The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Here are the 2015 Grammy winners and the nominees for classical music. Pro Arte Quartet recording producer Judith Sherman wins again.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The 2015 Grammy winners were announced Sunday night in a live three-hour broadcast.
The list of winners and nominees can be a good guide to new listening.
Of course most of the Grammy attention went to pop, rock, rap, country and the big selling music genres.
But here are the winners for classical music, along with the nominees and competition.
One thing to note: Producer of the Year again went to freelancer Judith Sherman (below).
Sherman will be in Madison again inn May to record the last two centennial commissions for the University of Wisconsin-Madison‘s Pro Arte Quartet. (Below, she is seen recording the first four commissions with the Pro Arte in Mills Hall.) The new recording includes the terrific Clarinet Quintet based on Allen Ginsberg’s landmark Beat poem “Howl” by American composer Pierre Jalbert and Belgian composer Benoît Mernier’s String Quartet No. 3.
BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, CLASSICAL
WINNER: Vaughan Williams (below): Dona Nobis Pacem; Symphony No. 4; The Lark Ascending. Michael Bishop, engineer; Michael Bishop, mastering engineer (Robert Spano, Norman Mackenzie, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus). Label: ASO Media
Adams, John: City Noir. Richard King, engineer; Wolfgang Schiefermair, mastering engineer (David Robertson & St. Louis Symphony); Label: Nonesuch
Adams, John Luther: Become Ocean. Dmitriy Lipay & Nathaniel Reichman, engineers; Nathaniel Reichman, mastering engineer (Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony) Label: Cantaloupe Music
Dutilleux: Symphony No. 1; Tout Un Monde Lointain; The Shadows Of Time. Dmitriy Lipay, engineer; Dmitriy Lipay, mastering engineer (Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony). Label: Seattle Symphony Media
Riccardo Muti Conducts Mason Bates & Anna Clyne. David Frost & Christopher Willis, engineers; Tim Martyn, mastering engineer (Riccardo Muti & Chicago Symphony Orchestra). Label: CSO Resound
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, CLASSICAL
WINNER: Judith Sherman (below)
- Beethoven: Cello & Piano Complete (Fischer Duo)
- Brahms By Heart (Chiara String Quartet)
- Composing America (Lark Quartet)
- Divergence (Plattform K + K Vienna)
- The Good Song (Thomas Meglioranza)
- Mozart & Brahms: Clarinet Quintets (Anthony McGill & Pacifica Quartet)
- Snapshot (American Brass Quintet)
- Two X Four (Jaime Laredo, Jennifer Koh, Vinay Parameswaran & Curtis 20/21 Ensemble)
- Wagner Without Words (Williams)
Morten Lindberg
- Beppe: Remote Galaxy (Vladimir Ashkenazy & Philharmonia Orchestra)
- Dyrud: Out Of Darkness (Vivianne Sydnes & Nidaros Cathedral Choir)
- Ja, Vi Elsker (Tone Bianca Sparre Dahl, Ingar Bergby, Staff Band Of The Norwegian Armed Forces & Schola Cantorum)
- Symphonies Of Wind Instruments (Ingar Bergby & Royal Norwegian Navy Band)
Dmitriy Lipay
- Adams, John Luther: Become Ocean (Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony)
- Dutilleux: Symphony No. 1; Tout Un Monde Lointain; The Shadows Of Time (Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony)
- Fauré: Masques Et Bergamasques; Pelléas Et Mélisande; Dolly (Ludovic Morlot, Seattle Symphony Chorale & Seattle Symphony)
- Hindemith: Nobilissima Visione; Five Pieces For String Orchestra (Gerard Schwarz & Seattle Symphony)
- Ives: Symphony No. 2; Carter: Instances; Gershwin: An American In Paris (Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony)
- Ravel: Orchestral Works; Saint-Saëns: Organ Symphony (Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony)
Elaine Martone
- Hallowed Ground (Louis Langrée, Maya Angelou, Nathan Wyatt & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
- Mahler: Symphony No. 2 ‘Resurrection’ (Benjamin Zander, Stefan Bevier, Philharmonia Chorus & Orchestra)
- Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 6 & 7; Tapiola (Robert Spano & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra)
- Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem; Symphony No. 4; The Lark Ascending (Robert Spano, Norman Mackenzie, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus)
David Starobin
- All The Things You Are (Leon Fleisher)
- Complete Crumb Edition, Vol. 16 (Ann Crumb, Patrick Mason, James Freeman & Orchestra 2001)
- Game Of Attrition – Arlene Sierra, Vol. 2 (Jac Van Steen & BBC National Orchestra Of Wales)
- Haydn, Beethoven & Schubert (Gilbert Kalish)
- Mozart: Piano Concertos, No. 12, K. 414 & No. 23, K. 488 (Marianna Shirinyan, Scott Yoo & Odense Symphony Orchestra)
- Music Of Peter Lieberson, Vol. 3 (Scott Yoo, Roberto Diaz, Steven Beck & Odense Symphony Orchestra)
- Rochberg, Chihara & Rorem (Jerome Lowenthal)
- Tchaikovsky: The Tempest, Op. 18 & Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23 (Joyce Yang, Alexander Lazarev & Odense Symphony Orchestra
BEST ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE
WINNER: Adams, John (below): City Noir. David Robertson, conductor (St. Louis Symphony). Label: Nonesuch
Dutilleux: Symphony No. 1; Tout Un Monde Lointain; The Shadows Of Time. Ludovic Morlot, conductor (Seattle Symphony). Label: Seattle Symphony Media
Dvořák: Symphony No. 8; Janáček: Symphonic Suite From Jenůfa. Manfred Honeck, conductor (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra). Label: Reference Recordings
Schumann: Symphonien 1-4. Simon Rattle, conductor (Berliner Philharmoniker). Label: Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings.
Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 6 & 7; Tapiola. Robert Spano, conductor (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra). Label: ASO Media
BEST OPERA RECORDING
WINNER: Charpentier (below): La Descente D’Orphée Aux Enfers. Paul O’Dette & Stephen Stubbs, conductors; Aaron Sheehan; Renate Wolter-Seevers, producer (Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble; Boston Early Music Festival Vocal Ensemble). Label: CPO
Milhaud: L’Orestie D’Eschyle. Kenneth Kiesler, conductor; Dan Kempson, Jennifer Lane, Tamara Mumford, Sidney Outlaw, Lori Phillips & Brenda Rae; Tim Handley, producer (University Of Michigan Percussion Ensemble & University Of Michigan Symphony Orchestra; University Of Michigan Chamber Choir, University Of Michigan Orpheus Singers, University Of Michigan University Choir & UMS Choral Union). Label: Naxos
Rameau: Hippolyte Et Aricie. William Christie, conductor; Sarah Connolly, Stéphane Degout, Christiane Karg, Ed Lyon & Katherine Watson; Sébastien Chonion, producer (Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment; The Glyndebourne Chorus). Label: Opus Arte
Schönberg: Moses Und Aron. Sylvain Cambreling, conductor; Andreas Conrad & Franz Grundheber; Reinhard Oechsler, producer (SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden Und Freiburg; EuropaChorAkademie). Label: Hänssler Classic
Strauss: Elektra. Christian Thielemann, conductor; Evelyn Herlitzius, Waltraud Meier, René Pape & Anne Schwanewilms; Arend Prohmann, producer (Staatskapelle Dresden; Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden). Label: Deutsche Grammophon
BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE
WINNER: The Sacred Spirit Of Russia. Craig Hella Johnson, conductor (Conspirare). Label: Harmonia Mundi
Bach: Matthäus-Passion. René Jacobs, conductor (Werner Güra & Johannes Weisser; Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin; Rias Kammerchor & Staats-Und Domchor Berlin). Label: Harmonia Mundi
Dyrud: Out Of Darkness. Vivianne Sydnes, conductor (Erlend Aagaard Nilsen & Geir Morten Øien; Sarah Head & Lars Sitter; Nidaros Cathedral Choir). Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd).
Holst: First Choral Symphony; The Mystic Trumpeter. Andrew Davis, conductor; Stephen Jackson, chorus master (Susan Gritton; BBC Symphony Orchestra; BBC Symphony Chorus). Label: Chandos Records
Mozart: Requiem. John Butt, conductor (Matthew Brook, Rowan Hellier, Thomas Hobbs & Joanne Lunn; Dunedin Consort). Label: Linn Records
BEST CHAMBER MUSIC/SMALL ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
WINNER: In 27 Pieces – The Hilary Hahn Encores (below). Hilary Hahn & Cory Smythe. Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Dreams & Prayers. David Krakauer & A Far Cry. Label: Crier Records
Martinů: Cello Sonatas Nos. 1-3. Steven Isserlis & Olli Mustonen. Label: BIS
Partch: Castor & Pollux. Partch. Track from: Partch: Plectra & Percussion Dances. Label: Bridge Records, Inc.
Sing Thee Nowell. New York Polyphony. Label: BIS
BEST CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTAL SOLO
WINNER: Play. Jason Vieaux. Label: Azica Records
All The Things You Are. Leon Fleisher. Label: Bridge Records, Inc.
The Carnegie Recital. Daniil Trifonov. Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain. Xavier Phillips; Ludovic Morlot, conductor (Seattle Symphony). Track from: Dutilleux: Symphony No. 1; Tout Un Monde Lointain; The Shadows Of Time. Label: Seattle Symphony Media
Toccatas. Jory Vinikour. Label: Sono Luminus
BEST CLASSICAL SOLO VOCAL ALBUM
WINNER: Douce France. Anne Sofie Von Otter; Bengt Forsberg, accompanist (Carl Bagge, Margareta Bengston, Mats Bergström, Per Ekdahl, Bengan Janson, Olle Linder & Antoine Tamestit). Label: Naïve
Porpora: Arias. Philippe Jaroussky; Andrea Marcon, conductor (Cecilia Bartoli; Venice Baroque Orchestra) Label: Erato
Schubert: Die Schöne Müllerin. Florian Boesch; Malcolm Martineau, accompanist. Label: Onyx
Stella Di Napoli. Joyce DiDonato; Riccardo Minasi, conductor (Chœur De L’Opéra National De Lyon; Orchestre De L’Opéra National De Lyon). Label: Erato/Warner Classics
Virtuoso Rossini Arias. Lawrence Brownlee; Constantine Orbelian, conductor (Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra). Label: Delos
BEST CLASSICAL COMPENDIUM
WINNER: Partch (below): Plectra & Percussion Dances. Partch; John Schneider, producer. Label: Bridge Records, Inc.
Britten To America. Jeffrey Skidmore, conductor; Colin Matthews, producer. Label: NMC Recordings
Mieczysław Weinberg. Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė, Daniil Grishin, Gidon Kremer, & Daniil Trifonov & Kremerata Baltica; Manfred Eicher, producer. Label: ECM New Series
Mike Marshall & The Turtle Island Quartet. Mike Marshall & Turtle Island Quartet; Mike Marshall, producer. Label: Adventure Music
The Solent – Fifty Years Of Music By Ralph Vaughan Williams. Paul Daniel, conductor; Andrew Walton, producer. Label: Albion Records
BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION
WINNER: Adams, John Luther (below): Become Ocean. John Luther Adams, composer (Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony). Label: Cantaloupe Music
Clyne, Anna: Prince Of Clouds. Anna Clyne, composer (Jaime Laredo, Jennifer Koh, Vinay Parameswaran & Curtis 20/21 Ensemble). Track from: Two X Four. Label: Cedille Records
Crumb, George: Voices From The Heartland. George Crumb, composer (Ann Crumb, Patrick Mason, James Freeman & Orchestra 2001). Track from: Complete Crumb Edition, Vol. 16. Label: Bridge Records, Inc.
