Abraham Lincoln | The Well-Tempered Ear

Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s new CD and Friday night concert champion racial diversity

March 20, 2024
1 Comment

PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.

By Jacob Stockinger

“Musical Landscapes in Color” is a five-year initiative by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra with its award-winning, composer-in-residence Dr. William Banfield (below), who has produced a body of work in the past 25 years that includes music, books, teaching and creative work that contributes to contemporary arts leadership.

The cultural undertaking aims to elevate the voices of an array of living, diverse composers of color throughout the United States. The project represents a significant step towards diversifying the classical music landscape through compositions and audiences, according to the WCO.

The first of several installments (below) — “Harmony in Black” — has just been released by Albany Records.

The album is available in a physical format and for digital streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube, where you can sample it at the bottom.

Performed and recorded live on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, it features excerpts from three compositions: one by four-time Grammy nominee Patrice Rushen entitled “Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory”; and two by renowned composer Banfield entitled “Testimony of Tone, Tune, and Time” and “Symphony No. 8: Here I Stand.”

Their three compositions do not quote spiritual melodies directly, but do embody the spirit of those songs by drawing either on direct quotations of speeches or writings.

Multi-Grammy-nominated artist Patrice Rushen (below) is admired by many for her groundbreaking achievements including serving as Musical Director for the 46th, 47th and 48th Annual Grammy Awards.

CONTENTS:

Patrice Rushen: Movement 1: ”Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory”

Dr. William Banfield: (starting at 8:10): “Testimony of Tone, Tune and Time” — Symphony No. 8

Performers are: retired City of Madison, Dane County and State of Wisconsin Judge Paul Higginbotham (below) as the narrator; saxophonist Matthew Sintchak; and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra under conductor and music director Andrew Sewell.

For more background, including a release reception, go to a story in Madison 365:

https://madison365.com/wisconsin-chamber-orchestras-harmony-in-black-plants-seeds-of-possibility-in-contemporary-classical-music

A WORLD PREMIERE THIS FRIDAY NIGHT

The project continues with a concert that takes place this Friday night, March 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center features the WORLD PREMIERE of Banfield’s Symphony No. 14 “Revelation.”

Guest artists include the Madison Youth Choirs, the Festival Choir of Madison and the Edgewood College Chamber Singers. Soloists include soprano Angela Brown, tenor Ben Johnson and baritone William Volmar.

Opening the 90-minute concert is Symphony No. 1 in G major, Op. 4 (1901) by British composer Edwin York Bowen, whose music shows influences of Rachmaninov, Chopin and Tchaikovsky.

Tickets are still available and cost $34.50, $75 and $95. For more information and tickets, go to: https://wcoconcerts.org/

Have you heard Banfield’s music?

What do you think of it?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #Composer-in-Residence, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #YouTubevideo, Abraham Lincoln, achievement, African, African American, African-American music, Albany Records, Album, Amazon, Amazon Music, American, Andrew Sewell, Android, Angela Brown, appellate, Apple Music, Apple Music Classical, Arts, asian, audience, award, baritone, Ben Johnson, black, Black composers, black music, blog, books, box office, British, Capitol Theater, CD, Cello, Chamber music, champion, Chopin, choral music, circuit court, city of Madison, civil rights, Classical music, color, Compact Disc, composer, composers of color, Composition, Concert, contemporary, contemporary composers, contemporary music, cost, court, creative, Dane County, digital, diversity, doctor, Dr., Edgewood College, Edgewood College Chamber Singers, Edwin York Bowen, England, English, enslaved, enslaved people, entitled, Europe, excerpts, Facebook, Festival Choir, format, Friday, Friday night, Google, Google Alert, Google Search, Grammy, groundbreaking, harmony, Harmony in Black, influence, information, initiative, IOS, it, Jacob Stockinger, judge, landscape, Latino, leadership, Lincoln, link, live, live music, Live Recording, living composers, Madison, Madison 365, Madison Youth Choirs, Madison365, Madison365.com, Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King Jr, Matthew Sintchak, melodies, melody, Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory, MLK, movement, Music, musical, narrator, nominee, online, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, Patrice Rushen, Paul Higgenbotham, physical, Polish, Polish composer, post, posting, premiere, price, project, quotations, race, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, racism, recording, retired, Revelation, Russia, Russian, sample, Saxophone, saxophonist, share, sing, singer, Singing, slave, slavery, soloist, song, soprano, speech, speeches, spirit, spiritual, Spotify, State of Wisconsin, streamed music, streaming, streaming service, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, Teacher, teaching, tenor, testimony, The Ear, think hear, tickets, time, title, tone, tune, Twitter, U.S., UK, United States, Viola, Violin, vocal music, vocalist, WCO, Website, William Banfield, William Volmar, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, work, works, world, world premiere, writings, X, year, York Bowen, you, YouTube

NPR names relevant classical albums in a musical Diary of the Plague Year of the pandemic, racial protests, wildfires and hurricanes

December 29, 2020
Leave a Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

For an unusual and difficult year, NPR (National Public Radio) and critic Tom Huizenga have found a new and unusual way to recommend this past year’s top classical music recordings.

