The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Mosaic Chamber Players perform an all-Schubert concert on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, Opera Props presents singers in a benefit concert to support the opera program at the UW-Madison
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ALERT: On this Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m., in the Madison Christian Community Church at 7118 Old Sauk Road on Madison’s far west side, Opera Props will present a benefit concert to raise money for the UW-Madison’s opera program and University Opera.
Student singers and piano accompanist Daniel Fung will perform arias and songs. But the spotlight will shine on University of Wisconsin-Madison alumna soprano Julia Rottmayer, who is a new faculty member at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. (Sorry, no specific program is given and no names of composers and works are mentioned.)
Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door with student tickets costing $10. Tickets include a reception with local Gail Ambrosius chocolate, fruit, cheese and wine. For more information, go to: https://www.uwoperaprops.org
By Jacob Stockinger
Why is The Ear increasingly drawn to the music of Franz Schubert (below) over, say, the music of his contemporary and idol Ludwig van Beethoven? It seems to be more than its sheer beauty and lyricism. It also seems to possess a certain warmth or human quality that he finds irresistible, poignant and restorative, especially if it is true, as the Buddha said, life is suffering.
In any case, The Ear is not alone.
The Madison-based Mosaic Chamber Players (below, in a photo by John W. Barker) will open their new and ambitious season this coming Saturday night with a concert of music by Franz Schubert.
The all-Schubert concert is at 7:30 p.m. in the chapel of the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, near Camp Randall Stadium — NOT at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, as was incorrectly stated earlier in this blog post.
The program includes two Sonatinas for Violin and Piano in D Major, D. 384, and A minor, D. 385; the famous “Arpeggione” Sonata, D. 821, performed on the cello with piano; and the lovely and songful Adagio or “Notturno” (Nocturne) for Piano Trio, D. 897, which you can hear with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Daniil Trifonov, in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Tickets cost $15 for adults; $10 for seniors; and $5 for students. Cash and checks only will be accepted; no credit cards.
Members of the Mosaic Chamber Players are: founder and pianist Jess Salek (below top); violinist Wes Luke (below second), who plays with the Ancora String Quartet and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; violinist Laura Burns (below third), who also plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the MSO’s Rhapsodie String Quartet; and cellist Kyle Price (below bottom), who founded the Caroga Lake Music Festival in New York State and is pursuing his doctoral degree at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music with distinction and who was a member of the graduate student Hunt Quartet while he studied for his master’s.
A reception will follow the concert.
For more information about the Mosaic Chamber Players and about their new season, which includes some very varied composers but no specific titles of works, go to: http://www.mosaicchamberplayers.com
What do you find so appealing and so special about the music of Schubert?
What is your favorite Schubert work?
Leave your thoughts in the COMMENT section with a link, if possible, to a YouTube video performance.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AncoraStringQuartet, #Anne-SophieMutter, #ArpeggioneSonata, #BenefitConcert, #CampRandallStadium, #CarogaLakeMusicFestival, #ChamberMusic, #ChristianChurch, #Classicalera, #ConcertSeason, #DanielFung, #DaniilTrifonov, #DoctoralDegree, #FirstCongregationalUnitedChurchofChrist, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FranzSchubert, #GailAmbrosius, #HumanQuality, #HuntQuartet, #JessSalek, #JesusChrist, #JuliaRottmayer, #LauraBurns, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonChristianCommunityChurch, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #Master'sDegree, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MosaicChamberPlayers, #MusicFestival, #NewSeason, #NewYork, #NewYorkState, #OperaArias, #OperaProps, #PianoAccompanist, #PianoTrio, #RhapsodieStringQuartet, #RomanticComposer, #SaturdayNight, #StringQuartet, #Sundayafternoon, #TheBuddha, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #UWAlumni, #ViolinMusic, #WesLuke, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #YouTubevideo, admission, alumna, alumni, Ancora String Quartet, Anne-Sophie Mutter, aria, Arpeggione, Arpeggione sonata, Arts, beauty, Beethoven, Buddha, Camp Randall Stadium, Caroga Lake Music Festival, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chapel, cheese, chocolate, Christian, Classical music, community, Compact Disc, composer, Daniel Fung, Daniil Trifonov, doctoral, favorite, First Congregational United Church of Christ, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Franz Schubert, fruit, Gail Ambrosius, graduate student, human, Hunt Quartet, irresistible, Jacob Stockinger, Jess Salek, Julia Rottmayer, Laura Burns, life, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyricism, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, master's, Mead Witter School of Music, Mosaic Chamber Players, Music, Music festival, name, new season, New York, New York State, nocturne, Notturno, opera, Opera Props, Orchestra, Pianist, Piano, Piano Trio, poignant, program, reception, restorative, Romantic composer, Saturday night, Schubert, Season, singer, Sonata, sonatina, song, soprano, spotlight, String quartet, Student, suffering, Sunday afternoon, symphony, thought, ticket, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, Violin, violinist, Wes Luke, west side, Wine, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: Should the Madison Symphony Orchestra return to a traditional Opening Gala concert with a guest soloist and big pieces, and move the all-orchestra concert to a later date?
