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Recordings

The following three CDs comprise the available commercial recordings of the Turning Point Ensemble. Each recording has a selected 30 second sample you can listen to by clicking its link. Online purchasing of CDs through this site is imminent. In the meantime, an alternative way to order CDs is provided below.

 

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LIQUID

featuring clarinettist, François Houle

Liquid is an exciting new ATMA recording consisting of four substantial new works featuring the solo clarinet of François Houle and Vancouver’s Turning Point Ensemble under the direction of Owen Underhill. Three of the works are recent commissions by John Korsrud, Yannick Palmondon and Houle himself. The fourth is Giancinto Scelsi’s 1959 Kya.

Liquid is inspired by the multi-dimensional and unique world of the solo clarinet as it merges and collides with that of a large chamber ensemble in ways that are unpredictable.

The Turning Point Ensemble was formed by its musician members in 2002 to present rarely-heard concert music for a large-sized chamber ensemble. The ensemble’s mandate is to increase the understanding and appreciation of music composed during the past hundred years, linking the music of earlier times to the music of today.

In all of the diverse musical spheres in which he is active—classical, jazz, new music, improvised music, and world music—clarinettist François Houle has established himself as one of today’s most inventive musicians. A graduate of McGill University, he is Artistic Director of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute and teaches at the Vancouver Community College School of Music.

Of Concerto, his 2008 work included on this recording, Houle says, “Most of my experience as a composer is in the stylistic arena of experimental jazz, working primarily with musicians who are highly versed in that idiom, and in the practice of instrumental improvisation. I thought that it would be very challenging to ‘translate’ some concepts from this sound world to a thoroughly written composition for classical and new-music practitioners.”

 

 

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strange sphere

music of Rudolf Komorous

1.2.4.5. performed by TURNING POINT ENSEMBLE
(Owen Underhill, conductor)

3. performed by NEW MUSIC CONCERTS ENSEMBLE
(R. Aitken cond/Eve Egoyan, piano solo)

Artifact Music

"To experience fully the music of Rudolf Komorous, one has only to listen attentively. The emotional language of the music is readily apparent and on the surface. And yet, the unpredictable juxtapositions of events, the turns of phrase, the surprising chords, and the unusual sounds delineate a landscape, which encompasses a wide range of feelings and sensitivities. Each piece exists as an original self-contained artifact in which are embedded associations and references drawn from visual imagery, people, events, or cultural practices from another time and place. The music is a product of its own time, while being timeless in its extensions to other worlds, whether historical or imaginary."
-- Owen Underhill, conductor

"Rudolf Komorous: Strange Sphere...These sensitive performances confirm what beautiful shimmering music it is: enigmatic but wise in its gentle re-direction of our expectations, witting in its acknowledgement of the human comedy."
-- Elissa Poole, CD review, The Globe and Mail, June 24, 2004

 

CMC

Disasters of the Sun

music of Barbara Pentland
Turning Point Ensemble featuring special guest soloist, mezzo Soprano Judith Forst.

2006 Centrediscs / Centredisques
CMCCD 11806

Order online or send your cheque made payable to:
Turning Point Ensemble
2227 West 13 Avenue
Vancouver, BC  V6K 2S4
CD plus shipping & handling $26.00