Colin Eatock, composer
  • Home
  • About Colin Eatock
  • Composing
  • Catalogue of works
  • Media
  • Writing about music
  • Eatock Daily (blog)
  • New and upcoming
  • Contact me

Selling Claude Vivier to the World

12/7/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Claude Vivier (1948-1983).
Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to receive a package from Boosey & Hawkes, in New York. In it, I found a catalogue, fresh off the presses, advertising the scores of Canadian composer Claude Vivier.

An accompanying press release declares that Vivier is “commonly thought to be the most important composer Canada has yet produced.”

Presumably B&H isn’t trying to damn Vivier with faint praise –
after taking the trouble to publish his complete oeuvre, and also this handsome trilingual catalogue. But I fear this press release may have missed its mark. Seeing as the wider world shows little interest in Canadian music, telling people that Vivier is the best among a group of composers they aren’t much interested in may not be the best way to sell his work.

If I were trying to sell Vivier to the world, here’s what I’d say: “Claude Vivier came from Canada – a country where many composers are content to adopt and mimic fashionable trends in new music that originate in places that “matter,” such as Paris and New York. Yet although Vivier was well versed in these trends, and in many other things as well (such as the musics of Asia), he had such a rich and powerful voice that his works transcend mere imitation.”

And that, I believe, is what makes the few Canadian composers whom the world has at least noticed, such as Vivier, stand out from the rest of the pack. The problem with most Canadian composers is not that their work is not good enough, but that it often lacks distinctiveness and a clear personal stamp. Vivier had these qualities in spades.


I’m certainly not fond of everything Vivier wrote: I find some of his works opaque and impenetrable – as though he were writing letters to himself in an elaborate code that only he could understand. But when Vivier opened his soul to the world, a dazzling and compelling flood of music poured out.

If you’d like to know more about this remarkable composer and his music, click here. And below, you’ll find a YouTube video of a Vivier piece I like very much: his Lonely Child, from 1980.

© Colin Eatock 2012

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Eatock Daily

    I'm a composer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily.

    When I first started blogging, Eatock Daily was a place to re-post the articles I wrote for Toronto’s Globe and Mail and National Post newspapers, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star and other publications.

    But now I have stepped back from professional music journalism, and I'm spending more time composing.

    These days, my blog posts are infrequent, and are mostly concerned with my own music. However, I do still occasionally post comments on musical topics, including works I've discovered, enjoyed, and wish to share with others.


    – CE

    Archives

    April 2025
    August 2024
    May 2024
    March 2024
    October 2023
    March 2022
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    September 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

    Index

    Click here for an alphabetical list of blog entries.

    RSS Feed

    Follow colineatock on Twitter
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.