The Well-Tempered Ear
I’ll hear what she’s hearing: Tchaikovsky and the Big O in LA
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By Jacob Stockinger
Who says classical music is staid and boring?
Remember that famous scene in the movie “When Harry Met Sally” where Meg Ryan demonstrates to Billy Crystal during lunch in a deli how she can fake sexual ecstasy?
And then a woman sitting nearby who overhears the crescending moans tells a waitress “I’ll have what she is having.”
Something like it actually — or at least supposedly — happened during a recent concert in Disney Hall by the Los Angeles Philharmonic during a performance of the Symphony No. 5 by Tchaikovsky.
Some audience members dispute it, but others are certain a woman experienced a “loud, full-body orgasm” during the ultra-Romantic second movement (below in a YouTube video).
Talk about audience response!
The incident has gone viral on the Internet and has also been covered in serious newspapers.
Here is one of the most colorful stories, from The New York Post, that also has the video and some interesting background, including the actual video:
What would Tchaikovsky say?
What do you say?
Do you think it happened? Or is even possible?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #YouTubevideo, actually, Arts, audience, Big O, Billy Crystal, blog, body, boring, Cello, Classical music, climax, colorful, composer, Concert, crescendo, deli, delicatessen, Disney, Disney Hall, dispute, ecstasy, Facebook, fake, famous, female, Fireworks, hear, Horn, incident, interrnet, Jacob Stockinger, LA, link, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Philharmonic, loud, Meg Ryan, moan, movement, movie, Music, New York Post, Newspaper, Orchestra, orgasm, overhear, pleasure, response, Romantic, say, scene, serious, sex, sexual, share, she, staid, story, supposedly, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, The Ear, United States, viral, When Harry Met Sally, woman, YouTube
YOU MUST HEAR THIS: No piece captures the mixed emotions of Memorial Day better than Charles Ives’ “Decoration Day”
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Memorial Day, 2022.
It is the annual holiday to remember those who died in military service to the country. (Below are flags placed each year at the tombstones in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.)
If you want to honor survivors and current service members, that would be Veterans Day on Nov. 11.
All weekend long the radio has been playing music and the television has been showing war movies.
A lot of the music is familiar and repeated every year: Sousa marches and Morton Gould suites, elegies by Gustav Mahler, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein; requiems by Mozart and Fauré; a hymn by John Williams and other movie scores. This year has also seen the playlist include rediscovered works of homage by African-American composers such as William Grant Still.
But only this year did The Ear finally hear — thanks to Wisconsin Public Radio — the one piece that, to his mind, best captures Memorial Day with its blending of consonance and dissonance, its mix of major and major keys, of familiar or “found” music and original music.
It is called, simply, “Decoration Day” and it was composed in 1912 — but not published until 1989 — by the 20th-century iconoclastic and early modernist American composer Charles Ives (below, 1874-1954). It ended up as part of a work the composer called “A Symphony: New England Hollidays.”
See if you agree with The Ear.
Listen to the 8-minute performance by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Listen to the deep anguish and and sense of loss conveyed in the opening, when a solemn remembrance procession goes to a cemetery to plant flags and lay flowers and wreaths to “decorate” the graves of the fallen.
Listen carefully and you will hear a faint version of “Taps” and ringing church bells in the atmospheric music.
Then as so often happens in reality, life suddenly intrudes in the form of a celebration by a loud marching brass band as it leaves the cemetery for the celebratory marches, picnics and fireworks.
But at the end, the darkness briefly returns. The sense of loss lingers long after the actual death and long after the holiday has been celebrated.
There is no closure.
Just resignation.
Just living with loss.
Here is the background from Wikipedia about how the holiday started as Decoration Day after the Civil War and when it evolved into Memorial Day in 1970: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
And here is biographical background, with the actual sources and depictions of “Decoration Day” — just go down the page to compositions and click — about Charles Ives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ives
Did you know and like Charles Ives’ music?
Does “Decoration Day” impress or move you?
What music most embodies Memorial Day for you?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music education: The 18th annual family-friendly and FREE Concert in the Park by the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, with two student soloists, is this Wednesday night on the far west wide of Madison
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras will perform its 18th annual FREE summer Concert in the Park (below) on this coming Wednesday, Aug. 7, at 1200 John Q. Hammons Drive in the Old Sauk Trails Business Park. (The rain date is this Thursday.)
Hosted by The Gialamas Company, the Concert in the Park is designed to be fun for all ages and is FREE to the public. The Ear can attest to the excellent quality of the musical performances.
Led by WYSO’s music director and Youth Orchestra conductor Kyle Knox (below), who is a graduate of the UW-Madison and the associate conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, WYSO’s Youth Orchestra will perform works by Antonin Dvorak, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Felix Mendelssohn, Camille Saint-Saens, John Philip Sousa and Dmitri Shostakovich.
