death | The Well-Tempered Ear

Collaborative pianist Ingrid Haebler has died at 93

May 19, 2023
Leave a Comment

PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.

By Jacob Stockinger

The Austrian pianist Ingrid Haebler (below) has died at 93.

I call her a collaborative pianist but, like so many other pianists, she was also a soloist.

That is inherent in learning the piano, especially at the beginning.

Here is an obituary, with links, where you can read more about her and her her music-making:

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.theviolinchannel.com%2Faustrian-pianist-ingrid-haebler-has-died-aged-93%2F&data=05%7C01%7C%7C4db54c3e094741b9b75708db57bd7f9d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638200243618530912%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=CNgsSMgTWTVVsHLFO5Ss4UviOSL%2BuTCWw1nyovbJPdw%3D&reserved=0

Truth be told, Haebler made quite a few recording as a soloist, include all the piano concertos and piano sonatas by Mozart, as well as other Austrian and German composers, including Haydn, Schubert and Beethoven. The Viennese school was her forte.

But what stands out to The Ear are her early duets (below) with Henry Szeryng and Arthur Grumiaux in the violin sonatas of Beethoven and Mozart. She knew how to blend rather than to stand out, and clearly was more interested in musicality than virtuosity. In fact, critics often praised her gentleness, clarity and transparency rather than her assertiveness or boldness, especially in Mozart. Not for nothing was a tulip named after her.

In a word, she was an ideal collaborative pianist back in the days when they were still called accompanists and received second billing.

Indeed, along with Gerald Moore she was one of the performers who brought currency and respect as the term “accompanist” as it morphed into the more accurate term “collaborative pianist.”

Of course that is just my opinion. You might disagree.

Decide for yourself. You can listen to and sample many of her solo and collaborative recording on YouTube, including the video below one of my favorite violin sonatas by Mozart, the Violin Sonata in e minor, K. 304, played by Haebler and Henryk Szeryng.

Do you know Ingrid Haebler’s playing?

What do you think of her as a soloist and as a collaborative pianist?

Which side of her career do you think is stronger?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #BlogPost, #CollaborativePianist, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Music-Making, #YouTubevideo, accompanist, accuracy, accurate, Arthur Grumiaux, Arts, audience, Austria, Austrian, Beethoven, beginning, blog, bold, boldness, career, Chamber music, clarity, Classical music, collaborative, composer, Concert, concerto, critic, currency, death, decide, die, Facebook, favorite, flower, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, gentle, gentleness, Gerald Moore, German, Germany, Haydn, hear, Henryk Szeryng, Ingrid Haebler, Jacob Stockinger, learn, link, listen, Ludwig van Beethoven, morph, Mozart, Music, music critic, musicality, obituary, opinion, Orchestra, performer, Piano, playing, respect, school, Schubert, share, solo, soloist, Sonata, symphony, tag, term, think, transparency, tulip, Vienna, Viennese, Violin, violinist, virtuosity, vocal music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, yourself, YouTube

Remember Marika with Bach Around the Clock 2023. The FREE five-day, in-person and online birthday celebration begins today

March 8, 2023
16 Comments

NOTE: You can see and hear the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Final Forte concert with four youth concerto finalists at 7 tonight on PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio. For complete information, including other airings, go to these websites: https://madisonsymphony.org/education-community/education-programs/young-artist-competitions/the-final-forte/ and https://pbswisconsin.org/the-final-forte/

By Jacob Stockinger

The seventh annual Madison-based Bach Around the Clock festival — a celebration of the March 31 birthday of composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1756, below) —- will start today and run through Sunday both in-person and online.

All events and streaming are free and open to the public.

As usual, it will feature professional and amateur performers of all ages and levels of proficiency in all kinds of repertoire and arrangements, including Bach on the Marimba.

It begins today, Wednesday, March 8, at noon with a Bach motet sung in Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Ave.

The live portion, which will also be live-streamed, will end on Saturday, March 11, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with continuous performances at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (below) at 1833 Regent Street on the near west side.

Then on this Sunday, March 12, the virtual online festival will premier.

For more details — including a full schedule with times, venues, pieces, performers and other links — go to:

https://bachclock.com/

The Ear thinks of the entire festival as a life celebration and memorial not just for Bach but also for his avid local advocate, violist Marika Fisher Hoyt (below).

Hoyt — who was also a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Madison Bach Musicians, the Ancora String Quartet, Just Bach and Sonata à Quattro — died Feb. 21 from cancer. She was one of the kindest and most caring persons, one of the hard-working and most energetic, talented musicians, that The Ear has ever known and worked with.

After Wisconsin Public Radio abandoned BATC in 2013, Fischer Hoyt rescued it in 2017, raised money and support, and expanded its offerings and performers as well as took it into a virtual online format as well as remaining an in-person event.

You can find many tributes online. You can also plug in her name on this blog’s search engine to get some idea of her overwhelming and inspiring contributions to the area’s cultural life. In 2017, The Ear named her Musician of the Year:

Classical music: For reviving and securing Bach Around the Clock, The Ear names Marika Fischer Hoyt as “Musician of the Year” for 2017

But the best tribute of all will be to listen to Bach’s extraordinarily inventive and beautiful music — her abiding passion and the gift she never stopped wanting to give to others — with Marika in mind.

You can also find videos from past BATC’s. But she once told me that the piece she loved most is the St. John Passion. So a YouTube video of the final chorus from that oratorio is posted at the bottom.

Have you attended or heard BATC before?

What did you especially like and would you recommend the event to others?

Did you know Marika Fischer Hoyt?

What would you like other people to know about Marika?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AncoraStringQuartet, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Hard Work, #LiveStreaming, #MarikaFischerHoyt, #TheEar, #YouTubevideo, Ancora String Quartet, Arts, audience, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, Baroque, BATC, beautiful, beauty, birthday, blog, cancer, caring, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, chorus, Christ, Christian, church, Classical music, composer, Concert, concerto, contribution, culture, death, Early music, Facebook, Final Forte, free, give, God, in person, information, Jacob Stockinger, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Johann Sebastian Bach, Just Bach, kind, life, link, Lutheran, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marika Fischer Hoyt, memorial, Music, online, open to the public, oratorio, Orchestra, Passion, PBS, PBS Wisconsin, performer, Piano, piece, program, Protestant, public, Religion, remember, repertoire, schedule, share, Sonata, Sonata à Quattro, sonic, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, St. John Passion, stream, tag, talent, The Ear, time, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, venue, Viola, Violin, violist, virtual, vocal music, want, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, WPR, YouTube

YOU MUST HEAR THIS: No piece captures the mixed emotions of Memorial Day better than Charles Ives’ “Decoration Day”

May 30, 2022
3 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

Today is Memorial Day, 2022.

It is the annual holiday to remember those who died in military service to the country. (Below are flags placed each year at the tombstones in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.)

If you want to honor survivors and current service members, that would be Veterans Day on Nov. 11.

All weekend long the radio has been playing music and the television has been showing war movies.

A lot of the music is familiar and repeated every year: Sousa marches and Morton Gould suites, elegies by Gustav Mahler, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein; requiems by Mozart and Fauré; a hymn by John Williams and other movie scores. This year has also seen the playlist include rediscovered works of homage by African-American composers such as William Grant Still.

