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Concert review: Golden sounds for the silver screen from Toronto's Ensemble Polaris

By Margaret Lam on April 27, 2013

polaris

Humour and whimsy in music are difficult to describe, but easily experienced. Our musical expectations are thrown for a loop, and it feels like a joke or a punch line has just been delivered. Now throw in a nine-piece ensemble featuring instruments from different traditions, a love of Nordic repertoire and folk-inspired arrangements, and what you might get is the essential Ensemble Polaris experience.

“Ensemble Polaris goes to the Moon” at Trinity St. Paul’s Centre on Friday evening featured works that were specifically arranged or written for the group, and live music to accompany three silent films. This program brought out film buffs and music devotees alike for a new way to experience their favourite artists.

Despite the acoustic challenge of balancing their delicate instruments in a very live space, they achieved incredible harmony with the convergence of an eclectic collection of instruments, all from different traditions and lineages, in a beautiful metaphor of music’s ability to transcend borders.

In the first half of the concert, they performed some of the most popular pieces from their last two albums, three of which are arrangements of works by film composer Nino Rota. The music’s disarming charm worked the crowd, who nodded their heads along with the music, or turned it to follow the constantly shifting dynamic of the ensemble.

Guest composer Andrew Downing, who wrote You Lovely Island for the group, premiered a new film score written for a 1928 silent film by Man Ray entitled L’Etoile de mer. The effect was like a contemporary opera, with Katherine Hill singing some of the texts that appeared in the film, while abstract imagery of starfish and blurry images of people set the stage. The score did a beautiful job of enhancing the film without distracting the viewer.

Voyage à la lune, made by Georges Méliès in 1902, was accompanied by an amusing structured improvisation that was part incidental music, part sound effects, and featured two musical saws at one point.

A silent and slightly fuzzy version of Marcel Duchamp’s 1926 Anémic Cinéma was also on the program, accompanied by a Music for a Found Harmonium written by Simon Jeffes of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. The piece gave Polaris member Ben Grossman the opportunity to adapt the work for hurdy gurdy.

All Polaris members are multi-instrumentalists and exceptional musicians. Their charm becomes all the more disarming as they lead you to believe that making simplicity sound beautiful is truly child’s play.

Providing the musical foundations and textures were Marco Cera on guitar, Debashis Sinha (who is also a digital media artist) and Jeffrey Wilson on percussion.

Alison Melville on historical flutes and recorder, Colin Savage on clarinets and recorders, and Anna Atkinson on violin, accordion and musical saw (replacing Kirk Elliot in this concert, whose list of instrument ends with “etc.”) carried the highest and lowest musical lines.

Grossman on the hurdy gurdy, Hill on voice and nyckelharpa, and Margaret Gay on cello alternately performed drones or musical textures and enriched the melodic lines with the best of their instrument’s character.

Ensemble Polaris transported the audience to forgotten places and distant times. Their penchant for charming us and drawing a smile with their performance speaks to their mastery of music as a deep human expression.

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Ensemble Polaris has performed “Definitely NOT the Nutcracker” to full houses over the past two winters. They’re now heading into the studio to record it as an album, and you can give them a hand at their fundraising efforts at their indiegogo campaign.

Margaret Lam
You can find out more about Margaret Lam at margism.com

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