The Well-Tempered Ear
The UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra will provide a welcome break on Election Night
2 Comments
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
If you find yourself needing some relief or a short break from vote counting and the barrage of election news this coming Tuesday night, Nov. 3, the masked and socially distanced UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra (below) fits the bill.
The group’s refreshingly short, one-hour and intermission-free online video premiere begins at 7 p.m. CST on YouTube. There is no fee for watching the event in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the Hamel Music Center, although donations are welcome.
No in-person attendance is allowed.
The program features “Strum” (1981) by Jessie Montgomery (below, in a photo by Jiyang Chen); the famous and familiar Adagietto from the Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler (which you can hear with conductor Claudio Abbado in the YouTube video at the bottom); and the youthful Sinfonia No. 7 in D minor by Felix Mendelssohn, who wrote 13 of the string symphonies between the ages of 12 and 14.
Here is a direct link to the UW-Madison music school’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/TMNCy9qooCM
Just a personal note of appreciation and encouragement from The Ear: If you are a fan of orchestral music and pay attention to the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Middleton Community Orchestra, for example, then you owe to it yourself to become acquainted with the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra if you don’t already know it.
It is that good, as you can hear for yourself in this virtual concert during the pandemic. You will probably find yourself wanting to hear more.
The programs are outstanding and often feature neglected, modern and contemporary music as well as classic repertoire, and the playing is usually first-rate.
The orchestra sounds exceptionally good, often even professional, under its new conductor Oriol Sans (below), a native of Spain who arrived here last season from a post at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Sans has provided remarkable leadership both in the orchestra’s programs and in accompanying the University Opera productions and the UW Choral Union.
For more information, including the names of the orchestra’s members, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-madison-symphony-orchestra-video-premiere/
If you listen to it, please let us know: What did you think?
Did the performances please or impress you?
Did you like or dislike the scheduling on Election Night?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BarcelonaSpain, #BillLutes, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CentralStandardTime, #CentralTime, #ChoralMusic, #ChoralUnion, #ClaudioAbbado, #ContemporaryMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DonaldTrump, #ElectionDay, #ElectionNight, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #GustavMahler, #HamelMusicCenter, #JacobStockinger, #JessieMontgomery, #JoeBiden, #LivingComposers, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #ModernMusic, #NeglectedMusic, #NewMusic, #OnlineConcert, #OrchestralMusic, #OriolSans, #PresidentDonaldTrump, #SocialDistance, #SociallyDistanced, #StringMusic, #TheEar, #TheUW, #Tuesdaynight, #U.S.Congress, #U.S.Senate, #UniversityOfMichigan, #UniversityofMichigan-AnnArbor, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #UW-MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #UWChoralUnion, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, accompany, acquainted, Adagietto, allow, appreciation, Arts, attendance, audience, ballot, Barcelona, barrage, bill, blog, break, Central Standard Time, channel, choral music, Choral Union, classic, Classical music, classicalmusic, Claudio Abbado, composer, Concert, conductor, Congress, contemporary, coronavirus, CST, Democrat, Democratic, Donald Trump, donation, Election, Election Day, Election Day (United States), encouragement, Facebook, familiar, famous, fan, federa;, fee, Felix Mendelssohn, first-rate, forward, free, Gustav Mahler, Hamel Music Center, hear, impress, information, intermission, Jacob Stockinger, Jessie Montgomery, Joe Biden, leadership, like, link, living composers, local, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mahler, mask, masked, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, members, Middleton Community Orchestra, modern, more, Music, names, need, neglected, new, New Music, night, note, online, opera, Orchestra, orchestral music, Oriol Sans, owe, pandemic, personal, playing, please, poll, post, posting, premiere, President, President Donald Trump, presidential, production, professional, program, refreshing, regional, relief, remarkable, repertoire, repertory, Republican, Season, Senate, share, short, sinfonia, social distance, socially distanced, Spain, standard, state, string music, strum, Student, symphony, tag, Teacher, The Ear, Tuesday night, United States, University of Michigan, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, US, UW, UW Choral Union, UW-Madison, UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra, virtual, vocal music, vote, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, you, yourself, YouTube, YouTube channel, YouTube video
Classical music: Super-virtuoso pianist Marc-André Hamelin makes his Madison debut with the Madison Symphony Orchestra this weekend in concertos by Richard Strauss and Maurice Ravel
6 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
As a pianist, he is known as someone who can play more notes faster and more clearly than anyone one – in short, a “super-virtuoso.”
