The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The all-female Arbor Ensemble performs a concert of all-French chamber music this SATURDAY (NOT Friday) night
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CORRECTION: In a recent post, The Ear used a wrong date and time for the Chopin and Debussy house concert by pianist Trevor Stephenson. The correct time is SATURDAY, FEB. 25, at 7 p.m. For more information, go to:
By Jacob Stockinger
The all-women chamber group Arbor Ensemble will perform a recital of all-French chamber music this weekend.
It will take place this SATURDAY (NOT Friday, as mistakenly reprinted form a faulty press release), Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, in Madison.
Admission is $10 general, and $5 for students and seniors.
The group will perform rarely heard chamber works by French composers, featuring Madison soprano Rachel Edie Warrick (below).
The program includes the Trio Sonata by Claude Debussy; Prelude, Recitative and Variations by Maurice Duruflé; “Où voulez-vous aller?” (Where do you want to go?) by Charles Gounod; “Une Flûte Invisible” (An Invisible Flute) by Camille Saint-Saëns; and Trio No. 2 in A minor by Cécile Chaminade (below).
You can hear the Chaminade Trio No. 2 in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Founding members of the Arbor Ensemble are flutist Berlinda Lopez (below top), violist Marie Pauls (below middle) and pianist Stacy Fehr-Regehr (below bottom).
The ensemble often performs programs by female composers.
For more information, go to Arbor Ensemble’s website at www.arborensemble.com.
Tags: Arbor Ensemble, Arts, Cecile Chaminade, Chamber music, Chopin, Classical music, Debussy, flute, France, French, Gounod, house concert, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Maurice Durufle, Music, Piano, recital, Saint-Saens, singer, Sonata, song, soprano, Trevor Stephenson, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, vocal music, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra concert shows Andrew Sewell is a born Bruckner conductor who uses a smaller orchestra to reveal structure
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below) gave the second concert of its season on Friday evening in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
The program opened with a rarely performed symphony, No. 30 in D Major, K. 202, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart did not muster in this score anything like the ideas he delivered in his symphonies on either side of this one.
Still, it is an engaging piece, and maestro Sewell always shows great sympathy for the Austrian Classical-era composers of the late 18th century, so the performance was nicely molded.
The guest soloist this time was Croatian-born guitarist Ana Vidovic (below). She was originally scheduled to play the Second Guitar Concerto by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, but for some reason she switched late on to the more substantial Concierto de Aranjuez by the 20th-century Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo.
Unfortunately, Vidovic followed other guitarists of today who feel they must fortify their performances with electronic amplification, so she brought her own rig with her. The result was a boomy, hollow sound, completely artificial, pitted in fake balance against the natural world of the orchestral writing that was rendered, by the way, with charm and delicacy.
The composer (below) was very careful about not allowing the orchestra to overwhelm the intimate guitar, and generations of guitar players have been able to perform this and parallel concertos without benefit of sonic hype.
Alas, the combination of technology with egotism! Vidovic is obviously a musician of genuine artistry, but she quite sabotaged her playing by use of this six-string howitzer. And the knobs were still on through an encore, a trivial Cavatina by one Stanley Meyer.
The evening was richly redeemed by the main work. Sewell has, in recent years, been working his way into the symphonies of the 19th century, late Romantic Austrian composer Anton Bruckner—a composer usually tackled by large orchestras. But he has brought off the first two numbered symphonies with aplomb, and now was the turn of the Third.
This is a work with a complex history of versions and revisions. Sewell bravely chose to use the 1874 revision of the original 1873 version, rather than the ill-fated revision of 1877 or the once-standard bowdlerization of 1889.
Sewell could command only 20 string players, but they proved quite sufficient, even with the occasional divisions of the violins. The reduced lushness resulting allowed inner parts to come through, and the rest of the orchestra played magnificently. Sewell understands Bruckner’s individual rhetoric, with its stop-and-start pacings and dramatic shifts between tremendous power and great delicacy.
