The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Happy New Year! The annual New Year’s Day concert in Vienna, popular around the world, airs on Wisconsin public radio and TV this morning and tonight
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ALERT 1: What piece of music do you like most to celebrate the New Year? Leave the name and a YouTube link, if possible, in the Comment section.
By Jacob Stockinger
For many music fans, today just wouldn’t be New Year’s Day without the annual concert (below) by the Vienna Philharmonic with a famous guest conductor in Vienna, Austria, that is broadcast nationwide both on radio and television by PBS and NPR. (The concert also goes out to more than 90 countries around the world.)
In Wisconsin, the first hearing comes this morning from 10 a.m. to noon CST on Wisconsin Public Radio.
Then tonight from 8 to 9:30 CST, Wisconsin Public Television – recently rebranded as PBS Wisconsin – will feature a longer version with host Hugh Bonneville (below) of “Downton Abbey” and with choreographed dance interpretations by the Vienna State Ballet that take place in various historical sites in Vienna.
The broadcast will be available to stream tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 2, on pbs.org/gperf and the PBS Video app.
Here is an overview with a biography of the critically acclaimed, Grammy-winning conductor Andris Nelsons (below), along with some background about the various orchestras he directs – including the Boston Symphony — and the spectacular floral arrangements in the Golden Hall:
https://www.wienerphilharmoniker.at/new-years-concert/new-years-concert-main
And here is a playlist of the waltzes, polkas and marches by the Strauss family and many other composers, including Beethoven since 2020 is the Beethoven Year and will celebrate the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth:
https://www.wienerphilharmoniker.at/concerts/concert-detail/event-id/10034
As always, the performance will conclude with the Radetzky March (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom) with the audience clapping along.
If you are a fan of the event, you might also be pleased to learn the Sony Classical will again be releasing the live recording (below) and DVD very shortly. Every year Sony rushes to get it out and on the market – something made easier, one suspects, by streaming.
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Classical music: Today is New Year’s Day 2018. The annual concert from Vienna airs this morning from 10 to noon on Wisconsin Public Radio and then tonight from 8 to 9:30 on Wisconsin Public Television. Here are details, background and the playlist
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By Jacob Stockinger
No event in classical music has become more iconic than the annual New Year’s Day concert given in Vienna’s luxurious Golden Hall by the Vienna Philharmonic under a guest conductor.
It may be predictable and repetitive, but it surely is beloved. The broadcast reaches 50 million listeners and viewers in more than 90 countries.
The concert, which is always heavy on Strauss family waltzes , polkas and marches as well as some music by other composers from that era, will first air this morning from 10 a.m. to noon CST on Wisconsin Public Radio.
Then later tonight it will add pictures and more — scenic landscapes, royal interiors, classic architecture, a celebrity narrator and dance interpretations by the Vienna City Ballet — when it airs again from 8 to 9:30 p.m. CST on Wisconsin Public Television.
The guest conductor this year is Riccardo Muti (below), the music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Here is some background from Vienna:
https://www.wienerphilharmoniker.at/new-years-concert/new-years-concert-main
Here is the complete program or playlist from WQXR-FM in New York City:
https://www.wqxr.org/story/new-years-day-2018-vienna-riccardo-muti-vienna-philharmonic
And here, with sound samples, is a list of the distinguished conductors who have led the event over 30 years. Find your favorites and relive some memories:
Here is more background on the television broadcast, part of PBS’ “Great Performances” series which will be hosted for the first time by Hugh Bonneville (below, in a photo by Nick Briggs) of “Downton Abbey” fame. He succeeds Walter Cronkite and Julie Andrews.
And here is background from the “Great Performances” website:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/
You can also consult the German-language YouTube video at the bottom.
If you want to relive this year’s experience, the CDs and DVDs will be available very shortly from Sony.
