The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra expands its Masterworks series this Friday night in Madison and Saturday night in Brookfield with piano soloist Orion Weiss and music by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Donald Fraser
3 Comments
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.
CORRECTION: The Ear received the following correction to the story about the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and apologizes for the error:
“There was a change to our rollout in Brookfield. We are only repeating the fifth Masterworks concert on Saturday, May 9. at 7:30 p.m. at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts. We are NOT repeating this Friday’s concert in Brookfield.
“We will perform a Family Series concert of “Beethoven Lives Next Door” on Sunday, March 29, at 3 p.m. at the same Brookfield venue.”
By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below, in a photo by Mike Gorski) is about to take a Great Leap Forward.
This weekend will see the WCO — now in its 60th year of existence and its 20th season under music director Andrew Sewell (below bottom, in a photo by Alex Cruz) – take a major step in its evolution as a statewide music ensemble. It is a development comparable to when John DeMain took the Madison Symphony Orchestra from single performances to “triples.”
That is because, for the first time ever, the WCO is going to “doubles.” It will perform Masterworks concerts in Madison on Friday nights at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center. Then the WCO will repeat the same concert on the following Saturday night in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts.
For a full story with lots of background and quotes about future plans for the WCO, you can’t do better than read the story by Michael Muckian that appeared last week in Isthmus:
Here is a link: https://isthmus.com/music/wisconsin-chamber-orchestra-turns-60/
The opening program has a couple of points of special interest.
First, this concert will mark the Madison debut of pianist Orion Weiss, a former student of Emanuel Ax who is increasingly booked for concerts and recordings.
Weiss (below in a photo by Jacob Blickenstaff) will solo in perhaps the most popular and famous of Mozart’s 27 piano concertos: No. 21 in C Major, K. 467. It is also known as the “Elvira Madigan” concerto because the beautiful slow movement was used as the soundtrack to the movie of that same name. (You can hear the slow movement at the bottom in a YouTube video that has more than 59 million views.)
You can learn more about Weiss at his website: https://www.orionweiss.com
Another unique facet of the WCO concert is the U.S. premiere of “Sinfonietta for Strings” (2018) by the award-winning British composer Donald Fraser, now an American resident who lives in Illinois and is married to Bridget Fraser, the executive director of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO).
Fraser (below) – whose music is tonal and accessible — is especially well known, not only for his original compositions but also for his orchestral arrangements of chamber music by Brahms, Elgar, Marin Marais and others. His 2018 recording of “Songs for Strings” features many of those transcriptions.
For more about Fraser, go to his website: https://donaldfraser.com/index.html
The concert will conclude with the Symphony No. 4 – the “Italian” Symphony – by Felix Mendelssohn. It is a sunny, tuneful and energetic work that is the most popular and best-known symphony by Mendelssohn. It was also used in a movie as the soundtrack to the Italian bicycle race in the coming-of-age film “Breaking Away.”
Tickets are $10-$77. For more information about the program and the soloist, as well as about pre-concert dinners and how to buy single and season subscription tickets, go to: https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-i-5/
Tags: #AmericanPremiere, #AndrewSewell, #Beautifulmusic, #BicycleRace, #BicycleRiding, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BreakingAway, #BridgetFraser, #BritishComposer, #BrookfieldWisconsin, #CapitolTheater, #ChamberOrchestra, #Classicalera, #ClassicalRecording, #Coming-of-Age, #ConcertSeason, #ContemporaryMusic, #DonaldFraser, #EdwardElgar, #EmanuelAx, #EnglishComposer, #ExecutiveDirector, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #FilmMusic, #Fridaynight, #GreatLeapForward, #GuestSoloist, #IsthmusMagazine, #IsthmusNewspaper, #ItalianSymphony, #JacobStockinger, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnDeMain, #LivingComposer, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MarinMarais, #MichaelMuckian, #MovieSoundtrack, #NewMusic, #OrionWeiss, #OvertureCenter, #PianoConcerto, #SaturdayNight, #SharonLynneWilsonCenterfortheArts, #SingleTickets, #SlowMovement, #StringMusic, #SubscriptionTicket, #TheEar, #UnitedStates, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, accessible, Andrew