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
Did you get a gift card for the holidays?
Are you looking how to spend it by either purchasing CDs or subscribing to a streaming service?
Help and guidance are available.
Few names in the airing of classical music carry more prestige than the famed radio station WQXR in New York City.
To check out the radio station’s choice of the best recordings of 2019 is also to see where the worlds of recording and concertizing are heading.
Such trends include rediscovering neglected composers and championing new music as well as women composers, such as Clara Schumann, and composers of color, such as the American composer Florence Price (below), who has often been featured on Wisconsin Public Radio this past year.
But you will also find noteworthy recordings of such classics as Johann Sebastian Bach – and two of his rarely heard cousins instead of his sons – and well as outstanding recordings of symphonies and piano sonatas (below, the set by Igor Levit) for the upcoming Beethoven Year to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of the composer.
And you will also find names of outstanding performers you may not have heard of — such as the exceptional Chinese pianist Haochen Zhang (below), a Van Cliburn Competition gold medalist whom The Ear would like to see perform here.
Here is a link to 25 picks with commentaries– plus another 75 titles and samples, without commentary, to round out a Top 100.
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 Black Friday followed by Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday — all with special deals and sales.
With that in mind, here is a list of the recently announced nominees in classical music for the 2020 Grammy Awards.
Although it is a self-serving list for a competition sponsored by The Industry, it can also be good way to find holiday gifts to give to others or to receive for yourself.
The list can be useful for spotting trends and finding new releases you may not have heard of.
For example, this year seems especially good for new music or recent works and contemporary composers. You won’t find any Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky or Mahler although you will find Berlioz, Schumann, Wagner, Bruckner, Berg, Rachmaninoff and Copland.
Another favorite seems to be the rediscovery of older composers such as Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996, below) whose centennial has become an occasion for bringing his neglected works to the forefront.
You can also see that like the Oscars, the Grammys seem to be paying more attention to women composers and conductors, artists of color and crossovers or mixed and hybrid genres.
The 62nd annual Grammy Awards will be presented on Sunday, Jan. 26, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS television.
Best Engineered Album, Classical An Engineer’s Award. (Artist names appear in parentheses.)
AEQUA – ANNA THORVALDSDÓTTIR
Daniel Shores, engineer; Daniel Shores, mastering engineer (International Contemporary Ensemble)
BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 9
Mark Donahue, engineer; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Manfred Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)
RACHMANINOFF – HERMITAGE PIANO TRIO
Keith O. Johnson & Sean Royce Martin, engineers; Keith O. Johnson, mastering engineer (Hermitage Piano Trio)
RILEY: SUN RINGS
Leslie Ann Jones, engineer; Robert C. Ludwig, mastering engineer (Kronos Quartet)
WOLFE: FIRE IN MY MOUTH
Bob Hanlon & Lawrence Rock, engineers; Ian Good & Lawrence Rock, mastering engineers (Jaap Van Zweden, Francisco J. Núñez, Donald Nally, The Crossing, Young People’s Chorus Of NY City & New York Philharmonic)
Producer Of The Year, Classical A Producer’s Award. (Artist names appear in parentheses.)
