The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Mosaic Chamber Players close out their season with great performances of great piano trios by Beethoven and Brahms
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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. Barker also took the performance photos.
By John W. Barker
On Saturday evening at the Meeting House of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, the Mosaic Chamber Players closed their season with a superlative program offering two of the greatest trios for piano and strings.
The players this time (below) were violinist Wes Luke and cellist Kyle Price, together with the group’s guiding spirit, pianist Jess Salek.
The first of the two works was the grand Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 97, known as the “Archduke,” by Ludwig van Beethoven. This is an expansive work, full of bold ideas and adventurous spirit, while demanding much of its players.
Of its four movements, the flanking ones are full of exuberance. The scherzo has double trios or mid-sections, and is full of tricks. The third movement is a noble set of variations on a broad, hymn-like theme. (You can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The second work, following an intermission, was the Trio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8, by Johannes Brahms. Though composed and published very early in his output, it was revised by the composer into a distinctly new version some 35 years later. It thus offers the passion of youthfulness as tempered and given better focus by age and experience.
Also cast in four movements, it is infused with full-blooded melody, especially in the first one, but the whole piece is worked out in a richness of texture typical of the composer.
Each of the two works was given a performance of unrestricted commitment and power, in the process demonstrating the contrasts in their styles. Each was introduced by violinist Luke (below), whose comments spoke to the works and their history but also to his own feelings about them.
This in fact pointed up the degree of personal involvement these performances conveyed. It was as if the three musicians were playing as much for their own delight as for the audience’s.
That quality illustrated why this Mosaic series of programs has been so very satisfying. This is chamber music playing of the highest quality and character, some of the very best to be had in Madison.
The more reason for these Mosaic concerts to be publicized widely and broadly supported by our musical public. Few cities in our country could offer better.
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Classical music: Madison Youth Choirs will perform music of Madison’s nine sister cities this Sunday afternoon and evening
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
“This semester, Madison Youth Choirs singers (below) are embarking on a musical journey across the globe as they explore and perform compositions connected to the diverse cultures inhabiting Madison’s nine sister cities: Ainaro, East Timor; Arcatao, El Salvador; Camaguey, Cuba; Freiburg, Germany; Kanifing, The Gambia; Mantua, Italy; Obihiro, Japan; Tepatitlán, Mexico; and Vilnius, Lithuania.
“As we study the wide variety of musical forms that emerged from these nine regions and think about the reasons we’re drawn to establish sister city relationships, we’re examining both the common forces that drive the creative expression of artists from all cultures and the unique contributions that artists from our sister cities have made to the worldwide musical canon.
“We invite you to join us for a culminating winter concert series celebrating these international choral connections.
WHERE
Madison Youth Choirs Winter Concerts, “Sister Cities”
First Congregational United Church of Christ
1609 University Ave., Madison
WHEN
Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017
1:30 p.m. Girlchoirs
4:00 p.m. Boychoirs
7:00 p.m. High School Ensembles
Tickets available at the door: $10 for general admission, $5 for students 7-18, and free for children under 7. A separate ticket is required for each performance.
This concert is generously endowed by the Diane Ballweg Performance Fund with additional support from American Girl’s Fund for Children, BMO Harris Bank, and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the state of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
About the 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.
“SISTER CITIES” PROGRAMS
Sunday, December 10, 2017, First Congregational Church, Madison
1:30 p.m. Concert (Featuring MYC Girlchoirs)
Choraliers
“Now We Are Met” by Samuel Webbe
“Sakura” Traditional Japanese folk song
“Tecolote” Spanish lullaby, arr. Victoria Ebel-Sabo
“S’Vivon” Traditional Jewish folk song, arr. Valerie Shields
Con Gioia
“Peace Round” Traditional round, text by Jean Ritchie
“Shepherd’s Pipe Carol by John Rutter
“Murasame” by Victor C. Johnson, text: 11th-century Japanese poem
“Guantanamera” Cuban folk song, text by José Marti
Capriccio (below)
“A Circle is Cast” by Anna Dembska
“Ich will den Herrn loben alle Zeit” by Georg Philipp Telemann, arr. Wallace Depue
“Ma come bali bene bela bimba” Traditional Italian, arr. Mark Sirett
“Soran Bushi” Japanese folk song, arr. Wendy Stuart
“Yo Le Canto Todo El Dia” by David L. Brunner
4:00 p.m. Concert (Featuring MYC Boychoirs)
Combined Boychoirs
“Dance for the Nations” by John Krumm, arr. Randal Swiggum
Purcell (below)
“La Nanita Nana” by José Ramon Gomis, arr. David Eddlemann
“Es is Ein Ros entsprungen” by Melchior Vulpius
“Sakura” Traditional Japanese folksong, arranged by Purcell choir members
Britten (below)
Two Elegies by Benjamin Britten
- Old Abram Brown
