The Well-Tempered Ear
Here are the Top 10 online concerts to stream in March, according to critics for the New York Times
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ALERT: The online live-streamed concert by the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet — scheduled for this Friday night, March 5 — in the all-Beethoven cycle of string quartets has been canceled and postponed until next year. The Friday, April 9 installment of the Beethoven cycle will be held as Installment 7 instead of 8.
By Jacob Stockinger
Classical music critics of The New York Times have once again picked their Top 10 online concerts for the month of March.
The Ear has found such lists helpful for watching and hearing, but also informative to read, if you don’t actually “attend” the concert.
If you have read these lists before, you will see that this one is typical.
It offers lots of links with background about the works and performers; concert times (Eastern); and how long the online version is accessible.
Many of the performers will not be familiar to you but others – such as pianist Mitsuko Uchida (below, in a photo by Hiroyuki Ito for the Times), who will perform an all-Schubert recital, will be very familiar.
But the critics once again emphasize new music and even several world premieres – including one by Richard Danielpour — and a path-breaking but only recently recorded live performance of the 1920 opera “Die Tote Stadt” (The Dead City) by long-neglected composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold (below), who is best known for his Hollywood movie scores but who also wrote compelling classical concert hall music. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear soprano Renée Fleming sing “Marietta’s Song.’)
But some works that are more familiar by more standard composers – including Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Ravel and Copland – are also included.
The Times critics have also successfully tried to shine a spotlight on Black composers and Black performers, such as the clarinetist and music educator Anthony McGill (below top), who will perform a clarinet quintet by composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (below) and music in the setting of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
No purists, the critics also suggest famous oboe and clarinet works in transcriptions for the saxophone by composer-saxophonist Steven Banks (below).
Also featured is a mixed media performance of words and music coordinated by the award-winning Nigerian-American novelist, essayist and photographer Teju Cole (below), whose writings and photos are irresistible to The Ear.
Here is a link to the story in the Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/arts/music/classical-music-streaming-concerts.html
Are there other online concerts in March – local, regional, national or international – that you recommend in addition to the events listed in the Times?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Con Vivo concludes its 17th season Saturday night with chamber music by Prokofiev, Haydn, Medtner and Mozart. Children in Music Makers perform a FREE concert on Sunday afternoon
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ALERT: The final Music Makers concert is this Sunday, June 2, at 4 p.m. in the First Unitarian Society of Madison’s Atrium Auditorium, 900 University Bay Drive. The concert is FREE and open to the public and will include performances by students from age 8 to 18 performing works by Shostakovich, Puccini and more.
Part of Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, Music Makers aims to enrich and develop the music skills of children from all backgrounds in an inclusive and non-competitive environment. Music Makers provides the financial support for instruments, lessons and performance opportunities, making music education accessible for all children. Learn more at wysomusicmakers.org.
By Jacob Stockinger
This Saturday night, the chamber music group Con Vivo (below) will close out its 17th season.
The concert, entitled “Overture to Summer,” will include music for violin and piano by Nikolai Medtner; the Overture on Hebrew Themes by Sergei Prokofiev; the Piano Trio in G Major “Gypsy Rondo” by Joseph Haydn; and the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. (You can hear the Gypsy Rondo movement from Haydn’s piano trio in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The concert takes place on this Saturday night, June 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the intimate Chapel at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, across from Camp Randall Stadium.
Tickets can be purchased at the door for $18 for adults and $15 for seniors and students.
Audience members are invited to join the musicians after the concert for a free reception to discuss the concert.
About the concert, artistic director Robert Taylor says: “We conclude our 17th season with music evocative of warm summer days in the sun. The wonderful lush strains of Medtner’s violin music are contrasted by the bright music of Haydn in his Piano Trio in G Major nicknamed “Gypsy Rondo.” The evening continues with one of Con Vivo’s signature pieces, Overture on Hebrew Themes by Prokofiev. We conclude with the beautiful Quintet for Clarinet and Strings by Mozart. What could be a better way to ring in the warm sunny days of summer?”
Con Vivo is a professional chamber music ensemble comprised of Madison area musicians assembled from the ranks of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and various other performing groups familiar to Madison audiences.