Tags: annual, architecture, Arts, background, ballet, beloved, Broadcast, celebrity, Cello, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, classic, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, Concert, conductor, dance, dancer, Downton Abbey, DVD, era, famous, favorite, German, Golden Hall, Great Performances, guest, interior, interpretation, Jacob Stockinger, Julie Andrews, landscape, language, listener, Love, march, marchballet, Music, Music director, narrator, New Year, New Year's Day, New York City, NPR, opera, Orchestra, PBS, pictures, play, playlist, polka, program, Radio, Riccardo Muti, royal, SONY, Sound, symphony, Television, TV, United States, Vienna, Vienna City Ballet, Vienna Philharmonic, viewer, Viola, Violin, Walter Cronkite, Waltz, Website, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, YouTube
Classical music: This weekend the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Grammy-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin will perform Spanish music and a new concerto by Chris Brubeck
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By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO), with music director John DeMain conducting, will present the third concert of its 92nd season.
“Troubadour: Two Faces of the Classical Guitar” features Grammy-winning guitar virtuoso Sharon Isbin (below) playing two works: one written for Isbin by American composer Chris Brubeck; and the other by the Spaniard Joaquin Rodrigo. (Isbin will also give a FREE and PUBLIC master class on Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon in Morphy Recital Hall on the UW-Madison campus in the Humanities Building on North Park Street.)
In addition the MSO will perform two 20th-century ballet suites — The Three-Cornered Hat by Spanish composer Manuel De Falla and Billy the Kid by American composer Aaron Copland.
The concerts (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) are in Overture Hall at the Overture Center, 201 State Street on Friday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Nov. 19, at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are $18-$90. Details are below.
Invoking a sense of the American heartland, Billy the Kid was written by Copland (below) as a ballet following the life of the infamous outlaw. This piece is most well-known for the memorable “cowboy” tunes and American folk songs that paint a vivid picture of the Wild West.
The virtuosity and versatility of multiple Grammy Award-winner Sharon Isbin is on display in this program of contrasts: the jazz idioms of the American composer Chris Brubeck’s “Affinity: Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra,” written for Sharon Isbin, alongside the lush romanticism of the Spaniard Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez.” (You can hear Sharon Isbin play the beautiful slow movement of the Rodrigo concerto in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The piece by Brubeck (below) contains strong hints of the jazz influence of his father, noted pianist and composer Dave Brubeck. Inspired by the gardens at Palacio Real de Aranjuez, Rodrigo’s composition attempts to transport the listener to another place and time through the evocation of the sounds of nature.
Isbin’s performances of Chris Brubeck’s “Affinity: Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra” have received wide acclaim: “The concerto takes off with Isbin delivering rapid-fire virtuosity with infectious themes. The slow middle is a tender jazz-based tribute to Dave Brubeck, and Isbin played with heartfelt warmth and tenderness. The finale was an infectious rhythmically driven journey through myriad styles. It was as intriguing as it was moving … Isbin is much more than a virtuoso; she is an artist of depth.”
The Three-Cornered Hat by De Falla (below) is based on a story written by Pedro de Alarcón about a Corregidor (magistrate) who tries, without success, to seduce the pretty wife of the local miller.
One hour before each performance, Michael Allsen (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot), professor at UW-Whitewater, MSO trombonist and writer of MSO’s program notes, will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience.
For more background on the music, please read Allsen’s Program Notes at: http://www.allsenmusic.com/NOTES/1718/3.Nov17.html.
The Symphony recommends concert attendees arrive early for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations, and so they can experience the pre-concert talk (free for all ticket-holders).
Single Tickets are $18-$90 each and are on sale now at https://www.madisonsymphony.org/singletickets, through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141.
Groups of 15 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information, go to: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/groups
Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $12 or $18 tickets. More information is at: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush
Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
ABOUT SHARON ISBIN
Acclaimed for her extraordinary lyricism, technique, and versatility, Sharon Isbin has been hailed as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time.” Recipient of numerous prestigious awards, her debut concert with the MSO comes after over 170 solo performances with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony, London Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Orchestre National de France, and the Tokyo Symphony.
