The Well-Tempered Ear
Music education: The Madison Youth Choirs explore the theme of “Legacy” in three concerts this Saturday and Sunday in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center
1 Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post from the Madison Youth Choirs about their upcoming concerts this weekend:
This spring, Madison Youth Choirs singers are exploring the meaning of “Legacy,” studying works that have endured throughout history, folk traditions that have been passed on, and musical connections that we maintain with those who have come before us. Along the way, we’re discovering how our own choices and examples are leaving a lasting impact on future generations.
In our upcoming concert series in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center, 201 State Street, on this Saturday, May 11, and Sunday, May 12, we’ll present a variety of works. They include Benjamin Britten’s “The Golden Vanity,” Palestrina’s beloved “Sicut Cervus,” Sweet Honey in the Rock’s “Wanting Memories,” the final chorus of Handel’s oratorio Samson, American and Scottish folk songs, and Zoe Mulford’s powerful modern folk piece, “The President Sang Amazing Grace.”
The concert will also pay tribute to our alumni, with selections featured on the very first Madison Boychoir album, and past Cantabile singers invited to join us on stage for “Sisters, Now Our Meeting is Over.”
At the Saturday concert, MYC will present the 2019 Carrel Pray Music Educator of the Year award to Diana Popowycz (below), co-founder of Suzuki Strings of Madison.
DETAILS ABOUT “LEGACY” MYC’S SPRING CONCERT SERIES
Saturday
7:30 p.m. Purcell, Britten, Holst and Ragazzi (boychoirs)
Sunday
3:30 p.m. Choraliers, Con Gioia, Capriccio, Cantilena and Cantabile (girlchoirs)
7:30 p.m. Cantilena, Cantabile and Ragazzi (high school ensembles)
THREE WAYS TO PURCHASE TICKETS:
- In person at the Overture Center Box Office (lowest cost)
- Online (https://www.overture.org/events/legacy)
- By phone (608-258-4141)
Tickets are $15 for adults and $7.50 for students. Children under 7 are free, but a ticket is still required and can be requested at the Overture Center Box Office. Seating is General Admission.
This concert is supported by the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, American Girl’s Fund for Children, BMO Harris Bank, the Green Bay Packers Foundation, the Kenneth A. Lattman Foundation and Dane Arts with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation, The Evjue Foundation, charitable arm of The Capital Times, and the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation. This project is also made possible by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with additional funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
ABOUT MADISON YOUTH CHOIRS (MYC):
Recognized as an innovator in youth choral music education, Madison Youth Choirs (MYC) welcomes singers of all ability levels, annually serving more than 1,000 young people, ages 7-18, through a wide variety of choral programs in our community. Cultivating a comprehensive music education philosophy that inspires self-confidence, responsibility, and a spirit of inquiry leading students to become “expert noticers,” MYC creates accessible, meaningful opportunities for youth to thrive in the arts and beyond.