The program includes concerto performances by two WYSO student soloists: violinist Ellen Zhou; and cellist Grace Kim.
The grounds will open at 5 p.m. for setting up lawn chairs and blankets for picnics and socializing, and for engaging in pre-concert activities, including an ice cream social (below top) and a WYSO instrument petting zoo. Also scheduled are a visit by The Big Red Reading Bus (below bottom) from the Madison Reading Project and activities by the Madison Children’s Museum.
The concert begins at 7 p.m., followed by a fireworks display.
Here is the concert program:
Slavonic Dances Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 by Antonin Dvorak
Violin Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn
- Allegro molto appassionato
Ellen Zhou, violin (below)
Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33, by Camille Saint-Saens
III. Tempo primo
Grace Kim, cello (below)
Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36, by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Finale: Allegro con fuoco
Intermission
“Tahiti Trot” (Tea for Two) by Dmitri Shostakovich (orchestrated by Dave Brubeck and heard in the YouTube video at the bottom)
“Stars and Stripes Forever” March by John Philip Sousa (orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski)
“Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky (orchestrated by Maurice Ravel)
1st Promenade
Gnomus
2nd Promenade
4th Promenade
Ballet of Unhatched Chicks
The Hut on Hen’s Legs (Baba Yaga)
The Great Gate of Kiev
For more information, food and beverage menus, and information about how to reserve tables, call (608) 836-8000 or visit www.Gialamas.com (click on Events) or email office@Gialamas.com
For more information about WYSO, including how to join it, support it, learn about its background and attend future events, go to https://www.wysomusic.org
Tags: #AntoninDvorak, #BigRedReadingBus, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BusinessPark, #CamilleSaint-Saens, #CelloConcerto, #ConcertinthePark, #ConcertProgram, #DaveBrubeck, #DmitriShostakovich, #EllenZhou, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FamilyFriendly, #FelixMendelssohn, #FolkDance, #FolkMusic, #GialamasCompany, #GraceKim, #GreatGateofKIev, #HomeWebsite, #IceCream, #IceCreamSocial, #JohnPhilipSousa, #JohnQ.HammonsDrive, #KyleKnox, #LeopoldStokowski, #MadisonChildren'sMuseum, #MadisonReadingProject, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MauriceRavel, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #ModestMussorgsky, #MusicalPerformance, #MusicDirector, #MusicEducation, #OldSaukTrailsBusinessPark, #OrchestralArrangement, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PettingZoo, #PicnicDinner, #PicturesatanExhibition, #RainDate, #SlavonicDances, #SouthKorea, #StarsandStripesForever, #TahitiTrot, #TeaforTwo, #TheEar, #Thursdaynight, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViolinConcerto, #Wednesdayafternoon, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #WYSOconcerts, #YoungPeople, #YouthOrchestra, #YouTubevideo, activities, age, allegro, American, Antonín Dvořák, Arts, asian, attend, background, ballet, beverage, Big Red Reading Bus, blog, bus, Business, business park, Camille Saint-Saëns, celiist, Cello, Cello Concerto, chicks, children, children's concerts, China, Chinese, Classical music, composer, Concert, Concert in the Park, concert program, concerto, conductor, dance, Dave Brubeck, display, Dmitri Shostakovich, drink, Ellen Zhou, email, engage, evening, event, excellent, Facebook, Family, family-friendly, Felix Mendelssohn, finale, Fireworks, Folk music, food, forward, free, friend, fun, funding, future, Gialamas Company, Grace Kim, Great Gate of Kiev, grounds, hen, host, hut, ice cream, ice cream social, information, instrument, Jacob Stockinger, John Philip Sousa, John Q. Hammons Drive, join, kids, Korea, Korean, Kyle Knox, learn, Leopold Stokowski, like, link, Madison, Madison Children's Museum, Madison Reading Project, Madison Symphony Orchestra, march, Maurice Ravel, Mead Witter School of Music, menu, Modest Mussorgsky, Music, Music director, Music education, musical, Old Sauk Trails, open, Orchestra, orchestral arrangement, orchestrated, Park, perform, performance, pet, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, petting zoo, picnic, Pictures at an Exhibition, post, posting, program, promenade, public, quality, rain, rain date, reserve, share, Slavonic Dances, social, socialize, socializing, soloist, South Korea, sponsor, Stars and Stripes Forever, Student, support, symphony, table, tag, Tahiti Trot, Tea for Two, Tempo, The Ear, Thursday, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Violin concerto, violinist, visit, Website, Wednesday, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, works, WYSO, young, Youth Orchestra, YouTube, zoo
Classical music: Happy Bastille Day! But instead of militarism, let’s celebrate the holiday with revolutionary French music by a revolutionary French composer. What French music would you choose?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is July 14, known in the U.S. as Bastille Day.
