The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: This Friday at noon, technology meets Beethoven when UW-Madison pianist Kangwoo Jin plays a FREE concerto performance
6 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
This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale — tomorrow, March 6 — at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features an unusual concert in which classical music meets high technology.
Kangwoo Jin (below, in a photo by Steve Apps for the Wisconsin State Journal), a gifted and prize-winning pianist from South Korea, will perform the second and third movements of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58.
But instead of a second piano or a full orchestra, Jin will be accompanied by a newly developed interactive app that adjusts to Jin and allows him to play his solo part flexibly with a real orchestra accompaniment that has been recorded minus the piano part.
Jin is studying for his doctorate with UW Professors Christopher Taylor and Jessica Johnson. He will graduate this May.
Next week Jin — who has won the UW-Madison Concerto and Beethoven Competitions and who teaches at Farley’s House of Pianos, the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and the UW Continuing Education program– will open and close the UW-River Falls Piano Festival with two performances of the same Beethoven concerto with the St. Croix Valley Symphony Orchestra
Jin suffers from hemophilia and has to be careful about injuring himself from over-practicing and over-playing. He has a fascinating and inspiring personal story to tell. Here is a link to a story about him in the Wisconsin State Journal: https://madison.com/wsj/entertainment/uw-pianist-shares-musical-gift-despite-health-challenge/article_fdba6f0f-9245-5816-a97c-c4f3a6e2d0ed.html
You can follow his Facebook page. And here is a link to Jin’s own website, which has more biographical information and videos: https://www.pianistkangwoojin.com
Jin says that, in addition to the two concerto movements, he will also play several short pieces: “Clair de Lune” (Moonlight) by Claude Debussy; the “Raindrop” Prelude by Chopin; and two song transcriptions by Franz Liszt — Schubert’s “Litany” and Schumann’s “Widmung” (Dedication).
The orchestral accompaniment for the Beethoven concerto is performed by MusAcc — an iPad app. It is an app that can customize and manipulate the audio, much like an actual instrument, in real time. Think of it as an orchestra in a box that you can use anywhere.
Jin explains the reasons for his FUS concert, which starts at NOON (not 12:15 p.m., as it used to be) and goes to about 1 p.m.:
“Playing a concerto is not possible in that venue, so I am using a recorded file for the orchestra part,” Jin says. “My friend Yupeng Gu, who developed this audio controlling device, will conduct and control the pacing of the recording so that the sound synchronizes with my playing. It is quite incredible and will be a very interesting concert.”
“I hope this breaks the barrier of having to have a big venue and other difficulties for performing concertos, and lets local people enjoy a more accessible and diverse repertoire,” he says. “If people like it, I would like to play the whole concerto and maybe more concertos — hopefully, all five Beethoven piano concertos — this way. This is something I have not tried before, so I am excited about it.”
“People have much easier access to solo performances, but not to concertos due to many limitations,” Jin adds. “So I expect them to have a novel experience with this concert.”
In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear a similar performance, done with the same device, featuring a different pianist playing the first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #Clairdelune, #ClaudeDebussy, #ContinuingEducation, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FranzLiszt, #FredericChopin, #FridayNoonMusicale, #FullOrchestra, #HighTechnology, #HomePage, #HomeWebsite, #HumanInterest, #InteractiveApp, #JacobS, #JessicaJohnson, #KangwooJin, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicEducation, #OrchestralAccompaniment, #PianoConcerto, #PianoConcertoNo.4, #PianoFestival, #PianoTranscription, #Prize-Winning, #RaindropPrelude, #RealTime, #RiverFalls, #RobertSchumann, #SouthKorea, #SouthKorean, #St.CroixValleySymphonyOrchestra, #SteveApps, #TheEar, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UW-RiverFalls, #WisconsinConservatoryofMusic, #WisconsinStateJournal, #YouTubevideo, #YupengGu, accompany, accomplished, acocmpaniment, app, Arts, audience, Audio, Beethoven, biography, blog, Chopin, Clair de Lune, Classical music, Claude Debussy, close, Competition, composer, Concert, concerto competition, concertos, conduct, Continuing Education, control, customize, Debussy, dedication, develop, device, different, doctoral, doctorate, drop, event, Facebook, Farley's House of Pianos, festival, file, first, First Unitarian Society of Madison, flexible, flexibly, forward, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, free, Friday Noon Musicale, friend, gifted, graduate, Gu, hemophilia, home website, human, human interest, information, injure, instrument, interactive, interesting, intuitive, invent, IPad, Jacob Stockinger, Jessica Johnson, Kangaroo Jin, Korea, like, link, litany, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, manipulate, Mead Witter School of Music, meet, minus, moonlight, movement, MusAcc, Music, Music education, open, Orchestra, orchestral accompaniment, pace, pacing, part, perform, performer, personal, Pianist, Piano, Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven), piano festival, playing, possible, post, posting, practicing, Prelude, rain, raindrop, Raindrop Prelude, real, real time, recorded, rehearse, relative, River Falls, Robert Schumann, sample, Schumann, second, share, small, society, solo, South Korea, South Korean, St. Croix Valley Symphony Orchestra, Steve Apps, story, Student, symphony, synchronize, tag, teach, technology, Tempo, The Ear, third, time, transcription, Unitarian, United States, University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unusual, use, UW, UW-Madison, UW-River Falls, venue, Website, win, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Wisconsin State Journal, YouTube, Yupeng, Yupeng Gu
Classical music: Opera in the Park takes place TONIGHT!!! Start your week – and every day – with John Zeck’s “Composers Datebook.” Should Wisconsin Public Radio air it?
