Sound & Colour:

Sound & Colour: Pictures at a 21st Century Exhibition, a cello-piano duo recital.

An idea born of the many hours Fiona spent wandering through museums during her studies at the Conservatoire de Paris, and riffing on Mussorgsky’s 1874 piano masterpiece “Pictures at an Exhibition,” this duo recital explores the historical and aesthetic intersections of visual arts and music, two art forms that Leonardo Da Vinci described as “sisters,” and which have enriched and complemented each other for centuries. Our program will transport you from the turn of the 20th century to the very present day, by way of Debussy’s colourful cello sonata and a cohort of Canadian composers — Ian Cusson, Kelly-Marie Murphy, and Euphrosyne Keefer — whose respective visual influences include Indigenous painter Kent Monkman, the Group of Seven, and a set of mysterious medieval tapestries. At the heart of the program is the premier performance of Murch Studies, a piece written for us by Canadian composer Christopher Goddard, which was inspired by the work of his great-uncle, Canadian painter Walter Tandy Murch. 

This program was first performed in March 2024, by Fiona Robson, cello, and Raymond Truong, piano, on a tour made possible by the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. We performed in Toronto, ON (Avenue Road Music Academy Marbin Matinees), McDonald’s Corners, ON (MERA Schoolhouse Bluejeans Series), Halifax, NS (The Music Room Chamber Players Series), Guelph, ON (Silence Sounds, in collaboration with Otherwise Studios), and London, ON (St James Chamber Music Series).

If you’re interested in learning more about the composers and visual artists whose work is included in the program, you can find more information below.

Program Information

Debussy Cello Sonata, by Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
More information about Claude Debussy: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claude-Debussy

Suite for Cello and Piano: “La Dame à la Licorne”, by Euphrosyne Keefer (1919-2023)
More information about the tapestries at the Cluny Museum website: https://www.musee-moyenage.fr/en/collection/the-lady-and-the-unicorn.html
More information about Euphrosyne Keefer and her work: http://1443.sydneyplus.com/final/Portal/Composer-Showcase.aspx?component=AAIL&record=7dcb39bd-3a81-44da-8fb7-83abbb2ad9ac

Pictures at an Exhibition (excerpts), by Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
More information about Modest Mussorgsky: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Modest-Mussorgsky
Photo credits for our projections: Une galerie du Musee, Hubert Robert (https://wiki.alquds.edu/?query=File:Hubert_Robert,_Une_galerie_du_Mus%C3%A9e.jpg) Gnomus (https://notesfromapianist.wordpress.com/2016/03/29/gnomus-the-nutcracker-gnome/) The Boy’s Marching Band, Joseph Clark (https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/THE-BOYS--MARCHING-BAND/B409FDC24039F83EFF1E3D1962F95E4B), Marketplace, Ablade Glover (https://www.lyklemafineart.com/products/ablade-glover-marketplace), Baba Yaga’s Hut, Coy Powers (https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31888935/)

La Pieta (after Monkman), by Ian Cusson (b. 1981)
More information about Kent Monkman and his work: https://www.kentmonkman.com/
More information about Ian Cusson and his work: https://www.iancusson.com/bio

The Lonely Road (After F. H. Varley), by Kelly-Marie Murphy (b. 1964)
More information about F. H. Varley: https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/fh-varley
More information about Kelly-Marie Murphy and her work: https://kellymariemurphy.com/

3 Mélodies, Op. 23, by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Poetry translations: Les Berceaux (https://oxfordsong.org/song/les-berceaux), Notre Amour (https://oxfordsong.org/song/notre-amour), Le Secret (https://oxfordsong.org/song/le-secret)
More information about Gabriel Fauré: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gabriel-Faure

Murch Studies, by Christopher Goddard (b. 1986)
More information about Chris Goddard and his work: https://www.christophergoddard.com/
More information about Walter Tandy Murch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Tandy_Murch

The following Murch paintings were used as inspiration for this piece:

Sphere in Light

The Doll

Caliper of the World

Self-Portrait (1940)

Thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts for supporting this tour, and thank you to all the generous donors who helped us bring Chris Goddard’s commissioned piece to life!