Hart House Chorus.

You can be part of their birthday celebration by joining a free concert at noon today, at Roy Thomson Hall. There's no assigned seating.

With the help of organist-turned-pilot Michael Bloss, the "Main Chorus II" (last year's group is pictured above) and "Youth Choir" (the two cover ages 9 to 28) sing a 20th and 21st century British programme -- pieces by John Rutter, Bob Chilcott and James MacMillan, Herbert Howells and Kenneth Leighton -- capped by Oscar Peterson's Hymn to Freedom.

How is it that the times inspire similar-sounding music?

I've often paused to wonder what the great European composers who came of age amid the emotional and physical wreckage of World War I -- yet were not avant-gardistes -- were looking for in their creative expression.

As in every other time, there's a commonality to the musical form, even from composers who probably did not have a chance to hear each others' work.

Within the limitations of YouTube -- not enough choice (yet) and variable performance quality -- here are three examples of music by unrelated contemporaries operating within an insular cultural context.

Let's start with the third and fourth movements on Improvisation on an Impromptu by Benjamin Britten, written in 1967 by William Walton (1902-1983). The performers are the London Philharmonic, led by Bryden Thomson:

Here is Valery Gergiev at a Proms concert in London, in 2006, leading the "Fears" movement of Symphony No. 13, written in 1962 by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975).

To close, on this Maundy Thursday, is the Agnus Dei from the 1949 Messe Solenelle by Jean Langlais (1907-1991), as sung and performed by the musicians of Gustavi Cathedral in Gothenburg in 2007.

CD Review: Jean Guillou's Bach organ set is a box of vivid, dancing colours that's a bargain to boot

JEAN GUILLOU

The Organ Works of Bach (Dorian)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

This 6-CD box set is a compilation of recordings the Dorian label made in 1987 and 1990. (For more information, click on the disc image, left.)

If more organists played with the verve and imagination of Jean Guillou, the organ would be a much more popular concert instrument.

Nearly four decades ago, a new generation musicians playing period instruments extricated Bach's orchestral and vocal music from the slow, big, murky sound that the Victorians had bestowed. In the best cases, these new musicians made Bach's counterpoints dance with life.

Most organists, on the other hand, responded with quiet reverence, afraid to interfere with Bach's neatly arranged notes with too much gaudy colour.

But Jean Guillou -- who turns 80 in a couple of weeks -- is not most organists. First of all, he is a direct musical descendant of the greatest organist-composers of the 20th century. He landed his first organist's position when he was 12 and went on to study in Paris with Marcel Dupré, Maurice Duruflé and Olivier Messiaen.

Hearing Guillou play Bach is as much of a shock as when Dorothy opens the door to the colour-saturated Land of Oz. Typically, Guillou gives each voice a distinct sound on whichever organ he is playing on, further accentuating the details in the composer's musical architecture. The tempos are lively. The playing is finely articulated.

Five of the six discs are set up like concert programmes, mixing concert works with chorale preludes. There is variation in mood, sound and tempo, so you can listen without a break from beginning to end.

The 1987 recordings are at the hand-shaped organ, pictured right, found in Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (Our Lady of the Snows), high up in ski country in Alpe d'Huez, in France. The 1990 set is from the Tonhalle in Zurich, Switzerland.

The sixth disc is my favourite. It contains Guillou's own transcription of the Goldberg Variations. This is hardly music to snooze by, as the organist uses the trumpets quite a bit. There isn't a dull moment from beginning to end.

I think Guillou sometimes goes a bit overboard with his choice of sounds (registration) on the organ, but I can't help but admire what he does.

(This Goldberg disc should still be available as a single CD.)

Guillou has been the titular organist at Saint-Eustache church in central Paris since 1963. The building itself is gorgeous and hosts regular concerts throughout the year, including the summer months. As the Michelin guide would say, it's worth a detour. (Guillou played a recital of works by 19th century German composer-organist Julius Reubke last Sunday evening).

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Here's an example of what I've been trying to say. The first clip of is of Lebanon-based organist Setrak Setrakian playing the Aria and first two Goldberg Variations (feel free to switch off at the first sign of ennui). Then try Maître Guillou's interpretation.

