The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble celebrates its 20th anniversary with concerts this Friday night in Milwaukee and Sunday afternoon in Madison
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here, as elsewhere in the U.S. and around the world, the period instrument movement has become more and more mainstream over the years.
The instruments and the historically informed performance practices have expanded.
The repertoire has also grown, extending both back to Medieval and early Baroque music and forward to the Classical, Romantic and even more modern periods.
Historical research into early music, along with performances and recordings, has influenced even modern music groups such as the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, which now sound lighter, clearer and faster when they play Handel operas, Bach concertos and Beethoven symphonies.
Twenty years ago, the Madison Bach Musicians did not exist. Neither did the Madison Early Music Festival or the fully developed early music program at the UW-Madison.
But the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble (below) was there, having grown out of other period instrument ensembles and performers who pioneered the long-lived and now very successful early music revival.
And the WBE, with changes in personnel, continues strong.
This coming Sunday you can help celebrate the ensemble’s 20th anniversary by attending a concert of mixed baroque chamber music.
The concert is on this Sunday, Nov. 26, at 2 p.m. in Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church (below), at 1833 Regent Street on Madison’s near west side. (The Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble will also perform the same program in Milwaukee this Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Charles Allis Museum. See the WBE website, below, for details)
Performers are Brett Lipshutz, traverse flute; Eric Miller, viola da gamba; Sigrun Paust, recorder, Consuelo Sañudo, mezzo-soprano; Monica Steger; traverse flute and harpsichord; Anton TenWolde, baroque cello; and Max Yount, harpsichord.
Tickets at the door are $20, $10 for students.
A free reception will be held after the concert at 2422 Kendall Ave., second floor.
The program is:
Luigi Rossi – “Io lo vedo, o luci belle” (I see, O beautiful lights)
Georg Philipp Telemann – Trio Sonata for two recorders and basso continuo, TWV 42:F7 (The two opening movements can be heard in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Marin Marais – Pièces de viole, movements from Book 2 (viol pieces)
Jacopo Peri – “Solitario augellino”(lonely little bird) “O miei giorni fugaci”(O my fleeting days)
Alexander Munro – Bony Jeane, from A Collection of the Best Scots Tunes Fited to the German Flute (1732)
INTERMISSION
Benedetto Marcello – Sonata for recorder and basso continuo, Op. 2, No. 1
Michel Pignolet de Montéclair – “Les Syrenes” (The Sirenes)
Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht – Sonata in G major for two flutes and basso continuo
Francisco de Santiago – “Ay, como flecha la Niña Rayos” (Like Arrows, the Girl Rays)
For more information, call (608) 238-5126 or email info@wisconsinbaroque.org, or visit www.wisconsinbaroque.org
Tags: Alexander Munro, anniversary, Arts, Bach, Baroque, basso continuo, beautiful, Beethoven, Benedetto Marcello, celebrate, Cello, Chamber music, change, Charles Allis Museum, church, Classical, Classical music, composer, Concert, concerto, continuo, Early music, Episcopal, flute, Francisco de Santiago, free, Georg Philipp Telemann, Germany, globe, Handel, harpsichord, historically informed performance practices, international, Italian, Italy, Jacob Friedrich Kleinknecht, Jacob Stockinger, Jacopo Peri, Johann Sebastian Bach, light, long-lived, Ludwig van Beethoven, Luigi Rossi, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, mainstream, Marin Marais, Medieval, Mezzo-soprano, Michel Pignolet de Monteclair, Milwaukee, modern, movement, opera, Orchestra, period instruments, personnel, pioneer, reception, recorder, repertoire, revival, Romantic, Scots, series, Sonata, St. Andrew's, symphony, traverse, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, viol da gamba, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, world, YouTube
Classical music: Early music group Eliza’s Toyes offers a fascinating exploration of the role of music in medicine from Medieval though Baroque times.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker, who also took the performance photos. 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 for 12 years hosted an early music show every other Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
Eliza’s Toyes (below top), the consort of voices and instruments devoted to early music, is led by the formidably talented Jerry Hui. The group gave another of its imaginative programs, this time on Friday night at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery (below bottom).
The theme and title of this program was “Music: The Miracle Medicine.” Offered were 15 selections, conveying various ideas or beliefs about health (both physical and spiritual), illness, medicine, miracle cures and good living.
Each selection was preceded by the reading of passages from moral and medical texts of various periods. (I wonder if today’s medical and health-advice writings will sound as comical generations from now as do those of the past to us!)
Fifteen composers were represented in the course of the program, from Medieval through Baroque: Hildegard von Bingen (below top, 1098-1179), Alfonso El Sabio (1221-1284), Thomas Tallis (1505-1585), Cipriano da Rore (1516-1565),Hubert Waelrant (1515-1595), Orlando di Lassus (1532-1594), William Byrd (1540-1623), Lelio Bertani (1553-1612), John Wilbye (1574-1638), Gabriel Bataille (1575-1630), Melchior Franck (1579-1639), John Maynard (15??-16??), Anonymous 17th-Century (2 items), Marin Marais (1656-1728) and John Eccles (1668-1735).
