The Well-Tempered Ear
YOU MUST HEAR THIS: No piece captures the mixed emotions of Memorial Day better than Charles Ives’ “Decoration Day”
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Memorial Day, 2022.
It is the annual holiday to remember those who died in military service to the country. (Below are flags placed each year at the tombstones in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.)
If you want to honor survivors and current service members, that would be Veterans Day on Nov. 11.
All weekend long the radio has been playing music and the television has been showing war movies.
A lot of the music is familiar and repeated every year: Sousa marches and Morton Gould suites, elegies by Gustav Mahler, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein; requiems by Mozart and Fauré; a hymn by John Williams and other movie scores. This year has also seen the playlist include rediscovered works of homage by African-American composers such as William Grant Still.
But only this year did The Ear finally hear — thanks to Wisconsin Public Radio — the one piece that, to his mind, best captures Memorial Day with its blending of consonance and dissonance, its mix of major and major keys, of familiar or “found” music and original music.
It is called, simply, “Decoration Day” and it was composed in 1912 — but not published until 1989 — by the 20th-century iconoclastic and early modernist American composer Charles Ives (below, 1874-1954). It ended up as part of a work the composer called “A Symphony: New England Hollidays.”
See if you agree with The Ear.
Listen to the 8-minute performance by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Listen to the deep anguish and and sense of loss conveyed in the opening, when a solemn remembrance procession goes to a cemetery to plant flags and lay flowers and wreaths to “decorate” the graves of the fallen.
Listen carefully and you will hear a faint version of “Taps” and ringing church bells in the atmospheric music.
Then as so often happens in reality, life suddenly intrudes in the form of a celebration by a loud marching brass band as it leaves the cemetery for the celebratory marches, picnics and fireworks.
But at the end, the darkness briefly returns. The sense of loss lingers long after the actual death and long after the holiday has been celebrated.
There is no closure.
Just resignation.
Just living with loss.
Here is the background from Wikipedia about how the holiday started as Decoration Day after the Civil War and when it evolved into Memorial Day in 1970: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
And here is biographical background, with the actual sources and depictions of “Decoration Day” — just go down the page to compositions and click — about Charles Ives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ives
Did you know and like Charles Ives’ music?
Does “Decoration Day” impress or move you?
What music most embodies Memorial Day for you?
The Ear wants to hear.
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New York Times critics name their Top 10 online concerts in April. They start today with a Good Friday performance of Bach’s “St. John Passion.”
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By Jacob Stockinger
More people are getting COVID vaccines, but concerts will remain virtual and online for quite a while yet, especially if a fourth wave or another spike hits the U.S. and the world.
So here, once again, are the Top 10 online choices for April listening picked by the classical music critics for The New York Times.
This being the weekend of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, it couldn’t be more timely.
The first choice, which starts steaming today, is perfect for both occasions. It is a production of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St. John Passion.” It is conducted by THE Bach performers – the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque soloists, all conducted by Bach expert John Eliot Gardiner.
Gardiner has recorded and toured the world with Bach’s cantatas and oratorios. He also wrote the well criticially acclaimed book “Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven.”
If you like Bach, you are in for some good listening this month. Pianist Jeremy Denk (below) will also perform the complete first book of Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier” at the end of the month. (You can hear the famous first prelude, popular with students and amateurs but also used in a sacred setting by Schubert and Gounod, in the Youtube video at the bottom.)
You may recall that Denk performed Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” several years ago at the Wisconsin Union Theater, which also hosted an online concert by Denk this season in a program of Brahms and the two Schumann’s – Robert and Clara.
You can also hear chamber music, including a concert of contemporary composers by the Attacca Quartet.
And there is a period performance of “Pelleas and Melisande” by Debussy (below). It will attempt to recreate how the opera score sounded when it was first performed in 1902.
The ever-inventive music educator Leon Botstein will conduct a concert of music by Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein and Tania Leon.
German baritone Benjamin Appl will perform the famous song cycle “Die Schöne Müllerin” (The Beautiful Miller’s Daughter) by Franz Schubert. It streams from the faned Wigmore Hall in London.
One of the most intriguing choices is the score to Philip Glass’ “pocket opera” based on the short story “In the Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka.
The well-known conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen (below), who is also the new music director of the San Francisco Symphony after Michael Tilson Thomas retired last year. Much of the program is Salonen’s own music, along with Minimalist music by Steve Reich and Terry Riley.
There are also “Monumental Trios, featuring piano trios by Brahms and Beethoven, performed by members of the Chamber Music of Society.
And of course there will be a world premiere of the Symphony No. 2 by Huw Watkins (below is his Wikipedia bio with a photo in case you haven’t heard of the composer).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huw_Watkins
For more details, here is a link to the Times story. Click on the headline. It includes some commentary by the critic who chose each piece. You will also find links to the artist and organization plus the debut date and how long the post will remain available. Please note that all times are Eastern Daylight Time.
Do you have other concerts you recommend for streaming – local, regional, national or international?
Please leave your selection in the Comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Happy listening.
