ArtwordBlog

Andrew Burashko’s Art of Time Ensemble concerts are more than mere concerts. They are explorations into the cross-connections, and contrasts, between different artists and different art forms. You are asked not only to listen, but to consider and compare. The choices of repertoire are unusual and wide-ranging, and the musicianship is superb. They have some of the spirit of the programs Glenn Gould used to do on the CBC, or Leonard Bernstein’s children’s concerts – music to think about.

On March 29, the subject was Shakespeare’s connection to music, and music’s connection to Shakespeare. And not only music, but dance and the written word (words written about Shakespeare).

We began with readings about Shakespeare, an appetizer plate of Shakespeare admiration, read by Tom McCamus, Chick Reid, Marc Bendavid and Cara Ricketts, followed by a cycle by Erich Korngold, “Songs from Shakespeare”, sung by Monica Whicher and accompanied by Andrew Burashko. Korngold is a Viennese composer in the romantic manner who escaped from the Nazis to Hollywood to write scores for films. His settings are in the grand manner, a bit much for the charm and simplicity of Shakespeare’s lyrics, but -heigh, ho – I was happy to become acquainted with this composer.

Then we settled in to a Romeo and Juliet sequence, introduced by Tom McCamus reciting the play’s prologue. This was followed by Prokofiev’s “March of the Montagues and Capulets” played by Burashko, who has a special affinity for Prokofiev. A treat indeed. Marc Bendavid and Cara Ricketts gave us a dramatic (and rather cheeky) performance of Romeo and Juliet’s dialogue after their night together: “Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day. . .”, followed by a breathtaking pas de deux depicting the same scene, choreographed with great sensitivity by James Kudelka, and danced by Piotr Stanczyk and Rebekah Rimsay.

After the intermission, we were treated to a reading of disparaging comments about Shakespeare, followed by dialogue from Much Ado About Nothing. This was followed by a suite based on Much Ado by Korngold, which this time caught the lightness and whimsicality of the play.

Then the evening turned to Ophelia. Cara Ricketts gave us her rendering of Ophelia’s mad scene, followed by Richard Strauss’s “Ophelia Lieder”, the same scene sung in German, and finally danced (and choreographed) by Peggy Baker, to music by John Cage. The triple juxtaposition was fascinating.

As you may guess, I thoroughly enjoy the Art of Time evenings. I like the surprises, the contextual shifts, the unusual repertoire. I like that I’m expected to bring my brains along.

I should mention that this approach to musical performance – the mixing of music with poetry, theatre, dance, and other art forms – is not exclusive to the Art of Time ensemble. In particular, Brenda Muller’s Ardeleana trio (cello, piano and flute) has been putting on concerts in this vein for well over a decade. Brenda has also been a strong promoter of Canadian music, particularly Canadian women composers. The artistic quality is always very high.

Brenda Muller lives up in Sutton, though she often performs in Toronto. For the second year, she is organizing a festival of music-plus-plus up in the Sutton area, called the Blue Bridge Festival. (There is a rather charming little blue bridge near Sutton, as you might have guessed.) The festival runs this year through July 8, 9, 10. Check out www.bluebridgefestival.com.