The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Madison Symphony Orchestra opens its new season with a strong and memorable concert that had something for everyone — with no outside help from a guest artist
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ALERT: On this Saturday, Oct. 5, from 4 to 5 p.m., cellist Amit Peled will teach a master class at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, near West Towne Mall, where he will instruct local students. This is a FREE event that the public is invited to observe, and is part of the two concerts by Peled and pianist Daniel del Pino. For more information, go to:
By Jacob Stockinger
Many orchestras, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers), often use the opening concert of a new season as a chance to lure audiences by wowing them with some big-name guest soloist.
But last weekend maestro John DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) once again preferred to show off his own ensemble. And it worked, making for a memorable concert.
The MSO opener had something for everyone, and what you saw as the highlight probably depended more on your personal taste or preference than on the overall impressively tight playing and singing of the MSO, its principals and its chorus.
It seemed clear that, for most listeners the MSO’s young organist Greg Zelek (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) filled the role of the impressive imported star or guest artist.
The virtuosic Zelek is simply so good that he managed to turn a second-rate piece by Samuel Barber into a first-rate crowd-pleaser that brought huge applause and a long standing ovation, then an encore and another standing ovation.
As music, the concerto-like “Toccata Festiva” (1960) is simply not on par with Barber’s Violin Concerto or his Adagio for Strings or his Overture to “The School for Scandal.” It is 15 minutes of mostly loud and bombastic music meant to show off the new organ that it was commissioned for.
The King of Instruments seems to invite such bragging. And the boyish, vest-clad Zelek milked the score by Barber (below) for all it was worth, including an astounding three-minute cadenza played only with the feet. It’s hard to argue with such dramatic success.
If you preferred more serious fare, there was the Symphony No. 7 in D minor by Antonin Dvorak (below). Last spring, DeMain announced his fondness for Dvorak – in the spring the MSO will perform his Requiem.
DeMain’s feeling for Dvorak showed in a convincing and engaging performance of this darker, non-programmatic Brahmsian work that goes beyond the Czech folk dances, folk song-like melodies and nature mimicry of Dvorak’s other major symphonies and chamber music.
If you wanted exciting Romanticism, it would be hard to beat Wagner’s rhythmic strings soaring in the Overture to the opera “Tannhauser” by Richard Wagner (below). And that flowed into Wagner’s sensual “Venusberg” music that featured the MSO chorus singing offstage.
But The Ear thinks that the best measure of musicianship – orchestral, instrumental or vocal — is not how loudly they can play or sing, but how softly.
For that reason, he found the standout work at the concert to be “Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun” by Claude Debussy (below). The balance among various sections proved ideal at expressing subtlety. You could hear everything combining to make a distinctive and atmospheric tonal color.
For example, it is hard to imagine more sensual playing of the opening theme than how principal flutist Stephanie Jutt (below) did it. The performance and interpretation projected the exact kind of impressionistic seductiveness that the composer meant for it to have. For sheer beauty of sound, it took the top spot. (You can see a graphic depiction of Debussy’s score in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Still, there seemed to be more than the usual number of empty seats. Was it the rainy weather? The football weekend? Or do people still miss the thrill of hearing a well-known guest artist opening the season?
What do you think?