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It’s Thanksgiving Day. Conductor Marin Alsop, NPR, WQXR, WFMT and Wisconsin Public Radio offer music suggestions. What piece would you choose to mark the holiday?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today – Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020 — is Thanksgiving Day.
Right now, the U.S. has had more than 12 million cases of COVID-19 with more than 260,000 deaths plus all the alarming signs and conditions that many more cases and deaths are coming in the next several months.
We might be sad that we can’t be with the family and friends we usually celebrate with. But we nonetheless have many things to give thanks for during this strange and tragic time.
We can thank the vaccine researchers; the doctors and nurses; and the other health care workers who take care of Covid patients, even those who don’t observe precautions and bring on their own illness.
We can thank all kinds of people on the front lines — food and transportation workers, for example — who help protect us and care for us.
We can thank the friends, family and others who stay in touch and help get us through these trying times.
And we can thank technology that makes isolating a lot less unbearable because we have telephones, radios, TVs, CD players, computers, cell phones and virtual online ZOOM meetings and gatherings and various other events including live-streamed concerts.
For The Ear, music has never meant more or brought more comfort than during this difficult year. He is giving thanks for that as well as for the other people and things just mentioned.
So what music should we celebrate this year’s emotionally complicated and mixed Thanksgiving holiday with?
Well, you can Google sources and go to YouTube to find compilations of music appropriate to the holiday. (See one playlist lasting 90 minutes in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Famed classical radio station WQXR in New York City has five suggestions for being musically grateful: https://www.wqxr.org/story/top-five-expressions-thanks-classical-music/
And WFMT in Chicago is offering 20 suggestions based on holiday food: https://www.wfmt.com/2019/11/25/a-complete-thanksgiving-feast-in-20-food-inspired-pieces/
But here are a couple of other suggestions, some local.
Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) is always a reliable source. And tomorrow is no exception.
If WPR programming stays true to past patterns, music by American composers will be emphasized.
Plus, starting at 10 a.m. WPR will broadcast performances from the Honors Concerts (below) by middle and high school students around the state and who participate in the Wisconsin School Music Association. This year, for the first time, the performances will be virtual. But as in past years, they are sure to be moving and even inspiring.
Other fine suggestions from the world-famous conductor Marin Alsop (below), a Leonard Bernstein protégée, who recently spoke for 7 minutes to NPR Weekend Edition host Scott Simon.
Here is a link, but you should listen rather than just read the transcript if you want to hear the musical samples: https://www.npr.org/2020/11/21/937448472/this-thanksgiving-put-on-some-music-to-soothe
Do you like any of those suggestions? Were any new to you?
What piece of music would you choose to express gratitude on this particular Thanksgiving?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Today is Veterans Day. Here is some appropriate music by Beethoven to mark it. Can you guess which piece? What composer or music would you choose?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today – Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020 – is Veterans Day.
It started out as Armistice Day in 1918 when the end of World War I was declared to take place on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
It is a day to mark the service of all veterans – not just those who died in the line of duty, as is celebrated on Memorial Day.
You can find a lot of choice of classical music to play for Veterans Day. Here is one link to a compilation that features patriotic songs and marches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJepYzH1VUY
But The Ear settled on Beethoven (below, in an 1815 portrait by Joseph Willebrord Maehler).
Can you guess which piece?
It is not the memorable funeral marches on the Piano Sonata in A-Flat, Op. 26, or the Symphony No. 3 “Eroica.”
It is also not the “Sacred Hymn of Thanksgiving” in the String Quartet, Op. 132.
And it is not “Wellington’s Victory” or the “Egmont” Overture or the Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” with its triumphant fast movements.
Instead it is the second movement of the Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. (You can hear it see it represented graphically in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
That is the very well known Allegretto movement with its repetitious and almost hypnotizing, soaring theme. It seems like a funeral march, full of introspection, poignancy and sadness, that is a bit brisker and more lyrical than usual.
It is so popular, in fact, that it has been used as a soundtrack in many movies, including “The King’s Speech” and has inspired works based on it including the “Fantasia on an Ostinato” by the contemporary American composer John Corigliano.
If it seems an unexpected choice, you just need to know more about its history.
It was composed 1811-1812, and Beethoven correctly considered it one of his finest works. So did Richard Wagner who famously described as the “apotheosis of the dance” for the infectious rhythms throughout the symphony.
At its premiere in Vienna, in his introductory remarks Beethoven said: “We are moved by nothing but pure patriotism and the joyful sacrifice of our powers for those who have sacrificed so much for us.”
Beethoven (below, in 1815 as depicted in a paining the Joseph Willibrord Maehler) premiered the symphony at a charity concert in 1813 to help raise money for the Austrian and Bavarian soldiers who had been wounded at the Battle of Hanau while fighting against France during the Napoleonic Wars.
It was so popular with the first performance that the audience demanded and received an immediate encore performance of the second movement.
Here is a Wikipedia link to the history of the symphony: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._7_(Beethoven)
To this day, the Seventh Symphony, so charged with energy, remains for many people, conductors and orchestral players their favorite Beethoven symphony.