For more information, go to the home website www.convivomusicwithlife.org
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Classical music: For you, what were the best, most memorable or most enjoyable concerts of 2017? Here are the highlights for critics John W. Barker and The Ear
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By Jacob Stockinger
The end of the calendar year is only the mid-point of the new season and the concert calendar.
Still, it is a good time to take stock of the past year and the various performers and performances that we heard.
John W. Barker (below), who writes frequently for this blog as well as for Isthmus, recently published his top picks of concerts in 2017 in Isthmus. Here is a link to his year-end assessment:
https://isthmus.com/music/best-2017-classical-music/
To be fair, The Ear doesn’t always agree with Barker on the quality of some pieces and of certain performances. But by and large the two of us are in accord, and even when we aren’t, the Ear respects and learns from Barker’s expertise and experience.
The Ear would only add several things he found that Barker doesn’t mention:
The all-Mozart concert in the fall by the Pro Arte Quartet (below) — with UW faculty clarinetist Alicia Lee and San Francisco cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau filling in for Parry Karp, was a much-needed balm in these times of distress.
If you are a fan of amateur music-making and love the music of Bach, the revival of the Bach Around the Clock marathon in March proved enthralling. (Below are violist father Stan Weldy and mandolinist son Alex Weldy.)
You heard all kinds of musicians, from students and adult amateurs to professionals, in all genres of music, including arrangements and transcriptions that Johann Sebastian would no doubt have approved of.
Pianist Richard Goode (below), who played this fall at the Wisconsin Union Theater, showed the power of softness and quiet.
His subtle playing was full of nuance in preludes and fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, by Johann Sebastian Bach; in a late sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven; in the only sonata by Anton Webern; in a generous group for Chopin works; and in an unexpected encore by the English Renaissance composer William Byrd. All in all, Goode proved a wonderful reprieve from some of the heavier, louder and more dramatic keyboard playing we hear.
But if you wanted drama, you only had to attend the recital by UW-Madison virtuoso Christopher Taylor (below). He excelled in everything, especially the total-body playing of the solo piano arrangement by Franz Liszt of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, which wowed the house. But he also showed great restraint, tone and subtlety in contemporary American composer John Corigliano “Ostinato” based on that symphony’s famous second movement.
Then Taylor finished up with contrasting sets of six Musical Moments by Franz Schubert and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
BUT NOW IT IS YOUR TURN: YOU BE THE CRITIC!
Recognizing that the best concert is not necessary the most memorable concert, and that the best or most memorable concert is not necessarily the most enjoyable concert, please tell us:
What did you think was the best concert and best single performance you heard in 2017?
What was the most memorable classical music experience you had in 2017?
And what was the most enjoyable classical music performance you heard in 2017?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: amateur, arrangement, Arts, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, balm, Baroque, Beethoven, Book, Byrd, calendar, Cello, Chamber music, Chopin, choral music, Christopher Taylor, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, concerto, critic, distress, drama, Early music, encore, end, English, experience, expertise, famous, Franz Schubert, fugue, genre, George Frideric Handel, Great Britain, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Corigliano, John DeMain, John W. Barker, Keyboard, Liszt, loud, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, mandolin, marathon, Moments Musicaux, movement, Mozart, Music, Musical Moments, nuance, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, performance, performer, Piano, piece, playing, power, Prelude, Pro Arte Quartet, professional, quiet, quintet, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, restraint, Richard Goode, San Francisco, Schubert, Season, soft, softness, Sonata, String quartet, Student, subtle, subtlety, symphony, Symphony No. 7, The Well-Tempered Clavier, time, times, tone, transcription, UK, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Webern, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, year, you, YouTube
Classical music: What composers and what pieces give you shelter and sanctuary during troubled times?
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By Jacob Stockinger
A week ago, The Ear went to the inspired all-Mozart program given by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet with guest cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau (below center) and guest clarinetist Alicia Lee (below right), who was making her debut as a new UW faculty member.
He expected a fine performance and he was not disappointed. Indeed, he shares the same very positive reactions that critic John W. Barker expressed in his review for this blog. Here is a link to that review:
But something else happened too.
The sublime music of Mozart (below) – especially the Larghetto slow second movement of the late Clarinet Quintet, K. 581, but also the other movements and the String Quartet in G Major, K. 387 -– took The Ear into another world, into a parenthesis in time.
