PrettyInScarlett

After having read Steven Mazey 's column, a free Monday lunchtime on 27th February and I headed to the NAC Fourth Stage to see University of Ottawa music alumnus Bryan Wagorn . Mr Wagorn, who is currently New York-based (at the Metropolitan Opera), gave a recital as part of the 'UOttawa on the NAC Fourth Stage' series. On a sunny day it was slightly strange sitting in a very dark space, but for the 25 or so attendees that soon ceased to matter. Wagorn's programme consisted of: J. S Bach's Partita No. 1 in B flat Major, BWV 825 ; Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales ; and the suite Mana by 20th century French composer André Jolivet. After the measured-ness of the Bach Partita , the first of Ravel's Valses came as a sharp wake-up! Of the three suites performed the varied and fun Valses were to me most appealing. Jolivet's Mana , as introduced by Wagorn, is a suite of six pieces written for six copper wire dolls. These were all rather different fr...

A busy week! A mixture of events centred around music and talk. Firstly, M and I went to the National Arts Centre (NAC) on Sunday 13th to see/hear Alex Ross 's lecture 'Chacona, Lamento, Walking Blues'. The talk is based on a chapter of his current book Listen to This. He 'talked with music': a playlist of tracks to illustrate his thesis. It was very interesting to hear the samples rather than just read their titles or description; almost the 'book with soundtrack' although not quite in the same vein as Vikram Seth's An Equal Music . A sell out, too. From there we headed to University of Ottawa's Freiman Hall (Perez Hall) for the flip side: 'music with talk'. This was courtesy of Ottawa-born pianist Frank Horvat , who was visiting as part of his Green Keys tour. Horvat is an eco-friendly musician and uses his shows (which are free, as the Green Keys tour is sponsored by eco-friendly businesses) to promote sustainability. Horvat explained t...