Work of Quebec playwright Claude Gauvreau given high recognition in the Juno nomination for The Bounds of our Dreams.
ABOUT THE BOUNDS OF OUR DREAMSThe Bounds of Our Dreamsis a monumental recording which brings together some of Canada’s greatest artists: the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NAC Orchestra) and Music Director Alexander Shelley, pianist Alain Lefèvre and composer Walter Boudreau,with brilliant solos from NAC Orchestra Concertmaster Yosuke Kawasaki. The works on this recording, Walter Boudreau’s Concerto de l’asile,Rimski-Korsakov’s Scheherazadeand Ravel’s Pavanepour une enfante défuntepaint stories in music, vividly evoking the characters, places, and periods that they depict. “My encounter with Walter Boudreau was one of the most meaningful of my career. Having previously worked with great composers like John Corigliano and Henri Dutilleux, I could tell after only a few bars that Boudreau’s Concerto de l’asile was a masterpiecethat would stand tall in the history of contemporary music. A sublime allegorical play about the torment of a lost soul –the concerto’s music achieves dreamlike, Dantean heights”, says piano soloist Alain Lefèvre.NAC Orchestra Music Director Alexander Shelley adds: “This piece was written for soloist Alain Lefèvre who, through the fiendishly challenging piano part, represents the character of the Québécois poet, ultimately finding redemption and transfiguration in death for this unique literary figure.”For the composer, this concerto is a tribute to the Montreal playwright and poet Claude Gauvreau (1925–1971), who also contributed to the Refus Global manifesto, published over 70 years ago (from which this release’s title is drawn: “The bounds of our dreams were changed forever”). Walter Boudreau specifies: “This concerto, depicts the bridge between his visionary poetic world [represented by the piano] and the obscurantist society of the time [the orchestra].” In face of this lack of understanding and possibly, according to the poet, the failure of all means of real communication, Gauvreau developed a “sound poetry”, a kind of onomatopoeic language he described as “exploréen” (exploratory).“The titles of the first (Les oranges sont vertes) and third movements (La charge de l’orignal épormyable) refer to the works Gauvreau wrote for the stage, while the second movement (St-Jean-de-Dieu) induces memories of the asylum for the mentally disturbed in St-Jean-de-Dieu, where Gauvreau was committed on numerousoccasions and now a psychiatric hospital in Montreal that has been re-named Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal.”“The third movement in which not only does the poet return to his senses (preponderance of solo piano here) but forcefully, following a mad waltz (Valse de l’asile), slowly bringing back feverish elements of the first movement, “overwhelming” the orchestra and, despite an early death, (Funeral Procession) triumphing & resurrecting by the end in a posthumous, brilliant tutti.” Behind this posthumous homage to Claude, there is, according to Walter Boudreau, the much more concrete case of the composer being largely inspired by the genius of this great pianist, Alain Lefèvre, whose virtuosity, sensitivity and musical intelligence has relentlessly steered the different stages of composition of this concerto to its final outcome.NAC CONCERTMASTER YOSUKE KAWASAKI DELIVERS STAND OUT SOLOSThe album features the epic symphonic suite Scheherazadeby Russian composer Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov, with exceptional solos from NAC concertmaster Yosuke Kawasaki. The live performance was hailed as “all spice-bazaar colour, tightly choreographed rhythms and doe-eyed romance.” (ARTSFILE, March 2018)The openingwork is Pavane pour une infante défunteby Maurice Ravel, a miniature musical masterpiece, a perfect and enduring vision of a beautiful young princess, whose dance echoes
through the ages. Both Ravel and Rimski-Korsakov were consummate musical “painters” whose works showcase the virtuosity, power and intimacy of the symphony orchestra.ABOUT ANALEKTAFounded in 1987 by François Mario Labbé, Analekta is the largest independent classical music record company in Canada. It has produced more than 500 albums and recorded more than 200 of the country’s most prominent musicians, winning multiple awards in the process. In 2019, Analekta achieved the impressive feat of having the works from its catalogue streamed 130 million times on international streaming platforms.ABOUT THENAC ORCHESTRA The NAC Orchestra was formed over 50 years ago at the creation of Canada’s National Arts Centre and gives more than100 performances a year with world-renowned artists. It is noted for the passion and clarity of its performances and recordings, its ground-breaking teaching and outreach programs, and nurturing of Canadian creativity.In 2015 Alexander Shelley began his tenure as Music Director, following Pinchas Zukerman’s 16 seasons at the helm. In addition to a full series of subscription concerts at the National Arts Centre each season, the Orchestra tours throughout Canada and around the world, most recently to Europe in May 2019.The NAC Orchestra has recorded many of the 80+ new works commissioned since its inception, for radio and on over 40 commercial recordings. TheseincludeAngela Hewitt’s 2015 JUNO Award-winning album of Mozart Piano Concertos; thegroundbreaking Life Reflected, which includes My Name is Amanda Toddby Jocelyn Morlock, winner of the 2018 JUNO for Classical Composition of the Year; and from the 2019 JUNO nominated New Worlds, Ana Sokolović’s Golden Slumbers Kiss Your Eyes,2019 JUNO Winner for Classical Composition of the Year. ABOUT ALEXANDER SHELLEY Alexander Shelley became Music Director of the NAC Orchestra in September 2015; he is Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and was Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra 2009–2017. Since being awarded first prize at the 2005 Leeds Conducting Competition, Mr. Shelley has been in demand from orchestras around the world, including the Philharmonia, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, DSO Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestra Svizzera Italiana, Stockholm Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Simón Bolívar, Seattle, and Houston Symphony Orchestras. He is a regular guest with the top Asian and Australasian orchestras. The Bounds Of Our Dreamsrecordingwith the NAC Orchestra follows Life Reflected, ENCOUNT3RS andthe JUNO-nominatedNew Worlds.