The Well-Tempered Ear
Why did obituaries for pop star Eric Carmen omit Rachmaninoff?
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By Jacob Stockinger
The American songwriter and pop singer Eric Carmen (below) died in his sleep at 74 last Sunday. The cause has still not been revealed.
I haven’t checked out all the obituaries for Carmen, who fronted as the lead singer for The Raspberries before striking out on his own prolific and profitable career.
In the obits I did sample, I heard how the 2001 movie “Bridget Jones’s Diary” used Carmen’s “All By Myself” (1975) — with Renée Zellwegger on drums in the staring role — at the beginning of the hit film.
I heard how Céline Dion scored a huge hit with her version of the same song.
I heard praise quoted from the American superstar horror author, and sometimes amateur rock band member, Stephen King.
But all the obituaries thatI read on the web, saw on TV and heard on the radio omitted a central element of Carmen’s career in soft rock: his “theft” or “borrowing” — depending on what you think of his justification and the results of the lawsuit he lost — of music by Sergei Rachmaninoff (below).
Indeed, Carmen’s two biggest hits owe their irresistible melodies and harmonies — their tunes, if you will — to the Russian late Romantic composer (1873-1943).
Carmen — who was a trained classical pianist — certainly had a good ear, as his year-to-year, back-to-back hits demonstrated.
And he wasn’t ashamed to use what that ear heard and what he liked.
“All By Myself” uses a theme from the second movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (1901). The main melody of the last movement also gave rise to the often recorded popular song “Full Moon and Empty Arms.”
Carmen’s “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again” (1976) uses the main theme from the slow movement of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 (1907).
If you liked Carmen’s songs, you just might like the original Rachmaninoff works, if you don’t already know them.
Here is a link to a story by Cynthia Dickison for yourclassical.org that not only recounts what happened with the lawsuit but also — with YouTube videos — offers comparisons between the original Rachmaninoff and Carmen’s reworkings.
https://www.yourclassical.org/story/2024/03/12/eric-carmen-sergei-rachmaninoff
Chances are very good that you will also hear the complete Rachmaninoff works on radio stations and in live performance a lot sooner and certainly a lot longer than you will hear Eric Carmen’s music.
Did you know about Eric Carmen’s “use” of Rachmaninoff?
What do you think of it?
What do you think it was ignored in obituaries?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Is impromptuing the impromptu ok?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Recently, The Ear heard an unusual version of the very familiar Fantaisie-Impromptu for solo piano by Chopin.
It was played by the 35-year-old, prize-winning Russian pianist Pavel Kolesnikov (below). You can hear his performance in the YouTube video at the bottom.
What made it unusual is that the pianist took liberties and added passing notes or runs and a melodic overlay to part of it.
It seemed odd at first.
Why mess with Chopin, who was such a meticulous crafter of beauty?
But when you think about it, it makes a certain sense.
It is, after all, an impromptu. And an impromptu is based on and suggests improvisation.
So why not impromptu the impromptu? Why not add some extra spontaneity or variation, since many impromptus take the form of a theme with variations and elaborations.
These days performers are even expected to elaborate the Baroque repertoire, especially Bach and Handel. And it is becoming standard practice to do so with Mozart’s piano sonatas and concertos.
Now the Fantaisie-Impromptu is by far the most popular of Chopin’s four impromptus, no doubt in part because its lovely middle section melody inspired the classic Vaudeville pop song “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows.”
But the Fantaisie-Impromptu, the last composed, is The Ear’s least favorite of the four impromptus that Chopin wrote. And Chopin apparently didn’t like it much either. He wanted it to remain unpublished and destroyed.
It made me want to know: What might the same pianist do with the other three great impromptus by Chopin?
Or the famous ones by Schubert and the less famous ones by Fauré?
Listen to the 5-minute performance and tell The Ear what you think of the ornamented version that Kolesnikov plays?
Which one of four is your favorite Chopin impromptu?
What impromptus by Schubert and Fauré do you especially like? Would changing the score work with them?
What other impromptus by other composers do you suggest listening to and playing — and perhaps even ornamenting?
The Ear wants to hear.
