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Musical interlude - Canada Day

First up, another plus from the diplomatic circuit. After last November's popular free concert at the National Gallery of Canada, the Embassy of Japan (this time in collaboration with the Embassy of Austria) hosted an evening of Austrian and Japanese music for violin and piano on 30th June, once again at the National Gallery's Auditorium. This time, reservations were mandatory and the event seemed much better organised. From the programme details and introductory remarks, the two soloists (Mayumi Seiler, violin, and Kyoko Hashimoto, piano) are both Canadian residents and (if I remember rightly) German speakers. After the speeches, including a brief history lesson on the links between Austria, Japan and European-ism by His Excellency Ambassador Ishikawa, the concert commenced. The works, listed below, were each introduced by Mayumi Seiler, which was a nice touch:

W.A. Mozart, Sonata for piano & violin in A major, KV.526
Toru Takemitsu, Distance de fée for violin & piano
Hikaru Hayashi, Rhapsodie für Violine und Klavier
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F. Schubert, Sonata in A major for violin & piano, D.574
Franz Kreisler, Schön Rosmarin, Liebeslied, Liebesfreud

Of most interest were the works by Takemitsu and Hayashi. I hadn't realised prior to this evening that Takemitsu was quite so recent (he was born in 1930 and died in 1996). The above, impressionist-influenced piece (with hints of Messiaen) was composed in 1951; Hayashi's piece is from 1965. Definitely the gems of the evening (not that there was anything bad!), although the Kreisler pieces also were quite charming.

Coeur de Pirate
Canada Day itself and JazzFest opened for free. After last week's enjoyable evenings, M and I ventured to Confederation Park to hear and discover Ohbijou and Coeur de Pirate. Both bands had been promoted on Apartment 613's website and lived up to expectations. Due to bus chaos, we arrived part way through Ohbijou's set, but their indie-quirky folk-ness (Apartment 613 use 'ornate' to describe their sound) suited the late afternoon sun. The set also included new songs for their forthcoming album Metal Meets. I think (as both bands were/are new to me) that Coeur de Pirate (Béatrice Martin plus band) were the 'headline', and her sound (a touch of jazz in the vocals, piano-based acoustic-folk-pop songs) is indeed, to paraphrase JazzFest's site, catching! Pretty sure both bands were doing well in the merch stall...

Not much to say about the musical offerings on Parliament Hill or Major's Hill Park (briefly passed by but neither were a patch on JazzFest), but the fireworks, as seen from our vantage point above Lady Grey Drive, were spectacular. 
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