The Well-Tempered Ear
How will you celebrate World Piano Day today?
22 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
Today — Tuesday, March 29, 2022 — is World Piano Day.
(Below is a restored vintage concert grand piano at Farley’s House of Pianos used for recitals in the Salon Piano Series.)
How will you mark it? Celebrate it?
It’s a fine occasion to revisit your favorite pianist and favorite piano pieces.
Who is your favorite pianist, and what piano piece would you like to hear today?
If you yourself took piano lessons or continue to play, what piece would you play to mark the occasion? Fo the Ear, it will be either a mazurka by Chopin or a movement from either a French Suite or a Partita by Johann Sebastian Bach. Maybe both!
What piano piece do you wish you could play, but never were able to? For The Ear, it would be the Ballade No. 4 in F minor by Chopin.
One of the best ways to mark the day is to learn about a new younger pianist you might not have heard of.
For The Ear, one outstanding candidate would be the Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson ( below), who has won critical acclaim and who records for Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
Olafsson has a particular knack for innovative and creative programming, like his CD that alternates works by Claude Debussy and Jean-Philippe Rameau.
He also seems at home at in many different stylistic periods. His records every thing from Baroque masters, to Mozart and his contemporaries in the Classical period — including Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach — to Impressionists to the contemporary composer Philip Glass.
But The Ear especially loves his anthology of Bach pieces (below) that include original works and transcriptions, including some arranged by himself. His playing is always precise and convincing, and has the kind of cool water-clear sound that many will identify with Andras Schiff.
You can hear a sample of his beautiful playing for yourself in the YouTube video at the bottom. It is an live-performance encore from his inaugural appearance last August at The Proms in London, where he also played Mozart’s dramatically gorgeous Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor (also available on YouTube.)
Final word: You might find some terrific pianists and performances on the Internet. Record labels, performing venues and other organizations are marking the day with special FREE recitals that you can reach through Google and Instagram.
Happy playing!
Happy listening!
Please leave a comment and let The Ear and other readers know what you think of the piano — which seems to be falling out of favor these days — and which pianists and piano pieces you will identify this year with World Piano Day.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AndrasSchiff, #BaroqueEra, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarlPhilippEmanuelBach, #Classicalera, #ClaudeDebussy, #CompactDisc, #ConcertGrandPIano, #CriticalAcclaim, #DeutscheGrammophon, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FredericChopin, #FrenchSuite, #InstagramPost, #Jean-PhilippeRameau, #JohannSebastianBach, #LivePerformance, #PhilipGlass, #PianoConcerto, #PianoLessons, #PianoPiece, #PianoTranscription, #RecordLabel, #SalonPIanoSeries, #TheEar, #TheInternet, #TheProms, #UnitedKingdom, #VikingurOlafsson, #WorldPianoDay, #YouTubevideo, Album, alternate, always, András Schiff, anthology, arrangement, Arts, audience, Bach, Ballade, Baroque, beautuful, best, blog, Blog post, blog posting, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, CD, celebrate, Chopin, clarity, Classical era, Classical music, Claude Debussy, clear, Compact Disc, composer, comtemporary, Concert, concert grand, concert grand piano, concerto, conviction, convincing, cool, creative, critical acclaim, day, Debussy, debut, Deutsche Grammophon, DG, dramatic, Early music, encore, England, Facebook, Farley's House of Pianos, favor, favorite, Frédéric Chopin, free, French Impressionism, French Suite, Glass, Google, gorgeous, hear, Home, Iceland, identify, Impressionism, inaugural, innovative, Instagram, Internet, Islandic, Jacob Stockinger, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Johann Sebastian Bach, knack, learn, lesson, link, listen, live performance, London, Love, mark, Master, movement, Mozart, Music, occasion, Orchestra, partita, performing, period, Philip Glass, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, piano lesson, piano piece, play, playing, post, precise, program, programming, Rameau, recital, record, Record label, records, restore, Salon Piano Series, sample, share, special, stream, style, stylistic, symphony, tag, terrific, The Ear, The Proms, transcription, UK, United Kingdom, venue, video, Vikingur Olafsson, vintage, water, way, wish, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, world, World Piano Day, young, YouTube
Today – Monday, March 29 – is World Piano Day. Here are links to free online recitals. What does the piano mean to you? Did it play a role during the pandemic?
Leave a 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
Today – March 29, 2021 – is World Piano Day.
That is because today is the 88th day of 2021.
Gotta have some kind of code or symbolic meaning, after all.