Paulus, Stephen: Concerto For Two Trumpets & Band. Stephen Paulus, composer (Eric Berlin, Richard Kelley, James Patrick Miller & UMASS Wind Ensemble). Track from: Fantastique – Premieres For Trumpet & Wind Ensemble. Label: MSR Classics
Sierra, Roberto: Sinfonía No. 4. Roberto Sierra, composer (Giancarlo Guerrero & Nashville Symphony). Track from: Sierra: Sinfonía No. 4; Fandangos; Carnaval. Label: Naxos
Tags: Allen Ginsberg, Arts, Atlanta Symphony, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Bach, Bassoon, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Beat, Beat poets, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, BIS, Bohuslav Martinu, Bridge Records, Carnegie Hall, Cello, Chamber music, Chandos, Charpentier, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, clarinet, Classical, Classical music, Compact Disc, concerto, Daniil Trifonov, Deutsche Grammophon, Dutilleux, Dvorak, Early music, ECM, encore, Erato, Faure, Gerard Schwartz, Gershwin, Grammy, Grammy Award, Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium, Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo, Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Haydn, Hilary Hahn, Hindemith, Holst, Howl, Ives, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Adams, John Luther Adams, Joyce DiDonato, Leon Fleisher, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, Milhaud, Mozart, Music, Non-Classical, Nonesuch, Norway, Onyx, Orchestra, Partch, Piano, Pro Arte Quartet, quintet, Rameau, Ravel, Requiem, Riccardo Muti, Richard Strauss, Richberg, Robert Schumann, Rochberg, Rorem, Rossini, Russia, Schoenberg, Schubert, Seattle, Sibekius, Sibelius, singer, St. Louis, St. Louis Symphony, Stephen Paulus, strings, symphony, Tchaikovsky, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vaughan williams, Violin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, vocal music, Wagner, Weinberg, Wisconsin, Woodwind quintet
Classical music: The 57th annual Grammy Award nominations are out — and they provide a useful guide to holiday gift-giving.
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By Jacob Stockinger
This year, the holiday gift-giving season went into high gear on Thanksgiving Day, not just Black Friday. That was followed by Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday and on and on.
Doesn’t such commercialism of the holidays just make you want to break into “Joy to the World” or the “Hallelujah” Chorus?
Traditionally, The Ear has offered many lists and compilations for suggested classical recordings for the holidays — Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever.
Over this past weekend, the nominations for the 57th annual Grammy Awards were announced.
Of course, this event – no matter how hyped and prestigious for helping music — is an industry honoring and promoting itself. So of course classical music is way down on the list, far behind more money-making and better selling genres.
But over the years The Ear has found that the nominees are actually more useful than the much shorter list of winners, which doesn’t come out anyway until well after the holidays.
So here is a link to the complete list of Grammy nominations. Just go the website, and scroll down to Category 72 though Category 81.
http://www.grammy.com/nominees
Sure, the Big Labels and Gray Ladies – such as Deutsche Grammophon and EMI – are represented.
And so are some pretty big New Names, including the astonishingly gifted prize-winning young pianist Daniil Trifonov (below), who, The Ear thinks, show get a Grammy for his Carnegie Hall recital. (Just listen to the YouTube video, taken from that live recital, at the bottom. It features a difficult Chopin prelude and notice the virtuosic ferocity combined with lyricism, the voicing, and the flexibility of tempo or rubato.)
But once again The Ear notices how many recordings are being done by labels that have been established by the performing groups themselves or by smaller labels. Decentralization continues. So does the rediscovery of Baroque opera and early music as well as new music.
In addition, there continues to be an emphasis, established in recent years, on newer music and lesser known composers. So specialization also continues.
Notice too that veteran independent record producer Judith Sherman (below, holding the Grammy she won in 2012) is once again up for Producer of The Year – she has won it several times already.
Sherman is the same person who recorded the impressive first double CD of four centennial commissions for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte Quartet. That release included string quartets by John Harbison and Walter Mays as well as Piano Quintets by Paul Schoenfield and William Bolcom.
This spring Judith Sherman is coming back to the UW-Madison School to record the last two commissions: the terrific Clarinet Quintet based on Allen Ginsberg’s Beat poem “Howl’ by American composer Pierre Jalbert (below top) and for the String Quartet No. 3 by Belgian composer Benoît Mernier (below bottom, in a photo by Lise Mernier).
More such suggestions for classical music gifts are to come.
Usually critics from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal weigh in, as does Alex Ross of The New Yorker magazine and the Deceptive Cadence blog for NPR (National Public Radio), and The Ear will include those.
And often The Ear throws in his own idea for gifts, which often involves linking a local live concert with a CD or a book and a CD. Stay tuned.
In addition, other website devoted to classical music – say the BBC and radio stations WQXR in New York City and WMFT in Chicago –- often featured a Best of the Year compilation.
And here is a link to more about the Grammys, including background
The Grammys will be awarded on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015 and broadcast on CBS-TV from 8 to 11 p.m. LIVE from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Tags: Alex Ross, Allen Ginsberg, Arts, Baroque, BBC, Beat, Beat poetry, Beethoven, Benoit Mernier, Billboard charts, CBS, Chamber music, Christmas, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, Compact Disc, Daniil Trifonov, Deceptive Cadence, Early music, George Frideric Handel, Grammy Award, Hanukkah, Howl, Jacob Stockinger, John Harbison, Judith Sherman, Madison, Music, National Public Radio, New Music, New York City, New York Times, NPR, opera, Orchestra, Paul Schoenfield, Piano, Pierre Jalbert, Pro Arte Quartet, producer, String quartet, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, vocal music, Walter Mays, WFMT, WILLIAM BOLCOM, WQXR, YouTube
Classical music: The Ear gets to hear a masterpiece in the making -– Pierre Jalbert’s “Howl” Clarinet Quintet. It sure sounds like it will become a staple of new music. Plus, the FREE Noon Musicales at the First Unitarian Society of Madison resume this Friday.
