A voyage through musical time and space. Original release in 2009.
This album won the OPUS Prize of the "Conseil québécois du Québec" (CQM), Canada, in 2011 in the "World Music" category.
Helmut Lipsky, violin, synthesizers, composer
Suzie LeBlanc, voice
Stefan Kling, piano
Tobias Morgenstern, accordion
Alexander Weimann, piano, harpsichord, baroque organ, keyboards
Jean-François Martel, double bass
Pierre Tanguay, percussion
Chris Norman, flute (Fuyu)
David Hall, church organ (Tempi con Variazioni I)
Earl McCluske, producer, engineer
The live tracks were recorded at the Cathedral of Kingston, ON Canada.
"Tempi con Variazioni" was recorded at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur in Montréal, QC Canada.
Label: Chestnut Hall Music (Kitchener-Waterloo)

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Helmut Lipsky - MELOSPHERE - Tempi con Variazioni - feat. Suzie LeBlanc

Violoncelle et guitare: composition de Frédéric Gosselin.  

Frédéric Gosselin: guitare
Christophe Lobel: violoncelle

Les deux rêveurs

Tendresse - Musique de Fred Gosselin (Québec) - Duo violoncelle et guitare

A voyage through musical time and space. Original release in 2009.
This album won the OPUS Prize of the "Conseil québécois du Québec" (CQM), Canada, in 2011 in the "World Music" category.

Tempi Con Variazioni, III  Jazz - Contemporary Pop (Helmut Lipsky)

Tempi Con Variazioni, II  Romantic - Impressionist - Modern (Helmut Lipsky)

Tempi Con Variazioni, I  Gothic - Renaissance - Baroque - Classical (Helmut Lipsky)

Fuyu (Helmut Lipsky)

Renaissance Men Live (Helmut Lipsky)

Gitango Live (Helmut Lipsky)

Not all things fade by nature. Some are made to disappear.

Evanescent Frequency mirrors a world where decay is no longer organic but imposed, where lifespans—of objects, ideas, and even sound—are carefully engineered to be short-lived. In nature, resonance lingers, and silence comes gradually. But in an age of programmed obsolescence, disappearance is manufactured, ensuring that what was once essential is discarded before its time.

The music unfolds in this same manufactured cycle. It begins with fragments—small pulses of energy, scattered textures that gradually coalesce, gaining complexity and momentum. Harmonies expand, orchestration thickens, and layers accumulate, reflecting the illusion of permanence and progress.

At its peak, the structure begins to dissolve. But this is not destruction—it is an unraveling, an enforced stillness that overtakes what was once vibrant. The density of sound fades into weightlessness, harmonies drift apart, and resonance becomes ghostly, as if the music itself is slipping away into the unreachable. The frequencies do not end abruptly but instead dissolve into an ethereal quiet, mirroring the way things vanish from use yet never fully disappear.

Evanescent Frequency is a meditation on impermanence, on the forces that decide what is allowed to endure and what is designed to be forgotten. It asks us to listen—to what fades, to what remains, and to the silence left behind.

Evanescent Frequency for Orchestra (BBC Symphony Orchestra Virtual Library_Pre-Release)

DUO LIPSKY-SATO
Helmut Lipsky, violin, Mariko Sato, piano
Radio-Canada/CBC Recording 1982 - Montréal, QC, Canada

"Mythes", Op. 30 is a suite for violin and piano written by Karol Szymanowski in 1915 and premiered one year later by Paul Kochanski on violin and the composer on piano.

"Mythes" consists of three programmatic miniature tone poems drawing on Greek mythology. The piece was heavily inspired by the composer's earlier travels in Sicily and North Africa and by impressionist music.

The work is considered an important milestone in 20th-century violin writing and was heavily admired by Szymanowski's contemporaries, such as Béla Bartók and Sergei Prokofiev. It features heavy use of advanced violin techniques, and the third movement famously contains quarter tones.

3) Dryades et Pan
This movement is the most pictorial of the three, with contrasting themes depicting Pan’s wooing, which begins with the violin alone, as the score directs, imitating his flute, and a section of abandoned energy portraying the orgiastic dance of the Dryads, which are the nymphs of the forest trees. Its energy spent, this section, as the other two, ends quietly. It’s evidence of his artistic integrity, that Szymanowski didn’t end this major work with bravura fireworks, but instead allowed the subject matter to determine the form.