It is ironic that Leonard Bernstein (below, in a photo by Paul de Hueck) performed the Seventh Symphony at the last concert he ever conducted – at the Tanglewood Festival in August 1990. He took the second movement at a slower-than-usual tempo and many have criticized Bernstein, who was in terrible health, and have suggested that he was using it as a funeral march or homage for himself.
They may be right. But in retrospect the choice of Bernstein – who died two months later — finds a certain justification in the original motive for the entire symphony and especially the second movement.
Listen for yourself.
Then tell us what you think.
Does this movement justify it being played on Veterans Day?
What music would you choose to mark the day?
What do you think of the Symphony No. 7 in general and the second movement in particular?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: June is Gay Pride month. How many LGBTQ classical composers and performers do you know about? Which ones are your favorites or most surprise you?
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ALERT: This Sunday, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society’s Virtual Chamber Music Festival begins online. It is called “Bach’s Lunch” and will send out short concerts every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday through Sunday, June 28, when a grand finale is planned. It is FREE. But you have to sign up by emailing crownover@bachdancinganddynamite.org
By Jacob Stockinger
This past week the Rainbow flags (below) have started flying, including at the Wisconsin state Capitol.
Last year was the 50th anniversary of the riot or uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City that eventually gave birth to a worldwide movement to insure that queer people deserve and will receive human rights.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Pride, which started with parades and marches to celebrate that initial victory and the start of a global gay liberation movement that continues and widens today.
On this first weekend in June 2020, it seems fitting to recall the many LGBTQ composers and performers in classical music.
The gay rights movement has opened the closet doors not only of individual lives today but also of historical figures. When The Ear was taking piano lessons and started going to concerts and listening to recordings, and learning about classical music, the subject remained shrouded in silence and secrecy.
You could read and hear about Tchaikovsky (below top) and Leonard Bernstein (below bottom, in a photo by Jack Mitchell) – to take a very popular composer and a renowned composer-conductor — but no one mentioned the role of homosexuality in their lives and careers.
So here are several lists that may teach you something new about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer musicians – both composers and performers.
Some of the calls seem very iffy to The Ear. For example, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin (below and in the YouTube video at the bottom) lived at a time when a homoerotic friendship did not necessarily mean a queer sexual identity. But one way or the other, historical proof and documentation can be hard to come by. And clearly there is much more to find out about the past.
Take a look. No longer is such information a rarity. From both the quantity and quality of the entries, at least you will see how scholars are taking new looks and undermining the heterosexual assumption that has wrapped so many historical and even contemporary figures in a wrong or mistaken identity.
Freedom, acceptance and respect are not zero-sum games in which one party can win only if another party loses. There is enough of each to go around.
So enjoy the information, whether it is new or not, and the respect it should inspire for the central role of LGBTQ people in the arts both past and present.
Here is a pretty comprehensive alphabetical list from Wikipedia of LGBT composers, both living and dead. It includes Chester Biscardi (below), who did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. You don’t have to click on each name. Just hover the cursor arrow over the name and you will see a photo and biographical blurb:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_composers
And here is a list, also in alphabetical order and also from Wikipedia, of LGBT musicians and performers, not all of them classical. It works by clicking on sub-categories that include nationality – though one wonders if musicians from extremely homophobic countries and cultures are included:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_musicians
Here is a similar list from QueerBio.com that also includes links to similar lists for rock, country, hip-hop, jazz, Christian music and more:
https://queerbio.com/wiki/index.php/LGBTQ_Classical_Music_Composers
Here is a more selective list from The Advocate, an LGBT magazine, of 18 queer composers who made history and you should know about:
And here is a similarly selective list from radio station WFMT in Chicago of 15 LGBT composers — including Corelli, Handel (below) and Lully — you should know about:
https://www.wfmt.com/2015/06/25/15-queer-composers-know/
From Arts Boston, here are 10 contemporary composers who are queer:
http://artsboston.org/2018/06/21/10-contemporary-lgbtq-composers-you-should-know/
Finally, here is a list from the Spotify streaming service that features many samplings of actual pieces by historical and contemporary queer composers:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX75gMjYMWCsk
Which names most surprised you?
If you have questions, comments or additional names and information to add — The Ear doesn’t see the acclaimed pianist Jeremy Denk listed — please leave word in the Comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Happy Pride, everyone!
