The Well-Tempered Ear
Public ‘autopsy’ of UW Choral Union is Monday, Oct. 23
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By Jacob Stockinger
What was the cause of death?
Ever since last June — when the University of Wisconsin Mead Witter School of Music announced it was killing off the UW Choral Union after 130 years — the school has not issued any kind of public statement, specific explanation or response to the overwhelming negative reactions from the community.
That is finally about to change.
On Monday, Oct. 23, 2023 from 7:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall of the Hamel Music Center, the School of Music’s new director Dan Cavanagh will meet with former Choral Union singers and others members of the public to discuss the decision to cancel and to explore the future off campus-community choral activities.
Here is the email invitation that Cavanagh (below) sent out this week:
October 10, 2023
Dear Choral Union Singers,
I have been fortunate to meet several of you in my first few months in Madison as the new Director of the Mead Witter School of Music (MWSoM). I have felt welcomed and excited to make Madison my home, both personally and professionally.
As you know well, I started my position during a time of change here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I have learned much over the past few months about the long history, impact, and value that the Choral Union has had here in Madison and beyond.
I understand that many have felt disappointed by the decision to discontinue the Choral Union (shown below under longtime but now retired choral director Beverly Taylor) as it has been a longstanding and stalwart example of the Wisconsin Idea in action. I have begun having discussions with the local choral community writ large to explore ways to serve the Madison area in a way that honors that tradition while ensuring that we are able to serve our students in the most pedagogically and fiscally responsible way.
With the above in mind, I am writing to invite you and those interested to a conversation on Monday, October 23, from 7:00 p.m.-8:15 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the Hamel Music Center.
Janet Murphy has, in parallel, reached out to me about the new “Friends of the Choral Union” group, and I plan to meet with her and a few others prior to this larger meeting so that I can come prepared to be responsive and engaged in the discussion.
I hope to come away from our conversation having had a chance to explain in more detail why the original decision was made last spring before I arrived, as well as having had a chance to hear your concerns and hopes for how we can partner together in the future to serve the choral community around us.
When I interviewed for this position back in early March, I talked a lot about how Music is one of the “front doors” to the University, and how our public charge includes engaging outside the walls of the “ivory tower.”
This philosophy is uniquely enacted through the Wisconsin Idea, and I do not use that phrase lightly. While our focus needs to remain first and foremost on our students and our ability (and resources) to adapt our pedagogical practices to a rapidly changing arts and cultural environment in this country, I am excited to work together with you and others to find ways to connect that pedagogical work with the wider community in our state and nationally.
Please consider joining me for this important conversation on October 23. No RSVP is needed. I look forward to meeting each of you in person and to hearing your passion, ideas, and concerns.
With deep respect,
Dan Cavanagh
Pamela O. Hamel/Board of Advisors Director; Mead Witter School of Music Professor of Jazz Studies and Composition
University of Wisconsin-Madison: music.wisc.edu
NOTE: If you want more to see more background and reader public reactions to it, here are links to three previous blog posts:
The Ear wonders how well attended the meeting will be?
Will you attend or not? Why or why not?
Will anything change about the future of the Choral Union?
Will Mariana Farah (below top) — the highly acclaimed new Director of Choral Activities — be on hand to answer questions and offer her perspective?
Will former music school director Susan C. Cook (below bottom), who made the decision, also be there?
How convincing will the explanations for the past decision and for possible future activities be?
Did it change your mind or thinking? How?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Why do we like sad music?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Why does sad music — or sad art — appeal to so many of us?
One psychologist and brain researcher — Matthew Sachs of Columbia University (below) — says it serves an evolutionary and social purpose by eliciting empathy for other humans and purging us of negative emotions, according to a story and interview on NPR (National Public Radio).
To The Ear, the explanation sounds a lot like the ancient Greek philosophy of catharsis that was the cornerstone justification for the public staging of great ancient tragedies by writers such as Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and of course the famous tragedies of Shakespeare such as “Romeo and Juliet,” Hamlet” and “King Lear” that were famously popular dramas as well as great masterpieces of Western literature.
Consider the case of Samuel Barber’s often-played “Adagio for Strings,” analyzed at length in a book called “The Saddest Music in the World.” Or perhaps the “Pathétique” piano sonata by Beethoven and the “Funeral March” piano sonata by Chopin. Or the requiems by Mozart and Brahms.
Or consider the music “Beautiful Sadness” by the contemporary composer Cliff Masterson (below). You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Here is a link to the NPR story that discusses “the rules of musical melancholy.”