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By Jacob Stockinger
You can’t blame longtime music director and conductor John DeMain (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) for wanting to put the spotlight on the players of the Madison Symphony Orchestra that he has built up over nearly 25 years.
After all, the orchestra members play well and respond superbly to DeMain’s direction, no matter what you might think of his programming and interpretations. He is proud of them with good reason.
So The Ear can easily understand why for the past few years DeMain has chosen to use an all-orchestra concert, with its principals taking the place of guest soloists, to open the season.
Yet DeMain also likes to emphasize the challenges he faces in selling tickets, filling seats and keeping the MSO a commercially successful orchestra.
The Ear noticed that this year, the all-orchestra opening concert of works by Bach-Stokowski, Mendelssohn and Berlioz, with principal violist Christopher Dozoryst as soloist, seemed to draw a smaller and less enthusiastic audience than the second concert did last weekend.
That second concert included the “Mother Goose” Suite by Ravel, the surefire “New World” Symphony by Dvorak and the Piano Concerto by Samuel Barber with guest pianist Olga Kern (below). The audience wildly cheered her and her flashy, virtuosic playing until it received an encore (the Prokofiev etude heard in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
So the question came to The Ear:
Should the MSO return to a traditional Gala Opening, with a surefire program and a high-profile guest soloist, and leave the all-orchestra concert until the second concert of the season?
The Ear checked out what other orchestras do.
This year, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra opened with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. The Los Angeles Philharmonic opened with a gala program that featured pianists Yuja Wang and Jean-Yves Thibaudet teaming up in an all-Mozart program. The San Francisco Orchestra featured superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
The Philadelphia Orchestra programmed pianist Emanuel Ax and the music of Beethoven, Brahms and Leonard Bernstein, whose centennial is being celebrated this season. The Boston Symphony Orchestra opened with Frederica von Stade, plus other singers, in an all-Bernstein program.
True, the Sheboygan Symphony also used the all-orchestra opener, and The Ear is sure there are many other orchestras, including some prominent ones, that do the same.
But it got The Ear to wondering. So he asked some other loyal MSO fans what they thought about returning to a traditional Gala Opening – one that announces to potential subscribers that great soloists will be featured during the season – and then moving the all-orchestra concert to a different date.
All the people he spoke to agreed that such a move would probably draw bigger audiences and capture the public’s attention better. One loyal patron even said that by going to the all-orchestra opening, the MSO (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) was “just being cheap.”
Plans are probably already being made for next season, so it is likely too late to make any changes that soon.
But what about the 2018-19 season?
What do you think?
Should the Madison Symphony Orchestra return to a traditional Gala Opening that features big-name soloists and well-known pieces?
Should it move the all-orchestra concert with principal soloists to, say, the second concert of the season?
Or should things stay the way they are?
Which way do you think would be more commercially successful and sell more seats for that concert and for the rest of the season?
And which way would be more artistically satisfying?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Today is Super Bowl Sunday, so The Ear asks: Who are the winners and champions in the concert hall? Here are the most popular pieces, composers and soloists. Plus, on Tuesday night, violist Elias Goldstein returns to perform Paganini’s fiendish Caprices in a FREE recital
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ALERT: The Ear has received the following note from University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music viola professor Sally Chisholm, who also plays with the Pro Arte Quartet: “Elias Goldstein, who has a doctorate from UW-Madison (2011) and was a Collins Fellow, is playing a concert of all 24 Caprices, originally composed for solo violin by Niccolo Paganini, on VIOLA this Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Hall. Admission is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
“On March 9, he will perform this program at Carnegie Hall in New York City, as the first violist ever to perform all 24 Caprices in one concert. This is such a feat that it is difficult to believe one of our own is accomplishing it. I was with him in Krakow, Poland when he performed 6 of them. He got standing ovations. He is professor of viola at Louisiana State University, won top prizes at the Primrose International Viola Competition and the Yuri Bashmet Viola Competition in Moscow in 2011.”
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is the 50th Super Bowl of the NFL, and will be played by the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos in the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, near San Francisco.
It starts at 5:30 p.m. CST.
Lady Gaga will sing the national anthem. Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars will perform in the half-time show. The Super Bowl will be broadcast live on CBS-TV.
So, one might ask in a society that loves competition, what constitutes The Super Bowl of classical music?
It is a source of endless discussion and often disagreement.
What classical music is the most mainstream, if not best?
Who are the big winners and champions in the concert hall?
A survey, compiled by a student at the UW-Milwaukee, of the most popular or frequently performed composers, works and soloists was recently conducted by the League of American Orchestras. The rest are for the 2010-11 season.
The No. 1 work is a YouTube video at the bottom. It is the Symphony No. 1 in C Minor by Johannes Brahms and is performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under its late music director and conductor Sir George Solti.
And on March 11, 12 and 13 the Madison Symphony Orchestra hosts TWO of the Top 10 winners: Pianist Emanuel Ax performing the Piano Concerto No. 4 by Ludwig van Beethoven. (The Symphony No. 4 by Gustav Mahler completes the program.)
