The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music news: Michigan-born composer Kevin Puts wins the Pulitzer Prize for his World War I opera “Silent Night” two weeks after the Madison Symphony Orchestra performs his “Inspiring Beethoven.” Listen to excerpts of both here.

By Jacob Stockinger

Some people in Madison complain about not hearing enough contemporary or new music.

But the reality is that we get to hear a fair amount of new music.

The acclaimed Lincoln Trio last week performed works by living women composers, including UW composer Laura Schwendinger, on the UW School of Music’s Guest Artist series.

And this week, the Pro Arte String Quartet (below) will perform the fourth world premiere – John Harbison’s String Quartet No. 5 — of a commission this season. (The FREE concert is this Saturday at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall.) The Pro Arte will have done two string quartets (Walter Mays and John Harbison, who is another Pulitzer prize winner) and two piano quintets (Paul Schoenfield and William Bolcom.)

Then there is the UW Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, which this week performed the music of John Harbison (below) and UW alumnus Steven Burke. And this weekend the Madison Chamber Choir is giving the world premiere of a vocal work by San Francisco composer David Conte.

Plus, the Madison chapter of Classical Revolution and New Music Everywhere (NEW MUSE) have already played contemporary works this season.

I’m sure there are more I haven’t mentioned.

But perhaps the most newsworthy or timely performance occurred over the first weekend in April when the Madison Symphony Orchestra under John DeMain gave three performances of “Inspiring Beethoven” – based on Ludwig’s famous Symphony No. 7 — by the young Michigan-born, Yale-trained composer Kevin Puts (below).

And now – just this week — comes news that Puts has won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for music for his opera “Silent Night” (below, in a photo by Michal Daniel for the Minnesota Opera) about the temporary, unofficial Christmas Truce between the Germans and the Allies during World War I.

Talk about being timely!

So here is link to a story with excerpts, about the work and the composer:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/04/16/150764941/kevin-puts-wins-music-pulitzer-for-world-war-i-opera-silent-night

And here is link to another story about Puts and his Michigan roots:

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/04/pulitzer_prize_winning_compose_1.html

So, here is a shout-out by The Ear to Maestro John DeMain (below, in a photo by James Gill) and the Madison Symphony Orchestra for making such a prescient and pertinent choice.

Congratulations to all.

And maybe the Madison Opera, where DeMain is the artistic director, will stage a production of “Silent Night” in the not too distant future.

Unfortunately, it was during spring break and I wasn’t able to attend the concert, at which French pianist Philippe Bianconi soloed in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 and then the new MSO Concertmaster Naha Greenholtz turned in a reportedly outstanding performance of Richard Strauss’ tone poem “Ein Heldenleben” (A Hero’s Life).

(The other local connection, of course, is that Allan Naplan, the former general director of the Madison Opera, was at the helm of the Minnesota Opera as president and general director when it gave the world-premiere performance of Puts’ opera, but just recently announced his resignation from the post after only one year.)

Puts sure knows how to choose his material. The Christmas Truce is a popular and timely topic in a time of war and severe partisanship. You might recall when the all-male vocal group Cantus performed a similar piece, quite movingly, during the holiday season at the Wisconsin Union Theater two seasons ago. And World War I (below) plays a big role in the popular PBS Masterpiece drama series “Downton Abbey.”

Now the fact that Puts has won the Pulitzer Prize makes me all the more sorry I missed the MSO concert. But it is the kind of piece – a short curtain-raiser that is a good prelude to a real Beethoven symphony or concerto – that I expect to hear again and see programmed soon.

The performances of “Inspiring Beethoven” (below) were generally well reviewed and received, though there were some exceptions:

Here is Lindsay Christians’ review for 77 Square:

http://host.madison.com/entertainment/arts_and_theatre/reviews/symphony-review-bianconi-honors-beethoven-strauss-honors-himself/article_6055a9d9-e567-5828-bbc0-c9cd9154b7ad.html

Here is Greg Hettmansberger’s review for Madison Magazine and his blog “Classically Speaking”:

http://www.madisonmagazine.com/Blogs/Classically-Speaking/March-2012/Madison-Symphony-Wins-the-Battle/

Here is John W. Barker’s review of the Puts work for Isthmus:

http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=36362

Here is a link to Bill Wineke’s review for Channel3000.com:

http://www.channel3000.com/entertainment/Review-Bianconni-Returns-to-Madison-Symphony/-/1628/10369204/-/wf90ys/-/index.html

What did you think of the Puts piece that tried to capture Beethoven’s creative process?

How did you find his music?

The Ear wants to hear.

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