The Well-Tempered Ear
Brrr! It’s time to hear the ‘Polar Vortex’ aria
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By Jacob Stockinger
We in the Upper Midwest — like much of the rest of the United States down to the Gulf of Mexico — have been treated to an Arctic gift from Canada for the next week or so.
It is called the Polar Vortex (below).
As you can see if you look closely or enlarge the diagram, the vortex has dropped way south from the North Pole, bringing with it way-below average temperatures, many of them going into the double digits below zero. And that doesn’t even include wind chill. (China has also been experiencing recording-breaking extreme cold.)
So it seemed only reasonable to see how a composer has expressed such extreme cold in a piece of vocal music — especially as the cold weather might seriously affect the Republican presidential caucuses that get started tomorrow in Iowa.
So here — complete with lyrics by the famous English writer John Dryden — is “The Cold Song” from 1691 opera “King Arthur” by the British baroque composer Henry Purcell (below), who did a terrific job of word painting and sound painting.
The Ear calls it the “Polar Vortex” aria. Officially its title is “What Power Art Thou Who From Below” and is sung by a character called The Cold Genius.
In the YouTube video below it is interpreted by the world-renowned countertenor Andreas Scholl (below) who is accompanied by the highly praised period-instrument early musical ensemble Accademia Byzantina under director Stefan Montenari.
The quivering repetitive rhythm you see in the notes duplicates shivering as a kind of extreme vibrato.
It is a literally chilling performance.
If you follow the words, the lyrics add to the sense of being stuck in a deep freeze.
How well do you think the imaginative song captures the extreme cold of The Polar Vortex?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Here are the classical music nominations for the 2017 Grammy Awards. They make a great holiday gift list of gives and gets
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By Jacob Stockinger
This posting is both a news story and a holiday gift guide of classical recordings you might like to give or get.
It features the classical music nominations for the 59th annual Grammy Awards that were just announced this past week.
As you can see, several years ago, the recording industry decided that the Grammys should put more emphasis on new music and contemporary composers as well as on less famous performers and smaller labels as well as less well-known artists and works. You don’t see any music by Bach, Beethoven or Brahms this year, although you will find music by Mozart, Handel, Schumann and Dvorak. And clearly this is not a Mahler year
The winners will be announced on a live TV broadcast on Sunday night, Feb. 12, on CBS.
BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, CLASSICAL
“Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles” — Mark Donahue & Fred Vogler, engineers (James Conlon, Guanqun Yu, Joshua Guerrero, Patricia Racette, Christopher Maltman, Lucy Schaufer, Lucas Meachem, LA Opera Chorus & Orchestra)
“Dutilleux: Sur Le Même Accord; Les Citations; Mystère De L’Instant & Timbres, Espace, Mouvement” — Alexander Lipay & Dmitriy Lipay, engineers (Ludovic Morlot, Augustin Hadelich & Seattle Symphony)
“Reflections” — Morten Lindberg, engineer (Øyvind Gimse, Geir Inge Lotsberg & Trondheimsolistene)
“Shadow of Sirius” — Silas Brown & David Frost, engineers; Silas Brown, mastering engineer (Jerry F. Junkin & the University Of Texas Wind Ensemble)
“Shostakovich: Under Stalin’s Shadow: Symphonies Nos. 5, 8 & 9” — Shawn Murphy & Nick Squire, engineers; Tim Martyn, mastering engineer (Andris Nelsons & Boston Symphony Orchestra)
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, CLASSICAL
Blanton Alspaugh
David Frost
Marina A. Ledin, Victor Ledin
Judith Sherman (pictured below with the Grammy Award she won last year. She came to Madison to record the double set of new commissions for the centennial of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet)
Robina G. Young
BEST ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE
“Bates: Works for Orchestra” — Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor (San Francisco Symphony). You can hear excerpts in the YouTube video at the bottom.
