The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 41

ARTS Page E5 Editor: Catherine Lnwson, 596-8599 Artsthecitizen.southam.ca THE OTTAWA CITIZEN, MONDAY, JULY 27, 1998 MUSIC REVIEW eaux Arts 'AY A A shows off news I Ol; Violinist Kim, cellist Meneses add considerable gifts to famed trio 1 4 ftV" 4 PHOTOS BY TOBY GORMAN, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN Trumpeter Tanya Darby gives it all she's got during a performance by Sherrie Maricle and DIVA No Man's Band at the Jazz Festival Saturday night. Fans savour big band sound By Richard Todd The Beaux Arts Trio, if not necessarily the best piano trio in the world, is certainly the best known. In recent years it has been difficult to assess its place among the other great trios because there has been considerable turnover in its personnel. The violinist and cellist who played in Ottawa with such distinction less than two years ago have been replaced by violinist Young Uck Kim and cellist Antonio Meneses, each bringing his own considerable gifts to the enterprise. Only pianist Menahem Pressler is a veteran of the ensemble's 1955 founding.

The Beaux Arts Trio opened the 1998 Ottawa Chamber Music Festival Friday evening with a most impressive program of Beethoven, Shostakovich and Dvorak. The crowd at St. Andrew's Church was large and enthusiastic and, even if some listeners might have been disappointed at not hearing the traditional Beaux Arts sound, it is safe to say that nearly everyone went home happy with what they did hear. The program opened with a lively, straightforward account of Beethoven's Piano Trio in E-flat, op. 11.

With a few exceptions the playing was exemplary. It's true that pianist Pressler delivered some of the runs unevenly and that Kim momentarily slipped into a blandness of tone during the first movement. But these were not significant distractions from the overall quality of the performance. The string part playing was particularly aggressive compared to the infinitely-refined work we normally associate with the Beaux Arts, though there were times, particularly in the last movement passages for strings alone, when the musicians didn't sound entirely convinced as to where they wanted to be going with the music. Among the finest moments were the beautiful cello playing in the slow movement and the fine contrasting of moods in the finale.

The Trio no. 2inE minor, op. 67 of Dimitri Shostakovich is one of the finest piano trio pieces ever written. Listeners who know the old Beaux Arts recording with its high refinement and low passion quotients were doubtless taken aback by the involved playing the trio offered. The program ended with a gripping interpretation of one of Dvorak's finest chamber works, the Trio in minor, op.

65. Although the proceedings were interrupted by a broken cello string and while a little more abandon in the playing would have been welcome, the score nevertheless came across with beauty. Festival schedule Noon: Mozart for winds, eight musicians including Kimball Sykes, Ross Edwards, clarinets; Christopher Millard, bassoon; Murielle Bruneau, bass. St. Andrew's Church, Kent at Wellington.

Noon: Cello duos, with Guy Fouquet, Elizabeth Dolin. Works by Mozart, Bach, Gliere. First Baptist Church, Laurier and Elgin. 6 p.m.: Young people's concert: Trio Concertante. Glebe Community Centre, Lyon Street at Second Avenue.

8 p.m.: Pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin. Music of Bach, Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Medtner. St. John's Church, Elgin and Somerset. 8 p.m.: Penderecki Quartet with Joanna G'froerer, flute.

Music of Mozart, Mendelssohn, Szymanowski. St. Andrew's Church, Kent Street and Wellington. 8 p.m.: Rideau Lakes Brass Quintet. Music of J.S.

Bach, William Boyce, Gordon Jacob, Andre Previn. McLeod-Stewarton Church, Bank St. at Argyle. For more information, call 234-8008 I VTV 1 lf-y If MMfiAttBtalHftfttiUlttflatfAlWhlilliaA 11 mi aHMTlflaMTrflHi I faunae, i.MmilWiHir'in T)d By James Hale For many fans, jazz continues to be defined by the full, in-the-pocket sound of a big band. The bop revolution of the '40s, the modal advancements of the '60s and the avant garde movement have not varied their take on what jazz meanr.

to them. Saturday was their time to swing in Confederation Park. Whether bouncing to the full-blown blast of Sherrie Maricle's all-woman band or tapping a foot to the nostalgic sound of the Valentino Orchestra, a large crowd showed that jazz is a long continuum with many elements to savour. The big band that drummer Maricle fronts is managed by former Buddy Rich associate Stanley Kay, and it follows the classic Rich formula of blowing hard and playing loud. Where it varies from Rich's band at least in later years is that its repertoire sticks to classic material and steers clear of arrangements of contemporary pop songs.

The bread and butter of DIVA are compositions like In A Tone, Caravan and Limehouse Blues. Kay has turned to arrangers like Tommy Newsome, John LaBarbera and Michael Abene for original charts. Along with strong arrangements, soloists make a big band, and DIVA has some powerful players. Alto saxophonist Laura Dryer took a long, rollicking solo on Limehouse Blues, and tenor Jenny Hill launched a screaming rocket on Caravan. A special guest, Montreal pianist Lorraine Desmarais, was pivotal on Newsome's arrangement of a handful of songs associated with Ella Fitzgerald.