What was your favorite piece on the opening MSO program? And why?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AdagioforStrings, #AmitPeled, #AntoninDvorak, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BlogReview, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ClaudeDebussy, #CommissionedMusic, #Czechcomposer, #DanieldelPino, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FolkDance, #FolkMelody, #GregZelek, #GuestArtist, #GuestSoloist, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnDeMain, #KingofInstruments, #MadisonSymphonyChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #OrchestralMusic, #PersonalTaste, #PopularSuccess, #PreludetotheAfternoonofaFaun, #RichardWagner, #SamuelBarber, #StandingOvation, #StephanieJutt, #SymphonyOrchestra, #TheEar, #TheSchoolforScandal, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VenusbergMusic, #ViolinConcerto, #VocalMusic, #WestTowneMall, #YouTubevideo, Adagio for Srtrings, Amit Peled, Antonín Dvořák, applause, Arts, astounding, atmosphere, audience, balance, blog, bombastic, Brahmsian, cadenza, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chance, Choir, choral music, chorus, Classical music, classicalmusic, Claude Debussy, color, commission, commissioned music, composer, Concert, concerto, crowd, Daniel del Pino, dark, Debussy, depiction, drama, Dvorak, empty, encore, ensemble, event, express, Facebook, fare, Farley's House of Pianos, feet, flute, folk dance, folk song, folksong, fondness, football, free, graphic, Greg Zelek, guest artist, guest soloist, hear, highlight, impressive, instrument, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John DeMain, King, king of instruments, loud, Madison, Madison Symphony Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Maestro, master class, masterclass, Mead Witter School of Music, measure, melody, memorable, mimicry, minute, Music, musicianship, nature, new, offstage, opener, opera, orchestral music, organ, organist, Overture, personal, personal taste, Pianist, Piano, playing, pleaser, popular, post, posting, prefer, preference, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, principal, public, rain, Requiem, Richard Wagner, Romanticism, Samuel Barber, score, Season, seats, second-rate, sensual, serious, show-off, singer, Singing, song, Spring, standing ovation, Stephanie Jutt, strings, subtle, subtlety, success, symphony, symphony orchestra, Tannhauser, taste, test, The Ear, The School for Scandal, theme, thrill, tight, toccata, tonal, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, Venusberg, Violin, Violin concerto, virtuosic, virtuoso, vocal, vocal music, Wagner, weather, weekend, West Towne Mall, Wisconsin, work, worked, worth, YouTube
Classical music: Cellist Amit Peled and pianist Daniel del Pino open the Salon Piano Series this Friday and Saturday nights. TODAY the Edgewood College Chamber Orchestra opens its new season in a new hall
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ALERT: The Edgewood Chamber Orchestra opens its new season TODAY at 2:30 p.m. in the new McKinley Performing Arts Center at Edgewood High School, 2219 Monroe Street. Blake Walter will conduct the program that features Beethoven’s “King Stephen” Overture, composed to celebrate the opening of a new theater ; Handel’s “Water Music”; and Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 in C Major “Linz,” K. 425. Admission is $5 for the general public, FREE with an ID for Edgewood College or Edgewood High School.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Salon Piano Series will open its new and expanded season with a recital by cellist Amit Peled (below top, in a photo by Lisa Mazzucco) and pianist Daniel del Pino (below bottom) on this coming Friday and Saturday nights, Oct. 4 and 5, at 7:30 p.m.
The concerts, which are being dedicated to retired critic John W. Barker, will be held at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall.
Each artist has performed individually at Farley’s before, but this will be their first joint recital in Madison.
The program is:
John Eccles – Sonata in G Minor (1720)
Ludwig van Beethoven – Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 5, No. 2 (1796)
Gaspar Cassadó – Sonata in Old Spanish Style, G Minor, (1925)
Richard Strauss – Sonata in F Major, Op. 6 (1883)
A reception will follow the performances.
Tickets are $45 in advance and $50 at the door. Student tickets are $10 and can only be purchased online and are not available the day of the event.
You can buy tickets online, where service fees may apply, at: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/706809
You can also call Farley’s at (608) 271-2626 to purchase tickets.
After hearing the Israeli-American Peled, The New York Times reported that he has “a glowing tone, a seductive timbre and an emotionally pointed approach to phrasing that made you want to hear him again.”
Daniel del Pino is a leading Spanish concert pianist on the international scene. He has performed in prestigious venues on five continents.
In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can watch a special concert preview and an enthusiastic message about specifically performing in Madison from Amit Peled.