1 Comment
ALERT: Because of weather and storms, the Madison Opera’s 15th annual FREE “Opera in the Park” has been postponed from last night to TONIGHT. Here is a link with more details about the event:
By Jacob Stockinger
You might recall that last Sunday—at the start on a new week, just like today — The Ear suggested a FREE app for iPhones, iPads and iPods that offers a daily briefing on classical music.
It is called “Composer of the Day” and is put together by the music department at Wittenberg University.
Here is a link to that post and that app:
But there is another FREE classical musical datebook that a loyal and knowledgeable reader of this blog suggested. The reader specifically praised the fact that it works on many different platforms.
It is “Composers Datebook” with host John Zeck (below), and it is done for Minnesota Public Radio and then distributed through American Public Media.
It seems similar to the format of “The Writer’s Almanac” with Garrison Keillor that, unfortunately, Wisconsin Public Radio no longer carries. But maybe WPR would consider including the “Composers Datebook” in its “Morning Classics” lineup? It certainly would be an educational addition, something just right for an alternative to commercial radio.
The two-minute daily diary streams nicely. It has many more details and examples about composers and includes sound clips of their work. It also does more than one entry for each day.
Turns out that the Ear already wrote about it in 2010. But it is worth a repeat visit to remind readers about this fine resource.
Here is a link, which you can bookmark or subscribe to, that post:
And here is a direct link to “Composers Datebook.”
http://www.yourclassical.org/programs/composers-datebook/episodes
Try it.
See what you think.
And decide whether Wisconsin Public Radio should air it.
Then tell The Ear and his readers what you think.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: American Public Media, app, Arts, blog, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, composer, Composers Datebook, Composers of the Day, concerto, Early music, Garrison Keillor, IPad, iPhone, IPod, Jacob Stockinger, John Zeck, Madison Opera, Minnesota Public Radio, Mozart, Music, National Public Radio, NPR, opera, Opera in the Park, Orchestra, podcast, storm, weather, Website, wisconsin public radio, Wittenberg University
Classical music: Composer of the Day app is a great way to start a new week
8 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Which composer was born today?
What is he or she best known for?
And what does his or her music sound like in FREE samples?
Finding out is a great way to start a new week.
And start every day.
So here is a website you might want to look at and check every day. It has one-sentence mini-biographies of 366 composers (yep – one for Leap Year) and links to music samples.
It also allows you to search backwards, although not forward beyond “today” – one improvement it could make that would also making planning for blogs and listening a lot easier. The Ear bets that would give it a 5 rating.
It is called Composer of the Day and it is compiled by Wittenberg University. Here is what it looks like:
It is a FREE app that is available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. You can find it in the iTunes stores.
The Ear has it and likes it and uses it.
So does WQXR. That is the famous classical music radio station in New York City and the most listened-to classical music station in the U.S. And WQXR named it among the Top Five classical music apps for iPhones.
So do others, who give it a 4+ rating.
So you might like it too.Try and see.
Here are links:
http://www.wittenberg.edu/academics/music/apps.html
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/composer-of-the-day/id336077559?mt=8
Enjoy!
And use the COMMENT section tell us what you think.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: app, App Store, Baroque, Beethoven, Cello, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, concerto, Early music, Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel, IPad, iPhone, IPod, iTunes, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart, Music, opera, Orchestra, Piano, Radio, rating, Sonata, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wittenberg University, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WQXR
Classical music: Are concert halls and opera houses becoming refuges and shelters from the on-line world of the Web and social media?
3 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Are concert halls and opera houses becoming refuges and shelters from the on-line world of the Web and social media?
New York Times senior music critic Anthony Tommasini (below) thinks so. He published a long essay this week justifying his view.
Along the way he also offers other suggestions, from alternative venues to informal dress, for how to increase audiences and attendance. And he thinks that live performances might help regain shortened attention spans.
In terms of the digital world, Tommasini even goes so far as to think that providing a refuge from social media could be selling points for the survival of live performances in concert halls and opera houses.