Desmarais provided a pretty introduction to the piece and joined bassist Debbie Kennedy for several hard-driving choruses. Another effective segment Valentino orchestra member Peter Puritch goes solo at the jazz festival Saturday night on a violin he crafted himself. was a dual plunger mute feature on In A Mel-lowtone by trumpeter Jami Dauber and trombonist Deborah Weisz. DIVA doesn't try to add anything new to the vocabulary of big band jazz, but they have a firm grasp of the language. Montreal's Valentino Orchestra speaks a musical language a generation older from the Jazz Age itself and takes a distinctly academic approach.

Director Andrew Homzy's exercise in nostalgia is interesting, but seemed bound by the harmonically hamstrung compositions of the era. There are some more advanced nuggets such as an early Artie Shaw arrangement of Night And Day and Bix Beiderbecke's haunting In A Mist but most of the 75-year-old pieces sounded creaky and quaint. Despite its harmonic limitations, this music can be played with passion witness bands like Kid Creole The Coconuts but Homzy's group treats the material like museum pieces that might break if handled too roughly. They played with all the commitment of a wedding orchestra and did little to reflect the excitement of America in the '20s. Jazz Festival: More reviews, E7 LeAnn rhymes with overkill '-( 73)' 1 i Leanne Cater Young country News You know, I really hate to jump all over this girl.

After all, she is tremendously successful and has accomplished amazing things for one so young. Some might say she's a perfect role model for young girls, but increasingly I wonder. LeAnn Rimes is 15. Certainly not your ordinary 15-year-old, having won her first singing competition at the age of 5 and capturing the big win on Star Search when she was only 8. She seems pre-destined to succeed, but at what cost? Since her first big chart success Blue hit the air in early 1996, she has been hurtling at a break-neck pace, leaping at every opportunity.

There was the book deal, then the TV movie, album after album stuffed with songs (many far too mature for a singer her age), and released before the public had a chance to enjoy what was already available. Then came the LeAnn Rimes brand of chocolates and a role in the soaps. Word has it she plans to move to Los Angeles to be more available for future acting opportunities. In Entertainment Weekly recently, she threatened to remake A Star Is Born. The list goes on and on and on.

In the middle of all this, her parentsmanagement team have decided to split up. No doubt the girl has a lot on her mind, but I just hope all this activity is not a desperate attempt to keep her parents working together. The more she takes on, the more mom and dad are forced to deal with each other, if only on a professional level. If it's professionalism they want to exhibit, then perhaps her parents should take a pause from their own interests and think about what's happening to their daughter. stops her in her tracks.

It's almost like Alan Jackson's latest single is determined to do well just to spite me. I'll Go On Loving You debuts this week at No. 355 on the Billboard Country Singles Chart, making it the highest debuting single of Jackson's career. I don't get it. Wynonna's coming to town Wednesday and word has it she's hot! A little too hot, perhaps.

According to one story, things really started to heat up during an interview conducted on Wy's tour bus. Wynonna loves candles, but apparently one of them got a little too close for comfort to the interviewer and set her hair on fire. Thanks to Wy's fire-fighting prowess, injury was avoided. With the recent success of his new single I Can Still Feel You, Colin Raye has officially chalked up 10 number-one hits. This single is particularly special to Raye because of its personal connection.

It was written about him by one of his past girlfriends. Songwriter Tammy Hyler woke up one night thinking of Raye and was overcome by a feeling that he would soon be contacting her. The next day she began writing the song and upon returning home, a message from Raye was waiting for her. Quick, someone call Mulder and Scully! Look for Colin and Lila McCan next season starring in a two-part episode of Walker, Texas Ranger. No air date as yet.

It would be a shame to see such a bright star burn out before her time. In the July 24 issue of People magazine, LeAnn says there are times she feels like she's being pulled in a hundred different directions. To try to keep the peace with her parents, she travels with her dad and lives with her mom. She was denied a childhood, and at 15 she feels responsible for keeping her parents happy? Please! In the July issue of Interview magazine, LeAnn reveals that she plans to start work on an autobiography soon. Apparently, she is concerned about setting the record straight on stories that have been printed in the tabloids.

LeAnn, honey, don't you think you should at least wait until after high school before you write your life sto-ry? She should be 'more concerned with what's happening to her physically and emotionally, than what's being written about her in the rag mags. LeAnn was hospitalized recently for heat exhaustion, or was that just plain old exhaustion? I think the big message here is for her to slow down before something 1 i I Mil 1.M Since LeAnn Rimes's first big chart success Blue hit the air in early 1996, she has been tackling new projects at a health-threatening pace. "My goal is to be the kind of man my Here is my favourite quote of the dog thinks I am." week. This is a direct quote from Michael Peterson. When asked You canlisten to Leanne Cater every about his goals, Peterson responded, week night on Young Country, Y105..