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ALERT: The FREE Friday Noon Musicales (below) in the Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, resume again this Friday, Oct. 3, at 12:15 to 1 p.m. This week’s featured group is the Arbor Ensemble with flutist Berlinda Lopez, violinist Marie Pauls and pianist Stacy Fehr-Regehr in the music of Jacques Ibert, Cesar Cui, Bohuslav Martinu, Astor Piazzolla and Josef Suk.
By Jacob Stockinger
Imagine my unexpected joy at hearing the new Clarinet Quintet by American composer Pierre Jalbert (below), who was inspired by Beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s famous “Howl,” last Friday night at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
The reason for my happiness is because I heard music that was so compelling and so moving that it made me want to listen to it again and again.
I know, I know.
A lot of proponents of new music say you have to listen to any new and unheard piece several times before you can pass judgment.
I don’t buy it.
True, as loyal readers know, I am generally not a fan of new music. I find too much of it unenjoyable and forgettable. It just doesn’t speak to me, for whatever reason. I like tunes and melody and harmonic mood as well as rhythmic pulse. New music too often seems detached from the emotional life of the listeners– or at least this listener.
I prefer music that speaks so deeply and movingly to me on the first hearing that I welcome any chance to hear it more often as another chance to experience beauty — not to fulfill some intellectual obligation or duty to the composer or the art form.
When I first heard Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, for example, I knew within one minute that I just had to hear it again and would hear it again many times. It never fails to disappoint. And so it is with any masterwork, from early music, through Baroque and Romantic music, to modern and contemporary music.
Anyway, the “Howl” Clarinet Quintet by Pierre Jalbert was performed last Friday night by the Pro Arte Quartet (below top, in a photo by Rick Langer), artists-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. The guest clarinetist was Charles Niedich (below bottom) from New York City, who has a major international reputation from working with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and other well-known ensembles.
The performance came at the newly remodeled Wisconsin Union Theater, which the old Pro Arte Quartet helped to inaugurate when the theater opened 75 years ago in 1939. The theater was not sold-out Friday night, but there was a good and enthusiastic audience that rewarded the Jalbert with a prolonged standing ovation (below). So I know that I was not alone in my positive and approving reaction.
Here is a link with more background:
The program started off with the rarely heard and pretty tame String Quartet No. 2 by Juan Crisostomo Arriaga, a Spanish composer known as “the Spanish Mozart” who died at 20. The program’s fitting finale was the sublime Clarinet Quintet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
In between the Arriaga and the Mozart came the Jalbert Clarinet Quintet, which was the final of six commissions done to mark the Pro Arte’s centennial. (The Pro Arte Quartet, originally from Belgium, is now the oldest continuously performing string quartet in the world.)
Other elements added to the effectiveness. For one, the Pro Arte Quartet was in top form. Each voice was distinct and yet the overall blend was smooth, resonant and perfect in pitch. And their playing was enhanced by the terrific acoustics of the remodeled Shannon Hall at the Wisconsin Union Theater and the new on-stage shell (below, in the background).
But it was really the music itself that swept The Ear away.
It started right away, with the pulsing and almost hypnotic rhythms of the opening measures.
The two outer fast movements proved infectious and involving. But I particularly loved the way the middle movement developed.
I heard various audience members talk about how the work reminded them of Samuel Barber, of Philip Glass, of John Adams, of Steve Reich. And yet it didn’t seem to imitate any of them. It possessed a pure, strong voice of its own that used the idea of “Howl” without becoming a didactic piece of program music.
It isn’t often you get to hear a new work that holds the promise of becoming a staple in the repertoire. But that is exactly how it felt as I listened to the Jalbert quintet. Others I spoke to agreed.
Of the six centennial commissions that the Pro Arte has premiered over the past three years, this one seems the best one to end on because it seems the most likely one to succeed in coming years.
Sure, we may hear repeat performances of the String Quartets by John Harbison, Walter Mays and Benoît Mernier; of the Piano Quintets by William Bolcom and Paul Schoenfield. They are all recognized composers of quality.
But my money is on the work by Pierre Jalbert, which was by turns pensive and joyous, outraged and lamenting, much like the original poem “Howl.” The tone of both matched, and the clarinet, with its klezmer-like qualities, proved the perfect narrative voice imparted by Beat writer Allen Ginsberg (below).
It is a memorable night when you get to hear a masterwork in the making. All that work of chamber music needs now is history and many more repeat performances. I expect it will get those.
And to top it off, Pierre Jalbert (below right) -– who hails from Vermont and teaches at Rice University in Houston, Texas — was a very nice artist who was extremely amiable at the pre-concert dinner at the Chazen Museum of Art as well as insightfully candid during the pre-concert Q&A (below) that was so expertly hosted by Wisconsin Public Radio host Norman Gilliland (center) and also included clarinetist Charles Neidich.
Anyway, the “Howl” Clarinet Quintet by Pierre Jalbert will be recorded by the same players for Albany Records, under the supervision of the Grammy Award-winning producer Judith Sherman, and then released with the String Quartet No. 3 by Belgian composer Benoît Mernier.
I will be first in line to get it and set my CD player on repeat.
Can’t wait.
If you heard it, what do you think of the Clarinet Quintet by Pierre Jalbert, who offers his thoughts about composing in a YouTube video at the bottom?
Do you think it will become a staple of the repertoire?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Allen Ginsberg, Arriaga, Arts, Ástor Piazzolla, Baroque, Beat, Beat generation, Benoit Mernier, Cesar Cui, Chamber music, Charles Neidich, clariet, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, Compact Disc, contemporary music, Early music, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Friday, Howl, Ibert, Jacob Stockinger, John Adams, John Harbison, Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Madison, Martinu, modern music, Mozart, Music, New Music, New York City, Norman Gilliland, Paul Schoenfield, Philip Glass, Piano, Piano Quintet, Piazzolla, Pierre Jalbert, Pro Arte Quartet, quintet, Rice University, Samuel Barber, Steve Reich, String quartet, Suk, Texas, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vermont, Walter Mays, WILLIAM BOLCOM, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: The Ear offers cheers and jeers for the Wisconsin Union Theater’s remodeled Shannon Hall.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Last Friday night, The Ear got his first look and listen at the remodeled concert hall at the Wisconsin Union Theater, a wonderful landmark structure that I revere and usually refer to as “the Carnegie Hall of Madison” because of its long and distinguished history of bringing the best performing artists to Madison.