Isbin is the subject of a one-hour documentary presented by American Public Television. Seen by millions on over 200 PBS stations throughout the US, it is also available on DVD/Blu-ray and won the 2015 ASCAP Television Broadcast Award. “Sharon Isbin: Troubadour” paints the portrait of a trailblazing performer and teacher who over the course of her career has broken through numerous barriers to rise to the top of a traditionally male-dominated field.
The following is a dedicated website where you can view the trailer, read rave reviews, and see detailed broadcast dates: www.SharonIsbinTroubadour.com
Major funding for the September concerts is provided by: NBC-15, the Madison Symphony Orchestra League, and Elaine and Nicholas Mischler. Additional funding provided by Scott and Janet Cabot, John DeLamater and Janet Hyde, Steven Weber, and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Classical music: Broadcasts of operas from the Met and string quartets by the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet are featured on old media and new media this Saturday and Sunday. Plus, the 89th Edgewood college Christmas Concert is tonight and tomorrow afternoon.
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ALERT: Edgewood College will present its 89th Annual Christmas Concerts tonight at 7 p.m. and Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive.
Now expanded to two performances, the holiday concert features the Edgewood College choirs and Concert Band, along with audience sing-alongs, prelude music by the Guitar Ensemble, and a post-concert reception featuring the Jazz Ensemble.
By Jacob Stockinger
Classical music meets old media and new media this weekend through opera and chamber music.
SATURDAY
This Saturday marks the beginning of the LIVE RADIO broadcasts of operas from the Metropolitan Opera (below) in New York City. This will be the 86th season for the radio broadcasts, which educated and entertained generations of opera lovers before there were DVDs, streaming and the “Live in HD From the Met” broadcasts to movie theaters.
The performances will be carried locally on Wisconsin Public Radio, WERN-FM 88.7. This Saturday, the starting time for Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” with Russian superstar soprano Anna Netrebko (below, in a photo by Richard Termine for The New York Times), is 11:30 CST. Other operas will have different starting times, depending their length.
This season runs from Dec. 3-May 15.
Radio has certain strengths, The Ear thinks. For one, it allows the listeners to focus on the music, to be less distracted or less enriched – depending on your point of view – by sets, costumes, lighting, the physicality of the acting and other stagecraft that is left to the imagination.
This season, there will be lots of standard fare including: Verdi’s “La Traviata” and “Aida”; Puccini’s “La Boheme”; Bizet’s “Carmen”; Beethoven’s “Fidelio”; Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” and “The Flying Dutchman”; Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” and “Salome”; and Mozart’s “Idomeneo.”
But you can also hear the new music and less frequently staged operas. They include the 2000 opera “L’amour de loin” (Love From Afar) by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, which will receive its Metropolitan Opera premiere next week, on Dec. 10.
Here is a link to the complete season along with links to information about the various productions. Starting times are Eastern Standard Time, so deduct an hour for Central Standard Time or a different amount for your time zone:
http://www.metopera.org/Season/Radio/Saturday-Matinee-Broadcasts/
SUNDAY
On this Sunday afternoon, the Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer), longtime artists-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, will wrap up the first semester of “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen,” which used to air weekly on Wisconsin Public Radio but now is presented once a month, on the first Sunday of the month, directly by the museum.
The program this Sunday features the “Italian Serenade” by Hugo Wolf; the String Quartet No. 3 in F Major by Dmitri Shostakovich; and the String Quartet in A-Flat Major, Op. 105, by Antonin Dvorak.
The FREE concert takes place from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Brittingham Gallery No. 3 of the Chazen Museum of Art and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Donors to the museum can reserve seats. Concerts by the Pro Arte Quartet, kind of the house quartet of the museum, are usually “sold out.”
But the concert can also be streamed live via computer or smart phone by clicking on the arrow in the photo and using the portal on the following website:
You might also want to arrive early or stay late to see the historic and rare First Folio edition (below) of the plays by William Shakespeare that is on display at the Chazen Museum through Dec. 11 to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of the Bard.