Sewell (below) is indeed a born Bruckner conductor. The second movement in particular I have never heard played so eloquently. (You can hear the second movement of the 1874 edition in the YouTube video at the bottom.) I don’t know if Sewell plans to probe still further into Bruckner’s symphonies, but I am ready to follow him eagerly if he does.
Far from being put off by the often-maligned music of Bruckner, the very large audience gave the performance a justly deserved standing ovation. This was, I think, a genuine landmark in the WCO’s history.
Tags: American Record Guide, amplification, Ana Vidovic, Arts, Austria, Bruckner, cavatina, chamber orchestra, Classical era, Classical music, Concert, concerto, Concierto de Aranjuez, conductor, critic, Croatia, Early music, electronic, encore, guitar, History, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Joaquin Rodrigo, John W. Barker, landmark, Late Romantic, lecture, lushness, Madisn Early Music Festival, Madison, Maestro, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Medieval history, Mozart, Music, Music director, Orchestra, Overture Center, pacing, rhetoric, soloist, Stanley Meyer, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music survey: What was the first piece of chamber music that you loved? And what is your favorite piece of chamber music now?
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By Jacob Stockinger
The weekend always seems like a good time for a reader survey or poll.
So this week, here is what The Ear wants to know:
What was the first piece of chamber music that you loved and that really hooked you on chamber music?
And what is your favorite piece of chamber music now? (Below is the UW-Madison‘s Pro Arte Quartet.)
There are so many pieces to choose from in such a rich repertoire that covers all instruments and the human voice as well.
There are sonatas and duos for violin and cello with piano, for example, and songs for voice and piano or other accompaniment, There are piano trios and string trios. There are string quartets and piano quartets. There are wind quintets, string quintets and brass quintets as well as piano quintets. And there are even wonderful sextets, septets and octets. (Below are UW faculty members pianist Christopher Taylor and violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino.)
So what pieces or performers or qualities hooked you on chamber music?
And what pieces or performers or qualities keep you listening?
The “Trout” Quintet or the string quartets or the piano trios by Franz Schubert? For The Ear it was a magical and entrancing performance of the beautiful Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major by Schubert, performed outdoors. (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Was it the Baroque trio sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel? Or various Classical-era sonatas and string quartets by Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Ludwig van Beethoven? Maybe more Romantic string quartets by Antonin Dvorak and Johannes Brahms. Or more modern ones by Sergei Prokofiev or Dmitri Shostakovich? Perhaps even contemporary string quartets by Philip Glass? (Below are the Willy Street Chamber Players, who regularly program new music.)
Leave word in the COMMENT section with link to a YouTube performance if possible.
Maybe your choices will even help win over new converts to chamber music.
And be sure to tell us what appeals to you about chamber music versus other music genres such as operas and orchestral works.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: accompaniment, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Chamber music, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, Dmitri Shostakovich, duet, duo, Dvorak, Early music, Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel, Haydn, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mozart, Music, New Music, Octet, opera, Orchestra, performer, Philip Glass, Piano, piece, poll, Pro Arte Quartet, quality, Quartet, quintet, reader, septet, Sergei Prokofiev, sextet, Soh-Hyun Park Altino, Sonata, survey, symphony, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, voice, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Trevor Stephenson is offering a 4-part Chopin course and an all-Chopin concert on Feb. 25 (NOT Feb. 24 as first announced an mistakenly printed here). TODAY is the deadline for enrolling in the course
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By Jacob Stockinger
Trevor Stephenson (below), who founded and co-directs the Madison Bach Musicians, may be best known in the Madison area for his work with early music and Baroque music.
But Stephenson, who is known for his outstanding pre-concert lectures as well as for his performances, is also deeply involved in period instruments and historically informed performance practices concerning Romantic music.
He writes to The Ear: “In February, I’m offering a four-part course on piano music by Frederic Chopin (below). This will meet on Thursday evenings 6-7:30 p.m. at my home studio. Information is below. Email me to enroll.