But only this year did The Ear finally hear — thanks to Wisconsin Public Radio — the one piece that, to his mind, best captures Memorial Day with its blending of consonance and dissonance, its mix of major and major keys, of familiar or “found” music and original music.

It is called, simply, “Decoration Day” and it was composed in 1912 — but not published until 1989 — by the 20th-century iconoclastic and early modernist American composer Charles Ives (below, 1874-1954). It ended up as part of a work the composer called “A Symphony: New England Hollidays.”

See if you agree with The Ear.

Listen to the 8-minute performance by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in the YouTube video at the bottom.

Listen to the deep anguish and and sense of loss conveyed in the opening, when a solemn remembrance procession goes to a cemetery to plant flags and lay flowers and wreaths to “decorate” the graves of the fallen.

Listen carefully and you will hear a faint version of “Taps” and ringing church bells in the atmospheric music.

Then as so often happens in reality, life suddenly intrudes in the form of a celebration by a loud marching brass band as it leaves the cemetery for the celebratory marches, picnics and fireworks.

But at the end, the darkness briefly returns. The sense of loss lingers long after the actual death and long after the holiday has been celebrated.

There is no closure.

Just resignation.

Just living with loss.

Here is the background from Wikipedia about how the holiday started as Decoration Day after the Civil War and when it evolved into Memorial Day in 1970: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

And here is biographical background, with the actual sources and depictions of “Decoration Day” — just go down the page to compositions and click — about Charles Ives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ives

Did you know and like Charles Ives’ music?

Does “Decoration Day” impress or move you?

What music most embodies Memorial Day for you?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AaronCopland, #African-AmericanComposer, #ArlingtonNationalCemetery, #BandMusic, #BlackAmericans, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrassBand, #BrassMusic, #CharlesIves, #ChurchBells, #CivilWar, #DecorationDay, #FacebookPosting, #GabrielFaure, #GustavMahler, #JacobStockinger, #JohnPhilipSousa, #JohnWilliams, #LeonardBernstein, #MajorKey, #MemorialDay, #MilitaryService, #MinorKey, #MixedEmotions, #MortonGould, #NationalPublicRadio, #NewEngland, #OrchestralMusic, #OriginalWork, #SamuelBarber, #TheEar, #ThePresident, #TheU.S., #UnitedStates, #UnitedStatesMarineBand, #USMarines, #VeteransDay, #WarMovies, #Wikipediaentry, #WilliamGrantStill, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, 20th-century music, Aaron Copland, actual, African American, American, American Civil War, Ameriuca, anguish, annual, Arlington, Arlington National Cemetery, Arts, atmosphere, atmospheric, audience, background, band, band music, Barber, Bernstein, biographical, black, blog, bottom, brass band, brass music, celebration, celebratory, cemetery, Charles Ives, church, church bells, Civil War, Classical music, Classical Revolution, closure, compose, composer, Composition, Concert, consonance, Copland, darkness, dead, death, Decoration Day, deep, depiction, dissonance, early, Early music, Elegy, embody, emotion, evolution, evolve, Facebook, fallen, familiar, Fascebook, Faure, film, Fireworks, flag, flower, found, Gabriel Fauré, Gould, grave, Gustav Mahler, hear, Holiday, homage, honor, hymn, iconoclast, iconoclastic, impress, information, intrude, Ives, Jacob Stockinger, John Philip Sousa, John Williams, Leonard Bernstein, life, like, linger, listen, living, loss, loud, Mahler, major key, march, Marines, mark, Memorial Day, military, minor key, minute, mixed, modern, modernist, morph, Morton Gould, move, Movies, Mozart, nation, national, National Public Radio, New England, NPR, opening, orchestral, original, performance, picnic, piece, plant, playlist, post, posting, President, procession, psalm, publish, Radio, reality, rediscover, remembrance, repeat, Samuel Barber, score, sense, service, show, solemn, soundtrack, source, sources, Sousa, Still, suddenly, Suite, symphony, Taps, Television, thanks, The Ear, TV, U.S., United State Marine Band, United States, veterans, Veterans Day, video, war, war movies, weekend, Wikipedia, William Grant Still, Williams, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, wreaty, year, you, YouTube

Going live! Here are some links to newly announced summer concerts and 2021-22 seasons

June 15, 2021
2 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

Get out your datebooks.

Now that the pandemic is fast abating, at least locally, music groups and music presenters in the Madison area have been announcing a return to live music and their new seasons and summer events in a relentless way.

The Ear had been out of commission since mid-May until this week. But in any case, The Ear was overwhelmed and just couldn’t keep up with a separate post for each one.

Still, he thought it might be helpful to be able to check the dates, performers, programs, tickets and other information in one place.

Remember that the Madison Early Music Festival is no more. It has been absorbed into the regular music curriculum at the UW.

Please know that many groups – including, but not limited to, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music (below is the UW Symphony Orchestra — masked, socially distanced and virtually streamed — during the pandemic), University Opera, Edgewood College, Just Bach, Grace Presents, the Salon Piano Series, the First Unitarian Society of Madison, Bach Around the Clock, the Festival Choir of Madison, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir and the Madison Bach Musicians – have not yet released details of their new seasons.

But most of their websites say that an announcement of their new season is coming soon.

There are also some trends you may notice.

Many of the groups are raising prices and persistently seek donations as well as subscribers, no doubt to help make up for the loss of revenue during the pandemic.

The Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra have reduced the number of concerts or start later.

Some have simply rescheduled events, like the Wisconsin Union Theater closing its season with soprano Renée Fleming. And the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s new season is largely the same one they were planning to have to celebrate the Beethoven Year in 2020-21.

The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, the Middleton Community Orchestra and the Willy Street Chamber Players all have pop-up concerts and scheduled outdoor concerts in parks. Some have also scheduled individual mini-concerts or personal sessions.

If you look at programs, you will see an emphasis on Black composers and performers by almost all groups. (The Madison Symphony Orchestra has scheduled “Lyric for Strings” by George Walker, below. You can hear it performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

What is most disappointing is that no group seems to have announced a special concert or event to pay homage to the public ordeal, health care workers and victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ear keeps thinking a performance of a suitable requiem (by perhaps Mozart, Faure, Brahms, Verdi or Britten) or Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony would have been an appropriate way to start the in-person season and, at the same time, acknowledge the more than 7,000 deaths in Wisconsin and almost 600,000 deaths in the U.S. and almost 4 million worldwide as of now. Maybe even Barber’s overplayed Adagio for Strings would suffice.

Finally, very few groups seem to be offering online virtual concert attendance as a possibility for those listeners who found that they actually enjoyed at least some the music in their own homes and at their own times.

IN ANY CASE, HERE IS WHAT HAS ALREADY TAKEN PLACE OR IS STILL ON TAP. CHECK IT OUT!

Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society in free live and for-pay recorded concerts: https://bachdancing.org

Middleton Community Orchestra’s summer concerts at Fireman’s Park (below) in Middleton: https://middletoncommunityorchestra.org

Madison Bach Musicians summer workshops (below): https://madisonbachmusicians.org/2021-summer-chamber-music-workshop/

Concerts on the Square with limited paid admission at Breese Stevens Field (below): https://wcoconcerts.org/concerts-tickets/concerts-on-the-square

Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers): https://madisonsymphony.org/concerts-events/madison-symphony-orchestra-concerts/

Madison Opera and Opera in the Park (below): https://www.madisonopera.org/oitp21/; and https://www.madisonopera.org/21-22/

Wisconsin Union Theater: https://union.wisc.edu/visit/wisconsin-union-theater/seasonevents/concert-series/

Willy Street Chamber Players (below) at Orton Park: http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org/2021-summer-concert-series.html

If you know of more entries or have observations to make about these, please leave word and, when possible, a link in the comment section.

