The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: This Friday night, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra closes its season with a dark and unorthodox symphony by Shostakovich as well as lighter suites by Bizet and Debussy
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.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below top) ends its winter Masterworks season this coming Friday night, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
And it is going out in a big, eclectic way.
The WCO will perform under the baton of music director Andrew Sewell (below).
Sewell and the WCO will be joined by two guest singers: soprano Mary Mackenzie, a former Madison resident and member of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO); (below top); and the Grammy-nominated bass Timothy Jones (below bottom).
Both critically acclaimed singers are familiar to Madison audiences from past appearances with the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, the Madison Opera, the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and previous appearances with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
They will all join in the major work that opens the concert, the Symphony No. 14, Op. 135, by Dmitri Shostakovich (below), his penultimate symphony that runs about 50 minutes and is highly unorthodox in its form.
Shostakovich wrote his symphony in 1969, and dedicated it to the British composer Benjamin Britten.
Perhaps to avoid more confrontations with the government of the USSR and perhaps to critique global events such as war, the composer gave it a very international flavor.
Written for strings and percussion with vocal soloists, the symphony is composed in 11 movements. It is also set to poetry by the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire (below top), the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca (below middle) and the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke (below bottom). In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear a live recording of the first movement from the work’s world premiere in Moscow in 1969.
In the late work, Shostakovich (below, in 1950) – always suspect by the Soviet state and in danger during the Stalinist Terror — seeks to portray the idea of unjust and premature death that aroused deep feelings of protest in him. Shostakovich emphasized, however, that it was not out of pessimism that he turned to the problem of mortality but in the name of life on this earth.
The concert concludes on a lighter, more upbeat note by celebrating the innocence and joy of youth in two charming suites: “Jeux d’enfants” (Children’s Games), Op. 22, by Georges Bizet and the “Petite Suite” (Little Suite) by Claude Debussy.
Tickets are $12-$80. To buy tickets and to see more information about the program and detailed biographies of the performers, go to:
https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-v-4/
Tags: #AndrewSewell, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BassVoice, #BenjaminBritten, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BritishComposer, #CapitolTheater, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberSymphony, #Children'sGames, #ClaudeDebussy, #CriticalAcclaim, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #DmitriShostakovich, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FedericoGarciaLorca, #FrenchPoetry, #Fridaynight, #GeorgesBizet, #GermanPoetry, #GrammyAward, #GuillaumeApollinaire, #InstrumentalMusic, #Jeuxd'enfants, #JohannSebastianBach, #JosefStalin, #LittleSuite, #LiveRecording, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MaryMackenzie, #MasterworksSeason, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MoscowRussia, #MusicDirector, #OvertureCenter, #PercussionSection, #PetiteSuite, #RainerMariaRilke, #SopranoSinger, #Sovietcomposer, #SovietUnion, #SpanishPoetry, #StalinistTerror, #StringSection, #TimothyJones, #TokenCreekChamberMusicFestival, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #WorldPremiere, #WorldWarI, #WorldWarII, #YouTubevideo, acclaim, Andrew Sewell, appearance, Arts, audience, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, bass, baton, Benjamin Britten, big, biographies, blog, British, Capitol Theater, celebrate, Cello, Chamber music, Chamber Symphony, charm, charming, children, Children's Games, Classical music, Claude Debussy, composer, Concert, conductor, critical, critically acclaimed, danger, dark, death, dedication, deep, Dmitri Shostakovich, Earth, eclectic, Facebook, Federico Garcia Lorca, feelings, form, forward, French, French poetry, Friday, game, Georges Bizet, German, German poetry, global, government, Grammy, Guillaume Apollinaire, hour, innocence, instrumental music, international, Jacob Stockinger, Jeux d'enfants, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Stalin, Joy, life, light, lighter, like, link, little, live, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mary Mackenzie, masterwork, Mead Witter School of Music, member, mortality, Moscow, Music, Music director, name, New York City, night, nominated, note, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, penultimate, percussion, performer, pessimism, poem, poet, Poetry, premature, problem, protest, Rainer Maria Rilke, recording, share, sing, singer, soprano, Soviet, Soviet Union, Spanish, Spanish poetry, Stalin, Stalinist Terror, strings, Suite, symphony, tag, terror, text, ticket, Timothy Jones, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unjust, unorthodox, upbeat, USSR, Viola, Violin, vocal music, war, WCO, winter, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Youth Symhony Orchestras, word, world premiere, World War I, World War II, WYSO, Youth, YouTube
Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra and conductor Kyle Knox brightened a soggy spring with early Beethoven and Elgar. On Tuesday night, an organ and cello concert takes place in Overture Hall.