He is the Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin (below), who will make his Madison debut this weekend with the Madison Symphony Orchestra when he performs two concertos: “Burlesque” by Richard Strauss and the Piano Concerto in G Major by Maurice Ravel.
The program opens with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 38, “Prague,” and closes with Claude Debussy’s La Mer (The Sea).
Performances take place in Overture Hall, 201 State St., on Friday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, April 13, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, April 14, at 2:30 p.m.
An Open Rehearsal will be held on Thursday, April 11 — free and open to the public. Limited space is available (RSVP required by calling 608 257-3734). Patrons must arrive by 6:45 p.m. For more information about the concerts and rehearsal, go to: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/an-auspicious-debut-marc-andre-hamelin/
Maestro John DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson), who will conduct the concerts, says: “Marc-André Hamelin is one of the major pianists of our time. This program features two of the greatest German composers and two great French Impressionists. Always inspired by Mozart, I am delighted to open with his Prague symphony.
“Then comes Strauss’ Burlesque with Marc-André performing virtuosic and delightful musical fare. After intermission comes another favorite of mine, Ravel’s Piano Concerto with its sultry, cabaret-like slow movement that climaxes with a raucous but fun last movement. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear Martha Argerich play that second movement with conductor Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic.)
“The concert closes with Claude Debussy’s La Mer, his amazing tone poem that conjures up images of the sea both raging and calm, placing ultimate demands on the orchestra and creating an aural thrill for the audience.”
ABOUT MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN
The Oregonian summarizes the featured soloist concisely: “Is there anything Marc-André Hamelin can’t do at the piano?” Pianist Marc-André Hamelin is known worldwide for his unrivaled blend of consummate musicianship and brilliant technique, as well as for his exploration of the rarities of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries — in concert and on disc.
Although primarily a performer, Hamelin has composed music throughout his career. He was a distinguished jury member of the 15th Van Cliburn Competition in 2017, where each of the 30 competitors in the Preliminary Round were required to perform Hamelin’s “L’Homme armé.” It marked the first time the composer of the commissioned work was also a member of the jury.
A prolific maker of recordings, Hamelin (below) was honored with the 2014 ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of Year (Piano) and Disc of the Year for his three-disc set of “Busoni: Late Piano Music.” An album of his own compositions, “Hamelin: Études,” received a 2010 Grammy nomination and a first prize from the German Record Critics’ Association. Hamelin is the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the German Record Critics’ Association.
CONCERT AND TICKET DETAILS
The lobby opens 90 minutes prior to each concert. One hour before each performance, Michael Allsen will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience. It is free to ticket-holders.
The MSO recommends that concert attendees arrive early for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations, and so they can experience the Prelude Discussion.
Program notes for the concerts are available online: http://bit.ly/april2019programnotes
- Single Tickets are $18-$93 each and are on sale now at: https://madisonsymphony.org/hamelin through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141. Fees apply to online/phone sales.
- Groups of 10 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information, visit, https://www.madisonsymphony.org/groups.
- Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $15 or $20 tickets. More information is at: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush
- Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
- Flex-ticket booklets of 10 vouchers for 2018-19 symphony subscription concerts are available. Learn more at: https://madisonsymphony.org/flex
- Out at the Symphony tickets include a seat in the Circle level of Overture Hall (regular price ($70-93), plus the after-party, for $45. Reception-only tickets are available for $25 each. Learn more at: https://madisonsymphony.org/out
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Major funding for these concerts was provided by Madison Gas & Electric Foundation, Inc., Fred and Mary Mohs, Skofronick Family Charitable Trust and WPS Health Insurance. Additional funding was provided by Forte, James and Joan Johnston, Gary and Lynn Mecklenburg, Rodney Schreiner and Mark Blank, Stafford Rosenbaum LLP, and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tags: #BerlinPhilharmonic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoxOffice, #ClaudeDebussy, #ClaudioAbbado, #CommissionedMusic, #ECHOAward, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FerruccioBusoni, #FirstPrize, #GermanRecordCritics'Association, #GrammyAward, #HealthInsurance, #JohnDeMain, #LaMer, #MadisonGasandElectric, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #Marc-AndréHamelin, #MarthaArgerich, #MauriceRavel, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MG&E, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #NewMusic, #OpenRehearsal, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #PianoConcerto, #ProgramNotes, #RichardStrauss, #SeniorCitizen, #SlowMovement, #StaffordRosenbaum, #StateOfWisconsin, #SubscriptionConcert, #TheImpressionists, #TonePoem, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VanCliburn, #VanCliburnInternationalPianoCompetition, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #World-wide, #YouTubevideo, achievement, Album, Arts, audience, aural, award, Berlin