The York Winds were one of Canada's finest performing ensembles. Their repertoire, ranging from Beethoven to Bach to Scott Joplin, indicated their versatility, and the group enlarged that repertoire by commissioning many Canadian composers. This Centrediscs CD release features the York Winds performing works by five of Canada's distinguished musical creators.

THE COMPOSERS

BRIAN CHERNEY (1942- ) - Born in Peterborough, Ontario, Brian Cherney first studied composition with Samuel Dolin at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto and later with John Weinzweig at the University of Toronto. He also participated in summer courses at Darmstadt, Germany, where he attended lectures by Ligeti, Stockhausen and Kagel. Since 1972 Cherney has been on the staff of the Faculty of Music at McGill University in Montreal where he teaches composition, analysis and twentieth-century music history.

Strongly influenced by Bartók at first, Cherney’s music underwent two important stylistic changes during the late 1960s: a more sophisticated rhythmic language and leaner textures (a result of his studies with Weinzweig), and a greater preoccupation with new timbres and structural procedures (due in part to his visits to Darmstadt).

Cherney’s music has been performed and broadcast throughout North and South America, Europe and Japan. In 1985, he was the recipient of Canada’s top composition award, the Jules Léger Prize for new chamber music, for River of Fire, a 1983 composition for oboe d’amore and harp which reflects the composer’s interest in the various aspects of mysticism. This work is available on the Centrediscs CD entitled The Charmer. Other works by Cherney appearing on Centrediscs include Doppelgänger from the CD Envol, and Seven Miniatures from the CD Viola Nouveau.

“The Woodwind Quintet was written during the fall of 1965 while I was studying with John Weinzweig. It was originally a part of a five-movement work which I subsequently divided into the present Quintet (consisting of three short movements) and a two-movement work (Interlude and Variations). Both works show clearly the influence of Weinzweig, particularly in the presentation of small interval cells in various rhythmic and registral guises and transpositions, the use of relatively transparent and spare textures, and the attempt to develop rhythmic flexibility and asymmetry. Arranged in a traditional moderate-slow-fast sequence, all three movements of the Quintet use a kind of refrain and episode structure. In the slow movement, for instance, a recurring sustained A, presented in a variety of instrumental combinations and registers, provides a static frame of reference for a number of solo excursions.” (B. Cherney)

BENGT HAMBRAEUS (1928-2000) - Bengt Hambraeus was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He attended Uppsala University (1947-56) where he obtained a Ph.D in Musicology and an M.A. in Religious Studies, and the History of the Fine Arts. Between 1957 and 1972 he worked at the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, and from 1968 to 1972 was the Head of Production of its Music Department.

From 1972 to his death he lived in Canada. During this time, he was a Professor at the Faculty of Music at McGill University in Montreal, teaching theory, composition and electronic music. Among his compositions are three operas, works for orchestra, choir, organ, chamber ensembles and electronic works.
In the early ‘50s he was the first Swedish composer to work with electronic means. He was a member of the Swedish Composers’ Society, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, the Canadian League of Composers, and the Canadian Music Centre.

“The musicians asked me ‘What are you getting at in this piece?’ My answer was simply: ‘Wait and see.’ Imagine a game, or gambling-initial gambit, when the players try to understand each other’s strategy. From the very neutral, yet expectant, opening, things start to move: Faites vos jeux… Jeu de cinq was commissioned by the York Winds and first performed in Toronto in February, 1977.” (B. Hambraeus)

NORMAN SHERMAN (1926- ) - Born, raised and schooled in Boston, Massachusetts, Norman Sherman had three years of intensive private studies in composition with Dr. Roslyn Brogue Henning of Harvard University, and graduated from Boston University in 1950, where he majored in composition and studied bassoon with Ernst Panenka of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He also had further studies with Olivier Messiaen at Tanglewood and at the Conservatoire National in Paris.

He has had a substantial career as a performer and has been Principal Bassoonist with, among others, the Hague Philharmonic of the Netherlands, the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, and the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Israel.

The distinctive characteristics of Sherman’s music are: meticulous concern for craftmanship, an excellent command of orchestral colour, and an individual style free of any strong outside influences.