- Tom Bowling
“No che non morira” (from Tito Manlio) by Antonio Vivaldi
Holst
“O Rosetta” by Claudio Monteverdi
“O là, o che bon echo” by Orlando di Lasso
“We Are” by Ysaye Barnwell
Combined Boychoirs
Chorus of Street Boys from Carmen by Georges Bizet
“Kimigayao” (The National Anthem of Japan) Melody by Hiromori Hayashi
7:00 p.m. Concert (Featuring High School Ensembles)
Cantilena
“How Can I Keep From Singing?” by Gwyneth Walker
Liebeslieder Walzer by Johannes Brahms, text by Georg Friedrich Daumer
- Wie des Abends (from Opus 52) (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
- Vogelein durchrauscht die Luft (from Opus 52)
- Nein, geliebter, setze dich (from Opus 65)
Ragazzi
“Bar’chu” by Salamon Rossi
“The Pasture” (from Frostiana) by Randall Thompson
“Mogami Gawa Funa Uta” by Watanabe/Goto, based on folk materials, arr. Osamu
Shimizu
Cantabile
“Angelus ad pastores ait” (from Sacrae Cantiunculae, 1582) by Claudio Monteverdi
“Gamelan” by R. Murray Schafer
“Mata del Anima Sola” by Antonio Estévez
Cantabile and Ragazzi (below)
“The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy” Traditional carol from Trinidad, arr. Stephen
Hatfield
Combined Choirs
“Dance for the Nations” by John Krumm
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Classical music: Start the holiday season with the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s FREE Community Carol Sing, with organ, on Monday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
‘Tis the season—for singing together in groups!
The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) will host a FREE Carol Sing in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, 201 State Street, on this coming Monday, Nov. 27, at 7 p.m.
All ages are welcome.
No tickets or reservations are needed for the free Carol Sing, which will last approximately 45 minutes.
MSO Principal Organist and Curator Greg Zelek will lead the Carol Sing with the Overture Concert Organ (below).
Familiar carols will be sung, and solo organ works will include the Carol Rhapsody (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom) by Richard Purvis and an arrangement of “Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella.”
Greg Zelek (below) is the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s own principal organist and Curator of the Overture Concert Organ and Series. Zelek has been praised as one of the most exciting young organists in the American organ scene. He has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the New World Symphony, and in Carnegie Hall with the Metropolitan Opera orchestra.
Zelek directs the programming for the instrument. In addition to the Free Farmers’ Market Organ Concerts, the instrument is featured in the annual MSO Christmas concert, along with several Free Community Hymn Sings and a Christmas Carol Sing.
See details for all organ performances at www.madisonsymphony.org/organperformances.
Support for all Overture Concert Organ programs is provided by the Diane Endres Ballweg Fund.
The MSO’s Free Community Carol and Hymn Sings are presented in partnership with the Overture Center for the Arts.
Tags: age, American, Arts, Bring a Torch, Carnegie Hall, Carol, choral music, Christmas, Christmas and holiday season, Classical music, composer, curator, Dane County Farmers' Market, farmer, Farmer's Market, free, fund, Greg Zelek, group, Holiday, hymn, Jacob Stockinger, Madison Symphony Orchestra, market, Metropolitan Opera, New World Symphony, New York City, Orchestra, organ, Overture Center, performance, program, reservation, Richard Purvis, scene, Season, sing, solo, support, ticket, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, vocal music, Wisconsin, work, young, YouTube
Classical music: Is she or isn’t she retiring from opera? Here is everything you want to know about superstar soprano Renée Fleming and the confusion over her future plans
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By Jacob Stockinger
Three recent stories tell you just about everything you could want to know about superstar soprano Renée Fleming (below), now 58, as she prepares to retire — at least partly retire — from the opera stage but still devote herself to music on and off the concert stage.
The first story came in The New York Times in a preview profile before her upcoming appearance as the aging Marschallin in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier.” (You can hear some of her singing in that role in the YouTube link at the bottom.)
Here is a link to that story:
But just to eliminate any doubt about her leaving music altogether when she retires from singing and acting opera, Fleming also gave a long interview to Vanity Fair magazine in which she discusses her plans to still pursue music full-time as a recitalist, recording artist and someone working offstage to benefit opera and music, much as the famed Beverly Sills once did.
Here is a link to that story:
http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2017/04/opera-legend-renee-fleming
And then Fleming also clarified some confusion in the Times story about her future plans in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR):
Tags: acting, age, aging, Arts, Beverly Sills, Classical music, Compact Disc, Concert, Der Rosenkavalier, diva, Fleming, interview, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Met, Metropolitan Opera, Music, National Public Radio, New York City, New York Times, NPR, opera, recital, recording, Renée Fleming, retire, Retirement, Richard Strauss, soprano, stage, superstar, The New York Times, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vanity Fair, vocal music, Wisconsin, YouTube
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