(You can hear a live performance in Japan by Yo-Yo Ma and others in the Larghetto movement, plus the rest of the Clarinet Quintet, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
For a brief time – perhaps a total of about 80 or 90 minutes – The Ear was totally transported. He temporarily blocked out the political strife in Washington, D.C. and the Trump White House; the government turmoil here in Madison and around the world; and the terrible, deadly natural disasters of floods, hurricanes and wildfires in the U.S. and elsewhere around the globe.
He just let the transcendent music and the performances wash over him, refreshing him with their beauty before he reemerged onto the street and into the painful reality of current events after the concert ended.
So The Ear offers a deeply felt thank you to the performers for planning and playing such a timely and therapeutic program. He needed that more than he knew. And he hopes more such concerts are in store. The times demand such balm, not as escapism but as a reminder of great good things that endure.
So here is The Ear’s question: What other composers and what other pieces or works do you find offer the same kind of sanctuary or shelter?
Leave a COMMENT with a link to a performance on YouTube if possible.
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Classical music: UW’s Pro Arte Quartet and new UW clarinet professor Alicia Lee perform a sublime all-Mozart program
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT–FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet has begun its 2017-18 season amid uncertainties.
The most notable one is the current indisposition of cellist Parry Karp, whose injury to two fingers of his left hand has prevented him from playing for the immediate future.
Quartet members (below in a photo by Rick Langer) are, from left, David Perry and Suzanne Beia, first and second violins; Sally Chisholm, viola: and Parry Karp, cello.
But the group has pressed on bravely, offering an all-Mozart concert last Sunday night in Mills Hall.
The first of two works was the buoyant but challenging String Quartet in G Major, K. 387. Replacing Karp was a guest cellist, Jean-Michel Fonteneau (below right and bottom), who is familiar to Madison audiences from his many appearances with the San Francisco Trio for the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society’s summer concerts.
Fonteneau played elegantly and fitted into the ensemble quite smoothly. And the other three players performed with their accustomed precision and style.
But just one personnel change makes a difference. Clearly missing was the robust tone and firm foundation that Karp has imparted to the ensemble’s playing for so long.
If the G major Quartet is a Mozartean model of its kind, we move to Olympian heights with the Quintet in A for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581 — a chamber work (below) with only the tiniest number of peers in this scoring.
Joining the quartet this time was a new UW-Madison faculty member, clarinetist Alicia Lee (below).
Petite but totally confident, Lee brought to the string ensemble not the edgy aggressiveness so often heard from clarinetists but rather a glowing mellowness that balanced neatly with the string sounds.
The loveliest moments seemed to me to be the slower passages, and the exquisite slow movement was truly ethereal. (You can hear the Larghetto slow movement, played by clarinetist Anthony McGill and the Pacifica Quartet, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Preceding the concert was an announcement by Linda Graebner of the consolidation of the Pro Arte Quartet Forward Fund, which is seeking to raise an major endowment for the quartet.
Bolstered by that effort, then, the PAQ is some five years into its second century, determined from many sides to cope with its uncertainties.
NOTE: The Pro Arte Quartet’s next performance is this coming Thursday: a FREE performance at NOON in Mills Hall of the String Quintet No. 1 in G Major, Op. 111, by Johannes Brahms. Jean-Michel Fonteneau will again be the cellist and the guest artist is the internationally renowned violist Nobuko Imai (below). Imai will also give a FREE and PUBLIC master class in strings and chamber music on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall.
Tags: aggressive, Alicia Lee, American Record Guide, Anthony McGill, Arts, blog, Brahms, Campus, Cello, Chamber music, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, Concert, critic, Early music, edgy, elegance, endowment, exquisite, festival, fund, Fundraising, future, glowing, guest artist, height, History, host, injury, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, John W. Barker, larghetto, lecture, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, master class, Medieval, mellow, Mozart, Mozartean, Music, New York City, night, noon, Olympian, Pacifica Quartet, Parry Karp, peer, precision, Pro Arte Quartet, professor, quintet, Radio, recital, robust, San Francisco, San Francisco Trio, scoring, Slow movement, strings, style, sublime, Sunday, Thursday, tone, uncertainty, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, viola quintet, Violin, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WORT-FM 89.9, Writer, YouTube
Classical music: The new concert season features many world premieres in opera, orchestral music and chamber music. So, why not here in Madison?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Who says classical music is dying?