(Below bottom is an iPad in Carnegie Hall, below top, is a photo by Karsten Moran for The New York Times. Tommasini also discusses smart phones and cell phones.)
The Ear hopes Tommasini might be right, but fears he might be naïve – especially when it comes to younger audiences.
The Ear thinks that the new media may well end up being more powerful than such old media as opera and classical music. He suspects that concert halls and opera houses will end up accommodating and incorporating new media.
But he hopes he is wrong.
What do you think?
And how do you view Tommasini’s arguments or ideas?
The Ear wants to hear.
Here is a link to the essay:
Tags: Anthony Tommasini, Apple, Arts, Carnegie Hall, cell phone, Chamber music, Classical music, critic, IPad, Jacob Stockinger, Metropolitan Opera, Music, music criticism, New York City, opera, Orchestra, Piano, smart phone, social media, The New York Times, Twitter, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Classical music: Streaming gains even more momentum. Korean carmaker Hyundai will abandon in-dash CD players and titan CD seller Naxos will launch a high-definition streaming service.
3 Comments
No doubt about it.
Streaming seems the sound wave of the future.
That’s what the news about sales and trends points to, anyway.
Streaming through such services at Spotify or various app stores and retailers like Amazon.com looks to be the inevitable next step from CDs, just as CDs followed tapes and tapes followed LPs and vinyl (78, 45 and 33-1/3 RPM)-– even though vinyl is making something of a comeback among audiophiles because of its superior, less harsh sound quality.
But consider some new developments coming out of Asia, which seems to be setting the trend for the dissemination of Western classical music more than Western culture or Western industry is doing in Europe and the United States.
Korean carmaker Hyundai will get rid of CD payers in its next year’s models. Instead the music connections will run through Bluetooth electronics that link up solely to MP3 players and iPods. (Below is a photo of the new dashboard taken at a recent industry show.)
Here is a link to a story that has more technical details plus a defense of KEEPING in-dash CD players – below is Japanese carmaker Honda’s more traditional in-dash CD player and changer — and the virtue of listening to one entire CD:
Then consider the fact that Naxos – the Hong Kong-based budget CD label that now dominates the CD industry – is about to launch a high-definition streaming service.
http://www.classicalmusicmagazine.org/2015/01/naxos-launches-hd-streaming-service/
Here is some background about the company, based in Singapore, that will service Naxos’ streaming site:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2422084
The Ear has very mixed feelings about this news. He listens to all sorts of formats in the car — radio, CDs and iPods.
What about you?
Would you buy a new car without an in-dash CD player, a car that relies only on wireless and streaming technology?
And how dissatisfied are you with the sound quality of CDs versus streaming or other formats?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: AM, amazon.com, Android (operating system), Apple Inc., Apple Lossless, Arts, Asia, Audiophile, AV receiver, Bluetooth, CD player, CDs, Chamber music, Classical music, Compact Disc, Compact Disc player, Computer speaker, culture, digital, FM, Honda, Hong Kong, Hyundai, indsutry, industry, IPad, IPod, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Korea, MP3, Music, Naxos, opera, Orchestra, Piano, Portable media player, Radio, Retail, retailers, Sngapore, Spotify, stores, streaming, tape, technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vinyl, Western culture, Western industry
Classical music: The University of Wisconsin Pro Arte Quartet in Belgium — Day 6: The quartet plays its final concert -– a midday concert in an old converted farm barn on a new campus in an old country. A reception and dinner follow. Then the quartet splits up, one member traveling on and the others departing for back home and braving U.S. customs.
4 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Editor’s note: The Well-Tempered Ear has asked people on tour with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) to file whatever dispatches. updates and photos are possible — from iPads, computers, cameras and smart phones — so that they can to keep the fans back here at home current with what is happening on the concert stage and off.
By now it has become apparent that the Pro Arte Quartet’s week-long tour of Belgium is as big an event to the Belgians and to local residents there as it is to Madisonians, Wisconsinites and alumni of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
All week long, Sarah Schaffer, who manages the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte String Quartet, sent text and photo essays.
Current members are violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia; violist Sally Chisholm; and cellist Parry Karp.
Today’s Part 6 covers the final concert and events at the Belgian campus of Louvain-La-Neuve (LLN) and the return to the U.S.
Once again, ones sees that a concert tour keeps a frenetic pace loaded with hard work. A concert tour is no vacation!
If you want background or need to catch up, here links:
To Day 1:
To Day 2:
To Day 3:
To Day 4, Part 1:
To Day 4, Part 2:
To Day 5:
DAY 6: Sarah Schaffer (below) writes about the Last Day:
Disembarking the train from Bruxelles Centrale we were once again greeted by paparazzi on the platform — the inveterate translator Alain Boucart (below right holding camera, with tour organizer Anne van Malderen on the left) is always on hand, camera at the ready!
