Canada Day goes into extra innings with this week’s podcast episode. It’s actually the third podcast episode I ever recorded, in the fall of 2022, and the first time I threw a curve ball at an audience that was expecting politics. It’s an interview with the singer-songwriter Sarah Slean about the music of Joni Mitchell.
Slean’s always had a wider emotional range than most singers, and it’s partly because she’s got serious classical-music chops. She frequently arranges music for the National Arts Centre Orchestra. She teaches film scoring at York University. But I caught up with her because she was getting ready to perform Joni Mitchell’s music with the Vancouver Symphony, something she’s done before and since with other orchestras. I figured a musician would have particular insights into another musician’s work, and it turned out to be a good guess.
Near the end of her active recording career, Joni revisited material from earlier in her career, with an orchestra arranged by the brilliant Vince Mendoza. Their late-period take on “Both Sides Now” became a highlight of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics opening ceremony:
This was my first conversation with Slean. I’m pleased that it wasn’t the last. She was actually feeling under the weather when we talked, but there’s no sign of that here. She’s obviously delighted to talk about Joni Mitchell, about working with orchestras, and about how a career in music can become a life in music.
You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts and a bunch of other platforms via the “Listen On” button that you can see at the top of this post when you view it on your desktop browser. If you listen on a podcast platform, hit “Like” and “Subscribe” buttons, and leave a good review, to help spread the word.
I am grateful to be the Max Bell Foundation Senior Fellow at McGill University, the principal patron of this podcast. Antica Productions turns these interviews into a podcast every week. Kevin Breit wrote and performed the theme music. Andy Milne plays it on piano at the end of each episode. Thanks to all of them and to you. Please tell your friends to subscribe to The Paul Wells Show on their favourite podcast app, or here on the newsletter.
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