You wouldn’t know it from some of the many world premieres of new music that will take place across the U.S. this season. Such events add a lot of excitement to the new concert season. And many critics and observers think they draw in new and younger audiences.
Quite a few of the premieres feature performers and composers familiar to Madison audiences. They include cellist Alisa Weilerstein (below top, in a photo by Harold Hoffmann for Decca Records), pianist Emanuel Ax (below second), composer Kevin Puts (below third) and composer Jake Heggie (below bottom).
Here is a round-up of the national scene by Tom Huizenga, who writes the Deceptive Cadence blog for National Public Radio or NPR.
It makes one wonder: What about the local scene here in Madison?
True, several seasons ago, the Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison commissioned and premiered six new works to mark its centennial. They included four string quartets, one piano quintet and one clarinet quintet, all of which are now available in terrific recordings from Albany Records.
This summer the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society featured bass-baritone Timothy Jones (below) in the world premiere of a song cycle it commissioned from American composer Kevin Puts, who is mentioned in the NPR story, to mark its 25th anniversary.
And this fall, at its annual Labor Day concert the Karp family premiered a new work by Joel Hoffman for piano and cello, based on the life of the late pianist and former UW professor Howard Karp and performed by his sons pianist Christopher Karp and cellist Parry Karp (below).
This winter the Madison Opera will stage the new jazz-inspired opera “Charlie Parker’s Yardbird,” although Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera will do a world premiere of a work it commissioned. Could the Madison Opera commission again its own new work, such as it did years ago with Daron Hagen‘s opera “Shining Brow” about Frank Lloyd Wright?
And there are other commissions and premieres by smaller groups, such as the percussion ensemble Clocks in Motion.
But what is the problem with getting new commissions and world premieres at bigger ensembles such as the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the UW Symphony Orchestra, which does perform a student work each year? Lack of money? Lack of will? Lack of audience interest?
What do you think?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Con Vivo — Music With Life — will perform chamber music by Mozart, Gershwin, Prokofiev, Bruch and others at the Stoughton Opera House this Sunday afternoon – BEFORE kickoff time for Super Bowl XLIX.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Our friends at the outstanding local chamber music group “Con Vivo” (Music With Life), which made its Carnegie Hall debut last season, has sent the following word:
Hello Friends,
The Madison-based chamber music ensemble con vivo! … music with life (below) invites you to our debut performance at the Stoughton Opera House on this Sunday afternoon, Feb. 1, at 3 p.m.
The concert will feature music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, George Gershwin, Sergei Prokofiev, Max Bruch and John Williams.
The musicians in Con Vivo are professionals who often play in other noted ensembles including the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
The beautifully restored Stoughton Opera House (below, from the outside and inside) is located at 381 E. Main St. Stoughton. For more information, call (608) 877-4400.
You can get tickets at the door or by visiting www.stoughtonoperahouse.com The prices are $20 for regular admission and $10 for an obstructed view.
It’s sad that the Packers aren’t playing in Super Bowl XLIX — that’s 49 to normal people — but if you intend to watch the big game anyway, come spend your pre-game with us. You will be home in time for the kick-off!
We hope to see you this Sunday.
Here is the complete program:
Sergei Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes for piano, string quartet and clarinet, Op. 34
Max Bruch: Romance for Viola and Piano, Op. 85
Jay Ungar: “Ashokan Farewell” for violin and piano. (It was famously used in the Ken Burns documentary ‘The Civil War.” You can hear it in a lovely and moving YouTube video that features the composer at the bottom.)
John Williams: Air and Simple Gifts for violin, cello, clarinet and piano
INTERMISSION
George Gershwin: Preludes for solo piano
Andante con moto e poco rubato
Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet, KV 581
Allegro, Andante, Menuetto, Rondo
Tags: American Civil War, Arts, Ashoken Farewell, Carnegie Hall, Chamber music, Civil War, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, documentary, George Gershwin, Gershwin, Jacob Stockinger, Jay Ungar, John Williams, Ken Burns, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Max Bruch, Mozart, Music, Piano, Preludes, Prokofiev, Romance, Sergei Prokofiev, Stoughton Opera House, String quartet, Super Bowl XLIX, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: The 57th annual Grammy Award nominations are out — and they provide a useful guide to holiday gift-giving.