The university at Louvain-la-Neuve or LLN (below) was created from scratch, out of nothing, in 1976, a consequence of the language/culture split, Flemish-Walloon, in 1968.
The Dutch campus of this Catholic college remains in Louven, the new French campus here in Louvain. There are about 15,000 students, and a town of about 40,000 has grown up around it, all brand new, hence “neuve,” and something of a dissonance where everything else “belgique” has been “tres ancien.”
The campus was built literally out in the fields around the remains of four abandoned farms, at last explaining the curious name of the concert hall: La Ferme du Biereau.
It’s an old grange or barn, beautiful old timbers exposed in the renovation that transformed it into a concert hall with a surprisingly attractive acoustic; warm and forthcoming; invitingly beautiful and comfortable as well.
One of the students in audio engineering, Thomas Vanelstlande (below, with his assistant Marine Haitt), will be recording the concert as his final exam for the reception. The recording set-up is below bottom.
The concert is one on the afternoon series sponsored by LLN , under the guidance of Guillaume Wunsch. Programs are offered every couple of weeks.
Again, the capacity audience brought an impressive attentiveness and concentration to Belgian composer Benoit Mernier’s new work, String Quartet No. 3, which was commissioned by the Pro Arte Quartet for its historic centennial and which asks a lot on a first hearing.
It is such a pleasure to be in the company of such intentional engagement. We’d thought the famous Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber a strange closer, coming after the Mernier, but it turns out to be in fact a rather appropriate coda.
Happy for a chance to meet Benoit’s wife Helene (below with her husband beside her and his father in the background). She reminds us she’s heard the piece once already, when it was streamed live from Wisconsin Public Radio on its “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen” broadcast on March 2, at its Madison world premiere, and we once again mourn the loss — announced two weeks ago — of that distinguished statewide concert series.
We were alerted that a reception would follow the concert, and assumed the champagne in the lobby was it, appropriate for 2:30 in the afternoon.
What we were UN-prepared for was the formal lunch, for us and about 20 guests, that ensued. It was a beautiful buffet, quite elaborate, with very nice wines. Many interesting conversations, many new friends, many promises to follow up and stay in touch.
And after THIS, we are ferried to Waterloo in cars, for a more private supper with Alain and Anne and the Prevost brothers (below, Michael Arthur on the left, Jean Marie on the right). Helene and Benoit Mernier, still not feeling well, and in fact now feverish, have to decline. It is, in all, a very sweet closing to our time in Belgium.
Many toasts and congratulations, but most thanks and special tribute to Anne, who put together this special week. “I em veery ‘appy!” she tells me quietly.
Alain has purchased our train tickets, and Michel Arthur Prevost accompanies us to Brussels Centrale. He has ambitious ideas for a return trip.
A CODA
It is over.
Parry went on to the UK for a couple of weeks of concerts. “Having a wonderful time in England,” he emails.
The rest of us parted company at the Brussels airport — three quartet members on United Airlines to Chicago, John and I went through Amsterdam.
BUT — and this is the coda to the dispatches:
Sally exited Belgium and returned to the US without incident.
The “fish” lady (the agent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that enforces the CITES law about protecting endangered species) was waiting for her at O’Hare, whisked her through in 4 minutes, and even got her a shortcut through the lines and out to Van Galder. (She’d made appointment the required 48 hours ahead).
Below are her instrument “passport,” her CITES documentation. It is readily accepted this time, unlike on our arrival in Belgium.
All goes smoothly.
Sally is so relieved.
I’ll see Sally today — we’re writing up the experience to be ready for an article and other inquiries — and will learn if she’s heard about Parry’s England entry. I’m guessing she has info. I guessing he was fine, with the “EU” stamp received in Belgium.
Thanks for keeping up with us while we zoomed around Belgium. It was extraordinary to be there with these musicians, and to feel the gravitas and all the promise of the incredible legacy they continue to carry on.
Tags: Amsterdam, Arte, Arts, Belgian, Belgium, Benoit Mernier, Brussels, Cello, Chamber music, Chicago, CITES, Classical music, David Perry, IPad, Jacob Stockinger, Louvain-La-Neuve, Madison, Mozart, Music, O'Hare airport, Pro Arte Quartet, U.S., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, UK, United Airlines, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin
Classical music: The UW Pro Arte Quartet in Belgium -– Day 5. The Belgian premiere of a Belgian composition at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels draws a big enough crowd to run out of programs and bring three curtain calls. A visit to the Royal Conservatory Library reveals the notebooks of Mozart’s wife Constanza and takes the quartet back to its roots for a performance. Plus, the Pro Arte gets recorded by Belgian TV and radio.