BLANTON ALSPAUGH
Artifacts – The Music Of Michael McGlynn (Charles Bruffy & Kansas City Chorale)
• Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique; Fantaisie Sur La Tempête De Shakespeare (Andrew Davis & Toronto Symphony Orchestra)
• Copland: Billy The Kid; Grohg (Leonard Slatkin & Detroit Symphony Orchestra)
• Duruflé: Complete Choral Works (Robert Simpson & Houston Chamber Choir)
• Glass: Symphony No. 5 (Julian Wachner, The Choir Of Trinity Wall Street, Trinity Youth Chorus, Downtown Voices & Novus NY)
• Sander: The Divine Liturgy Of St. John Chrysostom (Peter Jermihov & PaTRAM Institute Singers)
• Smith, K.: Canticle (Craig Hella Johnson & Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble)
• Visions Take Flight (Mei-Ann Chen & ROCO)
JAMES GINSBURG (below)
Project W – Works By Diverse Women Composers (Mei-Ann Chen and Chicago Sinfonietta)
• Silenced Voices (Black Oak Ensemble)
• 20th Century Harpsichord Concertos (Jory Vinikour, Scott Speck and Chicago Philharmonic)
• Twentieth Century Oboe Sonatas (Alex Klein and Phillip Bush)
• Winged Creatures & Other Works For Flute, Clarinet, And Orchestra (Anthony McGill, Demarre McGill, Allen Tinkham and Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra)
MARINA A. LEDIN, VICTOR LEDIN
Bates: Children Of Adam; Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem (Steven Smith, Erin R. Freeman, Richmond Symphony & Chorus)
• The Orchestral Organ (Jan Kraybill)
• The Poetry Of Places (Nadia Shpachenko)
• Rachmaninoff – Hermitage Piano Trio (Hermitage Piano Trio)
MORTEN LINDBERG
Himmelborgen (Elisabeth Holte, Kare Nordstoga & Uranienborg Vokalensemble)
• Kleiberg: Do You Believe In Heather? (Various Artists)
• Ljos (Fauna Vokalkvintett)
• LUX (Anita Brevik, Trondheimsolistene & Nidarosdomens Jentekor)
• Trachea (Tone Bianca Sparre Dahl & Schola Cantorum)
• Veneliti (Hakon Daniel Nystedt & Oslo Kammerkor)
COPLAND: BILLY THE KID; GROHG
Leonard Slatkin, conductor (Detroit Symphony Orchestra)
NORMAN: SUSTAIN
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor (Los Angeles Philharmonic)
TRANSATLANTIC
Louis Langrée, conductor (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
WEINBERG: SYMPHONIES NOS. 2 and 21
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, conductor (City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra & Kremerata Baltica)
Best Opera Recording Award to the Conductor, Album Producer(s) and Principal Soloists.
BENJAMIN: LESSONS IN LOVE & VIOLENCE
George Benjamin, conductor; Stéphane Degout, Barbara Hannigan, Peter Hoare & Gyula Orendt; James Whitbourn, producer (Orchestra Of The Royal Opera House)
BERG: WOZZECK
Marc Albrecht, conductor; Christopher Maltman & Eva-Maria Westbroek; François Roussillon, producer (Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra; Chorus Of Dutch National Opera)
CHARPENTIER: LES ARTS FLORISSANTS; LES PLAISIRS DE VERSAILLES
Paul O’Dette & Stephen Stubbs, conductors; Jesse Blumberg, Teresa Wakim & Virginia Warnken; Renate Wolter-Seevers, producer (Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble; Boston Early Music Festival Vocal Ensemble)
PICKER: FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Gil Rose, conductor; John Brancy, Andrew Craig Brown, Gabriel Preisser, Krista River & Edwin Vega; Gil Rose, producer (Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Boston Children’s Chorus)
WAGNER: LOHENGRIN
Christian Thielemann, conductor; Piotr Beczała, Anja Harteros, Tomasz Konieczny, Waltraud Meier & Georg Zeppenfeld; Eckhard Glauche, producer (Festspielorchester Bayreuth; Festspielchor Bayreuth)
Best Choral Performance Award to the Conductor, and to the Choral Director and/or Chorus Master where applicable and to the Choral Organization/Ensemble.
BOYLE: VOYAGES
Donald Nally, conductor (The Crossing)
DURUFLÉ: COMPLETE CHORAL WORKS
Robert Simpson, conductor (Ken Cowan; Houston Chamber Choir)
THE HOPE OF LOVING
Craig Hella Johnson, conductor (Conspirare)
SANDER: THE DIVINE LITURGY OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
Peter Jermihov, conductor (Evan Bravos, Vadim Gan, Kevin Keys, Glenn Miller & Daniel Shirley; PaTRAM Institute Singers)
SMITH, K.: THE ARC IN THE SKY
Donald Nally, conductor (The Crossing)
Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance For new recordings of works with chamber or small ensemble (twenty-four or fewer members, not including the conductor). One Award to the ensemble and one Award to the conductor, if applicable.
