The Well-Tempered Ear
Remembering the classical musicians who died in 2023
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By Jacob Stockinger
It remains an end-of-the-year ritual: remembering the dead who brought beauty to us through music.
Here are remembrances of the classical musicians we lost in 2023.
From Presto Music comes a list of world-known talents who died this past year — plus those who died in recent past years. It is relatively short and has links to the full obituaries, including the of American mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry (below, in 2009, in the singing the famous Habanera from Bizet’s “Carmen” in the YouTube video at the bottom). A pioneer, she was the first Black singer to perform at the annual summer Wagner festival in Beyreuth, Germany, and she performed at the Wisconsin Union Theater during the 1978-79 season:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/articles/obituary/browse
Here is a longer, less renowned and more international list from The Violin Channel.
It includes many very well known musicians, including Menahem Pressler (below who co-founded and played for more than 50 years with the Beaux Arts Trio, which performed several times at the Wisconsin Union Theater. He also taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
It also includes the jazz and classical bassist Richard Davis (below), who spent decades teaching and performing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music.
The Ear especially likes this list because ordinary “house” musicians — and not just stars — are remembered. After all, the majority of musicians who add so much to our lives are not stars — but usually just mainstream workers in the arts.
Click on the names in red to see the full biographies, many of which are more touching than you might expect — for example, the Ukrainian conductor who died young while defending his country against Russia.
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The Madison Symphony Orchestra cancels the remaining orchestra and organ concerts of the 2020-21 season and postpones its Beethoven celebration until next season
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) has canceled the remaining orchestral and organ concerts of the 2020-21 season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A free online performance of “A Virtual Madison Symphony Christmas” will take place on Dec. 16 and stay posted through Dec. 31. For more information about the program and performers, plus a link to register and to hear that performance, go to: https://madisonsymphony.org
Plans for others online events – free or paid – have not been announced, although the MSO seems to be considering such steps. It also suggests that the 2021-22 season will be a postponed version of the same concerts planned this season to celebrate the Beethoven Year.
Here is the email from executive director Richard H. Mackie that the MSO sent out Monday:
Dear Friends of the Madison Symphony Orchestra,
As you know, the continuing COVID-19 crisis has curtailed planned performances of orchestras all over the world.
As more and more orchestras face the almost certain prospect that well-attended, full-orchestra concerts indoors will not be possible for the foreseeable future, at least until a successful vaccination program has brought COVID-19 under control, the remainder of many symphony concert seasons across America are now being cancelled .
We have previously cancelled our live, main stage concerts and education performances through January 2021 due to public health restrictions and the closure of Overture Hall.
Public Health Madison and Dane County restrictions continue to prohibit publicly attended indoor concerts. As a consequence, we have faced a painful decision in recent months regarding the fate of the rest of our 2020–2021 season.
I am grieved to announce that, under the present conditions — which offer no reasonable prospect of abatement until the summer, at least — we deem it an unfortunate necessity to cancel all previously scheduled Madison Symphony Orchestra concerts, Education and Community Engagement Programs, and Overture Concert Organ performances through May 2021.
Our June 2021 Concert on the Green remains on our schedule at this time.
We are prepared to issue refunds to our subscribers as we did in the fall. We will be communicating directly with our subscribers to provide options, including the option to donate the value of their tickets.
As we consider alternative programming opportunities for the spring, we will continue to welcome donations to our Musicians’ Relief Fund.
When we planned a joyous celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday, we could scarcely have imagined the devastation of the coronavirus in almost every aspect of our lives. But we are finding solace in successfully rescheduling this epic season just one year hence.
The emerging promise of vaccine development has rekindled our enthusiasm for making great music on a grand scale for our community with our Beethoven celebration. We all look forward to a new beginning with John DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) and the orchestra in September 2021. (You can hear the original promotional preview in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Please stay tuned for some exciting news about next season. In the meantime, should there be a breakthrough opportunity to restore any of the cancelled orchestra or organ concerts, or educational and community services to the schedule, we will be prepared to do so.
