The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Mosaic Chamber Players perform all 20th-century American music this Saturday night. Plus, a master class about Schubert is TODAY at 4:30
Leave a 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.
ALERT: Susan Youens, a world-famous scholar of the music of Franz Schubert, will give a FREE and PUBLIC master class TODAY at 4:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall. Her class is in advance of her appearance and pre-concert lecture at the annual UW Schubertiade this Sunday afternoon, Jan. 27. More information about that event will appear in tomorrow’s blog post.
By Jacob Stockinger
The critically acclaimed Mosaic Chamber Players will perform a concert of all-American music from the 20th century this Saturday night, Jan. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive.
Tickets are $15 for adults; $10 for senior citizens; and $5 for students. Only cash and personal checks will be accepted.
A reception will follow the concert.
Performers are violinists Laura Burns and Wes Luke, cellist Kyle Price, and founder-pianist Jess Salek. (Photos below of the performers are by John W. Barker at a previous concert.) They also play with other professional groups such as the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Ancora String Quartet and the Rhapsodie String Quartet.
The program includes the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Aaron Copland; the Sonata in Three Movements for Violin and Piano by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (below); “Road Movies” for Violin and Piano by John Adams (you can hear the opening in the YouTube video at the bottom); and the Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 6, by Samuel Barber.
Tags: #AaronCopland, #All-American, #AmericanComposer, #AmericanMusic, #AncoraStringQuartet, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CelloMusic, #CelloSonata, #ChamberMusic, #EllenTaaffeZwilich, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FrankLloydWright, #FranzSchubert, #JessSalek, #JohnAdams, #JohnW.Barker, #KylePrice, #LauraBurns, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MosaicChamberPlayers, #PianoAccompaniment, #PianoAccompanist, #RhapsodieQuartet, #RhapsodieStringQuartet, #RoadMovies, #SamuelBarber, #SeniorCitizen, #SusanYouens, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWSchubertiade, #ViolinMusic, #ViolinSonata, #WesLuke, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #World-famous, 20th-century, Aaron Copland, adult, alert, American, Ancora String Quartet, Arts, audience, blog, cash, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, check, Classical music, composer, Concert, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Facebook, First Unitarian Society of Madison, founder, Frank Lloyd Wright, Franz Schubert, free, Jacob Stockinger, Jess Salek, John Adams, John W. Barker, Kyle Price, Laura Burns, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, master class, masterclass, Mead Witter School of Music, Mosaic Chamber Players, movement, Movies, performer, personal, Pianist, Piano, post, posting, professional, professor, public, Rhapsodie Quartet, Rhapsodie String Quartet, road, Road Movies, Samuel Barber, Schubertiade, senior, senior citizen, Sonata, String quartet, Student, Susan Youens, ticket, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, Violin, violinist, Wes Luke, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: The Mosaic Chamber Players complete their cycle of Beethoven sonatas for strings with impressive beauty and sensitivity
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT-FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison. Barker also took the performance photos.
By John W. Barker
In another distressingly overcrowded weekend, hard choices had to be made about which event to attend. I picked the performance by the Mosaic Chamber Players last Saturday night at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison.
For the past four years, this group has pursued a “complete” survey of Beethoven’s sonatas for strings and piano. Since he composed 10 for violin and piano plus five for cello and piano, it was easy to organize them into five concerts, each with two violin sonatas and one for cello. In addition, it was possible in many programs to draw on all three periods of Beethoven’s output.
This year’s concert was thus the fifth and the last in the series, climaxing a really impressive achievement for artistic director and guiding spirit Jess Salek and his colleagues.
As pianist in all three of the works presented, Salek (below) provided more than accompaniment, since the role of the piano was generally put on terms of equal partnership, sometimes even of relative superiority. He played bravely, justly showing palpable pride in the total achievement.
Laura Burns (below), who also plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the MSO’s Rhapsodie String Quartet, was the violinist in the early Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 12, No. 2.
This happens to be the first of these Beethoven sonatas that I came to know and love in my youth, via an old Jascha Heifetz recording, so it had particular reverberations for me. To its wit and sprightliness Burns brought an added warmth of sound and spirit.
The Cello Sonata No. 5 in D, Op. 102, No. 2, was the last one Beethoven composed for this medium, and one of two that dates from the composer’s late period. A great deal of very serious thinking went into it, with a slow movement particularly notable for its spiritual depth. Cellist Kyle Price (below) delivered it with genuine feeling and with great strength of tone.
Also Beethoven’s last work for its medium, the Violin Sonata No. 10 in G, Op. 96, comes from late in the composer’s so-called middle period. It is a work of almost kaleidoscopic variety, with frequent changes of mood and character.
Its core is another slow movement of amazingly personal eloquence and breath-taking beauty. And the theme-and-variations movement finale seems to have everything (almost) in it but the kitchen sink. (You can hear Wes Luke and Jess Salek performing another theme-and-variations movement from a different Beethoven violin sonata in the cycle, Op. 30, No. 1, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
It was clear that violinist Wes Luke (below), who is also the first violinist of the Ancora String Quartet, was having a whale of a good time playing it, relishing almost every note.