REPERTOIRE
SATURDAY
For the 7:30 p.m. Concert (featuring MYC Boychoirs)
Britten
“The Golden Vanity,” by Benjamin Britten (to our knowledge, this will be the first time the work has ever been performed in Madison)
Purcell
“Simple Gifts” by Joseph Brackett, arr. Aaron Copland
“Tallis Canon” by Thomas Tallis
“Sound the Trumpet” from Come Ye Sons of Art by Henry Purcell
Britten
“Ich jauchze, ich lache” by Johann Sebastian Bach
Holst
“Hallelujah, Amen” from Judas Maccabeus by George Frideric Handel
“Sed diabolus” by Hildegard von Bingen
“Bar’bry Allen” Traditional ballad, arr. Joshua Shank
“Ella’s Song” by Bernice Johnson Reagon
Ragazzi
“Let Your Voice Be Heard” by Abraham Adzenyah
“Sicut Cervus” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
“Agincourt Carol,” Anonymous, ca. 15th century
Ragazzi & Holst
“The President Sang Amazing Grace” by Zoe Mulford, arr. Randal Swiggum
Holst
“Shosholoza,” Traditional song from Zimbabwe
Combined Boychoirs
“Will Ye No Come Back Again?” Traditional Scottish, arr. Randal Swiggum
Legacy Choirs
“Day is Done” by Peter Yarrow, arr. Randal Swiggum
SUNDAY
For the 3:30 p.m. Concert (featuring MYC Girlchoirs)
Choraliers
“Music Alone Shall Live,” Traditional German canon
“Ut Queant Laxis,” Plainsong chant, text attributed to Paolo Diacono
“This Little Light of Mine” by Harry Dixon Loes, arr. Ken Berg
“A Great Big Sea,” Newfoundland folk song, arr. Lori-Anne Dolloff
Con Gioia
“Seligkeit” by Franz Schubert
“Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin, arr. Roger Emerson
“When I am Laid in Earth” from Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell
“Pokare Kare Ana” by Paraire Tomoana
“Ah, comme c’est chose belle” Anonymous, 14th century
“Hope” by Marjan Helms, poem by Emily Dickinson
Capriccio
“Non Nobis Domine,” attributed to William Byrd
“Ich Folge Dir Gleichfalls” from St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach
“Dirait-on” by Morten Lauridsen
Cantilena
“Aure Volanti” by Francesca Caccini
“Ella’s Song” by Bernice Johnson Reagon
Cantabile
“Come All You Fair and Pretty Ladies” Traditional Ozark song, adapted by Mike Ross
“Wanting Memories” by Ysaye M. Barnwell
Legacy Choir
“Music in My Mother’s House” by Stuart Stotts
For the 7:30 p.m. concert (featuring High School Ensembles)
Cantilena
“Aure Volanti” by Francesca Caccini
“Una Sañosa Porfía by Juan del Encina
“Ella’s Song” by Bernice Johnson Reagon
“O Virtus Sapientiae” by Hildegard von Bingen
Ragazzi
“Sicut Cervus” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
“Agincourt Carol,” Anonymous, ca. 15th century
“Let Your Voice Be Heard” by Abraham Adzenyah
“The President Sang Amazing Grace” by Zoe Mulford, arr. Randal Swiggum
Cantabile
“In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles” by Roger Bourland
“Sed Diabolus” by Hildegard von Bingen
“Come All You Fair and Pretty Ladies” Traditional Ozark song, adapted by Mike Ross
“Wanting Memories” by Ysaye M. Barnwell
Combined Choirs
“Let Their Celestial Concerts All Unite” by George Frideric Handel
Cantabile and Alumnae
“Sisters, Now Our Meeting is Over,” Traditional Quaker meeting song
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AmazingGrace, #AmericanGirl, #BarackObama, #BaroqueMusic, #BenjaminBritten, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BMOHarrisBank, #CapitolTheater, #CarrelPray, #ChoralMusic, #ComeYeSonsofArt, #CompactDisc, #ContemporaryComposer, #ContemporaryMusic, #ContemporaryRepertoire, #DianaPopowycz, #DidoAndAeneas, #EmilyDickinson, #EndresMfg.Company, #EvjueFoundation, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FolkMusic, #folksongs, #FrancescaCaccini, #FranzSchubert, #GeneralAdmission, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GiovannidePalestrina, #GreenBayPackers, #GustavHolst, #HarryDixon, #HenryPurcell, #HighSchool, #HildegardvonBingen, #IrvingBerlin, #JohannSebastianBach, #JudasMaccabeus, #LivingComposer, #MadisonBoychoir, #MadisonYouthChoirs, #MiddleSchool, #MortenLauridsen, #MusicEducation, #MusicEducator, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #NewMusic, #OakwoodCenterforArtsandEducation, #OvertureCenter, #PersonalResponsibility, #PeterYarrow, #PleasantT.Rowland, #PresidentObama, #RandalSwiggum, #SoundtheTrumpet, #St.JohnPassion, #StateOfWisconsin, #SuzukiMethod, #SuzukiStringsofMadison, #SweetHoneyintheRock, #TheCapitalTimes, #TheEar, #TheGoldenVanity, #ThePresidentSangAmazingGrace, #ThisLIttleLightofMine, #ThomasTalliis, #VocalMusic, #W.JeromeFrautschi, #WantingMemories, #WilliamByrd, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #YoungPeople, #ZoeMulford, Aaron