This recording features the guitar at its most traditional and its most experimental. One of Canada's most sensitive and skillful interpreters of contemporary music, William Beauvais, has chosen a range of Canadian repertoire for solo guitar, guitar duets where he is joined by fellow guitarist Stephen Wingfield, and guitar with tape.

William Beauvais credits his formative influences to composer/guitarist Leo Brouwer who appeared frequently in Toronto between 1975 and 1985. Beauvais has consistently extended the boundaries of traditional guitar repertoire. He has worked with some of Canada's finest musicians including the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, the Canadian Electronic Ensemble, the Evergreen Club Gamelan Ensemble, Tapestry Music Theatre and the Arraymusic Ensemble.

a bridge beyond

“The little cuckoo is heard on all sides day and night. Its strange cry can be represented fairly exactly by the following notes....”
from the Chinese diary of Abbé David (June 4, 1869)

Like the song of the nightingale, and the cry of the cuckoo, the plucked tone of the guitar was carried to us on the winds of culture from the East. One might declare that the slender bridge of the guitar has carried westward a freight of musical sounds, forms and methods. This is the construction which allows us to love our fabled cities as the crossroads for trade, or as melting pots for races, cultures and societies.

In the modern Canadian city of Toronto, where guitarist William Beauvais lives, we know that the guitar is no longer confined to Spain, nor to the Middle Ages. But the words that Rudolf Komorous places at the head of his score — reprinted above — are emblematic of the instrument’s romance. Komorous constructs his piece almost as a backward glance at the storied history of the instrument. The title, Amaryllis, tells us to sniff among the perfumed flowers of the Baroque, to gaze upon an inflorescence of little songs and refrains, perhaps offered up in the delicate hands of a classical shepherdess. Among these melodic statements may be heard the outlines of the cuckoo’s song, nearly as the Abbé David notated it. And at the end, before a final flourish, is the pure song, a theme which follows its variations, the source of the mystery.

Other living Canadian composers, who did not emigrate to the West-coastal region of British Columbia from Prague, by way of China (as did Komorous) tend to construct their pieces for guitar a little differently. Henry Kucharzyk was born and trained in Toronto and grew up in the era of electric guitars and pop bands. His musical world seems as passionately romantic as ever was the 19th-century universe of that wild man Franz Liszt, and like Liszt, Kucharzyk has dedicated himself deeply to virtuosity and to the groove. Kucharzyk structures his piece Impulse as an étude for ‘left-hand hammering on, but extended to both hands’, which allows him to create a fascinating thicket of independent pulses, beats and contrapuntal voices.

In Skook’s Curiosity, Jon Siddall takes another tack entirely, with the sonorities of a gamelan provided by an electronic synthesizer in the tape part. Among all the sounds of faux foghorns, dampened bells and clunks and things, the guitars also make alien sounds, with their string sounds altered by fishing weights and lengths of wool yarn [like John Cage’s prepared piano] . The conceit, as in the jazz age song Kitten On The Keys, with its unexpected clusters, is that a curious cat’s been turned loose in the gamelan, hopping and plucking among the synthesizer keys and guitar strings, abandoned in a roomy warehouse of modern sound, mousing away to her heart’s content. The real cat Skook belonged to John Cage, and came up in discussions between the two composers, when Cage visited Toronto to investigate sounds for a composition commissioned by the Evergreen Club Gamelan.

Wes Wraggett has fashioned a veritable maze of musical self-reference in his work. The title Maya, a Sanskrit word meaning “illusion”, stands for the philosophical ideal that everything is illusory. The piece uses taped and heavily manipulated guitar sounds to simulate a separate, mysterious, and not really guitar-like instrument. (In an earlier version of the piece, two guitars divided the live materials, which have now been folded into one part through the illusions of “digital signal processing”.) The work’s five sections are “related to the unfolding of the five Skandhas [aggregates of conscious formation].” But neither a narrative program, nor the music’s original occasion — a recital for the CBC’s Two New Hours radio show — can defeat Maya, for in the composer’s ear, even musical form “IS!” illusion.

By coincidence, Teyata, the title of Steve Wingfield’s piece, is also a Sanskrit word, in this case, the formulation by which one introduces a mantra. Loosely translated, it means “this is the way it goes”. Thus, the piece, which is designed to “celebrate the characteristic resonance of the guitar”, begins an 11-note pattern, repeated over and over, with both guitars in unison, as pure melody. A transformation begins when one of the guitarists [Wingfield] shifts his version of the 11-note pattern out of phase with the original, so that the harmonic implications and rhythmic structure of the pattern come to life as a complex counterpoint. the ceaseless round of bright tone bubbling like a river’s rapids, and the music gradually changing — by small incremental shifts of tonality and rhythm — into something else, and yet again, some other thing.

