This edition in the Canadian Composers Portraits series collects most of the major orchestral works by Canadian composer Harry Somers, with stunning performances by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Jean Stilwell, the Esprit Orchestra and many more. The 4-CD set includes a special documentary on the composer produced and presented by Eitan Cornfield.

The Infinite a Sudden Guest

The Infinite a sudden Guest
Has been assumed to be --
But how can that stupendous come
Which never went away?

– Emily Dickenson

Harry Somers died in Toronto on March 9, 1999. He was 74 years old.

He left an enormous legacy, but much of it had only been performed once, and not well at that. Very little of it had ever been recorded. Barbara Chilcott and Robert Cram decided to do something about that.

They’re in the midst of a massive recording project devoted to Somers’ music. A Window on Somers is already up to fifteen discs, with more in production.

Barbara Chilcott:
He did not receive the recognition he deserved. He received a lot when he was very young I see now, reading through his papers, but this was all before I knew him. I mean, when I met him, because I’d lived out of the country a great deal, I had no idea what his reputation was.

John Weinzweig:
Harry had a strong voice. And many people feel that it’s a Canadian voice, and that’s all right with me – yeah. It is a Canadian voice, and someday it’s going to become part of the music repertoire. So we have to discover it again. And we will – in time.

Robert Cram:
That’s why we’re recording his music. In Canada especially, but also in most of the world, music, and particularly new music, is usually played in a hall for a small number of people. It’s not like an art gallery where if you’ve got an exhibition the works hang there for weeks and people can come in any time the gallery is open and take a look and take their time. With music you’re either there when it happened or it might very well have never happened.

John Weinzweig was completely right - his music is waiting to be discovered. We are recording the music so that it’s there – forever. It’s not going to go away, wear or fade like a vinyl LP or a tape – it’s there forever.

Barbara Chilcott:
I think there will come a time when his work is more recognized than it is now. But if the recordings aren’t there – I mean it was Robert who felt it was essential to do it while there were still musicians around who knew Harry and his work. And, I guess, making up a bit for the fact that I didn’t realize he was a great composer when I met him (laughs).

Dissolve to heavenly music

Mr. Sremos:
Well, well, well. What do you seek now?

Harry Somers:
To discover and reveal in my music that which is unique in myself.

Mr. Sremos:
Doesn’t that smack of self-indulgence?

Harry Somers:
It doesn’t smack of self-indulgence – it’s complete self-indulgence.

Mr. Sremos:
The artist is supposed to be serious – and honest!

Harry Somers:
You mean, that if you think I act in the way you think serious artists act and talk, you will take me seriously?

Mr. Sremos:
Why, yes. I have no other way of knowing.

Harry Somers:
Then you’re easy prey for the con man. But then, artists are one with confidence men as well as magicians, jokesters and tricksters – because all of them either conceal the real, the inward essential character of things, as Joseph Campbell has written, or project illusory ideas or impressions which, when viewed in a certain way, reveal what they hide. In this way the thief and the artist are both in the same sacred calling.

Mr. Sremos:
You’re getting far too deep for me.

Harry Somers:
And, Mr. Sremos, for myself. Goodbye.

Mr. Sremos:
Goodbye, Mr. Somers, wherever you may be.

THE COMPOSER

Harry Somers, O.C., (1925-1999) was born in Toronto, Ontario, and showed an interest in music only in his early teens. He engaged in intensive piano studies, which were so productive that at the age of 16 he entered the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where he studied piano with Reginald Godden and Weldon Kilburn and composition with John Weinzweig, receiving scholarships in 1947 and 1949. In the late 40's, he went first to San Francisco to continue piano with E. Robert Schmitz, and then to Paris to study composition under Darius Milhaud (1949-50).

Somers was known not only for his great versatility but also for his tremendous productivity. His music includes works for orchestra, choir, voice, instrumental ensemble and piano, as well as for stage, film and television. His best-known work is the opera Louis Riel, commissioned for performance during Canada's Centennial Year, 1967, and performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Washington, D.C. during the U.S. Bicentennial celebrations.

