The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Oakwood Chamber Players perform music that depicts concepts and stories in two concerts this weekend
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ALERT: Today’s Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison has been canceled due to the performer being ill.
By Jacob Stockinger
This coming weekend, the Oakwood Chamber Players (below) continue their season theme of “Vignettes” with rarely performed compositions that depict concepts and stories.
The Oakwood Chamber Players members are: Marilyn Chohaney, flute; Nancy Mackenzie, clarinet; Amanda Szyczs, bassoon; Anne Aley, horn; and Maggie Townsend, cello. They will be joined by guest artists Elspeth Stalter-Clouse, violin; Ariel Garcia, viola; and Joseph Ross, piano.
The program includes works by British, French and American composers drawn from the 18th to the 21st century with styles ranging from light-hearted to deeply felt.
Performances will take place on Saturday night, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. and on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 13, at 2 p.m. Both concerts will be held at the Oakwood Center for Arts and Education, 6209 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall.
Tickets can be purchased with cash, credit cards or personal checks at the door: $25 general admission, $20 seniors and $5 students. Visit www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com for more information.
German composer Theodor Kirchner (below) was celebrated for his deft handling of “character pieces.” He studied with Mendelssohn and was friends with Brahms and Schumann. All three admired his miniature musical gems that distilled compositional ideas.
Kirchner published many sets of character pieces depicting ideas and moods. His Character Pieces for Piano Trio, subtitled “Brightly Colored Leaves,” showcase his uniquely creative and expressive approach to music.
American composer Dana Wilson (below) wrote works for chamber ensembles and symphonies that have been performed internationally. A consortium of clarinetists from across the country commissioned Wilson to write AThousand Whirling Dreams in 2014.
This trio for clarinet, viola and piano provides the listener with the thrilling synergy of instruments playing sinuous melodies at high velocity contrasted with moments of hush and mystery.
British composer Thomas Dunhill (below) was a peer of Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams and studied with Charles Villiers Stanford. Dunhill was a strong proponent throughout his life of chamber music.
His Quintet for violin, cello, clarinet, horn and piano shows abundant personal artistry and melodic expression but it also resonates beautifully with the impressive influences that surrounded him during an important era in British music.
American composer Ferde Grofe (below) is best known today for his imaginative orchestral piece “Grand Canyon Suite.” However, he had a fulfilling and interesting musical life. He grew up in New York City, studied in Paris, became sought after as an arranger (including George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”) and jazz pianist, played viola with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and wrote for the film industry.
Table d’hôtel – Humoresque is written for the unusual combination of flute, violin and viola. Like a menu of French cuisine conjured up by its title, the piece delivers a palatable and charming musical confection. (You can hear “Table d’hôtel” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Also on the program are two brief contrasting works for flute, bassoon and piano. The first, Dialogue Sentimentale, by French composer Paul Lacombe (below top), shows the sweet and expressive melodic writing which his mentor Georges Bizet greatly admired. German-American composer Tim Jansa (below bottom) wrote Three Miniatures for flute, bassoon and piano that possess a serene energy expressing the composer’s concepts of evening.
The Oakwood Chamber Players are a group of Madison-area professional musicians who rehearse and perform at Oakwood Village.
The Oakwood Chamber Players are a professional music ensemble proudly supported by Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries and the Oakwood Foundation
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: The Madison Symphony Orchestra announces its 2020-21 season to mark The Beethoven Year. Plus, this Sunday afternoon, the Edgewood Chamber Orchestra also celebrates The Beethoven Year
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ALERT: The Madison Symphony Orchestra has just announced its 2020-21 season, which is heavy on works from Beethoven’s mid-career “Heroic” period to mark the Beethoven Year celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of the composer (below).
Other composers to be featured include Haydn, Mozart, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Sibelius, Honegger, Grofé, Kabalevsky and the African-American composer George Walker.
Familiar soloists include pianists Olga Kern and Garrick Ohlsson; violinists James Ehnes and Gil Shaham. Also soloing are retired UW-Madison professor and MSO principal oboe Marc Fink and MSO concertmaster Naha Greenholtz.
The traditional Christmas Concert is in early December.
The “Beyond the Score” program in late January, with actors from American Players Theater in Spring Green, focuses on Stravinsky’s revolutionary “The Rite of Spring.” And the MSO Chorus will perform in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 “Choral” and “Missa Solemnis.”
All concerts will be conducted by John DeMain.
Here is a link to details about the season and how to subscribe: https://madisonsymphony.org/concerts-events/2020-2021-symphony-season-concerts/
Let The Ear know what you think of the new MSO season in the Comment section.
By Jacob Stockinger
This Sunday afternoon, Feb. 23, the Edgewood Chamber Orchestra of Edgewood College presents a special winter concert.
The performance is at 2:30 p.m. in McKinley Performing Arts Center of Edgewood High School, 2219 Monroe Street, on Madison’s near west side.
The conductor is Blake Walter (below, in a photo by John Maniaci) and the guest soloist is violinist David Huntsman.
The concert celebrates the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Ludwig van Beethoven.
The Chamber Orchestra will perform the Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36, by Beethoven, who seems influenced in this work by Mozart and especially his teacher Haydn but who moved beyond them in this symphony. (You can hear the innovative Scherzo movement, which replaced the traditional minuet, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Also on the program are Handel’s Overture to the opera “Semele” and the virtuosic Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Camille Saint-Saens, which features soloist David Huntsman (below).
Tickets are $5 for general admission, and admission is free with an Edgewood High School or Edgewood College ID.
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