CANADIAN COMPOSER NEEDED

[amy]

guys!!!!

NO ONE knows of any great Canadian piano composers??
PLEASEEEEE help me and name a few... or some works from any of them.
Anyone have anything from Alexina Louie?

thanks

amy

[BoliverAllmon]

just out of curiosity, but why?

[aki]

 Scenes from a Jade Terrace, that's something very nice by Louie.  It's used in soundtracks.

[cheeeekan]

Andre Mathieu... I can't believe how unknown this guy is..
when Rachmaninoff met him, he proclaimed the kid "a genius, even more so than I"
blah

[cheeeekan]

oh by the way
the concerto he wrote when he was 13... is one of my favorites =D

[julie391]

marc-andre hamelin!

not only a superb pianist - he also composes really creatively - alot of his pieces are based on themes by other composers - and whilst many of them are of extreme difficulty, they contain some of the greatest musical humour i have ever heard 

i think howard shore is also canadian, dont know if he has composed for piano - but he did great music for the lord of the rings trilogy

[tph]

There are a number of Canadian composers you could look into, including Sophie Eckhardt-Gramatte (sp?) whose piano sonatas are quite unique in their musical language (I especially like the 6th sonata), Oskar Morawetz wrote a couple of piano pieces, Glenn Gould wrote a piano sonata and a transcription of Wagner's Idyll, Jean Coulthard also wrote a sonata for piano, and I think Anton Kuerti wrote a piano suite and a piano concerto.  Another composer that comes to mind is Jacques Hetu who wrote a theme and variations, which are quite often played, a Fantasy, as well as an Impromptu, which has gained some popularity as a result of being a commissioned work for the recently held Montreal International Piano Competition.  I also think that Brian Cherney wrote stuff for piano.

Good luck!

tph

[dlu]

glenn gould was an avid composer though none of his works is very well known...

[chelsey]

I'm playing an Alexina Louie piece called "I leap through the skies with stars" for as part of my audition program in the spring. I'm really enjoying the piece. I don't know what level you play, but I'd recommend this piece if you were around RCM Gr. 10 (Pre-ARCT), actually I think it's on the Syllabus for the ARCT exam, though I am not too sure.

The piece was written in 1992, it encorporates many techniques unique to the 20th Century, minimalism, serialism, non-traditional tonalities etc. It's incredibly pianistic and can be very flashy. The introduction involves a shimmering trill effect lasting 24 s (it's senza misura) and leading into an almost harp-like scale system. The middle section of the piece encorporates a trill of the two lowest notes on the keyboard lasting well over a minute.

I have access to a recording of this piece on my computer... if you're interested, I'll email it to you. Alexina Louie wrote a set of pieces called Star Light Star Bright, there is some really wonderful stuff in this series that is very playable by someone who is around the late-intermediate level (RCM 7-8ish) and a lot of it is found in the RCM or Conservatory Canada repetoire books.

Other Canadian composers with wonderful output for all levels include  Jean Coultard, Stephen Chatman, or Violet Archer. If you're allowed to look at Jazz pieces look up Oscar Peterson  

Chelsey