That is the day in 1789 when the infamous Bastille Prison in Paris was stormed by the masses and political prisoners were freed – marking the beginning of the French Revolution.
The tradition is to play “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem that grew out of the revolution. Usually there is a military side to the arrangement of the anthem and the performance of it.
After all, it was a Bastille Day parade that even inspired President Trump to stage his egotistical “Salute to America” – satirically dubbed “Tanksgiving” — on the Fourth of July this year in Washington, D.C..
But The Ear has had quite enough of militarism and of the lying draft dodger who became commander-in-chief using patriotism to camouflage his un-American actions and ideas.
With no disrespect to those who served or are serving in the armed forces, there are many ways besides the military to be patriotic and even revolutionary.
So this year The Ear is choosing something subtle and less martial to mark the day.
It is a performance of “Feux d’artifice” (Fireworks), a prelude for solo piano by Claude Debussy (below), who described himself – in an age where German and Italian music ruled – simply as a “French musician.” But make no mistake: Debussy, who was rejected for admission to the Paris Conservatory, was indeed a revolutionary figure in music history for his innovations in harmony and form.
(Perhaps this past season, you heard Marc-André Hamelin give an astoundingly virtuosic performance of “Fireworks” as an encore after his Sunday afternoon concerto performances with the Madison Symphony Orchestra.)
Listen carefully and at the very end you will hear a subtle reference to the Marseillaise that adds the right touch to the pyrotechnical celebration of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.”
Added to that, the fiery performance in the YouTube video at the bottom is by Robert Casadesus, a deservedly famous French pianist.
Finally, The Ear thinks you can celebrate Bastille Day with any number of French composers and French works, many of which remain neglected and underperformed. (The Ear is particularly partial to the music of Gabriel Faure, below, who taught Maurice Ravel.)
Who is your favorite French composer?
What is your favorite French piece of classical music?
Leave a comment with, if possible, a YouTube link.
Happy Bastille Day!!
Tags: #ArmedForces, #BastilleDay, #BastillePrison, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ClaudeDebussy, #DraftDodger, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Feuxd'artifice, #FourthofJuly, #FrenchRevolution, #GabrielFaure, #GermanMusic, #HolidayTradition, #ItalianMusic, #July14, #LaMarseillaise, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #Marc-AndréHamelin, #MauriceRavel, #MusicHistory, #NationalAnthem, #NeglectedComposers, #NeglectedMusic, #NeglectedWorks, #ParisConservatory, #ParisFrance, #PatrioticMusic, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #PianoPrelude, #PresidentDonaldTrump, #PresidentTrump, #RedWhiteandBlue, #RobertCasadesus, #SalutetoAmerica, #SoloPiano, #SoloPianoMusic, #Tanksgiving, #UnitedStates, #WashingtonD.C., #YouTubevideo, action, admission, age, armed forces, Arts, audience, Bastille Day, Bastille prison, beginning, blog, blue, camouflage, celebrate, celebration, Claude Debussy, commander-in-chief, composer, Concert, concerto, day, describe, display, disrespect, Donald Trump, draft, ego, egotistical, equality, Facebook, famous, fiery, fight planes, Fireworks, form, forward, Fourth of July, France, fraternity, free, freed, French, French Revolution, Gabriel Fauré, German, happy', harmony, History, Holiday, idea, Independence Day, infamous, innovation, Italian, Jacob Stockinger, July 14, La Marseillaise, liberty, lies, like, link, lying, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marc-André Hamelin, mark, martial, masses, Maurice Ravel, military, Music, national, national anthem, nationalism, neglected, Orchestra, parade, Paris, Paris Conservatory, patriot, patriotic, patriotism, performer, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, piano prelude, political, political prisoners, President Trump, prison, prisoner, pyrotechnical, reader, red, reject, revolution, revolutionary, Robert Casadesus, Salute to America, serve, share, solo piano, storm, subscriber, Sunday, tag, tanks, tradition, tricolor, U.S., un-American, United States, US, virtuosic, viruosity, Washington D.C., white, Wisconsin, work, works, YouTube
Classical music: Madison Opera’s “Seraglio” stood out for its singing and staging, its local sets and costumes, and provided a crowd-pleasing comic romp in trying times. Plus, Friday brings FREE piano and viola da gamba concerts
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FRDAY ALERTS: This Friday’s FREE Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features Eric Miller playing the viola da gamba in a recital of early baroque music by Marais, Forquery, Sainte-Colombe, Abel, Hume and Ortiz. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
Then on Friday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, the critically acclaimed guest pianist Marina Lomazov will perform a FREE recital of all-Russian music that includes “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky. Lomazov’s recital is part of a larger event, “Keyboard Day,” that has a French focus and takes place all day Saturday at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. See tomorrow’s post for more information about Saturday. For more about Lomazov, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/guest-artist-marina-lomazov-piano/
By Jacob Stockinger
The Opera Guy filed this review of last weekend’s production by the Madison Opera:
By Larry Wells
On Sunday afternoon, I attended the second and final performance of Madison Opera’s production of Mozart’s “The Abduction from the Seraglio” in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
This comic romp utilized a beautiful set and wonderful costumes designed and constructed in-house. (Below, Matt Bueller as Osmin peers out the door of the palace, or seraglio, at David Walton as Belmont.)
