What happens in a Tafelmusik rehearsal of Beethoven’s Symphonies? To find out, view this documentary, part of the bonus DVD accompanying Tafelmusik’s Beethoven Symphonies 7 + 8 recording, released on October 14, 2008 on the Analekta label. You will get insight from conductor Bruno Weil and music director Jeanne Lamon.

To access the CD information on the Analekta Website, click here…

The magnificent American TV host Charlie Rose has received some of the world’s greatest stars in his studio, whether they be politicians, actors, singers, activists. From time to time but ever so rarely, a Canadian guest graces his stage: Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Margaret Atwood, Denys Arcand, Dov Charney (the founder of American Apparel). In December, his guest was pianist Alain Lefèvre. He shared with Rose his love of Mathieu but also talked about Rachmaninov, his professional life, his convictions for youngsters to be presented with classical music and arts. The interview can be heard here…

The Canadian pianist was also just named “Personality of the week” by La Presse newspaper two days ago. To read (in French)…

If Renaissance composers (including Josquin des Prés, Orlando di Lassus and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina) first laid the basis of polyphonic writing, the composers of the baroque period solidified them while integrating new elements. Solo voices were progressively put forward (as exemplified by the birth of opera and the golden age of the castratos, true stars of the era). Singers add numerous ornaments to the melodies to expand the texture of the lines and this technique will also be used in instrumental music.

Renaissance’s repertoire was essentially modal and constructed horizontally (lines get superposed and meet in a few spots). The baroque composers put forward a more preeminent verticality that will eventually lead to the mastery of tonality as we know it today. The emergence of basso continuo (and cadences that punctuate the musical speech) confirms the importance granted to harmony as support of melody.

Musical forms got more settled through these years. The baroque sonata was then based on a three movements’ pattern (slow/fast/slow in Italy and fast/slow/fast in France). The suite (a series of instrumental dances, inspired by actual dances from various European countries), the fugue (brought by Johann Sebastian Bach to summits rarely achieved since) and the concerto (dialogue between orchestra and soloist) become more important forms, as works by Handel, Couperin, Purcell, Vivaldi, Telemann and Corelli demonstrate.

A few landmarks

1607 Orfeo de Monteverdi, considered as the first opera

1709 Cristofori invents the pianoforte, an instrument that will truly be recognized in 1747, thanks to Bach

1710 Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos

1711 Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

1712 Haendel’s Messiah

The Caprice Ensemble recently launched the CD Vivaldi and his angels, featuring the famous Gloria RV 589.

Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà perform the overture to Philip Glass’ Beauty and the Beast.

On October 14, Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà launched Philip Glass: Portrait, a CD devoted to the famous American composer. At the press conference, she told us more about the special bond she felt towards Philip Glass’ music.

“Glass’ music has always fascinated me. I discovered this music in the 80s and attended several concerts by Philip Glass and his ensemble. To Glass’ request, I worked on his Violin Concerto with him, in New York. Gidon Kremer had premiered the work but Glass wanted to make a few corrections and I was happy to spend time trying things out and reshaping the work with him. After that, I performed the work, including with the OSQ.

Since then, I’ve had this dream to do a recording of Philip Glass’ music, a musical portrait. I listened to almost all his catalogue, keeping in mind that everything would be mainly played by a string ensemble. I also wanted this portrait to be filled with different textures and colours.

Why does Glass’ music fascinate me? I find it enthralling. This is the word that would best describe this music.Also, it is a music that uses repetition, like a mantra. It is intelligent, considering its structure, well-conceived, Cartesian, mathematical. I have fun finding the rhythmic cell, what I would call the stem cell. I then add it, superpose it, in a rhythmic stratum. Rhythms of two juxtaposed on rhythms of three, four or five… it’s like finding a common denominator, finding the points of anchorage of this music.

All this, all these mathematics should leave us emotionless… if you thought this, you’d be mistaken because to this solid structure stratums of colours are added, sound colours that enthrall the listener.

For Glass, time is not to be perceived as a continuous flow but rather a sucession of small moments.”