The Well-Tempered Ear
Here’s music to mark Mother’s Day
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Sunday is Mother’s Day 2024.
The holiday celebrating mothers, grandmothers and women whose are like mothers to us is celebrated around the world in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Mothers have long provided inspiration to composers, performers and listeners.
The Ear’s mom loved to hear him practice and play Chopin’s Waltz in E minor and Rachmaninoff’s popular Prelude in C-sharp minor (played by the composer in the YouTube video at the bottom), which dropped out of fashion for many years but now seems back in favor, especially as an encore.
Mom was proud of her pianist son and once even let the telephone sit near the piano when I was playing the Rachmaninoff for someone who had called her long-distance and wanted to hear more of what was until then just background noise to her conversation.
Anyway, here is one of the best pieces I have seen for you to read and listen to as you celebrate Mother’s Day. Some of the music is sure to be very familiar, other music less so.
Here are 20 pieces, with brief introductions and translations, about mothers from the website Interlude in Hong Kong:
Here’s to you, Mom.
Do you have a piece to dedicate to your mom?
Did your mother have a favorite piece she liked to hear?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Pianist Yuja Wang’s new ‘Vienna Recital’ is another triumph
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By Jacob Stockinger
Yuja Wang remains the hottest pianist on the touring concert circuit — and not just for her daring, high fashion clothes and her sensuous legs and arms, and her especially expressive face.
Lang Lang might make more money.
Newcomer Yunchan Lim might inspire more anticipation.
And veterans Martha Argerich and Emanuel Ax might command more authority for their interpretations.
But the supremely talented China-born, U.S.-educated Wang remains in very high critical regard and high popular demand — something that the release just yesterday of her latest album “The Vienna Recital” is sure to sustain and increase.
The recital’s program features an eclectic and somewhat unusual mix of works by Beethoven, Scriabin, Isaac Albéniz, Nikolai Kaspustin and Philip Glass (whose Etude No. 6 you can hear Wang perform in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The Ear also likes seeing that Wang uses the music through a printed score on what appears to be an iPad.
Here is a link to a rave review by Tal Agam from the The Classic Review that is based in Tel Aviv, Israel:
What do you think of Yuja Wang?
Have you listened to The Vienna Recital?”
What do you think of it?
Do you intend to listen to it?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Here are Gramophone’s 12 best recordings for March
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By Jacob Stockinger
Gramophone magazine, based in the UK, is probably the best and most influential periodical about classical music for the general public.
Every month, the editors pick a recording of the month with 11 others to make up a dozen great opportunities for listening. The reviews — which often favor British performers and composers — include links to excerpts on streaming services.
Would you like to hear the prolific super-virtuoso pianist Marc-André Hamelin play his own compositions, including his Variations on a Theme of Paganini? See the YouTube video at the bottom for an astonishing display of pianism.
Or an obscure opera by Leos Janacek?
Or historic recordings of the violinist Joseph Szigeti?
Or the contemporary composer Nicola LeFanu?
Maybe a spring bouquet of songs about flowers?
Then check out this month’s choices for the Best Of.
And if these reviews interest you, check out the other stories and reviews at the bottom of the Gramophone webpage.
Here is a link:
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Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s new CD and Friday night concert champion racial diversity
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By Jacob Stockinger
“Musical Landscapes in Color” is a five-year initiative by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra with its award-winning, composer-in-residence Dr. William Banfield (below), who has produced a body of work in the past 25 years that includes music, books, teaching and creative work that contributes to contemporary arts leadership.
The cultural undertaking aims to elevate the voices of an array of living, diverse composers of color throughout the United States. The project represents a significant step towards diversifying the classical music landscape through compositions and audiences, according to the WCO.
The first of several installments (below) — “Harmony in Black” — has just been released by Albany Records.
The album is available in a physical format and for digital streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube, where you can sample it at the bottom.
Performed and recorded live on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, it features excerpts from three compositions: one by four-time Grammy nominee Patrice Rushen entitled “Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory”; and two by renowned composer Banfield entitled “Testimony of Tone, Tune, and Time” and “Symphony No. 8: Here I Stand.”
