The Well-Tempered Ear
Meet the Met’s’Mighty Mouse’ — Yannick Nézet-Ségiun
Leave a Comment
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
You might think you already know the famous, high-profile musician and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin (below).
The Ear certainly did.
But then I saw the profile and comprehensive interview with the 48-year-old on CBS’ “60 Minutes” last Sunday. And I learned many new things, including how enjoyable and humorous the native French-Canadian can be as well as how he plans to breathe new life and bring new audience into the Met.
I learned how extremely busy he is being the music director of three major artistic organizations: the Metropolitan Opera in New York; the Philadelphia Orchestra; and the Metropolitan Orchestra of Montreal. In addition, he is a prolific recording artist.
I also learned much about his personal life (below, on vacation) and his professional career. You meet his parents and his longtime violist husband.
Not for nothing has the renowned mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato affectionately dubbed this openly gay man with the nickname of the cartoon character Mighty Mouse (below) because of his small size but muscular physique, his cheerful and expressive face, and his ambitious rescue mission as the third music director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
Here is a link to the wide-ranging and candid interview, both amusingly serious and seriously amusing, which you can read it or watch and listen to it:
What do you think of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and his plans to revitalize the Metropolitan Opera with contemporary works and younger audiences?
What did you think of the “60 Minutes” interview?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogInterview, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, 60 Minutes, affection, affectionate, ambitious, amusing, Arts, audience, blog, boyfriend, Canada, candid, cartoon, CBS, CBS-TV, Chamber music, character, cheerful, choral music, Classical music, composer, Concert, conductor, contemporary, contemporary opera, enjoyable, face, Facebook, famous, French, French-Canadian, gay, husband, Jacob Stockinger, Joyce Di Donato, Joyce DiDonato, learn, LGBT, LGBTQ, life, link, listen, longtime, Metropolitan Opera, Metropolitan Orchestra of Montreal, Mezzo-soprano, Mighty Mouse, mission, Montreal, Mozart, muscular, Music, Music director, native, new works, New York City, openly gay, opera, Orchestra, parents, partner, Pennsylvania, persionakl, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Orchestra, physique, Piano, plans, professional, profile, read, recording, rescue, revitalize, serious, share, singer, size, small, Sunday, symphony, tag, technology, Television, the Met, thing, things, TV, United States, US, vacation, Viola, violist, vocal music, watch, Yannick, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, young
Collaborative pianist Ingrid Haebler has died at 93
Leave a Comment
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
The Austrian pianist Ingrid Haebler (below) has died at 93.
I call her a collaborative pianist but, like so many other pianists, she was also a soloist.
That is inherent in learning the piano, especially at the beginning.
Here is an obituary, with links, where you can read more about her and her her music-making:
Truth be told, Haebler made quite a few recording as a soloist, include all the piano concertos and piano sonatas by Mozart, as well as other Austrian and German composers, including Haydn, Schubert and Beethoven. The Viennese school was her forte.
But what stands out to The Ear are her early duets (below) with Henry Szeryng and Arthur Grumiaux in the violin sonatas of Beethoven and Mozart. She knew how to blend rather than to stand out, and clearly was more interested in musicality than virtuosity. In fact, critics often praised her gentleness, clarity and transparency rather than her assertiveness or boldness, especially in Mozart. Not for nothing was a tulip named after her.
In a word, she was an ideal collaborative pianist back in the days when they were still called accompanists and received second billing.
Indeed, along with Gerald Moore she was one of the performers who brought currency and respect as the term “accompanist” as it morphed into the more accurate term “collaborative pianist.”
Of course that is just my opinion. You might disagree.
Decide for yourself. You can listen to and sample many of her solo and collaborative recording on YouTube, including the video below one of my favorite violin sonatas by Mozart, the Violin Sonata in e minor, K. 304, played by Haebler and Henryk Szeryng.
Do you know Ingrid Haebler’s playing?
What do you think of her as a soloist and as a collaborative pianist?
