David Dalle
Thursday January 16th, 2025 with David Dalle
John Luther Adams' "Arctic Dreams"; two great kora players in Ottawa!
Sometimes, when it is frozen and snowed under outside, I love to listen to music which just encapsulates that weather. Recently, I've been listening to John Luther Adams' 2021 composition "Arctic Dreams" for four voices (two sopranos, alto, and bass) and four strings (violon, viola, cello, and doublebass) and three layers of digital delay. This is a seven movement suite with the digital delay creating 32 part canonic structures. Despite the thick textures, it is music of pristine and austere beauty, easy to imagine as the sound befitting the frozen tundra in the polar twilight. Spectacular music to get lost into.
| I should mention, the NAC Orchestra will be performing JLA's "Become Desert" in June (they performed its companion piece "Become Ocean" in 2021). I can't express how insanely happy I am that the NACO has brilliantly widened its repertoire under Alexander Shelley.
https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/36122 |
| Artic Dreams i. The Place Where You Go to Listen John Luther Adams/Synergy Vocals, Robin Lorentz, Ron Lawrence, Michael Finckel, Robert Black - Artic Dreams - Cold Blue Music |
| Artic Dreams ii. Pointed Mountains Scattered All Around John Luther Adams/Synergy Vocals, Robin Lorentz, Ron Lawrence, Michael Finckel, Robert Black - Artic Dreams - Cold Blue Music |
| Artic Dreams iii. The Circle of Suns and Moons John Luther Adams/Synergy Vocals, Robin Lorentz, Ron Lawrence, Michael Finckel, Robert Black - Artic Dreams - Cold Blue Music |
| Artic Dreams iv. The Circle of Winds John Luther Adams/Synergy Vocals, Robin Lorentz, Ron Lawrence, Michael Finckel, Robert Black - Artic Dreams - Cold Blue Music |
| Artic Dreams v. River with No Willows John Luther Adams/Synergy Vocals, Robin Lorentz, Ron Lawrence, Michael Finckel, Robert Black - Artic Dreams - Cold Blue Music |
| Artic Dreams vi. One That Stays All Winter John Luther Adams/Synergy Vocals, Robin Lorentz, Ron Lawrence, Michael Finckel, Robert Black - Artic Dreams - Cold Blue Music |
| Artic Dreams vii. Where the Waves Splash, Hitting Again and Again John Luther Adams/Synergy Vocals, Robin Lorentz, Ron Lawrence, Michael Finckel, Robert Black - Artic Dreams - Cold Blue Music |
| There are two great kora players coming to Ottawa, one next week, and one in April. Next Friday, the phenomenal Cuban jazz pianist Omar Sosa is coming to the NAC with Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita and Sosa's longtime partner, Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles. Omar Sosa and Seckou Keita have recorded two albums together with Gustavo Ovalles on both. They are good, but as I have found with all recordings of Omar Sosa, he is fantastically better live than in the studio. We will hear from both these albums as well as Omar Sosa's extraordinary live recording "Ayaguna". I did hear this tremendous trio of musicians live in Gatineau in 2019 and I know how amazing they are live! Do not miss it!
https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/36814 The other great kora player coming is my personal favourite, Ballaké Sissoko, who will also be appearing at the NAC in April with one of his many extraordinary cross-cultural collaborations! He will be appearing with the quartet of Vincent Segal, cello, Emile Parisien, soprano sax, Vincent Peirani, accordion, and Sissoko on kora. They released an album "Les Égarés" on No Format in 2023. There is probably no other music in existence for these four instruments together, and it is another fantastic recording! I have never seen Ballaké Sissoko live before, so I am extremely thrilled about this appearance, do not miss this one either! https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/37777 |
| Fatiliku Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita - Transparent Water - Ota Records |
| Voices On The Sea Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita - Suba - Bendigedig |
| Eleggua in the Road Omar Sosa & Gustavo Ovalles - Ayaguna - Ota Records |
| La Chanson des Égarés Sissoko, Segal, Parisien, Peirani - Les Égarés - No Format |
| Florence Price's 2nd violin concerto, which was composed in 1952, but never published nor performed until it was found in 2009, along with many other forgotten scores, in a home once lived in by Florence Price (who died in 1953). It is being performed tonight at the NAC with Randall Goosby in a sold out show, however, there is free livestreaming. I featured Price's extant symphonies (1, 2 & 4) last February.
https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/37950 |
| Adoration Florence Price/Randall Goosby, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nezet-Seguin - Max Bruch, Florence Price Violin Concertos - Decca |
| Violin Concerto No. 2 Florence Price/Randall Goosby, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nezet-Seguin - Max Bruch, Florence Price Violin Concertos - Decca |
| So many upcoming concerts! This Saturday there is the world premiere live performance of Frank Horvat's "An Auditory Survey of the Last Days of the Holocene" for piano, percussion, and electronics. One show only with SHHH!!! Ensemble, comprised of Zac Pulak, percussion and Edana Higham, piano who collaborated with Frank Horvat on the composition and recorded it. It will be at the Collines-en-Musique, a venue which describes itself as "Environmentally sustainable, community-minded chamber music in the Gatineau Hills". I have not been to this venue, and will be going to this!
https://www.pontiacenchante.ca/shhh-ensemble-holocene-en We will hear the hopeful conclusion to this suite. The entire work can be heard on my program from November 2023 on-demand: https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/105/63001.html |
| An Auditory Survey of the Last Days of the Holocene Part IV: Outcome Frank Horvat/SHHH!!! Ensemble - An Auditory Survey of the Last Days of the Holocene - Leaf Music 
|
| Speaking of concerts, can't forget Mdou Moctar returning to Ottawa on Feb 3rd!
https://bronsoncentremusictheatre.com/events/event/mdou-moctar-3/ |
| Afrique Victime Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victime - Matador Records |
Subscribe to David Dalle
Very cool, David !!
2:10 PM, January 16th, 2025