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By Jacob Stockinger
This year, the holiday gift-giving season went into high gear on Thanksgiving Day, not just Black Friday. That was followed by Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday and on and on.
Doesn’t such commercialism of the holidays just make you want to break into “Joy to the World” or the “Hallelujah” Chorus?
Traditionally, The Ear has offered many lists and compilations for suggested classical recordings for the holidays — Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever.
Over this past weekend, the nominations for the 57th annual Grammy Awards were announced.
Of course, this event – no matter how hyped and prestigious for helping music — is an industry honoring and promoting itself. So of course classical music is way down on the list, far behind more money-making and better selling genres.
But over the years The Ear has found that the nominees are actually more useful than the much shorter list of winners, which doesn’t come out anyway until well after the holidays.
So here is a link to the complete list of Grammy nominations. Just go the website, and scroll down to Category 72 though Category 81.
http://www.grammy.com/nominees
Sure, the Big Labels and Gray Ladies – such as Deutsche Grammophon and EMI – are represented.
And so are some pretty big New Names, including the astonishingly gifted prize-winning young pianist Daniil Trifonov (below), who, The Ear thinks, show get a Grammy for his Carnegie Hall recital. (Just listen to the YouTube video, taken from that live recital, at the bottom. It features a difficult Chopin prelude and notice the virtuosic ferocity combined with lyricism, the voicing, and the flexibility of tempo or rubato.)
But once again The Ear notices how many recordings are being done by labels that have been established by the performing groups themselves or by smaller labels. Decentralization continues. So does the rediscovery of Baroque opera and early music as well as new music.
In addition, there continues to be an emphasis, established in recent years, on newer music and lesser known composers. So specialization also continues.
Notice too that veteran independent record producer Judith Sherman (below, holding the Grammy she won in 2012) is once again up for Producer of The Year – she has won it several times already.
Sherman is the same person who recorded the impressive first double CD of four centennial commissions for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte Quartet. That release included string quartets by John Harbison and Walter Mays as well as Piano Quintets by Paul Schoenfield and William Bolcom.
This spring Judith Sherman is coming back to the UW-Madison School to record the last two commissions: the terrific Clarinet Quintet based on Allen Ginsberg’s Beat poem “Howl’ by American composer Pierre Jalbert (below top) and for the String Quartet No. 3 by Belgian composer Benoît Mernier (below bottom, in a photo by Lise Mernier).
More such suggestions for classical music gifts are to come.
Usually critics from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal weigh in, as does Alex Ross of The New Yorker magazine and the Deceptive Cadence blog for NPR (National Public Radio), and The Ear will include those.
And often The Ear throws in his own idea for gifts, which often involves linking a local live concert with a CD or a book and a CD. Stay tuned.
In addition, other website devoted to classical music – say the BBC and radio stations WQXR in New York City and WMFT in Chicago –- often featured a Best of the Year compilation.
And here is a link to more about the Grammys, including background
The Grammys will be awarded on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015 and broadcast on CBS-TV from 8 to 11 p.m. LIVE from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Tags: Alex Ross, Allen Ginsberg, Arts, Baroque, BBC, Beat, Beat poetry, Beethoven, Benoit Mernier, Billboard charts, CBS, Chamber music, Christmas, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, Compact Disc, Daniil Trifonov, Deceptive Cadence, Early music, George Frideric Handel, Grammy Award, Hanukkah, Howl, Jacob Stockinger, John Harbison, Judith Sherman, Madison, Music, National Public Radio, New Music, New York City, New York Times, NPR, opera, Orchestra, Paul Schoenfield, Piano, Pierre Jalbert, Pro Arte Quartet, producer, String quartet, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, vocal music, Walter Mays, WFMT, WILLIAM BOLCOM, WQXR, YouTube
Classical music: The Ear gets to hear a masterpiece in the making -– Pierre Jalbert’s “Howl” Clarinet Quintet. It sure sounds like it will become a staple of new music. Plus, the FREE Noon Musicales at the First Unitarian Society of Madison resume this Friday.