In any case, there are virtual online celebrations all over the world. Here is a link to the official welcoming website that also lists Spotify and SoundCloud playlists from past years and dozens of worldwide events this year, running from March 25-30: https://www.pianoday.org
You can also find more on Google, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The piano means a lot to The Ear, who listens to it and plays it. He loves, loves, loves the piano.
What has the piano and piano music meant to you in your life?
What role did the piano play for you during the past pandemic year?
Have you listened to or discovered newer, younger talent?
Do you have favorite pianists, either historic or current? What do you like about them?
Or maybe you have favorite piano pieces?
Please tell us all about you and the piano in the Comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
In the meantime you can listen to the World Piano Day “monster recital” by 17 pianists who record for Deutsche Grammophon. The “Yellow Label” – the first commercial record label — has signed a lot of great pianists in its time, and still does.
Here is a link to the YouTube DG recital, which lasts 2 hours and 50 minutes. If you go to the actual YouTube site, click on Show More to see the complete list of performers and pieces. Otherwise performers and programs are displayed on the screen:
Tags: #AliceSaraOtt, #ArthurRubinstein, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChickCorrea, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DaniilTrifonov, #DeutscheGrammophon, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FredericChopin, #HomeWebsite, #InternationalDoubleReedSociety, #JacobStockinger, #JanLisiecki, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohannStrauss, #LangLang, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MariaJoaoPires, #OnlineConcert, #PhilipGlass, #PianoMusic, #PIanoRecital, #RecordedMusic, #RecordLabel, #RichardStrauss, #RudolfBuchbinder, #Seong-JinCho, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #SviatoslavRichter, #SymbolicMeaning, #TheEar, #VirtualConcert, #VladimirHorowitz, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WorldPianoDay, #YannickNezet-Seguin, #YellowLabel, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, 2021, Alice Sara Ott, Arthur Rubinstein, Arts, Asia, asian, audience, Bach, Baldwin, Baroque, Beethoven, blog, Blog post, blog posting, celebration, Chick Correa, Chopin, Classical music, coe, commercial, composer, computer, Concert, coronavirus, Correa, current, Daniil Trifonov, Deutsche Grammophon, DG, discover, display, Early music, Europe, European, event, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, favorite, first, forward, Frédéric Chopin, Google, great, hear, historic, home website, Horowitz, Instagram, international, Jacob Stockinger, Jan Lisiecki, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Strauss, Kawai, key, Lang Lang, life, like, link, listen, local, Love, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, march, Maria Joao Pires, mean, meaning, Mozart, Music, national, new, online, pandemic, performer, Philip Glass, Pianist, Piano, piano music, piano recital, piece, play, post, posting, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, recital, Record label, recorded music, regional, Richard Strauss, Richter, role, Rudolf Buchbinder, screen, Seong-Jin Cho, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninov, share, sign, Sonata, SoundCloud, Spotify, Steinway, Strauss, Sviatoslav Richter, symbolic, symbolic meaning, tag, talent, tell, The Ear, time, today, Trifonov, Twitter, United States, video, virtual, Vladimir Horowitz, Website, welcome, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, world, World Piano Day, Yamaha, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, year, Yellow Label, you, your, YouTube
It’s Thanksgiving Day. Conductor Marin Alsop, NPR, WQXR, WFMT and Wisconsin Public Radio offer music suggestions. What piece would you choose to mark the holiday?
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
Today – Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020 — is Thanksgiving Day.
Right now, the U.S. has had more than 12 million cases of COVID-19 with more than 260,000 deaths plus all the alarming signs and conditions that many more cases and deaths are coming in the next several months.
We might be sad that we can’t be with the family and friends we usually celebrate with. But we nonetheless have many things to give thanks for during this strange and tragic time.
We can thank the vaccine researchers; the doctors and nurses; and the other health care workers who take care of Covid patients, even those who don’t observe precautions and bring on their own illness.
We can thank all kinds of people on the front lines — food and transportation workers, for example — who help protect us and care for us.
We can thank the friends, family and others who stay in touch and help get us through these trying times.
And we can thank technology that makes isolating a lot less unbearable because we have telephones, radios, TVs, CD players, computers, cell phones and virtual online ZOOM meetings and gatherings and various other events including live-streamed concerts.
For The Ear, music has never meant more or brought more comfort than during this difficult year. He is giving thanks for that as well as for the other people and things just mentioned.
So what music should we celebrate this year’s emotionally complicated and mixed Thanksgiving holiday with?