Philharmonic, blog, box office, briliant, Burlesque, Busoni, cabaret, calm, Canada, Canadian, charity, Classical music, Claude Debussy, Claudio Abbado, climax, commissioned, Compact Disc, competitor, composer, Composition, Concert, concerto, conductor, consummate, Debussy, debut, demand, disc, discount, discussion, Echo award, etude, experience, Facebook, fare, Ferruccio Busoni, first prize, forward, free, French, fun, funds, German Record Critics' Association, Grammy, health insurance, ID, Impressionist, information, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, judge, jury, La Mer, last, last movement, law firm, lawyer, lifetime, like, link, listening, live, Madison, Madison Gas and Electric, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Maestro, major, Marc-André Hamelin, Martha Argerich, Maurice Ravel, Mead Witter School of Music, movement, Mozart, Music, musicianship, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, New Music, nomination, online, open, open rehearsal, Orchestra, Overture Center, Overture Hall, patron, performer, Pianist, Piano, poem, Prague, Prelude, program notes, rage, raging, raucous, Ravel, recording, rehearsal, Richard Strauss, RSVP, sea, seat, security, senior, senior citizen, share, Slow movement, soloist, spread, Stafford Rosenbaum, State of Wisconsin, Strauss, Student, subscription, sultry, super, symphony, tag, technique, thrill, time, tone, trust, United States, University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, Van Cliburn, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, virtuosic, virtuoso, weekend, Wisconsin Arts Board, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, word, worldwide, WPS, YouTube
Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra ends its eighth season this coming THURSDAY night with an ambitious program featuring the piano concerto by Schumann and the Symphony No. 1 by Brahms
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
You have to hand it to the mostly amateur but critically acclaimed Middleton Community Orchestra (below): They keep testing and pushing themselves towards bigger achievements and more difficult music.
This coming Thursday night, May 31 – NOT the usual Wednesday night performance time — the MCP will close out its eighth season with an ambitious program.
As The Ear has said many times before, both in reviews and when he named the MCO “Musician of the Year” for 2014, there is so much to praise and enjoy about the MCO:
The all-Romantic, all-masterpiece program this time features a familiar soloist, pianist Thomas Kasdorf (below) in the supremely lyrical Piano Concerto in A Minor by Robert Schumann. (You can hear the poignant slow movement played by Maurizio Pollini and conductor Claudio Abbado in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Kasdorf graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison‘s-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, where he is now doing graduate work in piano.
In addition, the MCO will close with the formidable Symphony No. 1 by Johannes Brahms. Sometimes called “Beethoven’s 10th,” it will be conducted by Steve Kurr (below), the usual and very able conductor of the MCO.
The concert is on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Middleton Performing Arts Center (below), which is attached to Middleton High School at 2100 Bristol Street. It is a comfortable venue, and a good shelter from the hot weather and humidity that are predicted to overtake us for the next week or so.
The box office opens at 6:30 p.m. and the auditorium doors open at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $15, but students are admitted free of charge — a deal that is hard to beat.
Advance tickets can also be purchased at the Willy Street Coop West.
As always, there will be an informal meet-and-greet reception after the concert for the music-makers and the audience to mingle – the perfect way to end a season.
If you want to find out more about the MCO season or about how to join it or support it, go to: http://middletoncommunityorchestra.org
Tags: #ClaudioAbbado, #HotWeather, #JohannesBrahms, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MaurizioPollini, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MiddletonPerformingArtsCenter, #MiddletonWisconsin, #OrchestraConductor, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #RobertSchumann, #RomanticComposers, #RomanticMusic, #RomanticPeriod, #SteveKurr, #SymphonyNo.1, #ThomasKasdorf, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, Arts, Beethoven, Cello, Classical music, Claudio Abbado, composer, concerto, conductor, heat, humidity, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, join, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, masterpiece, Maurizio Pollini, Middleton, Middleton High School, Music, Orchestra, Piano, shelter, support, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, web site, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Concerts of Beethoven, Brahms and Bernstein by the UW Choral Union on this Friday night and of Beethoven, Copland and Nielsen by the UW Symphony Orchestra on this Saturday night help finish off the first semester
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The end of the first semester is at hand. And this weekend two very appealing concerts will help finish off the first half of the new concert season at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
FRIDAY
At 8 p.m. on this Friday night in Mills Hall, the UW Choral Union and the UW-Madison Chamber Orchestra (below) will perform, for one performance only, three rarely heard works.
