The North Wind's Gift

Concerto for Double Bass

Nova Scotia, The Chronicle Herald
Bassist works out with Symphony Nova Scotia
Written by Stephen Pedersen
Thursday, 28 February 2008

Whatever else he created in the way of musical mayhem, Canadian/American composer Raymond Luedeke composed a stunning showpiece for double-bass virtuoso Joel Quarrington. Symphony Nova Scotia, on its finest mettle, with Bernard Gueller on the podium, escorted Quarrington through Luedeke’s Bass Concerto on Thursday night in the Cohn before an ecstatic audience.

There is something ecstatic in the way Quarrington plays the bass. His musicianship, his phrasing, shading, tone colour and rubato (in which the musical line gets expressive without losing time), all serve his musical intent, imagination and the eloquence of his musical feelings.

The slow first part of the intensely romantic middle movement, sub-titled The Lover, showcased that side of his personality. Luedeke took for inspiration in writing the Bass Concerto the psychological theories of the male psyche according to the Jungian School. The concerto begins with a section called The King, followed in the middle movement by combining The Lover with The Trickster, and finishing with The Warrior.

Luckily, Luedeke is much more of a musician than a psychologist. Whatever triggered it, his music takes on a life and character of its own, only mildly influenced by the imagery most evident in The Lover and The Trickster movement.

The Trickster, like much of the first movement, is full of texture, spiky orchestration with the brilliance of a Shostakovitch symphony, lots of percussion in the instrumentation and single winds including bass clarinet and contra-bassoon in the basement with piccolo an independent voice rather than just the icing on the orchestral cake.

This is a very showy work for all. On the technical side you’d be impressed if Quarrington was a violinist.
But where the violinist’s fingers must work to a precision standard measured in millimetres, the bassist, with something close to four inches between whole notes on the fingerboard, and strings that are several miliimetres thick, has to combine the strength of a plow horse with the fleetness of a thoroughbred.

 

The Toronto Star - 23 February 1989
... it was a richly satisfying score, full of imaginative ideas that combined to give a startling impression of life beyond he white man's world.... At the work's premier in Toronto, the audience was on its feet at the end of each of three performances and at intermission, symphony patrons besieged the symphony boutique with requests for the recording.

London, Ontario - The London Free Press - 23 March 1989
The big surprise of the evening were excerpts from Raymond Luedeke's Tales Of The Netsilik Suite, which were greeted much more warmly than most of the modern Canadian music Orchestra London plays.

Toronto, Canadian Living - September 1989
Tales of the Netsilik, performed three times, started strongly and grew better every night. Three curtain calls Wednesday and Thursday, and tonight four. When Ray Luedeke came out tonight, the audience stood. It was the first time Andrew Davis can remember that happening to a Canadian composer.

Toronto, The Globe and Mail - 12 October 1996
Tales of the Netsilik haunts my memory, though I have heard it only twice. It's based on Inuit folk tales, spoken in English translation over a highly evocative orchestral score. Admittedly, much depends on the speaking. But the 2 speakers I have heard in the work, though both superb, were so strikingly different that the musical foundation of the work must be very secure.

Edmonton, The Edmonton Journal - 25 February 1989
It's invigorating, explosive stuff, this suite in five movements from Tales of The Netsilik, and it was well received.... the third movement, thunder and lightning boomed with anger and dark crescendos. Triple loud with strange chromatic lines weaving upward and downward, it was compelling stuff!

Montreal Gazette - March 1989
"For sheer technical display, however, the evening reached its zenith at the start... a precisely orchestrated and vividly imagistic work"

"... a big major work. Bravo!" Lukas Foss

 

Toronto, The Toronto Star - 4 June 2002
It was a remarkable concoction that linked texts by poets as diverse as e.e.cummings, Dylan Thomas, LI Po and Chief Dan George with chorus and dramatic refrains drawn from a First Nations prayer and it drew from performers a lively well-tempered display of the vocal arts. Astutely crafted and musically absorbing, it was a salutary warning of what our selfish peers are destroying, delivered under the leadership of conductor Lydia Adams with graceful, bounding lines that remained unbroken despite the vigorously textual transformations. The musical fabric here is delightfully organized and its interpretation was most appropriate.