Well, you can Google sources and go to YouTube to find compilations of music appropriate to the holiday. (See one playlist lasting 90 minutes in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Famed classical radio station WQXR in New York City has five suggestions for being musically grateful: https://www.wqxr.org/story/top-five-expressions-thanks-classical-music/
And WFMT in Chicago is offering 20 suggestions based on holiday food: https://www.wfmt.com/2019/11/25/a-complete-thanksgiving-feast-in-20-food-inspired-pieces/
But here are a couple of other suggestions, some local.
Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) is always a reliable source. And tomorrow is no exception.
If WPR programming stays true to past patterns, music by American composers will be emphasized.
Plus, starting at 10 a.m. WPR will broadcast performances from the Honors Concerts (below) by middle and high school students around the state and who participate in the Wisconsin School Music Association. This year, for the first time, the performances will be virtual. But as in past years, they are sure to be moving and even inspiring.
Other fine suggestions from the world-famous conductor Marin Alsop (below), a Leonard Bernstein protégée, who recently spoke for 7 minutes to NPR Weekend Edition host Scott Simon.
Here is a link, but you should listen rather than just read the transcript if you want to hear the musical samples: https://www.npr.org/2020/11/21/937448472/this-thanksgiving-put-on-some-music-to-soothe
Do you like any of those suggestions? Were any new to you?
What piece of music would you choose to express gratitude on this particular Thanksgiving?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AmericanComposer, #Americancomposers, #AntoninDvorak, #AntonioVivaldi, #BachCantata, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CellPhone, #ChamberMusic, #CharlesIves, #ChicagoIllinois, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #ClaudioMonteverdi, #CompactDisc, #CompactDiscPlayer, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FourSeasons, #FranzSchbert, #FredericChopin, #FrontlineWorker, #GeorgPhilippTelemann, #GermanRequiem, #GiuseppeVerdi, #Googlesearch, #HappyThanksgiving, #HealthCare, #HenryPurcell, #HighSchool, #JacobStockinger, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohannStrauss, #KnoxvilleSummer1915, #LeonardBernstein, #LiveStreaming, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MarinAlsop, #MassGathering, #MiddleSchool, #NationalPublicRadio, #NewYorkCity, #NewYorkTimes, #OnlineConcert, #OperaMusic, #OrchestralMusic, #OsvaldoGolijov, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PeterTchaikovsky, #RadioStation, #RichardStrauss, #SamuelBarber, #ScottSimon, #Self-Isolation, #SocialDistance, #SocialDistancing, #StringQuartet, #ThanksgivingDay, #ThanksgivingHoliday, #ThanksgivingPlaylist, #TheEar, #TheU.S., #UnitedStates, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #WeekendEdition, #WFMTRadioStation, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WisconsinSchoolMusicAssociation, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #World-famous, #WQXRradio, #YouTubevideo, #ZoomMeeting, Aaron Copland, air, alarming, Alsop, American, Antonín Dvořák, Antonio Vivaldi, appropriate, Arts, audience, Bach, Barber, Baroque, Beethoven, Bernstein, blog, Brahms, Broadcast, Cantata, care, cases, CDs, celebrate, cell phone, Chamber music, Charles Ives, Chicago, Chopin, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, Claudio Monteverdi, comfort, coming, Compact Disc, Compact Disc player, compilation, complicated, composer, computer, Concert, condition, conductor, Copland, coronavirus, deaths, difficult, doctor, doctors, Dvorak, Early music, emotional, event, express, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, Family, famous, FM, food, forward, Four Seasons, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, friends, frontline, gathering, Georg Philipp Telemann, German Requiem, Giuseppe Verdi, give, Golijov, Google, grateful, gratitude, Happy Thanksgiving, health care, Henry Purcell, high school, Holiday, honors, host, hymn, ILLINOIS, illness, inspiring, isolating, isolation, Ives, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Strauss, Johannes Brahms, Knoxville Summer 1915, Leonard Bernstein, like, link, listen, live streaming, live-stream, local, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Marin Alsop, mark, meeting, Middle school, million, Monteverdi, months, moving, Mozart, Music, musical, National Public Radio, New York City, NPR, nurse, observe, online, opera, Orchestra, orchestral music, Osvaldo Golijov, pandemic, participate, past, patients, pattern, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, piece, playlist, post, posting, precautions, program, programming, protegee, Purcell, Radio, radio host, radio station, rdio, read, reliable, Requiem, researchers, Richard Strauss, sad, sample, Samuel Barber, Schubert, Scott Simon, service, share, sign, singer, Singing, social distance, social distancing, song, source, speak, strange, Strauss, stream, String quartet, suggestions, summer, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, technology, Telemann, telephone, Television, thanks, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day, The Ear, theme, times, touch, traditional, Tragic, transcript, transportation, trying, TV, U.S., unbearable, United States, US, vaccine, Verdi, Viola, Violin, virtual, Vivaldi, vocal msuic, vocal music, we, Weekend Edition, WFMT, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin School Music Association, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, workers, world, WPR, WQXR, year, YouTube, Zoom
UW-Madison will forego in-person concerts through the fall and go virtual. The FREE online concerts start TONIGHT, Monday, Sept. 14, at 6-8:30 p.m. with a graduate student recital
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.
