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ARTS                                                                     MUSIC REVIEW                                                MONDAY

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN                                                                                              NOVEMBER 24, 1997

Young talent impressive

BY RICHARD TODD

The Ottawa Citizen

One of the nicest annual events in the Ottawa music calendar is Espace Musique's annual Young Composers Concert. It features the work of local composers under 25, sometimes well under, largely performed by young musicians as well.

The quality of the music presented in these concerts has been improving year by year, and this year's edition, which took place in the National Gallery auditorium on Sunday afternoon, was probably the best yet.

It began with Kevork Andonian's Suite for clarinet and piano. Andonian has been represented in the Young Composers Concerts for the last four years, and his musical growth has been impressive. This suite incorporates Armenian folk tunes, and displays moderation, integrity and a sound sense of craft. It received one of the better performances of the afternoon at the hands of clarinetist Anthea Jackson and pianist Jane Perry.

The most remarkable composer of Sunday's lot was 11-year-old Mark Johnston. Last winter his Toccata in E minor for two pianos was performed at Tabaret Hall by the Anagnoson and Kinton piano duo and made a very strong impression. The Three T's was his contribution to Sunday's concert.

It's a suite of three short pieces for piano, cleverly conceived and nicely wrought. It could easily pass as the work of someone twice its composer's age. Johnston played it himself. He did a credible job but, like many young composers, he has a musical imagination that goes beyond his present powers as a performer. He will undoubtedly be able to play the piece much more effectively in two or three years, but by then he may be writing more demanding music as well.

The printed program listed 15-year old Rebecca Sutton's influences as Andrew Lloyd Webber and The Cranberries. Her Enchantment for piano reflects these influences. It is a kind of high- brow pop composition, very easy to listen to and effective on its own terms. Sutton's performance of the piece was fairly good, but lacked the freedom to really spread its wings.

Gavin Quinn is a 16-year-old composer and pianist. His brief Sonata for violin and piano takes a few basic and attractive musical ideas and spins them out nicely throughout the piece's duration. Quinn played the piano part and the violin solo was played by Jane Waite. Waite's playing was a little tentative. She isn't yet able to produce a solid violin sound, but her musical instincts are good.

A quintet of professional string players was on hand to perform Christian Elliott's Equinox Enigma for Carl Sagan. Elliott is just 13, but he has been composing for four years. This piece, conceived originally for string orchestra, is a strong, post-minimalist work in six connected sections. The performers played the music with respect and understanding.

Three vocal pieces by Michael Spassov followed. They were settings of e.e. cummings, Euripides and the Christian liturgy. Hist WhiSt, the cummings setting is clever and entertaining, but it was in the Euripides that he reached the highest and achieved the most. Andromache's Lament, a farewell to a son who is about to be thrown off the battlements of Troy, may find its 16-year-old composer at a partial loss for the depth of emotion the subject requires, but Spassov is to be commended for attempting so much and achieving a good bit of it.

His setting of the Magnificat was effective too. It included a brief instrumental permonition of the Passion of Jesus. Soprano Emily Tyson did well with the demanding vocal parts. Her voice needs another few years to blossom, but she is blessed with a fine musical sense and a terrific sense of pitch.

A group of very short pieces put together by students at the National Capital Music Academy followed. They weren't comparable to the rest of the program in quality' but they were fun anyway. My favourite was called A Fairy Tale and told of the trials of Egbert, the oboe god.

Then there was a piano transcription of Robert Rival's Ouverture for Orchestra, a well constructed, upbeat piece that left the impression, despite the excellent playing of Jean Desmarais, it should really be played by an orchestra.

The program ended with Fortune's Favorite by Michael Sasso, a setting of a couple of the Meditations of Marcus Anrelius. Despite intrigUing elements in the score, it didn't entirely gel.

Richard Todd is a freelance writer