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E6 The Ottawa Citizen, Friday, November 29, 1996

ENTERTAINMENT

MUSIC REVIEW

Young musicians do themselves proud

Espace Musique Youth Concert

National Gallery of Canada,

Thursday only

By Richard Todd

Citizen correspondent

Each November in recent years, Espace Musique has presented a concert of music by young composers, some; times very young, performed mainly by young musicians. Thursday night's Youth Concert carried on the tradition and boasted the most conSist6ntly high quality of music yet.

Michael Spasov's Madrigal is a nice chamber piece for voices and instruments, endowed with good part writing and a striking, undulating accompanying motif. The words, by Wendy Hagglund, were not well enough enunciated to allow an opinion as to how well the music fit them, but the music certainly appealing.

Kevork Andonian is a real veteran of the Youth Concerts series, having contributed music to them on at least two previous occasions. Thursday night he contributed two more pieces, and demonstrated definite development as a composer.

Images of a Magical World, is a sprawling but largely attractive piece for flute and piano. The flute part is beautifully written and evocative (and was beautifully played by Adrienn Roster but the accompaniment is relatively inept, relying heavily on long arpeggios and bombastic chords.

Andonian really came into his own in a piano suite after A Midsummer Night's Dream. The writing in this piece is idiomatic and fairly original. The first two movements, The Mechanicals and Oberon Casting a Spell, are particularly notable. The third, Puck, is a bit think in texture for my notion of Puck, but it is nicely crafted.

Sylvie-Ann Williams is the 12-y6ar-old composer of a charming theme and variations called Les Poupees. Each variation depicts a doll of a different nationality the English and American ones being especially well conjured. The only weakness is that there is no real sense of conclusion. Williams played the piece herself with skill and confidence.

At 10, Mark Johnston was the youngest composer on the program. His Sonata in D Minor for oboe and piano is an admirable little work that never overreaches itself. Johnston's counterpoint is impressive as is his freedom in writing for the left hand in the piano part.

Rebecca Sexton, age 14, contributed a thoughtful piece for piano called Fantasy. It has a slights minimalist flavor by virtue of its use of simple, repetitive chords.

Robert Rival's Song of the Youth is an over-serious work that' sounds more dirge-like than youthful, though it is reasonably well constructed.

Perhaps the most impressive offering of the evening was that of 12-year-old Christian Elliott. Sea is a short work in four connected episodes scored for strings and timpani. It's a simple but evocative score that matches its modest resources wonderfully to its expressive objectives. A tiny orchestra assembled for the occasion did the music ample justice.