PLEASE NOTE: The following post has been updated with more information since it first appeared.
By Jacob Stockinger
In ordinary times, the yearlong schedule would be set and concerts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music would be already well underway.
But these are not ordinary times – as you can tell from the silence about the UW season that usually presents some 300 events.
It has taken time, but the music school has finally worked out the basic approach to concerts during the pandemic. It will allow worldwide listening.
Audiences will NOT be present for any Mead Witter School of Music concerts or recitals this fall. Instead, a live stream of faculty recitals and all required student recitals, many of them in the new Hamel Music Center (below), will be available.
The portal to the live streaming, along with a scheduling clock and time countdown, can be found at: youtube.com/meadwitterschoolofmusic
The concert season starts tonight at 6:30 to 8 p.m. The performer is graduate student flutist Heidi Keener (below), who is giving her recital for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. The recital was postponed from March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On the school of music’s concert website you will find a biography and the program — just hover the computer’s cursor over the event: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/recital-heidi-keener-dma/.
The same information will also be on the YouTube website for the actual concert. Just click on MORE: https://youtu.be/gA6S3OXUKCc
Given so few calendar listings so far, clearly the format is still a work-in-progress.
For updated listings of other events, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/events/
The next events are slated for Oct. 2 with a student recital and another installment of the Pro Arte Quartet’s Beethoven cycle (below).
That other programs and dates are still missing is not surprising.
The entire UW-Madison from classes to sports, is in a state of flux about how to deal with the pandemic, with in-person classes paused through Sept. 25, and possibly longer.
Many questions about concerts remain as the process plays out.
All live-stream concerts will be free. But they will NOT be archived, so they will be taken down as soon as they end.
A donation link to the UW Foundation will be included to help cover the costs of the livestreaming and also other expenses.
Will choral concerts even take place, given that singing is especially risky because the singers can’t wear masks and social distancing is nearly impossible to provide with groups?
What about chamber music groups like the Pro Arte Quartet, the Wingra Wind Quintet and Wisconsin Brass Quintet? Many faculty members, who have to teach virtually and online right now, are no doubt concerned about the possible health risks of playing in groups.
And what about the excellent UW Symphony Orchestra, which The Ear considers a must-hear local orchestral ensemble? Those musicians too will have a hard time social distancing – unless individual safe performances at home or in a studio are edited and stitched together.
So far, though, we know that the University Opera will offer “I Wish It Were So,” an original revue of the American opera composer Marc Blitzstein on Oct. 23.
Here is a link to a story with more details about the production: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/08/07/classical-music-the-university-opera-announces-a-new-season-that-is-politically-and-socially-relevant-to-today-the-two-shows-are-a-virtual-revue-of-marc-blitzstein-and-a-live-operatic-version-of/
What do you think of the plans for the concert season?
Do you have any suggestions?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AcademicCalendar, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrassMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #CollinsRecitalHall, #ConcertSeason, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DoctorofMusicalArts, #EventsCalendar, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FluteMusic, #Googlesearch, #GraduateStudent, #HamelMusicCenter, #HeidiKeener, #JacobStockinger, #LaborCosts, #LiveStreaming, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MarcBlitzstein, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #Musicfaculty, #OrchestralMusic, #ProArteQuartet, #SocialDistancing, #StringQuartet, #TheEar, #TheUW, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #UW-SymphonyOrchestra, #UWFoundation, #VocalMusic, #WindMusic, #WingraWindQuartet, #WisconsinBrassQuintet, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, academic calendar, American, appear, approach, archive, archived, Arts, ask, audience, basic, Beethoven, blog, brass, calendar, cancel, canceled, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, classes, Classical music, click, Clock, Collins Recital Hall, computer, Concert, concert season, coronavirus, costs, countdown, cursor, degree, details, Doctor of Musical Arts, donation, editstich, ensemble, event, excellent, expenses, Facebook, faculty, fall, flute, flutist, flux, free, Google, graduate student, group, groups, Hamel Music Center, Health, hear, Heidi Keener, Home, hover, impossible, in person, individual, Jacob Stockinger, labor costs, like, link, listening, listing, live streaming, live-stream, livestream, local, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Marc Blitzstein, mask, masks, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, more, Music, music school, Musician, must-hear, news, online, opera, Orchestra, orchestral music, ordinary, original, pandemic, PAQ, paused, payment, performance, plans, play, portal, post, posting, postpone, postponed, present, Pro Arte Quartet, process, production, progress, question, recital, require, research, revue, risk, risky, safe, schedule, school, School of Music, search, Season, share, silence, sing, singer, Singing, social distancing, Sports, state, story, String quartet, Student, suggestion, symphony, tag, teach, The Ear, time, times, together, tonight, underway, United States, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, updated, UW, UW Foundation, UW Symphony Orchestra, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, virtual, vocal music, Website, wind music, Wind quintet, Wingra Wind Quintet, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Brass, Wisconsin Brass Quintet, work, worldwide, yearlong, you, YouTube
Classical music: Combining a ticket to a live music performance with a book or recording that is tied to the concert’s program makes a great holiday gift
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 holidays seem to arrive earlier each year.