The orchestra and the campus-community chorus will be conducted by Beverly Taylor (below), the director of choral activities at the UW-Madison.
The program of works that are relatively rare on programs includes the Mass in C Major by Ludwig van Beethoven, “Nänie: Song of Lamentation” by Johannes Brahms (heard conducted by Claudio Abbado in the YouTube video below) and the “Chichester Psalms” by Leonard Bernstein.
Admission is $15 for adults; $8 for students.
Here are some notes about the works written by conductor Beverly Taylor:
“The Choral Union will present a 3 B’s concert, which includes masterpieces of three different types.
“The Bernstein “Chichester Psalms,” written in the 1960’s for a cathedral in Britain, is a setting of three psalms in Hebrew. The piece is for strings, brass and percussion, and lasts about 20 minutes. It features a flamboyant, joyful and somewhat dissonant opening full of exciting percussion writing.
“The second movement features a wonderful boy soloist, Simon Johnson, from the Madison Youth Choirs, with harp and strings. He is like the shepherd King David, who is peacefully in the fields with his sheep; contrasting that are the warring peoples, sung by the tenors and basses. The boy and women’s voices return singing peacefully above the warring mobs.
“The third movement starts in dissonant pain, but it dissolves into a beautiful, quiet psalm of praise and trust.
“The Brahms Nänie is a 15-minute setting of a poem by Friedrich Schiller on the topic of beauty and its inability to last; even beauty must die, and the gods weep too, but the beauty itself is worth all! The style is Romantic with the long arching melodic lines for which Brahms is well-known.
“The Beethoven Mass in C is one of just two masses that Beethoven wrote; in contrast to the long, loud, high, grand and overpowering “Missa Solemnis,” the Mass in C is more charming, Mozartean and approachable. It still has some Beethovenian touches of sudden dynamic changes, sforzandi (which are emphases or accents), and slow, elegiac quartets. Our solo quartet will be Anna Polum, Jessica Krasinki, Jiabao Zhang and John Loud.”
For more background and information about how to get tickets, go to:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-choral-union-and-chamber-orchestra/
SATURDAY
On this Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra (below top), under the baton of James Smith (below bottom, in a photo by Jack Burns), will give a FREE concert.
The program features three works: the late “King Stephan” Overture by Ludwig van Beethoven (heard below in a YouTube video as conducted by Leonard Bernstein with the Vienna Philharmonic) the “Billy the Kid” Suite by Aaron Copland; and the Symphony No. 4 “Inextinguishable” by Danish composer Carl Nielsen.
The Ear has heard both groups often and highly recommends both concerts.
He was quite amazed at how good the last UW Symphony Orchestra program he heard was. It offered two Fifth Symphonies — by Sergei Prokofiev and Jean Sibelius – only about three weeks into the semester.
It was nothing short of amazing how well the orchestra had come together in such a short time. It was a tight and impassioned performance. The Ear expects the same for this concert, which has had a lot more rehearsal time.
Tags: Arts, bass, beauty, Beethoven, Billy the Kid, boy, boy soprano, Brahms, Carl Nielsen, Cello, Chamber music, charm, Chichester Psalms, choral music, Classical music, Claudio Abbado, Copland, Danish, Denmark, die, Elegy, England, Friedrich Schiller, Great Britain, harp, Hebrew, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, King David, King Stephan, lamentation, Leonard Bernstein, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Youth Choirs, mass, Missa Solemnis, Mozart, Music, Nanie, Orchestra, Overture, peace, Prokofiev, Quartet, Romantic, Romanticism, Sibelius, solo, soprano, strings, Suite, symphony, tenor, The Inextinguishable, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vienna Philharmonic, Viola, Violin, vocal music, war, women, YouTube
Classical music: Meet Kirill Petrenko, the unknown name who has just been appointed conductor of the famed Berlin Philharmonic.
2 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
His name is Kirill Petrenko -– not to be confused with conductor Vasily Petrenko in Liverpool, to whom he is no relation.
Chances are you have never heard his name.
Yet the Russian native Kirill Petrenko (below) has just been appointed to succeed Sir Simon Rattle as the music director and conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, which is often seen as the finest and most prestigious orchestra in the world.
Petrenko sounds like a maestro who is worth getting to know.
And Tom Huizenga allows you to do just that in a terrific interview he did with a musician of the Berlin Philharmonic (below) about the new maestro who, it turns out, is publicity shy.
It appeared on “Deceptive Cadence,” the classical music blog that he writes and edits for NPR or National Public Radio.
It will be interesting to see what his initial concert programs and recordings are.