The orchestra, drawn from the Madison Symphony Orchestra and ably led by maestro John DeMain, was situated backstage. This was an effective novelty, although the sound was somewhat muffled, at least from where I sat in mid-orchestra.
The dialogue was in English while the singing was in German with English supertitles. I looked over the lengthy original libretto and was thankful that it had been heavily abridged for this two-hour production.
It had also been updated to be both hip and politically correct about Islamic culture and Turkey, where the story takes place. But it made me idly wonder what the reaction would be if the music had been likewise updated to be more in tune with the times.
The production was all about the singing.
David Walton’s Belmonte (below right, with Amanda Woodbury as Konstanze) was beautifully sung, particularly in the second act. He has a Benjamin Britten tenor voice with remarkable breath control.
Eric Neuville’s Pedrillo was also admirably sung. Neuville is an accomplished comic actor, as well.
Ashly Neumann’s singing as Blonde (below center, with women of the Madison Opera Chorus) was clean, clear and bell-like.
Amanda Woodbury as Konstanze (below right with Brian Belz as Pasha Selim) was virtuosic. She displayed vocal fireworks several times and was especially effective in her lament toward the end of the first act.
This quartet’s ensemble work in the second act was a vocal high point. (You can hear the quartet from a different production in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
But to me the most impressive singing and comic acting belonged to Matt Boehler as Osmin. His bass was simply majestic. (Below, from left, are Brian Belz as Pasha Selim; David Walton as Belmonte; Matt Boehler as Osmin; Eric Neuville as Pedrillo; Ashly Neumann as Blonde; and Amanda Woodbury as Konstanze.)
The well-prepared chorus appeared briefly in each act, adding some color and motion to the production.
Musically and visually the production was a success. The audience responded with 19 ovations during the performance – yes, I counted. Every time the orchestra reached a cadence and paused, the audience members applauded as if they were at a musical. With the incessant coughing throughout the performance, I felt like I was at a performance of “South Pacific” in a tuberculosis ward.
The audience leapt to its feet at the end, and this made me wonder what it was that they found so praiseworthy. The story itself is inconsequential and has little relevance to life today.
The singing was very good, but this is not La Scala.
The music itself, with the exception of a couple of sublime moments, does little more than foreshadow the mature Mozart of “The Magic Flute.”
I concluded that the opera is unalarming, unthreatening, and simple. This is perhaps what people long for in these trying times.
I do look forward to the Madison Opera’s production of Daniel Catan’s “Florencia en el Amazonas” this spring. Based on repeated hearings of the recording, I guarantee that Madison will be in for a treat. And there is nothing threatening or alarming or complex about the music, despite it being a work of the late 20th century.
Tags: #BenjaminBritten, #LaScala, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #PoliticallyCorrect, #TheMagicFlute, #UnitarianSociety, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, 20th-century, Abduction From the Seraglio, Abel, abridged, act, Actor, alarming, applauded, applause, Arts, audience, backstage, Baroque, bass, beautiful, Bell, Benjamin Britten, breath, Britten, cadence, Capitol Theater, Cello, Chamber music, chorus, Classical music, clean, clear, comedy, comic, complex, composer, Concert, construction, control, costume, cough, coughing, Daniel Catan, design, dialogue, door, Early music, English, ensemble, Fireworks, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Florencia en el Amazonas, foreshadow, Forquery, France, free, French, Friday, German, hearing, high point, hip, Hume, impressive, inconsequential, Islam, Islamic, John DeMain, Keyboard, lament, libretto, life, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Opera Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Magic Flute, majestic, Marin Marais, Marina Lomazov, mature, Modest Mussorgsky, moment, Mozart, Music, musical, musically, novelty, opera, Ortiz, ovation, Overture Center, palace, pause, People, performance, Pictures at an Exhibition, politically correct, production, reaction, recording, relevance, relevant, review, romp, Russia, Russian, Sainte-Colombe, Saturday, set, simple, singer, Singing, Sound, South Pacific, Spring, story, sublime, success, supertitles, tenor, The Magic Flute, threaten, threatening, time, times, today, treat, trying times, tubercular, tuberculosis, Turkey, unalarming, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, update, viola da gamba, virtuosic, visually, vocal music, voice, ward, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, women, YouTube
Classical music: What is your favorite Sousa march for the Fourth of July? What other classical music celebrates the holiday?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is the Fourth of July, Independence Day, when we mark the day and the Declaration of Independence when the U.S officially separated from Great Britain to become not a colony but its own country.
