The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Oakwood Chamber Players will play music by Russian, British, Canadian and American composers this Saturday night and Sunday afternoon
1 Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
ALERT: If you attend the concert by the Cuarteto Casals tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Shannon Hall of the Wisconsin Union Theater, you night want to read local writer and amateur cellist Paul Baker’s interview with the Chicago-born violist who analyzes the interpretation of each piece on the program. Here is a link to Baker’s blog “Only Strings” where you can find the interview: https://onlystringswsum.wordpress.com/author/pbaker/
For more information about the group and the concert, go to yesterday’s post: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2019/02/28/classical-music-this-friday-night-the-wisconsin-union-theater-presents-a-world-class-spanish-string-quartet-and-will-also-announce-the-special-programs-for-its-centennial-anniversary-next-season/
By Jacob Stockinger
This coming weekend, the Oakwood Chamber Players (below) continue their season theme of Vignettes with compositions that depict concepts and stories.
The program includes dances from Panama, a string quartet from Russia and interpretation of the natural world woven into a composition by an American composer.
Performances will take place Saturday night, March 2, at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, March 3, at 2 p.m. Both concerts will be held at the Oakwood Center for Arts and Education, 6209 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side not far from West Towne Mall.
Tickets can be purchased with cash or personal checks at the door: $25 for general admission, $20 for seniors, and $5 for students. Visit www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com or call (608) 230-4316 for more information.
Five Novelettes for string quartet by Russian composer Alexander Glazunov (below) showcase the composer’s imagination and romantic writing. From the opening elegance in the Spanish style to the spirited Hungarian character in the finale, each of the five contrasting movements is graceful and captivating.
Red Hills Black Birds was composed by American composer Libby Larsen (below) for clarinet, viola and piano after she viewed contrasting paintings of New Mexico by Georgia O’Keeffe. Many of O’Keeffe’s works embody a sense of perspective, color and horizon. Larsen’s music uses her impressions of O’Keeffe’s art as her compositional focus. She reimagines six paintings of the southwest and shapes her composition to concepts of breadth and timelessness.
Dash for flute, clarinet and piano by American composer Jennifer Higdon (below) is a riotous musical chase. The composer chose these three instruments specifically for their capability of velocity. The unrelenting pulse creates a breath-taking technical sprint for the players.
O Albion by British composer Thomas Adès (below) is excerpted from his string quartet Arcadiana. The music has an ethereal quality and mesmerizes with its slow beauty and simplicity. (You can hear “O Albion” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Trio for flute, clarinet and bassoon is an upbeat piece written by Canadian composer, bassoonist and jazz pianist Bill Douglas. His writing brings together both classical and jazz influences.
The concert concludes with Danzas de Panama by William Grant Still (below) for string quintet and flute. A noted 20th century African-American composer, Still based this piece on Panamanian folk tunes collected in the 1920s. He used the lushness of the songs and compelling rhythms with great success. He was a talented orchestrator and it is hard to resist the panache and charm of the four movements: Taborita, Mejorana, Punto and Cumbia y Conga.
Oakwood Chamber Players members are Marilyn Chohaney, flute; Nancy Mackenzie, clarinet; Amanda Szyczs, bassoon; and Maggie Townsend, cello. They will be joined by guest artists Elspeth Stalter-Clouse, violin; Ariel Garcia, viola; Brad Townsend, bass; and Satoko Hayami, piano.
This is the fourth of five concerts in the Oakwood Chamber Players’ 2018-2019 season series entitled Vignettes. Remaining concerts will take place on May 18 and 19.
The Oakwood Chamber Players are a group of Madison-area professional musicians who have rehearsed and performed at Oakwood Village for over 30 years. They have also played in other local groups, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Oakwood Chamber Players is a professional music ensemble proudly supported by Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries and the Oakwood Foundation.