On the “Deceptive Cadence” blog for NPR, Huizenga kept a personal month-by-month diary of “music and mayhem.”

For last February, for example, this ancient image of The Dance of Death inspired contemporary composer Thomas Adès to compose his own “Totentanz” or Dance of Death. (You can hear an excerpt from the work in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Some of the thematically-related music is modern or contemporary, some of it is from the Baroque or Classical era.

In June, as protests against the death of George Floyd (below top) flared up and spread worldwide, NPR names a recording of the “Negro Folk Symphony” by African-American composers William Dawson and Ulysses Kay (below bottom), thereby helping to rediscover Black composers whose works have been overlooked and neglected in the concert hall and the recording studio.

Devastating wildfires on the West Coast, Presidential impeachment and hurricanes on the Gulf Coast also found their way into the choices of music to listen to.

It is an unusual approach, but The Ear thinks it works.

See and hear for yourself by going to the sonic diary and listening to the samples provided.

Here is a link to the NPR album diary: https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2020/12/21/947149286/music-and-mayhem-a-diary-of-classical-albums-for-a-troubled-2020

But many roads, if not all, lead to Rome, as they say.

What is also interesting is that a number of the NPR choices overlap with ones listed by music critics of The New York Times as the 25 best classical albums of 2020.

Some choices also are found on the list of the nominations for the Grammy Awards that will be given out at the end of January.

In other words, the NPR diary can also serve as yet another holiday gift guide if you have gift cards or money to buy some new and notable CDs, and are looking for recommendations.

Here is a link to the Times’ choices, which you can also find with commentary and a local angle, in yesterday’s blog post: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/arts/music/best-classical-music.html

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/12/27/the-new-york-times-names-the-top-25-classical-recordings-of-2020-and-includes-sample-tracks/

And here is a list to the Grammy nominations: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/11/28/for-holiday-shopping-and-gift-giving-here-are-the-classical-music-nominations-for-the-63rd-grammy-awards-in-2021/

What do you think of the NPR musical diary of the plague year?

Do you find it informative? Accurate? Interesting? Useful?