Sewell, arrangement, Arts, background, Baroque, beautiful, bicycle, bicycle race, blog, Brahms, Breaking Away, Bridget Fraser, British, Brookfield, Capitol Theater, chamber orchestra, Classical era, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, contemporary music, debut, development, dinner, Donald Fraser, double, Early music, Edward Elgar, Elgar, Emanuel Ax, energetic, English, ensemble, evolution, Executive director, existence, Facebook, facet, famous, Felix Mendelssohn, film, forward, Friday night, future, Great Leap Forward, ILLINOIS, individual, interest, Isthmus, Italian, Italian Symphony, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John DeMain, Kochel, KV, like, link, Living composer, lovely, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marin Marais, Marriage, marry, Mendelssohn, Michael Muckian, Milwaukee, movement, movie, Mozart, Music, New Music, Newspaper, online, Orchestra, Orion Weiss, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, perform, performance, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, plans, popular, post, posting, premiere, program, quote, recording, repeat, resident, Saturday night, Season, share, Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, Sinfonietta, single, Slow movement, solo, statewide, story, string music, strings, suburb, sun, sunny, symphony, tag, The Ear, ticket, tonal, transcription, triple, tuneful, U.S., unique, United States, view, WCO, Website, week, weekend, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WYSO, YouTube
Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Choir sings a holiday program of Bach, Vivaldi and other composers this coming Saturday night
1 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 Wisconsin Chamber Choir (below top) will perform a holiday program this coming Saturday night, Dec. 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Madison’s Atrium Auditorium (below bottom, in a photo by Zane Williams), 900 University Bay Drive.
The program features Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria” paired with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Advent cantata, Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (Now Come, Savior of the Nations, BWV 61), performed with the professional orchestra Sinfonia Sacra.
(You can hear the familiar and energetic opening of Vivaldi’s “Gloria” — performed by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists — in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Complementing the Vivaldi and Bach works are additional selections, including a unique collection of O Antiphons — Latin prayers for the season of Advent.
For more information about the musical form, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Antiphons
Strikingly modern compositions by John Tavener (below top, in a photo by Steve Forrest), Vytautas Miskinis and Pavel Lukaszewski alternate with French Baroque settings by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (below bottom).
Seasonal carols round out the program in arrangements by three of the WCC’s favorite composers: Peter Blotch; the late American composer from Minneapolis Stephen Paulus (below); and Giles Swayne.
Advance tickets are available for online for $20 ($10 for students) from http://www.wisconsinchamberchoir.org/tickets or Brown Paper Tickets; or in person at Orange Tree Imports and Willy Street Coop, or from a member of the choir.
The ticket price at the door is $25.
Founded in 1998, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir has established a reputation for excellence in the performance of oratorios by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Brahms as well as a cappella works from various centuries and world premieres.
WCC artistic director Robert Gehrenbeck (below), who heads the choral program at the UW-Whitewater, has been hailed by critics for his vibrant and emotionally compelling interpretations of a wide variety of choral masterworks.
Since 2002, the WCC has presented cantatas and oratorios with full orchestra, annually or biennially, including last season’s Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach.
The players assembled for these performances, known collectively as Sinfonia Sacra, are members of the best regional orchestras, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Madison Bach Musicians, the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble and Sonata à Quattro.