“Ibert: Orchestral Works” — Neeme Järvi, conductor (Orchestre De La Suisse Romande)
“Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 In B-Flat Major, Op. 100” — Mariss Jansons, conductor (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra)
“Rouse: Odna Zhizn; Symphonies 3 & 4; Prospero’s Rooms” — Alan Gilbert, conductor (New York Philharmonic)
“Shostakovich: Under Stalin’s Shadow – Symphonies Nos. 5, 8 & 9” (below) — Andris Nelsons, conductor (Boston Symphony Orchestra)
BEST OPERA RECORDING
“Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles” (below) — James Conlon, conductor; Joshua Guerrero, Christopher Maltman, Lucas Meachem, Patricia Racette, Lucy Schaufer & Guanqun Yu; Blanton Alspaugh, producer (LA Opera Orchestra; LA Opera Chorus)
“Handel: Giulio Cesare” — Giovanni Antonini, conductor; Cecilia Bartoli, Philippe Jaroussky, Andreas Scholl & Anne-Sofie von Otter; Samuel Theis, producer (Il Giardino Armonico)
“Higdon: Cold Mountain” — Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor; Emily Fons, Nathan Gunn, Isabel Leonard & Jay Hunter Morris; Elizabeth Ostrow, producer (The Santa Fe Opera Orchestra; Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers)
“Mozart: Le Nozze Di Figaro” — Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; Thomas Hampson, Christiane Karg, Luca Pisaroni & Sonya Yoncheva; Daniel Zalay, producer (Chamber Orchestra of Europe; Vocalensemble Rastatt)
“Szymanowski: Król Roger” — Antonio Pappano, conductor; Georgia Jarman, Mariusz Kwiecień & Saimir Pirgu; Jonathan Allen, producer (Orchestra of the Royal Opera House; Royal Opera Chorus)
BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE
“Himmelrand” — Elisabeth Holte, conductor (Marianne Reidarsdatter Eriksen, Ragnfrid Lie & Matilda Sterby; Inger-Lise Ulsrud; Uranienborg Vokalensemble)
“Janáček: Glagolitic Mass” — Edward Gardner, conductor; Håkon Matti Skrede, chorus master (Susan Bickley, Gábor Bretz, Sara Jakubiak & Stuart Skelton; Thomas Trotter; Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra; Bergen Cathedral Choir, Bergen Philharmonic Choir, Choir of Collegium Musicum & Edvard Grieg Kor)
“Lloyd: Bonhoeffer” — Donald Nally, conductor (Malavika Godbole, John Grecia, Rebecca Harris & Thomas Mesa; the Crossing; below)
“Penderecki Conducts Penderecki, Volume 1” — Krzysztof Penderecki, conductor; Henryk Wojnarowski, choir director (Nikolay Didenko, Agnieszka Rehlis & Johanna Rusanen; Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra; Warsaw Philharmonic Choir)
“Steinberg: Passion Week” — Steven Fox, conductor (The Clarion Choir)
BEST CHAMBER MUSIC/SMALL ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
“Fitelberg: Chamber Works” — ARC Ensemble
“Reflections” — Øyvind Gimse, Geir Inge Lotsberg & Trondheimsolistene
“Serious Business” — Spektral Quartet
“Steve Reich” — Third Coast Percussion (below)
“Trios From Our Homelands” — Lincoln Trio
BEST CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTAL SOLO
“Adams, J.: Scheherazade.2” — Leila Josefowicz; David Robertson, conductor (Chester Englander; St. Louis Symphony)
“Daugherty: Tales of Hemingway” — Zuill Bailey; Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor (Nashville Symphony)
“Dvořák: Violin Concerto & Romance; Suk: Fantasy” — Christian Tetzlaff; John Storgårds, conductor (Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra)
“Mozart: Keyboard Music, Vols. 8 & 9” – Kristian Bezuidenhout
“1930’s Violin Concertos, Vol. 2” – Gil Shaham; Stéphane Denève, conductor (The Knights & Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra)
BEST CLASSICAL SOLO VOCAL ALBUM
“Monteverdi” — Magdalena Kožená; Andrea Marcon, conductor (David Feldman, Michael Feyfar, Jakob Pilgram & Luca Tittoto; La Cetra Barockorchester Basel)
“Mozart: The Weber Sisters” — Sabine Devieilhe; Raphaël Pichon, conductor (Pygmalion)
