The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The adventurous Oakwood Chamber Players open their new ”Panorama” season of unusual repertoire this coming Saturday night and Sunday afternoon

September 13, 2019
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By Jacob Stockinger

How many of the composers’ names below do you recognize?

Probably very few, if you are like The Ear.

But here is your chance to explore new musical territory.

Over many years, the adventurous Oakwood Chamber Players (OCP) have built a reputation for first-rate performances of rarely heard repertoire, both old and new.

This year is no different.

The group will begin its new season — entitled Panoramawith performances on this coming Saturday night, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, Sept. 15, at 2 p.m.

Both concerts will be held at the Oakwood Village Center for Arts and Education, 6209 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall.

Tickets can be purchased with cash or personal checks — no credit cards — at the door: $25 for general admission, $20 for seniors and $5 for students. Visit www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com for more information.

Members of the Oakwood Chamber Players (below) are: flutist Marilyn Chohaney; clarinetist Nancy Mackenzie; bassoonist Amanda Szczys; hornist Anne Aley; violinist Elspeth Stalter-Clouse; and cellist Maggie Darby Townsend.

Guest artists are: pianist Eric Tran; flutist Dawn Lawler; oboist Valree Casey; bassoonist Midori Samson; and trumpeter John Aley.

The ensemble is pleased to feature a new member at its opening concert. Violinist Elspeth Stalter-Clouse’s talents will be heard in two works: a fiery piano trio by Spanish composer Gaspar Cassado (below top); and as a soloist on the sweetly expressive Canzonetta for violin and piano by Italian-American composer Rosa Alba Vietor (below bottom). You can hear the Recitative movement, which takes about 10 seconds to start, from the Piano Trio by Gaspar Casado in the YouTube video at the bottom.

The program will include two larger wind works by French composers: Pastoral Variations in the Old Style  by Gabriel Pierne (below top); and Octet for Winds by Claude Pascal (below bottom).

The ensemble will round out the program with two short contrasting works for winds and piano: the flute trio La Bergere des Brise de Vallee (The Shepherdess of the Valley Breezes) by American composer Margaret Griebling-Haigh (b. 1960, below top); and Suite for flute, oboe, clarinet and piano by Danish composer Johan Amberg (below bottom). 

The Oakwood Chamber Players is a group of Madison-area professional musicians who rehearse and perform at Oakwood Village University Woods. Members also play in other area ensembles, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and have ties to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music.

The Oakwood Chamber Players are a professional music ensemble proudly supported by Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries and the Oakwood Foundation.


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Classical music: The Oakwood Chamber Players perform music that depicts concepts and stories in two concerts this weekend

January 11, 2019
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ALERT: Today’s Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison has been canceled due to the performer being ill.

By Jacob Stockinger

This coming weekend, the Oakwood Chamber Players (below) continue their season theme of “Vignettes” with rarely performed compositions that depict concepts and stories.

The Oakwood Chamber Players members are: Marilyn Chohaney, flute; Nancy Mackenzie, clarinet; Amanda Szyczs, bassoon; Anne Aley, horn; and Maggie Townsend, cello. They will be joined by guest artists Elspeth Stalter-Clouse, violin; Ariel Garcia, viola; and Joseph Ross, piano.

The program includes works by British, French and American composers drawn from the 18th to the 21st century with styles ranging from light-hearted to deeply felt.

Performances will take place on Saturday night, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. and on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 13, at 2 p.m. Both concerts will be held at the Oakwood Center for Arts and Education, 6209 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall.

Tickets can be purchased with cash, credit cards or personal checks at the door: $25 general admission, $20 seniors and $5 students. Visit www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com for more information.

German composer Theodor Kirchner (below) was celebrated for his deft handling of “character pieces.” He studied with Mendelssohn and was friends with Brahms and Schumann. All three admired his miniature musical gems that distilled compositional ideas.

Kirchner published many sets of character pieces depicting ideas and moods. His Character Pieces for Piano Trio, subtitled “Brightly Colored Leaves,” showcase his uniquely creative and expressive approach to music.

American composer Dana Wilson (below) wrote works for chamber ensembles and symphonies that have been performed internationally. A consortium of clarinetists from across the country commissioned Wilson to write AThousand Whirling Dreams in 2014.

