The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Here are playlists of the best classical music for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. What music would you choose?
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REMINDER: A well-edited one-hour excerpt of the recent Christmas concert by the Madison Symphony Orchestra will air on Wisconsin Public Television at 9:30 p.m. this Tuesday, on Christmas Night. The Ear saw the first airing of the broadcast and highly recommends it. Both the programming and the performing are top-notch. It is a perfect way to wrap up your holiday.
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Christmas Eve and tomorrow is Christmas Day.
Some people celebrate tonight and some people celebrate tomorrow.
But no matter when you mark the holiday with gifts, gathering and special food, great music has an integral place in the celebration.
Indeed, music seems nothing less than a great gift to the entire world. As the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “Without music, life would be a mistake.”
To help you celebrate, here are playlists of the best classical music, from Medieval times through Baroque music up to living composers, for marking Christmas.
Here are two playlists, with a total of two hours of music, already compiled and available on YouTube. Be sure to hit SHOW MORE at the top to see the complete title, composer’s name and timing of the selections:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrFCdi7apV8&list=PLcGkkXtask_cCaCLkrmuDUfukHct9eut-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voIrzsxeE6w
And perhaps best of all, here are several lists in the same place from famed classical radio station WQXR in New York City. They not only have generous sound samples, but also allow you to choose what genre of music you prefer — say, choral music or brass music or piano music to string quartet chamber music:
https://www.wqxr.org/story/essential-christmas-recordings/
What music would you choose as favorite Christmas fare?
The Ear wants to hear.
Enjoy! And Merry Christmas to all!
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Classical music: Combining a ticket to a live music performance with a book or recording that is tied to the concert’s program makes a great holiday gift
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By Jacob Stockinger
The holidays seem to arrive earlier each year.
The Ear isn’t sure why that is.
Whatever the reason, a lot of holiday gift shopping can by now seem last-minute and somewhat frantic.
But if you are shopping for a classical music fan, you are in luck if you go local.
The best way to please the recipient and also to support the local arts is to give a ticket to a live concert – always the most powerful and exciting musical experience — perhaps coupled to a related book or recording. (Below is UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor in a photo by Michael R. Anderson).
This blog doesn’t have room to list separately all the many musical groups in the area. But here are some samples that might interest you.
Through Monday, Dec. 24, the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) is once again offering a special deal for the remainder of the season. Tickets to both the “Beyond the Score” program and the remaining four season concerts, including Mahler’s mammoth “Symphony of a Thousand,” have been reduced to two price ranges: $10 and $25 for the former; $25 and $50 for the latter.
For more information, go to: https://madisonsymphony.org/concerts-events/buy-tickets/offers-discounts/holiday-tickets-sale/
If you want to see what other performers and presenters are offering – say, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below), the Oakwood Chamber Players, the Madison Bach Musicians, the Middleton Community Orchestra, the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, the Willy Street Chamber Players, the Wisconsin Union Theater, the Overture Center and the Madison Opera, to name just a few of the more prominent names – just go to Google and type in their name to search and go to their home page on the web.
Many of them have all sorts of other discounts for students, seniors, subscribers, groups and others.
Don’t forget that Madison features many FREE concerts, especially at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
True, a few of the most attractive and gift-worthy UW concerts are ticketed ($17 for adults, $7 for UW students) – including the annual Schubertiade, the yearly recital by pianist Christopher Taylor and the world premiere of the new Viola Sonata by John Harbison (below). But you could offer to take someone to a free chamber music or orchestral concert and provide companionship, transportation and maybe even dinner.
Here is a link to the very busy lineup and informative previews at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music: https://www.music.wisc.edu
To top it off, you could add one of two outstanding local books The Ear puts at the top of the holiday gift guide.
The first is John Harbison’s “What Do We Make of Bach” (below top) which is short, very readable, thoroughly engaging and wonderfully informative in an autobiographical way that helps us celebrate both the 80th birthday of Harbison and the upcoming 334th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach.
The second book, now in its second printing, is a comprehensive history of the Pro Arte Quartet (below) done by John W. Barker, who often writes for this blog as well as Isthmus.
Of course, a CD with one of the composers or works on a program also makes a fine complement, whether it is a Mahler symphony, a Bach suite or Schubert’s “Swan Songs” from his final year.
Finally, The Ear wants to know: What are your suggestions for a for holiday gift of classical music?
It could be a live concert or a recording, either something new or an old favorite.
It could be a particularly informative and enjoyable or entertaining book, including biographies of Leonard Bernstein (including one by his daughter Jamie Bernstein, below), whose centennial has been celebrated this season.
Over the next few days, The Ear will post suggestions and Top 10 lists by professional critics. But in the end, it is the audience, the ordinary public, that many people want to hear from.
So perhaps you will leave your ideas in the COMMENT section.
Thank you! And have Happy Holidays — a Merry Christmas, a joyous Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year.
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: The Ear wishes you a Merry Christmas with three of his favorite pieces of music. What are yours?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today – Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2019 – is Christmas Day.
There is so much great Christmas music written by so many great composers. You’ll hear a lot of it tomorrow morning on Wisconsin Public Radio, starting at 9 a.m..
But here are three of The Ear’s favorites.
One comes from the “Christmas Oratorio” by the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach and is loud, upbeat and brassy.
The second is “Lo, how a rose ere blooming” is by the early German baroque composer Michael Praetorius, and is so hauntingly quiet and intimate, sounding almost medieval or chant-like.
The third work, also intimate but on a much larger scale, is the “Shepherds’ Farewell to the Holy Family” from “The Childhood of the Christ” by the Romantic French composer Hector Berlioz.
Here they are, first the Praetorius — in the original German — and then the Bach and finally the Berlioz.
And here is a YouTube compilation with almost three hours of seasonal music:
What is your favorite piece of classical music to celebrate Christmas?
Leave your answer – with a YouTube link, if possible — in the Comment section.
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