Cover Art: "Water Nymphs" by Gustav Klimt

Karol Szymanovski: "Mythes"  - 3) Dryades et Pan

DUO LIPSKY-SATO
Helmut Lipsky, violin, Mariko Sato, piano
Radio-Canada/CBC Recording 1982 - Montréal, QC, Canada

"Mythes", Op. 30 is a suite for violin and piano written by Karol Szymanowski in 1915 and premiered one year later by Paul Kochanski on violin and the composer on piano.

"Mythes" consists of three programmatic miniature tone poems drawing on Greek mythology. The piece was heavily inspired by the composer's earlier travels in Sicily and North Africa and by impressionist music.

The work is considered an important milestone in 20th-century violin writing and was heavily admired by Szymanowski's contemporaries, such as Béla Bartók and Sergei Prokofiev. It features heavy use of advanced violin techniques, and the third movement famously contains quarter tones.

2) Narcisse
Echo, an Oread, a mountain nymph, spied Narcissus and become immediately infatuated, following him, waiting for him to speak so her feelings might be heard. Narcissus sensed he was being followed and shouted "Who's there?" Echo repeated "Who's there?" After a few rounds of this, in which Narcissus' confusion and frustrations mounts, Echo came close enough so that she was revealed, and attempted to embrace him. Horrified, he stepped back and told her to "keep her chains". Echo was heartbroken and she wasted away, losing her body amidst lonely glens, until nothing but her chaste verbal ability remained of her.

Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, heard the pleas of a young man, Ameinias, who had fallen for Narcissus but was ignored and cursed him; Nemesis listened, proclaiming that Narcissus would never be able to be loved by the one he fell in love with.

Narcissus finds a pool of water which no animal had ever approached. Leaning down to drink, Narcissus sees a reflection as beautiful as a marble statue. Narcissus did not realize it was his own reflection and fell deeply in love with it, as if it were someone else; unable to leave the allure of this image, Narcissus eventually realized that his love could not be reciprocated and he melted away from the fire of passion burning inside him, eventually turning into a gold and white flower.

Cover Art: "Water Nymphs" by Gustav Klimt

Karol Szymanovski: "Mythes"  - 2) Narcisse

DUO LIPSKY-SATO
Helmut Lipsky, violin, Mariko Sato, piano

Radio-Canada/CBC Recording 1982 - Montréal, QC, Canada

"Mythes", Op. 30 is a suite for violin and piano written by Karol Szymanowski in 1915 and premiered one year later by Paul Kochanski on violin and the composer on piano.

"Mythes" consists of three programmatic miniature tone poems drawing on Greek mythology. The piece was heavily inspired by the composer's earlier travels in Sicily and North Africa and by impressionist music.

The work is considered an important milestone in 20th-century violin writing and was heavily admired by Szymanowski's contemporaries, such as Béla Bartók and Sergei Prokofiev. It features heavy use of advanced violin techniques, and the third movement famously contains quarter tones.

1) La Fontaine d'Aréthuse
In Greek mythology, Arethusa was a nymph who fled from her home in Arcadia beneath the sea and came up as a fresh water fountain on the island of Ortygia in Syracuse, Sicily.
The myth of her transformation begins in Arcadia when she came across a clear stream and began bathing, not knowing it was the river god Alpheus, who flowed down from Arcadia through Elis to the sea. He fell in love with her during their encounter, but she fled after discovering his presence and intentions, as she wished to remain a chaste attendant of Artemis. After a long chase, she prayed to her goddess to ask for protection. Artemis hid her in a cloud, but Alpheus was persistent. She began to perspire profusely from fear, and soon transformed into a stream. Artemis then broke the ground allowing Arethusa another attempt to flee. Her stream traveled under the sea to the island of Ortygia, but Alpheus flowed through the sea to reach her and mingle with her waters. Virgil augurs for Arethusa a salt-free passage beneath the sea on the condition that, before departing, she grant him songs about troubled loves...

Cover Art: "Water Nymphs" by Gustav Klimt

Karol Szymanovski: "Mythes"  - 1) La Fontaine D'Aréthuse

Live recording from 2008 by Radio-Canada - CBC at Centre Pierre-Mercure - Salle Pierre-Péladeau in Montréal.
MELOSPHERE - Helmut Lipsky, violin, Suzie LeBlanc, voice, Stefan Kling, piano, Tobias Morgenstern, accordion, Jean-François Martel, double-bass, Pierre Tanguay, percussions, perform the world premiere of Helmut Lipsky's evocative and mysterious song "Emotion Picture".