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ALERT: The FREE Friday Noon Musicales (below) in the Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, resume again this Friday, Oct. 3, at 12:15 to 1 p.m. This week’s featured group is the Arbor Ensemble with flutist Berlinda Lopez, violinist Marie Pauls and pianist Stacy Fehr-Regehr in the music of Jacques Ibert, Cesar Cui, Bohuslav Martinu, Astor Piazzolla and Josef Suk.
By Jacob Stockinger
Imagine my unexpected joy at hearing the new Clarinet Quintet by American composer Pierre Jalbert (below), who was inspired by Beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s famous “Howl,” last Friday night at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
The reason for my happiness is because I heard music that was so compelling and so moving that it made me want to listen to it again and again.
I know, I know.
A lot of proponents of new music say you have to listen to any new and unheard piece several times before you can pass judgment.
I don’t buy it.
True, as loyal readers know, I am generally not a fan of new music. I find too much of it unenjoyable and forgettable. It just doesn’t speak to me, for whatever reason. I like tunes and melody and harmonic mood as well as rhythmic pulse. New music too often seems detached from the emotional life of the listeners– or at least this listener.
I prefer music that speaks so deeply and movingly to me on the first hearing that I welcome any chance to hear it more often as another chance to experience beauty — not to fulfill some intellectual obligation or duty to the composer or the art form.
When I first heard Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, for example, I knew within one minute that I just had to hear it again and would hear it again many times. It never fails to disappoint. And so it is with any masterwork, from early music, through Baroque and Romantic music, to modern and contemporary music.
Anyway, the “Howl” Clarinet Quintet by Pierre Jalbert was performed last Friday night by the Pro Arte Quartet (below top, in a photo by Rick Langer), artists-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. The guest clarinetist was Charles Niedich (below bottom) from New York City, who has a major international reputation from working with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and other well-known ensembles.
The performance came at the newly remodeled Wisconsin Union Theater, which the old Pro Arte Quartet helped to inaugurate when the theater opened 75 years ago in 1939. The theater was not sold-out Friday night, but there was a good and enthusiastic audience that rewarded the Jalbert with a prolonged standing ovation (below). So I know that I was not alone in my positive and approving reaction.
Here is a link with more background:
The program started off with the rarely heard and pretty tame String Quartet No. 2 by Juan Crisostomo Arriaga, a Spanish composer known as “the Spanish Mozart” who died at 20. The program’s fitting finale was the sublime Clarinet Quintet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
In between the Arriaga and the Mozart came the Jalbert Clarinet Quintet, which was the final of six commissions done to mark the Pro Arte’s centennial. (The Pro Arte Quartet, originally from Belgium, is now the oldest continuously performing string quartet in the world.)
Other elements added to the effectiveness. For one, the Pro Arte Quartet was in top form. Each voice was distinct and yet the overall blend was smooth, resonant and perfect in pitch. And their playing was enhanced by the terrific acoustics of the remodeled Shannon Hall at the Wisconsin Union Theater and the new on-stage shell (below, in the background).
But it was really the music itself that swept The Ear away.
It started right away, with the pulsing and almost hypnotic rhythms of the opening measures.
The two outer fast movements proved infectious and involving. But I particularly loved the way the middle movement developed.
I heard various audience members talk about how the work reminded them of Samuel Barber, of Philip Glass, of John Adams, of Steve Reich. And yet it didn’t seem to imitate any of them. It possessed a pure, strong voice of its own that used the idea of “Howl” without becoming a didactic piece of program music.
It isn’t often you get to hear a new work that holds the promise of becoming a staple in the repertoire. But that is exactly how it felt as I listened to the Jalbert quintet. Others I spoke to agreed.
Of the six centennial commissions that the Pro Arte has premiered over the past three years, this one seems the best one to end on because it seems the most likely one to succeed in coming years.
Sure, we may hear repeat performances of the String Quartets by John Harbison, Walter Mays and Benoît Mernier; of the Piano Quintets by William Bolcom and Paul Schoenfield. They are all recognized composers of quality.
