The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: YOU MUST HEAR THIS –- American composer Tobias Picker’s 1986 orchestral work “Old and Lost Rivers.”

By Jacob Stockinger

Regular readers of this blog know that The Ear is extremely choosy when it comes to new and contemporary classical music.

But actually I am also that way with older classical music – and often find attempts to revive so-called “neglected” works and composers an exercise is saving the second-rate.

Anyway, I want to give a shout-out to Lori Skelton, the radio host for Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen” (now over for the season) and for The Afternoon Concert that normally runs from 1:05 p.m. to 3 p.m. on WERN FM 88.7 in the Madison area.

In her programming and playlists, Skelton (below, seen in a WPR studio) often seems to emphasize unknown works and unknown composers, often ignoring just plain old beautiful masterpieces that are much better known.

Now, I appreciate being exposed to and learning more about music I don’t already  know and that didn’t really survive into mainstream history. But often I am even more hungry for beauty than I am for novelty.

So imagine my delight when last Monday afternoon Lori Skelton programmed and played a relatively contemporary work (from 1986) by the living American composer Tobias Picker (below), who was born in 1954 and is probably better known for his operas.

It is a relatively short (about six minutes) and uncomplicated orchestral work called ”Old and Lost Rivers,” and it is simply beautiful, very listener-friendly and accessible. It reminds me a lot of vintage Aaron Copland with the open harmonies and flowing melodies that for me express a wistful and Midwestern blend of the modern and the nostalgic.

Picker wrote it on commission for the Houston Symphony Orchestra, which performs it in a YouTube video recording at the bottom under its former music director and conductor Christoph Eschenbach (below), who commissioned it and led the world premiere.

I find it a haunting and contemplative piece, a work that is a balm at a time when so much contemporary music tries to be provocative and unsettling, music that tries to rile you up, to disturb and to challenge you.

So here it is and you really must hear it and listen to it –- NOT the same things.

The biggest puzzle for me is why I haven’t heard this lovely work sooner in live performances or even in recordings. If you read the intelligent listeners’ comments on YouTube, you will see you well received and how appreciated the work it.

Tobias Picker’s “Old and Lost Rivers” could become a very popular contemporary work if given a chance, both for professional music groups like the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (even at Concert on the Square) as well for student groups like the University of Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra, the UW Chamber Orchestra and the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO).

So listen to it, and then leave your own impressions in the COMMENTS section of this blog.

Be sure to read the listeners’ comments.

So thank you, Tobias Picker.

And thank you, Lori Skelton.