Copland, ability, accessible, Agincourt, Album, alumni, Amazing Grace, Amen, American, American Girl, American Girls, announcement, anonymous, Arts, audience, Bach, ballad, Barack Obama, Baroque, beloved, Benjamin Britten, blog, BMO Harris Bank, boy, boy choir, boychoir, Canon, cantabile, cantilena, Capitol Theater, Carrel Pray, celestial, chant, charity, choice, Choir, choral music, chorus, Classical music, classicalmusic, Come Ye Sons of Art, community, Compact Disc, composer, Concert, conductor, connection, contemporary, cultivate, day, Diana Popowicz, Dido and Aeneas, discover, Early music, Earth, Education, educator, Emily Dickinson, Endres Mfg. Company, Evjue Foundation, example, Facebook, Folk music, folk song, folk songs, folksong, forward, foundation, Francesca Caccini, Franz Schubert, Friday, funds, future, general admission, generation, George Frideric Handel, German, girl, golden, grant, Green Bay Packers, Gustav Holst, Hallelujah, Handel, Harry Dixon, Henry Purcell, high school, Hildegard von Bingen, History, hope, House, impact, inquiry', Irving Berlin, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Judas Maccabeus, legacy, level, like, link, live, Madison, Madison Boychoir, Madison Youth Choirs, May, meeting, memories, memory, Middle school, modern, Morten Lauridsen, Mother, Music, Music education, music educator, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, New Music, Newfoundland, opportunities, oratorio, Overture Center, Ozark, Palestrina, People, performer, Peter Yarrow, philosophy, Piano, plainsong, Pleasant T. Rowland, poem, Poetry, powerful, President, President Obama, program, purchase, Quaker, Randel Swiggum, recording, repertoire, repertory, responsibility, Samson, Saturday, Scottish, sea, seating, self-confidence, share, singers, sister, song, Sound, spirit, St. John Passion, State of Wisconsin, strings, students, Suzuki, Suzuki Method, Suzuki Strings of Madison, Sweet Honey in the Rock, tag, teenager, The Capital Times, The Ear, The Evjue Foundation, The Golden Vanity, The President, This Little Light of Mine, Thomas Tallis, ticket, tradition, traditional, Trumpet, unite, United States, University of Wisconsin–Madison, upcoming, vanity, variety, vocal music, voice, W. Jerome Frautschi, want, weekend, William Byrd, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, word, work, young, young people, Youth, YouTube, Zimbabwe, Zoe Mulford
Classical music: UW Choral Union and soloists succeed impressively in Bach’s massive “St. Matthew Passion.” Plus, a FREE concert of Leonard Bernstein songs is at noon on Friday
17 Comments
ALERT: This Friday’s FREE Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features two husband-and-wife teams. Singers bass-baritone Paul Rowe and soprano Cheryl Bensman-Rowe and pianists Bill Lutes and Martha Fischer will perform an all-Leonard Bernstein program in honor of his centennial. The program includes selections from “Arias and Barcarolles,” “Mass,” “Peter Pan,” “On the Town,” “Wonderful Town” and “Songfest.” The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison. He also took the performance photographs.
By John W. Barker
It comes a bit late for this year’s Holy Week, but the UW Choral Union’s impressive mounting of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion last Sunday was still a major contribution to our music this spring.
Running at almost three hours, this is Bach’s longest single work, and is regarded by now as one of the musical monuments of Western Civilization. But its length and its demands make it something performed only on special occasions.
