En route Gillian Smith

• Derek Charke (b. 1974): Nebula Variations:
• 1Charke: Nebula Variations: Var. 1, Nebula01:32
• 2Charke: Nebula Variations: Var. 2, Fantasia07:14
• 3Charke: Nebula Variations: Var. 3, Interlude01:09
• 4Charke: Nebula Variations: Var. 4, Star Cluster03:14
• 5Charke: Nebula Variations: Var. 5, Aether08:51
• Hsiu-Ping Wu: En route:
• 6Wu: En route11:38
• Amy Brandon: Dualisms:
• 7Brandon: Dualisms: I. Darkly Melting01:54
• 8Brandon: Dualisms: II. Unstable, Shifting, Lyrical01:09
• 9Brandon: Dualisms: III. Distantly02:57
• 10Brandon: Dualisms: IV. Joyfully02:33
• Carmen Braden: Tree Talk:
• 11Braden: Tree Talk15:49
• Corie Rose Soumah: Limpidités IV:
• 12Soumah: Limpidités IV14:19
• Total Runtime01:12:19

Info for En route

I am thrilled to have been able to commission five new works for solo violin for this Album from five wonderful Canadian composers: Carmen Braden, Amy Brandon, Derek Charke, Corie Rose Soumah, and Hsiu-Ping Patrick Wu. The existing works of these composers represent a broad spectrum of stylistic approaches, technical perspectives, and thematic choices, and I feel that this collection of new works is an exciting, important, and varied contribution to the Canadian repertoire for solo violin. I have dreamt of finding a way to commission new works to add to that repertoire since I released my first Album of music for solo violin, Into the Stone, in 2019, and this project is the fulfillment of that dream.

My vision for this project was the expression of different perspectives on the subject of “voices.” I asked each of the composers to take as their starting point the idea of bringing focus to voices that may not have been heard before, or not heard clearly, as well as the idea of voices interacting with each other in new ways. Each of the composers interpreted this theme within their own unique perspective.

To me, the violin is the perfect vehicle for this project. Although the instrument only has four strings, the possibilities for the writing of music for violin are immense. As an unaccompanied instrument, the solo violin can illuminate the vulnerability of the human condition with unique power.

The repertoire for solo violin has many great examples of multiple-voice writing. In his six sonatas and partitas for solo violin, BWV 1001-1006, J. S. Bach made use of double-, triple-, and quadruple-stops, as well as complex arpeggiated patterns and other techniques, and created a rich world of multiple voices within one instrument with four strings. I have asked the five Canadian composers involved with this project to consider these centuries-old techniques and expand on them and develop them in their own way, incorporating their own contemporary perspectives.

I’m grateful to Hsiu-Ping Patrick Wu for his permission to use the title of his piece EN ROUTE for the Album title. The idea of being on the way or on a journey seems to me to capture the essence of this project: working toward new understandings through new pieces, concepts, and approaches.

A big thank you to Carmen Braden, Amy Brandon, Derek Charke, Corie Rose Soumah, and Hsiu-Ping Patrick Wu for taking on the commissions for this project and to recording engineer and producer John D. S. Adams and Leaf Music for all their work on the Album. I am excited to have had a chance to record these fantastic new works and am so happy to have the opportunity to share them here.

EN ROUTE: New Canadian Music for Solo Violin is dedicated to the memory of Jorja Fleezanis and Camilla Wicks, two amazing violinists and people whom I am lucky enough to have been able to call my teachers. (Gillian Smith)

Gillian Smith, violin

Gillian Smith
A dynamic and intuitive performer, Gillian Smith enjoys a varied and exciting performance career as a violinist. Deeply committed to performing music by contemporary composers, she has recorded two CDs with members of the Acadia New Music Society on the Centrediscs label: Live Wired, which features the music of Derek Charke, Jérôme Blais, and Anthony Genge, and In Sonorous Falling Tones, which features the music of Derek Charke and which was nominated for an East Coast Music Award for Classical Recording of the Year in 2018. She can also be heard on a recording of the chamber music of Carmen Braden that will be released in November 2019.

Gillian Smith has appeared at such series and festivals as the Acadia Performing Arts Series, the East Coast Music Awards, Inner Space Concerts, the Music Room Chamber Players, Open Waters Festival, Shattering the Silence Festival, and Sunday Music in the Garden Room. She has also performed and recorded as an orchestral musician with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony, and Symphony Nova Scotia.

A dedicated teacher, Gillian Smith serves as instructor of violin and viola at the Acadia University School of Music and as head of the upper strings department at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts. Her students have won top prizes and awards in regional and national competitions.

Gillian Smith holds degrees in violin performance from the Eastman School of Music (B.Mus.), the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (M.Mus.), and the University of Minnesota (D.M.A). Her teachers have included Jorja Fleezanis, Camilla Wicks, Peter Salaff, and Philippe Djokic.

Booklet for En route