You can also hear and see past performances from Peled and del Pino at the Salon Piano Series on YouTube:
From February 2016, Amit Peled performs on Pablo Casals’ cello: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yb-SE80eDg
From November 2015, Daniel del Pino performs Chopin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tnvbk_v2Xk
For more information about this concert and the full season of six concerts, including subscription tickets, go to: https://salonpianoseries.org
This concert is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tags: #AmitPeled, #BaroqueMusic, #BlakeWalter, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BritishComposer, #BrownPaperTickets, #CatalanComposer, #CelloMusic, #CelloSonata, #ChamberMusic, #ConcertHall, #DanieldelPino, #EdgewoodChamberOrchestra, #EdgewoodCollege, #EdgewoodHighSchool, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FredericChopin, #FreeAdmission, #Fridaynight, #GasparCassado, #GeneralAdmission, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #InstrumentalMusic, #IsraeliMusician, #JohnEccles, #JohnW.Barker, #KingStephenOverture, #LinzSymphony, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonWisconsin, #McKinleyPerformingArtsCenter, #MusicalStyle, #MusicCritic, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #OldStyle, #PabloCasals, #PerformingArts, #PianoAccompaniment, #PianoAccompanist, #RichardStrauss, #RomanCatholicism, #SalonPIanoSeries, #SaturdayNight, #ServiceFee, #SpanishComposer, #StateOfWisconsin, #TheNewYorkTImes, #WestSide, #WestTowneMall, #WineReception, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, admission, alert, American, Amit Peled, approach, Arts, audience, Baroque, Beethoven, Blake Walter, blog, British, Brown Paper Tickets, buy, Catalan, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, Chopin, Christianity, Classical music, classicalmusic, college, composer, Concert, concert hall, continent, critic, Daniel del Pino, Early music, Edgewood Chamber Orchestra, Edgewood College, Edgewood High School, emotion, English, event, expanded, Facebook, Farley's House of Pianos, fee, forward, Frédéric Chopin, Friday night, funding, funds, Gaspar Cassado, George Frideric Handel, glowing, grant, hall, Handel, hear, high school, ID, identification, individual, information, instrumental, international, Israeli, Israeli-American, Jacob Stockinger, John Eccles, John W. Barker, joint, King, King Stephen, King Stephen Overture, Kochel, like, link, Linz Symphony, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, McKinley Performing Arts Center, message, Mozart, Music, National Endowment for the Arts, new, New York City, old, old style, online, open, opening, Orchestra, Overture, Pablo Casals, past, performer, Performing arts, phrasing, Pianist, Piano, pointed, post, posting, prestigious, program, public, purchase, reception, recital, retired, Retirement, Richard Strauss, Roman Catholicism, Salon Piano Series, Saturday night, scene, Season, seductive, see, service, service fee, share, Sonata, Spanish, specific, State of Wisconsin, Student, style, subscriber, subscription, support, symphony, tag, The New York Times, theater, theatre, ticket, timbre, tone, United States, venue, water, west side, West Towne Mall, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube, YouTube video
Classical music: A Halloween treat of music for multiple pianos was served up by the Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos
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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. He also provided the performance photos.
By John W. Barker
The Salon Piano Series offered by Farley’s House of Pianos on Madison’s far west side continues to be a project of imagination and inspiration, with concerts offering a range of visiting performers and unusual repertoire.
It was quality and quantity in the program offered on Friday night, which was then repeated the following evening. A team of four—count ‘em, four— highly accomplished pianists, who are used to performing together as a team, gave a remarkable concert of multi-piano splendor.
The four (below, from left) are: Spaniard Daniel del Pino, Canadian Lucille Chung, Israeli Alon Goldstein and Italian Roberto Plano. Their collaborative facility is linked to utter enthusiasm in their work.
For this program, Farley’s assembled four superlative instruments. Three are vintage Mason & Hamlin pianos, one made in 1907, the other two dating from 1914; plus a Steinway grand made in 1940. The array of these instruments—all four in the center of the salon, with circles of chairs all around for the audience—was itself an inspiration, and a fine success.
The opening piece was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sonata in D Major, K. 381, for piano four hands, a kind of “miniature” introduction, and beautifully played by Chung and Goldstein at the Steinway.
“All hands,” as it were, then turned out for the remainder of the program.
A four-piano arrangement of the Dance Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns was knowingly made in 1874 by Ernest Giraud, a contemporary and colleague of the composer.
This was followed by a more recent effort, a Fantasy on Themes from Bizet’s “Carmen” (1994) contrived by the distinguished Mormon musician Mack Wilbert. Both of those works built up spectacular effects of sound and color, in music certainly familiar in their original forms.