Their three compositions do not quote spiritual melodies directly, but do embody the spirit of those songs by drawing either on direct quotations of speeches or writings.
Multi-Grammy-nominated artist Patrice Rushen (below) is admired by many for her groundbreaking achievements including serving as Musical Director for the 46th, 47th and 48th Annual Grammy Awards.
CONTENTS:
Patrice Rushen: Movement 1: ”Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory”
Dr. William Banfield: (starting at 8:10): “Testimony of Tone, Tune and Time” — Symphony No. 8
Performers are: retired City of Madison, Dane County and State of Wisconsin Judge Paul Higginbotham (below) as the narrator; saxophonist Matthew Sintchak; and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra under conductor and music director Andrew Sewell.
For more background, including a release reception, go to a story in Madison 365:
A WORLD PREMIERE THIS FRIDAY NIGHT
The project continues with a concert that takes place this Friday night, March 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center features the WORLD PREMIERE of Banfield’s Symphony No. 14 “Revelation.”
Guest artists include the Madison Youth Choirs, the Festival Choir of Madison and the Edgewood College Chamber Singers. Soloists include soprano Angela Brown, tenor Ben Johnson and baritone William Volmar.
Opening the 90-minute concert is Symphony No. 1 in G major, Op. 4 (1901) by British composer Edwin York Bowen, whose music shows influences of Rachmaninov, Chopin and Tchaikovsky.
Tickets are still available and cost $34.50, $75 and $95. For more information and tickets, go to: https://wcoconcerts.org/
Have you heard Banfield’s music?
What do you think of it?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Google can now identify music if you hum, whistle or sing it
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By Jacob Stockinger
You know how frustrating it feels when you can recall a tune but can’t identity the composer or the piece?
It eventually gets to be an ear worm, an obsessive unknown you can’t quite recall, and can be very unsettling. The longer it doesn’t come to mind, the more you want it to.
Now Google has just developed an app that allows you to hum or whistle or sing a melody into your phone — even off-key — and then it identifies what piece of music it is and who composed it.
It is called “Hum to Search” and also uses the vast musical offerings of YouTube, which is owned by Google. (Apple’s popular Shazam app and Siri cannot identify music by humming.)
The new app is available on both iOS iPhones/iPads and Android systems and phones.
Here is a link to the story — and a test run with the popular Puccini aria “O mio babbino caro” — provided by the British radio station ClassicFM:
https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/google-hum-sing-search-song/
And here is a guide from Google, with background, about how it works and how to use it:
https://blog.google/products/search/hum-to-search/
Will you try it? Find it useful?
Have you already tried it on your own? How well did it work?
Is it good for instrumental and orchestral music?
Classical as well as pop, rock and jazz?
The Ear wants to hear.
The Ear also wants to know if you have ever used one of the other apps like Shazam and SoundHound where you hold the phone next to music — live or recorded — and it identifies the composer and composition.
Do they work well?
Which one is especially good for classical music?
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Classical music: The Oakwood Chamber Players will give two performances this weekend of “Celebration” – a program that mixes holiday-themed music with stories and poems. Plus, Naxos Records releases its FREE Advent app for iOS and Android platforms to bring you music from December 1 to Christmas Day.
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NEWS: A good friend of this blog who works at Naxos Records writes: “Monday marked the release of our Advent Calendar app for iOS and Android platforms. The app is FREE and will supply you with 1 complete musical track for each day of Advent starting on this Sunday, December 1, up to Christmas Day. The Naxos Advent Calendar App can be downloaded to any iPhone, iPad, or Android device. Go to iTunes or Google Play.
By Jacob Stockinger
This coming Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon, the Oakwood Chamber Players (below) will weave together heart-warming folk tales from around the world along with a feast of holiday music. The concert will feature musical performances from the familiar to folk, from classical to jazz, and from duos to nonets.