We are committed to helping our orchestra and keeping great music alive in Madison. Thank you for your interest and continuing support.
Sincerely,
Richard H. Mackie, Executive Director
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The third LunART Festival celebrates Black women in the arts with FREE streaming concerts and events this Saturday night, Oct. 10, and next Saturday night, Oct. 17
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
The LunART Festival is back for its third season, continuing its mission to support, inspire, promote and celebrate women in the arts, with a special presentation, “Human Family,” available via two FREE video livestreams on LunART’s website and Facebook page on Saturday, Oct. 10, and Saturday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. CDT.
The events will be co-hosted by LunART founder and flutist Iva Ugrcic (below top), and by vocalist and art administrator Deja Mason (below bottom).
In response to the most recent and ongoing racial inequality and in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, LunART will present the “Human Family” virtual festival featuring art created by Black women.
These FREE streamed events will feature a palette of emerging and established artists drawn from Madison’s rich arts scene, while also celebrating those who have paved the way for generations to come.
Radical inclusivity has been part of LunART’s mission from its conception. While women have historically been underrepresented in the arts, we cannot deny that there are segments of women that have been doubly marginalized, including women of color, women in the LGBTQIA+ community, older women and women with disabilities.
Part of creating a more just, inclusive world means recognizing that even within the space of underrepresentation, there remain disparities.
Works from the past include Florence Price’s “Five Folksongs of Counterpoint” for string quartet (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom), which is deeply rooted in the African-American spiritual tradition; Margaret Bonds’ Spiritual Suite for solo piano, written in a neo-Romantic classical style infused by jazz harmonies and rhythms; Afro-American Suite for flute, cello and piano by Undine Smith Moore, based on authentic spiritual songs used to express and record everyday life of slaves in America.
Florence Price (below), Margaret Bonds and Undine Smith Moore all fought against both racial and gender discrimination throughout their lives. To be a woman composing classical music in the mid-20th century was unusual; to be a Black woman composer was even more so. And yet, these women forged ahead, making history and paving the way for the women who would follow them.
Along with these pioneers of the past, LunART will also celebrate contemporary Black women who are making a big impact in the world of arts, culture, advocacy and activism, following the footsteps of their predecessors.
“Voodoo Dolls” for string quartet by Jessie Montgomery (below in a photo by Jiyang Chen) is influenced by West African drumming patterns that are interwoven with lyrical motifs in the improvisatory style.
“Fanmi Imen,” a work for flute and piano by Valerie Coleman (below) — LunART’s 2019 Composer-in-Residence) — is based on a powerful poem by Maya Angelou, “Human Family.” Angelou calls for peace and unity, while acknowledging differences due to ethnic and cultural background in her famous refrain: “we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”
The chamber music will be performed by Madison’s finest musicians: Isabella Lippi, Karl Lavine, Peter Miliczky, Magdalena Sas, Marie Pauls, Satoko Hayami, Yana Avedyan and Iva Ugrcic.
Celebrating women’s creativity across many art forms has been a core component of LunART’s artistic mission from its inception, and this year is no exception. While music will create a sound painting, “Human Family” will also feature women who use words and movement to tell their story.
Enter a world of phenomenal talent with emerging singer-songwriters Danielle Crim and Akornefa Akyea performing their most recent original songs; magically moving poems and spoken-word pieces by Jamie Dawson and Shasparay Lighteard; and join dancer and choreographer Kimi Evelyn in self-exploration of what happens when the body and the soul are left in complete solitude through her powerful piece “Body, Sweet Home.”
To commemorate the Festival events, LunART has commissioned digital artwork (below) by local artist and activist Amira Caire, which is inspired by the “Human Family” concept. This stunning piece of art will be available for purchase in printed form on LunART’s website.
We are calling our community to eat local, drink local and support local. By supporting LunART, you are also supporting local nonprofits and small businesses.
