SUNDAY AUGUST 17: COUNTING FOR CANADA (7:30PM)
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 110
In the summer of 1960, Dmitri Shostakovich traveled to Dresden to work on a film score and was moved by the city’s devastation from the 1945 Allied firebombing. In just three days, from July 12-14 1960, he composed his Eighth String Quartet, inscribed “In memory of victims of fascism and war.” The quartet is known for its somber, intense tone, featuring a wide range of emotional expression—from mournful melodies to moments of anguish. It heavily quotes from Shostakovich’s earlier works, creating a layered, self-referential texture. The motif DSCH (D-E♭-C-B in German notation) is prominent, serving as a musical signature and a symbol of the composer’s identity, leading many to interpret it as autobiographical. This interpretation gained traction with the publication of Testimony, a controversial book attributed to Shostakovich through the journalist Solomon Volkov, which provided a different dedication: “Dedicated to the memory of the composer of this quartet”. The work remains one of classical music’s most powerful tomes of all time.
David Braid (1975)
Liminal Bells (2024)
Prior to writing this piece, a string of misfortunes imposed on me several months of emergency construction work. Although a frustrating setback for my musical activities, at least I was working outdoors atop a scaffold above a coastal town in Northern Portugal.
Having no time for music felt like a slow starvation for my inner musical explorer, so after a few weeks, I began to notice how my construction tools began to sound musical while resonating with their own pitches and rhythms. Moreover, the vibrant culture of the town became its own little symphony around me, especially during frequent weekend “processãos”. These slow, religious processions on cobblestone streets adorned in rose petals, are accompanied by old melodies and drumming patterns. At their conclusion, church bells ring from every direction, in every rhythm and in every key, creating a compelling musical cacophony.
Weekdays offer a different soundscape with church bells marking the workday every 15 minutes, screeching seagulls dive-bombing me, and one amateur guitarist singing strange fado while strumming indiscernible chords just below my perch on the scaffolding.
All of these experiences have culminated somewhat in my latest musical offering, "Liminal Bells." In this piece, I've employed a technique known as "prepared piano" to channel the sounds that enveloped me during those months. The unconventional “piano preparation” I used - borrowed from techniques I developed over a decade ago during solo improvised concerts in East Asia - involve inserting bamboo and rubber between some piano strings to evoke resonances of drums and bells. I also incorporate a small piece of plastic as a plectrum, enabling me to play the piano strings like a strange guitar.
Commissioned by Elation Pauls and sponsored in part by the Socan Foundation. In memory of Toshiro Tokunaga (1999-2024).
David Braid (1975)
Five Kazakh Impressions (2022)
"5 Kazakh Impressions," was written to commemorate three decades of diplomatic relations between Canada and Kazakhstan following the dissolution of the USSR. This five-movement piece for the Kazakh State String Quartet is not merely a tribute but a musical dialogue between two distant lands, weaving together cultural motifs and a shared love for the canon of string quartet music.
A Musical Journey Through the Steppe: The opening movement, "Eagle and Sky," takes its inspiration directly from the Kazakh flag, with soaring glissandi and fluid melodic lines that capture the flight and power of the Steppe Eagle, a national symbol of freedom and strength. It's a stately beginning, painting a vivid soundscape of the country's vast skies. This is followed by "Kazakh Horse," a movement that honours the animal so central to the nation’s history. The music here reflects the horse’s significance in nomadic life, embodying its strength and nobility. The third movement, "Vistas," provides a moment of simple themes, a musical sketch of the shared landscapes that can be found in both Kazakhstan and Canada.
Echoes of the Dombra: The final two movements delve into the heart of Kazakh musical tradition, inspired by the versatile dombra, a two-stringed instrument. "Black Dombra," the fourth movement, explores the instrument's darker, percussive qualities, a surprising and rhythmic departure from the preceding movements. The concluding movement, "Bright Dombra," is a brilliant flourish based on a well-known folk melody. It's an imaginative and playful piece, born from a thought experiment: what if Mozart had traveled to Kazakhstan? The result is a spirited blend of Western classical structure and Kazakh musical essence.
For the Kazakh State String Quartet in honour of 30 years of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Canada. Thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts, The Kazakh State String Quartet, The Canadian Embassies in Moscow and Astana, Elina Kulevas, and Alan Hamson, Ambassador of Canada to Kazakhstan.
