In Their Own Words: Canadian Choral Conductors

Desmond Maley is the music librarian at the J.W. Tate Library,
Huntington College, Laurentian University, and editor of the CAML
Review.

Montreal chorister Holly Higgins Jonas could be the Studs Terkel of
Canadian choral music. Not unlike Terkel, who is the dean of America’s
oral historians, Jonas traversed Canada to record the life stories of
choral conductors. Altogether there are 35 in-depth interviews and 17
vignettes, including of such luminaries as Anne Campbell, Donald F.
Cook, Iwan Edwards, Soeur Lorette Gallant, Brock McElheran, Leonard
Ratzlaff, Wayne Riddell, and Jon Washburn.

Jonas was assiduous at contacting the choral enterprise at nearly all
levels of society. Her survey ranges from conductors of children’s
choirs in remote First Nation communities to professional adult choirs
in major urban centres. The interviewees reflect on their upbringing,
musical formation, mentors (Elmer Iseler and Robert Shaw are extolled),
reception, and repertoire (especially of Canadian composers). They also
share their thoughts on a distinctively “Canadian” choral sound,
professional associations, and education, and offer advice for young
conductors. Donald Patriquin contributes the concluding “postlude”
on his compositional career and provides a list of notable Canadian
choral composers.

The results very much reflect the conductors’ passion for excellence.
No one dwells on the financial worries, lack of recognition, and burnout
that are also part of the artistic predicament. Instead, time and again,
there are descriptions of “peak” aesthetic experiences and a quest
for a musical version of the Holy Grail. (“Most of all,” says
conductor Ramona Luengen, “it is the search for that magical, elusive
moment when planets, stars and music align to create something so
beautiful it takes your breath away.”) The various reminiscences also
show that choral singing can be a powerful affirmation of faith, ethnic
identity, and social solidarity.

What prevents me from giving In Their Own Words a “thumbs
up”—apart from the fact that it contains no illustrations—is its
editing. The errors are frequent and distracting. It is a pity that such
a noble effort should be marred this way.