The culmination of the Festival's Celebration Day came with this concert, a concert like no other I have ever attended. Over 30 artists of varying kinds participated in a tribute to the extraordinary man who has led this Festival so successfully for 35 years.
In its fusion of serious music-making with madcap comic mayhem, the programme became also a tribute to the unique style of the Festival of the Sound. Jim's style.
In a way, it resembled the famous Last Night of the Proms in London. The serious first half of the programme yielded place after the intermission to an equal mix of music and shenanigans.
[33] The programme opened with one of the great treasures of music: the powerful first movement of J. S. Bach's Concerto in D Minor for 2 Violins, BWV1043. Moshe Hammer and Helene Pohl took the two solo roles, flanked by a small ensemble of string players with cello and double bass doing continuo duty. Without in the least overspeeding, the musicians caught that essential feeling of unstoppable momentum which makes this music so memorable.
[34-35] Next, Graham Campbell took the stage with James Campbell, who had pointed out in advance that Graham was 8 months old when Jim opened his first Festival as Artistic Director. They first played Graham's composition, La Ananda, which Graham explained as being a lullaby for some noisy farm dogs he encountered in Spain -- a gentle lyrical delight, which I'm sure the dogs were not. They then played a more jazzy, upbeat Brazilian number, Cochichando by Pixinguinha.
[36] Alexander Tselyakov then appeared to play the Etude No. 12 in C Sharp Minor, "Revolutionary", by Chopin. The articulation of the endless rolling arpeggios was impressive, but more so the way in which he never slackened the essential driving energy, even in the quieter and slower moments.
[37] The first half wrapped up with one of the perennial Festival favourites (although it's been a few years since we last heard it), the string Octet, Op. 20, by Mendelssohn. The New Zealand String Quartet joined forces with the Penderecki String Quartet in this work. Since Jeremy Bell of the PSQ was unavoidably absent, Yolanda Bruno stepped in to fill in the company.
As a footnote, this Octet was the work which first brought the Penderecki Quartet to the Festival back in the 1990s.
It's always intriguing to recall that the Octet is a teenager's composition. Even in the "slow" movement, you sense the irrepressible bubbling young man's energy, and the faster movements -- well....
In this performance, everything landed right side up and sounded wonderful. My own particular delight comes with the third-movement scherzo, the first of Mendelssohn's light-as-thistledown fairy pieces, and plainly a dress rehearsal for Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, soon to follow. The eight players perfectly created the airy textures, the gossamer lines, the lightest of pizzicati, and the last notes vanished into the clear air. The finale then launched with immense energy, and there was the never-failing surprise of hearing a robust passage and realizing that it was from that light and airy scherzo, now much beefed up. A delight for everyone!
[38] After the intermission, Leslie Fagan repeated a number from the first weekend: the aria Sempre Libera from Verdi's La Traviata, acting in character right along with the words. Not to put too fine a point on it, I agree with the audience member who said afterwards that Fagan "is such a ham!" -- but she sings this showy coloratura aria with such flair and skill that a little hamminess is forgivable. Glen Montgomery accompanied at the piano.
[39] Next we heard the Canadian Guitar Quartet in their arrangement of the famous Danse macabre, Op. 40 by Camille Saint-Saens. Louis Trépanier, in introducing the piece, set the scene based on a poem which describes the naughty antics of the dead spirits called out of the tomb by Death's fiddling, but failed to mention the real scandal which the poem caused in French society: the way it showed people from the highest social class consorting with the lowlife peasants and such. Oh, the shock! As if that didn't go on constantly anyway, but discreetly and in secret.
The four members of the quartet use an astonishing variety of tone colours on their instruments to capture the vivid depiction of the original orchestral tone poem. As well as more standard guitar techniques, they strum the strings at the peg-end of the neck to emulate the sound of the clattering xylophone in the original, while slapping on the guitar's body gives us the quiet bass drum strokes. An impressive and entertaining performance.