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FREE birthday bash for Johann Sebastian Bach is this Saturday in Madison
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear thinks of this week’s Bach Around the Clock — which runs March 6-10 — as a double celebration.
The primary one is to mark the 339th birthday of composer Johann Sebastian Bach (below, March 20, 1685-July 28, 1750), whom many consider to be the Big Bang of Western classical music.
The second celebration is to honor the late Madison violist Marika Fischer Hoyt (below), who with help resurrected Bach Around the Clock in Madison after it had been dropped by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Talented, hard-working and congenial, Fischer — who died a year ago of cancer — was a fixture of the local music scene. She was a member of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and spent 20 years playing in the Madison Symphony Orchestra. An outstanding chamber musician, she also helped found and played in the Ancora String Quartet.
An avid proponent of early music using period instruments and historically informed performance practices, Fischer Hoyt helped found and play in the weekly free Just Bach concerts. She performed regularly with the Madison Bach Musicians and with an early music string group she helped found, Sonata à Quattro.
Here is a link to a complete schedule on the BATC website:
The Ear thinks Marika would be very pleased and proud of this year’s event.
It will feature Bach’s original choral and instrumental music in many genres and transcriptions. Soloists and groups of varying sizes will take part. And Bach’s music — so central to the repertoire and all levels of musicianship — will be performed by students (below are members of the Suzuki Strings), by amateurs and by professionals (in the YouTube video at the bottom) — making BATC a truly community-wide celebration of Bach.
The hours for the Birthday Bash concert, which used to run 12 hours, have been cut back to a reasonable and accessible 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 1833 Regent St., on Madison’s near west side. But a birthday cake will still be cut at the end.
And in case you want to duck in and out or catch certain performances or performers, here is a full program schedule for Saturday:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CIRby29h6wZjyngZgyMPpTrLNiMC_1OR/view
You can find links to all other events and programs — printed in blue — on the main website for the March 6-10 festival.
Performances by performers in their own homes and studios will air online as part of the Virtual Festival held of BATC’s YouTube channel, starting at midnight on this Sunday, March 10. Its runs without a time limit and can be accessed worldwide.
Here is a link to the YouTube channel, which also has past performances
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHBRPHSGd_fNECp-qrWsqlQ
Have you attended or heard other Bach Around the Clocks?
What do you think of the celebration?
The Ear wants to hear.
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From beginner to maestro — for the Final Forte, John DeMain reflects on a life in music
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Wednesday night, March 6 at 7 p.m. in Overture Hall, is the “Final Forte” — the annual high school concerto competition with the Madison Symphony Orchestra under its longtime music director and conductor John DeMain (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers).
You can attend the concert in person for FREE or watch it live on PBS Wisconsin or listen to it live on Wisconsin Public Radio.
For more details, go online to: https://madisonsymphony.org/education-community/education-programs/young-artist-competitions/the-final-forte/
As usual you can see and hear summary biographies of and impressive interviews with this year’s four teenage participants (below, in a photo by James Gill) and what they think of the competition. You can also read about the three judges and about past compeiutitons and the winners.
But this year, DeMain opened up about himself to PBS Wisconsin. He talks about why he likes and looks forward to directing the performances by young artists and what he thinks about starting a career in music.
DeMain — who will retire at the end of next season — also draws on his own award-winning career from his first piano lessons though his education at the Juilliard School, his lessons with Leonard Bernstein and his 30-year tenure at the MSO.
Trust The Ear — it is an engaging interview well worth reading for many reasons.
Here is a link to that interview:
Do you anything to say about how DeMain sees working with and encouraging young artists?
About his own career?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Meet the 2024 winners of the Classic Piano International Competition in Dubai, UAE
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By Jacob Stockinger
Did you know that the fourth and final round of a major international piano competition was taking place in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates this past week?
The Ear didn’t — until now.
That when he saw the nine 2024 winners (below), chosen from 70 participants, named in a post on The Violin Channel website.
The third edition of Classic Piano International Competition — which started during the 2017-28 season — makes sense when you think about it.
Dubai has lots of oil money but not a lot of Western culture or prestige. But Piano World contains more than enough competitors and venues for the event — even after such top-ranked, career-boosting competitions as the Tchaikovsky in Russia, the Arthur Rubinstein in Israel, the Leeds in the UK, the Chopin in Poland and the Van Cliburn in the United States.