Also familiar, of course, is Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, played in this program in a four-piano arrangement by Jacques Drillon (1992). Here, I felt that such an arrangement was a bit forced. All those hands made the repeated rhythmic foundation that much more pounding and more relentless than in the orchestral original, while the colors available from the pianos could not quite match the wonderful varieties that Ravel could draw from his wider range of orchestral instruments.
Particularly disappointing, I found, was a four-piano expansion (1886) by Richard Kleinmichel of Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. While the single-piano original is dense, its division among four players was mainly a matter of doubling up the players on the same parts: more analytic than the original, this treatment does not really improve anything.
As an encore, the four delivered a Horowitzian transcription of John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever. (You can hear Vladimir Horowitz perform it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Responding to endless audience enthusiasm, the four then sat down together at the Steinway to play a Galopp by one Albert Lavignac, written for one piano, eight hands. The four players had a ball climbing all over each other to do this novelty piece as intended.
One interesting feature of the program was the opportunity to hear and compare these four fine pianos against each other. And the four performers added to the experience by constantly rotating who played which instrument.
To my ears, the Mason & Hamlin instruments could deliver a marvelous richness and power. But the Steinway could combine those qualities with an added brilliance and coloristic range.
But, then, that was to my ears.
Whatever, a dazzling keyboard evening was had by all.
Tags: Alon Goldstein, American Record Guide, arrangement, Arts, Bizet, Bolero, Canada, Carmen, Chamber music, Classical music, Daniel del Pino, Danse macabre (Saint-Saëns), Early music, fantasy, Farley's House of Pianos, four-hand, four-piano, Galopp, History, Hungarian Rhapsody, Israel, Isthmus, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, John Philip Sousa, John W. Barker, Keyboard, lecture, Liszt, Lucille Chung, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Mason and Hamlin, Medieval, Mormon, Mozart, Music, opera, Orchestra, Piano, professor, Ravel, Roberto Plano, Saint-Saens, Sonata, Spain, Stars and Stripes Forever, Steinway, two-piano, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, Vladimir Horowitz, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WORT-FM 89.9
Classical music: Rare repertoire for four pianos will be played at Farley’s House of Pianos on Friday and Saturday nights. Plus, Pro Arte Quartet gives a FREE concert tonight and tickets to pianist Christopher Taylor have SOLD OUT
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ALERT 1: The UW-Madison‘s Pro Arte Quartet will give a FREE concert TONIGHT at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall. The program is the “Italian Serenade” (1887) by Hugo Wolf (1860-1903); the String Quartet No. 3 in F Major, Op. 73, (1946) by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975); and the String Quartet in A-flat Major, Op. 105 (1895) by Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904).
ALERT 2: Tickets to the piano recital of Johann Sebastian Bach‘s “Goldberg” Variations by Christopher Taylor this Friday night are SOLD OUT as of Monday morning.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post about a set of unusual piano concerts this coming weekend:
In their only North American appearance, world-renowned pianists Daniel del Pino, Lucille Chung, Alon Goldstein and Roberto Plano will be heard this Friday and Saturday nights in the opening program of the third season of the Salon Piano Series.
Hosted by Tim and Renee Farley at Farley’s House of Pianos, the Salon Piano Series has quickly gained a reputation for unique and stimulating programs in the intimate and historic setting of the Farley showroom.
But never have four pianists been heard at once on four restored instruments.
“It’s an honor knowing the pianists chose our location for their only North American performance,” says Renée Farley, co-founder of the Salon Piano Series. “We thought of no better way to open our third season.”
The repertoire for the “Four on the Floor” concerts could hardly be more entertaining or appropriate for Halloween weekend: arrangements of the “Danse Macabre” by Camille Saint-Saens; the “Carmen Fantasy” based on the beloved opera by Georges Bizet; Maurice Ravel’s own transcription for four keyboards of his “Bolero” (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom); and an arrangement of the “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” by Franz Liszt.
For the first time, an SPS program will be heard twice, on Friday, Oct. 28, and Saturday, Oct. 29, with both events beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Farley’s House of Pianos Showroom, 6522 Seybold Road, Madison. That is on Madison’s far west side near the West Towne Mall.