Tags: #African-AmericanComposer, #AlexanderGlazunov, #AmateurMusician, #AmericanComposer, #Bassmusic, #BassoonMusic, #BillDouglas, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BritishComposer, #CanadianComposer, #CelloMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChicagoIllinois, #ChristianReligion, #ClarinetMusic, #CuartetoCasals, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FluteMusic, #FolkDance, #FolkTune, #JazzPianist, #JenniferHigdon, #LibbyLarsen, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicalInterpretation, #MusicEnsemble, #NaturalWorld, #NewMexico, #OakwoodChamberPlayers, #OakwoodVillage, #OakwoodVillageWest, #OnlyStrings, #PanamaDances, #PaulBaker, #PersonalCheck, #PianoMusic, #RedHillsBlackBirds, #RomanticMusic, #RussianComposer, #SaturdayNight, #SeniorCitizen, #StringQuartet, #StringQuintet, #Sundayafternoon, #TheSouthwest, #ThomasAdès, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViolaMusic, #ViolinMusic, #WestSide, #WestTowneMall, #WilliamGrantStill, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #YouTubevideo, admission, African American, afternoon, Albion, Alexander Glazunov, amateur, American composer, Arcadiana, Art, Arts, audience, bass, Bassoon, beauty, Bill Douglas, bird, black, blo, breadth, Canada, Canadian, captivating, cash, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, character, charm, chase, Chicago, Christian, clarinet, Classical music, color, compelling, composer, Composition, concept, Concert, contrast, Cuarteto Casals, dance, dances, DASH, depict, Education, elegance, ethereal, Facebook, finale, five, flute, Focus, folk tune, forward, graceful, hill, horizon, Hungarian, imagination, impressions, influence, information, instrument, interpretation, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, like, link, lushness, Lutheran, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mead Witter School of Music, members, mesmerizes, ministries, ministry, movement, Music, Musical composition, natural world, New Mexico, night, novelette, Oakwood Chamber Players, Oakwood Village, Oakwood Village West, Only Strings, opening, orchestrator, paintings, panache, Panama, Panamanian, Paul Baker, performer, personal check, perspective, Pianist, Piano, players, post, posting, professional, program, Pulse, quality, quintet, red, Red Hills Black Birds, Religion, rhythm, riotous, Romantic, Russian, Russian composer, Saturday, Season, senior, sense, shape, share, simplicity, slow, song, southwest, Spanish, sprint, story, String quartet, string quintet, Student, success, Sunday, tag, technical, theme, Thomas Ades, tickets, timelessness, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unrelenting, velocity, vignette, Viola, Violin, weekend, west, west side, West Towne Mall, William Grant Still, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, word, woven, writing, YouTube
Classical music: The Token Creek Festival will “harvest” gardens of music from next Saturday through Sept. 2
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The summer season for classical music in Madison has gotten busier and busier. But the summer still ends on the same high note — the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival that is co-directed by John Harbison and Rose Mary Harbison.
Here is the announcement about this year’s festival, the 29th, that begins this coming weekend:
“The late-summer garden inspires the 2018 season theme of “Harvest” at this year’s Token Creek Chamber Music Festival.
“Both garden and festival share much in common: risk, patience, experimentation, disappointment, and finally amazement that a piece —whether a piece of ground or a piece of music — is capable of such nourishment, abundance and variety.
“In the musicians’ garden, with its unpredictability and surprise, there is always the hope of reducing the variables — but they persist, and the richness of choice, the endlessness of the resources we inherit drive us to continue to create.
“One of the advantages of our season title is that it implies a summing up, a reaping of things planted, but of a kind that can occur each year,” writes co-artistic director and composer John Harbison (below). “Each planting retains certain elements and adjusts others with the hope of increased productivity. But so many of the adjustments made in hope of improvement do not work, but create new problems, require new approaches. What a fine analogy for the making of art.”
Here are this year’s Concert Programs. Please note something new this year: All weekend concerts start at 4 p.m.
Program I: ROOTS – Music of Bach and Primosch. On Saturday, Aug. 25, at 4 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 26, at 4 p.m.
“Continuing our ongoing exploration of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (below top) in cantatas and instrumental works, and its reflection in the music of James Primosch (below bottom), one of the few composers in our time able to grasp both the possibilities and responsibilities available in sacred music in a tradition inherited from Bach.”
Program II: NEW GROWTH – The Kepler Quartet (below, with composer Ben Johnston, and playing Johnston’s String Quartet No. 7 in the YouTube video at the bottom) on Wednesday, Aug. 29, at 7:30 p.m.
“A recital of beautifully alluring micro-tonal music “in between the notes.” The attractive and intelligible musical surface, and our experience hearing it, belies the at-times complex compositional methods.
“We are impressed by the pure pleasure of hearing tones combining differently but convincingly. The recital will be augmented with a demonstration and discussion by the Keplers.
Works are by Ben Johnston, Stefano Scodanibbio (below top), Henry Cowell (below middle) and Harry Partch (below bottom).”