But while you wait, here is a link to the interview, which also includes some audio-video clips as samples of Kirill Petrenko’s music-making:
Tags: Arts, Bavarian State Opera, Beethoven, Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, Cello, choral music, Classical music, Claudio Abbado, Herbert von Karajan, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, Kirill Petrenko, Liverpool, London, London Symphony Orchestra, Ludwig van Beethoven, Music, Music director, NPR, Orchestra, Simon Rattle, Vasily Petrenko, Violin
Classical music: The Madison Symphony Orchestra presents a FREE Farmers’ Market Concert of music for organ and piano this Saturday morning. Plus, there is a FREE orchestra concert and viola concert at Capitol Lakes Retirement Center TONIGHT at 7.
Leave a Comment
ALERT: A friend writes: TONIGHT at 7 p.m. at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, 333 West Main Street, downtown off the Capitol Square, UW-Madison graduate student Kyle Knox (below with the Middleton Community Orchestra) will be conducting the Serenade No. 1 by Johannes Brahms (at bottom, you can hear the Berlin Philharmonic under conductor Claudio Abbado, in a YouTube video) performed by many members of the Middleton Community Orchestra, and past and future soloists. On the second half of the program, violist Vicki Powell, who is just in Madison for the week, will perform solo works.
The Brahms sounds great. We are lucky to be joined by Madison Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Naha Greenholtz; violinist Paran Amirinazari who will be Middleton Community Orchestra’s concertmaster in the fall; and violist Vicki Powell plus many other fine players.
THE CONCERT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
By Jacob Stockinger
It could sound like a professional wrestling match: “This Saturday the Über Steinway meets the Colossal Klais!”
The Madison Symphony Orchestra’s (MSO) German (Hamburg) Steinway piano will meet the colossal Klais Overture Concert Organ (below) in a free concert featuring guest pianist Stephen Nielson and organist Samuel Hutchison.
The concert will take place during the Dane County Farmers’ Market (below) on this Saturday, June 20, at 11 a.m. in Overture Hall of the Overture Center for the Arts, 201 State Street.
No tickets or reservations are needed for this 45-minute concert.
From familiar hymns to rousing patriotic medleys and stunning solos for piano and organ, this first and only Farmers’ Market organ concert of the summer promises to deliver thrills for all.
American pianist Stephen Nielson made his orchestral debut as a pianist at age 11. During a 30-year collaboration with his late colleague, Ovid Young, Nielson performed more than 3,500 concerts world-wide as part of the distinguished piano duo Nielson & Young.
His 2008 performance with Samuel Hutchison in Overture Hall garnered rave reviews from those in attendance. Nielson received his degree from Indiana University, where he also earned the Distinguished Performer and Phi Beta Kappa honors. Nielson was named a finalist in the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels and has performed throughout Europe and Asia.
Samuel Hutchison has served as Curator and Principal Organist for Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Overture Concert Organ since 2001. An honors graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, Hutchison has presented many recitals in the U.S and in Europe in locations that include the Riverside Church, New York City; St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; and Notre Dame, St. Sulpice and St. Étienne-du-Mont, Paris. He also performed the complete works of J.S. Bach in a series of 11 weekly recitals for the 300th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
The Madison Symphony Orchestra and Overture Center for the Arts present the Farmers’ Market Concert in partnership with the Wisconsin State Journal/Madison.com.
Support for all Overture Concert Organ programs is provided by the Diane Endres Ballweg Fund. With a gift from Pleasant T. Rowland, the Madison Symphony Orchestra commissioned the Overture Concert Organ, which is the stunning backdrop of all MSO concerts.
To see the Overture Concert Organ series of concerts for 2015-16 or to subscribe at a 25% savings, visit: www.madisonsymphony.org/organseason15-16
Tags: Artistic director, Arts, Asia, Bach, Baroque, Berlin Philharmonic, Brahms, Capitol Lakes Retirement Center, Chamber music, Classical music, Claudio Abbado, concertmaster, Dane County, Dane County Farmers' Market, Europe, Indiana University, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Klais, Klais Orgelbau, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Middleton Community Orchestra, Music, Music director, New Jersey, New York City, Orchestra, organ, Overture Center, Piano, Queen Elizabeth Competition, Riverside Church, Serenade, Steinway, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Westminster choir College, Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Journal
Classical music: The UW-Madison Choral Union and Symphony Orchestra plus soloists turn in a “glorious” performance of the rarely performed choral symphony “Hymn of Praise” by Felix Mendelssohn.