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AdagioforStrings, #African-AmericanComposer, #AncoraStringQuartet, #BachAroundtheClock, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BeethovenYear, #BenjaminBritten, #BlackComposer, #Blackcomposers, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BreeseStevensField, #ChristianChurch, #CollageNewMusic, #ConcertsontheSquare, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #EdgewoodChamberOrchestra, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FestivalChoirofMadison, #FiremansPark, #GabrieFaure, #GiuseppeVerdi, #GraceEpiscopalChurch, #GracePresents, #GustavoDudamel, #HealthCare, #JacobStockinger, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JustBach, #LiveMusic, #LosAngeles, #LosAngelesPhilharmonic, #MadisonBachMusicians, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MusicEducation, #NewMusic, #NinthSymphony, #OperaInThePark, #OrtonPark, #RecordedMusic, #RenéeFleming, #SalonPIanoSeries, #SamuelBarber, #ShannonHall, #SocialDistance, #SopranoSinger, #StringMusic, #StringQuartet, #TakePlace, #TheEar, #TheU.S., #TheUW, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WisconsinChamberChoir, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, abate, absorb, acknowledge, Adagio for Strings, admission, African American, America, Ancora String Quartet, Arts, audience, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Barber, Baroque, BDDS, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, Benjamin Britten, black, black composer, blog, Blog post, blog posting, Brahms, Breese Stevens Field, Britten, celebrate, Chamber music, choral music, Christia, church, Classical music, comment, commission, composer, Concert, concerto, Concerts on the Square, coronavirus, COS, curriculum, death, deaths, details, donation, Dudamel, Early music, Edgewood College, enjoy, entry, Facebook, Facebook page, Facebook post, fast, Faure, Festival Choir of Madison, Firemans Park, for-pay, forward, free, funding, Gabriel Fauré, Giuseppe Verdi, Grace Episcopal Church, Grace Presents, group, Gustavo Dudamel, health care, homage, Home, indoors, information, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Just Bach, later, like, limited, link, listener, live music, live-stream, local, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Philharmonic, loss, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, mask, MCO, Mead Witter School of Music, MEMF, Middleton, Middleton Community Orchestra, Mozart, Music, Music education, new, New Music, Ninth Symphony, notice, opera, Opera in the Park, Orchestra, ordeal, Orton Park, outdoors, overplay, Overture Center, overwhelm, overwhelming, paid, pandemic, performers, persistent, personal, Pianist, Piano, pop-up, presenter, price, program, public, recorded music, Renée Fleming, Requiem, revenue, Salon Piano Series, Samuel Barber, schedule, Season, seating, seek, separate, Shannon Hall, share, singer, Singing, social distance, Sonata, soprano, start, stream, string music, String quartet, strings, subscriber, suffice, summer, symphony, tag, take place, tap, The Ear, ticket, tickets, times, trend, U.S., United State, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, UW, UW Symphony Orchestra, Verdi, victim, Violin, vocal music, Website, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Choir, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, workers, workshop, YouTube

This Sunday at 4 p.m., the Salon Piano Series debuts an online recital by pianist Kangwoo Jin. He plays music by Scarlatti, Beethoven, Liszt and Schumann. It is up until May 9

April 22, 2021
Leave a Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

This Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. CDT, the Salon Piano Series, hosted by Farley’s House of Pianos, will debut an online concert by pianist Kangwoo Jin (below, in a photo by Andy Manis).

The concert, which was recorded at Luther Memorial Church, costs $10 and will be available online through May 9.

The program is:

Scarlatti – Sonatas in D minor and D Major, K. 213 and 214 (ca. 1756-1757)

Beethoven – Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2, “Moonlight” (1801)

Liszt – Transcriptions for solo piano of the songs “Widmung” (Dedication) by Robert Schumann and “Litanei” (Litany) by Franz Schubert

Schumann – Symphonic Etudes, Op.13 (1830)

Bishop – Home, Sweet Home

Tickets are only available online at eventbrite.com. Service fees apply. Complete program and concert information is at salonpianoseries.org

PROGRAM NOTES

Jin has written the following program notes for The Ear:

“As a musician, I am always eager to share music with the public. I am very excited to be able to reach out to the audience with this unprecedented Salon Piano Series Virtual Concert.

“I believe music soothes our mental health in difficult times regardless of age, gender or race. I very much hope my performance will contribute to this collective healing we feel through music.

“I wanted to include three different styles, as I usually do for recitals. This time I have Baroque, Classical and Romantic music.

“I chose one of the most famous Beethoven sonatas in order to celebrate his 250th birth year (2020), which I did not have a chance to mark last year.

“This piece is popular with the title of “Moonlight,” which Beethoven (below) never intended. Five years after his death, the German critic Ludwig Rellstab used the word “Moonlight” in order to describe the first movement. But it was really inspired by the funeral march in Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni.” I try to bring out the tragic color of the first movement. (You can hear Jin play the exciting final movement of the sonata in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

“I also wanted to play the virtuosic masterpiece “Symphonic Etudes,” Op. 13, by Robert Schumann (below), including the beautiful posthumous variations 4 and 5.

I find this piece special in the sense that Schumann intended to make this piece “symphonic.” He created multiple layers of voices in various ways through each etude and created orchestral sounds. This polyphonic writing with multiple layers and a thick texture is what makes this piece difficult to play.

“I also specifically wanted to include one of the piano transcriptions by Franz Liszt (below) of Schubert’s Litanei auf das Fest Aller Seelen (Litany for the Feast of All Souls), D. 343.

“Schubert (below) used the poem “Litany” by Johann Jacobi (1740-1814). It is written for comforting the deceased. Robert Capell, the author of the book “Schubert’s Songs” (1929), said about this lied: There was never a truer or more touching expression of simple devotion and consoled grief … “The music rises from a pure well of affection and humility.”

“I would like to dedicate this piece to all the people who suffered from Covid 19.”

BACKGROUND

Here is a link to Kangwoo Jin’s impressive website where you can see many photos, learn about his extensive career as a teacher and hear many samples of his playing: https://www.pianistkangwoojin.com

Praised for his “refined tone quality with powerful energy” (Chosun Daily Newspaper), Jin (below, in a photo by Steve Apps for the Wisconsin State Journal) concertizes nationally and internationally, including performances in Germany, Italy, China, Indonesia and South Korea.

He gave his debut concert at the Sejong Arts Center in Seoul, South Korea, sponsored by the Chosun Daily Newspaper. He has given live performances on Wisconsin Public Radio and WORT 89.9 FM.

Jin appears frequently as a guest artist at music festivals, universities and various concert series. Recent invitations include UW-River Falls, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and Tongji University in Shanghai. Kawai Pianos USA has also invited him as a guest artist at the annual Piano Technicians Guild Convention and Technical Institute in Florida.

Jin completed the Bachelor of Music degree at Hanyang University in South Korea, then earned his Performer Diploma and Master’s of Music at Indiana University, where he worked as an associate instructor.