You can read it, or take four minutes to listen to it:
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/06/1173993223/understanding-the-joy-that-many-find-in-sadness
Do you find solace in sad music?
Does sad music make you feel better?
Do you have a favorite piece of sad music?
Or maybe a favorite tragic play, opera or work of art?
The Ear wants to hear.
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NEWS ALERT: Opera in the Park 2023 has been CANCELED — not postponed until today
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By Jacob Stockinger
Madison Opera’s popular and free annual “Opera in the Park” concert with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Madison Opera Chorus plus soloists under the baton of maestro John DeMain was rained out Saturday night due to unexpectedly severe weather and will NOT take place tonight.
Usually the concert — which draws tens of thousands of people — would be postponed to the next day, a Sunday — namely today.
But not this year.
It has been CANCELED until 2024.
Wondering why?
Here is the explanation from the Madison Opera:
“Due to an unexpected thunderstorm, we postponed Opera in the Park shortly before the program began. At that time, we thought we would be able to resume the program.
For the safety of everyone evolved, we then decided to cancel Opera in the Park altogether.
Unfortunately, we cannot perform today (Sunday) as we has passed the deadline to reschedule the concert.
It was amazing to see so many of you gathered in the park Saturday evening. We wish we could have shared this wonderful music and all of the artists’ hard work.
We look forward to seeing you in the Overture Center this fall and again in the park next year.
Thank you for your support and understanding.”
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Should the 1812 Overture be played this Fourth of July?
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear recently noticed that the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra has once again scheduled the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky (below) as part of the finale of its Fourth of July concert on the evening of July 6, 2022.
The performance is part of this summer’s FREE Concerts on the Square (COS) by the WCO that run on six consecutive Wednesday nights from June 29 through Aug. 3. Concerts start at 7 p.m. on the King Street corner of the Capitol Square in downtown Madison, and will be conducted by Andrew Sewell.
For more information about the series and individual performers and programs, go to: https://wcoconcerts.org/concerts-tickets/concerts-on-the-square
An asterisk says programs are subject to change.
Which got The Ear to thinking: Should Tchaikovsky’s perennial favorite, the flashy and loud 1812 Overture, be played again this year?
It is a tradition that was started on Independence Day in 1974 by Arthur Fielder and the Boston Pops, according to reputable sources.
But this year might be a very different case because of a quandary that might cause organizers, including PBS’ “A Capitol Fourth,” to rethink the program.
It is a choice that will confront many musical groups across the U.S., given the current unprovoked brutality and and war crimes being committed by Russia against Ukraine.
After all, many music groups, including the Metropolitan Opera, have already banned Russian performers who support Russian President Vladimir Putin and his unjustified war in Ukraine (below).
So here’s the question: Is it appropriate to play a favorite work celebrating a Russian military victory while Ukraine, the United States and Western allies, including NATO, are desperately trying to defeat Russian forces?
As you may recall, the overture was inspired by Russia’s victory over the invading forces of Napoleon who was attempting go conquer Russia. Like Hitler and the Nazis, Napoleon failed and the Russians prevailed. That is why, in the work, you hear the French national anthem “La Marseillaise” overcome by the chimes and cannons of the Russian victory hymn. (There was no Russian national anthem until 1815.)
Here is a link to more background in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture
Will the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra or other orchestras as well as radio and TV stations around the U.S. find a substitute piece? Perhaps it could be the Ukrainian national anthem that is performed (as in the BBC Proms concert in the YouTube video at the bottom and as many other orchestras around the world, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra and John DeMain, have done).
What else could the WCO and other groups play — especially since Sousa marches are already usually featured on The Fourth?
Do you have a suggestion?
The Ear will be interested to see how the quandary is solved — with explanations and excuses, or with alternative music?
Meanwhile, as comedian Stephen Colbert likes to say: What do you think?
Should the “1812 Overture” be played on this Fourth of July?
Why?
Or why not?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Gift guide or gift or both? Critics for The New York Times name their top classical recordings of 2018, and so does National Public Radio (NPR)
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is “Panic Saturday” — another, newer theme day on the commerce-driven Holiday Consumer Calendar that goes along with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber-Monday and Giving Tuesday.
In past years, by this time many media outlets would publish the list of the top classical recordings of the past year. And The Ear has offered them as holiday shopping guides with links to the lists.
They seem to be running late this year, probably too late for many shoppers.