The event on Friday night was the fantastic concert by the Pro Arte Quartet, artists-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, with guest clarinetist Charles Neidich. It was the first classical music event in the new building.
They all turned in a wonderful finale to the quartet’s six centennial commissions. This final program featured the world premiere of the Clarinet Quintet by American composer Pierre Jalbert, who based the work on the poem “Howl” by the Beat writer Allen Ginsberg. The string quartet also performed the String Quartet No. 2 by Juan Crisostomo Arriaga and the glorious, sublime Clarinet Quintet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
But I will offer more comments about the concert and the music tomorrow.
Right now, I want to offer my take on the new hall, which was part of a two-year renovation that cost over $50 million, all privately raised. The remodeling project was completed just in time to mark the 75th anniversary of the historical theater, which opened its doors in 1939 and was inaugurated by the original Pro Arte String Quartet.
I will be anxious to hear your own take on the new hall, as well as the music and performance, in the COMMENTS section.
Here is mine:
WHAT I LIKE and WHAT I DISLIKE
I like the generosity and intent of University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni Michael Shannon (Class of 1980) and his wife Mary Sue Shannon (Class of 1981, both below), who donated something like $8 million to restore and remodel the hall, to reconfigure the Langdon Street entrance and provided a “sunset lounge” for receptions, study and relaxing.
That is why you can hear the “Consecration of the House” Overture by Ludwig van Beethoven, conducted by Chicago Symphony Orchestra maestro Riccardo Muti, at the bottom in a YouTube video.
So The Ear offers kudos, a big and hearty THANKS to the Shannons.
BUT:
Why can’t rich people show some respect for the very history they seek to honor and preserve as well as some good taste and modesty?
Do we really need this well-known and historic hall, which is so respected by the world-renowned performers who appear there and are pleased when they see the list of their predecessors, to be renamed?
And do we really need the new name embedded in big metal letters in the handsome terrazzo stone floor of the theater? Wouldn’t a big bronze wall plaque with a bas-relief portrait and some kind words of thanks and praise, perhaps along with a paragraph of background, details and even a quote, have done the job and preserved the continuity of history?
Why can’t we continue to use the names of public buildings and spaces to honor public service rather than money and wealth? Do the arts also have to remind us of the ever-widening wealth gap in the U.S., which already is now the biggest in the world?
Is that the message we want a public building to send?
Could someone rich enough today buy the entire university and rename the UW to the University of Walmart, now that state support has dropped below 20 percent? Could that path to privatizing public education really be the way we want to go?
As I have said in another column: If you can afford to buy naming rights, you aren’t being taxed enough. Governor Walker, are we open for business? Or are we getting the business? What about the importance of tradition, history and public service?
Well, enough of a rant. (Below are the happy Shannons hand-in-hand on the Memorial Union waterfront.)
ON TO OTHER THINGS: THE REMODELED BUILDING ITSELF
I like the new bigger and 3-inch wider seats, although they reduce the seating capacity from 1,300 to 1,139. I also like the new upholstery. But I heard someone complain that there was no padding on the armrests. And I still find too little knee room, even though I am only a bit over 6 feet tall. It feels like flying economy class, which, these days, is not good. But that can’t be helped, short of destroying the original concrete raking and seat beds.
I also very much like the acoustics and sound -– try the terrific lower balcony (below) sometime to see that closer isn’t always better — especially with the new shell (below, the on-stage background). But I hear that you can’t do multimedia because the shell simply won’t allow for a screen to drop down for films, videos, slide shows and Power Point presentations. That design mistake should be fixed in view of the importance of high technology.
The wall color (take another look at the first photo above), which was apparently chosen and approved by the Wisconsin Historical Society, is NOT the same as before and I don’t find it attractive except to the degree it is evenly applied and not water-stained.
But it doesn’t feel authentically period or Deco. The color seems darker and shinier than in photos, more dark peach than salmon. Some may find it handsome. I find it awfully close to pukey brown. And I believe the rule of thumb is that paint only darkens with age. Lighter, one suspects, would have been better both now and especially in the long run.
Something unfortunate happened between the idea and the execution. It happens to me too — and to many others — when I tried to match a dry paint chip to a whole wall. But you’d think the experts would have the collective experience to get it right, if only by trial and error.
Overall, the walls and paint remind The Ear of a face with too much heavy foundation makeup on an oily skin. The wall paint -– maybe it’s a semi-gloss? — is just not flat enough and exudes a light sheen in the right lighting. It makes you want to blot the wall with cotton gauze balls.
I like the new carpet color and pattern (below), but I already saw staining — see the one below? — within the first month or two. I wonder: Couldn’t it be easier to clean? How long will it last and wear well?
I like the new sunset lounge, with its airiness and its great view of Lake Mendota. It made for a great post-concert dessert reception.
And I really like the new entrance lobby off Langdon Street. It feels much less like the theater is hidden away. You don’t have to seek it out. That part especially seems more populist and in keeping with The Wisconsin Idea.
The quieter heating and air conditioning system also seem much improved and make for a far more comfortable concert experience.
I like the historical feel fostered by keeping turquoise water fountains (“bubblers”), but I also like the eco-friendly greener restrooms with automatic light switches that save on electricity.
All in all, I give the remodeling a B, though given all the money and know-how I would have thought an A-plus was a certainty.
To help you decide for yourself, you should really attend an event there.