Somers described his artistic development: "Over the years I've worked consistently on three different levels with three different approaches to composition. On one level my approach has been what I call 'community music' or 'music for use': For example music for amateurs and music for school use. On a second level I've created 'functional music,' in the specific sense: music for television, films and theatre, where the composition has to work in company with another medium and serve the demands of that medium. On a third level I have created without consideration for any limitations, sometimes completely experimentally, sometimes extending the line of a particular direction on which I had been working through a series of works.

In short, the first two levels relate directly to the environment and society, in the broad sense, in which I live at the moment, and in which I function as a craftsman; the third relates to a more restricted audience (though I'm not convinced it need be so) and my personal development as an artist."

In 1971, Somers, who had become one of Canada's most internationally-known composers, was named a Companion of the Order of Canada. He had received honorary doctorates from the University of Ottawa (1975), the University of Toronto (1976) and York University (1975). Harry Somers passed away on March 9, 1999.

Other Centrediscs compact discs featuring the music of Harry Somers are:
Canadian String Quartets (CMCCD 6600), The Charmer (CMCCD 5395), The Glorious Sounds of Somers (CMCCD 7101), Legacy (CMCCD 6800), Sacred and Profane Somers (CMCCD 5495), Serinette (CMCCD 76/7701), Singing Somers Theatre (CMCCD 6901), Somers String Quartets (CMCCD 7501), Somers Strings (CMCCD 7401), Songs from the Heart of Somers (CMCCD 7001), and Vickers (CMCCD 6398).

THE COMPOSITIONS

North Country (1948)

Harry Somers’ North Country was written after a canoe trip in the wilderness of northern Ontario. “This music,” he said, “reflects my response to the experience of being completely removed from urban life, and expresses my feelings about that particular landscape.”

He describes the work: “Lyrical and rhythmic. Freely atonal and contrapuntal. Evocative piece, but beyond the title there is no program.” Certainly the music does not tell a story or paint a picture – in fact, the title came to him only after he had finished the piece. But it does suggest the ruggedness of the landscape, with its dynamic contrasts, lean textures, nervous rhythmic vitality and spare melodic lines.

Symphony No.1 (1951)

The core of the thematic ideas came when the composer was studying in Paris in 1950. For about a year the work germinated in his mind until, in April of 1951, after having returned to Canada, he wrote the work.

Somers’ Symphony No.1 was given its first performance in 1953 with Victor Feldbrill conducting he CBC Symphony Orchestra in a live broadcast. Harmonically atonal, the work is softened by its lyricism and a contrapuntal structure. It is in one continuous movement, with a prologue followed by the presentation of three distinct subjects, which are then developed extensively before leading to the epilogue.

Picasso Suite (1964)

Derived originally from a TV documentary on the artist Pablo Picasso, this work was written on a commission from the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. In Somers’ own words, although it “does not represent all of Picasso’s periods…is a musical representation of the principal ones. The sections, then, are written in various musical styles to suit the period.”

The Picasso Suite consists of nine comparatively short pieces: Paris 100 – A Snapshot: “A short parody of ragtime”; Blue Period: “It could be called a kind of atonal blues”; Circus: “Music for clowns and circus people of that period in Picasso’s work”; Cubism: “An attempt at a musical counterpart, juxtaposing chordal block-like surfaces, or planes.”; Neo-Classic: “The music is written in the Stravinsky style of the early twenties, illustrating Picasso’s neo-Classicism.” Etching – The Vollard Suite: A solo flute plays a single melodic line evoking the sensuality and refinement of the Vollard etchings.”; Mural – Temple of Peace: “This section uses material from No.5”; Arcadia – Faun with Flute: “As in Picasso’s work at the Grimaldi museum. This piece is totally without guile. The little tune is from a Spanish folk song.”; Codetta: A very short repeat of the opening ragtime music.”

Suite for Harp and Chamber Orchestra (1949)

This work dates from1949 when, being invited by an American harpist to prepare a suite for the instrument, Somers set out “to exploit all the colour elements, which Salzedo had developed, as an integral part of the musical composition.” The result, Mr. Somers wrote, “is a four-movement concerto for solo instrument and chamber orchestra in what is, I hope, a Mozartian sense of the word concerto.” As such, each of the four movements emphasizes a particular set of intervals,, a mood or compositional technique.

The Suite was first heard at a Canadian League of Composers’ concert; and on February 6, 1962 was performed by Walter Susskind and the Toronto Symphony with Judy Loman as soloist.