So why not a major piano event for the Middle East and the Arab world? (Readers: Do you know if any other music competitions take place in that area?)
Its format is unusual.
Pianists cannot apply directly. Instead, they have to participate in the early rounds that are held in countries around the world. Those who finish in the Top Five of a preliminary competition get invited to the final round in Dubai.
The competition’s preliminary rounds took place in the USA, France, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Kazakhstan, Poland, UK, Armenia, China, South Korea, Japan, Israel, and Spain.
Here is some general background:
And here are details including the jury members, the various prizes, and the restricted and required repertoire that the pianists must select from:
https://classicpiano.eu/competition
Russian and Asian pianists dominated this year, with veteran Andrey Gugnin of Russia (below and in the YouTube video at the bottom) taking home the first prize of 100,000 Euros ($108,300) plus 10 concert dates and a 50,000-Euro honorarium for performing with two different orchestras: the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra. Gugnin, who protested Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now lives in Croatia.
Here is a link to the story with the complete list of winners:
Like many major music competitions these days, Dubai’s was live-streamed. Its global media partners are medici.tv; euronews; and bachtrack. You can or will soon be able to find various artists and rounds of the competition on YouTube.
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Is piano-mania in China fading?
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By Jacob Stockinger
You have probably heard of piano superstars Lang Lang and Yuja Wang. Maybe even of prize-winners Yundi Li and Haochen Zhang, who both won the Van Cliburn competition while in their teens.
The Ear recently read where there are more piano students in China — the People’s Republic of China — than in Europe, North America and South America combined. In 2019, one music website estimated that “over 40 million Chinese kids are studying the piano today, with some sources going as high as 50 million.”
How did this piano phenomenon come about?
As Bloomberg news recently reported: “China’s love affair with the piano goes back several decades. During the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, the instrument was condemned as a symbol of the bourgeoisie. But thanks to the economic reforms and the country’s opening up, the piano became an affordable luxury for a quickly expanding middle class.” (Is it a similar story in South Korea, which has produced many outstanding pianists and winners of international competitions?)
That sounds familiar — similar to what happened in Western culture as the middle class expanded and Hausmusik for amateur musicians took hold. It was a time when most middle-class households had a piano. But now that is fading in the West. Check out all the used pianos listed for sale on Craig’s List and other places.
For more detailed background about about the role of pianos and classical music in China, see this 2019 post by Ludwig-Van.com:
But now news reports say China’s economy is headed for hard times.
What does that mean for piano-mania in China?
Maybe the same thing that has happened in Europe and the United States?
Here is an updated story from another source that says the Chinese piano craze is playing itself out:
https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1014703
Do you have an opinion about China and its love affair with pianos and Western music?
About the fate of pianos and piano lessons in the West?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Is the math-music link real?
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By Jacob Stockinger
The blog post before the last one was about solving the “beautiful mathematics” in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Here is a link: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2024/02/18/solving-the-beautiful-math-in-bach/
But does a link between math and music really exist?
And if such a link does exist, how strong is it?
Can one discipline be used to teach the other?
Many readers have no doubt heard of how devoted Albert Einstein (below) was to his violin, even playing string quartets at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. He said he thought about physics in musical terms and found his greatest joy in music. He also played duets with physicist Max Planck, who was an accomplished pianist as were Werner Heisenberg and Edward Teller.
Dr. Francis Collins, the well-known geneticist and former head of the National Institutes for Health, is known for playing the guitar. As the 2020 winner of the Templeton Prize for scientific and spiritual curiosity, Collins accompanies superstar soprano Renée Fleming in the Stephen Foster song “Hard Times, Come Again No More” in the YouTube video at the button.)
Locally, the late pioneering University of Wisconsin-Madison geneticist Jim Crow (below) played the viola, even sitting in with the Pro Arte Quartet.
The Ear also knows of many middle schoolers, high schoolers and UW students, especially undergraduates, who pursue dual majors in music and math, science or medicine — often to pursue a more practical and better paying career than being a professional musician.
Personal anecdotes can be dramatic and convincing.