Leave a Comment
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 for 12 years hosted an early music show every other Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
This weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra will bring us that giant among symphonies, Beethoven’s Ninth. We now take that work so for granted as a musical summit by itself that we lose sight of its enormous impact on composers of the rest of the 19th century.
The introduction of solo and choral voices into an orchestral symphony score was radical, and inspired many responses. One was the efforts of Hector Berlioz to infuse the elements of opera into a symphonically structured work, resulting in that masterpiece, his “dramatic symphony” Romeo et Juliette. Richard Wagner, by contrast, built an entire career of casting operas in symphonic terms. The culmination of the “choral symphony” came with three of the symphonies by Gustav Mahler (Nos. 2, 3 and 8).
But an earlier response was brought to us last Saturday night by the UW-Madison Choral Union and Symphony Orchestra (below). This was Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2, known as the Lobgesang or “Hymn of Praise.” It was composed in 1840, a mere 16 years after Beethoven’s Ninth was premiered.
Mendelssohn (below) did not simplistically imitate the prototype, but adapted its idea to his own purposes. In place of three elaborate and individual movements, the work’s No. 1, called “sinfonia,” is a set of three successive orchestral sections that flow with limited breaks one after the other, for a total of 15-20 minutes. Then follows a series of nine numbers constituting a cantata for soloists and chorus, running close to 60 minutes.
It sets either Scriptural or devotional texts pertaining to faith in and celebration of the Almighty, with thematic references made to material in the preliminary “sinfonia.” This “choral finale” alone is in the line of sacred choral works, many on Psalm texts, that the composer wrote recurrently.
This cantata may lack the etherial daring of Beethoven’s choral finale, but it is far more idiomatically vocal and choral than what late Beethoven had come to. With its inclusion of Lutheran chorale elements and fugal counterpoint, it is in a class with Mendelssohn’s glorious oratorio Elijah. (Below is a photo of the performance by Margaret Barker.)
Because of the extra-orchestral resources the work calls for, it is not often performed, so that it has not become as familiar, and therefore as well-loved, as the composer’s popular Symphonies 3, 4, and 5, the so-called “Scottish,” “Italian” and “Reformation” symphonies. Some might find No. 2 less than top-drawer Mendelssohn, but it is certainly high-quality Mendelssohn, and readily rewards the hearing. (You can hear an excerpt featuring Claudio Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
This was the sole work on this Choral Union program. With the absence of regular conductor Beverly Taylor, who is on sabbatical this semester, the podium was assumed by the splendid James Smith (below), who seemed altogether comfortable drawing magnificent sounds from the large chorus, while working his usual wonders with his student orchestra.
There are parts for three soloists. The main soprano was Elizabeth Hagedorn (below top, left), whose wide vibrato and squally high range represented for me the one disappointment of this performance. The reliable Mimmi Fulmer (below top, center) was drawn in only for a two-soprano duet: I wish she had been given the top assignment. Thomas Leighton (below bottom) is not the most lyrical of tenors, but he conveyed honestly the spiritual searching of his solos.
Here, then, was the Choral Union at its best. It offered stirring choral singing, while giving us an opportunity to experience an unfairly neglected but wonderful score.
Tags: Arts, Beethoven, Beethoven's Ninth, Berlin Philharmonic, Berlioz, Cantata, choral music, Choral Symphony, Chorale, Classical music, Claudio Abbado, counterpoint, Dane County, duet, Elijah, fugue, Gustav Mahler, Isthmus, Italian Symphony, Jacob Stockinger, liturgical music, Ludwig van Beethoven, Lutheranism, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Medieval history, Music, oratorio, Orchestra, Psalms, Reformation Symphony, Richard Wagner, Romeo and Juliet, Scottish Symphony, soprano, symphony, tenor, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Choral Union, UW Symphony Orchestra, vocal music, Wisconsin, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: Pianists Peter Serkin and Julia Hsu will play works for piano-four hands by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms this Saturday night at Farley’s House of Pianos.
2 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Our friends at Farley’s House of Pianos write to the blog with news of a noteworthy piano concert this Saturday night:
Renowned American pianist Peter Serkin (below top) and Julia Hsu (below bottom) will perform piano, four-hand pieces by Schumann, Bizet, Mozart and more, as part of the Salon Piano Series concerts held at Farley’s House of Pianos at 6522 Seybold Road on Madison’s far west side near West Towne.
The concert is at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday night, April 4 and will include an introduction by Karlos Moser (below), a retired University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of music and former longtime director of the University Opera at the UW-Madison School of Music.