Tags: #AlphabeticalOrder, #ArcangeloCorelli, #ArtsBoston, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BaroqueComposers, #BaroqueEra, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CapitolSquare, #ChamberMusic, #ChesterBiscardi, #ChicagoIllinois, #ChristianMusic, #Classicalera, #ClassicalMusician, #ContemporaryComposer, #COVID-19, #EmailAddress, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzSchubert, #FredericChopin, #GayHistory, #GayLiberation, #GayPride, #GenderNon-Conforming, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #Hip-hopmusic, #HistoricalFigure, #HumanRights, #JacobStockinger, #Jean-BaptisteLully, #JeremyDenk, #JohannSebastianBach, #LeonardBernstein, #LGBTQrights, #LiveStreaming, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #ModernComposers, #MusicLessons, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PianoLessons, #PrideFlag, #PrideMonth, #RadioStation, #RomanticComposers, #RomanticEra, #SexualIdentity, #StateCapitol, #StonewallInn, #StonewallRiot, #StonewallUprising, #TheAdvocate, #TheEar, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #VladimirHorowitz, #Wikipediabiography, #Wikipediaentry, #YouTubevideo, 2020, acceptance, alphabetical, anniversary, Arcangelo Corelli, arrow, Arts, Arts Boston, assumption, audience, Audio, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, BDDS, Beethoven, Bernstein, biography, birth, Biscardi, bisexual, blog, blurb, Capitol, career, celebrate, Chamber music, Chester Biscardi, Chicago, Chopin, choral music, Christian, Classical, Classical era, Classical music, click, closet, composer, composer-performer, Concert, concerts, conductor, contemporary, Corelli, coronavirus, country, culture, cursor, dead, deserve, documentation, downtown, Early music, email, entry, Facebook, festival, figures, finale, forward, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, free, freedom, friendship, game, gay, gay liberation, gay Pride, gender, George Frideric Handel, global, globe, graduate, grand, Handel, heterosexual, historical, historical figures, History, homoerotic, homophobic, Homosexuality, Horowitz, human rights, identity, information, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jeremy Denk, Johann Sebastian Bach, June, Leonard Bernstein, lesbian, lesson, LGBTQ, life, like, link, list, listen, live, lives, living, longer, look, lose, Ludwig van Beethoven, Lully, lunch, Madison, magazine, march, Mead Witter School of Music, mention, mistaken, modern composers, month, movement, Music, nationality, new, New Music, New York City, no longer, non-conforming, online, opera, Orchestra, order, pandemic, parade, party, past, People, performer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, photo, Piano, piano lessons, pieces, popular, present, pride, Pride flag, proof, quality, quantity, queer, QueerBio.com, Radio, rap, rarity, receive, Recordings, respect, riot, Rock, role, Romaniticism, Romanticism, sample, sampling, Saturday, scholar, Schubert, secrecy, sex, sexual, sexual identity, share, shrouded, sign-up, silence, Spotify, Spotify.com, state, Stonewall, streaming, subject, Sunday, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, teach, The Advocate, The Ear, Thursday, time, today, transexual, transgender, transsexual, Tuesday, undermine, United States, University of Wisconsin School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, uprising, UW, UW-Madison, vategory, victory, video, Viola, Violin, virtual, Vladimir Horowitz, vocal music, weekend, widen, Wikipedia, win, Wisconsin, WMFT, work, world, worldwide, wrong, YouTube, zero sum
Classical music: Bach Around the Clock 2020 goes virtual and wants your audio-video contribution. Plus TONIGHT, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra streams its Dec. 27 concert at the UW
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ALERT: TONIGHT, March 27, at 7:30 p.m., the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra will be streaming its sold-out premiere performance (below) on Dec. 27 in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall at the UW-Madison’s new Hamel Music Center. If you couldn’t get seats for the in-person performance, you can tune in for FREE tonight.
The program is: “Poet and Peasant Overture” by Suppe; the Introduction and Allegro appassionato, Op. 92, by Robert Schumann with pianist Jason Kutz; the Overture to “Orpheus in the Underworld” by Offenbach; the “Habanera” from the opera “Carmen” by Bizet and “What a movie” from the opera “Trouble in Tahiti” by Leonard Bernstein, both with mezzo-soprano Kitt Reuter-Foss; and the Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61, by Saint-Saens with Rachel Barton Pine. WCO music director Andrew Sewell conducts.
For a link and portal to the streamed video, go to: https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/about/wisconsin-chamber-orchestra-live/
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following message from artistic director Marika Fischer Hoyt (below) about the decision to make this year’s Bach Around the Clock a virtual event with a call for community submissions:
The BATC Board of Directors shares the keen disappointment that all music lovers feel at the sudden, shocking collapse of the current concert season.
The BATC 2020 Festival was fully booked, and we had looked forward to 12 hours of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by musicians ranging from young students to adult amateurs to seasoned professionals, all to celebrate the composer’s 335th birthday.
Sadly, that was not to be.
But thinking outside of the box, the Board has decided to try something new: the BATC 2020 Virtual Festival.
We invite local musicians to submit video or audio recordings of themselves singing or playing a selection by Bach. If you’d like, you can also talk at the beginning of your recording, explaining what music by Bach (below) means to you, and why you chose this particular piece. Or feel free to write your thoughts on this subject, and we’ll include that text with your recording.
We reach out especially to those who were scheduled to perform at this year’s festival, and those who have performed with us in the past. But we are very happy to include newcomers to our BATC community as well.
Performers can click on Performers Guide for Media Submissions to find instructions for audio or video file submission.
We request that files be of musical selections 20 minutes or less. If a piece is longer than that, please record the piece in two files.