Over the past decade The Ear has chosen music from many American composers to mark the event – music by Edward MacDowell, Charles Ives, William Grant Still, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, William Schuman, Joan Tower, John Adams and so many others.
And of course also featured around the nation will be the “1812 Overture” by Peter Tchaikovsky.
You will probably hear a lot of that music today on Wisconsin Public Radio and other stations, including WFMT in Chicago and WQXR in New York City.
Here is a link to nine suggestions with audiovisual performances:
http://www.classical-music.com/article/nine-best-works-independence-day
But The Ear got to thinking.
It is certainly a major achievement when a composer’s name becomes synonymous with a genre of music. Like Strauss waltzes. Bach cantatas and Bach fugues. Chopin mazurkas and Chopin polonaises.
The Ear thinks that John Philip Sousa is to marches what Johann Strauss is to waltzes. Others have done them, but none as well.
So on Independence Day, he asks: Which of Sousa’s many marches is your favorite to mark the occasion?
The “Stars and Stripes Forever” — no officially our national march — seems the most appropriate one, judging by titles. “The Washington Post” March is not far behind.
But lately The Ear has taken to “The Liberty Bell” March.
Here it is a YouTube video with the same Marine Band that Sousa, The March King, once led and composed for:
And if you want music fireworks in the concert hall to match the real thing, you can’t beat the bravura pyrotechnical display concocted and executed by pianist Vladimir Horowitz, a Russian who became an American citizen and contributed mightily to the war effort during World War II.
Horowitz wowed the crowds – including fellow virtuoso pianists – with his transcription of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” in which it sounds like three or four hands are playing. Judge for yourself. Here it is:
Of course, you can also leave the names of other American composers and works to celebrate the Fourth. Just leave a word and a link in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear!
Tags: 1812 Overture, Aaron Copland, America, Arts, audiovisual, Bach, band, Baroque, brass, Cantata, Chamber music, Charles Ives, Classical music, colony, composer, concert hall, country, Edward MacDowell, England, Fireworks, Fourth of July, freedom, fugue, genre, George Gershwin, Great Britain, Holiday, Horowitz, independence, Independence Day, Jacob Stockinger, Joan Tower, John Adams, John Philip Sousa, July 4, Leonard Bernstein, Liberty Bell, Madison, march, Marine, mazurka, Music, National Public Radio, NPR, Orchestra, Piano, polonaise, pyrotechnics, Radio, Russia, Samuel Barber, Sousa, Stars and Stripes Forever, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, U.S., UK, United Kingdom, United States, United States Declaration of Independence, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, virtuoso, Vladimir Horowitz, Waltz, Washington D.C., Washington Post, WFMT, William Schuman, Willian Grant Still, wisconsin public radio, World War II, WQXR, WW II, YouTube
Classical music: “I like tunes,” says Academy Award-winning composer Thomas Cabaniss, who talks about his “Double Rainbow” piano concerto. The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and guest soloists will give the world premiere of the work this Friday night.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Even for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below), which likes to mix things and up during its winter season, the concert this Friday night is something special to close out the current season.
The WCO will give the world premiere of the “Double Rainbow” Piano Concerto by Thomas Cabaniss, which was commissioned for the WCO.
The performance will also feature husband-and-wife duo-pianists Michael Shinn and Jessica Chow Shinn.
The concert is Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
Also on the program is Maurice Ravel’s Neo-classical homage to World War I, “Le Tombeau de Couperin,” and the Symphony No. 2 by Robert Schumann.
Tickets are $10 to $80.
For more information about the program, the soloists and tickets, go to:
https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-v-2/
Composer Thomas Cabaniss recently did an email Q&A for The Ear:
Can you briefly introduce yourself and your career to the reader?
I’m Thomas Cabaniss (below). I am a composer and teaching artist from Charleston, South Carolina. I have lived in New York for the last 30 years, and so I greedily claim both places as home. I teach at the Juilliard School — where I met Michael and Jessica Shinn — and I also lead arts education projects at Carnegie Hall.