This project would not be possible without the generosity of Madison’s creative media agency Microtone Media, The Piano Gal Shop from Sun Prairie, Dane Arts and a grant from the Madison Arts Commission at https://www.cityofmadison.com/dpced/planning/madison-arts-commission/1580/, with the additional funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board.
Events are free and available for anyone to watch online, and donations are welcomed. For more details about the artists, events, programs and links, and donation methods, please visit https://www.lunartfestival.org
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The Madison Bach Musicians will open its new season with a virtual online concert of Haydn and Mozart this Saturday night and Sunday afternoon
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement, about a promising contrast-and-compare concert, from the Madison Bach Musicians:
The Madison Bach Musicians (MBM) will start its 17th season this Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, Oct. 3 and 4, with a virtual chamber music concert and livestream event featuring the irrepressibly joyous, witty and poised music of Classical-era masters Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791).
The performances features period instruments and historically informed performance practices.
See details near the bottom about the schedules and how to buy tickets.
Performers are violinist Kangwon Kim and cellist James Waldo (on gut-strung period instruments), fortepianist Trevor Stephenson, and soprano soloist Morgan Balfour — winner of the 2019 Handel Aria Competition. (Below top is Kangwon Kim; below middle is James Waldo; and below bottom is Morgan Balfour.)
The broadcast will begin with a 30-minute pre-concert lecture by MBM artistic director Trevor Stephenson (below, in a photo by Kent Sweitzer) illuminating the program’s repertoire, the lives of Haydn and Mozart, and the aesthetic aims of the period instruments.
While most of the pieces on the program are buoyant and full of celebration, the concert will begin with a pensive and melancholy work commensurate with our current pandemic times.
Mozart composed the Sonata in E minor for violin and fortepiano in 1778 at the age of 22 while on tour in Paris. His mother, who was with him on the tour, became suddenly ill and died unexpectedly. This sonata is the only piece of instrumental music Mozart ever composed in the key of E minor, and its blend of gravitas, sparseness and tenderness is heartbreakingly poignant.
Mozart’s Piano Trio in G major, composed in 1788, shows him at his sunniest and most affable, with one brilliant and catchy tune after another suspended effortlessly — at least in Mozart’s hands! ― within the balance of Classical form.
The program’s first half ends with five of Mozart’s songs. Mozart truly loved the soprano voice, and he lavished some of his greatest writing upon it. The set includes perhaps his best-known song, Das Veilchen (The Violet)―which is also, oddly enough, Mozart’s only setting of a text by the German poet Goethe.
The second half of the concert is devoted to the music of Mozart’s near contemporary, Joseph Haydn, who was just 24 years older than Mozart.
Though the two composers came from very different musical and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Haydn (below) was lower working class, rural, and musical but not professionally trained.
Mozart (below) was urban, solid middle class, musically trained, sophisticated, and ambitious.
Both managed to carve out successful careers in the fertile musical culture of Vienna and its environs. They certainly knew each other and even made music together on occasion, playing in string quartets — with Haydn on violin and Mozart on viola.
Haydn composed two sets of English Canzonettas (songs) during his visits to England during the early 1790s.
The Mermaid, with its flirtatious beckoning, stretches the confines of the parlor setting (where this music was most likely performed) and suggests a cabaret environment. Fidelity, on the other hand, stays within the parlor style, emphasizing how the bond of devotion can overcome physical separation. Haydn brilliantly interweaves stormy, naturalistic episodes with declarations of unbending loyalty.
The concert will close with Haydn’s mercurial Piano Trio No. 27 in C major. Also composed during his London visits in the 1790s, this trio is the first of a set of three dedicated to the London-based virtuoso pianist Therese Bartolozzi. The Presto finale―with its unbridled high spirits―is a supreme example of Classical Era cheeky, theatrically conceived wit. (You can hear the finale in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
SCHEDULE AND TICKETS
As a result of public health guidelines in response to Covid-19 that do not allow for an in-person audience, we will livestream our concert from Grace Episcopal Church, downtown on Capitol Square, on Saturday evening for at-home viewing. (Below are Trevor Stephenson and Kangwon Kim rehearsing in masks at Stephenson’s home.)