In the present time, a guitar may be sounded at the end of the second millennium, but it’s an ancient instrument ... and even the new sounds on this CD will be antiques someday. Such is the postmodern paradox of new and old at the heart of Marjan Mozetich’s Five Pieces. Echoes ring out, from the idiomatic patterns of the guitar’s long history: here a whiff of “Asturias” by Isaac Albeniz (in Appassionato) and there, some characteristic rhythms of the flamenco (the reminiscence of Rodrigo’s noted “Concierto de Aranjuez” in “A Spanish Shadow”). But when Stravinsky’s pagan Russia is invoked (Ancient Spring), Mozetich’s music has its own wistful character, though the musical materials may have originated in the Spring Round Dances in “Rite of Spring”. “Innocence” features a quietly lilting tune which seems to spring almost directly out of the more vigorous energies which precede it in the first piece. And the familiar technique of arpeggiation (with melodies embedded in the top voice) helps to make “Something Beautiful” sound like a favourite guitar classic.

William Beauvais brings sparkle and warmth to his readings of Canadian and contemporary music. His career began by winning first prize in Canadian Music Competition [1980] followed by first prize in the Carrefour Mondial de la Guitare, Martinique [1980]. He has worked with some of Canada’s finest musicians including the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, the Canadian Electronic Ensemble, the Evergreen Club Gamelan Ensemble, Tapestry Music Theatre and the Arraymusic Ensemble. Often featured on radio, he has appeared in festivals in Elora, Stratford, Kingston, Toronto, Havana and Martinique. Recent CDs include TRACES, and bridges a duo project with noted jazz musician Brian Katz. A recording with violinist Moshe Hammer is on The Best of Stereo Morning for the C.B.C. Musica Viva label.

Beauvais credits his formative influences to composer/guitarist Leo Brouwer who appeared frequently in Toronto between 1975 and 1985. Beauvais has consistently extended the boundaries of traditional guitar repertoire. He has worked as an improviser with guitarists John Gzowski and John Armstrong and bassist George Koller. Beauvais has collaborated on electroacoustic music projects with Eugene Martynec, Kristi Allik and Wende Bartley. He has also written music to accompany texts by poets Gwendolyn MacEwen, Wayne Keon and Robert Priest. He performs with actors, dancers and painters creating new and innovative performance pieces. Beauvais also remains active with Resonance (his trio with Linda Eyman, soprano and Julian Knight, viola), an ensemble that combines virtuosity with an enduring commitment to provocative new work.

An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the guitar faculty of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Beauvais seeks to integrate teaching, learning and creativity. His numerous studies for guitar include drum patterns, jazz harmonies and games for the fingers. He has always encouraged creativity in his students and collects their compositions in a project called The Student As Creator. His work as an improviser continues to inspire his written music, while his creative work gives him an informed approach to performing.

Originally from England, Stephen Wingfield is a long time resident of Toronto, where he studied the guitar with Eli Kassner. Master classes with Leo Brouwer in Arles and Martinique were also important influences. He graduated from the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, and the Royal Conservatory of Music, where he taught for many years.

As a guitarist he has performed solo and in ensembles at festivals in Martinique, Havana and Toronto, and has collaborated many times with William Beauvais in concerts and recordings. He has researched, practised and written on the music of South India and of Tibet, and performed Andean folk music with several groups in Toronto. A self-taught composer, he finds that all these musical experiences are grist for the mill. His works have been featured on CBC radio’s Two New Hours and Stereo Morning. Most of his compositions involve the guitar, whose unique sound qualities are a source of continuing fascination. His performances with William Beauvais have encouraged the composition of works such as Teyata, Nocturne for two guitars, and Sunda Sundari for two guitars and suling (Javanese flute).

The versatility of the guitar and his wide-ranging interests have led to some unexpected and rewarding experiences. He has played for street dancers in the early hours of the morning during carnival in Bolivia, and at an ecumenical service in Toronto for the Dalai Lama. Recent projects include a work commissioned through the Toronto Arts Council for William Beauvais’ trio Resonance. He is a founding member of the Javanese musical ensemble Gamelan Toronto, and a director of the Canadian Taijiquan Federation.

Composers’ Biographies

Rudolf Komorous was born and educated in Prague, Czech Republic. He taught bassoon for two years [1959-61] in China at the Beijing Central Conservatory. Emigrating to Canada in 1969 he joined the faculty of the School of Music at the University of Victoria in 1971 and later became its director. From 1989 he served as Director of the School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University.

Komorous’ involvement with the Czech avant-garde in the 1950s and 60s led to a close association with painters, sculptors and writers. This circle, known as the “Smidra Group” was influenced by DADA and surrealism. Their motto was the “aesthetic of the wonderful” through which common materials could be transformed into something sublime, mysterious or even magical. In 1961 he co-founded Musica Viva Pragensis, which was regarded as one of Europe’s leading new music ensembles during the eight years of its existence.