“Also, I’ll play an all-Chopin house concert on SATURDAY, FEB. 25 AT 7 P.M. — NOT Sunday, Feb. 26, at 3 p.m. as first and mistakenly printed here — which will be here at the home studio as well. Refreshments will be served. Reservations are required (trevor@trevorstephenson.com). Admission is $40.”
CHOPIN COURSE
DATES: February 2, 9, 16, 23
TIME: Thursdays 6−7:30 p.m.
PLACE: 5729 Forstyhia Place, Madison WI 53705
COST: Enrollment is $120
Reading knowledge of music is suggested.
Class size is limited to 15, and enrollment closes TODAY, Friday, Jan. 27.
Contact trevor@trevorstephenson.com
TOPICS:
Feb. 2: Waltzes, Preludes
Feb. 9: Nocturnes, Mazurkas
Feb. 16: Etudes, Polonaises
Feb. 23: Ballades, Scherzos
Instruments to be used are: an 18th-century Fortepiano (Sheppard after Stein) c. 1840; a Cottage Upright Piano (attr. C. Smart ) c. 1850; and English Parlor Piano (Collard & Collard) c. 1855; and a Viennese Concert Grand Piano (Bösendorfer)
Subject matter will include: Origins of Chopin’s compositional style; tonal qualities of his pianos, early 19th-century temperaments; fingering; pedaling; articulation; touch; tempo; and tempo rubato.
Tags: Arts, Bach, Ballade, Baroque, Chopin, composer, composing, Composition, Early music, etude, fingering, fortepiano, Frédéric Chopin, harpsichord, historically informed performance practices, house concert, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, mazurka, nocturne, pedaling, period instruments, Piano, polonaise, Prelude, Romantic, rubato, Scherzo, style, temperament, Tempo, tone, touch, Trevor Stephenson, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vienna, Viennese, Waltz, Wisconsin
Classical music: All pianists are invited to the first annual FREE and PUBLIC ‘Keyboard Day’ at UW-Madison on March 4. This coming Tuesday is the deadline for high school pianists to apply to perform
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By Jacob Stockinger
Calling all pianists, amateur and professional, and especially high school pianists!
The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music is sponsoring a daylong workshop for pianists and the keyboard artists called “From the Practice Room to the Stage: The Pathway to Artistry.”
The first annual “Keyboard Day” event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, and will take place in Morphy Hall on Saturday, March 4.
The event features UW-Madison students and faculty members – including well-known UW pianists Christopher Taylor (below top) and Martha Fischer (below bottom) — as well as selected high school pianists who will take part in master classes and recitals.
NOTE: The deadline for high school pianists to apply to participate in master classes and recitals is this coming Tuesday, Jan. 31. Those who are selected will be notified by Feb. 15. For more information, see below.
The purpose of the daylong event is to help advertise the piano program at the UW-Madison and to attract talented high school piano students to the UW music school.
Workshops will cover many aspects, from learning a new piece, developing keyboard technique, practicing efficiently and overcoming stage fright when performing.
There will be master classes too.
Interested high school students must submit a recording of two pieces as well as an application.
Here is a link with a complete schedule and more specific information about the various workshops and concerts, along with an application form that can be downloaded and submitted:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/pathways-to-artistry-uw-madison-keyboard-day/
Tags: amateur, Arts, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, faculty, high school, Jacob Stockinger, Keyboard, learning, Madison, master class, Music, performance, Piano, practicing, professional, recital, Sonata, stage fright, stage nerves, students, technique, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin, workshop
Classical music: The fourth annual Schubertiade at the UW-Madison takes place this Sunday afternoon – with some important changes
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By Jacob Stockinger
The fourth annual Schubertiade – a concert to mark the birthday of the Austrian early Romantic composer Franz Schubert (below top, 1797-1828) – is now a firmly established tradition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music (below bottom, in Mills Hall, which is rearranged for more intimate and informal on-stage seating.)