CERRONE: THE PIECES THAT FALL TO EARTH
Christopher Rountree and Wild Up
FREEDOM & FAITH
PUBLIQuartet
PERPETULUM
Third Coast Percussion
RACHMANINOFF – HERMITAGE PIANO TRIO
Hermitage Piano Trio
SHAW: ORANGE
Attacca Quartet
79. Best Classical Instrumental Solo Award to the Instrumental Soloist(s) and to the Conductor when applicable.
THE BERLIN RECITAL
Yuja Wang
HIGDON: HARP CONCERTO
Yolanda Kondonassis; Ward Stare, conductor (The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra)
TORKE: SKY, CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN
Tessa Lark; David Alan Miller, conductor (Albany Symphony)
80. Best Classical Solo Vocal Album Award to: Vocalist(s), Collaborative Artist(s) (Ex: pianists, conductors, chamber groups) Producer(s), Recording Engineers/Mixers with 51% or more playing time of new material.
THE EDGE OF SILENCE – WORKS FOR VOICE BY GYÖRGY KURTÁG
Susan Narucki (Donald Berman, Curtis Macomber, Kathryn Schulmeister & Nicholas Tolle)
HIMMELSMUSIK
Philippe Jaroussky & Céline Scheen; Christina Pluhar, conductor; L’Arpeggiata, ensemble (Jesús Rodil & Dingle Yandell)
SONGPLAY
Joyce DiDonato; Chuck Israels, Jimmy Madison, Charlie Porter and Craig Terry, accompanists (Steve Barnett and Lautaro Greco)
A TE, O CARA
Stephen Costello; Constantine Orbelian, conductor (Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra)
Best Classical Compendium Award to the Artist(s) and to the Album Producer(s) and Engineer(s) of over 51% playing time of the album, if other than the artist.
AMERICAN ORIGINALS 1918
John Morris Russell, conductor; Elaine Martone, producer
MELTZER: SONGS AND STRUCTURES
Paul Appleby & Natalia Katyukova; Silas Brown & Harold Meltzer, producers
THE POETRY OF PLACES
Nadia Shpachenko; Marina A. Ledin & Victor Ledin, producers
SAARIAHO: TRUE FIRE; TRANS; CIEL D’HIVER
Hannu Lintu, conductor; Laura Heikinheimo, producer
Best Contemporary Classical Composition A Composer’s Award. (For a contemporary classical composition composed within the last 25 years, and released for the first time during the Eligibility Year.) Award to the librettist, if applicable.
BERMEL: MIGRATION SERIES FOR JAZZ ENSEMBLE & ORCHESTRA
Derek Bermel, composer (Derek Bermel, Ted Nash, David Alan Miller, Juilliard Jazz Orchestra & Albany Symphony Orchestra)
HIGDON: HARP CONCERTO
Jennifer Higdon, composer (Yolanda Kondonassis, Ward Stare & The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra)
MARSALIS: VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR
Wynton Marsalis, composer (Nicola Benedetti, Cristian Măcelaru & Philadelphia Orchestra)
NORMAN: SUSTAIN
Andrew Norman, composer (Gustavo Dudamel & Los Angeles Philharmonic)
WOLFE: FIRE IN MY MOUTH
Julia Wolfe, composer (Jaap Van Zweden, Francisco J. Núñez, Donald Nally, The Crossing, Young People’s Chorus Of NY City & New York Philharmonic)
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ALERT: TONIGHT, Thursday, Oct. 3, at 8 p.m., three UW-Madison music professors — Anthony Di Sanza (percussion), Tom Curry (tuba, keyboard and electronics) and Mark Hetzler (trombone and electronics) — will perform their new composition “Don’t Look Down” at the Arts + Literature Laboratory, located at 2021 Winnebago Street on Madison’s near east side. (Phone is 608 556-7415.)
The trio’s goal to showcase their instruments using a combination of electro-acoustic techniques, improvisation and traditional chamber music applications to create an array of sonic environments and musical languages.