The event will begin with a pre-concert talk by Trevor Stephenson at 7:30 p.m., and after the 8 p.m. concert, the musicians will remain on stage to answer questions submitted by our audience.
On Sunday, starting at 3 p.m. we will rebroadcast the Saturday evening recording and follow that with a live question-and-answer session with our musicians from their homes.
After purchasing tickets for $15 per household, you will be sent a link to access the performance. The recorded lecture and video will be available for up to 72 hours after they take place.
To purchase tickets, go to: https://madisonbachmusicians.org/oct-3-4-haydn-mozart/ or to: https://madison-bach-musicians.square.site/product/haydn-mozart-oct-3-4-livestream/54?cs=true
For information about the Madison Bach Musicians’ full season, go to: https://madisonbachmusicians.org/season-overview/
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Can American film director Ron Howard make a sensitive and accurate biopic of Chinese superstar pianist Lang Lang? Or is it a cultural appropriation that deserves to be condemned?
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By Jacob Stockinger
The self-appointed PC diversity police have struck again.
This is getting silly and tiresome, insulting and embarrassing.
Some advocates of cultural diversity are crying foul over the latest project of the American and Academy Award-winning Hollywood film director Ron Howard: making a biopic of the superstar Chinese classical pianist Lang Lang (below).
The script will be drawn from the pianist’s bestselling memoir “Journey of a Thousand Miles” — which has also been recast as an inspirational children’s book — and the director and scriptwriters will consult with Lang Lang.
It seems to The Ear a natural collaboration, as well as a surefire box office hit, between two high-achieving entertainers. Check out their bios:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lang_Lang
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Howard
But some people are criticizing the project in the belief that because Ron Howard (below) is white and Western, he cannot do justice to someone who is Chinese or to Asian culture.
Here is an essay, found on the website of Classic FM, by one objector. She is Chinese film director Lulu Wang (below), who says she has no interest in doing the project herself: https://www.classicfm.com/artists/lang-lang/pianist-biopic-ron-howard-faces-criticism-lulu-wang/
Talk about misplaced alarm over “cultural appropriation.”
Don’t you think that Lang Lang will have a lot to say about how he is depicted?
Do you wonder if Wang thinks cultural appropriation works in reverse?
Should we dismiss Lang Lang’s interpretations of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev and Bartok simply because he is non-Western and Chinese rather than German, French or Russian?
Of course not. They should be taken on their own merits, just as the interpretations of any other Asian classical musician, and artists in general including Ai Weiwei, should be.
But however unfairly, cultural appropriation just doesn’t seem to work in reverse.
Mind you, The Ear thinks that cultural appropriation is a valid concept and can indeed sometimes be useful in discussing cross-cultural influences.
But it sure seems that the concept is being applied in an overly broad and even misdirected or ridiculous way, kind of the way that the idea of “micro-aggressions” can be so generously applied that it loses its ability to be truthful and useful.
Take the example of the heterosexual Taiwanese movie director Ang Lee. He certainly proved himself able to depict American culture in “The Ice Storm” and the gay world in “Brokeback Mountain.”
Let’s be clear. The Ear is a piano fan.
But if he objects to the project, it is because he doesn’t like Lang Lang’s flamboyant playing, his Liberace-like performance manners and showmanship, and his exaggerated facial expressions.
Yet there is no denying the human appeal of his story. He rose from a young and suicidal piano student (below) who was emotionally abused by his ambitious father – shades of the lives of young Mozart and Beethoven and probably many other prodigies – to become the best known, most frequently booked and highest paid classical pianist in the world.
Yet not for nothing did some critics baptize him with the nickname Bang Bang.
