Lost and Found is Peter-Anthony Togni and Jeff Reilly’s collection of compositions inspired by subjects ranging from the power of dreams, the birth of children and grandchildren, the natural world and medieval plainchant. They also include a transcendent take on the Miles Davis classic Blue in Green.
Recorded in the pristine acoustics and isolated environment of Trinity St-Stephen’s church in the small town of Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada — the album has rich and inviting sonic atmosphere.
Watch Blackwood perform the title track to Lost and Found:
A featured work on my upcoming release To Dream of Silence is a work by the Canadian composer Christos Hatzis: Extreme Unction. Set for solo bass clarinet and string orchestra, it is a powerful depiction of both the struggles against, and the final acceptance of the inevitability of death. The recurring theme that runs through this entire release is the power of the heart as an engine of transformation. In To Dream of Silence you hear the heart of the machinery of a vast basement, the pounding of a heart recovering from terror, a bursting heart upon witnessing indescribable beauty, the rich heart of our home and finally in Christos’ work we hear a heart beating out the final moments of life. Death, as this brilliant work by Christos shows us, is the ultimate transformation.
Extreme Unction is now available for download on bandcamp as an individual track.jeffreilly.bandcamp.com
All tracks available on all download and streaming sites (Itunes, Spotify etc.. ) on September 29th
Christos Hatzis wrote this work using recordings of my improvisations that he then re-worked and orchestrated. Here is a letter I sent to Christos when I was preparing this work for the performance and recording of this piece last June:
“I have fallen in love with your piece in a truly complex way. It’s not all joy and light I have to tell you. Truth be told I am finding it hard to articulate what it is like to realize a piece that is so much me but also so much you. It is like we have had a strange musical baby together that has its own life that in turn describes death in such a chaotic, but nuanced expression. Hard, but beautiful. Hard to be me when my expression is chopped up, reset, orchestrated and returned with greater depth and power than any individual gesture could possibly express. My feelings around it are much deeper and more realized than they were in the Toronto performance. Maybe it’s the amount of time I have spent on it this time around, as now I certainly feel that I have wrestled this anguished beast into technical submission, while last time I think it was beyond my grasp…. but also I think it has to do with turning 60 – it changes you somehow. I hope you will hear all this in my performance, it certainly is my intention.”
Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra players:
First violins: Manuela Milani, Martine Dubé, Sara Mastrangelo, Geneviève Petit
Second violins: Solange Tremblay, Marjolaine Lambert, Maria Nenoiu,Brigitte Amyot
Violas: Catherine Ferreira, Sonya Probst
Cellos: Julian Armour, Thaddeus Morden
Bass: John Geggie
Nominated for a Juno Award in 2016 as well as the winner of the 2014 Lieutenant Governor’s Masterworks Award, RESPONSIO is Peter-Anthony Togni`s breathtakingly beautiful meditation on Guillaume de Machat’s medieval masterpiece the Messe de Nostre Dame. Featuring a bass clarinet (Jeff Reilly) that soars over the timeless sonorities of a world class vocal quartet, RESPONSIO is a deep reflection on over 1,000 years of spiritual music making.
This is a one night only event, a rare opportunity to experience this work with the original world class performers.
RESPONSIO was released internationally in September of 2015 on the Montreal based ATMA classique label. CDs will be available for purchase at the concert.
RESPONSIO will also be performed in April and May as follows:
The long awaited release by the Halifax based trio Sanctuary is here. ESTUARY was released internationally on Friday, September 25th. The third CD from this truly unique trio of pipe organ, cello and bass clarinet reflects 17 years of refinement and development.
Ranging from the full, suspended sound of Peter-Anthony Togni’s “Nuer Prayer”, through the austere beauty of Jeff Reilly’s “Creatures of Infinite Grace” to the driving rhythms of Christoph Both’s “Sonora”, ESTUARY is a deep-listening dive into the musical minds of these three highly experienced musicians.
Recorded by Rod Sneddon, produced by Jeff Reilly and mastered by Britain’s renowned mastering engineer Simon Heyworth, ESTUARY presents a pristine sound with incredible depth and resonance.
For a free track download please go here. The trio will perform tracks from ESTUARY in 2 concerts, one in Halifax and the other in Wolfville, NS on October 6th and 7th:
Tuesday, October 6th at 7:30 pm
Fort Massey United Church
5303 Tobin St. Halifax, NS
Wednesday, October 7th at 7:30 pm
Wolfville Baptist Church
487 Main St. Wolfville, NS
Tickets are 15/10 at the door and also can be purchased on-line for a reduced rate here.
Here is a beautiful little promo video about Responsio, a new work for bass clarinet and vocal quartet by Peter-Anthony Togni. It’s based on the 14th century masterpiece the “Messe de Nostre Dame” by Guillaume de Machaut. This stunning piece will be released on the Montreal based label ATMA Classique on Sept. 11th, 2015 and toured nationally in April and May of 2016..
Congratulations to Peter for this incredible acknowledgement of what is truly an extensive and beautiful masterwork combining the ancient and the new. Responsio is a contemporary response to Guillaume de Machaut’s Messe de Nostre Dame and it features:
Lots of wonderful things happening in this coming year and beyond, what follows are some of the highlights. Please get in touch at jeffreilly@eastlink.ca for more info
March 2017
11 Performing with Peter Togni and Stealth Duoat Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. as part of their NUMUS concert series.
June 2017 9 Performing with the young musicians of the Halifax Schools Symphony Orchestra doing a brand new concerto for bass clarinet and orchestra by the brilliant Peter-Anthony Togni. So great to be around young people falling in love with music again! More info here. 16 Performing with the 13 Strings Chamber Orchestra in their concert Illuminations. I am playing two concertos: Extreme Unction by Christos Hatzis and Illuminations by Peter-Anthony Togni. Of special note is that Extreme Unction will be recorded for release on my upcoming CD “To Dream of Silence” in the fall of 2017.
September 2017
15 CD release! Look for more info here as we roll out the release of my solo project To Dream of Silence
21 Performing with Blackwood (Peter Togni and I) and the great Andrew Sneddon at Fort Massey church in Halifax 30 Sanctuary is back! The Sanctuary Trio performs in Annapolis Royal at the Kings Theatre at 7:30!
October 2017 22-24Blackwood (Peter Togni and I) head in to the studio (Trinity St Stephen’s church in Amherst) with the great Rod Sneddon to record our first duo record. Look for a release in early 2018.
December 2017 15-23Blackwood (Peter Togni and I) tour Nova Scotia with our very special Christmas concert program. Stops in Halifax, Truro, Lunenburg and more. Keep an eye out here for more details.
Jan 2018 9 I am conducting the Upstream Orchestra in performance at the 2018 Open Waters Festival in Halifax, NS. This will feature a new 7 movement composition of mine “To Dream of Silence”.
Looking forward in 2018 to the performance and recording of Peter-Anthony Togni’s concerto for bass clarinet and orchestra with the Ottawa based 13 Strings ensemble conducted by Kevin Mallon, plus a feature performance of the Lamentations of Jeremiah with the Calgary based professional choir Luminous Voices as part of the Easter 2018 Holy Week.
Over the past year I have had the chance to produce two videos with CBC Radio 2’s Tom Allen. Have a look at these two projects. The first is a look at the origins of the Star Trek theme, and its surprising origins in musical history:
The second, this one here, which is trending really well out there, shows us the history of the song of death…. yes, death has a theme song. Check it out:
We’ll be producing more of these in the months to come for CBC music. I’ll keep posting them here.