The selections were mostly vocal, either solo or ensemble. One instrumental selection stood out as probably the one most likely to be familiar: Marin Marais’ excruciatingly detailed “Representation of the Operation for Gallstone” (below top is Marais, below bottom is the introduction to his work) — complete with narrative headings for each section. (You can hear the narration and the music to the unusual piece in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
The performances were earnest and often accomplished. But it must be said in honesty that, in motets and madrigals, the vocal ensemble was not balanced or smooth — the singers clearly need to live with this kind of musical writing somewhat longer. Still, the overall effect was certainly entertaining and thematically fascinating.
There were no printed programs, but the titles and text translations were projected on a background screen. These projections were fully visible and readable, so they worked well.
This is a program that will be offered again, I understand, at the Chazen Museum of Art on July 15, so that it can be caught and savored once more.
Above all, it is one more tribute to the thoughtful, deeply researched and intriguing program skills of Jerry Hui (below).
Tags: Arts, Baroque, Cello, Chamber music, Chazen Museum of Art, choral music, Classical music, cure, Early music, gallstones, good living, Health, Hildegard von Bingen, illness, instrumental music, Jacob Stockinger, Jerry Hui, John W. Barker, John Wilbye, living, Madison, madrigal, Marin Marais, medicine, Medieval, Melchior Franck, miracles, motet, Music, music therapy, Orlando de Lassus, Orlando di Lasso, projections, screen, text, Thomas Tallis, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, viola da gamba, vocal music, wellness, William Byrd, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: The Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble performs baroque chamber music this Saturday night in Madison. Plus, harpist Linda Warren performs a FREE concert at noon on Friday.
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ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, which runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m. in the Landmark Auditoriun of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature harpist Linda Warren (below) playing music by Benjamin Britten, Pearl Chertok and Astor Piazzolla.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following note:
The Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble invites the public to a concert of baroque chamber music.
The concert is this Saturday night, April 11, at 8 p.m. in Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church (the exterior is below top, the interior is below bottom), 1833 Regent Street, Madison, on the near west side.
Members of the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble include: Brett Lipshutz – traverso; Eric Miller – viola da gamba, baroque cello; Consuelo Sañudo – mezzo-soprano; Monica Steger – traverso, harpsichord; Martha Vallon – viola da gamba; and Max Yount – harpsichord.
Tickets at the door only: $20 for the public, $10 for students.
For more information call (608) 238-5126 or visit www.wisconsinbaroque.org.
The program includes:
- Jean-Marie Leclair – Première Récréation de Musique (You can hear it in a YouTube video at the bottom)
- Louis Marchand – Pièces de Clavecin, Suite No. 1 in D minor (1702) (selected movements)
- George Frideric Handel – “Nice, che fa? Che pensa?”
- Johan Helmich Roman – Sonata No. 3 for flauto traverso in C minor
Intermission
- Michel Pignolet de Montéclair – Ariana et Bachus
- Marin Marais – Pièces de Viole, Book 3 (selected movements)
- Jacques Hotteterre – Trio Sonatas, Op. 3, No. 1
Tags: aria, Arts, Ástor Piazzolla, Baroque, Benjamin Britten, Cello, Cello Sonata, Chamber music, Classical music, Early music, First Unitarian Society of Madison, flauto traverso, flute, Frank Lloyd Wright, George Frideric Handel, harp, harpsichord, Jacob Stockinger, Jacques Hotteterre, Jean-Marie Leclair, Johan Helmich Roman, Louis Marchand, Marin Marais, Mezzo-soprano, Michel Pignolet de Monteclair, Music, Pearl Chertok, Pièces de clavecin en concerts, Sonata, transverse flute, traverse, trio sonata, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viol, viola da gamba, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, YouTube
Classical music news: Holy Wisdom’s “Prairie Rhapsody” environmental benefit concert is this Thursday evening and features an all-Baroque program.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Every summer, the Holy Wisdom Monastery (below) in Middleton (4200 County Road M) puts on “Prairie Rhapsody.” It is a benefit event designed to raise money for environmental restoration and preservation, and features light snacks and refreshments as well as terrific live music.
This year, the event will be held on this Thursday, June 28, with refreshments at 5:30 p.m. and the concert – featuring keyboardist Trevor Stephenson (below) and the Madison Bach Musicians plus special guests – at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $50 with $25 being tax-deductible. To sign up just follow the link below or call Mike Sweitzer-Beckman at (608) 836-1631 x124.