3 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Editor’s note: The Well-Tempered Ear has asked people on tour with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) to file whatever dispatches. updates and photos are possible — from iPads, computers, cameras and smart phones — so that they can to keep the fans back here at home current with what is happening on the concert stage and off.
By now it has become apparent that the Pro Arte Quartet’s tour of Belgium is as big an event to the Belgians and to local residents there as it has been to Madisonians, Wisconsinites and alumni of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
Just before taking a day’s rest, Sarah Schaffer (below), who manages the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte String Quartet, sent this text and this photo essay. They cover the return to Brussels from Dolhain Limbourg, the hometown of founding violinist Alphonse Onnou. Then the members of the quartet visited the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels where they toured the archives and library and also performed, including a rehearsal that was recorded for the national radio network.
Current members are violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia; violist Sally Chisholm; and cellist Parry Karp.
Today’s Part 5 covers the extensive events at the Royal Conservatory of Music, where the frenetic pace just kept gathering speed. A concert tour is hard work, no glamorous vacation!
If you want background or need to catch up, here are links:
To Day 1:
To Day 2:
To Day 3:
To Day 4, Part 1:
To Day 4, Part 2:
Sarah Schaffer writes:
Today brought the Belgian premiere of Belgian composer Benoît Mernier’s Quartet No. 3, commissioned by Pro Arte Quartet for its centennial, a special commission harking back to its Belgian origins, in the very hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music where the founding quartet played countless times, both as students and after.
Engineers from musiq3, the French-speaking Belgian national radio, set up equipment and record the concert rehearsal for later broadcast. TV and newspapers have also covered the quartet.
It was so perfectly appropriate, and so very moving: this hall, this city, this composer, this work, this audience of mainly students, all at the ages now that the original Pro Arte Quartet members (below) Onnou, Halleux, Prevost and Maas would have been back then.
There were so many concert attendees that the printed programs (below) ran out.
The short program included — after remarks from Anne van Malderen (below top) on the history of the quartet and an introduction of his work, with examples played by PAQ, by Messieur Mernier (below bottom): Mernier’s Third Quartet, the Adagio and Fugue, K. 546, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, American composer Randall Thompson‘s “Wind in the Willows” and the famous Adagio for Strings from the String Quartet No. 1 by American composer Samuel Barber.
Applause called the PAQ back to the stage three times.
Our visit to the Conservatoire began earlier in the day with a tour by librarian Olivia Wahnon (below).
This distinguished archival collection contains the most manuscript holdings among all Belgian libraries, and she had prepared for our benefit some beautiful displays of rare materials.
Some of what we saw was related to the Pro Arte and string quartets. There were many manuscript scores and parts, particularly from the collection of second violinist Laurent Halleaux, and many concert programs.
But not everything was about PAQ! We see a Medieval handbook manuscript of chant:
We also had a glimpse of Constanze Mozart’s diary (below, in a photo by Sally Chisholm, you can see it is multilingual, and contains many beautiful drawings and paintings), a page of manuscript by Franz Liszt, and the teensiest, tiniest bound volume of Medieval manuscripts. Such treasures! Constanza wrote about her husband Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “Husband genius. Still poor.”
For us, the division of the institution into two nationalities—Flemish and Walloon—seems somewhat incomprehensible and impossible to manage and navigate. Yet it is so much the history and culture of the whole country, especially evident after yesterday’s elections, it is simply taken in stride.
Although the whole infrastructure (below are photos of the conservatory’s exterior) is in a state of dilapidation—built in the mid-19th century, with a major renovation planned beginning in 2015 — it was in its way more touching and meaningful to see it now, while we can more easily imagine how it looked and felt when the first Quatuor Pro Arte (QPA) inhabited its halls and spaces a century ago.
Composer Benoit Mernier (below top, applauding the Pro Arte Quartet, and below bottom) reports he is well pleased with the progress that he hears in the playing of his piece, from its world premiere March 1 in Madison to now, just 2-1/2 months later. He hears the players inhabiting the work more: details are more precise; at the same time they bring more fluidity; and the overall arc and shape are now more convincingly presented.
One more chance to improve even more at the final concert tomorrow at the university in Louvain-la-Neuve.
Tomorrow: Our last day and final concert, at Louvain-la-Neuve. The week has sped by.
Tags: archives, Arte, Arts, Belgian, Belgium, Benoit Mernier, Brussels, Cello, Chamber music, chant, Classical music, Constanza Mozart, David Perry, IPad, Jacob Stockinger, library, Louvin-la-Neuve, Madison, manuscripts, Medieval, Mozart, Music, Pro Arte Quartet, Radio, Randall Thompson, royal, Royal Conservatory, Royal Conservatory in Brussels, Royal Conservatory of Music, Royal Library, String quartet, Television, TV, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Classical music: The Pro Arte Quartet in Belgium –- Day 4, Part 2. The quartet performs in the town of Dolhain-Limbourg.