The Ear isn’t sure why that is.
Whatever the reason, a lot of holiday gift shopping can by now seem last-minute and somewhat frantic.
But if you are shopping for a classical music fan, you are in luck if you go local.
The best way to please the recipient and also to support the local arts is to give a ticket to a live concert – always the most powerful and exciting musical experience — perhaps coupled to a related book or recording. (Below is UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor in a photo by Michael R. Anderson).
This blog doesn’t have room to list separately all the many musical groups in the area. But here are some samples that might interest you.
Through Monday, Dec. 24, the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) is once again offering a special deal for the remainder of the season. Tickets to both the “Beyond the Score” program and the remaining four season concerts, including Mahler’s mammoth “Symphony of a Thousand,” have been reduced to two price ranges: $10 and $25 for the former; $25 and $50 for the latter.
For more information, go to: https://madisonsymphony.org/concerts-events/buy-tickets/offers-discounts/holiday-tickets-sale/
If you want to see what other performers and presenters are offering – say, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below), the Oakwood Chamber Players, the Madison Bach Musicians, the Middleton Community Orchestra, the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, the Willy Street Chamber Players, the Wisconsin Union Theater, the Overture Center and the Madison Opera, to name just a few of the more prominent names – just go to Google and type in their name to search and go to their home page on the web.
Many of them have all sorts of other discounts for students, seniors, subscribers, groups and others.
Don’t forget that Madison features many FREE concerts, especially at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
True, a few of the most attractive and gift-worthy UW concerts are ticketed ($17 for adults, $7 for UW students) – including the annual Schubertiade, the yearly recital by pianist Christopher Taylor and the world premiere of the new Viola Sonata by John Harbison (below). But you could offer to take someone to a free chamber music or orchestral concert and provide companionship, transportation and maybe even dinner.
Here is a link to the very busy lineup and informative previews at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music: https://www.music.wisc.edu
To top it off, you could add one of two outstanding local books The Ear puts at the top of the holiday gift guide.
The first is John Harbison’s “What Do We Make of Bach” (below top) which is short, very readable, thoroughly engaging and wonderfully informative in an autobiographical way that helps us celebrate both the 80th birthday of Harbison and the upcoming 334th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach.
The second book, now in its second printing, is a comprehensive history of the Pro Arte Quartet (below) done by John W. Barker, who often writes for this blog as well as Isthmus.
Of course, a CD with one of the composers or works on a program also makes a fine complement, whether it is a Mahler symphony, a Bach suite or Schubert’s “Swan Songs” from his final year.
Finally, The Ear wants to know: What are your suggestions for a for holiday gift of classical music?
It could be a live concert or a recording, either something new or an old favorite.
It could be a particularly informative and enjoyable or entertaining book, including biographies of Leonard Bernstein (including one by his daughter Jamie Bernstein, below), whose centennial has been celebrated this season.
Over the next few days, The Ear will post suggestions and Top 10 lists by professional critics. But in the end, it is the audience, the ordinary public, that many people want to hear from.
So perhaps you will leave your ideas in the COMMENT section.
Thank you! And have Happy Holidays — a Merry Christmas, a joyous Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year.
