Canadian musicians, composers mourn demise of country's last radio orchestra

Cassandra Szklarski, THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO - Classical musicians are mourning the demise of the country's last radio orchestra, set to disband in November after championing the works of Canadian composers for 70 years and producing award-winning recordings.

Members of the Canadian Music Centre, Canadian League of Composers and Royal Conservatory of Music were among those Friday criticizing a move by the CBC to disband its Vancouver-based orchestra, warning that Canadian talent - and culture - would suffer from the blow.

"The big question is: What kind of priority is the CBC going to give to music that expresses something that is uniquely Canadian, that is not easy-listening?" asked James Waltz of the Canadian League of Composers in Toronto.

"Something that is worth thinking about, worth listening to more than once? We at this point just don't know if the CBC cared about that kind of thing."

CBC executives delivered the news Thursday to some 45 members of the orchestra in a closed-door meeting in Vancouver. A hastily assembled rally at the site drew dozens of classical music supporters to denounce the decision as soon as it was announced, said Elisabeth Bihl of the Canadian Music Centre, which promotes the works of Canadian composers.

CBC radio's Mark Steinmetz, executive director of music, said Friday that money was at the heart of the decision.

"It was a very, very difficult decision and it really came down to the hard, economic choice," Steinmetz said from Vancouver. "We just felt that the sustainability of this orchestra - and we did between six and eight concerts a year - was very expensive."

The CBC wouldn't reveal the orchestra's budget, saying only that it was under $1 million.

Steinmetz said concert ticket and CD sales recouped very little of those funds, with the number of CDs sold dropping in recent years to between 1,000 and 3,000 copies per release.

He insisted that the public broadcaster's funds could be used more efficiently on CBC Radio 2 programs.

"This is not the end of classical music and it's not the end of us recording and commissioning composers in this country," Steinmetz said.

"We intend to work with other orchestras, other ensembles across this country to record Canadian composers. ... We will be upping our Canadian content across the schedule by 20 per cent come September, and part of that is the continuation of recording Canadian composers."

Bihl wasn't convinced by the assurance, bemoaning that other orchestras don't have the same mandate to showcase homegrown compositions as the CBC orchestra.

She wondered how Canadian classical-music talent will be featured on radio in future.

"This little bit of money isn't going to do much," Bihl said from Toronto. "It is never, ever going to replace what the CBC orchestra has done."

The CBC Radio Orchestra was formed in 1938 to showcase Canadian composers and musicians, putting out dozens of studio and live recordings to acclaim.

Former conductor Mario Bernardi, who led the orchestra from 1983 to 2006, said the writing was on the wall when the broadcaster told musicians three years ago that there would be no more studio recordings.

"You wonder why do we give billions to the CBC if they want to do exactly the same as everybody else?" Bernardi said Friday. "I'm very sad for the musicians, mostly."

Radio orchestras like the CBC's were once common, with other Canadian orchestras at one time in Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, said David Visentin, associate dean at the Royal Conservatory of Music's Glenn Gould School in Toronto.

Those CBC orchestras provided programming and theme music for various shows on the network and gave public performances.

One of the last studio recordings by the CBC Radio Orchestra provided background music for Stuart McLean's "Vinyl Cafe" spoken word CD series, said Bernardi.

© The Canadian Press, 2008