Reviews

CD Review | Journey Through Night: Canadian Music for String Quartet (Akashic Entertainment Recordings, 2021; distributed through the Universal Music Group)

“Throughout the recording I found myself thinking about the ways music can signify, sometimes functioning as pure music while often aiming to do more. That phrase “modern-day storytelling” seems apt, especially in the ambitious creations I encountered today from seven Canadian composers… Daniel Mehdizadeh’s Dialectics is true to its name, a kind of musical exploration of discourse itself. While the program notes are among the briefest, that might be due to the purity of this composition that does exactly as its title would suggest, employing dissonance near the beginning and (spoiler alert) moving to a resolution.” - Leslie Barcza, Barczablog <Source>

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Concert Review

“The theremin, an electronic instrument that produces slithery, otherworldly sounds, is most often heard in the soundtrack of a film or television program. Theremin player Thorwald Jorgensen and pianist Jean Desmarais performed a work that fit the type, The Awakening of Baron Samedi by Daniel Mehdizadeh. Baron Samedi is a sinister figure in Haitian Voodoo lore. The piece is definitely scary, though the kind of scary people usually enjoy. At the same time, if it were a soundtrack, I’m not sure I’d want to watch the movie.” - Richard Todd, Ottawa Citizen <Source>

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CD Review | Pour Guitare: Steve Cowan

“The Mehdizadeh work for two guitars is a humorous and darkly satirical piece with great ensemble playing by Cowan and François Bergeron. Musical tension and crisp articulations really bring out the strength of the guitar in expressing a variety of gestures.” -  Bradford Werner, This is Classical Guitar <Source>