“From Afar” - New album release from Antonina Levina
The more old-fangled is naivety of a romance,
The more alive are its nightingales.
– B. Akhmadulina
It is hard to believe: Russian Romance as a genre is over 200 years old. However, each romance breathes with freshness. Listening to romances brings us back to those beautiful days of youth when everything seemed to be in resonance with our desires and feelings.
The Russian romances became a whole ocean of music with hurricanes of passion and tender breezes of first love, capricious oriental lines and gypsy songs, Slavic plagal harmonies, and European charms. Mysterious and solemn at times, this ocean seems unapproachable. But when you dive in it, it caresses and pacifies you making you want to stay there forever. This genre continues to attract composers and performers and is highly appreciated by music lovers even outside of Russia. The present album serves as yet another proof of it.
Our team had an opportunity to see Russian romances from the other side of our planet, all the way from Canada. Because of the international composition of our ensemble we had both: freshness and originality of perception and depth of understanding of Russian poetry and culture which is only accessible to native speakers.
We felt like charmed adventurers. Our wander into this ocean of music brought us a rich haul of impressions, impossible to systematize. To choose works for this album, we had to rely mostly on a specific sort of intuition – so-called Russian “avos”. Our desire was to convey the spirit of Russian Romance and to show it in its development and variety. Here you can find both famous and rarely heard works by composers of the two last centuries, from M. Glinka and A. Dargomyzhsky to R. Glière and A. Vlasov. This project united around itself some of the best Canadian musicians.
Louise-Andrée Baril
The arrangements for this album were made by Louise-Andrée Baril. Born in Cornwall, she is one of Canada’s most accomplished musicians. A soloist, chamber musician, vocal coach, and rehearsal pianist, she has collaborated with major ensembles and conductors in Canada and abroad. She arranged music for the MSO, OSQ, CAN in Ottawa, and the McGill chamber orchestra.
Louise-Andrée Baril takes a great interest in emerging artists and has established several projects for young artists, such as the Université de Montréal’s opera workshop and the Orford Arts Centre opera. A much sought-after teacher, she works with numerous music institutions and collaborates with many international summer academies in Québec, Ontario, France, Belgium, Mexico, Armenia, the United States, and Russia. She regularly sits on international juries and gives master classes in Canada, Europe, China, and the United States.
For many years Louise-Andree was serving as the artistic advisor for the Jeunesses Musicales Canada, for the opera productions in particular, as well as the artistic director of the Pro Musica chamber music society, and of the prestigious TrilliArts summer festival. Louise-Andrée recorded more than 40 albums with the best musicians in Canada.
Her work on this album is her deepest yet immersion in Russian Music and into its most intimate genre – romance. She jokes that once, a fortune-teller told her that in her past life she was Russian: it must be true because she feels this music so profoundly.
François Pilon
François Pilon evolved as a musician working with many different ensembles in varied musical styles. For over ten years, he continued to play in the Romulo Larrea Ensemble. He was assistant concertmaster of the Ensemble Amati of Montreal in 1993-2002.
François Pilon evolved as a musician working with many different ensembles in varied musical styles. For over ten years, he played in the Romulo Larrea Ensemble.He was assistant concertmaster of the Ensemble Amati of Montreal in 1993-2002.
In 2005-2013, being involved as a musician, teacher and administrator at the music school Les Petits Violons, he also served as co-artistic director of the Jean Cousineau Ensemble.
Closely working with singer Marc Hervieux, he co-produced his albums “A Napoli” and”Hervieux” and served as musical director of his Christmas concerts. In recent years, François Pilon has participated in numerous recording sessions for film and television, working with many different artists.
Since 1999, he has assisted composer and conductor Simon Leclerc.
He is also co-founder and artistic director of Kiosque à Musique and, since the end of 2014, the General Director of Pro Musica Chamber Music Society in Montreal.
Annie Gadbois
Annie Gadbois received her Master Degree along with an Artist Diploma from the Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore. She was granted scholarships from the Canada Arts Council, the “Ministère des Affaires Culturelles du Québec”,the Gregor Piatigorsky Assistantship and the Miriam Friedberg chamber music prize of the Peabody Conservatory and the Gabor Rejto fellowship from the Music Academy of the West.
She worked with maestros Leon Fleisher and Samuel Sanders and YoYo Ma, Isaac Stern and Emanuel Ax. With the Nelligan Trio, she performed across Canada and USA. From 2004 to 2011, Mrs. Gadbois played in “La Pieta” ensemble with Angèle Dubeau. Since 1992, she is also a member of L’Orchestre des Grandes Ballets Canadiens.
As a member of the “Mommies on the run” string quartet, she records and performs with many Canadian artists (over 100 recordings). Annie Gadbois participated in live performances of Céline Dion, Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, Barry White, Chris de Burgh and Led Zeppelin.
The album is named “Russian Dreams” not only because dreams make a very common theme in romances. The psychological nature of romances is very close to dreams: both are short, rarely having a storyline, often reflecting emotional states. The English word “dream” also has two meanings in Russian – it can mean a state of sleep, or an ambition, desire, and aspiration.
This album is an invitation to a very special world – the world of Russian romances.