Our tech team will preview clips for technical quality, upload them to the BATC YouTube channel, and post them on our website and then on our Facebook page, for everyone to enjoy.
BATC plans to launch the Virtual Festival this Saturday, March 28, at 10 a.m., the time the original in-person Festival was scheduled to begin.
We will add new videos every day at 10 a.m., as long as submissions keep coming in. (Below are the Suzuki Strings of Madison performing during a past BATC.)
The BATC Board hopes this Virtual Festival gives local musicians an outlet for sharing their talent and passion with the warmly appreciative local community.
Live music nourishes the soul of performer and audience member alike, and the transcendent, life-giving joy woven into the music of Bach is something we need, now more than ever. (Below is a performance from last year’s Bach Around the Clock.)
For more information, go to: https://bachclock.com and https://www.facebook.com/batcmadison
Tags: #AmateurMusician, #AndrewSewell, #ArtisticDirector, #BachAroundtheClock, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoardofDirectors, #CamilleSaint-Saens, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ConcertSeason, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Fridaynight, #GeorgesBizet, #HighTechnology, #HomeWebsite, #InstrumentalMusic, #IntroductionandAllegroAppassionato, #JacobStockinger, #JacquesOffenbach, #JasonKutz, #JohannSebastianBach, #KittReuter-Foss, #LeonardBernstein, #LiveMusic, #LocalMusicians, #MarikaFischerHoyt, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #Mezzo-sopranoSinger, #MusicDirector, #MusicLover, #OperaMusic, #OriginalEnding, #OrpheusintheUnderworld, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #PoetandPeasantOverture, #ProfessionalMusician, #RachelBartonPine, #RobertSchumann, #SaturdayMorning, #SoldOut, #SuzukiMethod, #SuzukiStringsofMadison, #TheEar, #TroubleinTahiti, #TuneIn, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViolinConcerto, #VirtuosoViolinist, #VocalMusic, #WhataMovie, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #YouTubeChannel, add, adult, amateur, Andrew Sewell, appreciate, appreciative, Artistic director, Arts, audience, Audio, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, Baroque, beginning, Bernstein, birthday, Bizet, blog, Board of Directors, booked, Box, Camille Saint-Saëns, Cantata, Carmen, Cello, Chamber music, channel, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, click, collapse, community, composer, Concert, concert season, concerto, conduct, conductor, disappointment, Early music, enjoy, explain, exposure, Facebook, festival, file, forward, Franz von Suppe, free, Friday, full, Georges Bizet, guide, Habanera, home website, in person, include, information, instructions, instrumental music, introduction, Introduction and Allegro Appassionato, invite, Jacob Stockinger, Jacques Offenbach, Jason Kutz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joy, Kitt Reuter-Foss, Leonard Bernstein, life-giving, like, link, live, live music, local, lover, Madison, Marika Fischer Hoyt, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, meaning, media, message, Mezzo-soprano, morning, movie, Music, Music director, music lover, musical, musicians, need, new, newcomer, newcomers, night, opera, original, Orpheus, Orpheus in the Underworld, outlet, Overture, page, participate, participation, particular, Passion, past, performance, performer, Pianist, Piano, piece, playing, Poet and Peasant Overture, portal, post, posting, premiere, professional musician, program, quality, Rachel Barton Pine, recording, request, Robert Schumann, Saint-Saens, Saturday, schedule, Schumann, seasoned, seat, selection, share, shocking, Singing, sold-out, something, Sonata, stream, students, subject, submission, sudden, Suppe, Suzuki, Suzuki Strings of Madison, tag, talent, talk, team, tech, technical, technology, text, thinking, thoughts, time, tonight, transcendent, Trouble in Tahiti, try, tune in, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, video, Viola, Violin, violinist, virtual, vocal music, WCO, Website, What a Movie, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, you, young, YouTube
Classical music: What concerts or performances in 2019 did you most like, and do you most remember and want to praise?
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PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
The concert season’s winter intermission will soon draw to a close.
So this is a good time to recall favorite concerts and performances of last year.
But let’s be clear.
This is a not a request to name “The Best Concerts of 2019.”
Calling them the most memorable concerts doesn’t necessarily mean they were the best.
Perfection or “the best” sounds so objective, but can really be quite personal and subjective. So much can depend not only on the music and the performers, but also on your own mood and your taste or preferences.
So please share the concerts or performances that you most liked and enjoyed, the one that most still linger in your mind. And, if you can pin it down, tell us why you liked them so much and why they linger for you.
There are so many excellent groups and concerts, so much fine classical music, in the Madison area that there should be lots of candidates.
Here are several performances or complete concerts that The Ear remembers with special fondness.
The MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) held a season-long celebration of the 25th anniversary of John DeMain’s tenure as its music director and conductor. The big event came at the end: Mahler’s massive Symphony No. 8 – the so-called “Symphony of a Thousand” – that brought together the MSO and the MSO Chorus as well as the Madison Youth Choirs and the UW-Madison Choral Union.