Which side of her career do you think is stronger?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #CollaborativePianist, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Music-Making, #YouTubevideo, accompanist, accuracy, accurate, Arthur Grumiaux, Arts, audience, Austria, Austrian, Beethoven, beginning, blog, bold, boldness, career, Chamber music, clarity, Classical music, collaborative, composer, Concert, concerto, critic, currency, death, decide, die, Facebook, favorite, flower, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, gentle, gentleness, Gerald Moore, German, Germany, Haydn, hear, Henryk Szeryng, Ingrid Haebler, Jacob Stockinger, learn, link, listen, Ludwig van Beethoven, morph, Mozart, Music, music critic, musicality, obituary, opinion, Orchestra, performer, Piano, playing, respect, school, Schubert, share, solo, soloist, Sonata, symphony, tag, term, think, transparency, tulip, Vienna, Viennese, Violin, violinist, virtuosity, vocal music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, yourself, YouTube
Music builds brain health. Which composers and pieces would you recommend?
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
If you think music education and music lessons are only for young people who are still growing and maturing, you couldn’t be more wrong.
More and more research studies show that in adults and older people, even in Alzheimer’s patients, music has force and can break through.
Music is — like many other kinds of art including poetry, dance and paintings — a key that unlocks the plasticity of the human brain (below is an image from Shutterstock) and the brain’s ability to grow and endure in a healthy manner.
Here is one of the most recent studies that was covered in a story by NPR (National Public Radio), which you can read or listen to:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/04/03/1167494088/your-brain-on-art-music-dance-poetry
The Ear finds it convincing food for thought.
Certain genres of music, for example, come to mind as brain-healthy. Think Schubert. Art songs which combine music and words, even poetry, seem an especially likely candidate.
String quartets and theme-and-variations also come to mind as artistic and brain-developing genres. So does the sonata form that is used to develop and establish harmonic and thematic logic in symphonies and concertos as well as sonatas.
As for specific composers, The Ear thinks Johann Sebastian Bach (below) stands out as a one whose music requires active listening and critical thinking.
Preludes and fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach (below and in the YouTube video at the bottom where Friedrich Gulda plays the Prelude and Fugue No. 1 of the WTC) in The Well-Tempered Clavier and his many suites and Beethoven’s string quartets, especially the late ones, are individual challenging works that do the same.
Are there musical genres that you think are good for the brain and would recommend?
Are there certain composers you think are especially helpful in building brain health?
Are there any particular pieces that you think also work toward brain health and plasticity?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #YouTubevideo, adults, Alzheimer's, Art, art songs, Arts, audience, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, blog, Brain, build, candidate, challenge, challenging, Chamber music, children, choral music, Classical music, composer, concerto, connectivity, creativity, critical thinking, dance, develop, Disease, Early music, Education, endure, Facebook, force, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Gulda, fugue, genetics, genre, grow, Gulda, harmonic, harmony, Health, human brain, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, link, listen, listening, logic, Ludwig van Beethoven, mature, medicine, Music, music lessons, National Public Radio, NPR, old people, Orchestra, painting, Piano, piece, plasticity, poem, Poetry, Prelude, read, recommend, research, Schubert, science, seniors, share, Sonata, song, String quartet, structure, study, Suite, symphony, synapse, tag, technology, The Ear, thematic, theme, theme and variations, think, Violin, vocal music, Well-Tempered Clavier, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, words, work, WPR, young people, YouTube
This ‘body percussion” version of Beethoven will make your day!
2 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
Here is something that easily outdoes Bavarian thigh-slapping in Lederhosen!
It features 157 school children playing the opening theme of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony using “body percussion.”
That is, they use their hands, feet, knees and chests with various pressures and degrees of loudness, rhythm, speed and dynamics.
It is a performance practice and method of music education that has roots in folk music.
It was performed in 2020 — hence the covid masks — and was recently posted on Instagram by ClassicFM.
Here is a fuller definition from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_percussion
The kids are amazing. They are so synchronized and precise.
It took five months of practicing and rehearsing, so the persistent music teacher who organized and executed this must be amazing too.
It all seems very French in its combination of the physical and the emotional.
Take a look and listen. Here is a link to the one-minute video:
Does anybody else wonder if an American parent might have protested or even filed a lawsuit alleging inappropriate touching by classmates?
