Canadian Composers, eh?

[lescamil]

I have actually thought much on this topic, expanded, and I think I have come to the Unifying Answer: 1989.

I may be exactly off, but, if you get my drift, it was around this time that a certain, ahem, singularity occurred amongst the Composer Community,... I'm not hinting at anything, just saying that, mm, it 'all came together' as far as in a 'knowledge' area, and I notice a vast similarity in... dare I say... ALL Musics of THAT TIME period/frame (maybe it's 1991?).

All I can say is, I'm sure all of you could easily name lots and lots of stuff by everyone that just has that 'professional', smooth, sound, as if, no matter what the dissonance level, ALL,... The 'All'... has been,... haha... 'Assimilated'.

Can I get a witness?

Well, considering that Vivier died in 1983 and that Dutch modernism really hit its peak in the 1970s with Louis Andriessen, Jan van Vlijmen, and others, well, you might be a bit off. If anything, I would say 1979 is a better choice. I totally see where you are coming from, though. A LOT of music from composers around the world in that time has a very smooth, direct, complex sound to it.

Also, a good place to buy CDs of Canadian music is the Canadian Music Centre. They have pretty much anything by any Canadian composer. They have out of print recordings, even. They also have unreleased music for streaming online if you create an account. I would only buy a CD from them if you have no other option, though. It can be more expensive than, say, Amazon.

[Coco]

Good thread.

Snyprrr, have you heard anything by Gilles Tremblay or Serge Provost? I have some of their stuff downloaded but not listened. From the description of their music I expect something Murail-ish.

[snyprrr]

1979 is a better choice

Smashing Pumpkins would agree, yes, the '80s were just perfecting then... I love this Topic,... though I think of Feldman and the US scene also...

Good thread.

Snyprrr, have you heard anything by Gilles Tremblay or Serge Provost? I have some of their stuff downloaded but not listened. From the description of their music I expect something Murail-ish.

Just in passing. Let us know who they sound. We need foot soldiers here!

[some guy]

I have Provost's Les ruines du paradis, for chamber orchestra, and Tremblay's À quelle heure commence le temps?, for bass-baritone, solo piano, and chamber orchestra. Neither of them remind me of Murail, particularly, though I suppose there are things in the Provost that might could do that for someone more attuned to Murail than I.

These two pieces are very different from each other, for what it's worth. Horizontally, Tremblay has phrases that stand out from the accompaniment, as it were, while Provost's phrases are mostly part of a weave, and the weave is the thing. (Tune in to any one voice and its phrase won't seem all that interesting. But that's because the weave is the thing.)

I think Canada's significant contributions to music have been in the electroacoustic, soundscape, installation, and live electronics realms (especially turntable). That and the jazz, classical, rock mélanges that question the whole notion of genre. If you are focussed on orchestral and instrumental music, then you'll have a very different sense of Canadian music than I have.

[Brahmsian]

Sophie Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatte's music is amazing!!!   

[5against4]

Can't believe neither Paul Dolden nor Chiyoko Szlavnics have been mentioned on here, both fascinating Canadian composers.

A lot of Dolden's music involves electroacoustic parts with many hundreds of individual layers superimposed. If that sounds a bit overwhelming, it is - be prepared for nothing less than a sonic onslaught! i've been involved in the premières of a number of his pieces in the UK (with my contemporary music ensemble, Interrobang) & there are more to come this year & beyond.

Chiyoko Szlavnics (based in Berlin) is very different. She's written quite a few pieces originating in geometric line drawings, which are then translated into sound, often using just intonation. i directed a performance of one of her larger pieces last year, & it was a unique experience, although the players took some time to get used to the subtly different tunings! Her music sounds different from almost anyone i've heard, although it has the space & compositional patience of someone like Feldman.

Can't recommend both highly enough. Dolden's music is readily available from the Empreinte Digitale label - http://www.electrocd.com/en/bio/dolden_pa/. i don't think any of Chiyoko's music has made it onto CD yet, but she's definitely worth keeping an eye & ear out for.

[UB]

If anyone is interested in hearing the music 5 against 4 is suggesting, CMC has 11 recordings of Szlavinics and one of Dolden's available on demand at their site?

Which piece of Szlavinics' did you direct?

[5against4]

If anyone is interested in hearing the music 5 against 4 is suggesting, CMC has 11 recordings of Szlavinics and one of Dolden's available on demand at their site?

Which piece of Szlavinics' did you direct?

