Continuum gets ORGANized
The title of our February 12 concert, ORGANized, refers to the use of mechanical organs and other mechanical sound-emitting devices. It could as easily have been called ORGANic, for the invisible hand, the natural yet unknowable forces that seemed to govern its development from first concept to final form. But then every concert could be called organic — all develop according to the laws of wouldn’t-it-be-cool-to-do-that, and darn-it’s-not-going-to-work. This concert was to have been last May, when the weather is warm enough to throw open the doors and play great honking Dutch street organs, with all the bells and whistles, snare drums, accordions and baton-waving mechanical dolls. But things happened and February isn’t May (at least most years) and so to save everyone’s ears the organs are smaller. It’s inevitable that unanticipated possibilities and impossibilities crop up, creating unpredictable form. However, though unpredictable at the outset, the developmental path of a concert is not uncontrolled – branches that prove to be sturdy and fruit-bearing are encouraged while stunted ones get lopped off. And so stands now ORGANized, a fine piece of musical topiary, the result of a dynamic, organic, and organized process.
ORGANized features new works by Petar Klanac, Richard Marsella and Michael Oesterle that pit the flexible ensemble against the rigidity, relentlessness and ineffable charm of mechanical devices. We also give the Canadian premiere of Strata by Brian Current, commissioned by Continuum jointly with the San Francisco Chamber Players. It too touches on mechanical vs human capabilities in its writing. Continuum by György Ligeti (originally for harpsichord and here arranged for two marimbas) is a work requiring a level of execution bordering on the humanly impossible.
The cabinet-sized mechanical organ used in the concert was engineered and built by retired Dutch-Canadian engineering manager and organ wizard Henk de Graauw. Also part of the concert’s mechanical arsenal is a crank barrel organ built by Richard Marsella and a sound-emitting contraption built by Michael Oesterle. As part of the event, Henk will present a talk on mechanical organs at 4 pm, prior to the concert, in the fellowship room of the Music Gallery. His history of mechanical musical devices and stories of a life designing the damndest mechanical things is not to be missed.
Petar Klanac’s work Les petites créatures (The little beings), commissioned with funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, is imbued with the idea of the power or grandeur of smallness. Read the full program note.
By contrast, Remix for Henk by Richard Marsella, aka Friendly Rich, tends towards the exuberant. For the last decade he has been tinkering with street organs, barrel organs and other mechanical and midi-driven devices with his friend Henk de Graauw in a tool shed in Bramalea, Ontario. Read the full program note.
Look on glass, for ensemble, by Michael Oesterle, is a new version of a work written for Japanese koto and marimba (and originally premiered by Continuum’s Ryan Scott, along with pre-eminent Koto artist Kazue Sawai at the Soundstreams 2010 cooldrummings festival). Although the koto is omitted here, shifting focus to the marimba, its presence is felt in the sparse plucky textures of the piccolo, violin, cello and mechanical device. Read the full program note.
Strata by Brian Current was commissioned by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and Continuum in 2010 with the assistance of the Ontario Arts Council. The title refers to the layering of musical material found throughout the work. Read the full program note.
Continuum for harpsichord (1968), by György Ligeti, and performed in this concert on two marimbas, is to be performed so fast that the notes merge into a continuum. Rhythmic variation is created though the introduction into the sound stream of new pitches – in this way expressing qualities of chaos theory, ideas he was introduced to long after writing the work. Read the full program note.
Continuum’s ensemble (Anne Thompson, flute; Max Christie, clarinet; Carol Fujino, violin; Paul Widner, cello; Laurent Philippe, piano; and Ryan Scott, percussion) is joined by guest artists Haruka Fujii (percussion) and Brian Current (conductor).
Continuum presents ORGANized, Sunday, February 12, 2012 at The Music Gallery, 197 John Street. Pre-concert talk at 4 pm (free); concert at 8 pm ($25 adults / $15 students, seniors, arts workers & Music Gallery members). Tickets available online or at the door on the night of the concert.
For more information visit the ORGANized concert page.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Jennifer Waring, Co-Artistic Director