David Braid (1975)
Semi (2010)
In this melancholy work, "Semi," the title itself becomes a portal to the piece's intricate emotional and rhythmic landscape. Pronounced "Sem-ai," the name alludes to a Turkish 10-beat rhythm that pulses at various times within the composition, giving it a subtle yet persistent undercurrent. When pronounced "Sem-mee," however, the title reveals its more sorrowful meaning: the feeling of defeat or loss. This duality is key to understanding the work's emotional arc.
I weave improvisation into the fabric of the piece, creating three distinct improvisational moments that perhaps mirror a journey through grief. The opening improvisation is a meditation on the initial experience of loss, an introspective and disturbing moment. The second, positioned in the middle, expresses the raw emotional turmoil and torment that accompany grief. The final improvisation, a climactic effort by the piano, attempts to represent a slow and incomplete process of transformation. It's a musical representation of letting go—an act that is only ever partial, never absolute. Through this musical narrative, I attempt to capture the complex, lingering nature of sorrow but with a grace that is both personal and universal.
David Braid (1975)
Great Bear River Blues (2018)
Located in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories, the Great Bear River flows into the Mackenzie River at the hamlet of Tulita (formerly known as Fort Norman).
The core elements of this composition—its harmony, melody, rhythm, and structure—are derived from the geographical data of this waterway. The river’s 113-kilometer length provides the primary melodic motif: "1,1,3," or "Doe-Doe-Mi." Meanwhile, Tulita’s coordinates, 64°54’21” North and 125°36’12” West, create some harmonic and rhythmic building blocks. The piece's shifting energy reflects the river’s unique meandering pattern, and various aerial views of the river are depicted by asymmetrical arpeggios that span the entire keyboard.
Beyond geography, the composition's use of syncopation and forward momentum is also found in the folk music of the local Dene people. This music has historical ties to the Great Bear River region, as "Yatsule," one of the earliest known Dene musicians, was born in Tulita in 1879. Contemporary Dene folk music features "blue notes" (reminiscent of blues vocals), glissandos (continuous slides in pitch), rhythmic syncopation, and a driving pulse. As a composer very familiar with jazz, I found these features compatible and chose to incorporate them, blending aspects of this shared musical language into my piece.
Commissioned by “Ensemble Made in Canada” for the Mosaique Project.
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 110
In the summer of 1960, Dmitri Shostakovich traveled to Dresden to work on a film score and was moved by the city’s devastation from the 1945 Allied firebombing. In just three days, from July 12-14 1960, he composed his Eighth String Quartet, inscribed “In memory of victims of fascism and war.” The quartet is known for its somber, intense tone, featuring a wide range of emotional expression—from mournful melodies to moments of anguish. It heavily quotes from Shostakovich’s earlier works, creating a layered, self-referential texture. The motif DSCH (D-E♭-C-B in German notation) is prominent, serving as a musical signature and a symbol of the composer’s identity, leading many to interpret it as autobiographical. This interpretation gained traction with the publication of Testimony, a controversial book attributed to Shostakovich through the journalist Solomon Volkov, which provided a different dedication: “Dedicated to the memory of the composer of this quartet”. The work remains one of classical music’s most powerful tomes of all time.
David Braid (1975)
Liminal Bells (2024)
Prior to writing this piece, a string of misfortunes imposed on me several months of emergency construction work. Although a frustrating setback for my musical activities, at least I was working outdoors atop a scaffold above a coastal town in Northern Portugal.
Having no time for music felt like a slow starvation for my inner musical explorer, so after a few weeks, I began to notice how my construction tools began to sound musical while resonating with their own pitches and rhythms. Moreover, the vibrant culture of the town became its own little symphony around me, especially during frequent weekend “processãos”. These slow, religious processions on cobblestone streets adorned in rose petals, are accompanied by old melodies and drumming patterns. At their conclusion, church bells ring from every direction, in every rhythm and in every key, creating a compelling musical cacophony.
Weekdays offer a different soundscape with church bells marking the workday every 15 minutes, screeching seagulls dive-bombing me, and one amateur guitarist singing strange fado while strumming indiscernible chords just below my perch on the scaffolding.
All of these experiences have culminated somewhat in my latest musical offering, "Liminal Bells." In this piece, I've employed a technique known as "prepared piano" to channel the sounds that enveloped me during those months. The unconventional “piano preparation” I used - borrowed from techniques I developed over a decade ago during solo improvised concerts in East Asia - involve inserting bamboo and rubber between some piano strings to evoke resonances of drums and bells. I also incorporate a small piece of plastic as a plectrum, enabling me to play the piano strings like a strange guitar.
