>>PREVIEW
LAND’S END CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
Sunday, June 4
Rozsa Centre (U of C)
As the classical music season comes to a close, audiences have a few more chances to catch Calgary musicians on the concert stage. The Land’s End Chamber Ensemble concludes their season with a concert of thought-provoking music with Centennial VII – Urban Space. Violinist John Lowry, violist Andrea Neumann, cellist Beth Root Sandvoss and pianists Elizabeth and Marcel Bergmann will be joined by guest conductor Hans Graf of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, a pairing that proved fruitful last year at the conclusion of their 2004-05 season. The eclectic program brings together diverse elements from the classical realm – a world premiere of the J.S. Bach Goldberg Variations arranged by Pulitzer Prize-winning Canadian composer Michael Colgrass, Danish composer Poul Ruders's Four Dances in One Movement and the Canadian premiere of Urban Pulse by the ensemble’s own Marcel Bergmann.
Since moving to Calgary, Bergmann has made himself known in the Canadian and Calgarian classical music scenes as a composer, performer, teacher and arranger. Along with wife Elizabeth, the Bergmann Piano Duo have kept the extensive but sometimes overlooked two-piano repertoire in the ears of audiences around the world.
Bergmann’s latest work, Urban Pulse, combines many musical elements characteristic of not only Bergmann’s output but Land’s End as well. Never an ensemble to shy away from stretching the boundaries of classical music, for years The Land’s End Chamber Ensemble has incorporated everything from Frank Zappa to Edith Piaf in their concert programs. In Urban Pulse, it’s the "other" classic genre – jazz – that is most audible.
In November of 2004, the Bergmanns were appointed artistic directors of the Murray Dranoff Foundation and with that opportunity arose many others, including the Urban Pulse commission.
"The Murray Dranoff Foundation commissioned Urban Pulse for the 10th Dranoff International Two Piano Competition held in Miami, Florida in December 2005," says Bergmann. "And I’ll admit, it was very unusual to sit and listen to my work being performed. I was certainly honoured that the foundation asked me. They have a history of asking quite famous composers, so it was great to be part of that."
"The founder in particular wanted something jazzy and Urban Pulse has a lot of jazz and fusion influences that are audible throughout the whole work," says Bergmann. "It consists of three individual pieces – Roundabout, Cerulean Beat and Fast lane. Roundabout consists of different textures, chords and patterns that form around a constant pulse, like a metronome. Cerulean Beat incorporates a more lyrical improvisational style – a kind of blues emerges out of it. Fast lane journeys through various harmonic and textural regions and has a section in funk-style, as well as more gentle and serene moments until things build up to the high-energetic ending." |
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