“Schumann & Berg” — Dorothea Röschmann; Mitsuko Uchida, accompanist
“Shakespeare Songs” — Ian Bostridge; Antonio Pappano, accompanist (Michael Collins, Elizabeth Kenny, Lawrence Power & Adam Walker)
“Verismo” — Anna Netrebko; Antonio Pappano, conductor (Yusif Eyvazov; Coro Dell’Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia; Orchestra Dell’Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia)
BEST CLASSICAL COMPENDIUM
“Daugherty: Tales of Hemingway; American Gothic; Once Upon A Castle” — Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor; Tim Handley, producer
“Gesualdo” — Tõnu Kaljuste, conductor; Manfred Eicher, producer
“Vaughan Williams: Discoveries” — Martyn Brabbins, conductor; Andrew Walton, producer
“Wolfgang: Passing Through” — Judith Farmer & Gernot Wolfgang, producers; (Various Artists)
“Zappa: 200 Motels – The Suites” — Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor; Frank Filipetti & Gail Zappa, producers
BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION
“Bates: Anthology of Fantastic Zoology” — Mason Bates, composer (Riccardo Muti & Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
“Daugherty: Tales of Hemingway” — Michael Daugherty, composer (Zuill Bailey, Giancarlo Guerrero & Nashville Symphony)
“Higdon: Cold Mountain” — Jennifer Higdon, composer; Gene Scheer, librettist (Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Jay Hunter Morris, Emily Fons, Isabel Leonard, Nathan Gunn & the Santa Fe Opera)
“Theofanidis: Bassoon Concerto” — Christopher Theofanidis, composer (Martin Kuuskmann, Barry Jekowsky & Northwest Sinfonia)
“Winger: Conversations With Nijinsky” — C. F. Kip Winger, composer (Martin West & San Francisco Ballet Orchestra)
Tags: 59th Annual Grammy Awards, Andreas Scholl, Andris Nelsons, Anna Netrebko, Anne-Sofie von Otter, Antonín Dvořák, Antonio Pappano, Arts, Bach, ballet, Baroque, Bassoon, Beethoven, Berg, Bonhoeffer, Bonhoffer, Boston Symphony, Brahms, CBS, CBS-TV, Cecilia Bartoli, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Christian Tetzlaff, Christopher Rouse, Christopher Theofanidis, Classical music, Cold Mountain, Compact Disc, concerto, David Frost, David Robertson, Dvorak, Early music, Frank Zappa, George Frideric Handel, Gesualdo, Gil Shaham, Grammy, Grammy Award, Grammy Award for Album of the Year, Grammy Award for Record of the Year, Handel, Hemingway, Henri Dutilleux, Ian Bostridge, Ibert, Jacob Stockinger, Janacek, Jennifer Higdon, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Adams, John Corigliano, Josef Suk, Judith Sherman, Karol Szymanowski, Keyboard, Leila Josefowicz, Los Angeles, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, Manfred Eicher, Mason Bates, mass, Michael Daugherty, Michael Tilson Thomas, Mitsuko Uchida, Monteverdi, motel, Mozart, Nashville, Nathan Gunn, New York Philharmonic, Nijinsky, opera, Orchestra, Patricia Racette, Penderecki, percussion, Piano, Pro Arte Quartet, Prokofiev, Romance, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, Schumann, Seattle Symphony, Shakespeare, Shostakovich, singer, Sonata, songs, St. Louis Symphony, Stalin, Suite, symphony, tenor, The Ghosts of Versailles, The Knights, The Recording Academy, Thomas Hampson, trio, TV, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vaughan williams, Verismo, Violin, Violin concerto, vocal music, Warsaw, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, YouTube, Zuill Bailey
Classical music Q&A: Founder Dean Schroeder talks about the inaugural Handel Aria Competition at this year’s Madison Early Music Festival on Monday night, July 8.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Dean Schroeder is known primarily as a knowledgeable, helpful and amiable local businessman who, with his wife Carol “Orange” Schroeder, owns and runs Orange Tree Imports on Monroe Street.