For more information about the Wisconsin Chamber Choir, including how to join it as well as its future concerts, reviews, biographies, history and recordings, go to: https://www.wisconsinchamberchoir.org
Tags: #ACappella, #ACappellaMusic, #AmericanComposer, #AntonioVivaldi, #ArtisticDirector, #AtriumAuditorium, #BachCantata, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrownPaperTickets, #ChoralMusic, #ChristmasCarol, #ChristmasHoliday, #ChristmasOratorio, #ClaudioMonteverdi, #CriticalAcclaim, #EnglishBaroqueSoloists, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FavoriteComposers, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GilesSwayne, #HolidayCarols, #HolidayMusic, #HomeWebsite, #JesusChrist, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnEliotGardiner, #JohnTavener, #MadisonBachMusicians, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #Marc-AntoineCharpentier, #ModernMusic, #MonteverdiChoir, #MusicalInterpretation, #MusicCritic, #NewMusic, #OAntiphons, #OrangeTreeImports, #OrchestralAccompaniment, #PavelLukaszewski, #PeterBloesch, #RobertGehrenbeck, #SaturdayNight, #SeasonalMusic, #SinfoniaSacra, #SonataaQuattro, #StephenPaulus, #TheEar, #UnitarianSociety, #UniversityofWisconsin-Whitewater, #VytautasMiskinis, #WillyStreetCoop, #WisconsinBaroqueEnsemble, #WisconsinChamberChoir, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WorldPremiere, #YouTubevideo, a cappella, Advent, alternate, American, annual, Antonio Vivaldi, arrangement, Artistic director, Arts, Atrium Auditorium, audience, Bach, Bach cantata, Baroque, Baroque music, biennial, biography, Bloesch, blog, Brahms, Brown Paper Tickets, Cantata, Carols, centuries, Choir, choral, choral music, choral singing, chorus, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas Oratorio, Classical music, Claudio Monteverdi, collection, compelling, composer, Concert, conductor, critic, department, door, Early music, emotional, energetic, English, English Baroque Soloists, excellence, Facebook, familiar, favorite, First Unitarian Society of Madison, France, French, future, George Frideric Handel, giles swayne, Gloria, Handel, Holiday, interpretation, Jacob Stockinger, Jesus, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Eliot Gardiner, John Tavener, Latin, like, link, Lukaszewski, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, masterwork, member, Miskinis, modern music, Monteverdi, Monteverdi Choir, Mozart, Music, musical, nations, New Music, night, O Antiphons, online, Orange Tree Imports, oratorio, Orchestra, orchestral accompaniment, Paulus, Pavel Lukaszewski, performer, person, Peter Bloesch, players, post, posting, pray, prayer, premiere, professional, program, recording, reputation, review, Robert Gehrenbeck, Saturday, savior, Season, seasonal, seasonal music, selection, setting, share, Sinfonia Sacra, sing, Singing, Sonata, Sonata à Quattro, song, Stephen Paulus, Swayne, symphony, tag, Tavener, The Ear, ticket, unique, Unitarian, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Whitewater, various, Vivaldi, vocal music, Vytautas Miskinis, WCC, Website, Willy Street Coop, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, Wisconsin Chamber Choir, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, world, world premiere, YouTube
Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra and UW duo-pianists showcase the remarkable music of Camille Saint-Saens and Mozart in the popular concert that closes its season
10 Comments
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
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. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
The mostly amateur Middleton Community Orchestra (below, in a photo by Margaret Barker) closed its season Thursday night at the Middleton Performing Arts Center with a promising and well-received program.
The centerpiece featured two graduate student soloists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, pianists Thomas Kasdorf (below right) and Satoko Hayami (below left), who joined in Mozart’s Concerto in E-flat Major, K. 365, for two pianos and orchestra. The two soloists were alert and polished collaborators. (You can hear the energetic and catchy final movement, used in the Academy Award-winning film “Amadeus,” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Conductor Steve Kurr (below) set a bouncy pace but a rather fast and overpowering one, and with an orchestra — especially strings — quite overblown by the standards of Mozart’s day.
The MCO was blessed by the loan of a very special model of a Model B Steinway instrument, now owned and lovingly restored by Farley’s House of Pianos. This was paired against a Steinway of much later vintage, owned by the hall. But nowhere was there identification about which piano was which as they sat onstage, much less which pianist was playing which piano (and they switched between the two works utilizing them.) This was disappointing for it prevented making an informed comparison of the two instruments.
Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921, below) is backhandedly treated as being on the margins of composer greatness. But his scope was remarkable, as witnessed by the two works that were the program’s bookends.
The opener was his humorous Suite, “Carnival of the Animals.” This set of 14 short pieces was written for one private performance, in chamber terms, one player per part. So the orchestra that was used — of 87 listed musicians, 60 of them were string players — became a crushing distortion. The two pianists were a bit formal, but ideally facile.
Saint-Saens made no provision for any kind of spoken text, certainly not in French. In the middle of the last century, the American poet of high-spirited doggerel, Ogden Nash, wrote wickedly funny verses with offbeat rhymes and puns to go with each movement.