After graduating from Yale in 1984, I was an assistant conductor on a variety of projects including Leonard Bernstein’s opera A Quiet Place at La Scala and the Kennedy Center. Setting out to forge a career as a composer, I moved to New yolk City, which had the added benefit of being the same city where my girlfriend was attending medical school. A few years later we married and settled in Manhattan.
To start, I worked primarily as a theater composer, but I was also writing piano and chamber music on the side, and doing arts education work in between shows. In 1990 I scored and arranged a short film called The Lunch Date, which won the Palme D’Or and the Academy Award. In 1995 I joined the New York Philharmonic education programs, eventually becoming the orchestra’s Education Director.
I kept composing, and wrote a chamber opera called The Sandman, which was premiered in New York in 2002 and revived again the following season. In 2004 I was appointed to special education position with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and at the same time I wrote a series of evening length dance scores that were premiered in New York.
In 2009, I began working as composer-in-residence for the LinkUp program at Carnegie Hall, which has grown in that time to serve over 95 orchestras around the world and across the U.S. – including the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
I also helped to create the Lullaby Project at Carnegie Hall, which serves young parents in shelters, hospitals and prisons, and we are working hard to extend that work across the country through a series of partnerships.
How would you describe your musical style in general and the style of the new two-piano concerto specifically? Accessible? Tonal or atonal? Modernist or Neo-Classical? Melodic or percussive? Are there composers or works that have influenced your style?
I like tunes. I like to write songs, and I like to sing, so my music tends to value melody. My works are generally tonal, often spiked with cluster chords and other atonal devices, but I am always interested in the musical gravity of tonal centers. (You can hear a sample of Thomas Cabaniss’ music in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
This piece is inspired by its soloists, Michael and Jessica Shinn (below), and by the image of a Double Rainbow (also the work’s title). I have written Michael and Jessica pieces for piano-four hands, and there is one piece they have championed called Tiny Bits of Outrageous Love. Something about the chemistry of their relationship as musicians (and as husband and wife) has inspired me to create music that is particularly exciting and intimate.
And yes, I suppose most composers embed hints of the music they love in the music they write, and I am no different. Tiny Bits was a kind of homage to the Brahms Waltzes for piano-four hands, and Double Rainbow nods to Leonard Bernstein, Olivier Messiaen, Leos Janacek and John Adams. I’m sure listeners will hear other influences, too.
What would you like listeners to know about and listen for in the piano concerto? What were the special challenges of writing for duo-pianists?
This is from the program note I wrote for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra:
DOUBLE RAINBOW is based on an experience I had with my family on the Isle of Palms, South Carolina, about 20 years ago. On this particular August day, there was a huge rain in the early afternoon, many dark clouds, thunder (but no lightning). After the storm, from the porch of our beach rental house, we saw not one, but two rainbows (below). My sister-in-law is an avid photographer, and so she coaxed us all down onto the beach so she could get a pristine angle. That alone might have been enough inspiration for a piece of music, but when we got to the water’s edge, as Julia was snapping her photos, a dolphin jumped out of the water in a vertical launch, the tail clearing the water’s surface. It was one of those moments that seemed so unbelievable that none of us said a word.
I have always been fascinated by the search for the elusive “perfect moment,” and DOUBLE RAINBOW is a sort of study of that kind of exploration. It is all bound up in the idea of “doubleness,” represented by the two pianos. It is divided into three movements: “Surfaces” (exploring the accumulation of drops of water from tiny, atomized particles), “Disturbances” (exploring imbalances and the storms that result from them), and “Revelation” (of the Double Rainbow). Not surprising in a double concerto, there is a great deal of dialogue between the pianos, and the orchestra has more of an accompanying role in the first two movements. The final movement is different, though. Everybody is in, and the music pulses with magic. The movement seems to be headed for a big climax, but at the last moment, it suddenly slows down and there are stars.
The main challenge for me in writing a double piano concerto is all those fingers! Twenty of them, and they are capable of so much. The music I write does not usually focus on virtuosity, and yet I also wanted it to be a vehicle for them to be expressive and dynamic. I worked hard to achieve a balance between the lyricism and the fireworks – we’ll see how audiences experience it.
What else would you like to say?
I am especially excited to be able to visit Madison for the premiere. I’ll get to meet members of the family of Jessica Chow Shinn (below, she is a Madison native), and I have a former student in the orchestra (Midori Samson, Second Bassoon). My Carnegie Lullaby Project collaborators include another Madison native (Ann Gregg) and Elizabeth Snodgrass, who is originally from Appleton (I think) but recently moved to Madison. I will get to meet WCO music director Andrew Sewell (below) in person. We have been doing some Skype rehearsals and phone consultations. It will be great to watch Andrew in action.