Tags: acting, Aida, Anna Netrebko, Arts, band, Beethoven, Bizet, Carmen, Cello, Chamber music, chapel, Chazen Museum of Art, Choir, choral music, Christmas, Classical music, computer, Concert, costume, DVD, Dvorak, Edgewood College, Finland, First Folio, guitar, Holiday, Hugo Wolf, Italian Serenade, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Kaija Saariaho, La bohème, La Traviata, lighting, Live From The Met in HD, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Met, Metropolitan Opera, Metropolitan Opera Live in HD, movie, Mozart, Music, new media, New Music, New York City, New York Times, old media, opera, Orchestra, Prelude, premiere, Pro Arte Quartet, Puccini, Radio, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Russia, Salome, sets, Shakespeare, Shostakovich, sing-along, smart phone, soprano, St. Joseph, stagecraft, streaming, String quartet, Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen, theater, Tristan und Isolde, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Classical music: “It always starts from the singing line.” Composer and librettist Mark Adamo talks about creating his popular opera “Little Women,” which will be performed twice this weekend by the Madison Opera.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Madison Opera will present its modernist production of the popular contemporary opera “Little Women” (below, in a traditional production by the Calgary Opera) by Mark Adamo this weekend.
Christina Ryan,Calgary Herald CALGARY, AB.:JANUARY 21, 2010 — Calgary Opera’s Canadian premiere production ‘Little Women’ stars Krisztina Szabo as Meg, Allyson McHardy as Joe, Mariateresa Magisaro as Beth, and Catherine May as Amy in Calgary on January 21, 2010.(Photo by Christina Ryan/Calgary Herald)
Performances are in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center on Friday at 8 p.m. and on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets to the opera, based on Louisa May Alcott’s famous 19th-century American novel of the same name, run $21-$101. You can call the Overture Center box office at 608 258-4141.
The production features guest conductor Kyle Knox (below), a busy and experienced musician who is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. His dramatic story was featured on this blog yesterday:
Candace Evans (below) returns as the stage director:
Heather Johnson (below) returns to sing the lead role of Jo March:
“Little Women” will be sung in English with projected surtitles.
The running time is 2-1/2 hours with one intermission.
Also, Mark Adamo is doing the pre-show talk on Friday night in tandem with the Madison Opera’s general director Kathryn Smith. Says Smith: “That means I’m going to ask him questions, so he can talk about his opera instead of me doing so as usual. That is at 7 p.m. in the Wisconsin Studio of the Overture Center, and is free to ticket holders.”
For more information about the opera, tickets, the cast and the production as well as the pre-performance lecture and post-performance Q&A, visit:
http://www.madisonopera.org/performances-2015-2016/little_women/
Here is a link to Mark Adamo’s informative website, where you can also see what other music Adamo, who teaches composition at New York University, composes:
And here is link to his entry on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Adamo
Adamo – who will attend the Friday night performance — generously agreed to a recent email interview with The Ear:
Is there anything beyond what is on your website that you think readers should know about you, your background and your career, including your latest and upcoming projects?
The website has only a little detail about “Becoming Santa Claus,” which is my fourth opera and which was given a lovely premiere (below) in Dallas in December. I’m editing the soundtrack for an upcoming DVD of the piece even as we speak.
What attracted you to “Little Women” as a subject for an opera?
I actually resisted it up front. I thought it was charming, but too antique and undramatic even to speak, let alone sing.
I was drawn to it only when I realized the show was neither “Three Weddings and a Funeral” (that is, not a story of all the March girls, save Beth, growing up to marry) nor a story of a girl struggling to be an artist (her whole family supports her) but a startling, and startlingly proto-modern, story of a girl/woman who learns too late that the destinies of even those she loves are out of her control.
Once it occurred to me that it was the story of everyone who’s ever heard, or uttered, the words, “I love you, but I have to leave” — and didn’t know why it had to be so — I knew the piece could sing.
How difficult a challenge is it for you to do both the score and the libretto? Do you prefer doing one to the other or find one easier?