Here is Guillou. The first clip is of the Aria and Variation I. Variations II to IX follow:

In case you have time, interest and can understand French, here is Guillou giving us a fabulous, improvised tour of the Saint-Eustache organ, using "A la claire fontaine" as guide:

Composer-organist Maurice Duruflé a 20th century man of all musical eras

There is a magnetic power to the music of Maurice Duruflé. The French organist and composer, who died 23 years ago (at age 84), somehow managed to include the whole scope of Western music traditions -- from Medieval plainsong to the 20th century's rejection of a fixed tonal anchor -- in his work.

To go with today's interview with young Ontario organist Ryan William Jackson.

Here is Duruflé performing the Prélude to his 1932 Organ Suite in 1966, at St. Thomas's Church on 5th Ave. in New York City. That organ is similar in sound to the mighty Casavant at Metropolitan United Church in Toronto, where Jackson will play.

Here is Duruflé playing his transcription of a Charles Tournemire improvisation on the Cavaillé-Coll gallery organ at the gorgeous 16th century Parisian church of St. Étienne-du-Mont, also in 1932, where he was the titular organist from 1929 until his death (the organist had the organ substantially altered and renovated in the 1950s).

Review: Antonio Vivaldi is a musical man for all seasons, but leaves are turning on Nigel Kennedy's blockbuster album

Here are two very different takes on Vivaldi -- one new, one 20 years old. I'll start with the old one, because it's a biggie:

NIGEL KENNEDY & THE ENGLISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Vivaldi, The Four Seasons, 20th Anniversary Edition CD & DVD (EMI)

*** (Out of 4)

If you're 35 or older, chances are pretty good that you've heard at least snippets of Nigel Kennedy's recording of The Four Seasons, an undyingly popular four-violin-concerto suite by Baroque-era mastermind Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). Released in 1989, Kennedy's recording with the English Chamber Orchestra has sold more than 3 million copies. It was everywhere. It made Vivaldi a star again. It also made Kennedy into a star -- something he took way too personally (but that's another story).

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, EMI has re-released that album with a companion DVD (from a 1990 TV special), where Kennedy introduces each concerto before playing it. (Click on the album image for details)

If you've never bought your own copy of The Four Seasons, this is a fine place to start, but you can do better. Kennedy's playing is fiery, assured. He goes for dramatic emphasis wherever he can. The little orchestra sounds nice. But, two decades on, after just about every modern-instrument string orchestra has adopted some of the spikier bowing techniques from period-instrument groups, parts of this recording are sounding dated, lacking a larger-scale bounce and the sonic texture that the best period-instrument players can muster. 

If you want to support local talent, you can't go wrong with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra's 1992 recording. If you want extra-spicy period instruments, there's Il giardino armonico's version, of the same vintage.

My favourite modern-instrument recording is a three-year-old effort by with Cho-Liang Lin and New York ensemble Sejong. It's more engaging than Kennedy's, there's more listening, including the amazingly dramatic "Storm at Sea" Violin Concerto, and, because it's from budget label Naxos, it's cheaper.

Here's Kennedy playing the "Allegro" from "Winter," which has some of the recording's finest work:

BENOIT LOISELLE & VINCENT BOUCHER

Vivaldi, Sonate e concerti (ATMA Classique)

*** (out of 4)

Two great Québécois soloists -- cellist Bernard Loiselle and organist Vincent Boucher -- team up for a satisfying selection of seven popular works adapted for organ and cello (Vivaldi didn't write for this specific combination). There are two of the Cello Sonatas, two keyboard concertos, the opening movement to his setting of the Stabat Mater and "Domine Deus" from the Gloria. (Click on the album image for details.)

Loiselle's velvet-wrapped cello playing is an expressive and technical treat, while Boucher gets some very nice sounds out of a grand tracker organ built by Karl Wilhelm for St. Matthias Church in Westmount, one of Montreal's many musical treasures. (I frequently sang with the men-and-boys choir in that Anglican church while I was a student at McGill.)

The two performers are a beautiful match. My only reservation about this otherwise excellent album is the sound balance between the organ and cello. It often sounds as if they were recorded on two separate tracks, even though they probably weren't. It's the challenge of miking two very different kinds of instruments in a large, acoustically live space.