The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The Ear praises UW student recitals but offers four suggestions to help them reach the public.

ALERT: This Sunday at 2 p.m. in Mills Hall, the UW-Madison Chamber Orchestra will perform a FREE and PUBLIC concert under the baton of UW-Madison professor James Smith. The program features the Chamber Symphony for Strings, arranged by Rudolf Barshai from a string quartet, by Dmitri Shostakovich and the Serenade for Strings by Antonin Dvorak.

By Jacob Stockinger

A week ago, The Ear went to a terrific piano recital by Sara Giusti (below), a graduate student who is pursuing her doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music and who studies with UW virtuoso Christopher Taylor.

It took place, as most student recitals do, in Morphy Recital Hall (at bottom), and was a fine performance that both she and her teacher can be proud of.

The Partita No. 4 in G Major by Johann Sebastian Bach was articulated well and was pedaled beautifully and very judiciously. The Sonata in B Minor by Franz Joseph Haydn had the right touch of lightness and humor to its minor-key pathos. The later sonata, Op. 78, by Ludwig van Beethoven was lyrical where it needed to be and structural where it needed to be. And the rarely heard Sonata No. 4 by Sergei Prokofiev had the requisite bite, at the same time melding both Romanticism and Modernism.

But the event got The Ear thinking, as did the relatively small audience of two to three dozen listeners.

We are lucky there are so many good student recitals at the UW. They are usually high in quality, plus they are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

The Ear is especially pleased that they are now being listed on the School of Music website and Calendar of Events, which allows listeners to choose and plan. Here is a link:

http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/

BUT:

Too many of the student programs say the performances will feature music by such-and-such composers. They don’t give you the actual pieces.

The Ear finds that frustrating. The actual program would help him, and he presumes others, to decide about which concerts to attend. For example, he ended up going to Sara Giusti’s recital as a leap of faith since the advance notice listed only works by Bach, Beethoven, Haydn and Prokofiev –- and all were prolific composers. Luckily, someone else recommended her.

Take the examples of two upcoming student recitals.

Pianist Jason Kutz (below), who performs on Friday, Dec. 4, at 6:30 p.m., gets it right. His advance notice says he will perform the 24 Preludes, Op. 34, by Dmitri Shostakovich and the “Davidbundlertanze” by Robert Schumann. What a terrific and unusual program of contrasting styles. The Ear will be going.

Chan Mi Jean, who will perform on Monday, Nov. 23 at 8:30 p.m., gets it wrong. Her notice says she will “perform chamber pieces by Brahms, Ravel, Bernstein and Previn.” That offers some help but, without specifics, not enough. What pieces? What are the other instruments — cello, violin viola, voice? The Ear needs to know more to decide about attending, though he is leaning towards going.

So here are four suggestions for students -– and even for faculty members — offered in a spirit of enthusiasm and helpfulness, from The Ear:

PLEASE GET YOUR RECITAL LISTED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE ON THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC WEB SITE CALENDAR. THE SOONER, THE BETTER.

PLEASE DO NOT BE VAGUE, BUT INSTEAD LIST SPECIFIC COMPOSERS AND SPECIFIC PIECES ON YOUR PROGRAM.

PLEASE THINK ABOUT THE PUBLIC AND, WHENEVER POSSIBLE, CHOOSE BETTER, MORE CONVENIENT TIMES FOR YOUR RECITAL. 8:30 SEEMS LATE. 6:30 IS DINNER HOUR. SOMEHOW 7 OR 7:30 OR 8 SEEMS PREFERABLE. I’M SURE LOGISTICS AND COMPETING EVENTS ARE INVOLVED. BUT BETTER TIMES, ESPECIALLY ON WORK DAYS, WILL BRING A BETTER PUBLIC TURNOUT.

ALONG SIMILAR LINES, PLEASE DO NOT KEEP THE PUBLIC WAITING TO GET INTO THE HALL UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE. IF YOU ARE NOT WARMED UP OR REHEARSED ENOUGH BY A HALF-HOUR OR 15 MINUTES BEFORE SHOW TIME, ANOTHER 5 OR 10 MINUTES WON’T HELP. AND IT IS RUDE TO LEAVE THE PUBLIC WAITING OUT IN THE HALLWAY, WHICH GETS COLD IN WINTER AND ONLY HAS A FEW BENCHES TO SIT ON.

That said, The Ear wishes the best to the gifted students at the UW. They give successful recitals and he hopes that they want to share their talent and hard work, as well as the music, with the largest public possible.