9 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Editor’s note: The Well-Tempered Ear has asked people on tour with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) to file whatever dispatches. updates and photos are possible — from iPads, computers, cameras and smart phones — so that they can to keep the fans back here at home current with what is happening on the concert stage and off.
By now it has become apparent that the Pro Arte Quartet’s tour of Belgium is as big an event to the Belgians and to local residents there as it is to Madisonians, Wisconsinites and alumni of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Just before taking a day’s rest, Sarah Schaffer, who manages the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte String Quartet, sent this text and this photo essay. They cover the trip from Brussels to Dolhain Limbourg, the hometown of founding violinist Alphonse Onnou, and the official greetings and events that awaited the quartet. (Current members are violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia; violist Sally Chisholm; and cellist Parry Karp.)
Today’s Part 2 covers the concert at Dolhain-Limbourg.
Here are links to Day 1:
To Day 2:
To Day 3:
And to Day 4, Part 1:
Schaffer’s latest installment once again shows the hard work of undertaking such a concert tour, which involves a lot more than playing and performing music. In this case, it also involves being cultural ambassadors.
After such an already full day, there is still the evening concert!
By evening the Kursaal (below) has warmed up and is now much more welcoming.
We learn, as we wait through the sound check/rehearsal that the local television crew is on hand! They hope to interview a quartet member, but are so busy down the street at the Onnou house that they barely make it in time to film the concert.
Anne van Malderen opens the evening with a touching tribute to Onnou, and them outlines the concert program because there are, surprisingly, no printed versions on hand this evening:
Franz Joseph Haydn: Quartet in D Major, Op. 20, N. 4
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Adagio & Fugue, K. 546
Alexander Glazunov: Five Novelettes
Intermission
Igor Stravinsky: Elegy for Solo Viola
Cesar Franck: Quartet
It’s hard to imagine a program more strongly evocative of the original Quatuor Pro Arte (below, in 1928)!
Haydn represents their recorded legacy. Mozart is included because, well, it’s Mozart. The Glazunov was one of original violinist Alphonse Onnou’s favorite pieces, here in Onnou’s hometown, in the Kursaal, which he likely performed in himself.
The Stravinsky Elegy for Solo Viola (below, Sally Chisholm playing the Stravinsky Elegy at the Wisconsin Union Theater in 2012) was commissioned by founding violist Germaine Prevost as a memorial to Onnou, who died in Madison just months after the quartet was stranded there, before ever playing a first concert with the newly artists-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
And of course the tour-de-force quartet by Cesar Franck (below) is by one of Belgium’s most celebrated composers.
It’s very touching, this entire program, this small town.
And such an audience — rapt, attentive, knowledgeable, appreciative with the applause long and sustained, much whistling, many “bravos!” shouted out. An incredibly warm reception.
Those of us who have been with David and Suzanne and Sally and Parry this whole long day, coming after the past few days so full and dramatic, can hardly believe the intensity and concentration they’ve brought to this performance.
Once again, we hear a ravishing performance by this amazing quartet. (below, playing the same Haydn String Quartet at the concert on March 2, 2012.)
Sunday is Election Day in Belgium -– and will bring a well-deserved day off for everyone.
Then on Monday, we go to the Conservatoire Royale, where the Quatuor Pro Arte originated — just students who, like music students everywhere, formed a pick-up group.
Sometimes they last a semester or two, sometimes they make a real go of it during and beyond school, and in one extraordinary case they made it to . . . 100! (Below is the Pro Arte Quartet in 1940.)
AN INTERMEZZO AND A PRELUDE
Pro Arte Quartet violist Sally Chisholm (below) writes of her latest adventure that occurred when there group arrived back in Brussels. It has no pictures but, trust me, it is well worth the read:
“Last night a few steps from our hotel, in the center of the square, or rather Place, is the area normally occupied by touring jazz/rock groups during the multi-week jazz festival here in Brussels.
It was 8:30 p.m., and I was strolling for the last time of the day.
Mozart. “Eine Kleine Nacht Musik.” (The familiar opening movement is at the bottom in a popular YouTube video that has over 8 million hits.)
Hmm … and there they were: 3 young musicians, 2 violinists and a cellist, playing beautifully in front of a rapt audience of locals and tourists from many countries.
The open violin case was filling up with euros as listeners quickly tiptoed up to lay in their offering, then tiptoe away all smiles.
One violinist saw me, and the “fiddlers rose” (that red discoloration that comes from years of gripping the instrument) on my neck, immediately elbowing her partner.
When they finished, and started packing up, I went over to congratulate them.
You play?
Yes, I said. Alto.
(That’s French for the viola.)
Are you students here?
Yes, at the Conservatoire.
Oh, I will be there tomorrow!
Pro Arte, Pro Arte! Yes, we are coming to hear you!