But my money is on the work by Pierre Jalbert, which was by turns pensive and joyous, outraged and lamenting, much like the original poem “Howl.” The tone of both matched, and the clarinet, with its klezmer-like qualities, proved the perfect narrative voice imparted by Beat writer Allen Ginsberg (below).
It is a memorable night when you get to hear a masterwork in the making. All that work of chamber music needs now is history and many more repeat performances. I expect it will get those.
And to top it off, Pierre Jalbert (below right) -– who hails from Vermont and teaches at Rice University in Houston, Texas — was a very nice artist who was extremely amiable at the pre-concert dinner at the Chazen Museum of Art as well as insightfully candid during the pre-concert Q&A (below) that was so expertly hosted by Wisconsin Public Radio host Norman Gilliland (center) and also included clarinetist Charles Neidich.
Anyway, the “Howl” Clarinet Quintet by Pierre Jalbert will be recorded by the same players for Albany Records, under the supervision of the Grammy Award-winning producer Judith Sherman, and then released with the String Quartet No. 3 by Belgian composer Benoît Mernier.
I will be first in line to get it and set my CD player on repeat.
Can’t wait.
If you heard it, what do you think of the Clarinet Quintet by Pierre Jalbert, who offers his thoughts about composing in a YouTube video at the bottom?
Do you think it will become a staple of the repertoire?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Allen Ginsberg, Arriaga, Arts, Ástor Piazzolla, Baroque, Beat, Beat generation, Benoit Mernier, Cesar Cui, Chamber music, Charles Neidich, clariet, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, Compact Disc, contemporary music, Early music, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Friday, Howl, Ibert, Jacob Stockinger, John Adams, John Harbison, Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Madison, Martinu, modern music, Mozart, Music, New Music, New York City, Norman Gilliland, Paul Schoenfield, Philip Glass, Piano, Piano Quintet, Piazzolla, Pierre Jalbert, Pro Arte Quartet, quintet, Rice University, Samuel Barber, Steve Reich, String quartet, Suk, Texas, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vermont, Walter Mays, WILLIAM BOLCOM, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: The Ear offers cheers and jeers for the Wisconsin Union Theater’s remodeled Shannon Hall.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Last Friday night, The Ear got his first look and listen at the remodeled concert hall at the Wisconsin Union Theater, a wonderful landmark structure that I revere and usually refer to as “the Carnegie Hall of Madison” because of its long and distinguished history of bringing the best performing artists to Madison.
The event on Friday night was the fantastic concert by the Pro Arte Quartet, artists-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, with guest clarinetist Charles Neidich. It was the first classical music event in the new building.
They all turned in a wonderful finale to the quartet’s six centennial commissions. This final program featured the world premiere of the Clarinet Quintet by American composer Pierre Jalbert, who based the work on the poem “Howl” by the Beat writer Allen Ginsberg. The string quartet also performed the String Quartet No. 2 by Juan Crisostomo Arriaga and the glorious, sublime Clarinet Quintet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
But I will offer more comments about the concert and the music tomorrow.
Right now, I want to offer my take on the new hall, which was part of a two-year renovation that cost over $50 million, all privately raised. The remodeling project was completed just in time to mark the 75th anniversary of the historical theater, which opened its doors in 1939 and was inaugurated by the original Pro Arte String Quartet.
I will be anxious to hear your own take on the new hall, as well as the music and performance, in the COMMENTS section.
Here is mine:
WHAT I LIKE and WHAT I DISLIKE
I like the generosity and intent of University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni Michael Shannon (Class of 1980) and his wife Mary Sue Shannon (Class of 1981, both below), who donated something like $8 million to restore and remodel the hall, to reconfigure the Langdon Street entrance and provided a “sunset lounge” for receptions, study and relaxing.
That is why you can hear the “Consecration of the House” Overture by Ludwig van Beethoven, conducted by Chicago Symphony Orchestra maestro Riccardo Muti, at the bottom in a YouTube video.
So The Ear offers kudos, a big and hearty THANKS to the Shannons.
BUT:
Why can’t rich people show some respect for the very history they seek to honor and preserve as well as some good taste and modesty?
Do we really need this well-known and historic hall, which is so respected by the world-renowned performers who appear there and are pleased when they see the list of their predecessors, to be renamed?