But the Schroeders are also serious fans of classical music. They attend, participate in and sponsor many events, including the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society and the Madison Bach Musicians.
Their latest venture, though, is especially interesting: they founded the first annual Handel Aria Competition, which they hope will become an annual event at the Madison Early Music Festival that starts tomorrow, on Saturday, and runs through Friday, July 12. Given the global Handel revival in the past decade, the timing couldn’t be more perfect to build audiences for Handel and audiences for the festival.
The final round of the competition will be held on Monday night, July 8, at 7 p.m. in Mills Hall as part of the 14th annual Madison Early Music Festival. Admission is FREE and open to the public.
Here are links to a previous blog post about the festival overall, and to the festival’s own website and to a special website about the Handel aria competition:
http://continuingstudies.wisc.edu/lsa/memf/
Dean Schroeder (seen below with his wife Orange) recently talked with The Ear in an e-mail about the Handel aria contest:
How and when did you come up with the idea for the Handel aria competition?
Over the past few years, I have realized my strong affinity to Handel’s vocal music, especially the arias and duets from his many operas and oratorios.
I previously had no appreciation for opera, but one day I was driving down Monroe Street and heard, on Wisconisn Public Radio’s WERN (88.7 FM), an aria that was so delightfully melodic and lively that I had to pull over and listen. It was “Tornami a vagheggiar,” sung by Natalie Dessay (below in a different live performance in a YouTube video) on William Christie’s recording of “Alcina,” also featuring Renee Fleming and Susan Graham.
In that life-changing moment I knew I had to seek it out, and eventually found great pleasure in discovering dozens of other arias from Handel’s works. We are lucky to be in a period of revival of Handel’s music, and I’d recommend YouTube for its countless selection of arias to explore.
How will the contest be run and judged?
The judges will be tenor William Hudson (below top), soprano Ellen Hargis (below middle) and the local music critic, retired UW-Madison medieval history professor and choral singer John W. Barker (below bottom).
The first two are regulars on the Madison Early Music Festival’s faculty, and will be performing in the week’s concerts as well.
The three will have to coordinate on the criteria, applying their expertise to determine the standards they will use to judge. They will determine the top three prizes, which are cash.
The audience will get to vote via ballot for their favorite. This winner will get a free ticket for tuition to the Early Music Festival next year.
Why did you want to create such a contest? Do you think it will expand the audience for the Madison Early music Festival?
About a year ago, I learned of the annual Handel aria competition in London, which is part of a month-long celebration of Handel (below). Thanks to Paul and Cheryl Rowe, we have been able to create our own competition to encourage young singers as part of the annual Madison Early Music Festival.
They have generously welcomed the idea and worked to make it happen, and I believe it will result in additional interest and enthusiasm for the Festival in the coming years. We were delighted to have almost 50 singers audition this year, and anticipate an increase in future years.
Do you yourselves have a favorite Handel aria or favorite Handel arias? Do you have favorite performers of those arias you could recommend recordings of?
A few years back I was lucky to attend the Lyric Opera’s production of Handel’s “Hercules,” conducted by Harry Bicket. He brought with him a soprano, for a supporting role, who stunned the audience with her gorgeous voice: Lucy Crowe (below).
Her latest recording project, Handel’s “Il pastor fido,” is one that I am highly recommending for the talent of the young singers and musicians, as well as the sonic beauty of the performance space: the Temple Church in London. (There is also an interesting YouTube video of the making of the recording:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVRZzt90SNw
In addition to those singers mentioned, I really enjoy hearing Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels (below), Ian Bostridge, Andreas Scholl, Mark Padmore, Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson, Sandrine Piau, Maite Beaumont … the list is long and growing larger! A good starting CD might be Harmonia Mundi’s CD box “Handel: Famous Arias.”
Is there anything else you would like to say or add?