Komorous has an extensive catalogue of works for orchestra [4 symphonies], solo instruments, voice and ensembles. His compositions have been featured at contemporary music festivals including the Venice Biennalle, Warsaw Autumn, Donaueschingen, and Prague Spring. His two operas were produced in Vancouver, Toronto, Buffalo, New York City. Now retired, Komorous lives in Victoria, British Columbia.

Henry Kucharzyk has been active in contemporary Canadian music as a composer, performer and conductor. He served as Artistic Director of the Arraymusic Ensemble for five years and founded the Artifact Music record label. William Littler of the Toronto Star has called him “one of Canadian music’s explorers” and his compositions span all of the contemporary forms and media. His commissions include works for Nexus, Toronto Dance Theatre, New Music Concerts, Evergreen Club Gamelan, Piano Circus [UK], Les Coucous Bénévoles, Hemispheres, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Esprit Orchestra, Studio Grame [Lyon, France], and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. His work has been recorded and performed across Canada, in Europe and in the U.S. including festivals such as New Music America, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Athens Festival, The Banff Summer Music Festival, the Wolf Trap Summer Festival, Expo 86, The Winnipeg New Music Festival, The Montreal Jazz Festival and the Bourges International.

Wes Wraggett is a composer and midi consultant who spent many years developing the electronic studio at the Royal Conservatory of Music [Toronto] and also was head of Victoria Conservatory - electroacoustic/music technology studio. He worked as a writer and lecturer for Sony Music Canada and as a consultant for Commodore Canada for the Amiga computers. He founded the UART midi ensemble and wrote the curriculum series Mind Over Midi.

He has been a prize winner in festivals such as the Bourges International, CBC Young Composers Competition, I.S.C.M., and the Geneva Prize for opera. In addition he composed music for H. H. Dalai Lama’s Interfaith Service in Toronto [1990] and has written music for dance, theatre and visual media. He has been commissioned by the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council and has received grants from FACTOR, the Bronfman Foundation and the Chalmers Foundation. His music has been heard on CBC Radio, Radio France, and Svizzera Italiana Lugano. His music shows influences from Tibetan Buddhism, rock and popular music and the severe discipline of post serialism.

The Canadian composer, Marjan Mozetich, was born of Slovenian parentage in Gorizia, Italy and spent his formative years in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1972 he graduated in composition and piano from the University of Toronto, and with the assistance of the Canada Council he furthered his studies in Italy and England under the supervision of Luciano Berio and Franco Donatoni. Early in his career he was active in avant-garde music circles. He co-founded and was artistic director of the contemporary ensemble, Arraymusic. His works were performed by prominent new music groups across Canada and abroad, and his pieces received several awards: first prize in the CAPAC [SOCAN] - Sir Ernest MacMillan competition and second prize in the Gaudeamus Composers’ Competition in Holland.

Since the 1980s he has developed a unique style of postmodern romantic music: a blend of the traditional, popular and the modern which has been enthusiastically received by the musical public. Many of his compelling compositions have been released on compact disc for CBC Records, Centrediscs, Cansona [Canada], BIS [Sweden], and Chandos [England]. His works have been performed and broadcast, throughout Canada and abroad, including Canadian Airline’s “in flight” music programs. Much of his music has been used by major contemporary dance companies and in film. Mr. Mozetich has written compulsory pieces for the 1992 Banff String Quartet Competition and the 1995 Montreal International Music Competition. In 1995 he was honoured composer on postmodern music at the Ghent Conservatory Music Festival in Belgium where three concerts with live national broadcast featured his compositions.

Since 1990, Mr. Mozetich has lived on Howe Island and is on the composition staff at Queen’s University. He is currently working on a piano concerto in honour of Robertson Davies, and a CBC commission for the 1998 Ottawa Chamber Music Festival.

Jon Siddall was born in Hamilton Ontario, and raised in nearby Dundas. Following studies in Toronto [York University] and in Oakland California [Mills College], he lived for several years in Toronto. In Ottawa, Siddall worked for the Canada Council and later as radio producer for the CBC. In 1996, he moved to Vancouver to continue his work for the CBC. Siddall has written for a wide variety of instrumental ensembles, both Western and non-Western. In 1983, he founded the Evergreen Club Gamelan Ensemble and was its artistic director until 1988. During that time he visited Indonesia for nine months of study and writing. He has also spent time writing in Paris.

Siddall has been advisor on contemporary music to the National Arts Centre Orchestra since 1996, and with them helped begin a program for teaching orchestration in high schools. He played a significant role in the artistic planning for the Generations XYZ Festival presented by the National Arts Centre Orchestra [1997 - 1998]. Since moving to Vancouver, Siddall has been indulging a long interest in the electric guitar. East meets West; Old World, New World; pop and high art - these are the elements which meet in Siddall’s music.