gibbons vs Gibbons - hilarious new music video released!
Swoop-ga-woop!
Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra just shared a hilarious new music video of my piece "gibbons vs Gibbons" starring the Odin Quartet.
Alex Toškov (who also edited the video) and Tanya Charles Iveniuk struggle to play through a viol duet by English Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons, as a pair of white-cheeked gibbon apes (voiced on cello and viola by Samuel Bisson and Veronica Lee) sing, swoop down and swat them. See my full program notes below the video…
Swoop-ga-woop!
Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra just shared a hilarious new music video of my piece "gibbons vs Gibbons" starring the Odin Quartet.
Alex Toškov (who also edited the video) and Tanya Charles Iveniuk struggle to play through a viol duet by English Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons, as a pair of white-cheeked gibbon apes (voiced on cello and viola by Samuel Bisson and Veronica Lee) sing, swoop down and swat them. See my full program notes below the video…
All season, the SPO has been releasing music videos in their Performance Series. In May some of these are pieces that will be included on the Odin Quartet's debut album later this year - which will feature "gibbons vs Gibbons" alongside premiere recordings of music Samuel Bisson,
Bruno Degazio, Chris Meyer, Elizabeth Raum, Ron Royer, and Kevin Zi-Xiao He among other Canadian composers!
Programme notes
gibbons vs. Gibbons is one of those pieces that started as a title. I was thinking that it was funny that there is an English Renaissance composer named Orlando Gibbons, since gibbons are also a kind of ape. The most wonderful kind of ape!
Watching them swing and play at the Toronto zoo, and listening to recordings of the whooping-swooping duets of white-cheeked gibbons online, I wondered what would happen if these apes encountered their namesake composer. In my piece, the viola and cello (the gibbons) keep swinging playfully down to bother the violins (attempting to perform a duet by Gibbons), causing unexpected problems in the music.
Eventually, apes and musicians find a way to play together for the final cadence - and a whooping finish! "gibbons vs. Gibbons" is dedicated to these endangered primates who give the world a music of their own.
-- AE
Podcast feature on Odin Quartet album, including "gibbons vs. Gibbons"
The SPOGreatMusic podcast just released an episode profiling the Odin String Quartet’s album project. Host Daniel Mehdizadeh spoke with Odins Samuel Bisson and Alex Toskov about the repertoire, and the composers talk about their pieces in their own words.
My piece gibbons vs. Gibbons will be on the album, and I spoke about it (in an animated manner!) for the podcast.
The SPOGreatMusic podcast just released an episode profiling the Odin String Quartet’s album project. Host Daniel Mehdizadeh spoke with Odins Samuel Bisson and Alex Toskov about the repertoire, and the composers talk about their pieces in their own words.
My piece gibbons vs. Gibbons will be on the album, and I spoke about it (in an animated manner!) for the podcast.
The album will be released later this year, and is produced by the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra.
Listen here! (and subscribe to SPOGreatMusic on your favourite podcast app)
And for those who want more Gibbons (and gibbons), here’s the live recording of gibbons vs. Gibbons (which is a bit different than the version we recorded… the album track will contain more “VS”.
And YES, my podcast Fresh Sounds is out as of yesterday! I’ll share it once the first episode is available in all the main podcast apps.