Recording: Array Ensemble

Artist: Array Ensemble (with Nicole Rampersaud and Germaine Liu)

Song: Kid Baltan [excerpt] [composer: Allison Cameron]

Recorded at Array Space (Allison Cameron Mini-Festival, Night 1), November 23, 2018.

Array Ensemble - Kid Baltan [excerpt]

This season's presentations from Array reflect the interests of (now former) Artistic Director Martin Arnold, so along with the return of the Rat-Drifting music series, it was no surprise to see this two-night celebration of Allison Cameron. The pair of shows were constructed to let various faucets of Cameron's work play off each other, so this night of compositions and graphic scores for chamber ensemble also incorporated her bandmates in c_RL for some of the pieces. They were perhaps most prominent in "Momentum", a newly-commissioned piece, but also contributed to this one as well. "Kid Baltan" had made its debut at the Music Gallery's Gaudeamus Deconstructed event a few years ago and bears a dedication to Louis Andreissen, whose influence can be especially felt in the opening section of percussive exclamation-point jolts before settling down a little into the bricolage heard here.

As of this posting, the whole night's proceedings, including a pre-show artist talk can be seen on the archived livestream of the event:

[Image screencapped from the archived livestream.]

Recording: Continuum, Array and Guests

Artist: Continuum's Ensemble with The Array Ensemble and Guests

Song: Babbitt [excerpt] (Composer: Michael Oesterle)

Recorded at The Music Gallery ("Gaudeamus: Reconstructed"), April 4, 2014.

Continuum, Array and Guests - Babbitt [excerpt]

Full review to follow. The second night of the mini-festival in celebration of The Netherlands' Gaudeamus Muziekweek contrasted the previous night's improvisations by presenting works by a few composers — Dutch and Canadian — who have been associated with Gaudeamus in the past. To realize this vision, Continuum's ensemble was joined by The Array Ensemble as well as guests Michiel van Dijk, Koen Kaptijn, Nora Mulder, Rob MacDonald and Bas Wiegers. This piece from Michael Oesterle, as well as those from Louis Andriessen, Yannis Kyriakides and eldritch priest brought out a satisfying variety of textures.

Recording: Gaudeamus Deconstructed Ensemble

Artist: Gaudeamus Deconstructed Ensemble

Song: All The Pieces That Ever Won Prizes at Gaudeamus in the Past 25 Years (Part I)

Recorded at The Music Gallery, April 3, 2014.

Gaudeamus Deconstructed Ensemble - All The Pieces That Ever Won Prizes at Gaudeamus in the Past 25 Years (Part I)

Full review to follow. Celebrating The Netherlands' famed Gaudeamus Muziekweek, several local new music groups worked together to curate this mini-festival, which brought two nights of concerts plus some spin-off daytime activities to the Music Gallery. The first night was a Dutch/Canadian improvisation summit, featuring visitors Michiel van Dijk, Koen Kaptijn and Nora Mulder alongside locals Nicole Rampersaud, Josh Cole, Rick Sacks and Allison Cameron. This structured "comprovisation" was contributed (and cheekily titled) by Cameron.

Recording: Arraymusic

Artist: Arraymusic

Song: unknown [excerpt]^*

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square ("INTERsection Festival"), August 31, 2013.

Arraymusic - unknown [excerpt]

Full review to follow. Centred around an ambient build and outro, this piece found its vibe somewhere between Branco Dvinovic's Parisian boulevard accordion and Pierre Mongeon's In a Silent Way trumpet — with Rick Sacks' bongo beat mediating between the two.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Arraymusic + Paul Dutton

Artist: Arraymusic + Paul Dutton

Song: Snare, Kick, Rack and Floor

Recorded at Elizabeth Beeton Auditorium, Toronto Reference Library (New Music 101 – Volume 1), April 8, 2013.

Arraymusic + Paul Dutton - Snare, Kick, Rack and Floor

Well, as previewed in this space, this was a most intriguing night, with Arraymusic showing their flexibility in providing two very different musical backdrops to the readings of poets Jill Battson (dustbowl drift) and Paul Dutton (percussive spatter). The second half flipped the script as Eve Egoyan spoke and gave a few brief musical demonstrations. The series continues for three more Monday night sessions at the Reference Library.

Preview: New Music 101

New Music 101

April 8, April 15, April 22, May 6 (all Mondays), from 7:00-8:00pm at Elizabeth Beeton Auditorium, Toronto Reference Library

Now in its third year, the Toronto New Music Alliance is reaching out to the community to show that contemporary classical music (and all its offshoots) is accessible to all. Matching performance with discussion, these sessions serve to give context to the wide variety of sounds that get lumped together under "New Music", examining some of the theoretical and practical underpinnings.