No antiquarian, conductor Beverly Taylor, who directs choral activities at the UW-Madison, tried to follow carefully Bach’s elaborate specifications, which call for both a double chorus and a double orchestra, along with soloists.
A traditionally ample agency, the Choral Union this time fielded a total of 100 singers, plus a 12-member children’s choir, as against a pair of student orchestras numbering 14 and 12 respectively, all playing modern instruments.
This was hardly a balanced combination and Bach himself could never have assembled, much less managed, so huge a chorus as this. It certainly overwhelmed the orchestras, and quite drowned out the children’s group in their appearance at the beginning and ending of Part I.
Still, there is no denying the magnificence of such a large choral force. It was just a bit challenged by the turbae or crowd passages. Nevertheless, to hear such a powerful choir sing so many of the intermittent chorales in Bach’s harmonizations is to feel the glory of the entire Lutheran legacy in religious expression.
A total of 16 soloists were employed, in functions of varying consequence.
At the head of the list stand two. Tenor Wesley Dunnagan (below left) has a voice of more Italian than German character, to my taste. But he not only carried off the heavy duties of the narrating Evangelist, he also sang the tenor arias as well, with unfailing eloquence. And faculty baritone Paul Rowe (below right) was truly authoritative as Jesus in the parts reserved for the Savior.
The arias were otherwise addressed by a double cast of singers, two each on the other voice parts. Of the two sopranos, Sara Guttenberg (if I have the identity correctly from the confusing program) was strong and splendidly artistic.
Talia Engstrom was more a mezzo-soprano than a true contralto, and not an equally powerful singer, but I did like her very engaging singing. (You can hear the lovely contralto and violin aria “Erbarme dich, mein Gott” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The sharing of the alto arias with a countertenor was, however, not a good idea. Of the two bass-baritones, Matthew Chastain (if I have his identity aright) sang with strong and rich tone. The other singers, mostly singing the character parts in the Gospel text, were generally students, ranging widely in maturity and appeal.
Taken as a whole, though, this performance was an admirable achievement for Beverly Taylor (below). Her tempos were on the moderate side, accommodating especially the large chorus. Above all, her enterprise was obvious in tackling this massive work, while the choral singers obviously found a special thrill in participating in it.
Compliments should be given the program, which contained the full German text interlarded with the English translation. With full house lighting, this wisely allowed the audience to follow along closely.
But the performance was divided into two sittings, one for Part I at 4 p.m., the second for Part II at 7:30 p.m., with a break in between of over two hours — really too long, I found.
Tags: #AaronCopland, #Americancomposers, #AmericanMusic, #AmericanRecordGuide, #AriasandBarcarolles, #BeverlyTaylor, #Children'sChoir, #ChoralUnion, #EmilyDickinson, #EnglishTranslation, #Erbarmedich, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FridayNoonMusicale, #HolyWeek, #husband-and-wife, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JesusChrist, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnW.Barker, #LeonardBernstein, #LutheranReligion, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MartinLuther, #MedievalHistory, #PaulRowe, #PianoMusic, #St.Matthew, #St.MatthewPassion, #TheEvangelist, #TheGospels, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWChoralUnion, #UWProfessor, #VocalMusic, #WesternCivilization, American Record Guide, aria, Arts, Bach, barcarolle, baritone, Baroque, bass, bass-baritone, Bernstein, Cello, Chamber music, children, China, choral music, Chorale, Christ, Classical music, composer, conductor, contralto, Copland, countertenor, crowd, Early music, Emily Dickinson, English, Erbarme dich, evangelist, First Unitarian Society of Madison, German, Germany, History, husband, instrument, Isthmus, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Jesus, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lutheranism, Madison, Madison Early Musical Festival, Medieval, Mezzo-soprano, modern, Orchestra, Pianist, Piano, professor, Season, singer, song, soprano, Spring, Sunday, symphony, tenor, text, translation, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, wife, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Madison composer Scott Gendel discusses the new piece he wrote to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It receives its world premiere this coming Sunday afternoon and Monday night in Spring Green
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
As The Ear posted yesterday, this coming Sunday afternoon and Monday night will see a special commemorative concert at the Hillside Theater of the Taliesin compound in Spring Green.