It proved an impressive, overwhelming and moving display of coordination and musicianship, a testament to how far DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad) has brought the orchestra.
(Also memorable on the MSO season were pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin in Ravel’s jazzy Piano Concerto in G Major and UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor in the Leonard Bernstein’s “Age of Anxiety” symphony during the MSO tribute to Bernstein, with whom DeMain worked closely.)
The WISCONSIN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (below, in a photo by Mike Gorski), under its veteran music director Andrew Sewell, continues to test its own limits and surpass them. Particularly impressive was the last concert of the winter season with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 featuring two outstanding soloists: soprano Mary Mackenzie and bass Timothy Jones.
The playing of the difficult score was precise but moving, and the singing blended beautifully. It made one understand why during this season – when the orchestra marks 60 years and maestro Sewell (below, in a photo by Alex Cruz) marks his 20th season — the WCO has deservingly graduated to two performances of each Masterwork concert (one here on Friday nights followed by one in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield on Saturday night).
Also memorable was an impressive concert by the mostly amateur but critically acclaimed MIDDLETON COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA. The Ear likes amateur musicians, and for their 10th anniversary concert they really delivered the goods in Dvorak’s famous Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” and, with fabulous guest soloist J.J. Koh (below — principal clarinet of the Madison Symphony Orchestra — in Mozart’s sublime Clarinet Concerto.
But it wasn’t only large-scale works that The Ear remembers.
Three chamber music concerts continue to stand out.
During the summer, the WILLY STREET CHAMBER PLAYERS and guest UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor (both below) delivered a performance of Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A Major that would be hard for any group to match, let alone surpass, for its tightness and energy, its lyricism and drama.
The same goes for the veteran PRO ARTE QUARTET at the UW-Madison, which this fall started its complete cycle of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets in the new Hamel Music Center to celebrate the Beethoven Year in 2020 when we mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
The quartet played early, middle and late quartets with complete mastery and subtlety. Treat yourself. Don’t miss the remaining five concerts, which resume in February and take place over the next year at the Hamel center and also at the Chazen Museum of Art, from where they will also be live-streamed.
Finally, The Ear will always remember the wholly unexpected and thoroughly captivating virtuoso accordion playing he heard last summer by Milwaukeean Stas Venglevski (below) at a concert by the BACH DANCING AND DYNAMITE SOCIETY. Venglevski performed music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Igor Stravinsky and Astor Piazzolla in a new and enthralling way.
Unfortunately, for various reasons The Ear missed many other concerts – by the Madison Opera and the University Opera among others – that promised to be memorable performances.
But perhaps you can fill him in as we start 2020 concerts next weekend.
What concerts in 2019 did you like most and do you most remember and praise? Why?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AccordionMusic, #AgeofAnxiety, #AmateurMusicians, #AmericanJazz, #AndrewSewell, #AntoninDvorak, #AstorPiazzolla, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BassSinger, #BeethovenYear, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrookfieldWisconsin, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberOrchestra, #ChazenMuseumofArt, #ChoralMusic, #ChoralUnion, #ChristopherTaylor, #ClarinetConcerto, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #DmitriShostakovich, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FromtheNewWorld, #GustavMahler, #HamelMusicCenter, #IgorStravinsky, #J.J.Koh, #JacobStockinger, #JazzMusic, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnDeMain, #LeonardBernstein, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MadisonYouthChoirs, #MaryMackenzie, #MasterworksConcerts, #MauriceRavel, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MusicDirector, #MusicReview, #NewWorldSymphony, #OrchestralMusic, #PianoConcerto, #PianoQuintet, #PrincipalClarinet, #ProArteQuartet, #SopranoSinger, #StanislasVenglevski, #StasVenglevski, #StringQuartet, #SymphonyofaThousand, #TheEar, #TimothyJones, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #VocalMusic, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, 2019, 2020, accordion, Age of Anxiety, amateur, Andrew Sewell, anniversary, Antonín Dvořák, area, Arts, attract, audience, Ástor Piazzolla, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, bass, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, Bernstein, best, birth, blog, Brookfield, candidate, captivating, celebrate, celebration, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, Chazen Museum of Art, choral music, Choral Union, chorus, Christopher Taylor, clarinet, clarinet concerto, clarinetist, Classical music, comment, complete, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, critically acclaimed, cycle, dance, deliver, deserving, difficult, Dmitri Shostakovich, drama, drive, Dvorak, early, end, energy, enjoy, enthralling, Facebook, favorite, February, fond, fondness, forward, From the New World, good, goods, graduate, group, Gustav Mahler, Hamel Music Center, help, Igor Stravinsky, impressive, intermission, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Johann Sebastian Bach, John DeMain, last, late, Leonard Bernstein, like, limits, linger, link, live-stream, live-streamed, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyricism, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Maestro, Mahler, Mary Mackenzie, masterwork, mastery, Maurice Ravel, Mead Witter School of Music, member, memorable, memory, middle, Middleton Community Orchestra, Milwaukee, mind, mood, Mozart, Music, Music director, music review, Musician, new, New World Symphony, objective, opera, Orchestra, orchestral music, outstanding, Overture Center, overwhelming, past, perfection, performance, performer, personal, Pianist, Piano, Piano Quintet, Piazzolla, post, posting, praise, precise, preference, principal, Pro Arte Quartet, quintet, Ravel, reader, score, Season, Sewell, share, Shostakovich, society, soloist, soloists, soprano, Stas Venglevski, Stravinsky, stream, String quartet, subjective, sublime, subscriber, subtlety, suburb, summer, surpass, symphony, Symphony of a Thousand, tag, tang, taste, tenure, test, testimonial, The Ear, tightness, Timothy Jones, tribute, unexpected, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, UW, UW Choral Union, UW-Madison, Veteran, virtuoso, vocal music, WCO, Willy Street Chamber Players, winter, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, year, you, your
Classical music: Was Bernard Herrmann’s love theme in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest” influenced by Antonin Dvorak’s “American Suite”?
