Triple Gold

From Vancouver Sun music critic David Duke's blog. Read the full article.

Reviewer David Gordon Duke was unable to attend the premiere of my composition Five-ring Concerto last night but did write a review of the dress rehearsal. Since David was unable to hear the performance, you are invited to leave your comments at the end of his blog post if you did see the performance.

EXCERPTS:

Since I’ve yet to master the art of being in two places at the same time, it looked like the Turning Point’s triple bill of Schoenberg/Adams/Oliver was going to go unheard Wednesday evening, when I was already booked to review the Moscow Chamber Choir (see Friday’s edition for the review).

But with the premiere of John Oliver’s Five-Ring Concerto and an opportunity to hear John Adams’ new Son of Chamber Symphony at stake, I asked permission to attend the final rehearsal for the program in the afternoon.

Going to rehearsals is one of the best ways there is to learn a new work—if you can be there through the whole process. Compared to the now-or-never situation a critic faces in performance, it’s a luxury to hear new music emerge over the long haul. Alas, the best I could do on Wednesday was hear a mosaic of bits and pieces being polished to perfection, not a full run through.

Even so, I left all the more envious of listeners who were able to hear the new works given a Vancouver launch. The common denominator is that both are thoroughly contemporary—and thoroughly enjoyable…

…I’m willing to bet that Oliver’s concerto, with or without the sports connection, is an Olympic legacy, not just an Olympic pièce d’occasion. 

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