News || Toronto Star: John Weinzweig celebrated

Martin Knelman: "John Weinzweig celebrated in concert of the century"

John Weinzweig, the dean of Canadian composers, once said the word “beautiful” should be retired, because it had turned into a cliché to describe everything.

What really irritated him was to have “beautiful” as the ultimate praise for a piece of music.

“I don’t write beautiful music,” he declared in The Radical Romantic, Larry Weinstein’s wonderfully revealing 1990 documentary.
Edgy, yes. Original, for sure. Provocative, no doubt. Rhythmic, oh my.

If he were still around, Weinzweig (who died seven years ago) would probably tell me off for saying this. But last Friday’s Weinzweig Centenary Concert at the U of T’s Walter Hall, featuring Robert Aitken (flute), Judy Loman (harp) and Serouj Kradjian (piano), struck me as spirit-raising, mesmerizing and — dare I use the word? — beautiful.

Read the full article here. Published in the Toronto Star on Tuesday, March 12, 2013.