What do you think of this “body percussion” Beethoven?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ClassicFM, #COVID-19, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FolkMusic, #InstagramPost, #InstagramVideo, #MusicEducation, #OpeningTheme, #TheEar, #YouTubevideo, American, Arts, audience, Bavaria, Bavarian, Beethoven, Beethoven's Fifth, blog, body percussion, chest, children, Classical music, classmate, composer, COVID19, degree, dynamics, Education, emotional, execute, Facebook, feet, folk, Folk music, France, French, hand, hands, human body, inappropriate, Instagram, Jacob Stockinger, knee, knees, lawsuit, link, listen, look, loudness, Ludwig van Beethoven, mask, method, Music, Music education, music teacher, opening, organize, Parent, percussion, physical, play, practice, pressure, protest, rehearsal, rhythm, share, slap, slapping, speed, Student, symphony, tag, The Ear, theme, tight, touching, use, volume, Wikipedia, YouTube
Here are the nominees, winners and trends of the 2023 classical music Grammys
1 Comment
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
Chances are good you have already heard about Beyoncé and Lizzo, about Bonnie Raitt and Harry Styles, and how they won their Grammy awards last Sunday night.
But it is not by chance that you have to scroll way, way, way down the list of Grammy nominees and winners to find the ones for classical music. (It comes a third from the end, just before the list of short-form and long-form videos.)
No doubt it is in part a question of respect. Classical is not even listed with other “Musical Genres” on the Grammys’ home website while you will find: Pop; Rock; R&B; Country; Rap; Latin; Global; Gospel and Contemporary Christian; New Age; Jazz; and Alternative.
It seems like the most important thing to say about classical music is that pop star Beyoncé (below above) surpassed the record for individual Grammys previously held for decades by the late Hungarian-born conductor Sir George Solti (below bottom). He had won 31, she has won 32. But it seems like an unfair comparison since The Ear suspects many more categories are open to Beyoncé and her pop music than were open to Solti and classical music.
But even more than respect, it is a question of popularity and money.
We mustn’t forget that the Grammys are above all an industry event designed to reward those who make the commercial recording industry flourish.
Still, there are trends to take note of.
You’ll notice that quite a few of the nominees and winners have performed had their music performed in Madison. They include composers Caroline Shaw and Kevin Puts; the Imani Winds and Valerie Coleman; the Attacca Quartet; singer Will Liverman; Third Coast Percussion; Hilary Hahn; and producer Judith Sherman (below, in 2016)), who has overseen recent recordings by the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet and won many such Grammys.
Also, just as in Madison this has also been a big year for performers and composers of color — Black, Indigenous, Latin and Asian — as well as women composers and performers. Florence Price, Valerie Coleman and Jessie Montgomery (below and in the YouTube video at the end of her composition “Strum”), who is now composer-in-residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and was just named Composer of the Year by Musical America; and Valerie Coleman.
Local presenters and performers can be proud of reflecting the same priorities. They include: the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music; the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO); the Madison Symphony Orchestra; the Madison Opera; the Wisconsin Union Theater; the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; the Willy Street Chamber Players; the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society; Edgewood College; and Wisconsin Public Radio and WORT-FM among others.
See for yourself which ones you caught and which ones you missed.
