Music: McGill

Here’s two three four videos that reflect some of the activity at my favourite university music faculty, the Schulich School of Music at McGill. Great teachers, wonderful students arriving all the time, great newish building by Saucier + Perotte, a real blend of tradition and innovation. First, excerpts from a documentary about keyboardist Tom Beghin’s ambitious project to record Haydn’s keyboard sonatas on instruments that sound like the originals, in a room that recreates the acoustics of the original rooms. I wrote about it here, but it’s so much more fun to see for yourselves:

Second, the trumpeter Kevin Dean’s new band, which will be playing at Upstairs this weekend (with Fearless Jim Doxas as the new drummer). I was a week out of Western when I heard Kevin for the first time, and I suppose I’ve heard him play 50 times since then. Here’s why.

More after the jump.

And I’ve been meaning for years to write about the Israeli cellist Matt Haimovitz, who has played since he was a kid with the best orchestras in concert halls around the world but, since before he fetched up at McGill, has preferred to play in less orthodox venues with less jaded audiences. (In this video he’s asked what his favourite concert venue is. I was expecting him to name the Concertgebouw; he mentions Sam Bond’s Garage in Eugene, Oregon.)

Finally, for those who hate it that Inkless only talks about jazz and classical music, here’s the distinguished Dean of the Faculty of Music, Don McLean — perhaps one of the most successful faculty heads in any discipline in any university in the past decade — giving his iTunes U lecture on the similarities between Bruckner’s symphonies and heavy metal. (You need iTunes but it’s free to watch.) I believe he’s serious, but he’s self-aware enough that it’s a very funny lecture.