So it’s that time of year when Christmas records start appearing. The latest to come my way consists of musical settings by Rob Kapilow of Chris Van Allsburg’s The Polar Express and Dr. Seuss’ Gertrude McFuzz. Yes, it’s American and aimed at kids and if you were to place it on a spectrum of Christmas music that ran from Frosty the Snowman to Carols from King’s it would be decidedly closer to the former. Continue reading
This review first appeared in the print edition of Opera Canada.
O Gladsome Lightis a collection of sacred songs, hymns and meditations by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst and his pupil Edmund Rubbra. They are performed by various permutations of Lawrence Wiliford, tenor, Stephen Philcox, piano and Marie Bérard and Keith Hamm, respectively Concertmaster and Principal Violist of the COC Orchestra.
There’s some pretty exciting news from the Canadian Art Song Project (CASP). It’s their first commercial CD release featuring Ash Roses; songs for Soprano and Tenor by Derek Holman. The artists are soprano Mireille Asselin, tenor Lawrence Wiliford, pianist Liz Upchurch and harpist Sanya Eng. This is the first recording entirely dedicated to the songs of Canadian composer Derek Holman; one of the very few who have made art songs an important component of their output.
There is a CD release party on March 7th at the Canadian Music Centre (20 St. Joseph St., Toronto) and the program for the evening will include The Four Seasons, Ash Roses, Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal and Three Songs for High Voice and Harp. Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 on the door, $20 students. More details can be found about the CD and the release party at www.canadianartsongproject.ca
Among the goodies I won from Chicago Opera Theatre in a recent Twitter! contest was a 2001 recording of Robert Kurka’s 1956 opera The Good Soldier Schweik based on the novel by Jaroslav Hašek. It’s a very interesting piece. It’s on an odd sort of scale with 26 solo parts, here managed by a team of 12 singers, plus chorus. It uses a fifteen piece woodwind and brass band with no strings at all. I’m guessing it could easily be presented in quite a wide range of theatres.
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