Here is a list of the classical music winners of the 65th annual Grammy awards. It is provided by the insightful Australian arts and culture journal Limelight Magazine:
The 2023 Grammy Awards: Classical winners announced
And here is the complete list of the Grammy nominees along with the winners, so you can compare them all, find out details and judge for yourself. The Ear thinks many of the nominees are often just as worthwhile to check out and listen to as the winners:
https://www.grammy.com/awards/65th-annual-grammy-awards-2022
What do you think of the Grammy nominees and winners?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #African-AmericanMusic, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BlogPost, #ChristianMusic, #ClassicalRecording, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FlorencePrice, #GeorgeSolti, #GospelMusic, #HarryStyles, #Hip-hopmusic, #JessieMontgomery, #KevinPuts, #LimelightMagazine, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicalGenre, #PeopleofColor, #TheEar, #TheGrammys, #TheUW-Madison, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WorldMusic, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, 2023, Adele, African American, alternative, Arts, Asia, asian, audience, Australia, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, BDDS, Beethoven, Beyonce, BIPOC, black, blog, blues, Bonnie Raitt, Caroline Shaw, Cello, Chamber music, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, China, Chinese, choral music, Christian, Classical music, composer, Concert, concerto, country, culture, Early music, Edgewood College, Facebook, Florence Price, genre, George Solti, global, gospel, gospel music, Grammys, Harry Styles, Hillary Hahn, hip-hop, Hispanic, Imani Winds, Indigenous, industry, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Jessie Montgomery, Johann Sebastian Bach, Judith Sherman, Kevin Puts, Latin, Limelight, Limelight magazine, link, listen, Lizzo, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony, Madison Symphony Orchestra, magazine, Mead Witter School of Music, money, Mozart, Music, Musical America, New Age, nominee, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, people of color, Piano, pop, popularity, Pro Arte Quartet, R&B, rap, recording, respect, Rock, share, Sonata, String quartet, symphony, tag, The Ear, trend, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, VALERIE COLEMAN, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Website, Willy Street Chamber Players, winner, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, World music, WORT, WORT-FM 89.9, WPR, WYSO, YouTube
Gramophone Magazine names the Best Classical Recordings of 2022 by each month
1 Comment
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
Maybe you have a holiday gift card to use.
Or maybe you have some leisure time to explore new recordings for your pleasure.
You’re in luck.
Various media have recently named the Best Classical Recordings of 2022. Whether you stream them or use compact discs or listen to vinyl, over the next week or two The Ear will feature some of them.
One of the most prestigious and well respected lists is provided by the British publication and website, Gramophone Magazine (below).
The link below is just to the December 2022 choices. But in it you can find links by the month to other outstanding selections.
Like many other links now, you can also find links to complete reviews of individual albums, and can even listen to excerpts from the named performances.
Also like many international lists, this one often reflects a not-so-subtle bias — usual towards the artists in the home nation where the organization is based. So look for a lot of British performers and composers.
Still, you can find many outstanding choices to spend those gift cards on. Or just to explore for pleasure whenever you have the time and desire.
Here is one example.
When he first heard it, The Ear was fascinated by Paul Wee’s outstanding and astounding performance of the virtuosic solo piano transcription by the 19th-century French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan of Mozart’s famously sublime and dramatic Piano Concerto No. 22 in D minor, K. 466 (below in a photo of the album cover and in a YouTube video).
Very handy if you don’t have access to an orchestra! Plus you hear the composition in a new and insightful way — as often happens with transcriptions.
What do you think?
Do you have a favorite new recording from 2022?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CriticalReview, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GramophoneMagazine, #MusicalExcerpt, #PaulWee, #TheEar, #YouTubevideo, 2022, Alkan, Arts, Asia, asian, Australia, Beethoven, best, BIS Records, blog, CD, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, concerto, critic, excerpt, Facebook, favorite, gift, gift card, Gramophone, Holiday, Jacob Stockinger, link, list, listen, Ludwig van Beethoven, Malaysia, media, Mozart, Music, new, Orchestra, Paul Wee, performance, Pianist, Piano, recording, respected, review, share, Singapore, The Ear, transcription, UK, United Kingdom, video, vinyl, Website, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
YOU MUST HEAR THIS: No piece captures the mixed emotions of Memorial Day better than Charles Ives’ “Decoration Day”
3 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
Today is Memorial Day, 2022.
It is the annual holiday to remember those who died in military service to the country. (Below are flags placed each year at the tombstones in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.)
If you want to honor survivors and current service members, that would be Veterans Day on Nov. 11.
All weekend long the radio has been playing music and the television has been showing war movies.
A lot of the music is familiar and repeated every year: Sousa marches and Morton Gould suites, elegies by Gustav Mahler, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein; requiems by Mozart and Fauré; a hymn by John Williams and other movie scores. This year has also seen the playlist include rediscovered works of homage by African-American composers such as William Grant Still.
But only this year did The Ear finally hear — thanks to Wisconsin Public Radio — the one piece that, to his mind, best captures Memorial Day with its blending of consonance and dissonance, its mix of major and major keys, of familiar or “found” music and original music.