But for more background and details, here are some links:
To a story and photos by Eric Tadsen in Isthmus:
http://www.isthmus.com/daily/article.php?article=43040
http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=43007
To a story in the UW-Madison student newspaper The Daily Cardinal:
To the official press release from the UW-Madison:
http://www.news.wisc.edu/22998
Tags: Allen Ginsberg, Arriaga, Arts, Beethoven, Chamber music, Charles Neidich, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, Howl, Jacob Stockinger, Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Madison, Mary Sue Shannon, Michael Shannon, Mozart, Piano, Pierre Jalbert, Pro Arte Quartet, quintet, Riccardo Muti, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Each week NPR now says TGIF via Twitter. Check it out. Plus, this afternoon brings a lot of live music, including the repeat performance of the MUST-HEAR world premiere of Pierre Jalbert’s Clarinet Quintet based on Allen Ginsberg’s Beat poem “Howl”; the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra in Mahler and Schumann; and the Ancora String Quartet.
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ALERT: Just a reminder that there is a lot of live music competing for audiences this afternoon. But if you can, be sure to catch the UW-Madison Pro Arte Quartet and guest clarinetist Charles Neidich giving the FREE second world premiere performance of American composer Pierre Jalbert‘s Clarinet Quintet — which is based on Beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” — at the Chazen Museum of Art at 12:30 p.m. in Brittingham Gallery 3. The new work, which The Ear heard on Friday night, is the real thing: a winning gem of new music. Of course the short-sighted Wisconsin Public Radio is no longer broadcasting local and regional live music from the museum, so forget the radio. But you can stream the concert live from the Internet at the museum’s website www.chazen.wisc.edu.
And here is a link with an overview of all the music concerts available this afternoon:
By Jacob Stockinger
Well, here is another reason to welcome the end of the work week and the coming of the weekend.
NPR is saying TGIF.
Every Friday afternoon, the Deceptive Cadence blog folks at National Public Radio gather with the public via Twitter to check out issues and performers, performances and recordings — including the new CD “Motherland” by pianist Khatia Buniatishvili (the Sony Classical CD cover with her Frida Kahlo-like portrait is below and a sample is at the bottom in a YouTube video in which she plays an arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach‘s “Sheep May Safely Graze“). You should try checking it out and add your own comments and recommendations.
And that’s just what you can do using the link below:
The Ear thinks you will like it for several reasons.
The discussion keeps you updated on new recordings, new performers and new music. But it also suggests older composers and repertoire to listen to, including recommended interpretations of that repertoire.
It also features some very insightful and some very funny comments from other readers and followers that you can check out.
So don’t be afraid to hop on in – or at least to add to your To Do List checking out Deceptive Cadence at NPR every Friday.
Tags: Allen Ginsberg, Arts, Beat, Beat generation, Beat poetry, Cadence (music), Chamber music, Charles Neidich, Chazen Museum of Art, clarinet, Classical music, Compact Disc, Deceptive Cadence, Frida Kahlo, Friday, Howl, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Khatia Buniatishvili, National Public Radio, NPR, opera, Orchestra, Pierre Jalbert, Pro Arte Quartet, SONY, Sony Classical, TGIF (ABC), Twitter, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, wisconsin public radio, YouTube
Classical music: Which one of five trains will you ride into the upcoming super-wreck on this Sunday afternoon?
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By Jacob Stockinger
There are “train wrecks,” as the Wise Critic likes to call competing or conflicting music events.
And then there are TRAIN WRECKS!!!!!!!!!
Take the afternoon of this upcoming Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014.
The best The Ear can figure, you have a choice of five trains to ride into the wreck, possibly two if you plan really carefully and everything — including the length of concerts, transportation time and the availability of parking — falls into place.
There are just too many events and too few weekdays to do separate blog posts on all of them. Besides, it will probably be helpful for scheduling –- if discouraging –- to see them all listed together.
A-l-l-l-l aboard:
Here, in timetable order, we go:
PRO ARTE STRING QUARTET
The Pro Arte Quartet (below top, in photo by Rick Langer), which is wrapping up its centennial anniversary and six centennial commissions with a gala FREE world premiere concert and dessert reception at the Wisconsin Union Theater on this Friday night at 8 p.m., will repeat the program in a FREE concert at the Chazen Museum of Art on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. in the Brittingham Gallery No. 3 (below middle). It will be streamed live by Audio for the Arts. Go to www.chazen.wisc.edu on the day of the concert for a link.
The program includes the world premiere of the Clarinet Quintet “Howl” (based on the Beat poem by Allen Ginsberg) by American composer Pierre Jalbert (below bottom) by as well as String Quartet No. 2 in A Major (1824) by Spanish composer Juan Crisostomo Arriaga and the gorgeous Clarinet Quintet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Here is a link: http://proartequartet.org
Originally scheduled for Friday, Sept. 26, the Ancora Quartet (below top, in a photo by Barry Lewis), with guest violinist Wes Luke (below bottom, in a photo by Barry Lewis) filling in for Leanne League. The three regular quartet members are, from left, violinist Robin Ryan, violist Marika Fischer Hoyt and cellist Benjamin Whitcomb.
They will instead perform the Ancora’s opening concert of the season on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society where the quartet has been artists-in-residence. The program includes the “Sun” Quartet, Op. 20, No. 4, by Franz Joseph Haydn; the one-movement Quartet for Strings by Amy Beach, which uses Inuit tunes; and the final String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80, composed by Felix Mendelssohn in honor of the death of his beloved sister Fanny. A champagne reception is included. Tickets at the door are $15; $12 for seniors; and $6 for children under 12.
Other performances of this program will take place on Saturday, Sept. 27, at 7:30 p.m. at Eaton Chapel on the Beloit College campus, and on Sunday, Oct. 26, at 4 p.m. at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Fort Atkinson. In addition, the quartet has added the following dates: Monday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. at Oakwood Village West on Madison’s far west side at 6902 Mineral point Road, with FREE admission, followed by a Meet & Greet with the musicians; and on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the Loras College Visitation Center: Gallagher Hall, in Dubuque, Iowa.
