Berlioz et Schumann both lived in the 19th century but this is not the only parallel we can draw between the two composers. Indeed, both gained some notoriety as music critics. Schumann wrote for the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New journal of music), which he founded in 1834, still active today, while Berlioz collaborated with Le Corsaire, la Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris and the prestigious Journal des Débats.
One of the first articles signed by Schumann was about Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique as a matter of fact. The analysis of the text is very elaborated – even though, at that time, Schumann had never heard the piece but had “dis/reconstructed” it from the inside out, with just the score. Throughout a series of articles, he starts a dialogue between Florestan (the passionate) and Eusebius (the dreamer) on the work.
Starting yesterday and up until Sunday, Ensemble Caprice performs every single day - even two different programs on Sunday!
Thanks to the Conseil des arts de Montréal en tournée, music lovers from the Greater Montreal region will leave the concert hall with a smile on their face, after having heard Salsa baroque, an uplifting program, based on the album by the same name. Moreover, on Sunday night, 7:30 p.m., Caprice teams up with Musica Orbium, under the direction of Patrick Wedd, in a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s masterpiece, the Mass in B minor.
“Bach’s only Mass is a sublime work—grandiose, spellbinding and technically perfect,” explains Mr. Wedd. Many consider it the ideal piece of sacred music, to be approached with a humble spirit and a determination to serve the music above all. Nevertheless, there is also a lighter side to this work and there are moments of joy and of acceptance of the human condition. For the first time in its twenty years of existence, Musica Orbium accepts the challenge to do justice to this masterpiece, to express its many nuances and changing emotions in an atmosphere of sacred devotion.”
Sometimes, you can find classical music in the least expected places, for example in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where a symphony orchestra, the only all-black orchestra in the world, is led by Armand Diangienda, the orchestra’s founder. The Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste is made up of over 200 musicians from all over Kinshasa, who believe that, against war, poverty, illness, classical music can be a refuge.
A German movie was made about the orchestra in 2010: Kinshasa Symphony (now available in DVD and Blu-Ray). A few weeks ago, it was the CBS network popular 60 Minutes which shed light on the orchestra. To hear Beethoven’s Ninth performed like this brings a whole new dimension to the concept of fraternity between all people…
Time flies when you are having fun… Wednesday, Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà celebrates 15 years of excellence with a concert at Salle Bourgie in Montreal’s Fine Arts Museum at 8 p.m. The program, brainchild of founder and artistic director Angèle Dubeau, features works by Vivaldi, Holst, Glass, Lipsky, Rota and – of course! – Heidrich’s Happy BirthdayVariations.
Angèle Dubeau explains: “When I started a recording project of Vivaldi concertos in 1997 and hand-picked fabulous female musicians to play with me, I could never imagine that La Pietà was going to occupy such an important place in my professional life and acquire almost instantly its enviable current position.”
As a matter of fact, A Time for Us, Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà’s latest album, has been standing at the very top of the Nielsen Soundscan for 10 consecutive weeks now!
On her latest album, just out, Lorraine Desmarais once again is joined by her faithful partners, bassist Frédéric Alarie and drummer Camil Bélisle. It includes recent compositions, most of them influenced by her recent international tour abroad, which took her to China, Mexico and France. The moon plays an essential role here. She writes in the liner notes:
“At times a romantic moon, it evoked Latin influences ; at other times a full moon, its luminous energy flooded me with jazzy moonbeams ; and in the calm and quiet of its moon dust sprinkling down, some rather unheard of harmonies were born under my fingers,” she explained. “I can’t promise you the moon, but I hope that as you listen to the jazz and Latin moods of this recording, it will inspire you and fulfill your wildest musical dreams…”