He is the recipient of the J. Battista Scholarship for performance excellence at Indiana University and received the Collins Distinguished Fellowship for his doctoral studies, completed last year, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied piano with Christopher Taylor and piano pedagogy with Jessica Johnson.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AmericanPlayersTheatre, #ArtsCenter, #ArtSong, #BachelorofMusic, #BaroqueEra, #BaroqueMusic, #BeethovenYear, #BeijingChina, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChosunDailyNewspaper, #ChristianChurch, #ChristopherTaylor, #Classicalera, #ClassicalMusician, #CoronavirusPandemic, #CorpusChristi, #COVID-19, #DifficultTime, #DoctoralStudies, #DomenicoScarlatti, #DonGiovanni, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FeastofAllSouls, #FranzLiszt, #FranzSchubert, #FuneralMarch, #GuestArtist, #HanyangUniversity, #HomeWebsite, #IndianaUniversity, #JacobStockinger, #JohannJacobi, #KangwooJin, #KawaiPianos, #LivePerformance, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #LutherMemorialChurch, #MajorKey, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MentalHealth, #MinorKey, #MoonlightSonata, #MusicCritic, #Musicfaculty, #MusicProfessor, #OnlineConcert, #OperaMusic, #PerformerDiploma, #PianoTechnician, #PolyphonicMusic, #ProgramNotes, #RobertSchumann, #RomanticEra, #RomanticMusic, #SalonPIanoSeries, #SchubertLieder, #SeoulSouthKorea, #ServiceFee, #ShanghaiChina, #SouthKorea, #SouthKorean, #SteveApps, #Sundayafternoon, #SymphonicEtudes, #TexasA&M, #TheEar, #TheUW, #Tongjiniversity, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UW-RiverFalls, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WisconsinStateJournal, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, affection, afternoon, age, April, art song, Arts, arts center, audience, auhtor, available, Bachelor of Music, Baroque, Baroque music, beautiful, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, birth, Bishop, blog, Blog post, blog posting, Book, China, Chosun Daily Newspaper, Christian, Christian church, Christopher Taylor, church, Classical, Classical era, Classical music, classicalmusic, collective, Collins, color, comfort, complete, composer, Concert, concertize, console, contribute, convention, coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, Corpus Christi, cost, create, dead, death, deceased, dedicate, dedication, degree, different, difficult, difficult time, diploma, doctoral studies, doctorate, Domenico Scarlatti, Don Giovanni, Early music, energy, era, etude, excited, exciting, expression, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, Farley's House of Pianos, feast, Feast of All Souls, fee, festival, final, Florida, forward, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, funeral march, gender, German, Germany, grief, guest artist, guild, Hanyang University, healing, hear, Home, home website, hope, host, humiity, imformation, impressive, Indiana University, Indonesia, instructor, intend, internationally, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Jacobi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kangwoo Jin, Kawai, Kawai PIanos, Korea, layer, layers, lied, like, link, link'share, Liszt, litany, live performance, Ludwig van Beethoven, Luther, Luther Memorial Church, Madison, major key, masterpiece, May, Mead Witter School of Music, Mental health, minor key, Moonlight Sonata, movement, Mozart, multipile, multiple, Music, music critic, music faculty, music professor, Musician, nationally, Newspaper, online, opera, Orchestra, orchestral, pandemic, People, Performer Diploma, photo, photos, Pianist, Piano, piano technician, piece, play, playing, poem, Poetry, polyphonic, polyphony, popular, post, posthumous, posting, powerful, professor, program, program notes, Protestant, public, race, Radio, reach, recital, Robert Schumann, Romantic, Romantic music, Salon Piano Series, sample, Scarlatti, scholarship, Schubert, sense, Seoul, service, service fee, Shanghai, share, simple, Singing, Sonata, song, soothe, soul, Sound, South Korea, special, sponsor, Steve Apps, study, style, suffer, Sunday, Sweet Home, SweetHome, Symphonic Etudes, symphony, tag, Teacher, teaching, Texas A&M, texture, The Ear, theme and variations, thick, ticket, times, tone, Tongji University, touching, tragedy, Tragic, transcription, true, United States, universities, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unprecedented, USA, UW, UW-Madison, UW-River Falls, variation, virtual, virtuosic, vocal music, voice, Website, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin State Journal, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WORT, WORT-FM 89.9, WPR, write, YouTube

Here is a collaborative obituary for music critic, radio host, performer and gay pioneer Jess Anderson, who died in January at 85

March 7, 2021
3 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

In late January of this year, Jess Anderson (below) — a longtime friend, devoted musician and respected music critic – died at 85.

The Ear promised then that when more was known or written, it would be posted on this blog.

That time has come.

Jess was a polymath, a Renaissance Man, as the comments below attest to time and again.

For the past several years, he suffered from advancing dementia and moved from his home of 56 years to an assisted living facility. He had contracted COVID-19, but died from a severe fall from which he never regained consciousness.

Jess did not write his own obituary and he had no family member to do it. So a close friend – Ed Wegert (below) – invited several of the people who knew Jess and worked with him, to co-author a collaborative obituary. We are all grateful to Ed for the effort the obituary took and for his caring for Jess in his final years.

In addition, the obituary has some wonderful, not-to-be-overlooked photos of Jess young and old, at home, with friends, sitting at the piano and at his custom-built harpsichord.

It appears in the March issue of Our Lives, a free statewide LGBTQ magazine that is distributed through grocery stores and other retail outlets as well as free subscriptions. Here is a link to the magazine’s home webpage for details about it: https://ourliveswisconsin.com.

That Jess was an exceptional and multi-talented person is obvious even from the distinguished names of the accomplished people who contributed to the obituary:

They include:

Chester Biscardi (below), who is an acclaimed prize-winning composer, UW-Madison graduate, composer and teacher of composition at Sarah Lawrence College.

John Harbison (below), the MacArthur “genius grant” recipient and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who teaches at MIT and co-directs the nearby Token Creek Chamber Music Festival in the summer.

Rose Mary Harbison (below), who attended the UW-Madison with Jess and became a professional performing and teaching violinist who co-directs the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival.

Steve Miller (below), a close friend who became a bookmaker and is now a professor at the University of Alabama.

The Ear, who knew Jess over many decades, was also invited to contribute.

Here is a link to the joint obituary in Our Lives magazine, a free LGBTQ periodical that you can find in local grocery store and other retail outlets: https://ourliveswisconsin.com/article/remembering-jess-anderson/?fbclid=IwAR027dzv2YqRUNlYF1cF6JyXnEcQxAwcprPYbtBQCs3rYt0Nu847W_xbjpk

Feel free to leave your own thoughts about and memories of Jess in the comment section.