It is called, simply, “Decoration Day” and it was composed in 1912 — but not published until 1989 — by the 20th-century iconoclastic and early modernist American composer Charles Ives (below, 1874-1954). It ended up as part of a work the composer called “A Symphony: New England Hollidays.”
See if you agree with The Ear.
Listen to the 8-minute performance by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Listen to the deep anguish and and sense of loss conveyed in the opening, when a solemn remembrance procession goes to a cemetery to plant flags and lay flowers and wreaths to “decorate” the graves of the fallen.
Listen carefully and you will hear a faint version of “Taps” and ringing church bells in the atmospheric music.
Then as so often happens in reality, life suddenly intrudes in the form of a celebration by a loud marching brass band as it leaves the cemetery for the celebratory marches, picnics and fireworks.
But at the end, the darkness briefly returns. The sense of loss lingers long after the actual death and long after the holiday has been celebrated.
There is no closure.
Just resignation.
Just living with loss.
Here is the background from Wikipedia about how the holiday started as Decoration Day after the Civil War and when it evolved into Memorial Day in 1970: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
And here is biographical background, with the actual sources and depictions of “Decoration Day” — just go down the page to compositions and click — about Charles Ives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ives
Did you know and like Charles Ives’ music?
Does “Decoration Day” impress or move you?
What music most embodies Memorial Day for you?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AaronCopland, #African-AmericanComposer, #ArlingtonNationalCemetery, #BandMusic, #BlackAmericans, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrassBand, #BrassMusic, #CharlesIves, #ChurchBells, #CivilWar, #DecorationDay, #FacebookPosting, #GabrielFaure, #GustavMahler, #JacobStockinger, #JohnPhilipSousa, #JohnWilliams, #LeonardBernstein, #MajorKey, #MemorialDay, #MilitaryService, #MinorKey, #MixedEmotions, #MortonGould, #NationalPublicRadio, #NewEngland, #OrchestralMusic, #OriginalWork, #SamuelBarber, #TheEar, #ThePresident, #TheU.S., #UnitedStates, #UnitedStatesMarineBand, #USMarines, #VeteransDay, #WarMovies, #Wikipediaentry, #WilliamGrantStill, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, 20th-century music, Aaron Copland, actual, African American, American, American Civil War, Ameriuca, anguish, annual, Arlington, Arlington National Cemetery, Arts, atmosphere, atmospheric, audience, background, band, band music, Barber, Bernstein, biographical, black, blog, bottom, brass band, brass music, celebration, celebratory, cemetery, Charles Ives, church, church bells, Civil War, Classical music, Classical Revolution, closure, compose, composer, Composition, Concert, consonance, Copland, darkness, dead, death, Decoration Day, deep, depiction, dissonance, early, Early music, Elegy, embody, emotion, evolution, evolve, Facebook, fallen, familiar, Fascebook, Faure, film, Fireworks, flag, flower, found, Gabriel Fauré, Gould, grave, Gustav Mahler, hear, Holiday, homage, honor, hymn, iconoclast, iconoclastic, impress, information, intrude, Ives, Jacob Stockinger, John Philip Sousa, John Williams, Leonard Bernstein, life, like, linger, listen, living, loss, loud, Mahler, major key, march, Marines, mark, Memorial Day, military, minor key, minute, mixed, modern, modernist, morph, Morton Gould, move, Movies, Mozart, nation, national, National Public Radio, New England, NPR, opening, orchestral, original, performance, picnic, piece, plant, playlist, post, posting, President, procession, psalm, publish, Radio, reality, rediscover, remembrance, repeat, Samuel Barber, score, sense, service, show, solemn, soundtrack, source, sources, Sousa, Still, suddenly, Suite, symphony, Taps, Television, thanks, The Ear, TV, U.S., United State Marine Band, United States, veterans, Veterans Day, video, war, war movies, weekend, Wikipedia, William Grant Still, Williams, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, wreaty, year, you, YouTube
WORT-FM 89.9 now has a Monday morning show of modern and contemporary classical music with Paul Baker
Leave a Comment
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
The listener-sponsored, community radio station WORT-FM 89.9 — long a home for classical music from all eras, from the earliest to the newest — has a new program to join its many others about music in all genres and all periods as well as news and commentary about public affairs.