It was these Nash verses that Wisconsin Public Radio host Norman Gilliland (below), who was only identified as the “narrator,” read with a good bit of tongue-in-cheek. Nowhere are these at all identified or credited in the bumbling program booklet. (Many in the audience might have just thought that they were written by Gilliland himself.)
In many of the suite’s movements, Saint-Saens quoted or alluded to hit tunes by earlier composers, for parodistic purposes. Unfortunately, there are no program notes in the booklet, so these tidbits would easily go unnoticed by many listeners.
Saint-Saens composed, among his numerous orchestral works, a total of five symphonies, only three of which are numbered. I had originally been given to expect No. 2, a charming work I love, as the program closer. All but the last of them are early works in a graceful post-Classical style.
But No. 3 was composed much later in his life, and in a more expansive style. This is a frequently performed spectacle, unconventional in plan and in scoring. It adds the two pianists and an organ — hence the nickname the “Organ Symphony.”
Unfortunately, the hall has no organ of its own, so the substitute was a rig of electronic organ with its own booming speakers and exaggerated pedal notes. Again totally unmentioned is that this contraption was played by MCO sound technician Alex Ford (below, with the portable electronic organ keyboard from Austria with its computer-screen stops).
This kind of organ could never be integrated into the full orchestral texture and served only to allow the orchestra to play this grandiose score. Such ambition was backed by really splendid and well-balanced orchestral playing.
As intended, the large local audience, with many children and families, was wildly enthusiastic.
Tags: "Amadeus", #AcademyAward, #AlexFord, #AmadeusFilm, #AmateurMusicians, #AmericanPoet, #AmericanRecordGuide, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BlogReview, #CamilleSaint-Saens, #CarnivaloftheAnimals, #ChamberMusic, #ClassicalStyle, #ComputerScreen, #DuoPianists, #ElectricOrgan, #EmeritusProfessor, #EnsemblePlaying, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FilmSoundtrack, #GraduateStudent, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JohnW.Barker, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedievalHistory, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MiddletonPerformingArtsCenter, #MusicCritic, #MusicReview, #NormanGilliland, #OgdenNash, #OrganSymphony, #OscarAward, #PianoConcerto, #ProgramNotes, #RadioHost, #SatokoHayami, #SteinwayPiano, #SteveKurr, #StringSection, #ThomasKasdorf, #Thursdaynight, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, Academy Award, advisor, alert, Alex Ford, amateur, ambition, American, American Record Guide, Arts, audience, Austria, balance, balanced, blessed, blog, bookend, booklet, boom, booming, bumbling, Camille Saint-Saëns, Carnival of the Animals, catchy, Cello, centerpiece, Chamber music, charm, charming, children, Classical, Classical music, Classical style, classicalmusic, collaborator, comparison, composer, computer screen, Concert, concerto, conductor, credit, critic, day, disappoint, disappointing, distortion, doggerel, Early music, emeritus professor, energetic, engineer, enthusiastic, exaggerate, facile, families, Family, Farley's House of Pianos, fast, festival, film, final movement, finale, forma;, formal, forward, funny, grace, graceful, grandiose, great, greatness, guide, hall, History, hit, host, humorous, idea, idenitfied, identification, inform, instrument, integrate, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, lecture, like, link, loan, local, loving, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, margin, Mead Witter School of Music, medieva;, Middleton Community Orchestra, Middleton Performing Arts Center, model, month, movement, movie, Mozart, Music, music review, Musician, narrate, narrator, nickname, night, Norman Gilliland, note, offbeat, Ogden Nash, onstage, Orchestra, organ, organ symphony, Oscar, overblown, overpowering, own, pace, pair, parody, pedal, performer, Pianist, Piano, pieces, plan, player, playing, poet, popular, portable, prevent, private, program, program notes, promising, pun, purpose, radio host, read, record, remarkable, rhyme, Satoko Hayami, scope, score, Season, share, short, show, showcase, soloist, Sound, soundtrack, speakers, special, spectacle, splendid, spoken, standards, Steinway, Steve Jobs, stop, strings, Student, style, Suite, symphonies, symphony, tag, technician, text, texture, Thomas Kasdorf, Thursday, tongue-in-cheek, tune, two-piano, unconventional, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, verse, verses, vintage, Viola, Violin, Wicked, wild, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Choir performs Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” this Friday night in Madison and Sunday afternoon in Whitewater
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 about performances this coming weekend by the Wisconsin Chamber Choir (below) and the professional orchestra Sinfonia Sacra of what is, unfortunately and undeservedly, often considered, when compared to Handel’s “Messiah,” “The Other Oratorio” for the holiday season:
There will be two performances of four parts of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” (1734). On Friday night, Dec. 14, 7:30 p.m. at the Luther Memorial Church (below), 1021 University Ave., in Madison; and on Sunday, Dec. 16, at 2 p.m. in the Young Auditorium at the UW-Whitewater, 930 Main Street, in Whitewater.