And do we really need the new name embedded in big metal letters in the handsome terrazzo stone floor of the theater? Wouldn’t a big bronze wall plaque with a bas-relief portrait and some kind words of thanks and praise, perhaps along with a paragraph of background, details and even a quote, have done the job and preserved the continuity of history?
Why can’t we continue to use the names of public buildings and spaces to honor public service rather than money and wealth? Do the arts also have to remind us of the ever-widening wealth gap in the U.S., which already is now the biggest in the world?
Is that the message we want a public building to send?
Could someone rich enough today buy the entire university and rename the UW to the University of Walmart, now that state support has dropped below 20 percent? Could that path to privatizing public education really be the way we want to go?
As I have said in another column: If you can afford to buy naming rights, you aren’t being taxed enough. Governor Walker, are we open for business? Or are we getting the business? What about the importance of tradition, history and public service?
Well, enough of a rant. (Below are the happy Shannons hand-in-hand on the Memorial Union waterfront.)
ON TO OTHER THINGS: THE REMODELED BUILDING ITSELF
I like the new bigger and 3-inch wider seats, although they reduce the seating capacity from 1,300 to 1,139. I also like the new upholstery. But I heard someone complain that there was no padding on the armrests. And I still find too little knee room, even though I am only a bit over 6 feet tall. It feels like flying economy class, which, these days, is not good. But that can’t be helped, short of destroying the original concrete raking and seat beds.
I also very much like the acoustics and sound -– try the terrific lower balcony (below) sometime to see that closer isn’t always better — especially with the new shell (below, the on-stage background). But I hear that you can’t do multimedia because the shell simply won’t allow for a screen to drop down for films, videos, slide shows and Power Point presentations. That design mistake should be fixed in view of the importance of high technology.
The wall color (take another look at the first photo above), which was apparently chosen and approved by the Wisconsin Historical Society, is NOT the same as before and I don’t find it attractive except to the degree it is evenly applied and not water-stained.
But it doesn’t feel authentically period or Deco. The color seems darker and shinier than in photos, more dark peach than salmon. Some may find it handsome. I find it awfully close to pukey brown. And I believe the rule of thumb is that paint only darkens with age. Lighter, one suspects, would have been better both now and especially in the long run.
Something unfortunate happened between the idea and the execution. It happens to me too — and to many others — when I tried to match a dry paint chip to a whole wall. But you’d think the experts would have the collective experience to get it right, if only by trial and error.
Overall, the walls and paint remind The Ear of a face with too much heavy foundation makeup on an oily skin. The wall paint -– maybe it’s a semi-gloss? — is just not flat enough and exudes a light sheen in the right lighting. It makes you want to blot the wall with cotton gauze balls.
I like the new carpet color and pattern (below), but I already saw staining — see the one below? — within the first month or two. I wonder: Couldn’t it be easier to clean? How long will it last and wear well?
I like the new sunset lounge, with its airiness and its great view of Lake Mendota. It made for a great post-concert dessert reception.
And I really like the new entrance lobby off Langdon Street. It feels much less like the theater is hidden away. You don’t have to seek it out. That part especially seems more populist and in keeping with The Wisconsin Idea.
The quieter heating and air conditioning system also seem much improved and make for a far more comfortable concert experience.
I like the historical feel fostered by keeping turquoise water fountains (“bubblers”), but I also like the eco-friendly greener restrooms with automatic light switches that save on electricity.
All in all, I give the remodeling a B, though given all the money and know-how I would have thought an A-plus was a certainty.
To help you decide for yourself, you should really attend an event there.
But for more background and details, here are some links:
To a story and photos by Eric Tadsen in Isthmus:
http://www.isthmus.com/daily/article.php?article=43040
http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=43007
To a story in the UW-Madison student newspaper The Daily Cardinal:
To the official press release from the UW-Madison:
http://www.news.wisc.edu/22998
Tags: Allen Ginsberg, Arriaga, Arts, Beethoven, Chamber music, Charles Neidich, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, Howl, Jacob Stockinger, Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Madison, Mary Sue Shannon, Michael Shannon, Mozart, Piano, Pierre Jalbert, Pro Arte Quartet, quintet, Riccardo Muti, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
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