And finally: [40]!!! The culmination of the concert, Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals, was preceded by the biggest performance this year of the Festival stage crew and stage manager Chris Todd, as the crew cleared away the guitarists' chairs and replaced them with seats for some 25 musicians, including two pianos and a harp.
It's a well-known fact that this throwaway bit of musical burlesque, which Saint-Saens composed for a private party, caused no end of disgust to its creator by becoming his most popular piece. It's an incredibly clever send-up of French music. The tortoises dance to Offenbach's famous Can-Can, but at agonizingly slow speed, and the elephants waltz to the Minuet of the Sylphs -- but the ethereal tune by Berlioz is played on a lumbering double bass. There's also a quote from the scherzo of the Mendelssohn Octet! The composer even took a swipe at himself, bringing in the xylophone from the Danse macabre to simulate the sound of the "Fossils" -- and that movement also quotes several popular folk songs and Una voce poco fa by Rossini. The crown of the musical satire comes when the pianists have to grind out the Hanon exercises which so many of us remembered -- and dreaded -- from our youthful piano lessons.
[33] The programme opened with one of the great treasures of music: the powerful first movement of J. S. Bach's Concerto in D Minor for 2 Violins, BWV1043. Moshe Hammer and Helene Pohl took the two solo roles, flanked by a small ensemble of string players with cello and double bass doing continuo duty. Without in the least overspeeding, the musicians caught that essential feeling of unstoppable momentum which makes this music so memorable.
[34-35] Next, Graham Campbell took the stage with James Campbell, who had pointed out in advance that Graham was 8 months old when Jim opened his first Festival as Artistic Director. They first played Graham's composition, La Ananda, which Graham explained as being a lullaby for some noisy farm dogs he encountered in Spain -- a gentle lyrical delight, which I'm sure the dogs were not. They then played a more jazzy, upbeat Brazilian number, Cochichando by Pixinguinha.
[36] Alexander Tselyakov then appeared to play the Etude No. 12 in C Sharp Minor, "Revolutionary", by Chopin. The articulation of the endless rolling arpeggios was impressive, but more so the way in which he never slackened the essential driving energy, even in the quieter and slower moments.
[37] The first half wrapped up with one of the perennial Festival favourites (although it's been a few years since we last heard it), the string Octet, Op. 20, by Mendelssohn. The New Zealand String Quartet joined forces with the Penderecki String Quartet in this work. Since Jeremy Bell of the PSQ was unavoidably absent, Yolanda Bruno stepped in to fill in the company.
As a footnote, this Octet was the work which first brought the Penderecki Quartet to the Festival back in the 1990s.
It's always intriguing to recall that the Octet is a teenager's composition. Even in the "slow" movement, you sense the irrepressible bubbling young man's energy, and the faster movements -- well....
In this performance, everything landed right side up and sounded wonderful. My own particular delight comes with the third-movement scherzo, the first of Mendelssohn's light-as-thistledown fairy pieces, and plainly a dress rehearsal for Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, soon to follow. The eight players perfectly created the airy textures, the gossamer lines, the lightest of pizzicati, and the last notes vanished into the clear air. The finale then launched with immense energy, and there was the never-failing surprise of hearing a robust passage and realizing that it was from that light and airy scherzo, now much beefed up. A delight for everyone!
[38] After the intermission, Leslie Fagan repeated a number from the first weekend: the aria Sempre Libera from Verdi's La Traviata, acting in character right along with the words. Not to put too fine a point on it, I agree with the audience member who said afterwards that Fagan "is such a ham!" -- but she sings this showy coloratura aria with such flair and skill that a little hamminess is forgivable. Glen Montgomery accompanied at the piano.
[39] Next we heard the Canadian Guitar Quartet in their arrangement of the famous Danse macabre, Op. 40 by Camille Saint-Saens. Louis Trépanier, in introducing the piece, set the scene based on a poem which describes the naughty antics of the dead spirits called out of the tomb by Death's fiddling, but failed to mention the real scandal which the poem caused in French society: the way it showed people from the highest social class consorting with the lowlife peasants and such. Oh, the shock! As if that didn't go on constantly anyway, but discreetly and in secret.