Advance tickets for the Friday night performance at Luther Memorial Church in Madison are available for $20 ($10 for students) from www.wisconsinchamberchoir.org, via Brown Paper Tickets, or at Orange Tree Imports (Madison) and Willy Street Coop (all three locations in Madison and Middleton).
Advance tickets for the Sunday afternoon performance at Young Auditorium in Whitewater are available from www.uww.edu/youngauditorium/tickets
Of the six cantatas that make up the “Christmas Oratorio,” Part, 1, 2, 3 and 5 will be performed. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear the brisk and energetic opening, performed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Concentus Musicus of Vienna with the Arnold Schoenberg Choir.)
Parts 1 to 3 tell the Christmas story: Mary and Joseph, the birth of Jesus, the shepherds and the angels. Part 5 introduces the magi from the East, traditionally known as the Three Kings.
The music offers a sampling of every style of music in the repertoire of Johann Sebastian Bach (below) as a composer.
Massive, concerto-like movements crowned by brilliant trumpet fanfares, booming timpani and virtuosic fugues highlight the full chorus.
Solo arias, duets and trios and even one instrumental movement provide a contemplative contrast with constantly changing instrumental colors—from lush strings to playful flutes and the pastoral sounds of oboes and bassoons.
Featured vocal soloists include mezzo-soprano Rachel Wood (below top) and tenor J. Adam Shelton (below middle), both on the faculty of UW-Whitewater. Highly accomplished members of the choir, including baritone Bill Rosholt (below bottom, and a Madison Savoyards regular), will share the solo parts with these professionals.
The members of Sinfonia Sacra, under concertmaster Leanne League (below), are drawn from the rosters of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble and the music faculties of UW-Madison, UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh.
Trumpet virtuoso John Aley (below top) and oboist Marc Fink (below bottom) will also perform.
Founded in 1998, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir has established a reputation for excellence in the performance of oratorios, a cappella choral works from various centuries, and world premieres.
Bach’s music has always occupied a special place in the choir’s repertory, with performances of the Christmas Oratorio (2002 and 2003), the Mass in B minor (2005), the St. John Passion (2010) and the Magnificat (2017).
Artistic Director Robert Gehrenbeck (below) has been hailed by critics for his vibrant and emotionally compelling interpretations of a wide variety of choral masterworks.
