The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The Karp Family continues its legacy as Madison’s First Family of Music. UW cellist Parry Karp performs a FREE concert of music by Beethoven, Benjamin Britten and George Crumb this Saturday night at 8. His pianists mother Frances and brother Christopher will join him. Plus, tonight’s recital by pianist Marco Grieco at Farley’s has been CANCELLED.

ALERT: Tonight’s recital by pianist Marco Grieco at Farley’s House of Pianos has been CANCELLED due to visa problems.

By Jacob Stockinger

What else can you do except admire the quiet courage and persistence to keep going? 

It is exactly what the 20th-century French poet Paul Eduard described as “Le dur désir de durer,” or the hard desire to endure.

Perhaps that is one of the enduring appeals and rewards of great art – to help all of us, artists and audiences alike, get through difficult times, to bear the unbearable.

Last summer, you may recall, the Karp family lost pianist patriarch Howard Karp, a wonderful talent and personality who died suddenly of heart failure at 84 while on vacation in Colorado.

Karp (below, in a  photo by Katrin Talbot) had been a longtime piano teacher and beloved performer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. He also was a devoted first-rate chamber music partner who performed frequently with the other members of his family.

Here is a link to the blog post about that death that drew so many readers and reader comments:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/classical-music-pianist-howard-karp-who-taught-at-the-university-of-wisconsin-madison-has-died-at-84/ 

You can also use the blog’s search engine to see several posts about the memorial held for Howard Karp.

Now the remaining family members – apart from the three granddaughters who have participated in previous concerts – will take to the stage of Mills Hall this Saturday night at 8 p.m. to continue the longtime Karp tradition of performing.

Eldest son and UW-Madison cellist Parry Karp (below), who also performs with the Pro Arte Quartet, is the centerpiece of the FREE concert.

He will be joined by his pianist mother Frances, and his brother Christopher, a gifted pianist and violinist (one-time concertmaster of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra) who is also a medical officer with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Here is the program:

Second Suite for Solo Cello, Op. 80 (1967) by Benjamin Britten (below)

Declamato: Largo

Fuga: Andante

       Scherzo: Allegro molto

       Andante lento

       Ciaccona: Allegro

Sonata in F Major for Piano and Violin, Op. 24 “Spring” (1801-2)   by Ludwig van Beethoven; transcribed for Piano and Cello by Parry Karp

Allegro

Adagio molto expressivo

Scherzo: Allegro molto

Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo

With pianist Frances Karp (below bottom, on left beside the late Howard Karp, and below bottom playing with Parry Karp, Pro Arte violinist and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra concertmaster Suzanne Beia, and daughter-in-law violist Katrin Talbot, who also plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra)

INTERMISSION

Sonata for Solo Cello (1955) by George Crumb (below)

Fantasia: Andante espressivo e con molto rubato

       Tema pastorale con variazioni

Toccata: Largo e drammatico-Allegro vivace

Sonata in G Major for Piano and Violin, Op. 96 (1812) by Ludwig van Beethoven; transcribed for Piano and Cello by Parry Karp. (At  bottom in a YouTube video with a performance by violinist Isabelle Faust and pianist Alexander Melnikov of the appealing first moment of the original version of Beethoven’s Violin Sonata, Op. 96. The work is one of The Ear’s all-time favorites.) 

Allegro moderato

Adagio espressivo

Scherzo: Allegro

Poco Allegretto

with pianist Christopher Karp (below top and bottom, playing with his brother Parry)

 

 

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