Five Songs for Dark Voice 91956)

Commissioned by the Stratford Festival for Maureen Forrester, these songs are settings of poems by Michael Fram who, early in Somers career, was a favourite collaborator. The poetry is concerned with the inability of the human spirit to dwell within the confines of the “brick and steel” of the “impersonal” city. In his notes for the songs, Somers referred to Fram’s “beautiful imagery and his meaningful symbols of human feelings.”

Harry Somers later recalled that at the time he wrote the work, he was enormously impressed with Mahler’s writing for voice and orchestra, and although he always hated labels, he went so far as to call these songs “neo-romantic”.

Lyric for Orchestra (1960)

The work was commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation for inclusion in the Serge Koussevitsky Music Collection of the Library of Congress, Washington, and was composed in memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitsky.

The title implies the poetic quality of the work. Somers’ style stems from the twelve-tone technique but is substantially modified by his poetic intuition as to what is right for a given moment. Elements of the work were derived from his score for the film Saguenay, which described harnessing the great river as a source of electric power. Somers wrote: “The demands of the film moved me into a much more open direction…Here and there I applied colour for its own sake, considered non-thematic possibilities and so on…what I would call totally abstract music.”

Of Memory and Desire (1993)

Harry Somers wrote: “Of Memory and Desire was commissioned by CBC Ottawa for the Thirteen Strings, Paul Mars conductor, and was premiered by the group in Ottawa on February 24, 1994.

“The title alludes to the famous opening lines of The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot: ‘April is the cruelest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory an desire…’ It came naturally to mind while I was composing the piece in the spring of 1993. That’s as far as its relationship to the music goes. It’s a poetic title juxtaposed to the music.

“My central concern was that of bringing to life the extraordinary sonoral richness of stringed instruments with their infinity of tonal colours, articulations, and expressiveness. Their sounds touch the emotions in ways that cannot be described nor defined – only experienced.”

Elegy, Transformation, Jubilation (1980)

This work, commissioned by the Toronto Symphony through a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, was given its world premiere performance by that orchestra on June 2, 1981 in Massey Hall, with Victor Feldbrill conducting.

Harry Somers wrote a series of works exploring space and texture, Elegy, Transformation, Jubilation being one of them, and his note in the score emphasizes his concern:

“The trilogy, in terms of orchestral forces and composition, has been conceived as evolving from the homophonic to the multiphonic; from one group to five.

“The orchestra for the Elegy and Transformation exists as a single, homogeneous group. During the Transformation certain instruments will move to new positions where others are already positioned.

“If the orchestra cannot be split up into 5 groups and spaced apart, as indicated in the stage plan, then Jubilation should not be performed. Jubilation is intended, and was created as a multiphonic composition of five separate groups and cannot sound properly otherwise.

“The Jubilation evolves to 5 separate tempi played simultaneously, each of the five groups having its own tempo.”

Concertante for Violin, Percussion and String Orchestra (1982)

Commissioned by Lorand Fenyves with the assistance of the Canada Council, this work is actually a small concerto for for violin, two percussionists and string orchestra. In a CBC interview Somers says of the Concertante:

“Originally I had thought of a work for solo violin and orchestra, just a concerto of some sort, and then the sonorities started coming into my head and developed into the idea of a concerto grosso really, a combination of solo concerto and concerto grosso, where there’s an interplay of musical forces, and in this work the violin has centre stage right off the bat in a long solo, and then gradually there’s an interplay between the solo violin and the orchestra, and finally the percussion joins the violin as a small group playing on an entirely different plane than the string orchestra, and throughout the work then there is this dramatic tension between the two forces.”

Third Piano Concerto (1996)

The concerto was commissioned by the Esprit Orchestra, with the assistance of the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council, and premiered by pianist James Parker and the Esprit Orchestra, Alex Pauk, conductor, Toronto, March 29, 1996. It was dedicated to the memory of E. Robert Schmitz, a pianist and teacher whom Somers identifies as a major influence in his musical life.

Writing of the work, Somers said: “The main ideas for the Third Piano Concerto had been on my mind for more than ten years. I first started writing them down four years ago in a couple of movements of my 11 Miniatures for oboe and piano, a composition commissioned by Lawrence Cherney. With Alex Pauk’s invitation to write a work for Esprit, I decided to give those ideas full play.”

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