Here is a link to the complete results along with the method used to gather data:
http://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2014/04/08/league-american-orchestras-performance-data
See what you think and leave a COMMENT.
Do they match up with your preferences and your choices of favorites?
In your opinion, what makes them so popular?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Aaron Jay Kernis, Adam Schoenberg, Amy Kaiser, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Arts, Beethoven, Berlioz, Beyonce, Brahms, Bruno Mars, Caprice, Carnegie Hall, Carolina Panthers, CBS-TV, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, choral music, Christopher Theofanidis, Classical music, Coldplay, concert hall, concerto, data, Dawn Upshaw, Denver Broncos, Dvorak, Emanuel Ax, football, Gil Shaham, Jacob Stockinger, Jennifer Higdoj, Jennifer Higdon, Joan Tower, John Adams, Karita Mattila, Kraków, Lady Gaga, Liszt, Louisiana State University, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mahler, Michael Daughtery, Michael Gandolfi, Minnesota Public Radio, Moscow, Mozart, Music, Mussorgsky, New York City, NFL, Orchestra, Paganini, Peter Serkin, Philip Glass, Piano, Piano concerto, Pinchas Zukerman, Poland, Primrose International Viola Competition, Pro Arte Quartet, professional football, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Sally Chisholm, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Sibelius, Sir Georg Solti, Sir George Solti, Steve Mackey, Stravinsky, Super Bowl, Super Bowl 50, survey, symphony, Tchaikovsky, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, William Primrose, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Yefim Bronfman, YouTube, Yuri Bashmet, Yuri Bashmet Viola Competition
Classical music: Boston Symphony’s outdoor festival Tanglewood marks 75 years by repeating the inaugural program. Also, the festival’s gala concert marking the 75th anniversary will be broadcast on PBS.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Outdoor classical music festivals were not always as popular and commonplace as they are today.
In fact, the granddaddy of them all is Tanglewood — named after writer Nathaniel Hawthorne‘s nearby cottage — that is held in Massachusetts in the Berkshire Mountains by the venerable Boston Symphony Orchestra. BSO conductor Serge Koussevitsky started it with an all-Beethoven program, which included the beloved and appropriate Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale,” in 1937.
How fitting, then, was it for conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi (below, in a photo by Hilary Scott for the Boston Symphony) on July 6 to re-create that inaugural all-Beethoven program for the opening on July 6 of Tanglewood’s 75th anniversary season. (You can hear it via streaming from a link of the NPR blog listed below.)
Another gala concert, performed last night, July 14, to mark the 75th anniversary of Tanglewood — with three orchestras, five conductors and five guest soloists including cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Emanuel Ax — was videotaped for later broadcast on PBS as part of its “Great Performances” series.
(The all-Beethoven concert was NOT taped for TV broadcast, contrary to what it first said here. I apologize for the error.) The gala concert is slated to air at 8 p.m. EDT on Friday, August 10, though you should check your local PBS listings and schedules. (In Wisconsin, the CDT time is 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. — a terrible time that guarantees almost no audience! So much for Wisconsin Public Television‘s much-hyped “Summer of the Arts” programming.) You will also be able to also stream both the July 6 all-Beethoven concert and the July 14 gala concert via Wisconsin Public Radio or via WGBH in Boston, below:
All of WGBH’ Boston Symphony on-demand content can be found at:
In addition, it featured some music by composer John Harbison, who is also known to Madison-area fans as the co-director of the upcoming Token Creek Chamber Music Festival.
Here is a link to the story about Tanglewood’s great history and great music now located on NPR’s “Deceptive Cadence” blog. Enjoy!
Also be sure to check out some extra links, including a photo essay of 75 years at Tanglewood, at the bottom of the story.
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: Famed radio station WQXR names the best 100 recordings of 2019. Listen to samples of them here
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By Jacob Stockinger
Did you get a gift card for the holidays?
Are you looking how to spend it by either purchasing CDs or subscribing to a streaming service?
Help and guidance are available.
Few names in the airing of classical music carry more prestige than the famed radio station WQXR in New York City.
To check out the radio station’s choice of the best recordings of 2019 is also to see where the worlds of recording and concertizing are heading.
Such trends include rediscovering neglected composers and championing new music as well as women composers, such as Clara Schumann, and composers of color, such as the American composer Florence Price (below), who has often been featured on Wisconsin Public Radio this past year.
But you will also find noteworthy recordings of such classics as Johann Sebastian Bach – and two of his rarely heard cousins instead of his sons – and well as outstanding recordings of symphonies and piano sonatas (below, the set by Igor Levit) for the upcoming Beethoven Year to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of the composer.
And you will also find names of outstanding performers you may not have heard of — such as the exceptional Chinese pianist Haochen Zhang (below), a Van Cliburn Competition gold medalist whom The Ear would like to see perform here.
Here is a link to 25 picks with commentaries– plus another 75 titles and samples, without commentary, to round out a Top 100.
Happy listening!
https://www.wqxr.org/story/best-classical-recordings-2019/
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