I’ve been taking singing lessons from Ben Luedcke (below) for about four years, and have been in all three of his choirs: Madison Choral Arts Society, UW Men’s Choir and Madison Summer Choir (the latter two he founded).
I’m a tenor, and the Handel I’ve attempted includes: “As Steals the Morn” (a gorgeous duet, sung by Ian Bostridge and Lynne Dawson in a YouTube video at the bottom); “Waft Her, Angels” (a plaintive aria from the oratorio “Jeptha,” which we just saw in Boston by the Handel and Haydn Society and which will be sung by our tenor on Monday); AND I’ve sung the soprano part an octave down in these duets: “Io t’abbraccio” and “Son nata a lagrimar” (the lament from “Giulio Cesare”) … I love the duets, and it works surprisingly well to “flip” parts!
Handel was a master of every voice range and expresses a wide range of emotions. His arias are very approachable and engaging, and many are extremely moving. It is so good to see the increase in appreciation for Handel’s genius, beyond just “Messiah,” (which everyone knows and loves). I loved the Madison Opera’s and John DeMain’s production of “Acis and Galatea,” and look forward to more local productions of Handel, including the University Opera’s upcoming presentation of “Ariodante” on October 25–29.
http://www.music.wisc.edu/opera
Along with hearing more Handel, I hope more people will try singing his gorgeous arias and duets. I’ve only been singing a few years, but have attempted a few of them with credible results. They are not beyond the average singer, and they are greatly satisfying to sing.
Tags: Andreas Scholl, aria, Early music, Ellen Hargis, George Frideric Handel, Handel, Harry Bicket, Ian Bostridge, John DeMain, Joyce DiDonato, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Lucy Crowe, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Opera, Mark Padmore, Natalie Dessay, opera, oratorio, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Temple Church, University of Wisconsin–Madison, William Christie, wisconsin public radio, YouTube
Classical music: The Madison Early Music Festival sees its reputation continue to expand. It is the only Madison-area event listed in NPR’s latest guide to classical music festivals for this summer. Check out other music festivals all around the U.S. And if you can, help WYSO meet its fundraising goal at the end of its fiscal year today.
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ALERT: It has been a good year for the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO), both artistically and financially. But with the fiscal year deadline of June 30 looming, WYSO is nonetheless falling short of its $97,000 funding goal by $6,655, according to WYSO executive director Bridget Fraser. This exceptionally worthy organization that builds both musicians (below) and audiences through lifelong learning needs your help. If you can help, in whatever amount, WYSO to meet its goal, please visit the following link and make an on-line donation by the end of Sunday:
http://wyso.music.wisc.edu/support-wyso/
By Jacob Stockinger
The past two weeks, I have written various posts about how the summer season is now almost as busy as the regular concert season in Madison.
Here is yet another proof.
One summer festival made it into NPR’s nationwide round-up of summer classical music festivals for 2013.
It wasn’t the three-weekend run in June of the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society. And it wasn’t the two-week Token Creek Chamber Music Festival in late August.
This year, what NRP included is the six-day 14th annual Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF), which will be held from Saturday, July 6, through Friday, July 12. It has the theme of the “German Renaissance.”
The MEMF features some outstanding groups including the Renaissance band Piffaro (below top), the Calmus Ensemble of Leipzig (below middle), the Dark Horse Consort and the viol-consort Parthenia (below bottom).
Here is a link to the festival homepage with links to specific concerts, workshops and lectures including the inaugural Handel aria competition on Monday, June 8. (At bottom s a YouTube video with countertenor Andreas Scholl singing the most frequently heard video of a Handel aria on YouTube. Can you guess which one? Do you think it will be sung in the MEMF competition?)
http://continuingstudies.wisc.edu/lsa/memf/
Of course you can also get to the MEMF site by clicking on the name in the NPR listing. Here is a link to that round-up, which might prove especially helpful if you plan on traveling this summer and want to hear some love classical music in the East (Mostly Mozart Festival), Midwest, South, Southwest and West:
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