While we are here, my wife Deborah will be giving Grand Rounds at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, and my son Will leads an a cappella group at University of Chicago (Voices In Your Head), and this year they have been singing frequently with a wonderful University of Wisconsin group (Fundamentally Sound).
The last few seasons the Madison Symphony Orchestra has been offering Carnegie Hall LinkUp concerts to kids in grades 3-5, and this year is no exception. They will perform The Orchestra Moves in May, for which I wrote two of the works (Come To Play and Away I Fly) and arranged another (Cidade Maravilhosa).
This project has been a few years in the making, and so for Michael and Jessica and me, this is a kind of celebration. We can’t wait to share DOUBLE RAINBOW with you.
Tags: a cappella, A Quiet Place, Academy Award, Andrew Sewell, Appleton, Arts, arts education, atomized, atonal, Bassoon, beach, Brahms, Carnegie Hall, Chamber music, chamber opera, Charleston, choral music, chord, Classical music, clinic, cluster, commission, composer, conductor, Couperin, dance, dialogue, doctor, dolphin, double rainbow, drop, email, expresisone, expressive, film, Finger, Fireworks, Fundamentally Sound, Hospital, House, husband, influence, Isle of Palms, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John Adams, Juilliard School, Kennedy Center, La Scala, Le tombeau de Couperin, Leonard Bernstein, Leos Janacek, lightening, LinkUp, Love, lullaby, Lullaby Project, lyrical, lyricism, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, MANHATTAN, medical school, melodic, melody, memorial, Messiaen, Michael and Jessica Shinn, modernist, movement, movie, Music, Music education, neo-Classical, New York City, New York Philharmonic, opera, Orchestra, Palme D'Or, partnership, Philadelphia Orchestra, phone, photo, photographs, physician, Piano, Piano concerto, piano-four hands, prison, psychiatry, Q&A, rain clouds, rainbow, Ravel, rehearsal, Robert Schumann, shelter, sing, Skype, song, songs, South Carolina, stars, storm, style, symphony, telephone, The Lunch Date, The Orchestra Moves, The Sandman, Thomas Cabaniss, thunder, Tiny Bits of Outrageous Love, tomb, tonal, tune, U.S., United States, University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, virtuosity, virtuoso, Voices in Your Head, Waltz, water, wife, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, world, world premiere, Yale, YouTube
Classical music education: The annual FREE Concert in the Park by the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) marks its 15th anniversary this coming Wednesday night.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to pass along:
“The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) is proud to be a part of Concert in the Park, hosted by The Gialamas Co., for another season.
“This year’s event will take place this coming Wednesday, Aug. 10, from 5 to 10 p.m. at Old Sauk Trails Park, 1200 John Q. Hammons Drive on the far west side of Madison.
“For eight consecutive years, WYSO has been invited by The Gialamas Company to be a part of this spectacular event. This special FREE concert is a highlight of the summer for concertgoers young and old.
“This particular year features the Youth Orchestra (below) and will celebrate several special anniversaries: the 50th anniversary of WYSO, the 40th anniversary of The Gialamas Company, and the 15th anniversary of Concert in the Park.
“WYSO’s Youth Orchestra will begin their performance at 7 p.m. The Youth Orchestra, under the direction of WYSO Music Director James Smith, will perform: the fourth movement of Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, by Peter Tchaikovsky; Highlights from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein; Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Franz Liszt, featuring conductor Michelle Kaebisch; the first movement of the Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, by Tchaikovsky featuring Aurora Greane (below top) on violin; “Our Town” by Aaron Copland; the fifth movement of Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 70, by Dmitri Shostakovich; and an annual rendition of Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen.
You can hear the Youth Orchestra under Maestro Smith perform Georges Bizet‘s suite from his opera “Carmen” in the YouTube video at the bottom.
“The evening will also see performances of “A Radiant Spirit,” which was composed in honor of WYSO’s 50th anniversary by Andrew Kinney, and of a stunning arrangement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, from his Symphony No. 9 “Choral,” arranged by Donald Fraser.
“The evening will be capped off with a fireworks display.
“Before the event there will be an instrument petting zoo, face painting and an ice cream social. Tables, food and drinks are available for purchase.
“For more information, visit www.gialamas.com.
“Be sure to stay after the event for a spectacular fireworks show. Set up lawn chairs, layout blankets and put out your picnic baskets as you enjoy all of the music and activities this FREE event has to offer.
“For additional information, please contact WYSO at (608) 263-3320 or e-mail wyso@wysomusic.org.”