UW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND SOPRANO ELIZABETH HAGEDORN
At 2 p.m. in Mills Hall, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Symphony Orchestra (below top, in photo by John W. Barker) with guest UW-Madison professor soprano Elizabeth Hagedorn (below middle) and conductor James Smith (below bottom) will perform a FREE concert.
The program includes the “Totenfeier” (Funeral Rites) music (the first draft of the First Movement from the Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”; and the “Rueckert Lieder,” both by Gustav Mahler; and also the Symphony No. 1 “Spring” by Robert Schumann.
EDGEWOOD COLLEGE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
At 2:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive, at Edgewood College, the Edgewood Chamber Orchestra (below top, in an old poster), conducted by Blake Walter (below bottom, in a photo by John Maniaci), will perform the “Ojai Festival Overture” by Peter Maxwell Davies, “Historic Scenes,” Op. 66, by Jean Sibelius and Symphony No. 53 in D Major “Imperiale” by Franz Joseph Haydn. Tickers are $5 at the door, free with an Edgewood College ID.
SOPRANO CHELSEA MORRIS AND FORTEPIANIST TREVOR STEPHENSON
At 3 p.m. in Christ Presbyterian Church, 944 East Gorham Street, there will be a voice concert and CD-release party with soprano Chelsea Morris and fortepianist Trevor Stephenson (both are below), the founder and leader of the Madison Bach Musicians, to celebrate the release of their new CD of songs by Mozart, Haydn and Franz Schubert. This past summer, Morris won top spot in the second annual Handel Aria Competition during the Madison Early Music Festival.
Trevor Stephenson will bring his 5-octave, 18th-century German fortepiano to accompany Ms. Morris and he also will play solo fortepiano works by Mozart and Beethoven.
He will give a brief talk about the Classical style and discuss how the fortepiano creates a thrilling sense of theatrical immediacy in the music of the 18th-century masters. Selections on the concert from Morris and Stephenson’s new CD: Songs by Mozart, Haydn & Schubert. A CD autograph signing will be held after the concert.
http://madisonbachmusicians.org
OVERTURE CENTER ANNIVERSARY
At 3:30 p.m. in the Overture Center for the Arts, “American Kaleidoscope,” the second performance of a multi-performing arts celebration of the Overture Center’s 10th anniversary, will take place, continuing from the all-day festival on Saturday.
All the resident performing arts companies — including the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Madison Opera, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society — will do a second performance (the first is Saturday night). Here is a link:
http://www.overturecenter.org/about/news/1016-you—ve-never-seen-a-concert-like-this-sep-12-2014
Tags: Allen Ginsberg, Amy Beach, Ancora String Quartet, Arriaga, Arts, Beat generation, Beat poetry, Blake Walter, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, Chazen Museum of Art, Chelsea Morris, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, Compact Disc, Eaton Chapel, Edgewood Chamber Orchestra, Edgewood College, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler, Handel, Handel Aria Competition, Haydn, Howl, Jacob Stockinger, Joseph Haydn, Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mahler, Mozart, Music, Orchestra, Overture Center, Peter Maxwell Davies, Pierre Jalbert, Poetry, Pro Arte Quartet, Rückert-Lieder, Resurrection, Robert Schumann, Sibelius, String quartet, Sunday, symphony, Trevor Stephenson, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Classical music: The FREE world premiere by the Pro Arte Quartet of American composer Pierre Jalbert’s Clarinet Quintet — based on Beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” — takes place this coming Friday night at 8 p.m. in the renovated Wisconsin Union Theater. The concert includes a composer interview and then a FREE dessert reception, where you can meet the composer and performers. A FREE encore performance is on this Sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. at the Chazen Museum of Art and will be web-streamed live.
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By Jacob Stockinger
This coming Friday night will bring the FREE world premiere of the final work of the six commissions to mark the centennial of the Pro Arte String Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
The work is a Clarinet Quintet, written Pierre Jalbert (below), a prize-winning American composer with French-Canadian roots. It will receive its world premiere at 8 p.m. on Friday night in the newly renovated Wisconsin Union Theater. A FREE dessert reception in the Memorial Union follows. There is also a FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC rehearsal, with the composer advising the string quartet, from 9 a.m. to noon on this Thursday morning in Mills Hall.
Here is a link to the Pro Arte Quartet’s website
And here is the official press release about the new work and the upcoming concert. It was researched and written by Mike Muckian (below), who also writes and blogs for Brava Magazine and the Wisconsin Gazette.
MADISON, Wis. – When Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg (below) published “Howl” in 1956, he may have anticipated the obscenity charges he faced because of the work’s highly charged content. Chances are he didn’t foresee his epic poem, now considered a significant work of American literature, as the source of inspiration for a 21st-century chamber music composition.
Pierre Jalbert, an American composer of French-Canadian descent, thought otherwise. When commissioned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte Quartet to compose an original work to help the quartet celebrate its centennial season, Jalbert chose Ginsberg’s poem as his source of inspiration.
Jalbert’s “Howl” for clarinet and string quartet will receive its world premiere by the Pro Arte on Friday, Sept. 26, at the Wisconsin Union Theater in the historic Memorial Union on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
The event, free and open to the public, will be the first classical music concert to take place in the venerable theater’s newly refurbished Shannon Hall (below top).
The 8 p.m. concert will be preceded by a 7 p.m. concert preview discussion with Pierre Jalbert in Shannon Hall. In addition to Jalbert’s composition, the evening’s program includes the String Quartet No. 2 in A Major (1824) by Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga (below top) -– known as “the Spanish Mozart” — and the gorgeous Clarinet Quintet in A Major (1791) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (below bottom).
The Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) includes violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violist Sally Chisholm and cellist Parry Karp.
