Standing Wave Ensemble
Standing Wave 2010
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Made up of six of Vancouver’s most sought-after musical multitaskers, Standing Wave is dedicated to commissioning and performing contemporary chamber music by Canadian and International composers.
Standing Wave ventures into a wide array of musical worlds with passion and assurance. From the intricate complexities of the music of Howard Bashaw and Chris Paul Harman, to the bold avant-garde jazz of Tony Wilson, and the anarchic electroacoustic imaginings of Giorgio Magnanensi, the ensemble has commissioned and premiered over 70 works in its 20 year history.
Since its formation in1991, the ensemble has presented an annual season of concerts in Vancouver and has toured across Canada. Standing Wave has been recorded many times for CBC Radio and has released two CDs, a self-titled recording released in 1991 and Redline, released in 2006. Since 2003, Standing Wave has been an Ensemble in Residence at the UBC School of Music.
Known for their adventurous programming, Standing Wave presents works by emerging Canadian composers alongside established 20th and 21st Century classics. Too Strange… , their October 2009 concert, featured the premieres of Theft, a new work commissioned from visionary Vancouver composer Jocelyn Morlock and Faserungen from Amsterdam’s famed improviser/ pianist/ composer Achim Kaufmann together with the haunting George Crumb classic, Vox Balaenae and Salvatore Sciarrino’s other-worldly Lo Spazio Inverso.
True collaboration with composers and artists from other disciplines is key for Standing Wave. The ensemble’s Creator/Curator concerts have allowed for a new level of composer/musician interaction. The first concert in the Creator/Curator series took place in the spring of 2005. Standing Wave presented a programme that was entirely developed and curated by Vancouver composer Bradshaw Pack. Palimpsest was a multimedia hit with both audiences and critics alike. Pack created a full-length piece based around an aria from Monteverdi’s, Orpheo, intertwined with his own newly composed work and “curated” work by Bach, Cage and Webern.
ALL is another of Standing Wave’s collaborative highlights, premiered in May 2010. ALL, a musical and visual tribute to Vancouver, created by Standing Wave, award-winning filmmaker Mina Shum, and a very diverse group of six Vancouver composers including Bramwell Tovey and Veda Hille. This moving piece combining music, cinema and theatre will be remounted for the 2011 PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.
Discography
Standing Wave (1991)
Standing Wave’s first recording, a self-titled CD, features new works written especially for the group by Canadian composers in a variety of styles, ranging from the evocative, blues-reminiscent the earth for you a standing place by Bradshaw Pack to the playful Farandole II by Jacqueline Leggatt to the thrilling ride of Stark Raving by John Korsrud. Other classic chamber works of the 20th century are represented as well, including Pierre Boulez’ Dérive 1, Elliott Carter’s Con Leggerezza Pensosa and Claude Vivier’s poignant tribute to Southeast Asia, Paramirabo.
Redline (2006)
Peggy Lee, Standing Wave’s cello player, describes Redline as a recording of “dynamic new works commissioned by Standing Wave from three luminaries of contemporary Canadian music.” Redline features three commissioned works by Canadian composers: 10M-5P-17m (2005), by Howard Bashaw; palladia (2001), by Bradshaw Pack; and Incipits (2003), by Chris Paul Harman.
The CD was produced by Dylan van der Schyff and Standing Wave and recorded at Factory Studios in June 2006.
The commissions were made possible through the support of the Canada Council (10M-5P-17m and Incipits) and the Acoustic Panel (palladia), and the recording was made possible through the assistance of the Canada Music Fund and the Music Section of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Available at better record stores, online at the CMC CD Boutique (www.musiccentre.ca) or from Regional offices of the Canadian Music Centre.
