The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra opens its new season at 7:30 p.m. – NOT 8 — this coming Friday night. The program includes symphonies by William Boyce and Franz Schubert along with the Violin Concerto by Tchaikovsky
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By Jacob Stockinger
One by one, the major groups in town are getting their new concert season under way.
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below) will take its turn this coming Friday night in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
PLEASE NOTE: The traditional starting time for the WCO Masterworks concerts has been changed from 8 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The Ear isn’t sure whether it is for the convenience of audiences or because of the new security measures at the Overture Center. But he likes the earlier starting time since WCO programs are usually very generous.
True to his programming philosophy, WCO music director and conductor Andrew Sewell is mixing the very popular with the rarely heard and the almost completely unknown.
The most popular and well-known work, the Violin Concerto in D major by Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky features Russian violinist Ilya Kaler (below) at the soloist in the surefire work.
Kaler sounds very promising, since he is the only violinist ever to won gold medals at three prestigious competitions — the Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Paganini competitions. In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear him perform a work by Fritz Kreisler at the Heifetz Festival.
The Symphony No. 4 in C minor by Franz Schubert (below) is a youthful work, but it possesses a surprisingly mature power deriving from its mood and mystery — perhaps because he composed it in the favorite key of his mentor and idol Ludwig van Beethoven. Hence its nickname, “Tragic.”
It should also be an outstanding performance because Schubert’s music is one of conductor Sewell’s many strengths.
William Boyce (1711-1779) was a Baroque-era English composer, a contemporary of George Frideric Handel, who was more popular in his own day. But who has been making something of a comeback, thanks to the early music movement.
Boyce (below) wrote six symphonies, and No. 5 in D Major on this program promises some pleasant surprises. The Ear doesn’t recall ever hearing Boyce performed live in Madison, though that is hardly the definitive word. Maybe he just missed it.
Single tickets are $10 to $80. For tickets, a sample of Ilya Kaler’s playing and background information, visit:
http://www.wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-i-2/
Tags: Andrew Sewell, Arts, Baroque, Chamber music, Classical music, Competition, concerto, conductor, Early music, English, Franz Schubert, Fritz Kreisler, George Frideric Handel, Gold medal, Heifetz Festival, Ilya Kaler, International Tchaikovsky Competition, Jacob Stockinger, Jascha Heifetz, London, Madison, Music, Music director, Orchestra, Overture Center, Paganini, program, Russia, security, Sibelius, symphony, Tchaikovsky, Tragic, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Violin concerto, William Boyce, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: This Tuesday night, the Overture Center hosts a choral concert by the Mansfield University Concert Choir and the Madison Youth Choirs under former Madisonian Peggy Dettwiler. Plus, the UW-Madison Pro Arte Quartet and soprano Elizabeth Hagedorn perform this afternoon, live and via streaming, at the Chazen Museum of Art.
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ALERT: The UW-Madison‘s Pro Arte Quartet performs at the Chazen Museum of Art today at 12:30 p.m. The concert, which features soprano Elizabeth Hagedorn and includes works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Ottorino Respighi and Ludwig van Beethoven, takes place in Brittingham Gallery 3 and is FREE to the public. You can also stream it live. Here is link:
http://www.chazen.wisc.edu/visit/events-calendar/event/sal-3-6-16/
By Jacob Stockinger
This Tuesday night, at 7:30 p.m. in Overture Hall at the Overture Center, there will be a choral concert by the Mansfield University Concert Choir (below) and the Madison Youth Choirs.
The two groups will perform under the direction of former Madisonian Peggy Dettwiler (below). For more information, visit her web site:
Composers include Johann Sebastian Bach, Charles Villiers Stanford, Olivier Messiaen, Benjamin Britten, Lily Boulanger and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Tickets are $20 except for student rush tickets, which are $10 on the day of the performance.
For tickets and more information, including specific works on the program, go to:
http://madisonsymphony.org/mansfieldchoir
Here is some background:
The Mansfield University Concert Choir directed by Peggy Dettwiler has distinguished itself internationally by winning three gold medals at the World Choir Games in 2012 and the gold medal at the Robert Schumann International Choir Competition in Germany.
(You can hear the Mansfield Choir performing in Carnegie Hall in January, 2014 in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
The Mansfield Choir will be joined by the Madison Youth Choirs (below top), directed by Michael Ross (below bottom).
Madison Symphony Orchestra organist Samuel Hutchison (below) will accompany the choirs.
Tags: Arts, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, Carnegie Hall, Charles Villiers Stanford, Chazen Museum of Art, choral music, Classical music, Early music, Germany, Gold medal, harp, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Mansfield University, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Messiaen, Michael Ross, Music, Nadia Boulanger, Orchestra, organ, Peggy Dettwiler, Pro Arte Quartet, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Respighi, Robert Schumann, Samuel Hutchison, soprano, String quartet, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Wisconsin, World Choir Games, YouTube
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Classical music: Famed radio station WQXR names the best 100 recordings of 2019. Listen to samples of them here
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By Jacob Stockinger
Did you get a gift card for the holidays?
Are you looking how to spend it by either purchasing CDs or subscribing to a streaming service?
Help and guidance are available.
Few names in the airing of classical music carry more prestige than the famed radio station WQXR in New York City.
To check out the radio station’s choice of the best recordings of 2019 is also to see where the worlds of recording and concertizing are heading.
Such trends include rediscovering neglected composers and championing new music as well as women composers, such as Clara Schumann, and composers of color, such as the American composer Florence Price (below), who has often been featured on Wisconsin Public Radio this past year.
But you will also find noteworthy recordings of such classics as Johann Sebastian Bach – and two of his rarely heard cousins instead of his sons – and well as outstanding recordings of symphonies and piano sonatas (below, the set by Igor Levit) for the upcoming Beethoven Year to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of the composer.
And you will also find names of outstanding performers you may not have heard of — such as the exceptional Chinese pianist Haochen Zhang (below), a Van Cliburn Competition gold medalist whom The Ear would like to see perform here.
Here is a link to 25 picks with commentaries– plus another 75 titles and samples, without commentary, to round out a Top 100.
Happy listening!
https://www.wqxr.org/story/best-classical-recordings-2019/
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