It airs on Monday mornings from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. with Paul Baker (below, in his WORT studio). He is well-known radio host, music critic and amateur musician.
Baker recently shared with The Ear some insights into his new show “Listen Adventurously”:
Are you still doing your show for WSUM, the student-run FM radio station at the University of Wisconsin-Madison?
I hosted Only Strings on WSUM-FM 91.7 to focus on chamber music at a time when I was taking cello lessons. I wanted to absorb as much chamber music as possible, and preparing for, and hosting, a radio program was one good way to do that. I ended the show in 2019 when I reached the five-year mark.
How did the new WORT show come about?
I’ve been a WORT fan for more than 30 years. I know many of the program hosts and have been in touch with the music director, Sybil Augustine, for some time.
I had hosted a WORT Sunday early morning show briefly about 20 years ago. The Monday morning classical slot recently became available when Christopher Delamarter stepped down, so I raised my hand.
What can you tell us about the content of the show?
The show has been billed as 20th-century classical music. I am extending that to include pieces from the 2000s as well — things written as recently as last year. There is just so much good material. Younger composers and performers deserve to be heard.
So the show will feature Bartok and Shostakovich and Samuel Barber, of course, but also Philip Glass and Arvo Pärt and Jennifer Higdon and Laura Schwendinger (below, who teaches at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music and whose music is widely performed) and Chicago’s Third Coast Percussion Ensemble. In my opinion, there’s a lack of local availability to hear this music.
I enjoy sharing music with people. When I worked on campus, I programmed three shows for WSUM-FM. Now that I’m retired, I’m happy to have this opportunity on WORT. The only drawback is that I must get up at 4 a.m. for the 5 a.m. air time. But I’m a morning person, so it’s not that bad.
Editor’s note: If you want to see a sample playlist, as well as WORT’s daily show schedule, here a link to the one from this past Monday: https://www.wortfm.org/on-air-schedule/
Tags: #ArvoPärt, #BelaBartok, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ContemporaryComposer, #ContemporaryMusic, #DmitriShostakovich, #EarlyMorning, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #JacobStockinger, #JenniferHigdon, #LastYear, #LauraSchwendinger, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #ModernComposers, #ModernMusic, #MusicCritic, #MusicDirector, #NewMusic, #OnlyStrings, #PaulBaker, #PhilipGlass, #RadioHost, #SamuelBarber, #StringMusic, #SybilAugustine, #TheEar, #TheUW, #ThirdCoastPercussion, #UniversityofWisconsin, #WORT-FM89.9, #WSUM-FM 91.7, 20th-century, 20th-century classical music, adventure, alarm, amateur, Arts, Arvo Part, audience, availability, available, Barber, Bartok, Béla Bartók, billed, Campus, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, Chicago, choral music, Classical music, community, composer, Concert, concerto, contemporary, contemporary music, content, critic, Dmitri Shostakovich, drawback, Early music, Facebook, Glass, good, hand, hear, Higdon, host, Jacob Stockinger, Jennifer Higdon, lack, last year, Laura Schwendinger, lessons, link, listen, listener, local, Madison, material, Mead Witter School of Music, modern, modern composers, modern msuic, morning, Music, music critic, Music director, new, New Music, Only Strings, opinion, Orchestra, part, Paul Baker, performer, person, Philip Glass, Piano, playlist, post, postr, program, programmed, programming, Radio, raise, retired, Samuel Barber, schedule, Schwendinger, share, Shostakovich, slot, Sonata, string music, Student, Sunday, Sybil Augustine, symphony, tag, teach, tell, The Ear, Third Coast Percussion, time, United States, University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, WORT-FM 89.9, WSUM, WSUM 91.7 FM, young, younger
How will you celebrate World Piano Day today?
22 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
Today — Tuesday, March 29, 2022 — is World Piano Day.
(Below is a restored vintage concert grand piano at Farley’s House of Pianos used for recitals in the Salon Piano Series.)
How will you mark it? Celebrate it?
It’s a fine occasion to revisit your favorite pianist and favorite piano pieces.