It also seems a fitting tribute to play the final chorus from The St. John Passion of Johann Sebastian Bach. You can hear it in the YouTube video below. It is, if memory serves me well, the same piece of sublime music that Jess played when he signed off from hosting his Sunday morning early music show for many years on WORT-FM 89.9.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AssistedLiving, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueRecorder, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #EarlyMusicMovement, #EdWegert, #ElliottCarter, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FerruccioBusoni, #FrancoisCouperin, #FranzLiszt, #FranzSchubert, #FredericChopin, #GayLiberationFront, #GeniusGrant, #GroceryStore, #GunnarJohansen, #Hard Work, #HardWork, #HomeWebpage, #HornSection, #IgorKipnis, #IgorStravinsky, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JacobStockinger, #JessAnderson, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #LGBTQrights, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MacArthurFellow, #MacArthurFoundation, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology, #MetropolitanOpera, #MusicCritic, #MusicCriticism, #MusicEducation, #NewYorkCity, #OrchestralMusic, #OurLives, #PerformingArts, #PianoSonata, #Prize-Winning, #ProArteQuartet, #PulitzerPrize, #RadioHost, #RenaissanceMan, #RetailStore, #RonMcCrea, #RoseMaryHarbison, #RudolfKolisch, #SalonPIanoSeries, #SarahLawrenceCollege, #SignOff, #St.JohnPassion, #SteinwayPiano, #SteveMiller, #SundayMorning, #TheEar, #TheGreatGatsby, #TheMet, #TheUW, #TokenCreekChamberMusicFestival, #UniversityofAlabama, #UniversityofIllinois-Champaign-Urbana, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WorldPremiere, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, acclaimed, advance, aesthete, Africa, African, airplanes, Arts, assisted living, attend, audience, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, beauty, Beethoven, birthday, blog, Book, bookmaker, Brahms, Broadcast, Buscardi, Busoni, camping, Carter, CDs, Chamber music, Chinatown, Chopin, choral music, citizen, Classical music, co-direct, co-director, collaborate, collaborative, comment, Compact Disc, composer, Composition, computer, Concert, conductor, contract, contractor, contribute, coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, counterpoint, Couperin, criticism, death, decade, dementia, details, devoted, died, Early music, earlymusic, Ed Wegert, effort, Elliott Carter, exceptional, exuberance, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, facility, fall, Family, Farley's House of Pianos, Ferruccio Busoni, final, fitting, forward, François Couperin, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, free, French, friend, gay, Gay Liberation Front, generosity, genius grant, grateful, graudate, graudate student, grocery store, Gunnar Johansen, Harbison, harpsichord, History, hobby, Home, home webpage, host, Igor Kipnis, Igor Stravinsky, ILLINOIS, imitate, inspiration, invite, Isthmus, it, Jacob Stockinger, January, Jess Anderson, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Harbison, joint, Kipnis, knew, know, knowledge, language, late, LGBT, LGBTQ, lifeblood, like, link, Liszt, literature, Love, Ludwig van Beethoven, MacArthur Fellow, MacArthur Foundation, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, magazine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, McCrea, memories, memory, men, mentor, Met, Metropolitan Opera, Midwest, miller, MIT, model, morning, Music, music critic, Music education, Musician, nearby, New York City, obituary, opera, opinionated, Orchestra, orchestral music, Our LIves, outlet, outspoken, overlooked, pandemic, Passion, perform, Performing arts, periodical, photography, photos, Pianist, Piano, Piano sonata, piece, pioneer, play, poet, Poetry, polymath, post, posting, Pro Arte Quartet, professional, professor, programmer, Pulitzer Prize, rdio, recital, recorder, Renaissance, Renaissance man, repertoire, repertory, Retail, Ron McCrea, Rose Mary Harbison, Rudolf Kolisch, Russian, Salon Piano Series, Sarah Lawrence College, school, Schubert, Seattle, section, sign-off, Slavic, Sonata, Soulima Stravinsky, spirit, St. John Passion, statewide, Steinway, Steve Miller, store, Stravinsky, Student, sublime, submarine, subscription, success, suffer, suffering, summer, Sunday, tag, talent, talented, taste, Teacher, technology, The Ear, The Great Gatsby, thought, time, Token Creek, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, train, tribute, United States, universal, University of Alabama, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, Violin, violinist, virtuoso, vocal music, Wegert, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, wonderful, world premiere, World War II, WORT-FM 89.9, WWII, year, young, YouTube

This Friday night the Verona Quartet performs an online concert of Brahms and Dvorak for the Wisconsin Union Theater. Plus, longtime music critic Jess Anderson has died

January 27, 2021
2 Comments

ALERT: Jess Anderson (below), a longtime local music critic for Isthmus, an active participant in the local music scene and a veteran radio host of an early music program for WORT-FM 89.9, died this past Sunday. He was 85. When more information is known, The Ear will devote a blog post to Jess, who was also a friend.

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcement to post:

The Wisconsin Union Theater’s Concert Series will continue this season with a performance by the Verona Quartet (below) on this Friday, Jan. 29, at 7:30 p.m. CST. It will be preceded by a question-and-answer session with the Quartet at 7 p.m. CST.

The Quartet will perform two complete works: the String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51, No. 2, by Johannes Brahms; and the famous String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96, the “American,” by Antonin Dvorak. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear the Verona Quartet perform the familiar last movement of the string quartet by Dvorak.)

The Verona Quartet rose to international fame by sweeping top prizes at competitions, including the Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award in 2020.

Hailing from four different parts of the world, differences unify the Quartet’s members and music. Its music aims to show how diverse experiences can come together in harmony.

“The Verona Quartet brings fresh approaches to classical music masterpieces,” says Wisconsin Union Theater director Elizabeth Snodgrass (below). “The Quartet has risen to become one of the world’s most sought-after string quartets. We are honored to include them in our Concert Series season.”

Ticket purchase information can be found here. Tickets for this virtual online event are $10 for UW-Madison students, $17 for Wisconsin Union members and students who do not attend the UW-Madison, and $20 for all other patrons.

Ticket buyers will receive an email from approximately 2 hours before the event begins that contains the link to view the performance.

Anyone who purchases a ticket within 2 hours of the event’s start time will receive their link in their confirmation email immediately following their purchase. Only 1 ticket per household is needed to view this concert.

The link will remain active until Friday, Feb. 5, at 9:30 p.m. (CST) to view whenever you would like.

This performance will include the Quartet’s regular violinists Jonathan Ong and Dorothy Ro, and violist Abigail Rojansky.

But due to challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic, Quartet member and cellist Jonathan Dormand will not be part of the event. Instead, cellist Dmitry Kouzov (below top) will perform the string quartet by Brahms and cellist Annie Jacobs-Perkins (below bottom, in a photo by C. Tihms Van Velden) will perform the string quartet by Dvorak.

The Verona Quartet’s performance is made possible by the David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Endowment Fund, with additional support from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.

An additional Concert Series performance will take place on Sunday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m. CDT and features the Meccore Quartet.

For more than 75 years, the Wisconsin Union Theater has served as a cultural center for community members and visitors and provides a variety of performing arts events.

The Theater’s Concert Series began more than a century ago and is one of the oldest uninterrupted series of its kind in the United States.

The Wisconsin Union Theater team presents the Concert Series in collaboration with the student-led Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Performing Arts Committee.