Tags: #AmateurMusician, #ArnoldSchoenberg, #ArnoldSchoenbergChoir, #ArtisticDirector, #BaritoneSinger, #BaroqueMusic, #BassoonMusic, #BillRosholt, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ChristmasOratorio, #ChristmasStory, #ConcentusMusicus, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FluteMusic, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #Handel'sMessiah, #HolidaySeason, #InstrumentalMusic, #InstrumentalPlayer, #J.AdamShelton, #JesusChrist, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnAley, #LeanneLeague, #LutheranChurch, #LutherMemorialChurch, #MadisonSavoyards, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MarcFink, #MaryandJoseph, #MassinBMinor, #Mezzo-sopranoSinger, #MiddletonWisconsin, #MusicalInterpretation, #MusicalStyle, #MusicCritic, #NikolausHarnoncourt, #OrangeTreeImports, #RachelWood, #RobertGehrenbeck, #SinfoniaSacra, #St.JohnPassion, #StringMusic, #TenorSinger, #TheThreeKings, #TrumpetMusic, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityofWisconsin-Oshkosh, #UniversityofWisconsin-Whitewater, #ViennaAustria, #VocalMusic, #Whitewater, #WhitewaterWisconsin, #WillyStreetCoop, #WisconsinBaroqueEnsemble, #WisconsinChamberChoir, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WorldPremiere, #YouTubevideo, a cappella, afternoon, amateur, angel, announcement, aria, Arnold Schoenberg, Artistic director, Arts, auditorium, Austria, Bach, baritone, Baroque, Bassoon, Bill Rosholt, birth, blog, boom, brilliant, Cantata, Cello, centuries, century, choral music, Christ, Christian, Christmas, Christmas Oratorio, church, Classical music, color, compare, compelling, composer, Concentus Musicus, concertmaster, concerto, conductor, contemplative, critic, crown, duet, Early music, emotion, energetic, energy, Facebook, faculty, Fanfare, flute, fugue, George Frideric Handel, Holidays, interpretation, J. Adam Shelton, Jacob Stockinger, Jesus, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Aley, Joseph, Leanne League, like, link, lush, Luther Memorial Church, Madison, Madison Savoyards, Madison Symphony Orchestra, magi, Magnificat, Marc Fink, Mary, Mass in B Minor, massive, masterwork, Messiah, Mezzo-soprano, Middleton, movement, Music, night, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Oboe, opening, Orange Tree Imports, oratorio, Orchestra, other, part, pastoral, performance, playful, professional, Rachel Wood, repertoire, Robert Gehrenbeck, sampling, Schoenberg, share, shepherd, sinfonia, Sinfonia Sacra, sing, singer, Singing, solo, Sound, St. John Passion, strings, Student, symphony, tag, tenor, three kings, ticket, timpani, timpany, tradition, trio, Trumpet, tympani, underserved, unfortunate, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, UW-Madison, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Whitewater, variety, Vienna, Viola, Violin, virtuosic, vocal music, weekend, Willy Street Coop, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, Wisconsin Chamber Choir, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, world premiere, YouTube, YouTube video
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Which classical composer has helped you the most during the Covid-19 pandemic?
6 Comments
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 holidays are over and as we close in on marking a year of the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic, The Ear has a question:
Which composer has helped you the most to weather the pandemic so far?
The Ear wishes he could say Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin or Brahms. And the truth is that they all played a role, some more than others.
But The Ear was surprised by the composer whose works he most listened to and liked — Antonio Vivaldi (below), the Red Priest of Venice who lived from 1678 to 1714 and taught at a Roman Catholic girls school.
Here is more about his biography, which points out that his work was neglected for two centuries and began being rediscovered only in the early 20th-century and still continues being rediscovered to the present day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Vivaldi
The Ear isn’t talking about popular The Four Seasons although that set of 12 solo violin concertos has its charms and originalities.
The Ear especially appreciated the lesser-known concertos for two violins and the cello concertos, although the concertos for bassoon, flute, recorder, oboe, lute, trumpet and mandolin also proved engaging, as did the concerto grosso.
It was the 20th-century composer Igor Stravinsky (below) – the modern pioneer of neo-Classicism — who complained that Vivaldi rewrote the same concerto 500 times. “Vivaldi,” Stravinsky once said, “is greatly overrated – a dull fellow who could compose the same form many times over.”
But then did anyone turn to Stravinsky – who, The Ear suspects, was secretly envious — when they needed music as medicine or therapy during the pandemic?
Vivaldi was, in fact, a master. See and hear for yourself. In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear a performance of Vivaldi’s Concerto Grosso in G minor, RV 535, performed by the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.
Why Vivaldi? You might ask.
Well, it’s nothing highbrow.
The best explanation is that Vivaldi’s music simply seems like caffeine for the ears and sunshine for the eyes. His music isn’t overly introspective or glum, and it isn’t too long or melodramatic.
The melodies and harmonies are always pleasing and energizing, and the tempi are just right, although bets are that the music is much harder to play than it sounds.
In short, Vivaldi’s extroverted music is infectious and appealing because it just keeps humming along — exactly as those of us in lockdown and isolation at home have had to do.