Emotion Picture (Helmut Lipsky - MELOSPHERE, feat. Suzie LeBlanc)

Chorus: Some things I can't remember. Some things I can't forget.
Memories forgotten. Some things I can't forgive.
Some things I can't remember. Some things I do regret.

Bones broken and healed. City in ruins, rebuilt.
Hearts broken, long healed. Dreams of the future not real.

Chorus: Some things...

Times are ever chaning. What will remain?
Life is constant change. What will remain?
Light in the dark still there. Dreams of the future I still dream.

Chorus: Some things...

Things I Can't Remember 3.0

SoftWing - Robin Gorn

Montreal poet/vocalist/songwriter, Robin Gorn is releasing her first commercial album.

These fifteen songs are worlds in a cinematic universe that move sinuously through Roots and World music from RnB to Brazilian rhythms to Blue Grass. A formidable songwriter, Robin’s immense emotional range is heart shatteringly intimate while she is capable of knocking you over with her full-throated intensity.

SoftWing is born out of Robin's vagabond travels and explorations into international music and afro-latin traditions as well as from her roots in Jazz, Blues, Country, Folk, RnB and Pop. Her much-anticipated, revolutionary album took four years to create with old-school care given to the soundscapes and arrangements for her deeply moving songs and features musicians from Japan to Togo. Put on your head phones or Hi-fi. SoftWing is a sonic experience .

SoftWing, as Robin explains it means; “The wings that take flight from the revolution within”.
“I want this music to awaken people to who they are in their own deepest desire for connection to the source. Then meaningful change can happen."

Going deeper to find the light

Robin is rooted in the vibrant arts melting pot of Montreal. She has shared her creative energy in collaborations with artists from home and around the world in music, dance, poetry, art, film and TV. In Bahia, Brazil, she performed with some of the most celebrated musicians of that region. She also performs in poetry festivals. Robin has a special connection to the experimental women's choir Choeur Maha, with whom she has collaborated for more than a decade. 

A New Genre of Internationalist Music

“Aside from the First Nations of Canada, we are all immigrants here. I grew up in multi-cultural Montreal and Toronto with the language and music of friends and neighbours in my ears before “World Music” was available in the mainstream record stores. I write the music of the new world diaspora from the place I am standing now, which is Montreal.”

THE ALBUM

Robin's songs go deep beneath the surface to embrace the joyous and painful inconsistencies that transform our lives. What is exquisite about this album is what is not there. This innovative production creates spaces for us to experience the music. 

"I like the play of opposites. A hard reality sweetly rendered, something melodic that can seriously groove without extra volume, unexpected sonic storms that wake you up." 

The album begins with the spirit journey of "Noah's Arms" and Robin's spoken word anthem,"Love Shakin' The Fences". "Till we try" is her nod to the Philadelphia Sweet Soul Sound. Also in the 70's style, her pop ballad "Who's Watching Over You" explores the unholy promises we make to survive. We hear live recorded sounds amidst the street protests of "Printemps Érable 2012", in Montreal. “Cheguei Lá” is a circle dance capoeira style while "New Rocksteady" celebrates renewal with an Afro-Caribbean-Doo-Wap. The marching band in "Walking to Bonfim" travels the world of danceable grooves and her bluegrass tune “Beaujelais” swings the revolution with mandolin and fiddle. There are cries of of a Grandmother's sorrow that are softened by Rain-sticks, chimes and Japanese Flute in "Tumbai" and the nearly naked solo Voice and Piano tune, "I'm not Performing. “I Will Follow You Down” invites you in a slow blues to surrender to life while an invocation, “Holy” chants by a fire on a windy night.

THE RECORDING

SoftWing is a patchwork of studio recordings and live sounds recorded over four years with breaks for fundraising. The Album was produced by Jay Atwill and Robin Gorn. 

THE MUSICIANS

SoftWing features a wide cast of Robin's international music family who call Montreal home.

Beaujelais

Amaniel in the Shani Space - Речка (Live)

Arranged by Cochran. TRIAD is Nancy Stagnitta (flute), Crispin Campbell (cello) and Matthew Cochran (guitar)

Jacques Ibert-Andante Espressivo from Deux Interludes performed by TRIAD

HELMUT LIPSKY - Violinist, Composer and Artistic Director of Melosphere Productions

Violinist Helmut Lipsky is the prototype of the accomplished musician of today: born in Germany, raised in Switzerland in the tradition of classical music, he went on to study with the great masters, including Itzhak Perlman, in New York City, where Lipsky developed as an improviser and composer. He lives now in Montreal, Canada and is very active on the national and international scene.