PLEASE NOTE: The Pro Arte Quartet concert will be repeated Sunday, Sept. 28, at 12:30 p.m. in Gallery III at the Chazen Museum of Art, also on the UW-Madison campus. The concert will be streamed live worldwide on the Internet by the Madison-based Audio for the Arts. Check the Chazen Museum of Art’s website (www.chazen.wisc.edu) on the day of the concert. Details of the Chazen music series for 2015 will be announced on Sunday at the concert. The new series is designed to replace the “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen” series (below) of live chamber music concerts that was abruptly canceled by Wisconsin Public Radio last spring after 36 years. Sunday’s concert is FREE and OPEN to the public; however, Chazen Museum of Art members can call 608-263-2246 to reserve seating.
Joining the Pro Arte for both concerts will be guest clarinetist Charles Neidich (below, in a photo by Sallie Eichson), a regular member of the New York City-based Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and noted guest performer with orchestras and string quartets worldwide. Here is a link to Neidich’s own impressive website:
“The Jalbert quintet is a very exciting composition, often very rhythmic, but with very serenely quiet contrasting sections,” said Neidich. “It is also interesting in that the clarinetist has to switch to bass clarinet, creating a very different sound for the group.” (At bottom is a YouTube interview with Pierre Jalbert, who explains his philosophy of composing and his concern with the audience’s understanding of his work.)
Ginsberg (below, young), who died in 1997, began work on “Howl” as early as 1954. The poem was first published in “Howl and Other Poems” in 1956 as part of the “Pocket Poets” series by fellow beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, also known as founder of City Lights Books in San Francisco.
Upon the poem’s release, both Ferlinghetti and City Lights manager Shigeyoshi Murao were arrested and charged with distributing obscene material because of the poem’s profanity, drug references and frank sexual content. Four months later, Judge Clayton Horn ruled that the work was not obscene and charges against Ferlinghetti and his employee were dropped.
Judge Horn deemed “Howl” to have redeeming social content, and over the years it has proved its worth both in terms of social and literary value, according to Dr. Lynn Keller, the Martha Meier Renk Bascom Professor of Poetry in the UW-Madison Department of English.
“’Howl’ stands out stylistically in its compellingly and varied repetition of words beginning successive lines, its near surrealist imagery, and its combination of agonized depictions at once hellish and lofty with a very appealing sense of humor,” Dr. Keller said. “In terms of content, it also stands out in celebrating the down-and-out hipster as spiritual quester and visionary.”
As part of the Beat Generation – as much a social as a literary phenomenon – Ginsberg’s celebration of physical pleasures and suspicions about “the military industrial complex” created a new path that still appeals to younger audiences.
“It is a powerful poem, a howl from the heart of an agonized generation in a repressive era,” Dr. Keller said.
Jalbert was familiar with the poem prior to the Pro Arte commission, but it was only after he started composing the work that he began to realize the influence Ginsberg had on the music. Those similarities had less to do with the poem’s content and more to do with its structure and rhythm, the composer said.
“At the beginning of my piece, the clarinet is basically playing long tones, creating a long line much like the long lines in Ginsberg’s poem, while the strings present the rhythmically pulsating harmonic underpinning,” Jalbert said. “Ginsberg’s poem has been called a ‘litany of praise,’ and the second movement of my work becomes a litany, much like a series of prayers in a liturgy, with the strings creating chant-like lines while the clarinet becomes the vox Dei, or “voice of God,” hovering mysteriously over everything. The third movement returns to the musical materials from the first movement, but now the bass clarinet takes on the virtuosic role.”
In keeping with emotional soundings in parts of “Howl,” Jalbert also has attempted to capture the “shrieks” that were characteristic to the poem alongside the aforementioned litany of praise.
“There are buildups to shrieking moments in my piece as well as a “howl” motive of a low chord slurred up to an immediate high cluster, all played very forcefully,” said Jalbert. “There’s also something very urban about parts of the poem and to me, there’s an urban quality in my first and third movements. There are also many religious allusions and the last words of Christ on the cross, so the second movement uses some of this.”
The Jalbert composition is the final of six commissions for the Pro Arte Centennial seasons, and it has all the earmarks of a contemporary work with staying power, according to clarinetist Neidich.
“Having studied the score, I believe that it will be accessible to listeners and exciting to hear,” said Neidich. “It features the clarinet both in the role of soloist and as contributor to the sonority of the ensemble. It has all the necessary attributes to become a significant work.”
The Jalbert commission also brings to an end the Pro Arte’s seasons of centennial celebration in honor of the quartet’s long and storied history.
The Quatuor Pro Arte of Brussels, first formed in 1911-1912, was performing quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven at the then-new Wisconsin Union Theater on the UW-Madison campus on May 10, 1940, when Belgium was overrun and occupied by Nazi forces, turning three of its original four musicians into war orphans.
By October of that year, the group had officially become the UW Pro Arte Quartet, making it the first artists ensemble-in-residence at any university in the world. At more than 100 years old, Pro Arte also is thought to be the world’s oldest continuously performing string quartet.
The Pro Arte in May traveled back to Belgium to perform the European premiere of its fifth centennial commissioned work, Belgian composer Benoît Mernier’s String Quartet No. 3. The work had received its world premiere on March 1 in Mills Concert Hall in the Mosse Humanities Building on the UW-Madison campus with the composer in attendance.
A 2-CD set (below) of the first four commissions was released last year by Albany Records. It includes two string quartets by Walter Mays and John Harbison as well as two piano quintets, one by William Bolcom and the other by Paul Schoenfield.
Tags: Albany Records, Allen Ginsberg, Ariaga, Arts, Beat, Beat poet, Beethoven, Belgium, Benoit Mernier, Cello, Chamber music, Charles Neidich, Chazen Museum of Art, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, Hitler, Howl, Jacob Stockinger, John Harbison, Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Lynn Keller, Madison, Memorial Union, Mozart, Music, Nazi, New York City, Paul Schoenfield, Pierre Jalbert, Pro Arte Quartet, quintet, Shannon Hall, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Walter Mays, WILLIAM BOLCOM, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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