But recently the team of critics for The New York Times named their Top 25 classical recordings of 2018 that run from the 15th century to today (sample album covers are below).
This time, the website didn’t just reproduce something that first appeared in the printed edition. And something more than small snippets or excerpts are offered.
This time, the newspaper took full advantage of the electronic possibility of the web and used streaming to add hours of sound samples — some as long as 40 minutes – so you can see what you think of the recordings before you buy them. (Be sure to look at reader reactions and comments.)
It is a new and innovative way to do a Top 25 list – very appealing or entertaining as well as informative. Even if you don’t use it to buy anything for others or yourself, it can provide many minutes of listening pleasure. You can think of it as a gift guide or a gift or both.
Of course, there are also the usual short and very readable, to-the-point narratives or explanations about why the recording stands out and what makes it great music, a great performance or a great interpretation.
So there is a lot to listen to and help you make up your mind. The Ear has enjoyed it and found it helpful, and hopes you do too, whether you agree or disagree with the choice:
Here is a link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/arts/music/best-classical-music-tracks-2018.html
Since this is the last weekend for holiday shopping before Christmas, here is the previous list – notice the duplications in the two lists — posted here, which was of the nominations for the upcoming 2019 Grammy Awards:
And here is the Top 10 list, which was chosen by the always discerning Tom Huizenga (below) — who explains the reasons for his choices — and which also offers generous sound samples, from National Public Radio (NPR) and its Deceptive Cadence blog. Also look for duplications:
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/18/677776208/npr-musics-best-classical-albums-of-2018
What recordings would you suggest?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Here are the Top 20 classical recordings of 2017 as chosen by famed radio station WQXR
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By Jacob Stockinger
As he has done in previous years, this year The Ear is offering various compendiums of the best classical recordings from the past year.
Such lists are, of course, subjective.
But many of the “judges” have a vast experience with classical music and are worth listening to and at least considering.
The lists can give you an idea of new artists and trends as well as of new releases of famous artists and tried-and-true repertoire.
So far, The Ear has offered the nominees for Grammy Awards. But that list is chosen by the industry.
Here is a link to that Grammy list:
The famed New York City radio station WQXR seems more objective and less commercial, although you will find well known veteran artists such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Evgeny Kissin mixed in with newcomers such as pianist Beatrice Rana (below).
The genres and periods are quite mixed too, going from early music to new music, from Johann Sebastian Bach to Philip Glass and Osvaldo Golijov.
Similarly, the list has familiar labels and small, relatively unknown labels.
The list could serve as a guide to what you want to give as a gift or what you want to receive as a gift.
But you can also take the list just as more information about the classical music scene, which is under-reported in the mainstream media.
In addition, each of the 20 selections features the CD album cover and a sound sample of the recording and a compact explanation of what makes the performance exceptional or outstanding.
Here is a link:
http://www.wqxr.org/story/best-classical-recordings-2017/
Hope you enjoy it.
Use the COMMENT section to let us know what you think and whether you agree or disagree with the choices.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: artist, Arts, award, Bach, Baroque, Beatrice Rana, Beethoven, best, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, concerto, Early music, Evgeny Kissin, exceptional, explanation, famous, gift, give, Grammy, guide, industry, information, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, judge, label, list, listen, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, mainstream, media, Mozart, Music, New York City, nominee, opera, Orchestra, Osvaldo Golijov, outstanding, performance, Philip Glass, Piano, Radio, receive, recording, repertoire, sample, scene, Sonata, Sound, station, subjective, trend, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unknown, Viola, vocal music, Wisconsin, WQXR, WQXR-FM, Yo-Yo Ma, YouTube
Classical music: Baroque cellist Steuart Pincombe brings “Bach and Beer” to Next Door Brewing this Tuesday night as part of the acclaimed “Music in Familiar Spaces’ project — and you get to choose your own admission price
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Tuesday night, Baroque cellist Steuart Pincombe, who just performed Vivaldi and Bach twice this past weekend with the Madison Bach Musicians, will present his program of three Bach solo cello suites paired with three brews.
The music starts at 7 p.m. on Madison’s east side at the Next Door Brewing (below), 2439 Atwood Avenue, on this Tuesday, Sept. 26.
Pincombe’s performance of this program was named by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as one of 2014’s top 10 classical music concerts and was recently featured in the Boston Globe and Seattle Times.
The concert runs from 7 to 9 p.m.