The Ear attended last summer’s concert and found it a restorative event. The grounds, full of wild flowers, and the handsome building are beautiful; the refreshments are tasty and plentiful; the socializing and conviviality are easy and welcome; and the music is first-rate and lovely.
Here is a link to the glowing review I wrote and posted last year:
For more information and reservations, visit:
http://benedictinewomen.org/support-our-work/prairie-rhapsody/
Here is the more information about the event and program from Trevor Stephenson himself, who has performed at Holy Wisdom’s “Prairie Rhapsody” several times:
“Holy Wisdom Monastery is a wonderful space — spiritually and acoustically — and a great cause! On the program I’ll be joined by outstanding Canadian-American soprano Erin Cooper Gay from Toronto (who is making her Madison debut!) and the stellar Anna Steinhoff (below, in 2011) on viola da gamba.
“We’ll perform music by Bach, Handel, Scarlatti (both Alessandro and Domenico, father and son), Purcell, Marais and Monteverdi.
“Also, I’ll give a talk about the composers and the repertoire.”
The program features four harpsichord sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti (in D minor, “Pastorale,” K. 9, E major, K. 380, F minor, K. 238, and F minor. K. 239); Three Spiritual Songs by Johann Sebastian Bach (“Gib dich zufrieden,” “Ermuntre dich, mein schwacher Geist Dir,” and “Dir, Jehovah, will Ich singen”) as well as his Sonata in G major for viola da gamba and harpsichord, BWV 1027; “If music be the food of love, play on (third version) by Henry Purcell; “Quel Sguardo Sdegnosetto” by Claudio Monteverdi; the Air and Variations (“The Harmonious Blacksmith”) plus three opera arias by Handel; the Chaconne for solo viola da gamba by Marin Marais; and a song by Alessandro Scarlatti.
The double-manual harpsichord played in the concert was made in 2010 by Norman Sheppard of Madison. It is modeled on an early 18th-century German instrument made by Mietke of Berlin.
Classical music: Gustavo Dudamel conducts Mahler’s 8th for “LA Phil Live in HD” on Saturday; and the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble continues its long tradition of championing early music in the Madison area.
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Alert: Gustavo meets Gustav again this Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Eastgate and Point Cinemas, when the “LA Phil Live in HD” broadcast features the 31-year-old superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel (below) with the combined Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in Venezuela and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, plus soloists and choirs, performing Gustav Mahler‘s famous Symphony No. 8, the “Symphony of a Thousand.” Tickets are $20 for adults, $16 for children. For information, here is a link to a New York TImes story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/arts/music/gustavo-dudamel-and-los-angeles-philharmonic-hailed-in-caracas.html?pagewanted=all
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 every other Sunday morning on WORT 88.9 FM. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
The Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble (below) has established such high standards of programming and performance that it is easy to take them for granted.
But their mid-season concert at The Gates of Heaven on last Sunday afternoon, Feb. 12, in the historic Gates of Heaven Synagogue (below) in James Madison Park was another opportunity to appreciate what musical riches they bring to us.
The program was a typical mixture of genres and national styles.
Two works for low stringed instruments provided focal points. One was played adroitly by Anton TenWolde (below, front left): an early example of a cello sonata, by the late-17th century Bolognese master Domenico Gabrielli (no relation to the Venetian Gabrielis: note difference in spelling!). The other was the third of Bach’s sonatas for viola da gamba, given a bracing reading by Eric Miller.
On the vocal side, soprano Mimmi Fulmer and mezzo-soprano Consuelo Sañudo (below) joined in two examples of the small-scaled sacred pieces (with German texts) by Heinrich Schütz, with both blending of, and contrast between, their fine voices. Later, they took turns at the verses making up one of Lalande’s settings of the Latin Lamentations for Good Friday, powerfully emotional expressions of sacred anguish.
Climaxing each of the program’s two halves were demanding chamber works.
From François Couperin, one of the concerts from his set of Les Goûts-réunis (“The Tastes Reconciled”), endeavoring to reconcile the Italian style of Corelli with the French mode of ensemble writing. Violinist Edith Hines (below) had ample opportunity to shine in its eight contrasting movements.
And, as a grand finale, all the instrumentalists joined together (with harpsichordist Max Yount (below), the anchor throughout the entire program) for Marin Marais‘s extravagant fantasy on bell-pealing, the “Sonnerie de Sainte Geneviève du Mont” (at bottom) wherein Hines and Miller brought further virtuosity to bear.
The Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble was, from 1990, the pioneer regional group devoted to exploring early music and historical performance practices.
Its survival this long is one of the demonstrations of Madison’s exciting yet mature nurturing of literature beyond the conventional. We continue to be in the WBE’s debt.
Tags: American Record Guide, Domenico Gabrielli, Early music, François Couperin, Gates of Heaven Synagogue, Gustav Mahler, Gustavo Dudamel, James Madison Park, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Marin Marais, Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Venezuela
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The Well-Tempered Ear 