The piece i directed was (a)long lines; we'll draw our own lines, a half-hour piece for a small group of players. Challenging piece, due to the tuning issues i mentioned above, & the score doesn't need a conductor but a stopwatch, so for once i got to watch the performance while they all gazed at an iPad counting time!

Good to see the CMC has some music available; however, in my experience they're a painfully slow organisation!

[Mirror Image]

I'm really interested in 20th Century Canadian composers. I really hope Naxos continues with their Canadian Classics series. I've been wanting to hear more of Jean Coulthard's music since I heard her work Canada Mosaic. There's probably a lot of fine music up there, but so little of it has been recorded. I realize, at first, this maybe a niche market, but I think if Canadian classical music gets some good exposure, then more people will want to hear more.

[Mirror Image]

A few of my favorite Canadian composers based on several works I've heard by each:

Malcolm Forsyth -



Harry Freedman -



Jean Coulthard -



Harry Somers -



Colin McPhee -

[snyprrr]

A few of my favorite Canadian composers based on several works I've heard by each:

Malcolm Forsyth -



Harry Freedman -



Jean Coulthard -



Harry Somers -



Colin McPhee -

The cast of the new Cronenberg film, haha!

Congratulations for hitting the Last/First Post,... almost to the day! Good work.

[Mirror Image]

The cast of the new Cronenberg film, haha!

Congratulations for hitting the Last/First Post,... almost to the day! Good work.

Ha!

Have you heard any of these composers' music, snyprrr?

[lescamil]

The only one of those I am familiar with is Colin McPhee. I've also heard Jean Coulthard's music, but it escapes me right now. I've raved about Colin McPhee in the past, though. The man predates minimalism by 30 years, and John Adams, among others, has acknowledged him as a major influence. Tabuh Tabuhan is the best known piece by him, and rightfully so. I can never get sick of that piece.

[Mirror Image]

The only one of those I am familiar with is Colin McPhee. I've also heard Jean Coulthard's music, but it escapes me right now. I've raved about Colin McPhee in the past, though. The man predates minimalism by 30 years, and John Adams, among others, has acknowledged him as a major influence. Tabuh Tabuhan is the best known piece by him, and rightfully so. I can never get sick of that piece.

Yeah, I agree. McPhee is great, but still quite underrated I think. It's almost like if you're a Canadian composer, then you're not allowed to be popular.

[vandermolen]

Kaljo Raid could be Canada's greatest symphonist, although I am unsure how many of his were composed before he moved there.

Raid's First Symphony is a wonderful work - in the spirit of Eduard Tubin.

[snyprrr]

Yeah, I agree. McPhee is great, but still quite underrated I think. It's almost like if you're a Canadian composer, then you're not allowed to be popular.

McPhee conjures quite an atmosphere. R. Murray Schafer is very interesting for Modern. Have you heard Rush?

Take Off!!

[some guy]

We really, really, really don't want to listen to or even hear about that nasty electroacoustic music, do we? Yucky!!

Instrumental and orchestral only, thank you very much, even though it's in electroacoustics that Canada has really put itself on the map, musically, with composers who are well-known all over the world, even in the U.S. if you can believe it, with two major centers of electroacoustics--soundscape in Vancouver and acousmatic in Montreal (and a goodly portion of outliers in Toronto, naturally), though those categories are by no means fixed. The big Montreal label empreintes DIGITALes has plenty of examples of both (and recordings of some of the Toronto crowd as well.)

But really, YUCK!! That would mean listening to all that yucky electronic music. Eeeeuuuuuggghhhh!!!

Make the bad some guy go away, daddy!

[petrarch]

Come to think of it, you are absolutely correct! Some of the best "more recent" electroacoustic music comes indeed from Canada, and part of it is at least on par with the traditional orchestral and ensemble works from A-list composers. I seem to remember a thread dedicated to electronic and electroacoustic composers, but it has probably been a couple of years since there was traffic there.

[Mirror Image]

McPhee conjures quite an atmosphere. R. Murray Schafer is very interesting for Modern.

McPhee has written some good music. I haven't heard any of Schafer's music yet although I do have a recording of some of his concerti coming. Somers, Forsyth, Freedman, and recently Cherney are composers I've been really enjoying lately.

[Dundonnell]

Raid's First Symphony is a wonderful work - in the spirit of Eduard Tubin.

Raid's First Symphony(1944) was written in Estonia, his Second(1946) in Sweden, but the 3rd and 4th(1995 and 1997) were written in Canada. I have heard neither