Tickets are $45.
For more information about tickets, the concerts and the artists, plus other artists and concerts in the Salon Piano Series this season, visit:
http://salonpianoseries.org/concerts.html
For information about Farley’s House of Pianos, go to:
http://www.farleyspianos.com/index.html
THE ARTISTS
Daniel del Pino (below) is a leading Spanish concert pianist juggling an international recital career with teaching in the Basque Country in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain.
The reputation of Lucille Chung (below), who often performs with her husband Alessio Bax, has grown steadily since her debut at the age of 10 with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. To date she has performed with more than 60 orchestras.
Alon Goldstein (below, in a photo by Meagan Cignoli) is particularly admired for his artistic vision and innovative programming. The New York Times described a recent performance as “exemplary throughout, with his pearly touch and sparkling runs.”
Roberto Plano lives in Travedona Monate, Italy and teaches there at Accademia Musicale Varesina, which he founded.
Tags: "Goldberg" Variations, Alessio Bax, Alon Goldstein, Antonín Dvořák, arrangement, Arts, Bach, Basque, Bizet, Bolero, Camille Saint-Saëns, Carmen, Chamber music, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, Concert, Daniel del Pino, Danse Macabre, Dmitri Shostakovich, Dvorak, fantasy, Farley's House of Pianos, four-piano, France, Hugo Wolf, Hungarian Rhapsody, Italian Serenade, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Liszt, Lucille Chung, Madison, Music, New York Times, opera, Pianist, Piano, Pro Arte Quartet, Ravel, Robert Plano, Roberto Plano, Shostakovich, Spain, String quartet, theme and variations, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: The Ear hears the impressive young pianist Joyce Yang and thinks Madison needs more piano recitals. Plus, a FREE concert of female vocal duets is at noon on Friday.
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ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, held 12:15-1 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature sopranos Susan Savage Day and Rebekah Demaree with pianist Sharon Jensen in duets by Gabriel Faure, Jacques Aubert, Jules Massenet, Claudio Monteverdi, UW-Madison alumnus Lee Hoiby and more.
By Jacob Stockinger
There he was last Thursday, sitting in the lower balcony in Shannon Hall at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
The Ear was in Piano Himmel, listening to a masterful performance.
The occasion was a solo piano recital by Joyce Yang (below), an up-and-coming, prize-winning Korea-born and America-trained pianist, still in her late 20s, who was making her Madison debut.
And the same thought haunted The Ear, himself an avid amateur pianist, that also came to him during a fine student piano recital this summer.
That thought was simply this: Madison needs to have many more solo piano recitals.
The piano is perhaps the one most commonly studied musical instrument and is a staple of music education, so the potential audience should be there. The repertoire is vast and wonderful. And the piano just hasn’t been receiving its due compared to the many new choral groups and chamber music ensembles that always seem to be proliferating in the area.
The Wise Teacher recalls years ago when almost a dozen solo piano recitals happened during a single season. This season there are only three -– and two have already taken place.
One was the recital of Mendelssohn, Franck and Chopin by Spanish pianist Daniel del Pino (below top) on Oct. 4 at Farley’s House of Pianos on its Salon Piano Series. (The Ear couldn’t go because he is was in Chicago that afternoon hearing a piano recital by Maurizio Pollini.) The second was by Joyce Yang. The third one will be the performance by UW-Madison virtuoso professor Christopher Taylor (below bottom) on Friday, Feb 26. (No program has yet been announced.)
Here is an afterthought: Maybe the Madison Symphony Orchestra could start a piano series like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra offers on Sunday afternoons?
Let’s be clear: This is a matter more of pleasure and education than of justice.
Take Yang’s performance, which drew an unfortunately small house of only 300-400.
The first half was remarkable for both the clarity and color she possessed. Ethnic themes, folk songs and folk dances, especially Latin American and Spanish in nature, united the first half of her program.
She opened with two sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, the three “Estampes” or Prints by Claude Debussy and two pieces from “Iberia” by Isaac Albeniz and three virtuosic “cowboy” dances by the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera.