Happily, there are a lot of fine recordings of Vivaldi by period instrument groups from England, Italy and Germany and elsewhere that use historically informed performance practices. But some the most outstanding recordings are by modern instrument groups, which should not be overlooked.
With a few exceptions – notably Wisconsin Public Radio – you don’t get to hear much Vivaldi around here, especially in live performances, even from early music and Baroque ensembles. If you hear Vivaldi here, chances are it is The Four Seasons or the Gloria. Should there be more Vivaldi? Will we hear more Vivaldi when live concerts resume? That is a topic for another time.
In the meantime, The Ear wants to know:
Which composer did you most listen to or find most helpful throughout the pandemic?
Leave your choice in the comment section with, if possible, a YouTube link to a favorite work and an explanation about why you liked that composer and work.
The Ear wants to hear.
Thank you and Happy New Year!
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: #AntonioVivaldi, #BaroqueBassoon, #BaroqueEnsemble, #BaroqueFlute, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueRecorder, #BassoonConcerto, #BerlinGermany, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CelloConcerto, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ChristmasHoliday, #CircleofSound, #ConcertoGrosso, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FavoriteComposers, #FluteConcerto, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FranzSchubert, #FredericChopin, #GreatBritain, #HappyNewYear, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #IgorStravinsky, #InstrumentalOrchestra, #ItalianBaroque, #JacobStockinger, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #LiveMusic, #LivePerformances, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #LuteConcerto, #MandolinConcerto, #ModernInstrument, #MusicTherapy, #NeglectedMusic, #NewYear's, #OboeConcerto, #OnlineConcert, #PeriodInstruments, #PresentDay, #RecordedMusic, #RecorderConcerto, #RedPriest, #RomanCatholic, #RomanCatholicism, #Self-Isolation, #Self-Quarantine, #StringMusic, #ThankYou, #TheEar, #TheFourSeasons, #TheU.K., #TrumpetConcerto, #Two-PartInvention, #UnitedKingdom, #VeniceItaly, #ViolinConcerto, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #Wikipediabiography, #Wikipediaentry, #WindMusic, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin, all, Antonio Vivaldi, appealing, Arts, audience, Bach, Baroque, Baroque music, Bassoon, bassoon concerto, Beethoven, Berlin, best, biography, blog, Brahms, caffeine, carhm, cellist, Cello, Cello Concerto, century, Chopin, choral music, Christian church, Christianity, Christmas, church, Classical music, comment, complain, composer, Concert, concerto, Concerto Grosso, conductor, coronavirus, dull, Early music, ears, energetic, energizing, energy, England, ensemble, envious, exception, explanation, extrovert, eyes, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, favorite, Fellow, flute, flute concerto, form, forward, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, girl, girls, Gloria, glum, Great Britain, group, Happy New Year, harder, harmony, Haydn, hear, help, highbrow, historically informed performance practices, Holiday, Home, hum, humming, Igor Stravinsky, infectious, instrumental music, introspective, isolation, Italian, Italian Baroque, Italy, Jacob Stockiner, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, like, listen, live, live music, live performances, lockdown, long, lonk, Ludwig van Beethoven, lute, lute concerto, Madison, mandolin, mandolin concerto, medicine, melodramatic, melody, modern, modern instrument, Mozart, Music, music therapy, neglected, neglected music, neo-Classicism, New Year, New Year's, Oboe, oboe concerto, oboist, online, opera, Orchestra, originality, overlook, overrated, pandemic, period instruments, pioneer, play, please, pleasing, popular, post, posting, present, present day, priest, quarantine, question, recorded music, recorder, recorder concerto, recording, Red Priest, rediscover, resume, rewite, rewrote, role, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholicism, RV, same, school, Schubert, secretly, see, share, simple, solo violin, Sonata, Sound, Stravinsky, string music, Student, sunshine, symphony, tag, teach, Teacher, tempi, thank you, The Four Seasons, therapy, times, topic, Trumpet, trumpet concerto, truth, Two-Violin Concerto, Tye Ear, U.K., United Kingdom, United States, Venice, video, Viola, Violin, Violin concerto, violinist, virtual, Vivaldi, vocal music, weather, Wikipedia, wind music, wisconsin public radio, wish, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, works, year, yourself, YouTube