The program includes: Six Etudes in the Form of Canons for Pedal-Piano, Op. 56, by Robert Schumann; Three Pieces from “Jeux d’Enfants” (Children’s Games) by Georges Bizet; the Sonata in B flat Major, K. 358, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the Allegro ma non troppo in A minor (the dramatic and lyrical “Lebenssturme” or “Lifestorms” that you can hear in a live performance in a YouTube video at the bottom), D.947, and the Rondo in A Major, D.951, by Franz Schubert; and Four Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms.
Tickets are $45 and are expected to sell quickly. They are available online at www.salonpianoseries.org and http://www.brownpapertickets.com/profile/706809 or at Farley’s House of Pianos, (608) 271-2626.
For more information about the Salon Piano Series, visit: http://salonpianoseries.org
The distinguished American pianist Peter Serkin has performed with the world’s major symphony orchestras with such conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Daniel Barenboim, George Szell, Claudio Abbado, Eugene Ormandy and James Levine. A dedicated chamber musician, Serkin has collaborated with artists including violinist Pamela Frank and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
An avid exponent of the music of many contemporary composers, Serkin has brought to life the music of Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Wolpe, and others for audiences around the world. He has performed many world premieres written specifically for him, in particular, works by Toru Takemitsu, Oliver Knussen and Peter Lieberson. Serkin currently teaches at Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Longy School of Music. Serkin became friends with the Farleys in 1994 when he was in town for a concert and visited the Farley’s showroom (below).
Originally from Taiwan, Julia Hsu received scholarships to study at The Purcell School for young musicians at the age of 14. She has also studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London and at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Germany. Julia has collaborated with conductors Fabio Panisello, Lutz Koeler and cellist Ivan Moniguetti. She was a Festival Fellow at Bowdoin Music Festival, and a scholar at the Banff Centre, Canada before she became a Piano Fellow at Bard College Conservatory of Music in 2013.
The Salon Piano Series is a non-profit founded by Tim and Renée Farley to continue the tradition of intimate salon concerts at Farley’s House of Pianos.
Upcoming concerts include the internationally acclaimed Czech pianist Martin Kasík (below top), who will play the “Moonlight” and “Les Adieux” Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven and Sonata No. 3 by Sergei Prokofiev, on Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. Jazz pianist Dick Hyman (below bottom) will perform on May 30 and 31, 2015, at 4 p.m. both days.
For ticket information and concert details see www.salonpianoseries.org.
All events will be held at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, Madison, on Madison’s west side near the Beltline, and plenty of free parking is available. It is also easy to reach by bicycle or Madison Metro.
Tags: Arnold Schoenberg, Arts, Banff Centre, Bard College, Beethoven, Berlin Philharmonic, Bowdoin, Brahms, Canada, Canon, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Dick Hyman, etude, Farley's House of Pianos, George Szell, Georges Bizet, Germany, Grammy Award, Gustavo Dudamel, Hannover, Hungarian Dances, James Levine, Jazz, Julia Hsu, Les Adieux Sonata, London, London Symphony Orchestra, Longy School of Music, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Michael Wolpe, Moonlight Sonata, Mozart, Music, Music festival, New Music, Oliver Knussen, Orchestra, Pamela Frank, Peter Lieberson, Peter Serkin, Piano, piano-four hands, Prokofiev, Purcell School, Robert Schumann, rondo, Royal Academy of Music, Schubert, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Sonata, Stravinsky, Taiwan, theater, Toru Takemitsu, UK, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yo-Yo Ma, YouTube
Classical music: Can you name the 20 famous classical musicians who died in 2014? NPR remembers them and The Ear celebrates them with the German Requiem by Johannes Brahms.
4 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Last year, classical music lost of a lot of important people -– performers and composers.
For The Ear, three of the most important people were the Italian conductor Claudio Abbado (below top), who was a master of the mainstream operatic and orchestral repertoire; the English conductor Christopher Hogwood (below middle), who also pioneered the performance and recording of early music, Baroque music, Classical era composers and even early Romantic composers — including Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Georg Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert — on period instruments and with historically informed performance practices; and the Dutch flutist and conductor Frans Bruggen (below bottom), whose career followed a similar trajectory as Hogwood’s.
Those men made us hear music in new, unexpected and exciting ways — the highest achievement that any performer or interpreter can aspire to.
But we also lost highly accomplished and important singers and instrumentalists, including pianists and violinists.
The always outstanding Deceptive Cadence blog on NPR (National Public Radio) recently ran a list of 20 figures who died in 2014, though I am sure there are more.
Below is a link to the NPR story.