The family-friendly stories, interspersed throughout the concert, drawn from the wealth of global storytelling, are both cheering and poignant, expressing the cultures from which they are drawn.
The Oakwood Chamber Players will present Celebration! on this Friday November 29, at 1:30 p.m. and on Sunday, December 1, at 1:30 p.m. at the Oakwood Center for Arts and Education, 6205 Mineral Point Road. (In past year, the concert was called “Holiday Lights,” I believe, and was performed twice on the same day.)
Guest artists flutist Elizabeth Marshall(below) and oboist Jennifer Morgan (below bottom) will join the core musicians of the ensemble for the concerts.
Tickets are available at the door: $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors and $5 for students.
There is holiday-related music covering quite a range from popular to traditional to folk in a variety of genres from trios to nonets. The music will be interspersed with stories and poems.
The program includes: the Motet from “Cantate Domino” by Orlando di Lasso (below top); Six Christmas Pieces, Op. 72 by Felix Mendelssohn; “Christmas Time is Here” by Vince Guaraldi with Vince’s jazz interpretation; “Shepherd’s Hey” by Percy Grainger (below bottom); and “Troika” by Sergei Prokofiev. 
In keeping with the ensemble’s global theme for the year, some sets are grouped by geographic region. For example, “Where Are You, Little Star” by Modeste Mussorgsky (below); the Slovak folk music of “Pastorela” as arranged by Tomacek; and Trepak” (at bottom in a popular YouTube video) from the ballet suite for “The Nutcracker” by Piotr Tchaikovsky; and also “Dormi, Dormi, O Bel Bambino,” a traditional Italian song; and “A La Nanita Nana” and “Riu Riu Chiu,” both traditional Spanish music.
This is the second concert in the Season Series titled “Origination: Exploring Musical Regions of the World.” Upcoming concerts by the Oakwood Chamber Players Concerts, performed at Oakwood Village and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum Visitors Center, include:
- “Nordic” – February 1 and 2
- “Russian Radius” – March 22 and 23
- “Down Under” – May 17 and 18
The Oakwood Chamber Players is a group of Madison-area professional musicians who have rehearsed and performed at Oakwood Village for 30 years.
For more information about the group, concerts, tickets and performers, visit www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com
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Classical music news: GRAND OPERA on a SMALL SCREEN? How well does Apple’s new iPad 3 and the Metropolitan Opera’s new mobile subscription archive app work? Here are the results of a test run.
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By Jacob Stockinger
I stopped by the nearby Apple store of Friday. It’s always a fun place to go. I love the gadgets and I love the service.
This time I just wanted to check out some slick laptop bags for an upcoming trip – which it turns out, they don’t carry anymore. Just my luck.
But even early in the day the place was packed with people lined up and even sitting down outside and waiting.
“Are you looking for an iPad,” I was asked as I entered the store.
“Not yet,” I said, and went about my business.
But clearly Apple – which took such a ribbing, a real drubbing, about the name when the first iPad was announced – is having the last laugh
And it is a big, hearty and very profitable last laugh — now that it is already on there third model of the device, iPad 3 (below), which is supposed to have super-sharp screen resolution as well as many more features.
Everybody wants in on the fun, it seems.
And that includes the Metropolitan Opera, which has revamped it mobile subscription app to work with iPads.
So, just how does GRAND opera look and sound on a SMALL screen and SMALL sound system?
You can check out a convincing an detailed test run by the perceptive and creative blogger extraordinaire Anastasia Tsioulcas (below), of NPR’s “Delayed Cadence” blog, via this link:
But I would like to know and hear your thoughts on the matter.
Have any Well-Tempered Ears – and Eyes — out there tried the new Met app on an iPad?
How did it work?
What do you think?
Does the model of the iPad matter?
The Ear wants to hear.
And so, I suspect, do the Met and Apple.
Tags: App Store, Apple, Apple Store, Articles, Hardware, IOS, IPad, iPad 3, iPhone, IPhone 4, IPod, MacBook, Macintosh, Metropolitan Opera
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