Originally published in the Edmonton Journal, July 14, 2011
Article by Roger Levesque
EDMONTON - The violin or fiddle - call it what you wish - has been around in a recognizable form for about five centuries now, bowing its way into all sorts of musical traditions.
Virtuoso player Guillaume Tardif and two fellow fiddlers - Daniel Gervais and Lizzy Hoyt - will bring their collective expertise to tapping a few of those varied styles in an intriguing show at Convocation Hall Friday, dubbed The Genius of the Violin (guitarist Clinton Pelletier will also accompany them).
For Tardif, who has focused on the classical repertoire for most of his career, it's a fun chance to celebrate the amazing versatility of the instrument.
"We're very excited to try and revive some of the other cultural traditions that are very important to Canadian music," Tardif explains. "The traditions of violin and fiddle music often seem very divided and it's rare that they meet together. We're not crossing over between styles, but presenting them side-by-side with a little bit of a narrative or discussion to show how they have evolved together."
Tardif studied classical violin from the age of six, but growing up in Quebec City he couldn't help but hear various aspects of the folk fiddle in French-Canadian culture. Apart from an impressive international career as a classical soloist, he has also been a professor for string music at the University of Alberta since 2003.
It's in that latter capacity that he recently developed a special course directed chiefly at music teachers, called Fiddling Around In Music Class. After studying with Tardif for a couple of years, Gervais assisted in the class for a recent summer school term. The idea for Friday's concert was born out of their work together.
"I've come to realize that there are certainly differences between playing violin and fiddling, but there is still a tremendous amount of refinement in the skill of fiddling. It's not a matter of lower class and higher class violin. They are truly two different art forms with some common roots. So we became interested in trying to teach people to appreciate the differences."
Local music fans may already be familiar with Gervais and Pelletier as the driving force behind Hot Club of Edmonton, a Gypsy jazz combo that takes inspiration from the original Hot Club of France which featured Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelly (Hot Club of Edmonton released their lively self-titled debut disc last year).
Gervais offers an analogy to explain the relationship between violin and fiddle:
"Fiddle music is really dance music, so we're emphasizing danceability, while the violin is more about singing and projecting a beautiful tone and melody. With the guitar, we can even take the fiddle or violin out of its traditional role as a lead instrument."
Hoyt has also gone beyond her classical training for many years, crossing over into the Celtic tradition and beyond as you can hear on her fine recent disc Home. She was a natural addition to help show off the violin's expansive capabilities.
The program will touch on a fascinating range of material to search out what Tardif calls the "spirit of the violin," from medieval Celtic tunes, to baroque composers like Giuseppe Tartini and J.S. Bach, the folk dance styles that inspired Bela Bartok, Gypsy jazz, early film scores for violin, and even bluegrass fiddle. Between them, the four musicians will alternate in solo, duo, trio and quartet formats.
Tardif foresees that future concerts could tap an even wider range of repertoire.
Tardif, Gervais, Hoyt and Pelletier perform for The Genius of the Violin concert Friday at 8 p.m. at Convocation Hall on the University of Alberta campus. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for students, available at the door from 7 p.m.