The Theater team strives for all of its spaces to be accessible, and those that need accommodations can reach out by email to the Wisconsin Union Theater team at: wisconsinuniontheater@union.wisc.edu

For more information about the Verona Quartet, including how to purchase tickets, visit union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/verona-quartet.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AbigailRojensky, #AmericanQuartet, #AnnieJacobs-Perkins, #AntoninDvorak, #AspectsofAmerica, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberMusicAmerica, #ClassicalMusician, #ClevelandQuartet, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #CulturalCenter, #DavidandKatoPerlmanChamberMusicSeries, #DmitryKouzov, #DorothyRo, #ElizabethSnodgrass, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Fridaynight, #JacobStockinger, #JessAnderson, #JohannesBrahms, #JonathanDormand, #JonathanOng, #KatoPerlman, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MeccoreQuartet, #MusicCritic, #MusicScene, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #OnlineConcert, #PerformingArts, #RadioHost, #ReachOut, #StartTime, #StateOfWisconsin, #TheEar, #TheU.S., #UnionTheaterConcertSeries, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VeronaQuartet, #VirtualConcert, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #WisconsinDirectorate, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, Abigail Rojensky, accessible, accommodation, active, alert, American, American Quartet, Annie Jacobs-Perkins, announcement, Antonín Dvořák, anyone, Arts, audience, blog, Brahms, cellist, Cello, center, Central Time, century, challenge, Chamber music, Chamber Music American, Classical music, classicalmusic, Cleveland Quartet, comlete, community, Competition, composer, Concert, concert series, confirmation, contests, coronavirus, CST, cultural, David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Series, death, devote, died, difference, director, diverse, Dmitry Kouzov, Dorothy Ro, Dvorak, Early music, earlymusic, Elizabeth Snodgrass, event, events, experience, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, fame, familiar, famous, feature, February, fresh, Friday, friend, funds, harmony, honor, host, hours, household, hpur, include, information, international, Jacob Stockinger, January, Jess Anderson, Johannes Brahms, Jonathan Dormand, Jonathan Ong, Kato Perlman, last, local, Madison, masterpiece, Mead Witter School of Music, Meccore Quartet, member, movement, Music, music critic, music scene, Musician, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, night, oldest, online, pandemic, participant, perform, performance, Performing arts, post, posting, precede, prize, program, purchase, question-and-answer, Radio, radio host, reach out, Season, session, space, start time, State of Wisconsin, String quartet, Sunday, support, team, The Ear, ticket, time, U.S., unify, uninterrupted, Union Theater Concert Series, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, UW, UW-Madison, variety, Verona Quartet, Veteran, view, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, virtual, winning, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, Wisconsin Union Directorate, Wisconsin Union Theater, works, world, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube

Here is a comprehensive overview of classical music in 2020. It includes deaths, virtual seasons, world premieres, major awards, new albums and other noteworthy events

December 31, 2020
2 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

The last day of a year, especially a year as tragic and eventful for the arts as 2020, seems a good time for a retrospective.

For many years, Wikipedia has done a fine job of collating noteworthy classical music events, both nationally and internationally.

Organized by categories and then by month and day, the events include deaths, many from COVID-19 of course.

The list also includes the world premieres of new operas and new works in other musical genres. (You can hear “From the Diary of Anne Frank and “Meditations on Rilke” by the American conductor, educator and composer Michael Tilson Thomas — below in a photo by Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times — in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

The list, which has 567 footnotes and citations, includes cancellations, staff changes, virtual and online concert seasons and other fallout from the coronavirus. And they include awards for new recordings.

If you hover the cursor over names in blue print, you will also get specific details or biographical information with a portrait or photo in many cases. Then click on the blue name and you will go to the organization’s or individual’s home website.

The Ear finds it very useful as a year-in-review and hopes you do too.

Take a look for yourself. And here’s hoping that both artists and the arts thrive better in the coming new year of 2021.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_in_classical_music

What do you think of the Wikipedia list?

How did it leave you feeling?

Do you have something to add to the list?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #AnneFrank, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalMusicians, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DiaryofAnneFrank, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzLiszt, #GrammyAward, #HomeWebsite, #JacobStockinger, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MetropolitanOpera, #MichaelTilsonThomas, #MusicEducator, #NewMusic, #NewYorkPhilharmonic, #NewYorkTimes, #OnlineConcert, #OperaMusic, #OrchestralMusic, #PlacidoDomingo, #RainerMariaRilke, #TheEar, #TheMet, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #Wikipediaentry, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WorldPremiere, #YouTubevideo, 2020, 2021, Album, American, Anne Frank, Arts, audience, award, Bach, Beethoven, better, biographical, biography, blog, blue, Brahms, cancellation, category, Chamber music, change, choral music, citation, Classical music, classicalmusic, click, collate, composer, comprehensive, computer, Concert, concerto, conductor, coronavirus, cursor, day, death, details, Diary of Anne Frank, Domingo, Early music, educator, event, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, fallout, feeling, festival, find, footnote, forward, Franz Liszt, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, genre, Grammy, hear, home website, hope, hover, information, inidividual, international, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, last, like, link, list, Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, major, Meditation, Metropolitan Opera, Michael Tilson Thomas, month, Mozart, MTT, Music, Music education, musical, names, national, New Music, new recording, New York Philharmonic, New York Tmes, noteworthy, online, opera, orchestral music, organization, organize, overview, pandemic, photo, photograph, Picture, Plácido Domingo, portrait, post, posting, print, Rainer Maria Rilke, Retirement, retrospective, Rilke, Season, share, specific, staff\, tag, The Ear, the Met, Thomas, thrive, Tragic, useful, Violin, virtual, vocal music, Website, Wikipedia, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, world premiere, year, year-in-review, YouTube

NPR names relevant classical albums in a musical Diary of the Plague Year of the pandemic, racial protests, wildfires and hurricanes

December 29, 2020
Leave a Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

For an unusual and difficult year, NPR (National Public Radio) and critic Tom Huizenga have found a new and unusual way to recommend this past year’s top classical music recordings.

On the “Deceptive Cadence” blog for NPR, Huizenga kept a personal month-by-month diary of “music and mayhem.”

For last February, for example, this ancient image of The Dance of Death inspired contemporary composer Thomas Adès to compose his own “Totentanz” or Dance of Death. (You can hear an excerpt from the work in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Some of the thematically-related music is modern or contemporary, some of it is from the Baroque or Classical era.

In June, as protests against the death of George Floyd (below top) flared up and spread worldwide, NPR names a recording of the “Negro Folk Symphony” by African-American composers William Dawson and Ulysses Kay (below bottom), thereby helping to rediscover Black composers whose works have been overlooked and neglected in the concert hall and the recording studio.

Devastating wildfires on the West Coast, Presidential impeachment and hurricanes on the Gulf Coast also found their way into the choices of music to listen to.

It is an unusual approach, but The Ear thinks it works.

See and hear for yourself by going to the sonic diary and listening to the samples provided.

Here is a link to the NPR album diary: https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2020/12/21/947149286/music-and-mayhem-a-diary-of-classical-albums-for-a-troubled-2020

But many roads, if not all, lead to Rome, as they say.

What is also interesting is that a number of the NPR choices overlap with ones listed by music critics of The New York Times as the 25 best classical albums of 2020.

Some choices also are found on the list of the nominations for the Grammy Awards that will be given out at the end of January.

In other words, the NPR diary can also serve as yet another holiday gift guide if you have gift cards or money to buy some new and notable CDs, and are looking for recommendations.

Here is a link to the Times’ choices, which you can also find with commentary and a local angle, in yesterday’s blog post: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/arts/music/best-classical-music.html

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/12/27/the-new-york-times-names-the-top-25-classical-recordings-of-2020-and-includes-sample-tracks/

And here is a list to the Grammy nominations: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/11/28/for-holiday-shopping-and-gift-giving-here-are-the-classical-music-nominations-for-the-63rd-grammy-awards-in-2021/

What do you think of the NPR musical diary of the plague year?