Would you have different choices of music to express the traumatic events of the past year?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AbrahamLincoln, #African-AmericanComposer, #AlvinCole, #AmericanClassics, #AnnaClyne, #BaroqueMusic, #BerlinerBarockSolisten, #BerlinGermany, #BertrandChamayou, #Blackcomposers, #BlackMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BritishComposer, #BryceDessner, #C.E.P.Bach, #CarlPhilippEmanuelBach, #CarnegieHall, #CelloConcerto, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianReligion, #ClariceJensen, #Classicalera, #ConcertHall, #ContemporaryMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DanceofDeath, #DavidLang, #DeceptiveCadence, #DonaldNally, #DonaldTrump, #DriftMutiply, #ElectronicMusic, #EnslavedPeople, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FemaleComposer, #FerruccioBusoni, #FredericChopin, #FrenchMusician, #GeorgeFloyd, #GoodNight, #GrammyAward, #GrammyNominations, #GulfCoast, #HolidayGiftGuide, #HumanVoice, #iIanoConcerto, #InbalSegev, #JacobStockinger, #JesusChrist, #JonasKaufmann, #JustConstellations, #KirillGerstein, #LeopoldStokowski, #LeosJanacek, #LithuanianNationalSymphony, #LiveMusic, #LondonEngland, #LondonPhilharmonic, #MarinAlsop, #MassProtests, #MichaelHarrison, #MusicCritic, #MusicCritics, #NationalPublicRadio, #NaxosRecords, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #NewYorkPhilharmonic, #NewYorkTimes, #OlegBezborodko, #OperaMusiclibretto, #OrchestralMusic, #PaulMoravec, #PhiladelphiaPennsylvania, #PianoConcertino, #PoliceShooting, #PoliticallyRelevant, #PresidentTrump, #ProtectYourselfFromInfection, #RacialJustice, #RecordedMusic, #RecordingStudio, #RoomfulofTeeth, #SanctuaryRoad, #SarahKirklandSnider, #SocialJustice, #SociallyRelevant, #SocialMedia, #SystemicRacism, #TenorSinger, #TheCrossing, #TheEar, #TheodoreRoosevelt, #ThomasAdès, #TomHuizenga, #TristanPerich, #UkrainianComposer, #UndergroundRailroad, #UnitedKingdom, #UnitedStates, #ValentinSilvestrov, #VikingurOlafsson, #VocalMusic, #WestCoast, #WilliamDawson, #WilliamGrantStill, #YouTubevideo, 2020, 2021, Abraham Lincoln, Adès, African American, Album, Alsop, Alvin Cole, American, American Classics, ancient, angle, anicent, Anna Clyne, April, Arts, audience, August, award, Bach, Baroque, Baroque music, beauty, behvaior, Berlin, Berliner Barock Solisten, Bertrand Chamayou, best, black, black music, blog, bond, British, British composer, Bryce Dessner, Busoni, C.P.E. Bach, cadence, California, call, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Carnegie Hall, Catholic, cautionary, cellist, Cello, Cello Concerto, Chamber music, Child, Choir, Chopin, choral music, Christ, Christian religion, Christianity, Clarice Jensen, Classical era, Classical music, classicalmusic, Clyne, comfort, commentary, compelling, composer, Concert, concert hall, concerto, conductor, confrontation, Constellation, contemporary, coronavirus, dance, Dance of Death, David Lang, Davidsen, deals]new, death, December, Deceptive Cadence, diary, difficult, Donald Nally, Donald Trump, Drift Multiply, Early music, electronic, email, enslaved, enslaved people, ephemeral, escape, excerpt, Facebook, faith, fatal, fauna, February, Feburary, female, female composer, Ferruccio Busoni, flared, flora, folk, forward, fragility, France, Frédéric Chopin, freedom, French, George Floyd, Gerstein, gift, gift card, God, good night, Grammy, Gulf Coast, harmonie, Harrison, Holiday, holiday gift, holiday gift guide, hope, horrifying, human, human voice, Hurricane, image, impreachment, Inbal Segev, infection, inspire, Jacob Stockinger, Janacek, January, Jensen, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jonas Kaufmann, June, Just Constellations, Kaufmann, Kirill Gerstein, l, Leopold Stokowski, Leos Janacek, life, like, Lincoln, link, Lise Davidsen, listen, Lithuania, Lithuanian National Symphony, live concert, live music, Living composer, living composers, local, London, London Philharmonic, lullaby, Marin Alsop, Masonic, mass, mayhem, me, mesmerizing, Michael Harrison, money, Moravec, Mother, motorcycle, Music, music critic, National Public Radio, nature, Naxos, Naxos Records, Negro, nerves, New Music, New York City, New York Philharmonic, New York Times, nocturnal, nocturne, nominations, November, NPR, October, Olafsson, Oleg Bezborodko, opera, oratorio, Orchestra, orchestral, pandemic, Paul Moravec, People, Perich, personal, Philadelphia, Pianist, Piano, Piano Concertino, planet, poetic, police shooting, Politics, positive, post, posting, precise, precision, President, President Trump, programming, protect, Protect Yourself From Infection, protest, race, racial justice, racism, rally, reality, recorded music, recording, recording studio, rediscover, relevant, Religion, repetition, response, Revelation, rising, Roomful of Teeth, sanctuary, Sanctuary Road, Sarah Kirkland Snider, September, share, signature, Silvestrov, sing, singer, smart, smooth, social justice, social media, solitude, sonic, sorrow, soundtrack, spread, statues, studio, sweet, symphony, systemic racism, tag, tangy, tenor, terminal, test, texture, The Crossing, The Ear, thematic, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Ades, thrill, times, Tom Huizenga, top, Totentanz, traditional, traumatic, trial, Tristan Perich, troubled, U.K., Ukraine, Ukrainian, Ukrainian composer, Ulysses Kay, Underground Railroad, unite, United Kingdom, United States, unusual, Valentin Silvestrov, Vikingur Olafsson, Violin, violinist, vocal music, voice, west coast, wildfire, William Dawson, William Grant Still, Wisconsin, witty, woman, work, worldwide, year, yesterday, YouTube

Classical music: What do you think about Abraham Lincoln and the statue of him on the UW-Madison campus?

June 28, 2020
2 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

The proposal, discussion and controversy have become local, regional, national and international news.

What do you think about Abraham Lincoln?