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear spent an interesting and enjoyable Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Two of the most enjoyable things seemed to overlap unexpectedly.
On Wednesday night, I tuned into Turner Classic Movies. That’s when I watched, once again and with great pleasure, Alfred Hitchcock’s masterful “North by Northwest (1959.”
The next morning, on Independence Day, I tuned in to Wisconsin Public Radio and heard a lot of music by American composers and by composers who were inspired by America.
That’s when I heard the “American Suite” (1895) by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (below), who directed a conservatory in New York City and liked to spend summers in a Czech community in Spillville, Iowa, where he was captivated by American music of Native Americans and African-Americans.
What overlapped was the music, the love theme between Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint — called “Train Conversations” — by Bernard Herrmann (below) in the film and the opening of the suite by Dvorak.
But The Ear needs a reality check: Is the Ear the only one to hear striking similarities between the two?
Take a listen to the two works in the YouTube video below, decide for yourself and let us know if you hear the same influence.
To be sure, The Ear is not saying that Herrmann – a sophisticated American composer who knew classical music and who is perhaps best known for his edgy score to “Psycho,” which is often played in concert halls – completely lifted the music or stole it or plagiarized it.
But it certainly is possible that Herrmann was influenced or inspired by Dvorak – much the same way that Leonard Bernstein’s song “Somewhere” from “West Side Story” seems remarkably close to an opening theme in the slow middle movement of the Piano Concerto No. 5 – the famous “Emperor” Concerto — by Ludwig van Beethoven. The same goes for Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, who, some say, borrowed tunes more than once from Franz Schubert.
Well, if you’re going to borrow, why not do it from the best? And Dvorak was among the great melodists of all time, in company with Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Frederic Chopin, Robert Schumann, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Maurice Ravel and Francis Poulenc, to name a few of the best known.
Anyway, listen to the two scores and let us know what you think.
Can you think of other music that was perhaps influenced by a work of classical music? If so, leave a comment, with YouTube links if possible, in the Comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AlfredHitchcock, #AllTime, #AmericanComposer, #AndrewLloydWebber, #AntoninDvorak, #BernardHerrmann, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BroadwayMusical, #CaryGrant, #ConcertHall, #Czechcomposer, #EvaMarieSaint, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FilmMusic, #FilmScore, #FilmSoundtrack, #FourthofJuly, #FrancisPoulenc, #FranzSchubert, #FredericChopin, #IndependenceDay, #JamesMason, #JohannSebastianBach, #LeonardBernstein, #LoveTheme, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MartinLandau, #MauriceRavel, #MiddleMovement, #NewYorkCity, #NorthbyNorthwest, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PianoConcerto, #RealityCheck, #RobertSchumann, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #SlowMovement, #TheEmperor, #TurnerClassicMovies, #WestSideStory, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, Alfred Hitchcock, all time, American, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Antonín Dvořák, Arts, Bach, Beethoven, Bernard Herrmann, Bernstein, blog, borrowed, Cary Grant, check, Chopin, Classical music, comment, community, composer, Concert, concert hall, conservatory, conversation, Czech, decide, drama, Dvorak, edgy, Emperor Concerto, Eva Marie Saint, Facebook, film, Film score, film soundtrack, forward, Fourth of July, Francis Poulenc, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Holiday, Independence Day, influence, inspiration, inspire, interesting, Iowa, Jacob Stockinger, James Mason, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leonard Bernstein, lift, like, link, listen, Love, love theme, Ludwig van Beethoven, Martin Landau, masterful, Maurice Ravel, melody, middle movement, movie, Mozart, Music, musical, new, New York City, North by Northwest, opening, Orchestra, overlap, performer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Piano, Piano concerto, plagiarize, play, pleasure, Psycho, reader, reality, reality check, Robert Schumann, Schubert, Schumann, score, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninov, share, Slow movement, Somewhere, song, sophisticated, spend, Spillville, spread, steal, stole, subscriber, Suite, summer, suspense, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, TCM, terror, theme, time, train, tune, Turner Classic Movies, United States, watch, weekend, West Side Story, whole, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: The new FREE concert brochure for the UW-Madison’s music school is both entertaining and informative — it’s a MUST-GET, MUST-READ and MUST-USE
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By Jacob Stockinger
The new 2018-19 concert season has started. And the Internet makes it very easy to take out your date book and plan out what you want to attend.