Over the past there years, the Schubertiade has become a popular and well-attended event. And with good reason.
Every time The Ear has gone, he has enjoyed himself immensely and even been moved by the towering and prolific accomplishments, by the heart-breaking beauty of this empathetic and congenial man who pioneered “Lieder,” or the art song, and mastered so many instrumental genres before g his early death at 31.
But there are some important changes this year that you should note.
One is that the time has been shifted from the night to the afternoon – specifically, this Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Mills Hall.
Admission is $15 for adults, $5 for students. (Below is this year’s poster, mistaking this year’s event of the third, with a painting by Gustav Klimt of Schubert playing piano at a salon musicale.)
After the concert, there is another innovation: a FREE reception, with a cash bar, at the nearby University Club. There you can meet the performers as well as other audience members.
The program, organized by pianist-singers wife-and-husband Martha Fischer and Bill Lutes (below), will last a little over two hours.
Usually there is a unifying theme. Last year, it was nature.
This year, it is friends Schubert knew and events that happened to him. It is called “Circle of Friends” and is in keeping with the original Schubertiades, which were informal gatherings (depicted below, with Schubert at the keyboard) at a home where Schubert and his friends premiered his music.
Performers include current students, UW-Madison alumni and faculty members. In addition, soprano Emily Birsan, who is a graduate of the UW-Madison and a rising opera star, will participate.
For more about the event, the performers and how to purchase tickets, go to:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/2016/12/19/schubertiade_birsan2017/
Here is a complete list of performers and the program with the initials of the perfomer who will sing the pieces:
Performers
Emily Birsan (EB), Rebecca Buechel (RB), Mimmi Fulmer (MFulmer), Jessica Kasinski (JK), Anna Polum (AP), Wesley Dunnagan (WD,) Daniel O’Dea (DO), Paul Rowe (PF), Benjamin Schultz (BS), singers. Bill Lutes (BL) and Martha Fischer (MF), pianists.
Program
Trost im Liede (Consolation in Song ), D. 546 (MF, BL)
Franz von Schober (1796-1882)
Der Tanz (The Dance), D. 826 (AP, RB, WD, PR, MF)
Kolumban Schnitzer von Meerau (?)
Der Jüngling und der Tod (The Youth and Death), D. 545 (PR, BL)
Josef von Spaun (1788-1865)
4 Canzonen, D. 688 (EB, BL)
No. 3, Da quel sembiante appresi (From that face I learnt to sigh)
No. 4, Mio ben ricordati (Remember, beloved)
Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782)
From the Theresa Grob Album (November, 1816)
Edone, D. 445 (WD, MF)
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803)
Pflügerlied (Ploughman’s Song), D. 392 (BS, MF)
Johann Gaudenz von Salis-Seewis (1762-1834)
Am Grabe Anselmos (At Anselmo’s Grave), D. 504A (JK, MF)
Matthias Claudius (1740-1815)
Mailied (May Song), D. 503 (DO, BL)
Ludwig Hölty (1748-1776)
Marche Militaire No. 1, D. 733 (MF, BL)
Viola (Violet), D. 786 (EB, BL)
Schober
Ständchen (Serenade), D. 920A (RB, DO, WD, PR, PR, MF)
Franz Grillparzer (1791-1872)
Epistel ‘An Herrn Josef von Spaun (Letter to Mr. Joseph von Spahn), Assessor in Linz, D. 749 (EB, MF) Matthäus von Collin (1779-1824)
Intermission
Geheimnis (A Secret), D. 491 (EB, MF)
Johann Mayrhofer (1787-1836)
Des Sängers Habe (The Minstrel’s Treasure), D. 832 (PR, MF)
Franz Xavier von Schlechta (1796-1875)
An Sylvia, D. 891 (MF, BL)
Shakespeare, trans. Eduard von Bauernfeld (1802-1890)
Nachtstück (Nocturne), D. 672 (DO, BL)
Mayrhofer
Das Lied in Grünen (The Song in the Greenwood), D. 917 (MFulmer, BL)
Johann Anton Friedrich Reil (1773-1843)
8 Variations sur un Thème Original, D. 813 (MF, BL)
Cantate zum Geburtstag des Sängers Johann Michael Vogl, D. 666 (AP, DO, PR, BL) Albert Stadler (1794-1888)
Ellens Gesang No. 3, Ave Maria, D. 839 (EB, MF)
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), from The Lady of the Lake, trans. Adam Storck (1780-1822)
An die Musik, D. 547 (You can hear it performed by the legendary soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and pianist Gerald Moore in the YouTube video at bottom)
Schober
Everyone is invited to sing along. You can find the words in your texts and translations.
Here is a link to a story in The Wisconsin State Journal with more background:
And if you want to get the flavor of the past Schubertiades, here are two reviews from past years:
Tags: acclaim, alumni, art song, Arts, assessor, audience, Austria, Ave Maria, bar, baritone, beauty, beloved, birthday, Cantata, cash, Chamber music, choral music, circle, Classical music, club, composer, Concert, critic, critical, dance, death, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Emily Birsan, epistle, faculty, Franz Schubert, friend, Gerald Moore, graduate, grave, Gustav Klimt, informal, instrument, instrumental, intimate, Jacob Stockinger, letter, lieder, Linz, Love, Madison, march, Mezzo-soprano, military, Music, musicale, nature, nocturne, opera, painting, performer, Piano, ploughman, popular, program, reception, Romantic, salon, Schubertiade, seating, secret, Serenade, Shakespeare, sigh, singer, song, soprano, tenor, theme and variations, tradition, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, violet, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Journal, Youth, YouTube
Classical music: This Friday night, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra performs Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” with guest guitarist Ana Vidovic as well as the Symphony No. 3 by Bruckner and the Symphony No. 30 by Mozart
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below) opens the second half of its season with a promising concert that has both sunny lyricism and dark drama.
Tickets run $10 to $80. Here is a link to the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s website with information about the concert, the soloist and how to get tickets:
http://www.wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-ii-2/
As usual, WCO music director Andrew Sewell (below) has created a program that mixes music of different moods from different eras.
The guest artist is classical guitarist Ana Vidovic (below top), who performed with the WCO two years ago to critical and audience acclaim.
This time Vidovic will perform the popular “Concierto de Aranjuez” by the 20th-century Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo (below bottom), who took inspiration from Baroque music for this work. (You can hear the gorgeously tuneful slow movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Jazz great trumpeter Miles Davis also used to play the slow movement from the Rodrigo concerto.
The concert will open with the Symphony No. 30 in D Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and will close with the Symphony No. 3 in D minor by the Austrian late Romantic composer Anton Bruckner (below), who is often coupled with Gustav Mahler.
For many listeners, the big draw is the Bruckner symphony since Bruckner does not get heard often here.
So The Ear thought it might be useful to read comments about Bruckner by the world-famous maestro Daniel Barenboim, who was the music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for many years.
This week, Barenboim (below top conducting and below bottom in an informal portrait photo by Andrea Gjestvang for The New York Times) is leading the Staatskapelle Berlin in a complete cycle of Bruckner symphonies — coupled with Mozart piano concertos played and conducted by Barenboim himself from the keyboard — in Carnegie Hall in New York City. He also recently recorded all the Bruckner symphonies with the same orchestra. And just yesterday he got rave review from The New York Times for the first two Bruckner-Mozart concerts.
Here is a link to the interview and story in The New York Times:
Tags: Ana Vidovic, Andrew Sewell, Arts, Baroque, Berlin, Bruckner, Capitol Theater, Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Classical music, composer, concerto, Concierto de Aranjuez, conductor, Daniel Barenboim, drama, dramatic, guitar, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Keyboard, Late Romantic, lyrical, lyricism, Madison, Mahler, Miles Davis, Mozart, Music, Music director, New York City, New York Times, Orchestra, Overture Center for the Arts, Piano, review, Rodrigo, Romantic, soloist, Staatskapelle, symphony, Trumpet, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: The Willy Street Chamber Players mix classical and contemporary string quartets and again show off their exceptional artistry and adventurousness
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT-FM 89.9. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison. Barker also provided the performance photo.
By John W. Barker
A Place to Be, at 911 Williamson Street, is a former store converted into a kind of near East Side clubhouse. Amid the chaos and entanglements of this weekend, it has been, indeed, the place to be for lovers of chamber music.
Just as last year, the Willy Street Chamber Players gave a concert in this intimate “chamber” on last Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
The string quartet fielded from the larger group consisted of violinists Paran Amirinazari and Eleanor Bartsch (who alternated recurrently in the first and second chairs), violist Beth Larson and cellist Mark Bridges.
Their program mixed music of two traditional classical composers with that of two contemporaries.
Opening the program was the String Quartet in D, Op. 20, No. 2 (1772), by Franz Joseph Haydn, which was played with delightful elegance and spirit.
Later came Felix Mendelssohn’s “Four Pieces for String Quartet,” dating from 1843 to 1847 and published as a set designated Op. 81. These called for a richer playing style, which the Willys managed easily, and with strong feeling for the extensive fugal writing in two of the movements.
For more recent material, the group offered a tango tidbit by the Argentinian Astor Piazzolla, and a recent work (2005) by Hawaiian-American, Harlem-based, crossover composer, string player and band leader Daniel Bernard Roumain.
The piece by Piazzolla (below), Four for Tango (1988, presumably scored for him by somebody else), is a kind of anti-quartet venture, requiring defiant employment of unconventional string sounds.
Even more unconventional is the three-movement String Quartet No. 5 (2005) by Roumain (below). Given the subtitle of “Rosa Parks,” it pays tribute to the heroic African-American civil rights leader who sparked the desegregation of buses in Montgomery, Alabama.
Roumain is a classically trained musician who draws upon a range of Black music styles in his compositions. He too asks the players to break norms by using hand-clapping and foot-stomping as well as exaggerated bowings.
His musical ideas are interesting but few, and developed only in constant, almost minimalist, repetition. I was impressed, however, by his command of quartet texture, and by how the instruments really could work both together and in oppositions, especially in the long first movement. (You can hear the String Quartet No. 5 “Rosa Parks” by Daniel Bernard Roumain in the YouTube video at the bottom. It is performed by the Lark Quartet, for which it was composed.)
The four Willys dug into this novel repertoire with zest and careful control. In the entire program, indeed, they displayed an utter joy in making music together. Their artistry and their exploratory adventurism mark the group, more than ever, as Madison cultural treasures, richly deserving of their designation by The Ear as “Musicians of the Year for 2016.”
They will be giving FREE and PUBLIC performances at: Edgewood High School’s Fine Arts Fest (Feb. 14); the Northside Community Connect Series at the Warner Park Community Center (Feb. 19); the Marquette Waterfront Fest (June 11); and at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin compound in Spring Green (June 12). And we await impatiently their announcement of plans for their third series of Friday concerts this July.
For more information about concerts and about the group, go to: http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org
Then click on concerts or events.
Tags: A Place to Be, African American, Alabama, American Record Guide, Argentina, Arts, Cello, Chamber music, civil rights, Classical music, composer, crossover, Daniel Bernard Roumain, desegregation, Early music, Edgewood High School, Frank Lloyd Wright, fugue, Hawaii, Haydn, History, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, July, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Medieval, Mendelssohn, Montgomery, Music, Piazzolla, professor, Radio, Rosa Parks, Spring Green, String quartet, summer, Taliesin, tango, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Williamson Street, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wisconsin, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: A revived 12-hour marathon Bach Around the Clock celebration is seeking musicians to mark Johann Sebastian’s 332nd birthday on Saturday, March 18
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is some news that The Ear is overjoyed to announce: An annual Bach Around the Clock celebration is being revived this year in Madison.
For three years, a similar event, inspired by celebrations in New Orleans, was sponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio and coordinated by its music director Cheryl Dring. But when she left in 2013, and so did WPR.
But now baroque and modern violist Marika Fischer Hoyt (below right), who plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Ancora String Quartet and the Madison Bach Musicians, has undertaken to revive it.
So let’s help resume the tradition and call it Bach Around the Clock 4.
The place has changed.
But the concept remains the same.
The event is now looking for musicians -– professional and amateurs, teachers and students – to sign up to participate.
Here are particulars:
Bach Around The Clock 2017
Saturday, March 18
12 Noon to 12 Midnight
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (below)
1833 Regent St., Madison, WI 53726
The event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Bach Around The Clock is a 12-hour celebration of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Held on the Saturday closest to Bach’s birthday, it offers all members of the musical community, from young students to seasoned professionals, the opportunity to perform selections by this sublime composer.
This year’s BATC takes place in the sanctuary (below) of St. Andrew’s Church, and will be opened with an organ work and a performance by the St. Andrew’s Chancel Choir, under the leadership of music director and organist Ken Stancer.
NOTE: The entire event will be recorded, and audio/video live streaming will be available for those unable to attend.
Birthday cake will be served at midnight!
The month of March has been designated as the official ‘Early Music Month’ by the organization Early Music America <www.earlymusicamerica.org/endeavors/early-music-month>, and the Madison Bach Around The Clock is listed on their website as one of the many partners participating in this annual nationwide celebration.
For more information on BATC, or to request a time to perform, please visit the website <https://bacharoundtheclock.wordpress.com>, or email batcmadison@gmail.com
The Ear — who himself played solo piano works and accompanied a famous Siciliano movement from a flute sonata — has such great memories of past ones.
Those memories include hearing whole studios of young piano students performing; duos and trios done by siblings and friends, by parents and children, by teachers and students; accomplished professional and amateur instrumentalists, including UW-Madison faculty members; church choirs in cantatas; lots of intriguing arrangements including the solo cello suites on the saxophone and a flute and bassoon duo performing some Two-Part Inventions (in the YouTube video at the bottom) as well as Bach on the accordion and bagpipes. And on and on.
And to give you the flavor of the event, here links to the events, complete with photos, to the past Bach Around the Clock celebrations when they were sponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio and held at the Pres House near the UW-Madison campus:
From 2010:
From 2011:
From 2012:
Tags: accordians, amateur, Arts, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, bagpipe, Baroque, Bassoon, birthday, cake, Cello, Cello Suites (Bach), Chamber music, Choir, choral music, church, Classical music, concerto, Early music, Early Music America, Episcopal, Episcopalian, faculty, Family, flute, friend, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, midnight, Music, Music director, noon, Orchestra, organ, Parent, Piano, professional, Saxophone, sibling, siblings, Sonata, St. Andrew, stream, Student, Teacher, Two-Part Invention, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, webcast, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, WPR, YouTube
Classical music: The second half of the concert season starts with a conflicting wealth of great music and promising performances this weekend and especially on Sunday
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By Jacob Stockinger
The second half of the current concert season is getting off to a terrific, if crowded and competitive, start.
Take this weekend.
At least five individuals and groups are playing very appealing concerts. In some cases, there is time to get from one to another.
But there is also a good chance you will have to pick and choose, then be disappointed at what you miss as well as pleased with what you go to.
Here is a roundup:
SATURDAY
From 8:30 a.m. until 7 p.m., the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music will hold the 54th annual Wisconsin Day of Percussion. It features workshops, clinics, presentations and concerts for percussionists and fans of percussion at all levels.
All-day admission is $15 and is available at the door. For more information about attending and participating, go to:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/2016/11/10/wisconsin-day-of-percussion/
World Percussion Ensemble
At 1:30 p.m. in the relaxed and cozy venue of A Place to Be, 911 Williamson Street, the Willy Street Chamber Players (below) will offer a 90-minute program of string quartets by Franz Joseph Haydn (String Quartet in D Major, Op. 20, No. 4), Felix Mendelssohn Four Pieces for String Quartet), Astor Piazzolla (Four for Tango) and Daniel Bernard Roumain String Quartet No. 5 “Rosa Parks”) as a prelude to the group’s third summer season this July. Admission is $20.
You may recall that last month The Ear named the Willys as Musicians of the Year for 2016. That post had details about the program and the group’s history. Here is a link:
For more information about this quartet concert (below is a photo of last year’s concert in the same place), go to:
http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org/calendar.html
And here is a link to the group’s home website with more specifics:
http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org
Finally, one of the Willys assures The Ear that the Sunday performance will be over early enough to allow audience members to go watch the Green Bay Packers championship football game.
At 7 p.m. the Oakwood Chamber Players will give an adventurous concert of unusual works by Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, Byron Adams, Gabriel Jackson and Francis Poulenc at the Oakwood Village West Auditorium, 6002 Mineral Point Road on Madison far west side.
Here is a link to a story with more details about the program and how it fits into the yearlong series of concerts:
SUNDAY
At 1:30 p.m., the Willy Street Chamber Players repeat their Saturday concert. See the information above for Saturday.
Also at 1:30 p.m., the Oakwood Chamber Players repeat their concert. See the information above for Saturday.
At 4 p.m. in Mills Hall, UW-Madison faculty members violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino (below top) and pianist Christopher Taylor (below bottom) will give a recital of two violin sonatas: Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13, by Gabriel Faure and the prize-winning 1963 Sonata for Violin and Piano by the contemporary American composer John Corigliano. (You can hear the lovely slow movement of the Corigliano sonata in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Admission is $15, $5 for children and non-UW School of Music students.
Here is a link with more information:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/violinist-soh-hyun-altino-and-pianist-christopher-taylor/
Tickets can be bought at the door or by visit this site:
https://union.wisc.edu/visit/wisconsin-union-theater/theater-tickets/
Also at 4 p.m., pianist Catherine Kautsky (below) will perform a Schubert-themed program on the Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522, Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne.
Her program includes the Sonata in D major and Twelve German Dances by Schubert; the Schubert-inspired “Valses nobles et sentimentales” (Noble and Sentimental Waltzes) by Maurice Ravel; Prelude and Fugue in E Major, from Book 2 of “The Well-Tempered Clavier” by Johann Sebastian Bach; and “Idyll and Abyss: Six Schubert Reminiscences” (20213) by the German composer Jeorg Widmann.
Admission is $45.
Kautsky has concertized on five continents. You may recall, she came to teach for several years at the UW-Madison from Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin, and then returned to Lawrence where she heads the keyboard department and this year received an Excellence in Teaching award.
Call more information and tickets, call (608) 271-2626.
You can also go to this link to get more information about this concert and forthcoming concerts in the Salon Piano Series:
http://salonpianoseries.org/concerts.html
Tags: A Place to Be, Appleton, Arts, Ástor Piazzolla, Bach, Baroque, Byron Adams, Catherine Kautsky, Cello, Chamber music, championship, Christopher Columbus, Classical music, Concert, dance, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Farley's House of Pianos, football, France, Franz Schubert, French, fugue, Gabriel Jackson, game, German, Germany, Green Bay Packers, Haydn, Jacob Stockinger, Jörg Widmann, Jeorg Widmann, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Corigliano, Keyboard, Lawrence University, Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Madison, Mendelssohn, Music, Music education, Oakwood Chamber Players, Packers, percussion, Poulenc, Prelude, presentation, Ravel, Salon Piano Series, Schoenberg, So percussion, Soh-Hyun Park Altino, Sonata, String quartet, tango, teaching, The Well-Tempered Clavier, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Valses nobles et sentimentales, Viola, Violin, Violin Sonata, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wisconsin, workshop, YouTube
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