Tags: Aaron Copland, Andrew Kinney, Arts, Beethoven, Bizet, blankets, Carmen, Cello, chairs, Chamber music, choral music, Choral Symphony, Classical music, Concert in the Park, concerto, Copland, Donald Fraser, face painting, Fireworks, Franz Liszt, Gialamas Company, Harold Arlen, Hungarian, instrument, Jacob Stockinger, Leonard Bernstein, Madison, movement, Music, Music director, Music education, Ninth Symphony, Ode to Joy, opera, Orchestra, Our Town, outdoors, Over the Rainbow, rhapsody, Shostakovich, Suite, symphony, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin Youth Symhony Orchestras, WYSO, YouTube, zoo
Classical music: The seventh annual FREE Concert in the Park by the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) is this coming Wednesday night in Old Sauk Trails Park.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear’s friends at the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) write:
The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras is proud to be a part of Concert in the Park, hosted by The Gialamas Co. for yet another season.
For seven consecutive years, WYSO has been invited by The Gialamas Company to be a part of this spectacular event. This special FREE concert has recently become a highlight of the summer.
The Youth Orchestra, consisting of members ages 14–18, will perform this coming Wednesday night, Aug. 12 (NOT Aug. 9 as was first stated in error), in Madison’s far west side in Old Sauk Trails Park, 1200 John Q. Hammons Drive, from 5 to 10 p.m. The music starts at 7 and runs to about 9 p.m.
The Youth Orchestra, under the direction of WYSO Music Director James Smith, will perform six works: “Festive Overture” by Dmitri Shostakovich; Movements 1 and 4 from Symphony No. 1 by Sergei Rachmaninoff; excerpts from “Die Meistersinger” by Richard Wagner; the first movement from Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished” by Franz Schubert; Suite from “The Incredible Flutist” by Walter Piston (at bottom in a YouTube video); and “Over the Rainbow.”
The evening is capped off with a marvelous fireworks display.
Before the event there will be an instrument petting zoo, face painting and Ice Cream Social. Tables, food and drinks are available for purchase. For more information, visit www.gialamas.com.
Make sure to stay after the event for a spectacular fireworks show. Set up lawn chairs, lay out blankets and put out your picnic baskets as you enjoy all of the music and activities this FREE event has to offer.
For additional information, please contact WYSO at (608) 263-3320 or e-mail at wyso@wyso.music.wisc.edu.
Tags: Arts, Chamber music, Classical music, Concert in the Park, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Dmitri Shostakovich, Festive Overture, Fireworks, Franz Schubert, Gialamas Company, ice cream, Music, Music director, Orchestra, Overture, petting zoo, Richard Wagner, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, symphony, Unfinished Symphony, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Walter Piston, Wisconsin Youth Symhony Orchestras, WYSO, YouTube, zoo
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: Today is the Fourth of July. Here is patriotic music to help celebrate, including a portrait of a truly presidential president for the purpose of comparison
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is the Fourth of July – a celebration of Independence Day when the United States officially declared its separation from Great Britain in 1776.
The day will be marked by picnics and barbecues, by local parades and spectacular fireworks – and this year by armored tanks and fighter jets in yet another expensive display of military power by You Know Who: that loudmouth man who overcompensates for dodging the draft by acting more like King George than George Washington.
The “Salute to America” sure looks like it is really going to be a “Salute to Trump.”
But whatever your politics, your preferences in presidents or the festive activities you have planned for today, there is classical music to help you mark and celebrate the occasion. Just go to Google and search for “classical music for the Fourth of July.”
Better yet, tune into Wisconsin Public Radio, which will be featuring American classical music all day long.
In addition, though, here are some oddities and well-known works that The Ear particularly likes and wants to share.
The first is the Russian immigrant composer and virtuoso pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff playing his own version of our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” something he apparently did out of respect for his adopted country before each recital he played in the U.S.:
And the second is by another Russian immigrant and piano virtuoso, Vladimir Horowitz, who was a friend and colleague of Rachmaninoff. Here he is playing his piano arrangement, full of keyboard fireworks that sound much like a third hand playing, of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” by American march king John Philip Sousa. Horowitz used the patriotic march to raise money and sell war bonds during World War II, then later used as an encore, which never failed to wow the audience:
For purposes of artistic and political comparisons of presidents, you will also find Aaron Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait” – with famous actor and movie star Henry Fonda as the narrator of Honest Abe’s own extraordinary oratory and understated writing — in the YouTube video at the bottom.
And in a ironic twist The Ear can’t resist, here are nine pieces — many orchestral and some choral –chosen by the official website of the BBC Music Magazine in the United Kingdom to mark and honor American Independence Day. It has some surprises and is worth checking out:
http://www.classical-music.com/article/nine-best-works-independence-day
If you like or favor other works appropriate to the Fourth of July or have comments, just leave word and a YouTube link if possible, in the Comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
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