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Tuckamore Festival Finale

Tuckamore Festival Finale Concert Young Artists Sunday 19 August I wasn’t able to get to the concert in Brigus on Saturday 18 th August, but I’m sure it went well. Judging from the photographs I have seen, the Young Artists certainly enjoyed their visit, an annual effort by Tuckamore organisers to reach out beyond the overpass to communities who may not find the treck into St. John’s an easy one. The culmination of two weeks of intensive work (and lord knows how many years of preparation) brought a magnificent end to Tuckamore’s 18 th Festival. Comparisons with previous years are doubtless invidious, but everyone I spoke to after the concert was of the same opinion: this year’s ensembles outclassed just about every group in the seventeen preceding festivals. The bar was set high by the first ensemble, the trio of Raina Saunders, violin, Charlotte Tyhurst, ‘cello, and Iris Hung, piano, as they continued their exploration of Brahms’ Piano Trio in B Ma...
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Thoughts Provoked by Danish String Quartet

Thoughts Provoked by the Danish String Quartet In recitals as part of the Tuckamore Festival of Chamber Music St. John’s, NL, August 2018 St. John’s audiences had two opportunites to experience the artistry of this youthful quartet: the first, a performance in St. Andrew’s Church (The Kirk) on Tuesday 14 August; the second, during the “Blissfuly Beethoven” concert at D.F.Cook Recital Hall at Memorial University’s School of Music. I won’t attempt a traditional review – it’s really beyond my competence – but I was struck by their approach to compositions from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and offer the following thoughts. For the past forty years or more, some orchestras and smaller ensembles have taken the route of attempting to re-create the sound that was likely produced at the time of the original composition. Taffel Music in Toronto has had great commercial success in offering lightly textured orchestral formations – mainly strings, mini...
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Lunchtime Recital #4, Thursday 16th August

Tuckamore Festival Young Artists Lunchtime Recital “The Kirk” Thursday, 16 th August 2018 12.30pm Today’s rectal, the last in the series of four, offered four different composers ranging from the late eighteenth century to the middle of the twentieth: Haydn, Vieuxtemps, Brahms and Shostakovich. The eclectic mix is one of the reasons why these recitals are so popular, as well as offering the opportunity to these Young Artists to show their individual skills as well as their ensemble playing. The first performer, Maggie Kerr, hails from Fredericton, NB, performing the Moderato movement from Joseph Haydn’s ‘Cello Concerto No.1 in C Major, with Patrick Cashin piano. In the Young Artists concert last Saturday, Ms Kerr had not seemed at ease in the context of the quartet she was playing in, but today she seemed relaxed, full of confidence, and gave a wonderful performance, obviously relishing the fine accoustics that the church architecture affords. The c...
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Lunchtime Recital, Wednesday 15 August

Tuckamore Festival Young Artists Luntime Concert “The Kirk” Wednesday 15 August, 12.30pm The third of these wonderful recitals featured two ensembles who play in last Saturday’s evening concert, and two duos, one of whom played solo last week, but both presented new-to-us works. The recital opened with the piano quartet, No.1 in C minor, op.15 by Gabriel Fauré. Frédéric-Alexandre Michaud, violin, Amélie Roberts, viola, Connor Cornick, ‘cello, and Stephen Eckert, piano, presented the second movement of this work. Ihave already remarked on the professional of this group, and today’s performance consolidated that evaluation. I suspect that a combination of practice time spent together and the opportunity to perform for an audience have contributed to the continuing higher level of execution. Whatever the cause, they present superb ensemble work, with constant communication – an eye glance, a nod of the head – contributing to teir success. The second perf...
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Young Composers, Young Artists Concert 11 August

Tuckamore Festival Saturday 11 August 2018 Young Composers followed by Young Artists at Play As Andrew Staniland remarked   in introducing the three young composers, this is the seventh consecutive Festival to feature young composers. During an intensive week of coaching, the composers hone their skills through discussions, exercises, and the creation of a new work that is performed by Young Artists, once in the opening concert, and a second time ( a rare occasion for new works) in the context of the first evening concert by Young Artists. Rondette for violin, violincello and piano was briefly presented by the composer Leslie Opatril, who focussed on her neologism of “rondette”, pointing to the miniature nature of her work compared with the traditional rondo form. The trio of Frédéric-Alexandre Michaud violin, Connor Cornick ‘cello, and Stephen Eckert piano clearly enjoyed performing this rondette, attacking the opening bars with gusto, punctuated ...
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Young Artists Lunchtime #2

Tuckamore Festival Young Artists Lunchtime Recital St. Andrews “The Kirk” Thursday 9 th August The second of Tuckamore’s lunchtime recitals by Young Artists took place at the Kirk today, featuring five performers. The first, Charlotte Tyhurst from Kitchener, Ontario, presented the second (?) movement of Brahms Cello Sonata No.2 in F Major. It is one of Brahms’s mature works, composed in 1888 during a summer spent in Switzerland, and poses questions of performers and listeners. Cello and piano vie for the listener’s ears, neither succeeding in dominating through the strength of a melodic line. Ms Tyhurst’s robust tone was the equal of Mr. Cashin’s equally robust touch, but what might have been a shouting match developed into a sturdy partnership that makes of this work a highlight of late 19th century chamber music. Our second performer, Frédéric-Alexandre Michaud from Montréal, offered the Sonata for Violin and Piano No.4 by Charles Ives, in marked c...
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Lunchtime Concert #1, Wednesday 8th August

Tuckamore Festival Young Artists Lunchtime Concert Wednesday 8 th August St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, “The Kirk” The first of four such lunchtime concerts was held today, with the Kirk again offering a cool relief from the heat and humidity. This is the 18 th Tuckamore Festival, and each year the geographical range of participants widens, and more importantly, the level of their talents rises. In addition to Canadians, we have Young Artists from the US, France, Germany and New Zealand. If I have missed out a country, please forgive me – the full printed programs containing the bios of the performers are not yet available. First up was Iris Hung, from Coquitlam BC, playing the Prelude and Fugue in C Major by J.S. Bach. This well-known piece from the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier , was published in 1722, and because it is so readily recongizable, presents a special challenge to the performer. Ms Hung gave an admirable performance, starting with the...
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