"Variety is the spice of life" as the old saying
goes. And if that is the case, the
Tuckamore Festival certainly fills the bill. On Wednesday evening we were treated to the impressive
skills of the Rolston String Quartet that took us from the old world charms of
Mozart and Beethoven to the new world creativity of Schafer and Staniland–and
all with deceptive ease. Combine
that historical breadth, technical mastery and cohesive sound as a quartet and
it is no wonder why the Rolston String Quartet were the first prizewinners of
the prestigious 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition.
Music theorist Joe Argentino gave an enthusiastic and
illustrated pre-concert lecture on the anatomy of the fugue and how composers
Mozart and Beethoven manipulated its complexities, which gave many members of
the audience an added appreciation of the near-magical skills of the Rolston
Quartet. They mentioned from the
stage that it was great for the four members, who all hale from different parts
of Canada, to be back in their home country as part of the Tuckamore as they
are currently based at Rice University in Houston. Beethoven's Razumovsky,
which they performed for us on August 9th was also part of their winning participation
at the Banff competition.
It was gratifying to hear Schafer's Waves and Staniland's Four Elements in insightful succession on the program. Schafer's career spans sixty years and
his soundscapes were many Canadians introduction to the world of "new
music". Staniland by contrast
is 44 years younger but has been racking up awards for his visionary
contemporary compositions since 2004.
Fortunately for us in Newfoundland and Labrador, he is on faculty at
Memorial University. It was
heartwarming to see Staniland give his own standing ovation in thanks to the
Rolston's performance of his music.
If skipping from classical fugues to contemporary
soundscapes wasn't enough variety, the Tuckamore Festival's next offering, on
the Thursday evening, was a late night cabaret performance by local, musical
theatre darlings Justin Nurse and Jonathan Monro. They took us through a humorous and affectionate musical
account of their 25-year long friendship.
Spanning highschool and college auditions, sharing the musical theatre
stage professionally, divorces and the birth of children, the two men performed
during the evening in solo and together belting out songs and crooning tunes
from cherished memories. Monro even
previewed some of his material from the upcoming musical based on the Roch
Carrier story The Hockey Sweater. It will premier this October in
Montreal. You can imagine how fast
the cell phones came out for those tunes!
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