Luke’s printed program notes were particularly excellent, and included notice that the group’s spring concert will juxtapose piano trios of Beethoven and Brahms.
The Mosaic Chamber Players do not receive a great deal of publicity, but their concerts offer some of the most lovely and thought-provoking chamber music repertoire to be found, even in a town so full of wonderful music-making as ours.
Tags: accompaniment, achievement, American Record Guide, Arts, beauty, Beethoven, blog, brave, Cello, Chamber music, character, Classical music, composer, Concert, critic, cycle, Early music, eloquence, emeritus, equal, equality, feeling, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Frank Lloyd Wright, genuine, guide, History, impressive, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jascha Heifetz, Jess Salek, Johannes Brahms, John W. Barker, kaleidoscope, Kyle Price, late, Laura Burns, lecture, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Medieval, medium, mood, Mosaic Chamber Players, movement, Music, note, notes, old, Orchestra, output, overcrowded, partner, partnership, performance, period, Piano, Piano Trio, posting, pride, professor, program, Radio, recording, review, Rhapsodie Quartet, role, series, Sonata, Sound, spirit, spiritual, sprightly, Spring, strength, String quartet, strings, strong, Superior, survey, theme and variations, tone, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, variety, Violin, warm, warmth, weekend, Wes Luke, Wisconsin, wit, WORT-FM 89.9, Writer, YouTube
Classical music: This year’s Token Creek Chamber Music Festival will explore “Necessary Music” by Bach, Schubert, Schumann, Ravel, Harbison and other composers from Aug. 26 through Sept 3
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post about an annual event that puts on a lot of MUST-HEAR programs:
TOKEN CREEK, WIS. – In what way, and for whom, is a certain kind of music necessary?
Certainly the presenters of a chamber music festival would be presumptuous to offer a program as a sort of prescription for listeners. And at Token Creek we won’t.
So often the music we need arrives by chance, and we did not even know we needed it until it appears. And other times we know exactly what we are missing. And so we offer this year’s programs of pieces that feed the soul.
Saturday, Aug. 26, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 27, at 4 p.m., Program I: Continuo
Some works of art are so rich that they sustain a lifetime of inquiry and encounters, each time revealing fresh new insights only possible through sustained engagement, pieces so resilient they admit multiple interpretations, approaches, nuances, shadings.
We open the season with music of Johann Sebastian Bach (below), pieces we’ve played before and some we have not, music that continues to compel for the very reason that it can never be fully plumbed, music that rewards over and over again. In a concert dominated by Bach, the requirement of the other pieces is really only that they offer sufficient originality and integrity not to be dwarfed or rendered ephemeral by his authority.
Flutist Dawn Lawler (below top), cellist Sara Sitzer (below second) and pianist Jeffrey Stanek (below third join the artistic directors composer-pianist John and violinist Rose Mary Harbison (below bottom) for this opening program.
Works:
BACH Sonata in E minor for violin and continuo, BWV 1023
HAYDN Trio in F major for flute, cello and piano XV:17
BACH Two Fugues, from The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080
HARBISON Mark the Date, for flute and piano (pre-premiere)
BACH Sonata in G major for violin and continuo, BWV 1021
BACH Three-Voice Ricercar, from The Musical Offering, BWV 1079
BACH Sonata in C minor, from The Musical Offering, BWV 1079
Wednesday, Aug. 30, at 7:30 p.m. Program II: Schubert
A sequel to last year’s all-Schubert program, which offered Die Schöne Müllerin and the “Trout” Quintet, this season we offer two late masterworks by Schubert (below): the song cycle Schwanengesang (Swan Song) and the solo piano set of six Moments Musicaux (Musical Moments).
In structure, ingenuity and invention these two large works offer an eloquent counterpoint and complement to one another. We are pleased to welcome back pianist Ya-Fei Chuang (below top), and to introduce tenor Charles Blandy (below middle) with pianist Linda Osborn (below bottom).
Works:
SCHUBERT Andante, from Sonata in C for Piano Four Hands (“Grand Duo”), D.812
SCHUBERT Moments Musicaux, D.780
SCHUBERT Schwanengesang, D.957
Saturday, Sept. 2, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 3, at 4 p.m. Program III: Waltz
This program explores the familiar form of the waltz as an unexpectedly flexible and diverse musical type, with uncommon approaches from a wide variety of composers from Schubert through Sur.
We conclude the season with Schumann’s splendid Piano Quartet, whose third movement offers one of the greatest of slow waltzes of all time. (You can hear it performed by the Faure Quartet in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
We are pleased to introduce violist Becky Menghini (below top) and cellist Kyle Price (below bottom).
Works:
FRITZ KREISLER Three Old Viennese Melodies for Violin and Piano
DONALD SUR Berceuse for Violin and Piano
SCHUBERT Waltz Sequence
RAVEL Valses nobles et sentimentales
GEORGE CRUMB Sonata for Solo Cello
SCHUMANN Quartet in E-flat for Piano and Strings, Op. 47
The Token Creek Festival has been called a gem, a treasure nestled in the heart of Wisconsin cornfields, a late-summer fixture just outside of Madison.