Still, the Curtis Institute graduate does all he can to foster music education, especially among the young and the poor.
And there is simply no denying his virtuosity. (See Lang Lang playing Liszt’s Paganini etude “La Campanella” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
So there is plenty to object to about Lang Lang the Piano Star besides the ethnicity of Ron Howard, who also did a biopic of opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti, in telling his story.
What do you think?
Is it culturally all right for Ron Howard to direct a film about Lang Lang?
Do you look forward to the movie and seeing it?
What do you think of Lang Lang as a pianist and a celebrity?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: This year’s virtual Bach Around the Clock proved a 10-day success. Here is a news update with a date for 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following message from artistic director and violist Marika Fischer Hoyt (below top) about this year’s virtual Bach Around the Clock and the dates for next year’s festival when amateur and professional musicians will again celebrate the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750):
Greetings! I hope this finds you well and finding ways to maintain equilibrium in these tumultuous times.
I’d like to thank you all again for making our 10-day 2020 Virtual Festival (one example is in the YouTube video at the bottom) such a success.
After the sad cancellation of our in-person festival, it was wonderful to see so many of you playing and singing Bach! It reminded me of the Dr. Seuss book; the COVID Grinch may have stolen the trappings of our festival, but we just held it anyway! (Below are members of the Suzuki Strings from a previous BATC festival.)
With the summer over, the BATC board of directors is looking ahead to next year’s festival, which will take place on Saturday, March 20, 2021. We don’t yet know what format it will take — whether in-person, virtual or some combination — but we will explore all available options.
If you have suggestions, please contact us.
Meanwhile, with so many concerts canceled, I hope you can find other ways to include music in your lives. I’ll continue posting Bach-related articles and performance links on our Facebook page.
If you have the means, please consider donating to artists and ensembles whose livelihoods have vanished for the foreseeable future.
Thank you again for being part of the BATC community, and please take care.
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Classical music: Joel Thompson’s “The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed” is an eloquent and timely testament to Black victims of racism. It deserves to be performed in Madison and elsewhere
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By Jacob Stockinger
A reader recently wrote in and suggested that fellow blog fans should listen to “The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed” by the Atlanta-based American composer Joel Thompson (below).
So The Ear did just that.
He was both impressed and moved by the prescient piece of choral and orchestral music. It proved both powerful and beautiful.
The title alludes to the Bible’s depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but also to the musical setting of it that was composed by Franz Joseph Hadyn in the 18th century. But it stands on its own as a much needed and very accomplished updating, especially with the “last word” or phrase “I can’t breathe.”
It is hard to believe the work was written five years ago, and not last week or last month. But it couldn’t be more relevant to today.
It shows how deeply artists have been engaging with the social and political issues of the day, particularly the role of personal and structural racism in national life, and the plight of young Black men and women who face discrimination, brutality and even death at the hands of the police and a bigoted public.
The work was premiered by the Men’s Glee Club at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 2015. This performance comes from the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
The SSO and featured guest University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Men’s Glee Club, led by conductor Eugene Rogers (below) – who directs choral music and teaches conducting at the UM — premiered a 2017 commissioned fully orchestrated version of “The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed.” You can hear it in the YouTube video below.
It is an eminently listenable and accessible, multi-movement work honoring the lives, deaths and personal experiences of seven Black men.
The seven last words used in the work’s text are: “Why do you have your guns out?” – Kenneth Chamberlain, 66; “What are you following me for?” – Trayvon Martin, 16; “Mom, I’m going to college.” – Amadou Diallo, 23; “I don’t have a gun. Stop shooting.” – Michael Brown, 18; “You shot me! You shot me!” – Oscar Grant, 22; “It’s not real.” – John Crawford, 22; “I can’t breathe.” – Eric Garner, 43.
