The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: Vocal music, piano music and violin music of Norway – especially by Edvard Grieg — and other Scandinavian music will be explored and performed for FREE at Taliesin in Spring Green on Monday, July 14.

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear’s loyal friend and good source Kent Mayfield, who brings classical music to rural areas of southwest and south-central Wisconsin, writes:

“Music for a Summer Evening” — the annual series of concerts sponsored by the Rural Musicians Forum — moves to the Hillside Theater (below) at architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s historic Taliesin compound on this coming Monday, July 14.

There is no admission charge for the concert. However, a free-will offering assists in underwriting the concert series.

The concert will feature “Songs of Norway,” an evening with the works of Norwegian composers, who capture the musical landscape of Norway in a haunting, tender way.

Pianist Michael Keller (below) joins University of Wisconsin-Madison soprano Mimmi Fulmer and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point violinist Steven Bjella in this notable chamber music concert.

Fulmer will open the concert with a piece that she remembers her grandmother, a Finnish immigrant, singing to her.

“I’m sure she sang several pieces,” she says, “but one song that remains a vivid memory is “Tuoll’ on mun kultani.” I sing it without accompaniment, just the way I remember her singing it, and it casts a spell every time. I feel as if I am channeling her voice and her experience of coming through Ellis Island, missing her home country, and connecting to Finland by singing the song.”

Fulmer (below) will also sing a winsome array of pieces by prominent composers of Norway.

For his part, Madison pianist Michael Keller will focus on the works of Edvard Grieg (below). Grieg is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor and Peer Gynt (which includes “Morning Mood,” “Anitra’s Dance” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King”). His solo piano works include his “Lyric Pieces” as well as longer, less folk music-inspired pieces like the Ballade.

The Ear likes the program a lot and finds it very appealing and welcome, despite the day being Bastille Day, which should celebrate France, the French and the French Revolution. The lovely and accessible music of Edvard Grieg is simply too often overlooked and underplayed, even on the radio.

Adds Mayfield: “It was said that Grieg painted the people, the scenery, and the moods of Norway in music. His use and development of Norwegian folk music in his own compositions put the music of Norway in the international spectrum, as well as helping develop a national identity. In many ways, Edvard Grieg is to Norway what George Washington is to America and William Shakespeare to England: his country’s most celebrated human icon.”

“To close the program, Keller will be joined by violinist Steven Bjella (below) with the Sonata No. 2 in G major Op. 13 for violin and piano, which allows Grieg’s unique and colorful character to shine through with great power and elegance.” (You can listen to the haunting violin sonata played by violinist Vadim Repin and pianist Nikolai Lugansky in a YouTube video at the bottom.)

In all, the concert promises to be a moving tribute to Edvard Grieg and his fellow Scandinavian composers in the unique architectural space at Taliesin’s Hillside Theater. The theater is located at 6604 State Highway 23, in Spring Green near the Wisconsin River. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Seating is limited.

For more information, visit www.ruralmusiciansforum.org OR contact Kent Mayfield, artistic director, at ruralmusiciansforum@yahoo.com.