Classical music: This Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., Wisconsin Public Radio — the biggest friend of classical music in the state — will broadcast the fifth annual holiday concert by the Madison Bach Musicians that took place last Saturday night.

By Jacob Stockinger

Last Saturday night saw one of those unfortunate train wrecks.

And making it even more unfortunate was that it came at holiday time, when music takes on special meaning and seems more festive or celebratory.

The conflict centered on two very worthwhile concerts by two very reliable groups.

The first was the fifth annual Holiday Concert by the Madison Bach Musicians at the First Congregational Church of Christ, seen below in a photo by Kent Sweitzer.

The program featured two cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, a recently discovered “Gloria” Cantata by George Frideric Handel; and the Christmas Concerto in G minor by Arcangelo Corelli plus chamber music by Georg Philipp Telemann. (You can hear the lovely Corelli concerto performed by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra in a YouTube video at the bottom.)

Here is a link with much more information as well as an interview with MBM founder, director and harpsichordist Trevor Stephenson:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2015/12/09/classical-music-trevor-stephenson-explains-why-baroque-music-sounds-so-good-at-holiday-time-his-madison-bach-musicians-will-perform-their-annual-baroque-holiday-concert-of-bach-corelli-and-telemann/

The second concert was a single performance – there used to be two – by the UW-Madison Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra with graduate student and guest soprano Tyana O‘Connor, all under the baton of Beverly Taylor, in Mills Hall on the UW-Madison campus.

That program was all 20th-century and featured the Overture to “The Wasps” by Ralph Vaughan Williams; the Symphony of Psalms by Igor Stravinsky; and the Gloria by Francis Poulenc.

Here is an interview about the program with Beverly Taylor who is the choral director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2015/12/08/classical-music-the-uw-choral-union-and-uw-symphony-orchestra-will-perform-an-all-20th-century-program-of-works-by-vaughan-williams-stravinsky-and-poulenc-this-coming-saturday-night-plus-conductor/

The Ear couldn’t go to both and went to the memorable Choral Union concert, which I will comment on tomorrow.

But veteran critic John W. Barker (below), who writes for Isthmus and often for this blog, did go to the Madison Bach Musicians and filed this rave review:

http://isthmus.com/music/baroque-holiday-madison-bach-musicians/

Thanks to Wisconsin Public Radio – the biggest friend of classical music in the state – you can hear most of the Madison Bach Musicians’ concert (the Bach, Handel and Corelli) this Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

The broadcast may be delayed and not live. But it is NOT too late for the holidays!

The Ear will be tuning in.

If you also missed it, perhaps you will too.

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Posted in Classical music
Tags: Advent, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Baroque music, Cantata, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Christmas, Classical music, concerto, Concerto Grosso, Congregational Church, Early music, England, FREIBURG, Georg Philipp Telemann, George Frideric Handel, Germany, Gloria, Great Britain, harpsichord, Igor Stravinsky, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John W. Barker, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Orchestra, Poulenc, symphony, Trevor Stephenson, UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Choral Union, vaughan williams, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, WPR, YouTube