So I will see my new friends again tomorrow.
Mozart is very alive here in Brussels, with beautifully trained young musicians representing him well to an enthusiastic and grateful audience.
Tags: Alexander Glazunov, alto, Arte, Arts, Belgium, Brussels, buskers, busking, Cello, Cesar Franck, Chamber music, Classical music, conservatory, David Perry, Dolhain Limbourg, Eine Kleine Nacht Musik, Franck, Franz Joseph Haydn, Glazunov, Haydn, Igor Stravinsky, IPad, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Mozart, Pro Arte Quartet, Stravinsky, TV, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Day 4 — the UW Pro Arte Quartet goes to Dolhain-Limbourg, Part 1 of 2: Prelude to the concert. Here is a photo essay of the Pro Arte Quartet’s day-long homage stop at the Belgian hometown of the group’s founding violinist Alphonse Onnou.
9 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Editor’s note: The Well-Tempered Ear has asked people on tour with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) to file whatever dispatches. updates and photos are possible — from iPads, computers, cameras and smart phones — so that they can to keep the fans back here at home current with what is happening on the concert stage and off.
By now it has become apparent that the Pro Arte Quartet’s tour of Belgium is as big an event to the Belgians and to local residents there as it is to Madisonians, Wisconsinites and alumni of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Just before taking a day’s rest, Sarah Schaffer, who manages the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte String Quartet, sent this text and this photo essay. They cover the trip from Brussels to Dolhain Limbourg, the hometown of founding violinist Alphonse Onnou, and the official greetings and events that awaited the quartet. (Current members are violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia; violist Sally Chisholm; and cellist Parry Karp.) Part 2 will cover the concert at Dolhain-Limbourg.
Here are links to Day 1:
To Day 2:
And to Day 3:
Schaffer’s latest installment also shows the hard work of undertaking such a concert tour, which involves a lot more than playing and performing music. In this case, it also involves being cultural ambassadors.
SATURDAY, MAY 24
We have to catch to train to Verviers to get to Dolhain Limbourg, the hometown of the quartet’s original founding violinist Alphonse Onnou. (Below, from left, are Parry Karp, John Schaffer, Sally Chisholm and David Perry. Below, hometown fans Linda and Bob Graebner of Madison come along.)
So the day began with a peaceful, dozy train trip through verdant farm country southwest out of Brussels, gradually giving way to steep lush hillsides crisscrossed by many streams.
Trains passed more and more frequently, passing through the long tunnels the closer we got to Verviers, where we were advised not to take the connection to Dolhain but were instead met by a large and eager delegation, jabbering excitedly in, to us, yet another dialect of specifically Belgian French.
As we find out, the town is charming and the residents go out of their way to host and honor the quartet, which they clearly welcome with open arms.
They divvied us up into waiting cars and off we sped the 10K or so to Dolhain, birthplace of the quartet’s founding violinist Alphonse Onnou. Our hosts, it turned out, were all members of a local historical society club and were very excited about our visit.
First stop: Le Kursaal, the concert hall, which on initial glimpse appeared somewhat disheartening and unpromising. Much negotiating over the placement — high stage off flat floor, or on the floor, and lighting. A poster announces our appearance.
No notes were tried. We hoped on this cool damp day that it might be warmer when we returned, and that lighting and seating questions would be solved then.
Next stop: Old Dolhain Limbourg (not the cheese!), the ancient town with castle and military lookouts on top of the hill. Very charming!
Here we were joined by more club members and treated to a “typical” lunch at the cafe. About 18 of us in all by now. (From left are Sally Chisholm, Parry Karp, Linda Graebner, David Perry and Suzanne Beia.)
We take part in a municipal ceremony at 4 p.m.
Genealogical charts of the Onnou family were shared, as well as a thick sheaf of papers describing — mostly in French, a few things translated to English — the historical sites of the village, which we experienced in person on the guided walking your after the meal.
The Mayor of Dolhain Limbourg is the woman on the left dressed in white. The interpreter-translator Alain Boucart is in red. The bald head belongs to the head of the Historical Society of Dolhain Limbourg. Then comes the head of the Alphonse Onnou celebration and exhibit, with tour organizer and quartet documentarian Anne van Malderen dressed in the turquoise sleeveless top and wearing eyeglasses.
Elections being on everyone’s minds — political posters everywhere, no concerts scheduled for Sunday because of elections in Belgium, the same reason the royals are sequestered — perhaps this explains Bob Graebner’s enthusiastic comment on meeting the Mayor of Dolhain: “I’d vote for her!”
Many speeches followed: the mayor, president of the historical society, and Onnou and Quatuor Pro Arte expert Anne Von Malderen (below left), all presented in French and then in translation (for our sakes) by an increasingly fatigued interpretor Alain Boucart (below right), who gave briefer and briefer summaries as the proceedings wore on, finally promising a written translation by email after the event.
