“Violinist Dubeau keeps painting musical portraits”

Violinist Dubeau keeps painting musical portraits

Posted: 16 Jan 2011 05:45 AM PST

By Brian Kelly, The Sault Star

Posted 4 hours ago

Angele Dubeau wondered if this recording project was really such a good idea.

The Canadian classical violinist, and her string ensemble La Pieta, recorded an album of contemporary American composer Philip Glass's music in 2008.

But would audiences embrace her recording of works such as Mishima, The Hours Suite and Echorus penned by the prolific Maryland native?

Dubeau decided to rely on her musical sense honed by more than 30 years of touring and recording and play on.

"Dubeau plays everything with alluring sweetness and sophistication and her colleagues match her tender, inflected playing note for note," enthused British classical magazine, Gramophone, in a review posted on Amazon.com

Such plaudits for a new project were appreciated by the 48-year-old musician.

"The success was wonderful," said Dubeau in a recent telephone interview from Montreal.

"When the public says, 'Thank you' and 'Play it again,' I'm there."

The Order of Canada recipient didn't expect the Glass effort to become the first of a series of discs celebrating the music of present-day composers.

Her stance changed when she saw how warmly her Glass recording was received. Arvo Part: A Portrait followed in 2010.

ArkivMusic.com, an online store specializing classical music, hailed Dubeau's performance of the Estonian composer's music as one of the top three classical discs of contemporary music released in 2010.

The morning she spoke with The Sault Star, Dubeau was preparing to hear the final mix of the third work in her Portrait series. Up next is American composer John Adams this spring. The Sault Star is the first news source to learn the focus of her next project.

Music selected includes Shaker Loops and Road Movies, a work Adams wrote in 1978.

"You think the beat will be right there. It's not there. Oops," said Dubeau of the work's appeal.

"It's just two beats further and then you say, 'Oh, OK, yeah, now I got the beat.' You try to just go for the next one and no, no, no. It was three beats earlier. It's changing all the time. It makes it so exciting to play. You're just like dancing, but you don't know where to put your feet. It's really funny."

She knows who Portrait disc number four will feature, but opted to keep that artist's name under wraps for now.

While she regularly performs the music of Canadian composers such as Srul Irving Glick and Claudes Gagnon in concert, Dubeau doesn't plan a Portrait album marking homegrown talent in the near future.

"There's not enough to make a whole recording with one composer," she said.

"When I have enough, I'll do another recording of Canadian composers that's for sure. But for now I bring them with me on stage every time I play."

Her concert in Sault Ste. Marie, Saturday at Kiwanis Community Theatre Centre, may feature the first movement of a new work by Montreal composer Ana Sokolovic.

The weekend program, Fiddler on the Roots, includes works written by composers from more than a half-dozen countries including Hungary, Armenia, Romania and Russia.

Dubeau chose nations where residents left because of immigration or deportation.

"These people had to bring along with them only what valued most, what was rooted in them," she said.

"One of (these things) was their culture. The violin will be the instrument of the people playing the music that tells a story."

Dubeau keeps busy in the studio with a pair of recordings done in both 2009 and 2010.

Classical music listeners still buy discs, said Dubeau, but she knows there's an inevitable move away from CDs to downloadable music.

"I have nothing against it," she said of getting music online.

"There's more people right now listening to music than ever. Why? Because it's accessible. If there's a lot of music that is going through to everyone, then there will be a choice of where to get it and which way to get it, that's for sure."

American online music source, iTunes, asked Dubeau to make one track from her Solo album available for free download in 2007. She opted for a "very, very classical" selection and was stunned by public interest.

There were 350,000 downloads in five days.

"Can you tell me another way to reach that number of people in five days?" she said.

"There's none. I've been in the business enough to know. There's none."

Dubeau welcomed the opportunity to let tens of thousands of music listeners "to go and to know a little more about me."

"If there's a quarter of those people after (who are) interested and go and buy (my music) it's wonderful," she said.

"There's an end to this transition and it's coming. I'm very positive about it."

Dubeau will reach two major milestones in 2012. La Pieta marks its 15th anniversary and Dubeau turns 50.

Will the Quebec artist plan something special to mark the two events?

That's a good idea, says Dubeau. This interview is the first time anyone has mentioned the upcoming celebrations lining up next year.

"You're right. Oh, wow. It's a shock. Life goes too fast," she said.

"You're the first one to tell me so I should think on it . . . You just put something in my mind that will stick there. Of course, I will find something special to do. There's always projects so probably I'll twist a project to make it a little more festive this anniversary year."

Dubeau sometimes performs with a 1733 Stradivarius. She doesn't know yet if she'll bring the instrument crafted by the famed Italian luthier to her first Sault performance since 2003. Weather is a factor, travel arrangements too.

Just don't be too disappointed if she opts not to pack her Strad this weekend.

"Many, many times" she has not played the nearly 300-year-old instrument at major concert events.

"People will say, 'Oh, listen to that sound. It's so wonderful to hear that Stradivarius,'" said Dubeau.

"I don't say anything. My sound is my sound. The violin is there, but it doesn't make the violinist. When I open the case in the morning, there's nothing coming from the violin."

Tickets, $35 for adults and $10 for students, are on sale at Community Theatre Box Office in Station Mall.

On the web: www.angeledubeau.com

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