While sipping on their favorite brews, audience members will discover the connections between the art of brewing and the art of playing the music of Bach. (Pincombe explains the format in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Just as many brewers follow a recipe that was used hundreds of years ago, Steuart’s approach to playing Bach also looks back on old “recipes” and methods of playing.
The program of Solo Cello Suites by Johann Sebastian Bach (below) will be interlaced with short explanations of Steuart’s historical, interpretive approach along with comments from the brewery on the historical brewing method of each beer.
Each of the three suites will be paired with one of Next Door’s own brews. Concert-goers wanting to enjoy dinner at Next Door Brewery should arrive early, as there will be limited table seating during the concert.
The concert is part of Music in Familiar Spaces, a project that is bringing the highest level of classical music performance to homes, churches, cafés, bars or any place where community already exists.
One of the aims of the Music in Familiar Spaces project is to make classical music accessible to a wide and varied audience. This is accomplished not only by performing in familiar, comfortable and untraditional spaces, but by designing programs that invite the audience to experience the music in a new and engaging way.
The audience is also asked to name-their-own-ticket-price for the concert, paying what they can afford and what they deem the concert is worth (beer is sold separately).
Tags: Art, Arts, audience, Bach, bar, Baroque, Beer, Boston, Boston Globe, brew, brewery, cafe, Cello, Chamber music, church, Classical music, Cleveland, Cleveland Plain Dealer, comfortable, comments, community, Concert, dinner, Early music, east side, engaging, experience, explanation, familiar, historically informed performance practices, Home, interpretation, interpretive, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, method, Music in Familiar Spaces, Next Door Brewing, old, pay, performance, program, recipe, Seattle, Seattle Times, solo cello suite, Solo Cello Suites, space, Suite, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, untraditional, Vivaldi, weekend, Wisconsin, year, YouTube
Classical music: Why do we love Chopin? Ask pianist Jeremy Denk
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By Jacob Stockinger
I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t like playing or hearing the music of Chopin (below).
Can you?
But just why the 19th-century Romantic composer has such universal appeal is hard to explain.
One of the best explanations The Ear has read came recently from pianist Jeremy Denk, whose essay on “Chopin as a cat” appeared in The New York Times.
Denk, who has performed two outstanding solo recitals in Madison, is clearly an important musical thinker as well as a great performer. You can also see that at once if you read his excellent blog “Think Denk.”
The Ear suspects the current essay grew out of some remarks that Denk gave during a lecture on Chopin’s pedaling at the UW-Madison, and will be incorporated into the book he is working on that includes his previous acclaimed essays in The New Yorker magazine.
Denk (below), who has lately been performing an intriguing survey concert that covers 600 years of music, thinks that Chopin’s uniqueness resides in how he consolidated and fused both conservative values and radical, even modern, innovations.
To the Ear, it is the best modern analysis of Chopin that he has read since the major treatment that the acclaimed pianist-musicologist Charles Rosen wrote about the Polish “poet of the piano” in his terrific book “The Romantic Generation.”
Moreover, the online web version of Denk’s essay is much more substantial and satisfying than the newspaper print edition. It has not only audio-visual performances of important Chopin works by major artists such as Arthur Rubinstein and Krystian Zimerman, it also suggests, analyzes and praises some “old-fashioned” historical recordings of Chopin by Ignaz Friedman, Alfred Cortot and Josef Hoffmann.
Now if only Jeremy Denk would record an album of Chopin himself!
Here is a link to the Chopin essay:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/arts/music/jeremy-denk-chopin.html
Enjoy!
Please listen to the wonderful clips that Denk suggests.
Then tell us what pieces are your favorite Chopin works, big or small, and what performers are your favorite Chopin interpreters.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Alfred Cortot, analysis, Arthur Rubinstein, Arts, Bach, Ballade, barcarolle, Baroque, Beethoven, big, blog, cat, Chamber music, Charles Rosen, Chopin, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, conservative, consolidate, essay, explanation, feline, Franz Schubert, fuse, harmony, hear, historic, Ignaz Friedman, important, innovation, interpreter, Jacob Stockinger, Jeremy Denk, Johannes Brahms, Josef Hofmann, Krystian Zimerman, lecture, Love, magazine, major, Martha Argerich, melody, modern, Music, musicologist, New York Times, Newspaper, online, pedal, pedaling, Piano, play, poet, Polish, Prelude, print, radical, read, record, recording, Romantic, small, SoundCloud, survey, The New York Times, The New Yorker, think, Think Denk, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, values, web, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Which classical composer has helped you the most during the Covid-19 pandemic?
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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!
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