London, Ontario, The London Free Press - 29 October 1992
Audience interest continued to grow during Movement 3, slow and langorous in character, with the violin prominently accompanied by the harp. The music, which can only be described as ethereal, contained flashes of brilliant writing.

The Transparency of Time
'

New York, The International Musician - March 1986
A twenty minute set of variations for piano and orchestra. Luedeke's latest piece is one of difficulty for the pianist and an orchestral work of considerable colour, running the gamut from simple melody to contemporary avant-garde... It appears that with The Transparency of Time he has another winner in his hands.

Circus Music

Toronto Star - April 8, 1991
... He managed to coax from the ensemble a picturesque collage of roustabout sounds - from animals to clown effects - in eight neatly stitched sections of bright and often witty music.

Fanfare - January/February 1995
Conceived as background music for a miniature circus created by American artist Alexander Calder, the work's eight movements succeed in bringing to mind everything from acrobats to dancing bears to clowns.

 

American Record Guide - December 2006
Full of variety of mood and beautiful sounds, this is a very attractive composition taking full advantage of the sonorities violin and percussion can make together.

 

"... brilliant, idiomatically written for the harp, an important work." Nicanor Zabalata

 

The Kansas City Star, March 15, 1981
Among the smaller-scale pieces heard at the symosium, "Fancies & Interludes III", for horn and percussion by Raymond Luedeke was especially striking. A sense of color and mystery suffused the music, which owed something to Benjamin Britten and George Crumb.

Clarinet Work - Fall 1986
This is a chamber music piece worthy of becoming an exciting addition to the contemporary repertoire of any virtuoso bass clarinet player. Mr. Luedeke's use of rhythmic interplay between the percussion and clarinet is extraordinary. The clarinet, with its legato line an melodic leaps, played off against the percussive, melodic, and rhythmic use of both the vibraphone, marimba and other percussive instruments, builds tensions which command the constant attention of the listener. This piece demands true virtuoso ability on the part of both performers. The fancies & interludes explore the full range of sounds capable on these instruments. The use of strategically placed silences and wide range of dynamic levels adds to the excitement of the piece. The form is built into the composition and the "program" notwithstanding is not really necessary as an explanation of the music. Many additional listenings (I was given a tape of the recital performance) only added to my admiration of this piece of music and a desire to listen to the piece again.

London, England, The Diapason
A musical masterpiece speaks simultaneously to one's emotional and intellectual faculties, touching the most personal and most universal feelings with equal power. Luedeke's Fancies and interludes V may well be that kind of piece.... The organ and cello parts are equally difficult and interesting, and at no time does either assume the role of mere accompaniment to the other... highly recommended.

Toronto, The Toronto Star 25 September 1989
There are some pretty wild sound effects from the keyboard, lots of musical passion, and an ingenious final Fancy that ends in a musical bedlam well controlled by Krueger and sort of battened-down by Israelievitch.

The Buffalo News - 23 October 1989
... a whacky and whimsical 10 movement suite... Luedeke's score varied the accompaniments skillfully, some skittery, others dreamy and chordal. The piece was very imaginatively written, the poems were off-the-wall funny, and the whole experience could be viewed as delightful whimsical entertainment.

The Toronto Star - January 30, 1990
Luedeke's suite of eight settings is a marvel of simplicity used to the utmost effect. His music is rhythmic and expressive rather than conventionally melodic. He never resorts to the kinds of musical cliches that might have been expected. His compositions complement the texts and create marvelously evocative effects.

His Majesty The Tuba and New Hampshire

Wonderland Duets

Krishna

T.U.B.A. Journal - Fall 1980
They are delightful songs that cover a wide emotional and musical range. They are also good fun to do.
Wonderland Duets for 2 tubas and narrator effectively combine the spoken voice and tuba timber. This is an extremely effective work for many reasons and on many levels not the least of which is the inclusion of humor.
In Krishna, the tuba is treated as an integral part of what is basically an ensemble piece. I found this piece to be a very refreshing change of pace.