It will mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright (below).
Here is a link to an overview with more details about the concerts and program:
Certainly the standout piece will be the world premiere of a work for chorus, string quartet and piano, commissioned by Taliesin from Scott Gendel, a Madison-based composer who studied at the UW-Madison.
Gendel recently commented on his work:
“When I first heard about this opportunity to write a musical work in honor of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th birthday, I had a lot of grandiose ideas about big architectural music, music that would be huge in sound and concept.
“But when Taliesin Director of Music Effi Casey (below top) took me on a tour of the house and the grounds (below bottom), what struck me more than anything else was the beautiful intimacy of the spaces, the way in which every room was designed to draw you in closer.
“And then when I learned of the Taliesin Community Chorus and their love of singing together to create community, I knew “That Which Is Near” was going to take a different direction than I’d originally thought, and really become a piece about intimacy and connections between people.
““Some Flowers For Frank Lloyd Wright” by Hendrik Theodorus Wijdeveld (below) felt like the perfect text to use for such a piece. It’s stunning in its descriptions of Wright’s work, but also has a charming sweetness about it, the way he’s just offering “some flowers” rather than a huge extravagant gift.
“And so “That Which Is Near” is two things at once: First, it’s a celebration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s incredibly masterful work, and how wonderfully persistent and evergreen that work still is, 150 years after his birth.
“But second, it’s a celebration of the community at Taliesin, and the ways in which the place brings people together and fosters human connection.”
ABOUT SCOTT GENDEL
Here are some impressive biographical details about Gendel (bel0w):
Scott Gendel is a composer, vocal coach, theatrical music director and pianist living in Madison, Wisconsin. As a composer, his music has a wide-ranging scope, but Scott is particularly fond of all things vocal, and of the artistry of the human voice in all its forms. As a performing musician, Scott collaborates on vocal recitals around the country, and is the official pianist and vocal coach for Madison Opera.
Recently, he recorded his piece “At Last” with soprano Camille Zamora and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, as part of “An AIDS Quilt Songbook: Sing For Hope,” a recording released on Naxos Records and GPR, benefiting amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research. (You can hear “At Last” in the YouTube video at there bottom.)
Last year, his song “Advice to Those Like Me, With Hearts Like Kindling” was premiered by soprano Melody Moore in her Carnegie Hall debut recital.
This spring, Gendel’s choral-orchestral oratorio “Barbara Allen,” based on the traditional Appalachian folk song, was premiered by the Santa Clara Chorale and San Jose Chamber Orchestra.
In 2005, the same year he received his doctoral degree from UW-Madison, Gendel was awarded first prize in the ASCAP/Lotte Lehmann Foundation Song Cycle Competition, a juried national award in its inaugural year.
More recently Scott was the second prize winner of the 2016 NATS Art Song Composition Award, and winner of the 2017 Ortus International New Music Competition.
His music is published by Classical Vocal Reprints, ECS Publishing, and the Tuba/Euphonium Press. His art songs have been recorded on Albany Records, GPR Records and Naxos.
Upcoming commissions include the original opera “Super Storm!” for Opera for the Young’s 2018-2019 season, which will be performed in nearly 200 schools around the Midwest; and a song cycle for soprano, cello and piano on the poetry of Emily Dickinson, to be premiered and recorded in her hometown of Amherst, Massachusetts by UW-trained soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine (below), cellist Karl Knapp and the composer at the piano.
Gendel will also perform some of his art songs with soprano Emily Birsan (below), another UW-Madison graduate who also attended classes and sang at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, at the Friday night concert, Aug. 11, of the Madison New Music Festival.