And what do you think should be done about the statue of him (below, in a photo by Getty Images) on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus? Should it go? Or should it stay? Why?

Classical music: In two FREE concerts on Sunday afternoon and evening, the UW Wind Ensemble celebrates Black History Month and the guest duo Bridge of Song celebrates Nordic song

February 13, 2020
1 Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

On a weekend with a lot of live music, two FREE concerts also take place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s new Hamel Music Center, 740 University Ave., on Sunday afternoon and early Sunday evening. Details are below:

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

At 2 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, the UW Wind Ensemble (below) will celebrate Black History Month with a FREE concert.

The conductor is director Scott Teeple (below).

Also participating is the Madison-based Mt. Zion Baptist Church Gospel Choir (below), with director Leotha Stanley.

The program is:

Adolphus Hailstork (below): “American Guernica” (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom)
Armando Borolo: “Last Breaths”
DaSean Stokes, soloist
Aaron Copland: “A Lincoln Portrait”
Traditional/arr. Reynolds: “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”
Stephen Newby: “When I See His Glorious Face/Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus”
Omar Thomas: “Of Our New Day Begun”

For more information, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-wind-ensemble-7/

NORDIC SONG

Then at 6:30p.m. in the Collins Recital Hall, there is a FREE concert to promote Nordic song by Bridge of Song.

Bridge of Song is a voice and piano duo. It features soprano Kathleen Roland-Silverstein (below top) and pianist Collin Hansen (below bottom).

Songs will be performed in three languages — Swedish, Finnish and English. For a complete program of composers and works – unfortunately, with no translations of the foreign-language titles – as well as extended biographies of the performers, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/bridge-of-song/

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AbrahamLincoln, #AdolphusHailstork, #ALincolnPortrait, #ArmandoBarolo, #BaptistReligion, #BlackComposer, #BlackHistoryMonth, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BridgeofSong, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianReligion, #CollaborativePianist, #CollinHansen, #CollinsRecitalHall, #DaSeanStokes, #EnglishLanguage, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FinnishComposer, #FinnishLanguage, #ForeignLanguage, #GospelChoir, #GospelMusic, #HamelMusicCenter, #HesGottheWholeWorldinHisHands, #JacobStockinger, #JesusChrist, #KathleenRoland-Silverstein, #LeothaStanley, #LiveMusic, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #Mt.ZionBaptistChurchGospelChoir, #Mt.ZionGospelChoir, #NegroSpiritual, #NordicMusic, #NordicSong, #OmarThomas, #PianoAccompaniment, #PianoAccompanist, #ScottTeeple, #SopranoSinger, #SpiritualMusic, #StephenNewby, #Sundayafternoon, #SwedishLanguage, #TraditionalMusic, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWWindEnsemble, #VocalMusic, #WindMusic, #YouTubevideo, A Lincoln Portrait, Aaron Copland, Abraham Lincoln, Adolphus Hailstork, afternoon, America, American, Armando Barolo, arrangement, Arts, audience, Baptist, biography, black, Black History Month, blog, breath, bridge, Bridge of Song, celebrate, choral music, Christian, Classical music, Collin Hansen, Collins Recital Hall, complete, composer, Concert, conductor, Copland, DaSean Stokes, day, director, duo, English, evening, face, Facebook, Finland, Finnish, foreign, forward, free, glorious, God, gospel, gospel choir, Guernica, Hamel Music Center, hands, He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, Jacob Stockinger, Jesus, Kathleen Roland-Silverstein, language, last, Leotha Stanley, like, Lincoln, link, live music, Madison, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, Mt. Zion, Mt. Zion Baptist Church Gospel Choir, Mt. Zion Gospel Choir, Music, Negro spiritual, Negro spirituals, new, Nordic, Nordic music, Nordic song, Omar Thomas, participant, perform, performer, Pianist, Piano, post, posting, program, promote, Religion, Scott Teeple, share, Singing, solo, soloist, song, soprano, spiritual, Stephen Newby, Sunday, Swedish, tag, traditional, translation, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW Wind Ensemble, UW-Madison, vocal music, weekend, whole, wind music, winds, Wisconsin, woodwinds, works, world, YouTube, Zion

Classical music: Today is the Fourth of July. Here is patriotic music to help celebrate, including a portrait of a truly presidential president for the purpose of comparison

July 4, 2019
5 Comments

IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.

By Jacob Stockinger

Today is the Fourth of July – a celebration of Independence Day when the United States officially declared its separation from Great Britain in 1776.