Program III: CORNUCOPIA – Saturday, Sept. 1, at 4 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 2, at 4 p.m.
“Schumann’s beloved and timeless song cycle “Dichterliebe” (A Poet’s Love) with tenor Frank Kelley (below) and his impassioned, enigmatic and exuberant Piano Trio in D minor anchor this program.
“The program also includes the Violin Sonata in G Major, K. 301, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Piano Sonata in E Major by Franz Joseph Haydn sonatas and the world premiere of John Harbison’s new song cycle, “In Early Evening,” to poems by Louise Gluck.”
The ARTISTS are Mark Bridges, cello; Laura Burns, violin; Ryne Cherry, baritone; Ross Gilliland, bass; John Harbison, portative organ and piano; Rose Mary Harbison, violin; Frank Kelley, tenor; The Kepler Quartet; Karl Lavine, cello; Sharan Leventhal, violin; Jennifer Paulson, viola; James Primosch, piano; Brek Renzelman, viola; Eric Segnitz, violin; Janice Weber, piano; and Sarah Yanovitch, soprano.
Performances take place in the Festival Barn (below top and bottom), on Highway 19 near the hamlet of Token Creek (10 minutes north of Madison, near Sun Prairie).
The charming and rustic venue — indoors and air-conditioned, with modern comforts — is invitingly small; early reservations are recommended, and casual dress is suggested. Ample parking is available.
Tickets are $12-$32, and can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/token-creek-festival-2018-harvest-tickets-47217166817
For more information about the performers and specific works on programs, call (608) 241-2525 or go to www.tokencreekfestival.org
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The Token Creek Festival has been called “ferociously interesting and important, an ideal musical experience, a treasure nestled in the heart of Wisconsin cornfields.” (Photo below is by Jess Anderson.)
“Now in its 29th season, this late-summer series near Madison is known for its artistic excellence, diverse and imaginative programming; a deep engagement with the audience; and a surprising, enchanting and intimate performance venue in a comfortable refurbished barn.”
Tags: #AirConditioning, #APoet'sLove, #APoet'sLoves, #ArtisticDirector, #Bassmusic, #BenJohnston, #CelloMusic, #ChamberEnsemble, #ChamberMusic, #CreatingArt, #DMinor, #FrankKelley, #FranzJosephHaydn, #HarryPartch, #HenryCowell, #HighNote, #InstrumentalMusic, #JamesPrimosch, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnHarbison, #KeplerQuartet, #LateSummer, #LivingComposer, #MicroTonalMusic, #NewMusic, #PianoSonata, #PianoTrio, #PieceofMusic, #PortativeOrgan, #RobertSchumann, #RoseMaryHarbison, #SacredMusic, #SongCycle, #StefanoScodanibbio, #StringQuartet, #SummerGarden, #SummerSeason, #SunPrairie, #TokenCreek, #TokenCreekChamberMusicFestival, #TokenCreekFestival, #ViolinMusic, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WorldPremiere, #YouTubevideo, A Poet's Love, A Poet's Loves, abundance, afternoon, air conditioning, amazement, Art, Arts, August, Bach, baritone, barn, Baroque, Ben Johnston, Cantata, Cello, Chamber music, charm, charming, choice, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, Compact Disc, complex, composer, Composition, cornfield, create, creating art, Creation, D minor, demonstration, Dichterliebe, discussion, elements, enchanting, experience, experiment, experimentation, festival, Frank Kelley, Franz Joseph Haydn, Garden, ground, grou[, growth, harvest, Henry Cowell, hope, indoors, instrumental, intimate, Jacob Stockinger, James Primosch, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Harbison, Kepler Quartet, late summer, Living composer, living composers, Louise Gluck, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, making, method, micro-tonal, microtonality, Mozart, Music, Musician, new, New Music, night, note, nourishment, patience, performance, Piano, Piano sonata, Piano Trio, piece, planting, poem, Poetry, possibility, premiere, problem, reaping, resources, responsibility, risk, Robert Schumann, roots, Rose Mary Harbison, rustic, sacred, sacred music, Saturday, September, singer, Singing, Sonata, soprano, Stefano Scodanibbio, String quartet, summer, Sun Prairie, Sunday, surpising, tenor, theme, ticket, Token Creek, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, Token Creek Festival, tradition, treasure, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unpredictability, unpredictable, variables, variety, venue, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wednesday, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, works, world, world premiere, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | samanthacrownoversbc… on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Polly Kuelbs on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
| welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 