The Ear thinks that once live concerts begin again after the coronavirus pandemic is contained, it should be programmed locally. It could and should be done by, among others, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Choir; or the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra and Choral Union; or the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra with the Festival Choir of Madison; or the Wisconsin Chamber Choir.
They have all posted messages about standing in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the protesters against racism. But will words lead to commitment and action?
It will be interesting to see who responds first. In addition to being timely, such a performance certainly seems like a good way to draw in young people and to attract Black listeners and other minorities to classical music.
Here is a link if you also want to check out the almost 200 very pertinent comments about the work, the performance, the performers and of course the social and political circumstances that gave rise to the work — and continue to do so with the local, regional, national and international mass protests and demonstrations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdNXoqNuLRQ&app=desktop
And here is the performance itself:
What do you think of the work?
How did you react to it?
Would you like to see and hear it performed live where you are?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: June is Gay Pride month. How many LGBTQ classical composers and performers do you know about? Which ones are your favorites or most surprise you?
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ALERT: This Sunday, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society’s Virtual Chamber Music Festival begins online. It is called “Bach’s Lunch” and will send out short concerts every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday through Sunday, June 28, when a grand finale is planned. It is FREE. But you have to sign up by emailing crownover@bachdancinganddynamite.org
By Jacob Stockinger
This past week the Rainbow flags (below) have started flying, including at the Wisconsin state Capitol.
Last year was the 50th anniversary of the riot or uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City that eventually gave birth to a worldwide movement to insure that queer people deserve and will receive human rights.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Pride, which started with parades and marches to celebrate that initial victory and the start of a global gay liberation movement that continues and widens today.
On this first weekend in June 2020, it seems fitting to recall the many LGBTQ composers and performers in classical music.
The gay rights movement has opened the closet doors not only of individual lives today but also of historical figures. When The Ear was taking piano lessons and started going to concerts and listening to recordings, and learning about classical music, the subject remained shrouded in silence and secrecy.
You could read and hear about Tchaikovsky (below top) and Leonard Bernstein (below bottom, in a photo by Jack Mitchell) – to take a very popular composer and a renowned composer-conductor — but no one mentioned the role of homosexuality in their lives and careers.
So here are several lists that may teach you something new about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer musicians – both composers and performers.
Some of the calls seem very iffy to The Ear. For example, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin (below and in the YouTube video at the bottom) lived at a time when a homoerotic friendship did not necessarily mean a queer sexual identity. But one way or the other, historical proof and documentation can be hard to come by. And clearly there is much more to find out about the past.
Take a look. No longer is such information a rarity. From both the quantity and quality of the entries, at least you will see how scholars are taking new looks and undermining the heterosexual assumption that has wrapped so many historical and even contemporary figures in a wrong or mistaken identity.
Freedom, acceptance and respect are not zero-sum games in which one party can win only if another party loses. There is enough of each to go around.
So enjoy the information, whether it is new or not, and the respect it should inspire for the central role of LGBTQ people in the arts both past and present.
Here is a pretty comprehensive alphabetical list from Wikipedia of LGBT composers, both living and dead. It includes Chester Biscardi (below), who did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. You don’t have to click on each name. Just hover the cursor arrow over the name and you will see a photo and biographical blurb:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_composers
And here is a list, also in alphabetical order and also from Wikipedia, of LGBT musicians and performers, not all of them classical. It works by clicking on sub-categories that include nationality – though one wonders if musicians from extremely homophobic countries and cultures are included:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_musicians
Here is a similar list from QueerBio.com that also includes links to similar lists for rock, country, hip-hop, jazz, Christian music and more:
https://queerbio.com/wiki/index.php/LGBTQ_Classical_Music_Composers
Here is a more selective list from The Advocate, an LGBT magazine, of 18 queer composers who made history and you should know about:
And here is a similarly selective list from radio station WFMT in Chicago of 15 LGBT composers — including Corelli, Handel (below) and Lully — you should know about:
https://www.wfmt.com/2015/06/25/15-queer-composers-know/
From Arts Boston, here are 10 contemporary composers who are queer:
http://artsboston.org/2018/06/21/10-contemporary-lgbtq-composers-you-should-know/
Finally, here is a list from the Spotify streaming service that features many samplings of actual pieces by historical and contemporary queer composers:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX75gMjYMWCsk
Which names most surprised you?