The day will be marked by picnics and barbecues, by local parades and spectacular fireworks – and this year by armored tanks and fighter jets in yet another expensive display of military power by You Know Who: that loudmouth man who overcompensates for dodging the draft by acting more like King George than George Washington.

The “Salute to America” sure looks like it is really going to be a “Salute to Trump.”

But whatever your politics, your preferences in presidents or the festive activities you have planned for today, there is classical music to help you mark and celebrate the occasion. Just go to Google and search for “classical music for the Fourth of July.”

Better yet, tune into Wisconsin Public Radio, which will be featuring American classical music all day long.

In addition, though, here are some oddities and well-known works that The Ear particularly likes and wants to share.

The first is the Russian immigrant composer and virtuoso pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff playing his own version of our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” something he apparently did out of respect for his adopted country before each recital he played in the U.S.:

And the second is by another Russian immigrant and piano virtuoso, Vladimir Horowitz, who was a friend and colleague of Rachmaninoff. Here he is playing his piano arrangement, full of keyboard fireworks that sound much like a third hand playing, of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” by American march king John Philip Sousa. Horowitz used the patriotic march to raise money and sell war bonds during World War II, then later used as an encore, which never failed to wow the audience:

For purposes of artistic and political comparisons of presidents, you will also find Aaron Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait” – with famous actor and movie star Henry Fonda as the narrator of Honest Abe’s own extraordinary oratory and understated writing — in the YouTube video at the bottom.

And in a ironic twist The Ear can’t resist, here are nine pieces — many orchestral and some choral –chosen by the official website of the BBC Music Magazine in the United Kingdom to mark and honor American Independence Day. It has some surprises and is worth checking out:

http://www.classical-music.com/article/nine-best-works-independence-day

If you like or favor other works appropriate to the Fourth of July or have comments, just leave word and a YouTube link if possible, in the Comment section.

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AbrahamLincoln, #AdoptedCountry, #ALincolnPortrait, #AmericanMusic, #AmericanPatriotism, #BBCMusicMagazine, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CharlesIves, #CheckOut, #ChoralMusic, #DonaldJ.Trump, #EuropeanImmigration, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FighterPlane, #FightJet, #FourthofJuly, #GeorgeWashington, #Googlesearch, #GreatBritain, #HenryFonda, #HonestAbe, #IndependenceDay, #JetPlane, #JoanTower, #JohnPhilipSousa, #KingGeorge, #LeonardBernstein, #MarchKing, #MilitaryPower, #MovieStar, #NationalAnthem, #OrchestralMusic, #PIanoRecital, #PresidentTrump, #SalutetoAmerica, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #Star-SpangledBanner, #StatueofLiberty, #TheEar, #TheStarsandStripesForever, #TheU.S., #UnitedKingdom, #UnitedStates, #VirtuosoPianist, #VladimirHorowitz, #WarBonds, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WorldWarll, #YouKnowWho, #YouTubevideo, A Lincoln Portrait, Aaron Copland, Abraham Lincoln, act, activities, Actor, adopt, adopted, airplane, American, anthem, armor, armored, arrangement, artistic, Arts, audience, barbecue, BBC, BBC Music Magazine, blog, celebrate, celebration, Charles Ives, check out, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, colleague, comment, comparison, composer, Concert, country, declare, display, dodging, Donald Trump, draft, encore, expensive, extraordinary, Facebook, famous, favor, festive, fight, Fireworks, flag, forward, Fourth of July, friend, George Washington, Google, Great Britain, hand, Henry Fonda, Honest Abe, honor, immigrant, immigration, Independence Day, ironic, irony, Jacob Stockinger, jet, Joan Tower, John Philip Sousa, King, King George, Leonard Bernstein, like, link, local, loudmouth, Madison, man, march, march king, military, military power, money, movie, movie star, Music, narrator, national anthem, occasion, oddities, official, oratory, Orchestra, orchestral, overcompensate, parade, patriotic, patriotism, performer, Pianist, Piano, picnic, plane, Politics, power, preference, President, President Donald Trump, President Trump, presidential, reader, recital, respect, Russian, salute, Salute to America, section, separation, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninov, share, spectacular, star, Star-Spangled Banner, Statue of Liberty, subscriber, surprise, symphony, tag, tanks, The Ear, The Stars and Stripes Forever, The U.S., today, truly, Trump, twist, U.K., understate, understated, United Kingdom, United States, version, virtuoso, Vladimir Horowitz, war bonds, well-known, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, work, World War ll, worth, wow, writing, you know who, YouTube

Classical music: The Winter Concert Series by the Madison Youth Choirs next Saturday and Sunday feature the theme of “Resilience” with guest artist Tony Memmel

December 2, 2018
Leave a Comment

IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcement to post:

This semester, the Madison Youth Choirs welcome guest artist Tony Memmel, a singer-songwriter and guitarist whose story of ingenuity and resilience will inspire young singers and audience members alike.

