The title of this live release by Canada's
National Arts Centre Orchestra
is an ambitious one, and online listeners may wonder about the thread connecting the very diverse works on the program. However, physical album buyers will get the scoop. The album's motivations are dual. One is pretty vague; the album seeks to embody the value of truth in an age of disinformation. The second is quite specific; the release pays tribute to the late Canadian broadcast journalist
Peter Jennings
. The items on the program work for one of these, if not both. The National Arts Centre commissioned the
Symphony No. 13
from
Philip Glass
, who professed an admiration for
Jennings
, and it is a compact, punchy example of
Glass
' late style. Under the "truth" rubric comes the
Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 70
, of
Shostakovich
, and the revised version of the
Violin Concerto
of
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
, both dating from the end of World War II and obviously having nothing to do with
but embodying the idea of composers' following their own inner dictates (speaking their "truths," as contemporary parlance has it). Both works receive strong performances; the light, neoclassic quality of the
, which ticked
Stalin
off considerably, is caught nicely by conductor
Alexander Shelley
, and violinist
James Ehnes
contributes appropriate sentiment in the
Korngold
concerto. There is also a camera-themed overture by Canadian composer
Nicole Lyzée
and a nifty bilingual spoken-word item by the singer-songwriter
YAO
. Certainly of interest not only to Canadian listeners but to those from the south who fondly remember Peter Jennings. ~ James Manheim