At the reception that followed we were treated to excellent performances by the municipal band, made all the more enjoyable accompanied by chocolates and local cognac! (Below top and, below bottom in photo by Sally Chisholm of the band’s youngest member.) They sounded terrific and in our honor played “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
And after another glass of wine, the grandniece of Alphonse Onnou autographed the first violin part of the score to composer Alexander Glazunov’s “Five Novelettes,” a favorite of Onnou that the quartet is to perform there, for violinist David Perry.
Tags: Alexander Glazunov, Alphonse Onnou, Arte, Arts, band, Belgium, Brussels, Cello, Cesar Franck, Chamber music, Classical music, Concert, David Perry, Dolhain Limbourg, Franck, Glazunov, IPad, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Music, Pro Arte Quartet, Sally Chisholm, train, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verviers, Viola, Violin
Classical music: On Day 3 in Belgium, the University of Wisconsin Pro Arte Quartet plays at the Royal Library, gives a gift to King Philippe and keeps performing a lot of hard and varied music.
12 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Editor’s note: The Well-Tempered Ear has asked people on the one-week tour of Belgium by the UW Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) to file whatever dispatches and photos they can to keep the fans at home current with what is happening on the concert stage and off.
Thanks goodness for iPads, iPhones, Androids and other smart phones, computers and digital cameras!
Here is a link to the first installment:
And here is the second installment:
After troubles at customs and catching up from jet lag, the Pro Arte Quartet got down to the business of rehearsing and performing.
The quartet members -– violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violist Sally Chisholm, cellist Parry Karp and manager Sarah Schaffer — and their entourage of “groupies” also spent time meeting and greeting the descendants of the original quartet members who started the ensemble over a century ago at the Royal Belgian Conservatory of Music in Brussels before World War II stranded them in Madison.
That’s when they became artists-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of music, where they have remained ever since.
Here are some updates on Day 3:
Read on:
Sarah Schaffer (below), who also took the photos, writes:
Day 3 — FRIDAY:
The “coats and cases” space was the room that houses the Bela Bartok archives at the Royal Library!
Here is the exterior with its name in the two official languages of Belgium: Flemish and French.
The Bartok Room (below) has many rare and unique items – letters, photos, etc. It all rather takes one’s breath away. We each received a copy of a recent publication by the collection’s archivist, Denijs Dille.
FYI, the fifth person, on the right in the photo (below) taken after the bows that followed the concert on the Arthur De Greef Auditorium — named for the early 20th-century Belgian composer — is Hubert Roisin, Counselor to the King.
Mr. Roisin (below, in a close-up by violist Sally Chisholm) seemed very honored to be in attendance. We were certainly honored by his presence at the concert.
Here are the gifts we gave Monsieur Roisin for King Philippe: A framed photo (below top) of the original members and the current members of the Pro Arte Quartet plus an honorary letter (below bottom) from University of Wisconsin-Madison Rebecca M. Blank.
PAQ played to a mostly full house and was very warmly received. Many accolades filled the air at the private reception afterwards.
Afterwards, I pressed the willing-but-exhausted quartet into a “photo shoot” taking advantage of the spectacular architecture and gardens surrounding the library.
Then they all went off to rest.
It has been a very strenuous few days, and tomorrow is especially long, beginning with an 11 a.m. train trip to original quartet member Alphonse Onnou’s town of Dolhain, arriving in time for a 1 p.m. lunch. (Below is a photo of the Pro Arte Quartet in 1928. Alphonse Onnou is on the far left.)
Then it gets jam-packed with a full day of commemorations — including the municipal band offering “American” tunes in our honor — all BEFORE the 8 p.m. concert.
We will all be very glad to have Sunday “off.”
Not only is the SCHEDULE strenuous, but so also is the REPERTOIRE — with very few repeats over all these concerts.
The norm on tour is to recycle a handful of pieces.
Not so the Pro Arte Quartet, not on this trip.
They are holding up well but are, understandably, fatigués. (Below is the dual-language program notes from the concert of music by Bela Bartok and Franz Joseph Haydn — two composers the early Pro Arte Quartet was celebrated for and identified with — at the Royal Library.)
More soon.
Tags: Android, Arte, Arthur De Greef, Arts, Béla Bartók, Belgium, Brussels, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, composer, computer, digital camera, Dolhain, Flemish, Franz Joseph Haydn, French, IPad, iPhone, Jacob Stockinger, King, Madison, Music, Pro Arte Quartet, Rebecca M. Blank, royal, Royal Library, smart phone, String quartet, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, World War II
Recent Comments
 | Bill Lane on The new Apple Music Classical… |
 | Augustine on The new Apple Music Classical… |
 | samanthacrownoversbc… on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 