Do you find it informative? Accurate? Interesting? Useful?

Would you have different choices of music to express the traumatic events of the past year?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AbrahamLincoln, #African-AmericanComposer, #AlvinCole, #AmericanClassics, #AnnaClyne, #BaroqueMusic, #BerlinerBarockSolisten, #BerlinGermany, #BertrandChamayou, #Blackcomposers, #BlackMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BritishComposer, #BryceDessner, #C.E.P.Bach, #CarlPhilippEmanuelBach, #CarnegieHall, #CelloConcerto, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianReligion, #ClariceJensen, #Classicalera, #ConcertHall, #ContemporaryMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DanceofDeath, #DavidLang, #DeceptiveCadence, #DonaldNally, #DonaldTrump, #DriftMutiply, #ElectronicMusic, #EnslavedPeople, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FemaleComposer, #FerruccioBusoni, #FredericChopin, #FrenchMusician, #GeorgeFloyd, #GoodNight, #GrammyAward, #GrammyNominations, #GulfCoast, #HolidayGiftGuide, #HumanVoice, #iIanoConcerto, #InbalSegev, #JacobStockinger, #JesusChrist, #JonasKaufmann, #JustConstellations, #KirillGerstein, #LeopoldStokowski, #LeosJanacek, #LithuanianNationalSymphony, #LiveMusic, #LondonEngland, #LondonPhilharmonic, #MarinAlsop, #MassProtests, #MichaelHarrison, #MusicCritic, #MusicCritics, #NationalPublicRadio, #NaxosRecords, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #NewYorkPhilharmonic, #NewYorkTimes, #OlegBezborodko, #OperaMusiclibretto, #OrchestralMusic, #PaulMoravec, #PhiladelphiaPennsylvania, #PianoConcertino, #PoliceShooting, #PoliticallyRelevant, #PresidentTrump, #ProtectYourselfFromInfection, #RacialJustice, #RecordedMusic, #RecordingStudio, #RoomfulofTeeth, #SanctuaryRoad, #SarahKirklandSnider, #SocialJustice, #SociallyRelevant, #SocialMedia, #SystemicRacism, #TenorSinger, #TheCrossing, #TheEar, #TheodoreRoosevelt, #ThomasAdès, #TomHuizenga, #TristanPerich, #UkrainianComposer, #UndergroundRailroad, #UnitedKingdom, #UnitedStates, #ValentinSilvestrov, #VikingurOlafsson, #VocalMusic, #WestCoast, #WilliamDawson, #WilliamGrantStill, #YouTubevideo, 2020, 2021, Abraham Lincoln, Adès, African American, Album, Alsop, Alvin Cole, American, American Classics, ancient, angle, anicent, Anna Clyne, April, Arts, audience, August, award, Bach, Baroque, Baroque music, beauty, behvaior, Berlin, Berliner Barock Solisten, Bertrand Chamayou, best, black, black music, blog, bond, British, British composer, Bryce Dessner, Busoni, C.P.E. Bach, cadence, California, call, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Carnegie Hall, Catholic, cautionary, cellist, Cello, Cello Concerto, Chamber music, Child, Choir, Chopin, choral music, Christ, Christian religion, Christianity, Clarice Jensen, Classical era, Classical music, classicalmusic, Clyne, comfort, commentary, compelling, composer, Concert, concert hall, concerto, conductor, confrontation, Constellation, contemporary, coronavirus, dance, Dance of Death, David Lang, Davidsen, deals]new, death, December, Deceptive Cadence, diary, difficult, Donald Nally, Donald Trump, Drift Multiply, Early music, electronic, email, enslaved, enslaved people, ephemeral, escape, excerpt, Facebook, faith, fatal, fauna, February, Feburary, female, female composer, Ferruccio Busoni, flared, flora, folk, forward, fragility, France, Frédéric Chopin, freedom, French, George Floyd, Gerstein, gift, gift card, God, good night, Grammy, Gulf Coast, harmonie, Harrison, Holiday, holiday gift, holiday gift guide, hope, horrifying, human, human voice, Hurricane, image, impreachment, Inbal Segev, infection, inspire, Jacob Stockinger, Janacek, January, Jensen, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jonas Kaufmann, June, Just Constellations, Kaufmann, Kirill Gerstein, l, Leopold Stokowski, Leos Janacek, life, like, Lincoln, link, Lise Davidsen, listen, Lithuania, Lithuanian National Symphony, live concert, live music, Living composer, living composers, local, London, London Philharmonic, lullaby, Marin Alsop, Masonic, mass, mayhem, me, mesmerizing, Michael Harrison, money, Moravec, Mother, motorcycle, Music, music critic, National Public Radio, nature, Naxos, Naxos Records, Negro, nerves, New Music, New York City, New York Philharmonic, New York Times, nocturnal, nocturne, nominations, November, NPR, October, Olafsson, Oleg Bezborodko, opera, oratorio, Orchestra, orchestral, pandemic, Paul Moravec, People, Perich, personal, Philadelphia, Pianist, Piano, Piano Concertino, planet, poetic, police shooting, Politics, positive, post, posting, precise, precision, President, President Trump, programming, protect, Protect Yourself From Infection, protest, race, racial justice, racism, rally, reality, recorded music, recording, recording studio, rediscover, relevant, Religion, repetition, response, Revelation, rising, Roomful of Teeth, sanctuary, Sanctuary Road, Sarah Kirkland Snider, September, share, signature, Silvestrov, sing, singer, smart, smooth, social justice, social media, solitude, sonic, sorrow, soundtrack, spread, statues, studio, sweet, symphony, systemic racism, tag, tangy, tenor, terminal, test, texture, The Crossing, The Ear, thematic, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Ades, thrill, times, Tom Huizenga, top, Totentanz, traditional, traumatic, trial, Tristan Perich, troubled, U.K., Ukraine, Ukrainian, Ukrainian composer, Ulysses Kay, Underground Railroad, unite, United Kingdom, United States, unusual, Valentin Silvestrov, Vikingur Olafsson, Violin, violinist, vocal music, voice, west coast, wildfire, William Dawson, William Grant Still, Wisconsin, witty, woman, work, worldwide, year, yesterday, YouTube

The UW-Madison’s Wingra Wind Quintet performs a FREE online virtual concert this Wednesday night. Plus, local music critic Greg Hettmansberger has died

December 8, 2020
4 Comments

NEWS ALERT: Local music critic and blogger Greg Hettmansberger (below) was killed in a car accident on Dec. 2, near Wichita, Kansas. Hettmansberger, 65, was driving when he hit a deer and then another car hit him. His wife survived but remains hospitalized in Wichita in critical condition. Here is a link to a news account: https://www.kake.com/story/42993718/man-dies-in-crash-caused-by-deer-in-pratt-county

By Jacob Stockinger

This Wednesday night, Dec. 9, the UW-Madison’s Wingra Wind Quintet (below, in 2017) will perform a FREE virtual online concert from 7:30 to 9 p.m.

Here is a direct link to the pre-recorded video premiere on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/e1NhVZJW2cA

Due to the pandemic, the Wingra Wind Quintet has been unable to perform chamber music in a traditional way since March 2020. (You can hear the quintet play “On, Wisconsin” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

In response, the quintet put together a program that allowed each member to record parts separately and have those parts edited together.