Commissioned by Elation Pauls and sponsored in part by the Socan Foundation. In memory of Toshiro Tokunaga (1999-2024).
David Braid (1975)
Five Kazakh Impressions (2022)
"5 Kazakh Impressions," was written to commemorate three decades of diplomatic relations between Canada and Kazakhstan following the dissolution of the USSR. This five-movement piece for the Kazakh State String Quartet is not merely a tribute but a musical dialogue between two distant lands, weaving together cultural motifs and a shared love for the canon of string quartet music.
A Musical Journey Through the Steppe: The opening movement, "Eagle and Sky," takes its inspiration directly from the Kazakh flag, with soaring glissandi and fluid melodic lines that capture the flight and power of the Steppe Eagle, a national symbol of freedom and strength. It's a stately beginning, painting a vivid soundscape of the country's vast skies. This is followed by "Kazakh Horse," a movement that honours the animal so central to the nation’s history. The music here reflects the horse’s significance in nomadic life, embodying its strength and nobility. The third movement, "Vistas," provides a moment of simple themes, a musical sketch of the shared landscapes that can be found in both Kazakhstan and Canada.
Echoes of the Dombra: The final two movements delve into the heart of Kazakh musical tradition, inspired by the versatile dombra, a two-stringed instrument. "Black Dombra," the fourth movement, explores the instrument's darker, percussive qualities, a surprising and rhythmic departure from the preceding movements. The concluding movement, "Bright Dombra," is a brilliant flourish based on a well-known folk melody. It's an imaginative and playful piece, born from a thought experiment: what if Mozart had traveled to Kazakhstan? The result is a spirited blend of Western classical structure and Kazakh musical essence.
For the Kazakh State String Quartet in honour of 30 years of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Canada. Thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts, The Kazakh State String Quartet, The Canadian Embassies in Moscow and Astana, Elina Kulevas, and Alan Hamson, Ambassador of Canada to Kazakhstan.
David Braid (1975)
Semi (2010)
In this melancholy work, "Semi," the title itself becomes a portal to the piece's intricate emotional and rhythmic landscape. Pronounced "Sem-ai," the name alludes to a Turkish 10-beat rhythm that pulses at various times within the composition, giving it a subtle yet persistent undercurrent. When pronounced "Sem-mee," however, the title reveals its more sorrowful meaning: the feeling of defeat or loss. This duality is key to understanding the work's emotional arc.
I weave improvisation into the fabric of the piece, creating three distinct improvisational moments that perhaps mirror a journey through grief. The opening improvisation is a meditation on the initial experience of loss, an introspective and disturbing moment. The second, positioned in the middle, expresses the raw emotional turmoil and torment that accompany grief. The final improvisation, a climactic effort by the piano, attempts to represent a slow and incomplete process of transformation. It's a musical representation of letting go—an act that is only ever partial, never absolute. Through this musical narrative, I attempt to capture the complex, lingering nature of sorrow but with a grace that is both personal and universal.
David Braid (1975)
Great Bear River Blues (2018)
Located in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories, the Great Bear River flows into the Mackenzie River at the hamlet of Tulita (formerly known as Fort Norman).
The core elements of this composition—its harmony, melody, rhythm, and structure—are derived from the geographical data of this waterway. The river’s 113-kilometer length provides the primary melodic motif: "1,1,3," or "Doe-Doe-Mi." Meanwhile, Tulita’s coordinates, 64°54’21” North and 125°36’12” West, create some harmonic and rhythmic building blocks. The piece's shifting energy reflects the river’s unique meandering pattern, and various aerial views of the river are depicted by asymmetrical arpeggios that span the entire keyboard.
Beyond geography, the composition's use of syncopation and forward momentum is also found in the folk music of the local Dene people. This music has historical ties to the Great Bear River region, as "Yatsule," one of the earliest known Dene musicians, was born in Tulita in 1879. Contemporary Dene folk music features "blue notes" (reminiscent of blues vocals), glissandos (continuous slides in pitch), rhythmic syncopation, and a driving pulse. As a composer very familiar with jazz, I found these features compatible and chose to incorporate them, blending aspects of this shared musical language into my piece.
Commissioned by “Ensemble Made in Canada” for the Mosaique Project.