In all those works, Yang proved a complete and mature keyboard artist. Her technique is rock solid, but it is her musicality that most impresses the listener. The Ear was particularly struck by Yang’s command of dynamics, her ability to play softly and still project, and to delineate and balance various voices.
The second half, all works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, proved less satisfying to The Ear, if not to the audience. It featured two transcriptions of vocal works or songs — “Dreams” and “Vocalise” — by the late American virtuoso pianist Earl Wild (below).
Unfortunately, Wild himself possessed a Lisztean (or Horowitzean) command of keyboard technique. And like Franz Liszt (or Vladimir Horowitz), Wild just couldn’t resist adding Liberace-like flourishes, flash and trash to his transcriptions in places where simplicity rather than Big Chords would have more than sufficed.
At certain points in a Wild transcription, the work inevitably sounds louche or decadent and over-the-top, like something you might hear at a piano bar or in a cocktail lounge. In short, they are more piano than music. (You can listen to Earl Wild himself performing his own transcription of Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise” in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
Then came the Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor by Rachmaninoff (below) in its revised 1931 edition. To be honest, this is a Big Piece that is full of sound and fury signifying not very much that The Ear can discern. (The Ear much prefers Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos, preludes and Etudes Tableaux.)
To be sure, the bombastic sonata requires impressive and powerful piano playing, which must explain the muscular work’s popularity among professional pianists and certain segments of the public. It is a Wower and wow us it does, although many of us would rather be seduced than wowed.
The sonata surely is effective in live performance and brought an immediate standing ovation. That, in turn, was rewarded with another Earl Wild transcription this time of George Gershwin’s “The Man I Love.” Too bad the love once again seemed overpowered by difficult but flawlessly executed scales and runs.
But putting those shortcomings aside, the sound of an amazingly played piano recital was such a welcome experience.
The Ear hopes that many more of them are somehow in store.
Tags: Argentina, Arts, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chopin, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, concerto, dance, Daniel del Pino, Debussy, Domenico Scarlatti, Dreams, duet, Earl Wild, Estampes, etude, Farley's House of Pianos, Faure, First Unitarian Society of Madison, folk dance, Folk music, Franck, George Gershwin, Ginastera, Horowitz, Iberia, Isaac Albéniz, Jacob Stockinger, Joyce Yang, Jules Massenet, Korea, Lee Hoiby, Liberace, lieder, Liszt, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn, Monteverdi, Music, music educaiton, Musical instrument, Piano, Piano concerto, Prelude, prints, recital, Sonata, songs, soprano, Spain, student recitals, The Man I Love, transcription, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vladimir Horowitz, vocal music, vocalise, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, YouTube
Classical music: It’s a busy week for the Pro Arte Quartet of the UW-Madison with concerts on Sunday afternoon and Wednesday night. Plus, Spanish pianist Daniel del Pino performs at Farley’s House of Pianos on Sunday afternoon.
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REMINDER: The Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos opens this Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. with a performance by Spanish pianist Daniel del Pino. The program includes music by Felix Mendelssohn; the Prelude, Chorale and Fugue at Cesar Franck; and the 12 Etudes, Op. 10, by Frederic Chopin. For more information, visit:
http://salonpianoseries.org/concerts.html
By Jacob Stockinger
The Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) has a busy concert schedule ahead of it this week.
Members of the Pro Arte Quartet, the longest active string quartet in the history of music, are David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violins; Sally Chisholm, viola; and Parry Karp, cello.
On this Sunday, starting at 12:30 p.m., the Pro Arte will open the new “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen” series, as it has done for close to 40 years.
The program includes: the String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 18, No. 1 (1799-1800) by Ludwig van Beethoven; the Langsamer Satz (slow movement) for String Quartet (1905) by Anton Webern; and the String Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 428 (1783) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
But for the second year in a row, the program will be streamed live on the Chazen Museum of Art’s website rather than over Wisconsin Public Radio, which pulled the plug on the venerable and acclaimed live concert series that presented chamber music and recitals by individuals and ensembles around the state.