But anecdotes and evidence are not the same thing.
Here is a more formal study:
https://www.iflscience.com/is-there-really-a-link-between-math-skills-and-musical-skills-73069
What do you think?
Are math and music linked?
Do you know of other famous examples?
What has been your own experience with math and music?
If you are a music, math or science teacher, have you noticed such a link among your students?
What do students themselves — for example, those in the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) — say about such a math-music link?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Here’s what killed Beethoven
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By Jacob Stockinger
What killed composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827, below) at 56?
It has only taken almost two centuries — from 1827 to 2024 — to find out.
In previous DNA tests done 17 years ago, scientists suggested that what killed LvB was gradual lead poisoning from the pewter tankards he used to drink water and alcohol.
There was just one problem.
They had the wrong hair.
But now scientists say they have a hair sample (below) that is certified as authentic snippets of hair taken from the great composer after his death.
The results of looking at the DNA have brought some surprises to the surface.
Here is a link to the latest research as reported on the website for Science Alert:
https://www.sciencealert.com/dna-from-beethovens-hair-reveals-surprise-some-200-years-later
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Solving the beautiful mathematics of Bach
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By Jacob Stockinger
The music of Johann Sebastian Bach (below) doesn’t just sound mathematical.
It IS mathematical.
And although fugues sound the most overtly mathematical of all Bach’s works, you can find complex mathematical and informational patterns to varying degrees in the preludes (below) and overtures, sonatas and partitas, cantatas and oratorios, concertos, suites and toccatas . (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear pianist and Bach specialist Andras Schiff play the long, complex and sublime Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 869, No. 24 from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier.
Here is the link to the story about physicists who solved Bach’s math that was featured in Scientific American:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/secret-mathematical-patterns-revealed-in-bachs-music
You can also hear plenty of Bach’s beautifully mathematical music live and online for FREE during the upcoming Bach Around the Clock (BATC) celebration of his birthday in Madison. It will take place March 6-10.
Here is a link to the schedule of performers and repertoire both in live performance and virtually online:
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YOU MUST HEAR: Alkan’s ‘Barcarolle’
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By Jacob Stockinger
One of the standout recordings for The Ear this past year was “Waves.”
It is a recital of Baroque, Romantic and modern French piano music by Bruce Liu (below), who won the 18th Chopin Competition in 2021 and has since skyrocketed to fame.
Here is Liu’s story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Liu
Liu’s first recording for Deutsche Grammophon was a memorable and highly acclaimed all-Chopin recital made up of excerpts from his competition appearances. Recently, “Waves” (below), his second solo recording, was released.
You can enjoy “Waves” for the crisply articulated Rameau theme-and-variations suite. Or for the nuanced Ravel in “Miroirs” (Mirrors).
But Liu — who was born in Paris to Chinese parents, who came of age in Montreal, Canada, and who speaks fluent Mandarin, French and English — manages to unearth a piece that at least this pianophile never heard before and now wants to play.
It is the Barcarolle by the eccentric and misanthropic French-Jewish composer Charles-Valentin Alkan (1833-88, below).
I’m not usually a fan of Alkan.
He possessed a titanic keyboard technique and his music often sounds too much like simply a showcase for it, especially his Solo Concerto for Piano. Too often he sounds just too much over the top, too forced and virtuosic, not naturally lyrical or accessible.
Perhaps that stems from having so little social contact in his personal and artistic life.
Here is a walk-through narrative of his life: https://www.pianotv.net/2016/10/brief-history-charles-alkan/
And here is his Wikipedia biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Valentin_Alkan
But then I heard Liu playing Alkan’s Barcarolle — one of a set of pieces —and was joyfully surprised. It sounds mysterious and wistful, more like a nocturne than a rocking-boat barcarolle to me. And it even sounds playable by amateurs like The Ear.
So I intend to check out more Alkan, especially the short pieces like preludes.
Listen to the 4-minute Barcarolle in the YouTube video at the bottom.
What do you think?
Do you like it? Are you surprised by it?
Would you want to play it?
What do you think of Alkan?
Can you suggest other listenable and even playable pieces by Alkan?
The Ear wants to hear.
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