Tags: #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BaroqueMusic, #BeyondTheScore, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChristmasHoliday, #ChristopherTaylor, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzSchubert, #Googlesearch, #GustavMahler, #HappyHolidays, #HappyNewYear, #HolidayGift, #HolidayGiftGuide, #HolidaySeason, #HolidayShopping, #HomePage, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JamieBernstein, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnHarbison, #JohnW.Barker, #LeonardBernstein, #LiveConcert, #LiveMusic, #LocalArts, #MadisonBachMusicians, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MerryChristmas, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MusicCritic, #NewYear, #OakwoodChamberPlayers, #OrchestralMusic, #OvertureCenter, #ProArteQuartet, #SeasonSubscriber, #SeniorCitizen, #SymphonyofaThousand, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViolaMusic, #ViolaSonata, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WisconsinBaroqueEnsemble, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WorldPremiere, age, Arts, audience, autobiography, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, Baroque music, Beethoven, Beyond the Score, biography, birthday, blog, Book, centennial, Chamber music, choral music, Christmas, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, Compact Disc, companionship, composer, conductor, daughter, dinner, discount, Early music, engaging, ensemble, entertaining, Entertainment, exciting, Facebook, frantic, Franz Schubert, free, gift, gift guide, Google, group, Gustav Mahler, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, History, Holiday, holiday gift, home page, informative, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jamie Bernstein, Johann Sebastian Bach, John DeMain, John Harbison, John W. Barker, Kwanzaa, last minute, Leonard Bernstein, like, link, live concert, live music, local, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mahler, Mead Witter School of Music, Merry Christmas, Middleton Community Orchestra, Music, music critic, new, New Year, Oakwood Chamber Players, old, opera, Orchestra, orchestral music, Overture Center, Pianist, Piano, post, posting, powerful, Pro Arte Quartet, professional, program, readable, recital, recording, reduced, reduced cost, Schubertiade, Season, senior, senior citizen, share, Shopping, short, singer, Sonata, song, Student, subscriber, Suite, support, symphony, Symphony of a Thousand, tag, ticket, transportation, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, Viola, viola sonata, vocal music, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, word, world premiere
Classical music: The new FREE concert brochure for the UW-Madison’s music school is both entertaining and informative — it’s a MUST-GET, MUST-READ and MUST-USE
9 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
The new 2018-19 concert season has started. And the Internet makes it very easy to take out your date book and plan out what you want to attend.
If you just use Google to go to home websites, you will find lots of information about the dates and times of performances; cost of tickets; works on the program; biographies of performers; and even notes about the pieces.
That is true for all large and small presenters, including the biggest presenter of all for live classical music events: The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. Just click on the Events Calendar when you go to http://www.music.wisc.edu
You can also subscribe to an email newsletter by sending an email to: join-somnews@lists.wisc.edu
And you can also download the helpful mobile app for your smart phone that gives you what is happening today with searches possible for other months and days.
But there is something more old-fashioned that you should not forego: the printed season brochure (below).
It is 8-1/2 by 11 inches big and has 24 pages, and it features numerous color photographs. Along the right hand edge is an easy-to-use calendar of major events for the month.
It is a fun and informative read that gives you even more respect for the School of Music than you already had because it contains a lot of background and human interest stories about students, faculty members, guest artists, alumni and supporters. Editor and Concert Manager Katherine Esposito and her staff of writers and photographers have done an outstanding job.
The brochure also has a lot of news, including updates about the new Hamel Music Center that is being built on the corner of Lake Street and University Avenue and will open in 2019, and about the seat-naming, fundraising campaign ($1,500-plus) that is being used for the new performance center.
A particularly useful page (23) gives you information about ordering tickets (many have increased to $17 this year) either in advance or at the door (for the latter you are asked to show up 30 minutes early to avoid long lines); about finding parking, both free and paid; and about making special arrangements for disability access.
In larger and bolder type, the brochure tells you about stand-out special events: the 100th birthday tribute to Leonard Bernstein being held tonight (Saturday, Sept. 15) at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall; the fifth annual Brass Fest on Sept. 28 and 29; the University Opera’s production of Monteverdi’s “The Coronation of Poppea” on Nov. 16, 18 and 20; the annual Schubertiade on Jan. 27; the world premiere of a viola sonata by John Harbison on Feb. 17; the Choral Union’s joint performance with the Madison Symphony Orchestra of Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” (Symphony No. 8) on May 3, 4 and 5; and much, much more.
In short, the brochure is an impressive publication that also provides many hours of enjoyable browsing while you educate yourself about the state of music education at the UW-Madison.
The only major shortcoming The Ear perceives is that lack of specific programs by some individuals and groups that must surely know what they are going to perform this season but apparently didn’t report it. Maybe that can be remedied, at least in part, next year.
Still, the brochure is successful and popular, which is why the UW sent out 13,000 copies – up from 8,000 last year. If you want to get one, they will be available at concerts until supplies run out. You can also order one to be mailed to you by emailing music@music.wisc.edu
Do you have the UW music brochure?
What do you think of it?
Do you find it useful? Enjoyable?