Go to http://www.scottgendel.com for more information.
Tags: AIDS, Albany Records, American, American Foundation for AIDS Research, Amherst, anniversary, Appalachia, art song, Arts, ASCAP, Barbara Allen, Beethoven, birth, Camille Zamora, Carnegie Hall, Cello, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, choral music, chorus, Classical music, coach, commission, community, composer, conneciton, connection, debut, Effi Casey, Emily Birsan, Emily Dickinson, Euphonium, evergeen, flower, folk, Folk music, folk song, Frank Lloyd Wright, gift, Guarrine, hope, human, human rights, international, Jacob Stockinger, Jamie-Rose Guarrine, link, Lotte Lehman, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Madison New Music Festival, Madison Opera, Massachusetts, Midwest, Music, national, Naxos, Naxos Records, New Music, official, opera, Opera for the Young, Optus International New Music Competition, oratorio, Orchestra, People, Piano, poem, Poetry, prize, quilt, recital, San Jose, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Santa Clara, Scott Gendel, sesquicentennial, singer, song cycle, soprano, String quartet, Super Storm, sweet, sweetness, Taliesin, Tuba, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal, vocal music, voice, Wifdeveld, Yo-Yo Ma, YouTube
Classical music: The Token Creek Festival celebrates Wisconsin poet Lorine Niedecker this Tuesday afternoon and evening with a forum, a picnic and a recital.
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear’s friends at the Token Creek Festival write:
On this Tuesday, August 25, the Token Creek Festival shines a lens on one of Wisconsin’s most important artists: the American poet Lorine Niedecker (1903-1970), whose recognition and appreciation have been delayed until recently.
Many poets of the 20th century have worked in what is broadly known as the Imagist mode: short lines, brief phrases, elusively stated thoughts. At its most eloquent it can give us the great range and imagination of William Carlos Williams, as well as decades of other very convincingly compressed writers from Emily Dickinson through Gary Snyder.
In Lorine Niedecker we feel the pressure of what has been left out, the hard journey to final shape. We infer a “story” behind it, and we marvel at the courage and art that set it down so briefly.
We can also admire the persistence that drove her to continue to write all through her life, when she received little support or recognition. Niedecker cleaned hospital rooms, and hung barely above the poverty level throughout her life, which she led mainly in a cottage on Blackhawk Island (below) near Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. (You can hear a reading of her poem “My Life by Water” in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
According to Ann Engelman, president of the Friends of Lorine Niedecker, she “has been called the poet of place because her imagery is so grounded in the area where she lived. Basil Bunting called her “the Emily Dickinson of this century.”
As an objectivist poet, the simplicity of her images helps us sense our own experiences with the elements around us.” Niedecker (below, in a photo from her later years, courtesy of the Poetry Foundation) had a strange life that included a truncated college education and long stretches of isolation as well as an extended epistolary (and, briefly, physical) friendship with fellow poet Louis Zukofsky; her existence resonates in her verse.
Three years ago the Token Creek Festival began a concerted look at the land where the festival takes place (below, in a photo by Jess Anderson), exploring intersections between art and nature. The theme continues in the multi-part Niedecker-inspired event, “Paean to Place,” on this Tuesday.
Here is a schedule:
- 4 p.m. Forum. “Finding Lorine Niedecker” will introduce the poet through audio and video footage. A wide-ranging conversation between biographer Margot Peters and composer John Harbison will explore Niedecker’s work, and the event will conclude with performances of music inspired by, or settings of, her evocative texts.
- 6 p.m. Picnic. Festival attendees are invited to a first -ever Token Creek picnic at the farm—an elegant feast of savory summer fare.
- 7:30 p.m. Recital: “Longing for Place.” Pianist Ryan McCollough and soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon are two outstanding performers who represent their own youthful generation, searching for what is best and most characteristic in the work of their time. In 2015 our relationship to the natural world is even more fragile and elusive than it was to Lorine Niedecker. Still artists seek to frame that relationship, and render it with their new developing languages.