Now in its 28th season, the Festival has become known for its artistic excellence, diverse and imaginative programming, a deep engagement with the audience, and a surprising, enchanting and intimate performance venue in a comfortable refurbished barn.
The 2017 festival offers five events to close the summer concert season, Aug. 26–Sept. 3.
Performances take place at the Festival Barn (below), on Highway 19 near the hamlet of Token Creek (10 minutes north of Madison, near Sun Prairie) with ample parking available.
The charmingly rustic venue—indoors and air-conditioned with modern comforts—is invitingly small, and early reservations are recommended.
Concert tickets are $32 (students $12). Reservations can be secured in several ways:
- Online: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/token-creek-chamber-music-festival-2017-necessary-music-tickets-36091343179
- Website: www.tokencreekfestival.org (a link to our online ticketing, or a printable order form)
- Phone: 608-241-2525 (voicemail only, please leave a message)
- Email: info@tokencreekfestival.org
- U.S. mail: P.O. Box 5201, Madison WI, 53705
More information about the Token Creek Festival and all events and artists can be found at the website, www.tokencreekfestival.org or by calling 608-241-2525.
Tags: Art of Fugue, Arts, authority, Bach, barn, Baroque, Berceuse, Cello, Chamber music, chance, Charles Blandy, Classical music, composer, continuo, cornfield, coutnerpoint, Dawn Lawler, Die Schoene Muellerin, Donald Sur, enchanting, encounters, farm, Faure, Faure Quartet, flute, Franz Schubert, fresh, Fritz Kreisler, fugue, George Crumb, Haydn, inquiry', insight, integrity, interpretation, intimate, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Harbison, Kreisler, Kyle Price, late, lifetime, Linda Osborn, lullaby, Madison, masterwork, melody, Menghini, Moments Musicaux, Music, musical, musical offering, need, new, nuance, offering, originality, Piano, Piano Quartet, polyphony, prescription, program, Ravel, reservations, ricercar, rustic, Schumann, Schwanengesang, Season, sequel, shading, small, solo, Sonata, summer, Sun Prairie, Sur, Swan Song, tenor, ticket, Token Creek, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, trio, Trout, Trout Quintet, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Valses nobles et sentimentales, video, Vienna, Viennese, Viola, Violin, voice, Waltz, Wisconsin, Ya-Fei Chuang, YouTube
Classical music: Here are the Final Forte winners. Mosaic Chamber Players concludes its season this Saturday night with piano trios by Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff and Charles Ives. Plus, a FREE concert of Latin American bassoon music is Friday at noon
2 Comments
NEWS: In case you missed it last night on Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio, here are the winners of the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s high school concerto competition, which featured a lot of fine music and excellent performances.
First prize went to violinist Julian Rhee of Brookfield, who performed Tchaikovsky; second prize went to pianist Michael Wu of Sun Prairie, who performed Saint-Saens; and the two runners-up were violinist Yaoyao Chen of Menasha, who played Sibelius, and harpist Naomi Sutherland, who performed Ravel.
For more information about the annual event, including links to video biographies of the contestants, go to:
ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature bassoonist Juliana Mesa-Jaramillo in works for solo bassoon by 20th-century Latin American composers. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
The critically acclaimed Mosaic Chamber Players will conclude its 2016-2017 season with a program of piano trios.
Members of the Madison-based Mosaic Chamber Players are Wes Luke, violin; Kyle Price, cello; and Jess Salek, piano.
The program features the “Elegy” Trio in D Minor, Op. 9, by Sergei Rachmaninoff; the Trio, Op. 86, by Charles Ives; and the Trio in D Minor, Op 49, by Felix Mendelssohn. (You can hear the opening of the lovely and darkly dramatic Rachmaninoff Trio in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The concert will be this Saturday, April 1, at 7 p.m. in the Landmark Auditorium of First Unitarian Society of Madison.
Tickets are $15 for general admission; $10 for seniors; and $5 for students. Cash or checks only will be accepted.
Pianist Jess Salek (below), who graduated from the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton Wis., and who runs his own piano studio in Madison and also works with the Madison Youth Choirs.
Violinist Wes Luke (below) plays with many regional orchestras and ensembles, including the Madison-based Ancora String Quartet.
Here is an informative and engaging story about cellist Kyle Price (below), a UW-Madison student, and how he started a music festival and ended up studying with Professor Uri Vardi at the UW-Madison.
http://www.music.wisc.edu/2015/12/02/kyleprice_cello/
Tags: Ancora, Ancora String Quartet, Appleton, Arts, Bassoon, biography, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, concerto, dark, dramatic, Elegy, First Unitarian Society of Madison, high school, Ives, Jacob Stockinger, Jess Salek, Kyle Price, Latin America, Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, lovely, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Mendelssohn, Mosaic Chamber Players, performance, Piano Trio, prize, Rachmaninov, Ravel, runner up, Saint-Saens, seniors, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sibelius, solo, students, studio, Tchaikovsky, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Uri Vardi, video, Violin, Wes Luke, winds, winner, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Public Television, WPR, WPT, YouTube
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 