If you just use Google to go to home websites, you will find lots of information about the dates and times of performances; cost of tickets; works on the program; biographies of performers; and even notes about the pieces.
That is true for all large and small presenters, including the biggest presenter of all for live classical music events: The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. Just click on the Events Calendar when you go to http://www.music.wisc.edu
You can also subscribe to an email newsletter by sending an email to: join-somnews@lists.wisc.edu
And you can also download the helpful mobile app for your smart phone that gives you what is happening today with searches possible for other months and days.
But there is something more old-fashioned that you should not forego: the printed season brochure (below).
It is 8-1/2 by 11 inches big and has 24 pages, and it features numerous color photographs. Along the right hand edge is an easy-to-use calendar of major events for the month.
It is a fun and informative read that gives you even more respect for the School of Music than you already had because it contains a lot of background and human interest stories about students, faculty members, guest artists, alumni and supporters. Editor and Concert Manager Katherine Esposito and her staff of writers and photographers have done an outstanding job.
The brochure also has a lot of news, including updates about the new Hamel Music Center that is being built on the corner of Lake Street and University Avenue and will open in 2019, and about the seat-naming, fundraising campaign ($1,500-plus) that is being used for the new performance center.
A particularly useful page (23) gives you information about ordering tickets (many have increased to $17 this year) either in advance or at the door (for the latter you are asked to show up 30 minutes early to avoid long lines); about finding parking, both free and paid; and about making special arrangements for disability access.
In larger and bolder type, the brochure tells you about stand-out special events: the 100th birthday tribute to Leonard Bernstein being held tonight (Saturday, Sept. 15) at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall; the fifth annual Brass Fest on Sept. 28 and 29; the University Opera’s production of Monteverdi’s “The Coronation of Poppea” on Nov. 16, 18 and 20; the annual Schubertiade on Jan. 27; the world premiere of a viola sonata by John Harbison on Feb. 17; the Choral Union’s joint performance with the Madison Symphony Orchestra of Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” (Symphony No. 8) on May 3, 4 and 5; and much, much more.
In short, the brochure is an impressive publication that also provides many hours of enjoyable browsing while you educate yourself about the state of music education at the UW-Madison.
The only major shortcoming The Ear perceives is that lack of specific programs by some individuals and groups that must surely know what they are going to perform this season but apparently didn’t report it. Maybe that can be remedied, at least in part, next year.
Still, the brochure is successful and popular, which is why the UW sent out 13,000 copies – up from 8,000 last year. If you want to get one, they will be available at concerts until supplies run out. You can also order one to be mailed to you by emailing music@music.wisc.edu
Do you have the UW music brochure?
What do you think of it?
Do you find it useful? Enjoyable?
What do you suggest to improve the brochure, either by adding something or deleting something or doing it differently?
The Ear wants to hear.
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
To celebrate Pride month, here are lists of LGBTQ+ composers, performers and musical ensembles
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By Jacob Stockinger
June is Pride month.
And this weekend will see Pride marches and celebrations in some major cities including New York City, Chicago, Paris and Rome.
As time passes, scholars are finding out more about the LGBTQ+ composers, performers and musical groups that have been hidden by history.
And some ironies emerge. One can only imagine the response of conservative, right-wing Evangelical Christians who find out that the composer of “Messiah” – George Frideric Handel (below) — was queer, at least according to some researchers.
For most listeners, surprises abound.
Here is a good place to start. It is the very large Wikipedia entry of LGBTQ+ composers and performers, both contemporary and historical. The Ear finds it very informative. It is organized by the kind of musicians they are and the category of their sexual identity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_musicians
If you want to be more selective, try these: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/greatest-lgbtq-conductors-you-should-know/. They include Marin Alsop (below top) and her teacher and mentor Leonard Bernstein (below bottom).
Here is longer essay that focuses on lesbian conductors as well as gay men and reaches back to the Middle Ages: http://www.glbtqarchive.com/arts/conductors_A.pdf
And here is one with some great photos or pictures of the individuals: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/great-classical-composers-who-were-gay/
Finally, here are some of the international music ensembles – with audio samples of their performances — made up of LGBTQ+ singers and instrumentalists, including the Rainbow Symphony of Paris (in the YouTube video at the bottom, performing the beautiful Gloria by the gay French composer Francis Poulenc in a benefit Concert Against Homophobia for UNESCO): https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/best-lgbtq-classical-music-ensembles/
Inevitably, some readers will react by asking: What difference does the sexual identity of composer or performer make? All that matters, they argue, is the music.
Here is a reply to that specious argument that focuses on Yannick Nézet-Séguin (below), the music director of the Metropolitan Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the City Symphony of Montreal. It appeared in The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/arts/music/yannick-nezet-seguin-met-opera-gay.html
Happy Pride – this month and every day of the year!
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