For me, it’s natural. I was trained not only as a musician but as a playwright and lyricist (and, less comprehensively, as an actor and director) and, temperamentally, I’m the sort of artist who likes to take the most various, and longest possible, view of the project first before I start it.
An opera is a structure of words and music designed to be acted So the more questions I ask myself up front, the clearer both the script and the score can become even before they’re created, because the piece has been conceived in toto first and then the words and music designed to express it.
So I ask myself: What is the story? How can the journey of this character tell it? What is the sound of this story as verbal diction? Vocal contour? Harmonic mass? Melodic line? (Below are the handwritten manuscript and published score to a work by Mark Adamo.)
How would you describe the style of your music to the general public?
It always starts from the singing line. But I let the emotion of the character and the flow of the story determine everything else.
If the character feels like she’s making beautiful discoveries as she falls in love, the harmonies open up, moving from key to key before it settles when she does. If the conversation is turbulent, unsettled, inconclusive, the music is similarly fugitive.
Technically, that means the music is tonal, except when it’s chromatic; harmonic, unless just a sound or an orchestral color can carry the meaning; rhythmically steady, unless rhythms careen every which way to follow the turns of argument. In sum, it is eclectic — but not arbitrarily so. (NOTE: In a YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear an example in Beth’s aria from the production of “Little Women” by the Fayetteville Opera.)
“Little Women” has been performed in more than 65 international productions. What do you think has made it so popular? What is the usual public reaction to the work?
It’s actually over 100 at this point. Obviously, the path of the opera begins with the novel, one of the most beloved in English since its publication. Obviously, you try, as an artist, to make a piece as true and clear and deep as you can. But you can’t control whether artists subsequently believe in that piece (or not), or whether audiences embrace it (or not.)
Eighteen years after its premiere, my only possible response is gratitude that this opera is still speaking so often and to so many.
Tags: America, American literature, Arts, Becoming Santa Claus, Calgary, Canada, Candace Evans, cast, choral music, chormaticism, Christmas, Classical music, Dallas, DVD, English, harmony, Heather Johnson, Jacob Stockinger, lecture, Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, manuscript, Mark Adamo, Music, New York City, New York University, novel, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, Q&A, rhythm, Santa, Santa Claus, score, singer, stage director, surtitle, Texas, Three Weddings and a Funeral, tonal, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, words, YouTube
Classical music: Are big changes ahead for British classical music? Conductor Simon Rattle heads back from Berlin to England to lead the London Symphony Orchestra.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The big non-local news item this week was the announcement that the famed conductor Simon Rattle (below) will leave the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic and return to his native England to lead the London Symphony Orchestra starting in 2017.
On weekdays, The Ear generally puts the priority on local events – with previews taking precedence over reviews.
So the weekend provides a chance to catch up.
The 60-year-old Rattle, whose international career started in Birmingham, England, seems a musician for all seasons. He is known for championing contemporary composers. (You can listen to Simon Rattle talking about his new appointment at the bottom in a new YouTube video.)
But his prolific and eclectic discography also includes CD and DVD recordings of the great standards, the symphonies and concertos and other works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms, Antonin Dvorak, Gustav Mahler, Jean Sibelius, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Benjamin Britten, Sergei Prokofiev, Benjamin Britten and John Adams among many others.
And by all accounts, he is a generous mentor and masterful teacher — even though I have never heard anyone name Simon Rattle as their favorite conductor. Among his students are Andrew Sewell (below), the longtime music director and conductor of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. The Ear thinks it would be interesting to know what Sewell has to say about Rattle.