McCullough and Fitz Gibbon’s recital on themes of nature and place and longing includes works by Henry Purcell, Kaija Saariaho, Nicholas Vines and Robert Schumann, as well as new song cycles by John Harbison — a co-founder and co-director of the Token Creek Festival — and Niccolo Athens.
Harbison’s settings of Niedecker poems, commissioned by the Boston Symphony’s Tanglewood Music Festival and premiered there this summer, “let the words speak clearly, syllable by syllable, but he adds expressive space into the texts’ phrases and expands its melodic contours, heightening the sense of the poems being mediums of internal, very personal, monolog” (from the Tanglewood program booklet, July 2015).
“Paean to Place” is presented in collaboration with the Friends of Lorine Niedecker, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.
Tickets are $15-$30 (students $10). Packages are available.
Tickets can be purchased by using the order form at the Token Creek website www.tokencreekfestival.org, by phone at 608-241-2525, by email at info@tokencreekfestival.org, or by U.S. mail at P.O. Box 5201, Madison WI, 53705.
Performances take place at the Festival Barn, on Highway 19 near the hamlet of Token Creek (10 minutes north of Madison) with ample parking available. The concert venue (below), indoors and air-conditioned, is invitingly small—early reservations are recommended.
More information about the Token Creek Festival and all events can be found at the website, http://www.tokencreekfestival.org or by calling 608-241-2525.
Tags: Arts, barn, biography, Boston Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, Emily Dickinson, farm, Fort Atkinson, forum, Fyan McCollough, Henry Purcell, imagist, Jacob Stockinger, John Harbison, Kaija Saariaho, Lorine Niedecker, Louis Zukofsky, Lucy Fitz Gibbon, Madison, Margot Peters, Music, Niccolo Athens, Nicholas Vines, objectivist, Piano, picnic, poems, Poetry, Poetry Foundation, recital, Robert Schumann, Ryan McCollough, Tanglewood, Tanglewood Music Festival, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, Token Creek Festival, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, William Carlos Williams, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Third Coast Percussion offers a FREE concert of new music tonight and a FREE master class on Thursday at the University of Wisconsin. Also, settings by American composers of poems by American poet Emily Dickinson songs will be featured at the FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society.
Leave a Comment
ALERT: On this Friday from 12:15 to 1 p.m., the FREE Friday Noon Musicale in the Landmark Auditorium of the historic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive, soprano Julia Foster and pianist Susan Gaeddert will perform songs by Francesco Santoliquido and Francis Poulenc, plus settings of poems by the great American poet Emily Dickinson (below, in a photograph) by various American composers (Ernst Bacon, Daniel Crozier, John Duke, Henry Mollicone and Andre Previn).
By Jacob Stockinger
Tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, the acclaimed group Third Coast Percussion (below, in a photo of Saveria Truglia) will perform a program of modern and contemporary percussion music.
The program includes: “Fractalia” by Owen Clayton Condon (at bottom in a YouTube video); “Mallet Quartet” by Steve Reich; “Third Construction” by John Cage; and “Resounding Earth” (commissioned work) by Augusta Read Thomas (below), former composer-in-residence of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Then on Thursday, from 12:15 to 2:15 p.m. in Room 1321 of the George Mosse Humanities Building, the percussion ensemble will give a public master class.
Hailed by The New Yorker magazine as “vibrant” and “superb,” Third Coast Percussion explores and expands the extraordinary sonic possibilities of the percussion repertoire, delivering exciting performances for audiences of all kinds.
Since its formation in 2005, Third Coast Percussion has gained national attention with concerts and recordings that meld the energy of rock music with the precision and nuance of classical chamber works. Third Coast Percussion is the Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Notre Dame.