The four members of the quartet use an astonishing variety of tone colours on their instruments to capture the vivid depiction of the original orchestral tone poem. As well as more standard guitar techniques, they strum the strings at the peg-end of the neck to emulate the sound of the clattering xylophone in the original, while slapping on the guitar's body gives us the quiet bass drum strokes. An impressive and entertaining performance.
And finally: [40]!!! The culmination of the concert, Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals, was preceded by the biggest performance this year of the Festival stage crew and stage manager Chris Todd, as the crew cleared away the guitarists' chairs and replaced them with seats for some 25 musicians, including two pianos and a harp.
It's a well-known fact that this throwaway bit of musical burlesque, which Saint-Saens composed for a private party, caused no end of disgust to its creator by becoming his most popular piece. It's an incredibly clever send-up of French music. The tortoises dance to Offenbach's famous Can-Can, but at agonizingly slow speed, and the elephants waltz to the Minuet of the Sylphs -- but the ethereal tune by Berlioz is played on a lumbering double bass. There's also a quote from the scherzo of the Mendelssohn Octet! The composer even took a swipe at himself, bringing in the xylophone from the Danse macabre to simulate the sound of the "Fossils" -- and that movement also quotes several popular folk songs and Una voce poco fa by Rossini. The crown of the musical satire comes when the pianists have to grind out the Hanon exercises which so many of us remembered -- and dreaded -- from our youthful piano lessons.
(By the way, did you know that we writers have our own version of Hanon exercises? We certainly do. It's called "reading.")The Carnival has a long and honourable history at the Festival, and no wonder -- it fits hand-in-glove with the kind of shenanigans for which this event has long been renowned. Before the concert, I was reminiscing with flautist Suzanne Shulman about the performance in the 1990s when Jim Campbell tried, and failed, to play the solo part in The Cuckoo in the Woods because everyone else took turns jumping in to play it before him.
On this occasion, a written text by Gary Michael Dault served as a thread tying the movements together. It was spoken with considerable aplomb and style by Colin Fox. The entire performance was conducted by long-time Festival artist, James McKay.
As the players began the Royal March of the Lion, one clarinetist came forward, put down his instrument, and proceeded to become -- the lion. This was mime artist Trevor Copp, and his clever performances added much laughter to the music for the tortoises, the elephant, the fish in the aquarium, and the lion.
There was a definite overplus of pianists on the stage (I think five altogether -- they kept switching places so it was hard to keep count). At the "Pianists" movement, they stacked up at two to each of the two pianos, and proceeded to play those damnable Hanon exercises with more wrong notes, missed notes, dropped beats, unmarked pauses, and -- well, you get the idea. Silvie Cheng said afterwards that she'd played more wrong notes than she could ever remember. All in good fun, of course -- and I'm sure all the people in the audience who could play the piano were cringing as much as I was.
When it came time for The Cuckoo in the Woods, the requisite two-note solo didn't appear on cue -- it came in about 2.5 beats late, and from somewhere behind us. Jim Campbell proceeded to meander through the "forest" of the audience, sounding his cuckoo call intermittently and never at the right time, while the narration spoke lovingly of the cuckoo artistic director who keeps the whole Festival running. At the end, he wandered off stage through the side door, with a distracted air that made the whole piece seem a bit like Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene. Or maybe the ghost of Hamlet's father.
The Swan was accompanied by Erica Goodman's rolling liquid arpeggios on the harp, and was played with sublime grace and flow by Bryan Cheng. The narration pointed out that the "Bonjour" Stradivarius cello which Cheng is now using (on loan from the Canada Council Instrument Bank) is the same instrument on which The Swan was played by Charles Lebouc at the original private performance in 1886.
Before the finale could launch, a half-dozen more musicians crowded onto the stage, including the Canadian Guitar Quartet, soprano Leslie Fagan, and yet another clarinetist -- stage manager Chris Todd, who gave a splendid reading of the rollicking first theme of the finale. The entire huge ensemble brought the Carnival to a suitably rousing conclusion.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A Final Note: Although only the one allusion was overtly made in the narration to Jim Campbell's 35 years as Artistic Director, the entire concert was a suitable celebration of Jim's Festival. The music ranged from Baroque to the twentieth century. There were original versions and arrangements. We had serious music-making and comical hijinks. The final Carnival of the Animals included the creative and effective addition of the mime artist.