Here then, are some links to various aspects of the Simon Rattle story. Read one or a few or all of them. There is a lot to think and speculate about – a new concert hall, more contemporary programming and a higher status or respect for the London Symphony Orchestra are chief among them — as we wait and see what develops:
From the BBC news magazine:
http://www.classical-music.com
From the website of the famed Gramophone magazine:
From The Guardian newspaper:
From The New York Times, with an analysis:
Here is an opinion piece from The Guardian about how the move could be good for the British music scene:
And could Rattle’s move spark a rejuvenation of British classical music? That is the question in this post:
And finally, despite all the hoopla and cheerleading, a note of skepticism has been sounded by The Arts Desk with some specific criticisms:
http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/rattle-lso-great-or-just-good-news
Tags: Arnold Schoenberg, Arts, Barbican Centre, BBC, Beethoven, Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, Britten, CD, Chamber music, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Classical music, Compact Disc, concerto, DVD, Dvorak, England, Franz Schubert, Gramophone, Haydn, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John Adams, London, London Symphony Orchestra, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mahler, Music, New York Times, Orchestra, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Simon Rattle, Stravinsky, symphony, symphony orchestra, Tchaikovsky, United Kingdom, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: The top classical recordings of 2013 are finally named by the critics for The New York Times. Does the list come too late to serve as a holiday gift-giving guide?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Well, The Ear thinks it was a little late in coming –- especially since there are few local traditional brick-and-mortar record stories still in business and since buying on-line requires time for delivery.
But at the end of last week, the critics of The New York Times finally published their collective picks of the best classical recordings of the past year. (A sample of 20 is below in a photo by Tony Cenicola for the Times.)
It is a list I particularly trust since the critics of The New York Times -– Anthony Tommasini, James Oestreich, Vivien Schweitzer, Zachary Woolfe and Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim –- are among the best, the most discerning, experienced and reliable critics in the business. (At the bottom is a promotional video from Decca and posted on YouTube for one of the choices I especially agree with: violinist Leonidas Kavakos playing the complete violin sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven.)
Now, a cynic might think that an earlier publication about bigger and more expensive box sets (below), with dozens of CDs, came first because those sets are quite expensive and were probably provided free of cost or at a steep discount to reviewers. So perhaps the reviewers felt a duty to get that story into print over the pick of cheaper single and maybe double CDs -– kind of like the way legislators respond to lobbyists.
But maybe not. Maybe it is all just coincidence.
Anyway, here is a link to my blog posting about the box sets story, to which a link is also provided and which appeared the day after Thanksgiving:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/arts/music/classical-music-boxed-sets-multiply.html?_r=1&
And one can be disappointed a bit that there isn’t more in the way of suggestions about DVDs and books that related to classical music.
But be all that as it may, the list has been at last been published. And I find that agree whole-heartedly with many of the choices. And if it proves to late to be a good guide for giving, perhaps it is a good guide for how to spend those gifts cards you might get as gifts.
Here is a link to the Best Recordings of 2013 story:
Classical music: This holiday season, why not give the gift of live music plus your time and companionship? Here are some suggestions from The Ear and from guest blogger Janet Murphy. Plus, what piece best expresses today’s Winter Solstice?
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READER SURVEY: Today is the Winter Solstice at 11:11 p.m. CST. What piece of music most expresses or embodies that welcome event when the days finally start getting longer and the nights shorter — even if the warm and sunny weather is still far in the future? Let The Ear know with a COMMENT.
By Jacob Stockinger
Well, it’s getting down to the wire when it comes to holiday shopping.
As I do every year, I suggest that you give the gift of live music. There wis nothing like it — nothing even comes close.
Of course, you can also couple it to new CD recording or a DVD video with the same performer or work, or even a new book about Johann Sebastian Bach or Ludwig van Beethoven or someone else.
But the other important thing to give is yourself: Some time and some companion ship. This is especially true for children and young people who need some guidance, and for older people who may have accessibility issues and need your help if they are to get out to an event.
It isn’t hard to put together. Let the recipient’s taste in music be your guide. You can go on-line and explore the possibilities. You can go to bigger and more expensive events by the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, which has a holiday ticket sale going on through Christmas Eve), the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Madison Opera, the Wisconsin Union Theater and the Overture Center.