If you have questions, comments or additional names and information to add — The Ear doesn’t see the acclaimed pianist Jeremy Denk listed — please leave word in the Comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Happy Pride, everyone!
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Classical music: On this Memorial Day, The Ear honors not only soldiers but also civilians, COVID-19 victims and all those responders and workers who serve the public
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Memorial Day 2020.
It is of course a largely military holiday. Most of the planned public events will be to honor those who died in service to their country. That usually means fallen soldiers and deceased veterans.
It also means that military cemeteries – like Arlington National Cemetery, below — will be decorated with American flags.
But The Ear doesn’t think we should forget that there are many ways to serve your country and protect the public, many kinds war and self-sacrifice.
Let’s not forget civilians, especially since worldwide more than twice the numbers of civilians died in World War II than did members of the armed forces. Lives are taken as well as given.
A larger definition of “national service” also seems especially timely since this weekend the U.S. is likely to surpass 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 during the coronavirus pandemic. They include many first responders and frontline workers (below) as well as grocery store workers and delivery drivers. Even “small” occupations have big heroes. There is no reason not to be more inclusive.
There are traditional kinds of music to honor the dead. They include requiems and elegies, military marches and funeral marches. And in the comment section you should feel free to suggest whatever music you think would be appropriate.
But The Ear found a piece he thinks is both unusual and ideal.
It is called “Old and Lost Rivers” by the contemporary American composer Tobias Picker (below). It is a beautiful, moving and contemplative piece, based on an actual place in Texas, that you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.
But you should know this about the work’s title.
With rivers, “lost” doesn’t mean forgotten or misplaced.
One dictionary defines it as “a surface stream that flows into an underground passageway” – and eventually often becomes part of a larger body of water such as a lake or the ocean.
It can also mean rivers that appear during heavy rain and then disappear when they evaporate during a drought.
Somehow, those images serve as fitting metaphors for our losses and that music seems a very appropriate way to honor those who sacrifice themselves and disappear in service to others.
The Ear hopes you agree.
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Watch ‘The Last Repair Shop’ — the Oscar-winning short documentary about music education
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By Jacob Stockinger
The beautiful and animated face of the young girl comes on the screen with a violin, smiles and says simply, “I love the violin.”
And we as viewers fall in love right then and there.
“The Last Repair Shop” just won the 2024 Oscar for Best Short Documentary. The 40-minute film, released in 2023, is now available to watch on YouTube.
It is a feel-good, feel-guilty story about the last shop to repair free musical instruments offered students in the Los Angeles public schools. But it is also a meditation on things that are broken– and not just musical instruments but also people, schools and politics.
It is really a story about growing up; about adults making art matter to young people; about the role of public education at a time when it keeps getting attacked by ideologues as well as stingy legislatures, city councils, school boards and, ultimately, voters.
Here is a capsule summary: “Since 1959, Los Angeles has been one of the few United States cities to offer and fix musical instruments for its public school students at no cost.
“Those instruments, numbering around 80,000, are maintained at a Los Angeles downtown warehouse by a handful of craftspeople.
“The film profiles four of them, each specializing in an orchestra section, as well as students whose lives have been enriched by the repair shop’s work. The film concludes with a performance by district alumni.”
It sounds irresistible — and it is.
Here are some more background and particulars — including other awards and honors — from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Repair_Shop
If you don’t have time right now to watch the whole film, the two-minute trailer is at the bottom. But if you go to YouTube yourself, you can also read the heart-warming and perceptive comments from other viewers:
What do you think of the movie?
How did you react?
And what do you think about the importance of music education in schools?
The Ear wants to hear
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