Free to attend and centrally located, these are an excellent starting point for anyone who wants to broaden their musical experience a bit. Plus, you'll get to hear performances from some amazing musicians. The series is hosted by John Terauds, who is arguably the hardest-working music writer in the city right now, lifting the lid on the rich layers of the city's art-music culture at musicaltoronto.org. In the past, I've really enjoyed the informal, un-stuffy atmosphere and have found these to be really worth heading out for. This year's series has four instalments, each split between two presenters:

• April 8 – Arraymusic and Eve Egoyan: The first half will focus on the interface between music and poetry — one of the poets on hand is Paul Dutton (of CCMC and much more) who has probably done more things with his voice than you've done with your imagination. The second half will be presented by Eve Egoyan, one of the city's most accomplished pianists, talking about her artistic practice and most likely previewing something from her forthcoming album release show (April 19 at Glenn Gould Studio) of new Ann Southam works.
• April 15 – The Music Gallery and New Adventures in Sound Art: Proof that "new music" goes way deeper than new wine in old classical bottles. Perhaps of the most interest to rock-oriented readers here, the Music Gallery's half focuses on video games as a new venue for music composition with Alaska B of Yamantaka//Sonic Titan. NAISA, meanwhile, presents "an improvisation by the laptop trio extramuros that will translate data into sound art."
• April 22 – The Canadian Electronic Ensemble and New Music Concerts: Another mixture of digital and analogue, NMC presents cellist David Hetherington, "who will perform and discuss solo works by Gilles Tremblay and Luciano Berio."
• May 6 – Toy Piano Composers and junctQín Keyboard Collective: Two of the freshest and most energetic ensembles on the local new music scene wrap up the series, talking about how they're framing the music to appeal to folks like you and me. These are groups that should be on the radar of any open-minded music enthusiast that wants to get a taste of something new and exciting.

For more info, check out the Facebook event here.

Preview/Contest: New Music Passport

New Music Passport

Sophisticated music at indie rock prices!

Listening to New Music can be a lot like going to art films. Sometimes the experience can be oblique, non-linear and not laid out to give you an easy resolution. Sometimes you walk out not completely sure if you liked what you saw. But then, you wake up the next morning and start seeing new connections, and you realize you have a new and wider context — and you start to realize that there was something there that will stick with you far longer than you expected.

Musically, it's easy to stay in our little niches, especially given that we live in a city where there's no shortage of gigs to check out. But there's all sorts of different music just waiting to be explored. Sometimes it seems daunting — especially when it's "highbrow" music, whose context can come off as stuffy and, frankly, a little expensive to dabble in.

The Toronto New Music Alliance, an umbrella organization for many of the city's boundary-pushing music presenters, is out to break the ice and expose their work to new audiences. Several of their members have grouped together to launch the New Music Passport. It's a pretty straightforward concept: with a $25 investment, you'll be sent your own wallet-sized passport, which you can present at shows by up to six organizations to get a deeply-discounted $5 admission.

I've done the math for you, and it's pretty appealing. To go to six shows, your all-in cost is $9.58 per gig — that's really a bargain, given the quality of these ensembles and venues involved. And what can you go to see?

• Array Music, pushing the boundaries of improvisation and composition, has recently been celebrating John Cage and just performed with Pauline Oliveros.
• Continuum Contemporary Music presents contemporary classical music but wide-ranging collaborations keep things open-ended: one of this season's performances will have an electronic boost from New Adventures in Sound Art.
• Esprit Orchestra, "Canada's only full-sized orchestra devoted exclusively to performing and promoting new orchestral music", performs larger-scaled works in the beautiful space of Koerner Hall — you won't get too many chances to see the likes of Claude Vivier's "Orion" for five bucks.
• New Music Concerts has been bringing Canadian composers to the world since 1971 — and bringing diverse sounds back in return. This season includes new Canadian compositions as well as a focus on Korean music.
• Spectrum is rooted in more of a chamber jazz aesthetic, but presents a wide variety of music, including the Kurt Weill-esque song-cycle Easterween and Caitlin Smith's recent opera When This War Ends.
• Toy Piano Composers might not be seen employing the instrument they're named for, but that playful moniker reflects a DIY attitude — their first concert this year was entitled "We Started a Band".

Plus, there's more! Buy a passport and you'll receive a free issue of Musicworks Magazine, which does an excellent job of demystifying all sorts of avant-garde sounds. (The current issue has a cover story on Tim Hecker by MFS fave Nick Storring.)

CONTEST

Personally, I think you should just go ahead and grab your own Passport, but to make things even more enticing, I've been provided with one to give away. That means you'll be able to go to up to six shows for $5 apiece — cheaper than beer!

To enter, shoot me an email to mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com, with "new music passport" in the title. I'll draw a winner on Friday, November 9th.