This trio for clarinet, viola and piano provides the listener with the thrilling synergy of instruments playing sinuous melodies at high velocity contrasted with moments of hush and mystery.

British composer Thomas Dunhill (below) was a peer of Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams and studied with Charles Villiers Stanford. Dunhill was a strong proponent throughout his life of chamber music.

His Quintet for violin, cello, clarinet, horn and piano shows abundant personal artistry and melodic expression but it also resonates beautifully with the impressive influences that surrounded him during an important era in British music.

American composer Ferde Grofe (below) is best known today for his imaginative orchestral piece “Grand Canyon Suite.” However, he had a fulfilling and interesting musical life. He grew up in New York City, studied in Paris, became sought after as an arranger (including George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”) and jazz pianist, played viola with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and wrote for the film industry.

Table d’hôtel – Humoresque is written for the unusual combination of flute, violin and viola. Like a menu of French cuisine conjured up by its title, the piece delivers a palatable and charming musical confection. (You can hear “Table d’hôtel” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Also on the program are two brief contrasting works for flute, bassoon and piano. The first, Dialogue Sentimentale, by French composer Paul Lacombe (below top), shows the sweet and expressive melodic writing which his mentor Georges Bizet greatly admired. German-American composer Tim Jansa (below bottom) wrote Three Miniatures for flute, bassoon and piano that possess a serene energy expressing the composer’s concepts of evening.

The Oakwood Chamber Players are a group of Madison-area professional musicians who rehearse and perform at Oakwood Village.

The Oakwood Chamber Players are a professional music ensemble proudly supported by Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries and the Oakwood Foundation


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Classical music: Violinist Axel Strauss and pianist Trevor Stephenson will recreate a historic concert of Beethoven, Debussy and Bartok this Friday night

September 10, 2018
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By Jacob Stockinger

On this coming Friday night, Sept. 14, at 7:30 p.m. at West Middleton Lutheran Church, the prize-winning and internationally acclaimed violinist Axel Strauss (below) — a Madison favorite through his many wonderful concerts with the San Francisco Trio for the Bach, Dancing and Dynamite Society — and pianist Trevor Stephenson, artistic director of the Madison Bach Musicians, will collaborate on a program of masterpieces by Beethoven, Bartok and Debussy.

The event is something of a re-creation of a legendary concert given by famed violinist Joseph Szigeti (below top) and pianist-composer Bela Bartok (below bottom) at the Library of Congress on April 13, 1940 when Bartok, fleeing Europe and World War II, had been in the U.S. only a couple of days.

You can hear a recording of their historic performance of the Rhapsody by Bartok in the YouTube video at the bottom.

At the Sept. 14 concert, Strauss — who now teaches at McGill University in Montreal, Canada — and Stephenson will perform three major works that Szigeti and Bartok also played that April evening in 1940: Beethoven’s Sonata in A major Op. 47 (“Kreutzer”), Bartok’s Rhapsody No. 1 and Debussy’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, the last completed major work by Debussy (below) finished less than a year before his death in 1918. (You can find more about the impressive biography of Axel Strauss at http://www.axelstrauss.com and at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axel_Strauss  on Wikipedia.)

Stephenson will bring his 1855 Boesendorfer concert grand piano (both are below in a photo by Kent Sweitzer). Although heavily strung like a modern piano, this mid 19th-century Boesendorfer piano has no metal plate to alleviate the tension of the strings, but relies instead upon an ingenious wooden frame design.

The resonance of the sound is thus carried entirely by the wood, resulting in a complex and dark tone wonderfully suited to the sensibility of 19th- and early 20th-century music.

The West Middleton Lutheran Church (below top and bottom) is at 3763 Pioneer Road — the intersection of Mineral Point Road and Pioneer Road, just 10 minutes west of West Towne Mall.

It has superb acoustics for chamber music. The seating is very comfortable. The sight-lines are terrific. And there is plenty of parking.

Concert tickets are $25 available at the door (credit card, check and cash) or in advance (check only). Seating is limited to 225.

To reserve tickets, email trevor@trevorstephenson.com

Find more information at www.trevorstephenson.com.


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