For more information about Third Coast Percussion, visit the group’s website:
http://www.thirdcoastpercussion.com
You can also read the preview blog post by Kathy Esposito on the UW School of Music’s terrific new blog “Fanfare:
http://uwmadisonschoolofmusic.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/third_coast/
Tags: Andre Previn, Augusta Read Thomas, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Crozier, Emily Dickinson, Ernst Bacon, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Francesco Santoliquido, Francis Poulenc, Frank Lloyd Wright, George Mosse, Henry Mollicone, Jacob Stockinger, John Cage, Mallet Quartet, New Music, New Yorker, percussion, Percussion Ensemble, Steve Reich, The New Yorker, third coast, Third Coast Percussion, Unitarianism, University of Notre Dame, University of Wisconsin–Madison, YouTube
Classical music: Why is Brahms’ “German” Requiem so great? Ask the American poet Emily Dickinson.
8 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Great musical works, like great poems, get analyzed and eventually overanalyzed. Yet they still stand and endure and continue to speak to us and to move us and make us think. That is why they are masterpieces.
So just maybe we can use one masterpiece to discuss another – counterparts in beauty, as it were, or “correspondences” to use French poet Charles Baudelaire’s term. After all, poets and musicians seem to have a lot in common.
Let me be specific. I have in mind the “German” Requiem, Op. 45, by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897, below).
I could talk about the two outstanding performances of the 75-minute “German” Requiem that I heard this past weekend. I could mention how robustly and, at the same time, subtly the University of Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra played under conductor Beverly Taylor (below left).
I could praise how the choral parts, as performed by the campus and community UW Choral Union (below top), brought so many degrees of shading and dynamics to convey the mood and meaning of the text. I could single out how the undergraduate soloists, baritone Benjamin Li (below middle) and soprano Olivia Pogodzinski (below bottom), stood out for their full, strong voices.
But something deeper and more elusive haunts one about this music. And if it didn’t, would I perceive the music as so great?
We have a long history together, the Brahms “German” Requiem and me.
I first sang it when I was 14 or 15.
Since then it has remained for is one of the greatest pieces of music. I see it as the greatest choral work ever in part because it is more a secular humanist work rather than a religious one, and because the Scriptural texts seem so universal. Plus, the work feels so perfect in how carefully it is composed and written, for both voices and instruments. It feels so spontaneous and heart-felt, yet it is also so crafted and well thought-out. It is a perfect blending of the heart-felt and the analytical, the personal and the objective.
For a long time I have played the “German” Requiem to privately mourn the deaths of family members, friends and even the sadness of world events. This year too it once again holds special meaning for me. (And for others too, since these performances were dedicated to UW Professor Emeritus David Schrieber, who sang with the UW Choral Union for more than 40 years and recently died.)
But what words could really do justice to this great work with its sweeping melodies; its alternating drama and lyricism; its mix of Classicism and Romanticism; with its using counterpoint and fugues both to offset and to enhance its soaring melodic lines and rich harmonies? (At bottom is Movement 6 with baritone soloist Dietrich Fischer Dieskau.)
I wondered.
Then I found the right words – not from me but from a great artist who lived closer in time to Brahms and who seems to share his sensibility and whose work even follows the same as the “German” Requiem.
The words come from one of those short and sometimes cryptic, but deeply moving poems by the 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886, below, in a daguerreotype photograph from 1846) –- and it is absolutely worthy of Johannes Brahms and his “German” Requiem:
AFTER GREAT PAIN, A FORMAL FEELING COMES
After great pain, a formal feeling comes –
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –
The stiff Heart questions ‘was it He, that bore,’
And ‘Yesterday, or Centuries before’?
The Feet, mechanical, go round –
A Wooden way
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought –
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone –
This is the Hour of Lead –
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons recollect the Snow –
First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –
As Brahms’ text , drawn from “Revelations,” says in the last movement: “Their works live on after them.”
Do you also think the poem captures some or even much of the Brahms?
Do other poems or passages of literature come to mind when you think of the Brahms?
And what did you think of the performances this past weekend?
The Ear wants to hear.
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 