The result is a work that looks at the impact of media and technology on society, while featuring shifting soundscapes and a variety of styles including classical, rock, jazz and experimental.
Tickets are $10 in advance at: https://dontlookdown.brownpapertickets.com; and $15 at the door. Student tickets are $5 off with a valid school ID. Advance ticket sales end one hour before the show. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
First, a news flash: The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s critically acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) will begin its complete cycle of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets on Friday, Nov. 22.
The program, time and other dates are not available yet, but should be announced soon.
The performances are part of the 2020 Beethoven Year, which will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Stayed tuned for more details.
This Friday night, Oct. 4, at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, three members of the Pro Arte will perform a FREE concert of string trios. Performers are second violinist Suzanne Beia, violist Sally Chisholm and cellist Parry Karp.
Featured on the program are: the Serenade in C Major, Op. 10 (1902), by the Hungarian composer Ernst von Dohnanyi (below top); the String Trio, Op. 48 (1950), by the Polish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg (below bottom); and the Serenade in D Major, Op. 8 (1796-97), by Ludwig van Beethoven.) You can hear the opening movement of the Weinberg Trio in the YouTube video at the bottom.
This Sunday afternoon, the Pro Arte Quartet will also perform FREE at the Chazen Museum of Art on Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen. The same program of string trios will be repeated. The performance will be held starting at 12:30 in the Brittingham Gallery 3.
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
Chamber music fans have something special to look forward to this week with back-to-back evening concerts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music that mix famous and well-known works with less familiar ones.
THURSDAY NIGHT
On Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, the Pro Arte Quartet will perform.
The program features six miniature “Evening Songs” (1865) – also called “Cypresses” — by Antonin Dvorak; the String Quartet No. 5 in B-Flat Major (1945) by Mieczyslaw Weinberg; and the String Quartet in B-Flat Major “Hunt,” K. 458 (1784), by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. (You can hear one of Dvorak’s “Cypresses” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Members of the Pro Arte Quartet (below, from left, in a photo by Rick Langer) are: violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia; violist Sally Chisholm; and cellist Parry Karp.
For more information about the unique and dramatic history of the critically acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet, the longest active string quartet in the history of music, go to:
On Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, UW-Madison cellist Uri Vardi (below) will be joined by several faculty colleagues, one of his students and his son for an evening of three quintets.
In addition to Uri Vardi, the performers include: clarinetist Amitai Vardi (below); pianist Christopher Taylor; violinists David Perry and Soh-Hyun Park Altino; violist Sally Chisholm; cellist James Waldo; and double bassist David Scholl.
The program includes: the Quintet in C major, assembled from other quintets by Johann Lauterbach, by Luigi Boccherini, a contemporary of Mozart; the famous Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the well-known “Trout” Quintet by Franz Schubert.
Classical music: Famed radio station WQXR names the best 100 recordings of 2019. Listen to samples of them here
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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
Did you get a gift card for the holidays?
Are you looking how to spend it by either purchasing CDs or subscribing to a streaming service?
Help and guidance are available.
Few names in the airing of classical music carry more prestige than the famed radio station WQXR in New York City.
To check out the radio station’s choice of the best recordings of 2019 is also to see where the worlds of recording and concertizing are heading.
Such trends include rediscovering neglected composers and championing new music as well as women composers, such as Clara Schumann, and composers of color, such as the American composer Florence Price (below), who has often been featured on Wisconsin Public Radio this past year.
But you will also find noteworthy recordings of such classics as Johann Sebastian Bach – and two of his rarely heard cousins instead of his sons – and well as outstanding recordings of symphonies and piano sonatas (below, the set by Igor Levit) for the upcoming Beethoven Year to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of the composer.
And you will also find names of outstanding performers you may not have heard of — such as the exceptional Chinese pianist Haochen Zhang (below), a Van Cliburn Competition gold medalist whom The Ear would like to see perform here.
Here is a link to 25 picks with commentaries– plus another 75 titles and samples, without commentary, to round out a Top 100.
Happy listening!
https://www.wqxr.org/story/best-classical-recordings-2019/
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