Who is your favorite pianist, and what piano piece would you like to hear today?
If you yourself took piano lessons or continue to play, what piece would you play to mark the occasion? Fo the Ear, it will be either a mazurka by Chopin or a movement from either a French Suite or a Partita by Johann Sebastian Bach. Maybe both!
What piano piece do you wish you could play, but never were able to? For The Ear, it would be the Ballade No. 4 in F minor by Chopin.
One of the best ways to mark the day is to learn about a new younger pianist you might not have heard of.
For The Ear, one outstanding candidate would be the Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson ( below), who has won critical acclaim and who records for Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
Olafsson has a particular knack for innovative and creative programming, like his CD that alternates works by Claude Debussy and Jean-Philippe Rameau.
He also seems at home at in many different stylistic periods. His records every thing from Baroque masters, to Mozart and his contemporaries in the Classical period — including Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach — to Impressionists to the contemporary composer Philip Glass.
But The Ear especially loves his anthology of Bach pieces (below) that include original works and transcriptions, including some arranged by himself. His playing is always precise and convincing, and has the kind of cool water-clear sound that many will identify with Andras Schiff.
You can hear a sample of his beautiful playing for yourself in the YouTube video at the bottom. It is an live-performance encore from his inaugural appearance last August at The Proms in London, where he also played Mozart’s dramatically gorgeous Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor (also available on YouTube.)
Final word: You might find some terrific pianists and performances on the Internet. Record labels, performing venues and other organizations are marking the day with special FREE recitals that you can reach through Google and Instagram.
Happy playing!
Happy listening!
Please leave a comment and let The Ear and other readers know what you think of the piano — which seems to be falling out of favor these days — and which pianists and piano pieces you will identify this year with World Piano Day.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AndrasSchiff, #BaroqueEra, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarlPhilippEmanuelBach, #Classicalera, #ClaudeDebussy, #CompactDisc, #ConcertGrandPIano, #CriticalAcclaim, #DeutscheGrammophon, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FredericChopin, #FrenchSuite, #InstagramPost, #Jean-PhilippeRameau, #JohannSebastianBach, #LivePerformance, #PhilipGlass, #PianoConcerto, #PianoLessons, #PianoPiece, #PianoTranscription, #RecordLabel, #SalonPIanoSeries, #TheEar, #TheInternet, #TheProms, #UnitedKingdom, #VikingurOlafsson, #WorldPianoDay, #YouTubevideo, Album, alternate, always, András Schiff, anthology, arrangement, Arts, audience, Bach, Ballade, Baroque, beautuful, best, blog, Blog post, blog posting, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, CD, celebrate, Chopin, clarity, Classical era, Classical music, Claude Debussy, clear, Compact Disc, composer, comtemporary, Concert, concert grand, concert grand piano, concerto, conviction, convincing, cool, creative, critical acclaim, day, Debussy, debut, Deutsche Grammophon, DG, dramatic, Early music, encore, England, Facebook, Farley's House of Pianos, favor, favorite, Frédéric Chopin, free, French Impressionism, French Suite, Glass, Google, gorgeous, hear, Home, Iceland, identify, Impressionism, inaugural, innovative, Instagram, Internet, Islandic, Jacob Stockinger, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Johann Sebastian Bach, knack, learn, lesson, link, listen, live performance, London, Love, mark, Master, movement, Mozart, Music, occasion, Orchestra, partita, performing, period, Philip Glass, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, piano lesson, piano piece, play, playing, post, precise, program, programming, Rameau, recital, record, Record label, records, restore, Salon Piano Series, sample, share, special, stream, style, stylistic, symphony, tag, terrific, The Ear, The Proms, transcription, UK, United Kingdom, venue, video, Vikingur Olafsson, vintage, water, way, wish, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, world, World Piano Day, young, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Polly Kuelbs on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
| welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ann Boyer on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Live music continues its comeback from the pandemic. Today is Make Music Madison with free concerts citywide of many kinds of music. Here are guides with details
Leave a Comment
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
Live music continues to make its comeback from the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The past week saw live outdoor concerts by Con Vivo, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society and the Middleton Community Orchestra.
