In the cover story of Musicworks 122, Nick Storring addressed the “beautifully puzzling” quality of Allison Cameron’s work, illuminating her music-making through its informed acceptance of her elusiveness and its grasp of her fascination with sound. Somatic Refrain (1996), which opens and lends its name to this new release, is a bass clarinet solo. Developed originally as a vehicleContinue reading “Allison Cameron. Somatic Refrain.”
Genre Archives
An Laurence 安媛. Almost Touching.
Montreal-based guitarist and vocalist An Laurence (An Laurence 安媛, in full) fervently explores every crevice of her instruments on her debut album Almost Touching. The record features six works for guitar, voice, and electronics, each traversing a different sonic palette including spiralling, distorted electronics, folksy acoustic tunes, and breathy vocalizations. Through these eclectic and surprisingContinue reading “An Laurence 安媛. Almost Touching.”
London Contemporary Music Festival
Walking away from the Thames on the final night of the London Contemporary Music Festival (LCMF), I was reminded of the classic scene from The Simpsons in which Bart’s friend Nelson emerges from a screening of David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch and says, “I can think of at least two things wrong with that title.” IfContinue reading “London Contemporary Music Festival”
Yaz Lancaster’s Liberatory Modes
![[yaz lancaster] by connie li 10](https://musicworks.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/yaz-lancaster-by-connie-li-10.png)
There’s a rare kind of malleability to the music of transdisciplinary artist Yaz Lancaster. Best known as a composer, violinist, and poet, Lancaster holds degrees both in classical violin and in poetry from New York University (NYU), and has had compositions performed by ensembles such as JACK Quartet and the Boston chamber orchestra A FarContinue reading “Yaz Lancaster’s Liberatory Modes”
Gayle Young’s Gentle Interventions
In early October 2021 Gayle Young and I meet in Toronto before heading to her home in Ontario’s Niagara region. The drive is less than two hours, yet somehow, our destination is so much further away. The spaces between buildings grow wider as do those between the little squares of light in the darkness. IContinue reading “Gayle Young’s Gentle Interventions”
Women From Space, 2022 edition
Women From Space usually takes place on International Women’s Day Weekend to celebrate the varied dimensions of contemporary music practiced by women. First launched in 2019 and organized by saxophonists Bea Labikova and Kayla Milmine, this rich, wide-ranging Toronto-based festival spans from contemporary composition to free improvisation and extends to other art forms including dance,Continue reading “Women From Space, 2022 edition”
Bekah Simms. Ghost Songs.
On Ghost Songs, Toronto-based composer Bekah Simms has written music made of flying sparks and haunted echoes. The JUNO- and Gaudeamus Award-nominated composer often explores all-consuming atmospheres through visceral textures and nervous energy. Ghost Songs follows this trajectory, creating a constant push and pull from dissonance to consonance while making use of dark, engrossing textures.Continue reading “Bekah Simms. Ghost Songs.”
Quatuor Bozzini. Tom Johnson: Combinations.
Tom Johnson is a self-described minimalist composer, who has been credited with coining the term in the early ’70s while working as a music critic for the Village Voice. Johnson tends towards the formalistic extreme of minimalism; his works are often based on the mapping of mathematical concepts to musical parameters such as pitch choices,Continue reading “Quatuor Bozzini. Tom Johnson: Combinations.”
Instruments of Happiness. Slow, Quiet Music in Search of Electric Happiness.
Tim Brady is the artistic director of Instruments of Happiness, under which group name he leads various guitar ensembles of up to one hundred axes. This latest studio release is a collection of four works commissioned for guitar quartet. Each composer was asked to create a piece of approximately fourteen minutes, using spatial elements whileContinue reading “Instruments of Happiness. Slow, Quiet Music in Search of Electric Happiness.”
Double Review: Joane Hétu. Tags; Ensemble SuperMusique. Sonne l’image.
Joane Hétu is the codirector of Montreal’s Ensemble SuperMusique (ESM), but that doesn’t mean she overloads the contemporary ensemble with her own works. She also composes for others. Each of these wide-ranging recordings contains only one Hétu–ESM collaboration. Compositions by flutist Cléo Palacio-Quintin and vocalist Viviane Houle are also on the ESM disc Sonne l’image.Continue reading “Double Review: Joane Hétu. Tags; Ensemble SuperMusique. Sonne l’image.”