Chamber Music Miniatures

As a final Ottawa concert and a break from mad packing, M and I attended the Rush Hour Concert: Music Miniatures by the Chamber Players of Canada on 12th February. Our interest piqued by Apartment 613's enthusiastic write-up of Monday evening's concert, we spent a fun hour in St Andrew's Church. The fare varied from lesser known works by Mahler and Prokofiev to relatively obscure composers such as Charles Lefebvre and William Grant Still. I really enjoyed the Mahler selection, Quartet for Piano and Strings - a little miniature by a young Mahler but certainly anticipatory of his later, larger works, with a unison pizzicato ending coming almost by surprise; the opening piano theme was also somehow familiar, as if it has been borrowed many times. M preferred Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes - according to Julian Armour's introduction, it's a rare example of Prokofiev using other melodies as a reference for a composition.

Howard Cable's The Petty Harbour Bait Skiff was already familiar to us, and the second piece from Two Newfoundland Characteristics, Lukey's Boat, was great fun to hear (and great fun to play, it seems!). Finishing with William Grant Still's Folk Suite No. 1, for me the middle movement, 'Motherless Child' was incredibly poignant, in between two lighter movements. All in all an excellent idea and very well executed.

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Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

Lang Lang: a little bit of stardust in Southam Hall

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Guitar week: Gitarrissima and Sean Shibe

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