“Quintessant was composed in 1977. It was commissioned by the Town Hall Concert Series of Kingston for the Canadian Wind Quintet who gave its first performance. Each movement has a title which is relevant to the mood of the movement. 1. Simultaneous Fast/Slow, 2. Moderate Proportions, 3. Triples, 4. Within, 5. Timbres in Motion. The technique is that of continuous development with the exception of some brief sonoric or motovic repetitions in the second and fifth movements. The sonorities are all the result of basic serial procedures.” (N. Sherman)

ROBERT AITKEN (1939- ) - Born in Kentville, Nova Scotia, Robert Aitken is renowned as a flutist and composer. His formal education in composition began with Barbara Pentland and he also studied with John Weinzweig. Aitken graduated with an M.A. in composition from the University of Toronto in 1964. The same year he was awarded a Canada Council grant to study in Amsterdam, Zurich, Rome and Paris. Aitken was principal flutist of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and for five years co-principal flutist with the Toronto Symphony, and was associate Professor at the University of Toronto. He is the artistic director of New Music Concerts (Toronto).

As a composer, he explores the most recent developments in the field of contemporary music. This no doubt accounts for the change in style which has gradually become apparent in his own compositions, beginning with the Concerto for Twelve Solo Instruments and Orchestra in 1964. Since then he has completed the renowned Shadows I: Nekuia and Shadows II: Lalita, which has proved to be one of his most frequently heard compositions, as well as Shadows III: Nira and Berceuse (For Those Who Sleep Before Us).

In 1969 Aitken was awarded the Canadian League of Composers’ Canada Music Citation for outstanding service to the music of Canadian composers.

“Folia (1980) is a virtuosic display piece for woodwind quintet. The intention was to compose a work for winds which maintains a high level of intensity throughout. Even the few sustained passages offer the musician extra technical challenges such as trills of variable speed, flutter tonguing and simultaneous singing and playing. The melodic and harmonic material is entirely based on a major/minor 9th chord in all its inversions which, coloured with unusual overtones, slips in and out of focus much like the variety of autumn foliage. Hints of relaxation and timbral changes are achieved by varying the density of the texture, suggestive of the wildness of nature. Folia was composed for the York Winds under a grant from the Ontario Arts Council during the fall of 1980 at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire.” (R. Aitken)

MICHAEL PARKER (1948- ) - Born in Toronto, Michael Parker studied violin and viola at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, in Banff and at Michigan State University. From 1972-76 he was founding member, performer and Executive Secretary with the contemporary music group ARRAY (now Arraymusic) in Toronto. Parker graduated in 1972 with a Masters degree in Classical Studies (Greek and Latin) from the University of Toronto, and completed his Ph.D. in Roman Studies at McMaster University in 1991.

In 1976, Parker moved to Newfoundland where he served as Principal Violist with the Newfoundland Symphony. In 1977, he was appointed to the faculty of Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University of Newfoundland in Corner Brook, where he is currently Associate Professor of Classics.

He considers himself to be a very eclectic composer. He is completely self-taught: the composition skills he has have been acquired by being an avid consumer and performer of all kinds of music throughout his life. Many of his works are traditional in style while others are more avant-garde; but all of his music reflects the established traditions of the various musical periods. His music tends to be well-structured, polyphonic, with unexpected elements.

“Cholê (1975) is the Greek word for ‘anger’ and the piece could be considered as a musical expression of that emotion although only on a very incidental level. All of the material in the work is derived from the contents of the first few seconds of music, with the horn providing the most important material. In form, the work basically is an alternation between violent outburst and reflective calm. In turn, each of the five instruments is given a prominent role, whether in solo or in combination with other instruments.” (M. Parker)

THE PERFORMERS

THE YORK WINDS - The York Winds were one of Canada’s finest perfoming ensembles. Formed in Toronto in 1972, the group performed throughout Canada, in Europe, the Middle East, Mexico and South America, was heard over radio networks in England, Belgium and France, and made its London and New York debuts in 1977 and 1978 respectively.

Their repertoire, ranging from Beethoven and Bach to Scott Joplin, indicated their versatility, and the group enlarged that repertoire by commissioning leading Canadian composers such as John Rea, Brian Cherney, John Hawkins, David Jaeger and Alcides Lanza to write especially for them.

During its lifetime, the group experienced personnel changes such that in this recording the works by Cherney, Hambraeus, Sherman and Aitken feature the following players: Douglas Stewart (flute), Lawrence Cherney (oboe), Paul Grice (clarinet), Harcus Hennigar (horn), and Gerald Robinson (bassoon). In the Parker work, the oboist is Cynthia Steljes, while the other players are the same.