2 Comments
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: On this Tuesday night, April 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Overture Hall, organist Greg Zelek and guest cellist Thomas Mesa will close out the season of Concert Organ performances sponsored by the Madison Symphony Orchestra. The program includes music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Claude Debussy and Charles-Marie Widor. For tickets ($20) and more information about the program with detailed biographies of the performers, go to: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/thoms-mesa-greg-zelek/
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 veteran and 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.
By John W. Barker
The early spring concert on last Wednesday night by the Middleton Community Orchestra (below, in a photo by Brian Ruppert) at the Middleton Performing Arts Center that is attached to Middleton High School was comparatively short – it had no intermission — and was devoted to only two composers.
The first was Edward Elgar (below, in 1910), whose early orchestral works included a good deal of music drawn from his youthful sketchbooks. Notable in that category were two suites, given the joint title of The Wand of Youth.
From the eight sections of the First Suite (1907), six were played, and from the six sections comprising the Second Suite (1908), four were given. All these movements are colorful and evocative little miniatures, reflecting early imagination, often touching, but many quite boisterous.
The other composer was Ludwig van Beethoven (below), as represented by his Symphony No. 2. This shows the young composer moving quite distinctly beyond the stylistic world of Haydn and Mozart into the rambunctious new symphonic idiom he would go on to create. (You can hear Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic play the opening of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The guest conductor this time, Kyle Knox – the recent University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate who is the music director of Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras and the associate conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra — chose to give the music a “big orchestra” approach.
For both the suites and the symphony, the lighter and cleaner textures of a chamber orchestra would seem best. But with an orchestra totaling some 91 players, Knox chose to go for volume and sonority.
His tempos, especially in the Beethoven were notably fast. As the largely amateur orchestra followed loyally, there was some raw playing at times.
Still, the MCO asserted strong character, which made a very happy impression on the audience and brightened an evening of soggy weather.
Tags: #AmateurMusician, #AmericanRecordGuide, #BaroqueMusic, #BeethovenSymphony, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrassSection, #CelloMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberOrchestra, #Charles-MarieWidor, #ClaudeDebussy, #EdwardElgar, #EmeritusProfessor, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FranzSchubert, #GregZelek, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnW.Barker, #KyleKnox, #LeonardBernstein, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedievalHistory, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MiddletonPerformingArtsCenter, #MusicalStyle, #MusicCritic, #MusicReview, #OrganMusic, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #PercussionSection, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #Pre-concertLecture, #SpringWeather, #StringMusic, #StringSection, #TheWandofYouth, #ThomasMesa, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViennaAustria, #ViennaPhilharmonic, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WoodwindSection, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, amateur, American Record Guide, April, Arts, audience, Austria, Bach, Baroque, Baroque music, Beethoven, big, biography, blog, boisterous, brass, category, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, character, Charles-Marie Widor, Classical music, Claude Debussy, clean, colorful, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, critic, early, Early music, Edward Elgar, emeritus professor, evocative, Facebook, fast, forward, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, graduate, Greg Zelek, guest, happy', Haydn, idiom, imagination, impression, intermission, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John W. Barker, joint, Kyle Knox, lecture, Leonard Bernstein, lighter, like, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mead Witter School of Music, Medieval history, Middleton Community Orchestra, Middleton High School, Middleton Performing Arts Center, miniature, movement, Mozart, Music, music critic, music review, night, opening, Orchestra, organ, organist, Overture Center, Overture Hall, percussion, performer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, players, professor, program, raw, recent, review, Season, Serenade, share, short, sketchbooks, soggy, sonority, sping, string section, strings, style, Suite, symphony, tag, Tempo, texture, The Wand of Youth, Thomas Mesa, title, touching, Tuesday, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, Vienna, Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Viola, Violin, volume, weather, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, woodwind, WORT-FM 89.9, Writer, youthful, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 