Not the Wind, Not the Flag. Vermillion. STALWARTS OF THE TORONTO MUSIC SCENE, guitarist / saxophonist Colin Fisher and percussionist Brandon Valdivia—who collaborate as Not the Wind, Not the Flag—have diverse avant-garde credentials. They have played everything from rock to new music to free jazz, in[...] Read more

Recordings Daniel Glassman

Nick Fraser Quartet. Starer. Known for  powering—literally—jazz or improvised ensembles from behind his kit, Toronto drummer Nick Fraser brings his compositional talents upfront on Starer.   Like a gracious host who ensures each of his guests is properly included in party discourse, the[...] Read more

Recordings Ken Waxman

R. Andrew Lee. Adrian Knight—Obsessions. The last decade has seen an increase in long, single-movement repertoire for the piano, much of which has been the vehicle for inventive and introspective compositional voices.   Adrian Knight’s quietly eccentric “Obsessions” is a potent addition to this[...] Read more

Recordings Nick Storring Issue 125

Frances White and Kristin Norderval. She Lost Her Voice / That’s How We Knew. Seductive and hypnotic, this is an utterly convincing work for voice and electronics—not an easy combination. For forty-five minutes, it moves slowly through a text by the piece’s director, Valeria Vasilevski, and blurs genres (chamber opera? theatre work? song cycle?) with its[...] Read more

Recordings Cecilia Livingston Issue 125

Ida Toninato. Strangeness Is Gratitude. There are few Montreal venues Ida Toninato hasn’t shaken with her thunderous saxophone. She is renowned, both locally and abroad, for her powerful tone and her passionate involvement in avant-garde music. In recent years, her practice of improvisation has morphed into composition[...] Read more

Recordings Pierre-Luc Senécal Issue 125

Quartetski. Quartetski Does Bartók: Béla Bartók / Mikrokosmos. Quartetski has devoted itself to transforming well-known classical pieces through radical shifts in instrumentation, improvisation, and recomposition. The Montreal quintet has recorded works by Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Mussorgsky, and here they take on Béla Bartók’s[...] Read more

Recordings Stuart Broomer Issue 125

Tristan Perich. Parallels; Telescope; Active Field; Dual Synthesis. Across his body of work, composer and conceptualist Tristan Perich varies from electronoise and glitched-out video to sound installations and drawing machines. But what he is no doubt most known for is a singularly focused and wonderfully varied approach to composition. His “one-bit[...] Read more

Recordings Kurt Gottschalk Issue 125

Sarah Hennies. Gather & Release. The phenomenological aspect of sound has long been the foremost concern of percussionist and composer Sarah Hennies’ work. While her music often exploits the way we hear, it never comes off as some mere exercise.   Gather & Release bends her fascination with the[...] Read more

Recordings Nick Storring Issue 125

Tim Brady. Instruments of Happiness; Of Sound, Mind and Body. Concert #3 Le Gesù. For over two decades Tim Brady has been creating orchestral works written specifically for ensembles of electric guitars. He is also a master guitarist, occasionally spotted running his fingers over a fretboard in less formal settings. His latest studio CD of notated material collects three[...] Read more

Recordings Lawrence Joseph Issue 125

Bill Dietz. 8 Tutorial Diversions, 2009-2014. Edition Solitude publishes the work of resident artists at Akademie Schloss Solitude, an artist fellowship and residency program in Germany. One of its recent monographs is 8 Tutorial Diversions, 2009-2014 by American-born, Berlin-based artist and composer Bill Dietz. Consisting of eight[...] Read more

Books Christopher Willes Issue 125

Open Waters Festival. Since 1990 the Upstream Music Association has been a crucial part of Halifax’s vibrant music community—both as presenter and as ensemble. For nineteen years, veteran improviser Paul Cram, a longtime Upstream affiliate, was artistic director. Lukas Pearse, an industrious and[...] Read more

Concerts and Events Nick Storring Issue 125