All these aspects typify the Festival of the Sound as it has grown and developed under James Campbell's stewardship.
As well, the stage hosted performers who've been at the Festival for nearly all of those 35 years: three members of the original Festival Winds, Suzanne Shulman, James Mason, and James McKay. Other long-time musical friends of the Festival were there: the New Zealand and Penderecki Quartets, Glen Montgomery, Beverly Johnston, Leslie Fagan. More recent additions to the growing Festival family were represented by the Canadian Guitar Quartet and the Cheng²Duo.
So we didn't need any big speeches to pay tribute to Campbell's work. The concert did that for him.
And on a personal level, it's been a real privilege, joy, and delight for me to share 27 years of this journey from my seat among the audience.
As the players began the Royal March of the Lion, one clarinetist came forward, put down his instrument, and proceeded to become -- the lion. This was mime artist Trevor Copp, and his clever performances added much laughter to the music for the tortoises, the elephant, the fish in the aquarium, and the lion.
There was a definite overplus of pianists on the stage (I think five altogether -- they kept switching places so it was hard to keep count). At the "Pianists" movement, they stacked up at two to each of the two pianos, and proceeded to play those damnable Hanon exercises with more wrong notes, missed notes, dropped beats, unmarked pauses, and -- well, you get the idea. Silvie Cheng said afterwards that she'd played more wrong notes than she could ever remember. All in good fun, of course -- and I'm sure all the people in the audience who could play the piano were cringing as much as I was.
When it came time for The Cuckoo in the Woods, the requisite two-note solo didn't appear on cue -- it came in about 2.5 beats late, and from somewhere behind us. Jim Campbell proceeded to meander through the "forest" of the audience, sounding his cuckoo call intermittently and never at the right time, while the narration spoke lovingly of the cuckoo artistic director who keeps the whole Festival running. At the end, he wandered off stage through the side door, with a distracted air that made the whole piece seem a bit like Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene. Or maybe the ghost of Hamlet's father.
The Swan was accompanied by Erica Goodman's rolling liquid arpeggios on the harp, and was played with sublime grace and flow by Bryan Cheng. The narration pointed out that the "Bonjour" Stradivarius cello which Cheng is now using (on loan from the Canada Council Instrument Bank) is the same instrument on which The Swan was played by Charles Lebouc at the original private performance in 1886.
Before the finale could launch, a half-dozen more musicians crowded onto the stage, including the Canadian Guitar Quartet, soprano Leslie Fagan, and yet another clarinetist -- stage manager Chris Todd, who gave a splendid reading of the rollicking first theme of the finale. The entire huge ensemble brought the Carnival to a suitably rousing conclusion.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A Final Note: Although only the one allusion was overtly made in the narration to Jim Campbell's 35 years as Artistic Director, the entire concert was a suitable celebration of Jim's Festival. The music ranged from Baroque to the twentieth century. There were original versions and arrangements. We had serious music-making and comical hijinks. The final Carnival of the Animals included the creative and effective addition of the mime artist.
All these aspects typify the Festival of the Sound as it has grown and developed under James Campbell's stewardship.
As well, the stage hosted performers who've been at the Festival for nearly all of those 35 years: three members of the original Festival Winds, Suzanne Shulman, James Mason, and James McKay. Other long-time musical friends of the Festival were there: the New Zealand and Penderecki Quartets, Glen Montgomery, Beverly Johnston, Leslie Fagan. More recent additions to the growing Festival family were represented by the Canadian Guitar Quartet and the Cheng²Duo.
So we didn't need any big speeches to pay tribute to Campbell's work. The concert did that for him.
And on a personal level, it's been a real privilege, joy, and delight for me to share 27 years of this journey from my seat among the audience.
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