Current faculty members (below) are: Conor Nelson, flute; Lindsay Flowers, oboe; Alicia Lee, clarinet; Marc Vallon, bassoon; and Devin Cobleigh-Morrison, horn

The engineer/producer is Kris Saebo.

The program is:

The first piece “Allegro scherzando” from Three Pieces by Walter Piston (below, 1894-1976)

The Chaconne from the First Suite in E-flat for Military Band by Gustav Holst (below, 1874-1934)

“Retracing” by Elliott Carter (below, 1908-2012)

Selections from “Mikrokosmos” by Bela Bartok (below, 1881-1945)

“A 6 letter letter” by Elliott Carter

Intermezzo from the First Suite in E-flat for Military Band by Gustav Holst

“Esprit rude/esprit doux” by Elliott Carter

Since its formation in 1965, the Wingra Wind Quintet at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music has established a tradition of artistic and teaching excellence.

The ensemble has been featured in performance at national conferences such as MENC (Miami), MTNA (Kansas City), and the International Double Reed Society (Minneapolis).

The quintet also presented an invitational concert on the prestigious Dame Myra Hess series at the Chicago Public Library, broadcast live on radio station WFMT.

In addition to its extensive home state touring, the quintet has been invited to perform at numerous college campuses, including the universities of Alaska-Fairbanks, Northwestern, Chicago, Nebraska, Western Michigan, Florida State, Cornell, the Interlochen Arts Academy, and the Paris Conservatoire, where quintet members offered master classes.

The Wingra Wind Quintet has recorded for Golden Crest, Spectrum, and the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music recording series and is featured on an educational video entitled Developing Woodwind Ensembles.

Always on the lookout for new music of merit, the Wingra has premiered new works of Hilmar Luckhardt, Vern Reynolds, Alec Wilder, Edith Boroff, James Christensen and David Ott. The group recently gave the Midwest regional premiere of William Bolcom’s “Five Fold Five,” a sextet for woodwind quintet and piano, with UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor (below).

New York Times critic Peter Davis, in reviewing the ensemble’s Carnegie Hall appearance, stated “The performances were consistently sophisticated, sensitive and thoroughly vital.”

The Wingra Wind Quintet is one of three faculty chamber ensembles in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music.

Deeply committed to the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea, the group travels widely to offer its concerts and educational services to students and the public in all corners of the state. (Editor’s note: For more about the Wisconsin Idea, which seems more relevant today than ever, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Idea.)

Portions of this recording were made at the Hamel Music Center, a venue of the Mead Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #20thCentury, #AlecWilder, #AliciaLee, #AmericanComposer, #BelaBartok, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarnegieHall, #ChamberMusic, #ChicagoIllinois, #ChicagoPublicLibrary, #ChristopherTaylor, #ClarinetMusic, #ConcertSeries, #ConorNelson, #ConservatoiredeParis, #CornellUniversity, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DavidOtt, #DevonCobleigh-Morrison, #DoubleReed, #EdithBoroff, #ElliottCarter, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyConcert, #FloridaStateUniversity, #FluteMusic, #GoldCrestRecords, #GregHettmansberger, #GustavHolst, #HamelMusicCenter, #HilmarLuckhardt, #HomeState, #husband-and-wife, #InterlochenArtsAcademy, #InternationalDoubleReedSociety, #JacobStockinger, #JamesChristensen, #KansasCity, #KrisSaebo, #LindsayFlowers, #LiveBroadcast, #MarcVallon, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiamiFlorida, #MilitaryBand, #MinneapolisMinnesota, #ModernMusic, #MusicCritic, #MusicEducation, #Musicfaculty, #MusicReview, #MyraHess, #NationalConferences, #NewMusic, #NewWorks, #NewYorkCity, #NewYorkTimes, #NorthwesternUniversity, #OnlineConcert, #ParisConservatory, #ParisFrance, #RecordedMusic, #RegionalPremiere, #SarasotaFlorida, #SpectrumRecords, #TheEar, #TheUW, #ThreePieces, #UniversityofAlaska-Fairbanks, #UniversityofChicago, #UniversityofNebraska, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VerneReynolds, #VirtualConcert, #WalterPiston, #WesternMichiganUniversity, #WFMTRadioStation, #WichitaKansas, #Wikipediaentry, #WilliamBolcom, #WindMusic, #WingraWindQuintet, #WisconsinIdea, #WoodwindInstruments, #WoodwindMusic, #YouTubevideo, 2020, 20th-century, accident, Alaska, Alec Wilder, Alicia Lee, allegro scherzando, American, American composer, artistic, Arts, audience, auto, automobile, band, Bartok, Bassoon, bassoonist, Béla Bartók, blog, blogger, Bolcom, Boroff, Broadcast, Campus, Carnegie Hall, Carter, chaconne, Chamber music, Chicago, Chicago Public Library, Christensen, Christopher Taylor, clarinet, clarinetist, Classical music, college, Colleges and Universities, composer, Concert, concert series, condicition, Conor Nelson, Conservatoirre de Paris, Cornell University, coronavirus, critical, current, dame, David Ott, death, deer, Devin Cobleigh-Morrison, died, direct, double reed, drive, edited, Edith Boroff, Elliott Carter, engineer, ensemble, ever, excellence, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, faculty, Fairbanks, feature, Florida State University, flowers, flute, flutist, formation, forward, France, free, Gold Crest Records, Greg Hettmansberger, Gustav Holst, Hamel Music Center, Hilmar Luckhardt, Holst, Home, Horn, horn player, hornist, Hospital, hospitalized, husband, ILLINOIS, Interlochen Arts Academy, intermezzo, International Double Reed Society, invitational, Jacob Stockinger, James Christensen, Kansas, Kansas City, killed, Kris Saebo, Lee, letter, like, Lindsay Flowers, link, live, local, Luckhardt, Madison, Marc Vallon, march, master class, masterclass, Mead Witter School of Music, merit, Miami, Michigan, Midwest, Mikrokosmos, military, military band, Minneapolis, modern music, Music, music critic, Music education, music faculty, music review, Myra Hess, national conferences, Nebraska, Nelson, new, New Music, new works, New York, New York City, New York Times, Northwestern University, Oboe, oboist, On, online, Ott, pandemic, Paris, Paris Conservatory, parts, perform, performerance, Pianist, Piano, pieces, Piston, post, posting, pre-recorded, premiere, premiered, prestigious, producer, program, public, quintet, recorded, recorded music, regional, regional premiere, relevant, response, Reynolds, sare, selections, sensitive, separately edit, sophisticated, Spectrum Records, spirit, state, Suite, survive, tag, Taylor, teaching, The Ear, Three Pieces, today, together, tour, touring, traditional, travels, United States, universities, university, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, University of Chicago, University of Nebraska, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, update, UW, UW-Madison, Vallon, venue, Verne Reynolds, video, virtual, vital, Walter Piston, way, Wednesday, Western Michigan University, WFMT, Wichita, wife, Wikipedia, Wilder, WILLIAM BOLCOM, wind music, Wingra Wind Quintet, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Idea, woodwind, woodwind music, YouTube

	Bill Lane on The new Apple Music Classical…
	welltemperedear on The new Apple Music Classical…
	welltemperedear on The new Apple Music Classical…
	Bill Lane on The new Apple Music Classical…
	Augustine on The new Apple Music Classical…

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: