The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The Oakwood Chamber Players take a musical journey to modern Hungary and France this weekend. Plus, the UW-Madison Wisconsin Brass Quintet marks 40 years with a FREE concert TONIGHT that will be STREAMED LIVE.

ALERT REMINDER: The 40th Anniversary Season Finale Concert by the UW-Madison‘s Wisconsin Brass Quintet (below) will take tonight at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall. Admission is FREE and open to the public. The program is a serious and challenging one. As trombonist Mark Hetzler told the Wisconsin State Journal, “This [brass] music, while it is virtuosic and exciting, is also quite intellectual and cerebral. Imagine modern music for string quartet. This kind of music branches into those deeper places like that sort of music would.” On the program are: “Gravikord,” written for the quintet’s 40th birthday by UW horn professor Daniel Grabois; “Magnum Mysterium,” by local celebrity composer John Harbison; “Suite of Madrigals,” by Carlo Gesualdo, arranged for brass quintet by Mark Hetzler; and “Adam’s Rib,” by James MacMillan. And here is another first: If you cannot attend in person, consider watching it LIVE on your computer via streaming! It starts at 8 p.m. CDT; subtract or add hours as your time zone requires.

Livestream webcast link

Read a story by Gayle Worland in last Sunday’s Wisconsin State Journal:

“A milestone of note for Wisconsin Brass Quintet”

By Jacob Stockinger

For three decades, The Oakwood Chamber Players have offered the most imaginative programming of chamber music you will find in the Madison area.

The OCP consistently chooses off-the-radar composers and works to perform, And the players invariably bring off the programs they choose with professionalism and welcoming good cheer.

This weekend provides an ideal example. That’s when the Oakwood Chamber Players will offer two concerts with works from France and Hungary.

The concerts are on this Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 7 p.m. at the Oakwood Village University Woods Auditorium (below above), in Madison far west side at 6209 Mineral Point Road; and on this Sunday, March 17, at 1:30 p.m. at the UW-Arboretum Visitor Center (below bottom).

The “Influences” concerts will explore music from composers of the late 19th and 20th centuries who created their music while living in times of tremendous compositional changes and political upheaval.

Six composers will be featured during the concerts -– four are French and two are Hungarian – and the focus will be on their fascinating relationships and creative exchanges. The composers to be performed include:

Phillipe Gaubert (below): The famed flute performer, teacher, conductor and prominent French composer will be highlighted through his “Medailles Antiques” for flute, violin and piano.

Francis Poulenc (below): A jaunty Duo for Clarinet and Bassoon will showcase this early 20th century French composers, one of The Ear’s favorites. With great tunes, textural clarity and charm, he often sounds like a modern-day Gallic Mozart.

Albert Roussel (below): A love of poetry and creative projects will be represented in his violin, cello and piano Trio, Op. 2.

Florent Schmitt (below): After losing some of his initial rise in popularity due to Nazi connections, his work is now seen as evocative and beautifully melodic. The Oakwood Chamber players will play his Piano Trio.

Ference Farkas (below): The composer of “Five Antique Dances,” a woodwind quintet, harkens back to spirited older musical traditions.

Gyorgi Ligeti (below): Censored for his groundbreaking and “dangerous” musical style, these “Six Bagatelles” for woodwind quintet catapault the audience through rapid shifts in tempo and texture. 

The Oakwood Chamber Players (below) is a group of Madison-area professional musicians who have rehearsed and performed at Oakwood Village for 30 years.

Tickets are available at the door:  $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors and $5 for students.

Visit www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com for more information.

The Oakwood Chamber Players are a professional music ensemble proudly supported by Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries and the Oakwood Foundation, in collaboration with Friends of the Arboretum, Inc.