When you click on each entry you will get photo and full obituaries, readers’ comments and fine sound samples. So don’t be afraid to leave the NPR page and follow the various links.
And here is a fitting tribute, the final movement of the German Requiem by Johannes Brahms in which the chorus sings “Blessed are the dead for their works shall live on after them.”
And be sure to use the Comments section of this blog for any additions and tributes you wish to add, perhaps by naming your favorite composer or work they performed or recorded.
Tags: Antonio Vivaldi, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Baroque music, Beethoven, Boston, British, Cello, Chamber music, Christopher Hogwood, Classical era, Classical music, Classical period (music), Claudio Abbado, Compact Disc, Dutch, Early music, English, Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel, Handel and Haydn Society, Haydn, Historically informed performance, historically informed performance practices, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Julius Rudel, La Scala, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Metropolitan Opera, Mozart, Music, Netherlands, New York City, NPR, opera, Orchestra, period instruments, Piano, Romantic, Schubert, UK, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Van Cliburn, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Violin, Vivaldi, vocal music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Conductor Claudio Abbado and pianist Martha Argerich team up for unforgettable, compelling performances of two late Mozart concertos in a new Deutsche Grammophon release.
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear is pretty sure that Deutsche Grammophon has some more recordings “in the can,” as they say, by the late and universally acclaimed Italian conductor Claudio Abbado (below, leading the Orchestra Mozart), who died last month at 80.
And the same make hold true for the legendary Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich -– often dubbed the female Vladimir Horowitz for her blazing technique, involving and individualistic interpretations and unpredictability -– who has been seriously ill and may be approaching the end of her career.
But it is curious, and reassuring, to see how so many aging musicians turn late in life to the music of Mozart. It happened with pianists Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz, both of whom generally focused on the Romantic repertoire. And I am sure there are many, many more examples.
But you would be hard put to find more convincing examples than the two Mozart piano concertos with Abbado and Argerich, plus the Orchestra Mozart, that was released this week by Deutsche Grammophon. You can hear some compelling samples in a YouTube video at the bottom.
That these two musicians were compatible we know from their long partnership — they are seen below together in the 1960s — and their early and frequent collaborations on Beethoven, Chopin Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Rachmaninoff.
But who was waiting for Mozart to be next? Not The Ear.
But it works. Oh boy, does it work.
Argerich, who is known for impetuousness, here seems the model of restraint without being timid. She plays strongly and with assurance, but with the complete transparency and clarity that great Mozart playing demands. Mozart’s music offers no room to hide, but then Argerich doesn’t need any.
The same holds for Claudio Abbado, who was at home in grand opera and big symphonic scores by Mahler as well as Beethoven, Schubert and so many others. But his Mozart here is also a model of clarity, with the various orchestral parts emerging clearly to hold dialogues with the many piano parts that Argerich brings out.
It is an interesting match of repertoire.
The Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503, is Mozart’s biggest symphonic effort in the genre of piano concertos – he composed 27 piano concertos — and it is perfectly suited to Argerich’s bigger-than-life playing.
But how she brings out Mozart’s lovely aria-like voices, melodies and harmonies. Her playing is all about poetic and natural sounding deconstruction through inflection and articulation, her accents paralleling and underscoring passages in the orchestra. Such heartbreaking simplicity combined with such effortless complexity -– that is the fusion Mozart we hear here.
Similarly, in the darker and more well-known Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, Argerich is all color and drama as well as clarity. Interestingly, she uses different and atypical cadenzas -– two by Ludwig van Beethoven and one by Argerich’s teacher Friedrich Gulda.
Now there are a lot of wonderful Mozart piano concertos out there in Recording World, including those by Murray Perahia and Alfred Brendel. So there is no point arguing whether these readings are definitive.
Increasingly, in fact, the Ear thinks the whole idea of definitive performances is not only illusory, but also antithetical and even counterproductive to the whole point of the performing arts.
But I can say this: Judging by the pleasure that the readings continue to give me, these two recording are riveting and MUST-HEAR recordings for serious Mozart fans, for serious piano fans and for serious fans of Claudio Abbado and Martha Argerich — two of the 20th century’s titanic talents in classical music.
Tags: Alfred Brendel, Argentinian, Arts, Beethoven, cadenza, Chopin, Classical music, Claudio Abbado, Compact Disc, conductor, Deutsche Grammophon, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Friedrich Gulda, Jacob Stockinger, Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, Martha Argerich, Mozart, Murray Perahia, Orchestra, Orchestra Mozart, Piano, Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Vladimir Horowitz, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 