My Nephew Alan Bell Calgary composer Allan Bell wins first Juno Award Calgary composer Allan Gordon Bell has won a Juno award for his chamber work “Field Notes” in the Classical Composition of the Year category. The results were announced at Saturday evening’s ceremony in Winnipeg. This is the first Juno Award win for the University of Calgary professor of composition and director of the School of Creative and Performing Arts. It caps off a tremendous run of recent successes for Mr. Bell who was recently made Member of the Order of Canada in 2012. “Field Notes” was recorded on an album devoted entirely to Mr. Bell’s compositions, titled Gravity and Grace, a series of wide-ranging works played by Calgary’s recognized new music trio Land’s End Ensemble. Included in the recording to play “Field Notes” in particular is the award-winning clarinettist James Campbell. The work is an oftentimes entrancing study of prairie vignettes, a subject close to Mr. Bell’s heart. Mr. Bell has been inspired to compose on ideas about our prairie heritage before, such as his recently successful première of “Sages” one year ago for flute, clarinet, violin and cello. Mr. Bell’s music has been well received by audiences around the world, and certainly has frequently struck a resonant chord with us at home too. In many respects, Mr. Bell’s music speaks eloquently for those of us who live in the prairie region. “Field Notes” is written in a similar spirit, albeit with different musical aims in mind. The first piece in the set, ‘Confluence’, describes the fusion of two rivers, the South Saskatchewan and the Red Deer River, as they gently flow together, each represented by violin and cello. ‘Medicine Wheel’ is of a different character, written with the clarinet in mind as the movement’s premier voice, tracing a meandering descending line on bent pitches, much as one might trace the curvature of a wheel with one’s hand. The last two works of the set, ‘Fugitive Colours’ and ‘Sunset chorus: Outcrop’ evoke beautiful dusky hues and the distant atmospheric songs of prairie wildlife. All in all “Field Notes” is a supreme accomplishment, as is the entire album ‘Gravity and Grace’ and certainly Land’s End Ensemble along with famed clarinettist James Campbell share in the accolade as a top-ranked group who helped pull off this tremendous success. Field Notes” was up against stiff competition for the award, with R. Murray Schafer’s “String Quartet No. 12″, Stephen Chatman’s “Magnificat”, James O’Callaghan’s “Isomorphia for Orchestra and Electronics”, and Tim Brady’s “Symphony No. 3″ all in the running. photo credit: Allan Bell delivers a lecture at the University of Calgary. The composer won his first Juno Award for his composition “Field Notes” on Saturday night. (Screen capture from Mr. Bell’s “Lecture of a Lifetime” video, given in May, 2013, after he was made Member of the Order of Canada in 2012. Submitted by Lindsey Wallis of the Canadian Music Centre. blogs.calgaryherald/2014/03/29/composer-allan-bell-nominated-for-juno/
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 12:57:18 +0000