What do you suggest to improve the brochure, either by adding something or deleting something or doing it differently?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AcademicCalendar, #BrassFest, #BrassMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ClaudioMonteverdi, #ConcertManager, #ConcertSeason, #EventsCalendar, #FacultyMember, #FranzSchubert, #FreeParking, #FundraisingCampaign, #GuestArtist, #GustavMahler, #HomeWebpage, #HomeWebsite, #HumanInterest, #JohnHarbison, #LeonardBernstein, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MobileApp, #MusicEducation, #MusicPresenter, #MusicSchool, #MusicStudent, #NamingRights, #NewMusic, #Old-fashioned, #SeasonBrochure, #SmartPhone, #SymphonyofaThousand, #TheCoronationofPoppea, #TheInternet, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #UWChoralUnion, #ViolaSonata, #WorldPremiere, access, accommodation, alumni, Arts, Bach, background, Baroque, Beethoven, Bernstein, biographies, biography, birthday, brochure, calendar, campaign, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Choral Union, Classical music, classicalmusic, composer, concert season, concerto, conductor, cost, day, disability, donor, Early music, editor, email, enjoyable, event, events, faculty, Franz Schubert, free, fun, Fundraising, Google, human interest, information, informative, Internet, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Harbison, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, Mead Witter School of Music, member, Mobile app, Monteverdi, month, Music education, New Music, newsletter, notes, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, paid, parking, performance, Piano, piece, popular, presenter, printed, program, Schubertiade, seat, smart phone, Sonata, story, Student, subscribe, subscription, successful, supporter, symphony, Symphony of a Thousand, The Coronation of Poppea, ticket, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, useful, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Website, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, world premiere
Classical music: Today is the start of Fall. Here is autumnal music by Richard Strauss. Plus, UW-Madison soprano Jeanette Thompson makes her FREE debut tonight at 7 p.m. in Mills Hall.
1 Comment
ALERT: UW-Madison faculty soprano Jeanette Thompson gives her FREE debut recital tonight at 7 p.m. in Mills Hall. Guest performers are pianist Thomas Kasdorf and faculty colleague baritone Paul Rowe.
Thompson has put together a concert of some of her favorite love songs, though not always typical of love songs: some of them are about a love that is lost, some of them are about a love desired, and some of them are about a love for God.
These songs include excerpts from Gustav Mahler’s Rückert Lieder and Johannes Brahms’ Volksbuchlieder. In addition to Rückert, they include some of her favorite poets like Charles Baudelaire and Eduard Möricke. She will perform songs by Cole Porter and George Gershwin, and will be joined by baritone Paul Rowe to sing two of the most beautiful “Porgy and Bess” love duets ever written.
Thompson (below) will conclude the concert with some of her favorite spirituals, including her mother’s favorite song, “His Eye is on the Sparrow.“
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is the autumnal equinox, which arrives at 3:02 p.m. CDT. It marks when the day has an equal amount of daylight and night.
It also means that today is the first official day of Fall.
And despite the hot weather right now, Fall is often a great time to start returning to indoor activities.
That makes it a good time for listening to classical music.
There are the usual candidates such as Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and its modern counterpart “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” by tango master Astor Piazzolla.
If you want to hear other season-appropriate music, YouTube, Spotify, Classical-music.com and other websites have generous compilations. Just Google “classical music for autumn.”
But today The Ear want to feature just one selection to celebrate the season. It is soprano Jessye Norman singing “September” from “Four Last Songs” by Richard Strauss.
What is you favorite music to greet autumn with?
Use the COMMENT section to let us know, along with a link to a video performance if possible.
Tags: activity, art song, Arts, Autumn, autumnal equinox, baritone, Baudelaire, beautiful, beauty, Buenos Aires, Chamber music, choral music, Classic-music.com, Classical music, Cole Porter, Concert, day, daylight, debut, desire, duet, eye, faculty, fall, folk song, Four Last Songs, Four Seasons, Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, free, George Gershwin, God, Google, indoor, Internet, Jacob Stockinger, Jeanette Thompson, Jessye Norman, Johannes Brahms, John Paulson, lieder, light, Love, love duet, love song, Madison, Mahler, Master, Mörike, Mother, Music, New York Times, night, opera, Orchestra, Paul Rowe, Pianist, Piano, Piazzolla, poem, poet, Poetry, Porgy and Bess, recital, Richer Lieder, September, singer, Sonata, song, soprano, sparrow, spiritual, Spotify, symphony, tango, Thomas Kasdorf, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Vivaldi, vocal music, Website, YouTube
Classical music: Listen to live “eclipse music” during today’s solar eclipse
2 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is the day a lot of people have been waiting for for a long time.