His mix of musical languages (jazz, tango, classical, popular and traditional music of other cultures), solidifies Lipsky’s very personal and identifiable style. He has recorded several critically acclaimed albums and has been nominated twice in Canada for Felix awards for Best CD, Best Canadian Violinist and Best Concert of the Year. He has collaborated with the likes of GRAMMY winners Swiss harpist Andreas Vollenweider and American cellist David Darling.

His latest album with his group Melosphere, called "Tempi con Variazioni", which includes guest artist soprano Suzie LeBlanc and was produced by Earl McCluskie for the Chestnut Hall Label, garnered the prestigious Prix OPUS by the CQM (Conseil Québécois de la Musique) and can be found on iTunes, eMusic, CDBaby and Amazon.com.

Lipsky has performed in many countries at prestigious events, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, Berlin’s Summer Festival, Toronto's IdeaCity Conference, the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the International Very Special Arts Festival at the Royal Palace in Brussels, Belgium and has opened for artists like Dave Brubeck, Stéphane Grappelli and Toots Thielemans.

He has written, interpreted and produced music for cinema, television, theatre and multimedia installations. Special events, like his Concerto for violin and chainsaw, which premiered at the opening of the international Symposium of Contemporary Arts in Amos, and a Harbour Symphony-Concerto for amplified violin, shiphorns, train and cathedral bells at the Montreal Harbourfront, brought his eclectic style to international attention. Sheet music of his works have been published by Doberman Editions and Ovationpress.com.

Helmut Lipsky teaches classical violin at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal, jazz violin at Concordia University and gives master classes in performance and improvisation throughout Quebec and Europe. He has degrees in Performance and Pedagogy from the Conservatory of Zurich, Switzerland, and a Master’s degree from the City University of New York.

Lipsky’s numerous awards include the Order of French Music, the Presidential Scholar Award of the Council of the City of New York and First Prize at the international radio broadcast competition "Jazz à la Carte".

The Melosphere is the realm where there are no boundaries between musical languages — a space where Jazz, Classical, Tango, Latin, Gypsy, Rock, and music from various past and present world cultures interact to create a vibrant and fascinating sound, structured by programmatic and narrative elements.

Violinist, composer and bandleader Helmut Lipsky created the foundation for his very personal sound while still in his teens in Switzerland. He nurtured it during his six years of studies in New York City and further cultivated it after moving to the province of Québec, Canada, in 1980, where he founded his first Mélosphère Ensemble with musicians from Québec City: Yves Léveillé (piano and keyboards),Daniel Charron (saxophone), Gérard Paradis (bass) and François Samson (drums).

Reconstituted in Montréal with Simon Stone (saxophone), James Gelfand (piano), Bernard Marchand (synthesizers), Marc Langis (bass), James Hillman (drums),Pierre Dubé (percussion) and guest vocalist Karen Young, the group recorded the album Mélosphère for the CBC Jazzimage label in 1986. The group appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in 1987 and, until the late eighties, was a regular guest at the Festival International de jazz de Montréal and many other major Canadian festivals.

The Mélosphère Ensemble also collaborated with artists as diverse as classical flutist André-Gilles Duchemin (Trois Images, Suite for Flute and Jazz Ensemble) and popular singer Sylvie Tremblay (theme songs for Leucan and the international Very Special Arts Festival in Brussels in 1994).

Since the mid-90s, Helmut Lipsky has collaborated in Canada and Europe in numerous concert and recording projects with Berlin-based L’Art de passage musicians Stefan Kling (piano) and Tobias Morgenstern (accordion). Together they recorded Helmut Lipsky’s CD Moontide and introduced the music of Tango Nuevo master Astor Piazzolla into their repertory.

The new Mélosphère Ensemble includes these musicians plus Jean-Francois Martel (bass), Pierre Tanguay (percussion) and Alex Weimann (keyboards), and collaborates with the renowned Canadian Baroque soprano Suzie LeBlanc.

Tempi Con Variazioni, III Jazz - Contemporary Pop (Helmut Lipsky)

Helmut Lipsky-MELOSPHERE

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