You can attend the concert in person in Brittingham Gallery 3 for FREE. And here is a link, embedded in an image, for streaming it live:
http://www.chazen.wisc.edu/visit/events-calendar/event/sal-10-4-15/
Then at 7:30 p.m. on this coming Wednesday night, the Pro Arte will perform a FREE concert with the acclaimed and prize-winning violist Nobuko Imai (below, in a photo by Marco Borggreve) as the special guest artist.
The program is the String Quintet in C Minor, K. 406, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 87, by Felix Mendelssohn. Both works are scored for string quartet plus an extra viola. (The Mozart string quintet is a transcription of an earlier Wind Octet. You can hear the first movement in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
Here is a link with more information about Nobuko Imai who will also give a FREE and PUBLIC master class on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall.
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/pro-arte-quartet-with-violist-nobuko-imai/
Tags: Arts, Beethoven, Cello, Chazen Museum of Art, Chopin, Classical music, composer, Daniel del Pino, etude, Farley's House of Pianos, Jacob Stockinger, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, master class, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Music, Nobuko Imai, Piano, String quartet, string quintet, Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Webern, wind octet, winds, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Farley’s House of Pianos announces its Salon Piano Series for this season and offers subscription tickets for the first time. It opens on Sunday, Oct. 4.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear’s friends at Farley’s House of Pianos write:
The Salon Piano Series offers inspiring performances in an intimate salon setting. Each concert is followed by an artist’s reception and some performances include introductions by music scholars and commentators.
Season tickets are being offered for the first time this year and they provide substantial savings as well as the assurance that you won’t be left out. You can buy tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com
Here is the lineup:
DANIEL DEL PINO – Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015, 4 p.m.
Daniel del Pino (below) returns to play music by Felix Mendelssohn, Cesar Franck‘s Prelude, Chorale and Fugue, and Twelve Etudes, Op. 10, by Frederic Chopin. (You can hear him perform a transcription of the “Ritual Fire Dance” by Manuel de Falla during a concert at Farley’s House of Pianos in January of 2013.)
ALESSIO BAX and LUCILLE CHUNG (below) – Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016, 4 p.m.
This concert will include pieces for one piano-four hands and for two pianos. The two-piano pieces will be played on rare “twin” pianos restored by Farley’s House of Pianos: a 1914 Mason & Hamlin CC and a 1914 Mason & Hamlin BB.
CELLIST AMIT PELED (below) – Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
Hear the exact program that famed cellist Pablo Casals performed 100 years ago, played on Casals’ own 1733 Goffriller cello with Noreen Polera accompanying on a 1914 Mason and Hamlin piano restored by Farley’s House of Pianos.
DICK HYMAN, Jazz Clinic-Lecture, Saturday, May 7, 2016, 4 p.m.
Jazz legend Dick Hyman presents his third clinic at Salon Piano Series.
Dick Hyman – Jazz Concert – Sunday, May 8, 2016, 4 p.m.
Dick will play solo piano for half the concert. Then bassist John Schaffer and drummer John Lombardo will join Dick in a jazz trio.
Since he began his career in the early 1950s, Dick Hyman has been a pianist, organist, arranger, music director and composer while recording over 100 albums under his own name.
Hyman is a masterful improviser with a unique style of piano that spans from early jazz such as Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton to George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and beyond. He is one of the first people to record on the Moog synthesizer and his track “Minotaur” landed on the Billboard magazine’s US Top 40.
Hyman has served as composer, arranger, conductor and pianist for 12 Woody Allen films. He also won an Emmy for his original score to the daytime drama “Sunshine’s on the Way” and for musical direction of a PBS special on Eubie Blake. His recording, Dick Hyman’s “Century of Jazz Piano” is an encyclopedic series of solo performances that covers the last 100 years in jazz over the course of 121 performances.
All concerts are held at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west wide near West Towne.
See complete concert programs and more at www.salonpianoseries.org
Salon Piano Series Tickets Available Online at www.brownpapertickets.com
Tickets cost $45 in advance, $50 at the door. The Jazz Clinic is $20.
Buy the series for $160, and save $40. Tickets are also available at Farley’s House of Pianos and Orange Tree Imports. Service fees may apply.
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