The United States will experience a solar eclipse (below).
By now you’ve heard enough about not looking directly at the sun because of the severe damage you risk doing to your eyes.
But indirectly you can watch and also hear it unfold from about 11:15 a.m. CDT for three hours. And you can see it and hear about through any number of media, including television, radio and the Internet. Just Google it and take your choice.
What you may not know is that the entire eclipse in the U.S, will be accompanied by the famed and always adventurous Kronos Quartet (below top) playing an ingenious score – which uses the energy from the sun during the eclipse to create notes — written especially for this occasion by the contemporary San Francisco composer Wayne Grim (below bottom) especially for this occasion.
You can hear a sample of Grim’s music for another scientific project at the Exploratorium in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Here are links to the stories on National Public Radio (NPR) and the web, which feature a link to the live-streamed performance from the Exploratorium in San Francisco:
https://www.space.com/37845-kronos-quartet-serenades-total-solar-eclipse.html
And for good measure, here is a link to a story about the first photograph ever taken of a solar eclipse – the one that appears above. The daguerreotype dates from July 28, 1851 and was taken by Johann Julius Friedrich Berkowski.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kionasmith/2017/08/20/behold-the-first-photograph-of-a-solar-eclipse/
Tags: airship, America, Arts, Berkowski, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, contemporary music, create, Creation, daguerrotype, damage, day, eclipse, energy, Exploratorium, eye, eyes, float, Google, Internet, Jacob Stockinger, Kronos Quartet, live-stream, Madison, NASA, National Public Radio, note, notes, NPR, photograph, Radio, San Francisco, science, scientific, score, solar, solar eclipse, String quartet, sun, Television, time, today, TV, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, wait, Wayne Grim, Wisconsin, Zeppelin
Recent Comments
 | samanthacrownoversbc… on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Polly Kuelbs on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
| welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
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
5 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE 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
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.
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AbrahamLincoln, #AdoptedCountry, #ALincolnPortrait, #AmericanMusic, #AmericanPatriotism, #BBCMusicMagazine, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CharlesIves, #CheckOut, #ChoralMusic, #DonaldJ.Trump, #EuropeanImmigration, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FighterPlane, #FightJet, #FourthofJuly, #GeorgeWashington, #Googlesearch, #GreatBritain, #HenryFonda, #HonestAbe, #IndependenceDay, #JetPlane, #JoanTower, #JohnPhilipSousa, #KingGeorge, #LeonardBernstein, #MarchKing, #MilitaryPower, #MovieStar, #NationalAnthem, #OrchestralMusic, #PIanoRecital, #PresidentTrump, #SalutetoAmerica, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #Star-SpangledBanner, #StatueofLiberty, #TheEar, #TheStarsandStripesForever, #TheU.S., #UnitedKingdom, #UnitedStates, #VirtuosoPianist, #VladimirHorowitz, #WarBonds, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WorldWarll, #YouKnowWho, #YouTubevideo, A Lincoln Portrait, Aaron Copland, Abraham Lincoln, act, activities, Actor, adopt, adopted, airplane, American, anthem, armor, armored, arrangement, artistic, Arts, audience, barbecue, BBC, BBC Music Magazine, blog, celebrate, celebration, Charles Ives, check out, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, colleague, comment, comparison, composer, Concert, country, declare, display, dodging, Donald Trump, draft, encore, expensive, extraordinary, Facebook, famous, favor, festive, fight, Fireworks, flag, forward, Fourth of July, friend, George Washington, Google, Great Britain, hand, Henry Fonda, Honest Abe, honor, immigrant, immigration, Independence Day, ironic, irony, Jacob Stockinger, jet, Joan Tower, John Philip Sousa, King, King George, Leonard Bernstein, like, link, local, loudmouth, Madison, man, march, march king, military, military power, money, movie, movie star, Music, narrator, national anthem, occasion, oddities, official, oratory, Orchestra, orchestral, overcompensate, parade, patriotic, patriotism, performer, Pianist, Piano, picnic, plane, Politics, power, preference, President, President Donald Trump, President Trump, presidential, reader, recital, respect, Russian, salute, Salute to America, section, separation, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninov, share, spectacular, star, Star-Spangled Banner, Statue of Liberty, subscriber, surprise, symphony, tag, tanks, The Ear, The Stars and Stripes Forever, The U.S., today, truly, Trump, twist, U.K., understate, understated, United Kingdom, United States, version, virtuoso, Vladimir Horowitz, war bonds, well-known, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, work, World War ll, worth, wow, writing, you know who, YouTube