Or you could seek out free or more inexpensive events, especially chamber music but also orchestra concerts, choral concerts and opera, at the University of Wisconsin School of Music (below is the Pro Arte String Quartet, which will present the FREE world premiere of a work it commissioned from Belgian composer Benoit Mernier on March 1-2) or Edgewood College or any number of small groups.
Just get a holiday cards and write out a heart-felt message with the event, date and time and your offer to go with the recipient, maybe even share a meal or snack before or after the event. And if it is weeks or months out, that just gives people something to look forward to once the holidays are over.
In that same spirit, guest blogger and UW Choral Union singer Janet Murphy (below) offered this specific gift idea:
Murphy writes: Arboretum Cohousing (www.ArboretumCohousing.org) aka. Arbco, is presenting an evening with Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Kitt Reuter-Foss of Madison (below) on Saturday, January 18. Struggling to come up with a gift for the Impossible to Buy For? Well, you could end the pain right now by buying the ITBF a ticket to see Kitt at:
www.BrownPaperTickets.com/event/468942
But why?
Here are four good reasons to give the gift of concert tickets:
You want to go to the concert, so you cleverly buy a ticket for someone else to go with you.
Tickets produce nothing to clutter our lives, take back, assemble, be redeemed, or be discarded. No batteries required.
You support the local arts with your holiday spending. Musicians and venues need us today so they will exist tomorrow.
You and your guest get to enjoy those warm feelings of giving and receiving twice – first in the bleak mid-winter, and then again at concert time.
And here are four good reasons you might choose to give the gift of Kitt Reuter-Foss tickets:
Madison doesn’t have enough opportunities to see one of our premier talents.
November’s Arboretum Cohousing concert with keyboardist Trevor Stephenson (below) was a ridiculous amount of fun. If you missed it, you can make up for that mistake now.
Intimate venues mean a value-added experience: Visit with fellow concert-goers, see the performers up close and personal, hear gloriously unamplified music, and expect to be surprised (something magical always happens).
There are sweets and savories galore (below) – and you can enjoy them while you listen.
In addition, you will be doing a good deed. All proceeds from the concert go to restore Arco’s vintage Mason and Hamlin grand piano (below), so the gift of music will also enable Arbco to present more music in the future.
With so many performances in Madison to make your ITBF happy, what are you waiting for? Go for it.
Tags: Beethoven, Book, CD, Chamber music, Christmas, Concert, DVD, Edgewood College, holiday gifts, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, Saturday, Shopping, winter solstice, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater
Classical music: Got a holiday gift card or Christmas cash to spend? Here are the choice picks of classical music in 2012 by the New York Times – with an emphasis on new artists, niche labels and smaller name performers.
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By Jacob Stockinger
So, did you get a gift card for the holidays?
Perhaps some extra cash to spend?
Earlier, I offered several holiday gift-giving guides, including a list from The New York Times music critics that listed CDs, DVDs and books that represented the Best of 2012.
Here is a link to that posting and to the other gift guides that appeared here:
But it turns out that was only the first installment, a down payment, if you will from The New York Times.
Here are many more recordings by such fine Ne wyork Tikes critics as Anthony Tommasini, Vivien Schweitzer, Zachery Woolfe, Corinna da Fonseca-Wolheim and James Oestreich (whose choices were absent from the previous list, as I recall.)
The choices cover virtually all genres of music – symphony orchestra, opera, solo piano and solo violin, vocal and choral, chamber music. (All photos below are by Tony Cenicola for The New York Times.)
I myself haven’t heard all of them. But I have heard many of them –- recordings by pianist David Greilsammer, violinist Jennifer Koh, pianist Inon Barnatan, pianist Andras Schiff, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and conductor Nicholas McGegan — and I heartily concur with the choices. I don’t think you can go wrong.
And if you want to sample some of the, you can always go to amazon.com and see the website offers samplings from certain tracks. Plus, you can see the number of stars form buyers as well as comments or mini-reviews from others who bought the recordings and listened to it.
Here is a link to round-up by the critics of The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/21/arts/music/the-best-classical-music-recordings-of-2012.html?_r=0
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