Born without a left forearm or hand, Memmel (below) taught himself to play guitar by building a homemade cast out of Gorilla Tape, and has become an internationally acclaimed musician, thoughtful teacher and ambassador for young people with limb differences. (You can hear Memmel talk about himself in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

On this coming Saturday night, Dec. 8, and Sunday afternoon, Dec., 9, at the Middleton Performing Arts Center that is attached to Middleton High School at 2100 Bristol Street, Memmel will join the Madison Youth Choirs in a Winter Concert Series called “Resilience” because it focuses on the ability to overcome challenges both visible and invisible, and along the way discover the limitless possibilities that exist inside each of us.

Here is the schedule:

Saturday, Dec. 8, at 7:00 p.m. – Purcell, Britten, Holst and Ragazzi choirs

Sunday, Dec. 9, at 4:00 p.m. – Choraliers, Con Gioia, Capriccio, Cantilena and Cantabile choir

Tickets will be available at the door, $10 for general admission; $5 for students 7-18; and free for children under 7.

These concerts are generously endowed by the Diane Ballweg Performance Fund with additional support from our sponsors, American Girl’s Fund for Children, BMO Harris Bank, Dane Arts with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation, The Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation. This project is also supported by the Madison Arts Commission and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

About Madison Youth Choirs (MYC): Recognized as an innovator in youth choral music education, Madison Youth Choirs (MYC) welcomes singers of all ability levels, annually serving more than 1,000 young people, ages 7-18, through a wide variety of choral programs in our community.

Cultivating a comprehensive music education philosophy that inspires self-confidence, personal responsibility, and a spirit of inquiry leading students to become “expert noticers,” MYC creates accessible, meaningful opportunities for youth to thrive in the arts and beyond.

For more information about supporting or joining MYC, go to: https://www.madisonyouthchoirs.org

HERE IS THE COMPLETE REPERTOIRE OF THE MYC 2018 WINTER CONCERT SERIES “RESILIENCE”:

SATURDAY, DEC. 8, at 7:00 p.m. Concert (featuring MYC Boychoirs)

Combined Boychoirs with Tony Memmel

“Clenched Hands, Brave Demands” by Tony Memmel

“Though My Soul May Set in Darkness,” text by Sarah Williams, composer unknown

Purcell

“Who Can Sail” Scandinavian Folk Song, arr. Jeanne Julseth-Heinrich

“Hine Ma Tov” Hebrew Folk Song, arr. Henry Leck

Britten

“Jerusalem,” poem by William Blake, music by Sir Hubert Parry

“This Little Babe” from A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten

Holst

“Keep Your Lamps,” traditional spiritual, arr. André Thomas

“Out of the Deep” by John Wall Callcott

“Shosholoza,” Traditional song from Zimbabwe, arr. Albert Pinsonneault

Combined Boychoirs

“Angels’ Carol” by John Rutter

Tony Memmel

Selections to be announced

Ragazzi

“Wie Melodien” (Op. 5, No. 1) by Johannes Brahms

“The Chemical Worker’s Song” by Ron Angel, arr. after Great Big Sea

“Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight” by Abbie Betinis

Combined Boychoirs with Tony Memmel (below)

“America to Go” by Tony Memmel

SUNDAY, DEC. 9, at 4:00 p.m. Concert (featuring MYC Girlchoirs)

Combined Girlchoirs with Tony Memmel

“Clenched Hands, Brave Demands” by Tony Memmel

Choraliers

“Be Like a Bird,” Text from Victor Hugo, music by Arthur Frackenpohl

“Art Thou Troubled” by George Frideric Handel

“Blustery Day” by Victoria Ebel-Sabo

Con Gioia

“Bist du bei mir” by Johann Sebastian Bach from “The Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach”

“I Heard a Bird Sing” by Cyndee Giebler

“Ask the Moon” from Three Settings of the Moon by Ron Nelson

“I’ll Overcome Someday” by C.A. Tindley

“We Shall Overcome” arr. by Marie McManama and Con Gioia

“i shall imagine” by Daniel Brewbaker, text by e.e. cummings

South African National Anthem by E.M. Sontonga and M.L. de Villiers

Capriccio

“Resilience” by Abbie Betinis

“Be Like the Bird” by Abbie Betinis

“Esurientes” from Magnificat in G minor by Antonio Vivaldi

“And Ain’t I a Woman!” by Susan Borwick, adapted from a speech by Sojourner Truth

Tony Memmel

Selections to be announced by Tony Memmel

Cantilena

“Vanitas vanitatum” by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

“Chant for a Long Day” by Stephen Hatfield

“Wir eilen mit schwachen doch emsigen Schritten”(from BWV 78) by Johann Sebastian Bach

“The Storm is Passing Over” by Charles Albert Tindley, arr. Barbara Baker

Cantabile

“Ich weiss nicht”(Op. 113, No. 11) by Johannes Brahms, text by Friedrich Rueckert

“Widmung” (Op.25, No. 1) by Johannes Brahms, text by Friedrich Rueckert

“I Never Saw Another Butterfly” by Charles Davidson

Combined Choirs with Tony Memmel

“America to Go” by Tony Memmel

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AbrahamLincoln, #ACeremonyofCarols, #AlbertPinsonneault, #AmericanGirl, #AntonioVivaldi, #AudienceMembers, #BaroqueMusic, #BenjaminBritten, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BMOHarrisBank, #ChoralMusic, #DaneArts, #DianeBallweg, #EndresMfg.Company, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FolkMusic, #FriedrichRueckert, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GorillaTape, #GuestArtist, #GuitarMusic, #GustavHolst, #Hebrewmusic, #HenryPurcell, #HolidayCarol, #HubertParry, #JanPieterszoonSweelinck, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnRutter, #MadisonArtsCommission, #MadisonYouthChoirs, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MiddletonPerformingArtsCenter, #MiddletonWisconsin, #MusicEducation, #NationalAnthem, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #PersonalResponsibility, #PleasantRowland, #SojournerTruth, #SongWriter, #SouthAfrica, #TheCapitalTimes, #TheEvjueFoundation, #TonyMemmel, #VictorHugo, #W.JeromeFrautschi, #WeShallOvercome, #WilliamBlake, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #YoungPeople, #YoungSinger, #YouTubevideo, A Ceremony of Carols, ability, Abraham Lincoln, acclaimed, Albert Pinsonneault, ambassador, America, American, American Girl, angel, Antonio Vivaldi, Arts, audience, babe, Bach, Baroque, Benjamin Britten, BMO Harris Bank, boychoir, boys, Brahms, butterfly, cantabile, Capriccio, Carol, cast, challenge, children, Choir, choral music, Classical music, community, composer, Concert, Dane Arts, Diane Ballweg, disability, e.e. cummings, Endres Mfg. Company, Evjue Foundation, Facebook, folk, Folk music, folk song, folksong, forearm, Frautschi, Friedrich Rueckert, George Frideric Handel, girlchoir, girls, Gorilla Tape, guest artist, guitar, guitarist, hand, Hebrew, Holst, homemade, Hubert Parry, imagine, inspiration, inspire, international, Jacob Stockinger, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Jerusalem, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Rutter, left, level, limb, Madison, Madison Arts Commission, Madison Youth Choirs, Magnificat, melodies, melody, Middleton, Middleton High School, Middleton Performing Arts Center, Music, Music education, Musician, national anthem, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, original, personal responsibility, philosophy, Piano, Pleasant Rowland, poem, Poetry, Purcell, resilience, Scandinavian, self-confidence, series, singer, Singing, Sojourner Truth, song, South Africa, spirit, spiritual, sponsor, Teacher, teenager, text, Tony Memmel, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Victor Hugo, We Shall Overcome, Wiliam Blake, winter, Wisconsin Arts Board, woman, worker, YouTube, Zimbabwe

Classical music: UW Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra resurrect Paul Hindemith’s long-neglected 20th-century secular Requiem with fine singing and committed playing

May 2, 2017
Leave a Comment

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. He also took the performance photographs below.

By John W. Barker

It is unusual that, within the space of a few days, we have parallel performances of two very untraditional Requiems, ones setting vernacular texts rather than liturgical Latin ones.

The UW Choral Union and UW Symphony(below) performed Paul Hindemith’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d: A Requiem For those we love” last weekend. And the Madison Symphony Chorus and Orchestra will give us Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) this coming weekend, May 5-7.

(NOTE: Here is a link with more information about the three MSO performances this coming weekend:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/classical-music-madison-symphony-orchestra-closes-its-season-with-the-german-requiem-by-brahms-and-the-american-premiere-of-charles-villiers-stanfords-1921-concert-piece-fo/)

It is hard to resist the temptation to compare them.

They were, of course, composed about a century apart, in the contexts of very different stylistic eras. They reflect very different aesthetics: High Romantic warmth for Brahms, conservative modernism for Hindemith.

The different texts chosen also determine crucial differences. Brahms selected Luther’s German translations of passages from Scripture, as a broad collage of human consolation and solace, whereas the German-born Hindemith, a naturalized American citizen who fled from Hitler’s Nazism, in a patriotic commemoration of the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, chose the long poem of grieving that Walt Whitman (below) wrote over the death of President Abraham Lincoln.

The relatively concise Scriptural texts allowed Brahms to develop rich melodic and contrapuntal elaborations. Hindemith’s determination to set Whitman’s complete poem, of 208 verses in altogether irregular free verse, committed him to keep things in constantly moving continuity, with little chance for pausing and elaborating.

To be sure, Hindemith (below) was never a distinguished lyricist, for all his skills, so his writing is endless declamation by the soloists, backed by strongly cast choral statements. (You can hear famed baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and the chorus sing the opening of the Hindemith requiem in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

There are many lovely and powerful moments, but they pass by quickly and leave little of memorable expressiveness. There is much clever music here, but in sum total it is more dutiful than beautiful.

The performance in Mills Hall — I heard the one Sunday night — showed a stage packed with musicians. There were two soloists, a chorus of exactly 100 singers, and an orchestra (the UW Symphony) of 67 players, 46 of them on strings. UW choral director and conductor Beverly Taylor (below) drew from all of them deeply committed musical results.

Of the two soloists, soprano Jennifer D’Agostino (below left) sang with beauty and expression, but it was baritone James Held (below right) who stole the show, with a ringing voice, superb diction, and a genuine eloquence.

The huge chorus was quite magnificent, well unified, fully serious in its enunciation, and capable of some truly musical sound — and Hindemith, though nowhere near Brahms as a choral composer, gave them some serious challenges. The orchestra sounded a bit rough at the very beginning, but settled into participating strongly in the performance.

Whatever reservations one may have about Hindemith’s score, this Whitman Requiem, one of his last important works and premiered in 1946, is a significant piece. It is far less frequently heard than that by Brahms, and so it is very good that UW choral director Beverly Taylor has brought it to our attention.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: A German Requiem (Brahms), Abraham Lincoln, American, American Record Guide, Arts, baritone, Beverly Taylor, blog, choral music, citizen, Classical music, collage, composer, conservative, consolation, counterpoint, critic, declamation, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Early music, expressiveness, FDR, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, free verse, German, History, Hitler, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John DeMain, John W. Barker, Latin, Latin America, lecture, liturgical, liturgy, lyric, lyricist, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Medieval, melody, MEMF, memorable, modernism, Music, Nazi, Nazism, Paul Hindemith, photo, photographs, poet, Poetry, poiem, President, professor, Requiem, resurrect, reviewer, Romantic, sacred, secular, solace, soloist, soprano, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Choral Union, UW Symphony Orchestra, vernacular, verse, vocal music, Walt Whitman, WORT-FM 89.9, writing, YouTube

Classical music: Civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr. was the Abraham Lincoln of his age – a Great Emancipator. To celebrate his birthday, here is Aaron Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait.”

January 18, 2016
4 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

Today we celebrate the birthday of the civil rights pioneer Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Ear thinks of him as The Great Emancipator of the modern age.

As the Abraham Lincoln of our age.

Just as Lincoln freed slaves, Martin Luther King Jr. (below) helped free so many members of different social groups from discrimination.

Blacks, of course.

But also women.

Latinos.

Asians.

Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people.

Disabled people.

The poor.

The old and elderly.

So it seems fitting, then, to listen to Aaron Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait.”

The Ear loves the way that the Gertrude Stein-like repetitions of Lincoln’s own words build into a moving testament of the need for both compassion and democracy – a combination that today’s right-wing freedom-spouting and Constitution-citing bigots might do well to cultivate.

So we can listen about one man and think about the other.

Here is a great version, in a YouTube video at the bottom, with actor Henry Fonda as the narrator. There are other fine versions, including one with Leonard Bernstein conducting and composer Aaron Copland speaking the narration. But this version is the one that most moves The Ear.

And please leave your COMMENTS about this offering or other music appropriate to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day for others to read.

	welltemperedear on What do you think of the…
	Scott on What do you think of the…
	welltemperedear on Yunchan Lim’s Chopin etudes ar…
	bratschespeilerin on What do you think of the…
	MARVIN P WICKENS on Yunchan Lim’s Chopin etudes ar…

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: