During each of the summers of 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Music at Port Milford Summer School (located in Prince Edward County on the shores of Lake Ontario) premiered three different movements for string orchestra composed by John Burge. A past Chair of the Music at Port Milford Board of Directors, John Burge had donated his time to this project as a fundraiser for MPM, such that each movement was individually commissioned by a MPM supporter with the funds raised going directly to the organization. In consultation with John Burge, the donors were encouraged to provide a title for their commissioned movement, which produced the following design: Movement I, “French Overture,” commissioned by Greg Garrett and Jenny Wong Garrett; Movement II, “At Water’s Edge,” commissioned by Philip and Patricia Knox; Movement III, “Firefly Fugue,” commissioned by Barbara E. Harris.
Port Milford Suite, was the title given to the resulting three-movement work. John Burge was extremely grateful to Sinfonia Toronto and their conductor, Nurhan Arman, for performing all three movements of the suite, played together for the first time, on their December 7, 2019 concert at Toronto’s Glenn Gould Studio.
The individual movements can be summarized as follows: The “French Overture,” as the title implies, begins with an opening portion that emphasizes double-dotted rhythms in a typically Baroque fashion. Functioning somewhat like an introduction, this opening section prepares for the more dance-like imitative second half of the movement. “At Water’s Edge,” is actually the name given to the commissioners’ summer residence that is located very close to the MPM Summer School. Although there is no specific programmatic element to the second movement’s music, the gentle rocking chords in the lower strings placed at the beginning and end could easily be heard to capture the lapping of waves on a shore. The final movement’s “Firefly Fugue,” has a fugal subject that emphasizes a fast moving neighbor-note figure that (at least at the start) has a kind of insect-like buzzing quality. It is quite common to observe fireflies in the evenings in rural southern Ontario and the commissioner noted that for many of the students who attend the summer school, this might be their first experience with fireflies. The fugue itself gains a great deal of volume and intensity, especially at moments when subject is augmented into longer rhythmic durations.