Today – Monday, June 21 –is Make Music Madison 2021.
It is part of an annual worldwide phenomenon that started in France in 1982. It has since spread globally and is now celebrated in more than 1,000 cities in 120 countries.
Yet in the U.S., Wisconsin is one of only five states that celebrate Make Music Day statewide. The other states are Connecticut, Hawaii, New Mexico and Vermont. In there U.S., more than 100 cities will take part in presenting free outdoor concerts. Globally, the audience will be in the millions.
The day is intended to be a way to celebrate the annual Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. Technically, the solstice occurred in Wisconsin last night, on Father’s Day, at 10:32 p.m. CDT.
But The Ear is a forgiving kind. This will be the first full day of summer, so the spirit of the celebration lives on despite the calendar.
You can see – the composer Igor Stravinsky advised listening with your eyes open – and hear 38 different kinds of music. The choices include blues, bluegrass, Celtic, roots music, gospel, rock, jazz, classical, folk, African music, Asian music, world music, children’s music (see the YouTube video at the bottom) and much more. It will be performed by students and teachers, amateurs and professionals, individuals and groups.
Here is a link to a press release about the overall event: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/make-music-day-2021-announces-updated-schedule-of-events-301304107.html
And here is a link to the global home website — with more background information and a live-stream video of a gong tribute to the who died of COVID — about the festival: https://www.makemusicday.org
The local events will take place from 5 a.m. to midnight. All are open to the public without admission, and safety protocols will be observed.
Here is a guide to local events that allow you to search particulars of the celebration by area of the city, genre of music, performers, venues and times. If you are a classical fan, in The Ear’s experience you might want to pay special attention to Metcalfe’s market in the Hilldale mall.
Here is a link to the home webpage of Make Music Madison: https://www.makemusicmadison.org
Here is a link to the event calendar with maps and schedules as well as alternative plans in case of rain and various menus for searching: https://www.makemusicmadison.org/listings/
Happy listening!
In the Comment section, please leave your observations and suggestions or advice about the quality and success of the festival and the specific events you attended.
The Ear wants to hear.
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: #AfricanMusic, #AsianMusic, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #Children'sMusic, #ChoralMusic, #CityofMadison, #ConVivo, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #CulturalPhenomenon, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Father'sDay, #FolkMusic, #HilldaleMall, #HomeWebpage, #IgorStravinsky, #JacobStockinger, #LiveMusic, #LiveStreaming, #MadisonWisconsin, #MakeMusicDay, #MakeMusicMadison, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #Mondaynight, #NewMexico, #PianoMusic, #PressRelease, #RockMusic, #RootsMusic, #SummerSolstice, #TheBlues, #TheEar, #TheU.S., #UnitedStates, #VocalMusic, #WebPage, #WorldMusic, #YouTubevideo, admission, advice, Africa, alternative, amateur, annaul, area, Arts, Asia, Asian music, audience, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamt, background, Baroque, Beethoven, blog, blue, bluegrass, blues, calendar, celebrate, celebration, Cello, Celtic, Chamber music, children, children's music, choral music, city, citywide, Classical music, classicalmusic, comeback, comment, composer, Con Vivo, Connecticut, coronavirus, cultural, culture, different, event, eyes, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, fathers day, festival, Folk music, forgive, forgiving, forward, France, free, genre, gospel, group, guide, happy', Hawaii, hear, Hilldale, Hilldale Mall, Holiday, Home, Igor Stravinsky, individual, information, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, kijd, like, link, listen, listening, live music, live-stream, livestream, local, Madison, make, Make Music Day, Make Music Madison, map, market, menu, Metcalfe's, Middleton Community Orchestra, million, Monday, Music, New Mexico, night, now, observation, occur, open, outdoors, pandemic, particulars, performer, phenomenon, Pianist, Piano, piano music, plans, post, posting, press release, professional, protocol, public, quality, rain, Rock, rock music, roots music, schedule, search, see, share, Spring, Stravinsky, stuydent, success, suggest, Summer solstice, tag, Teacher, technical, technically, The blues, The Ear, time, U.S., United States, venue, Vermont, video, vocal music, Wisconsin, World music, worldwide, YouTube video