The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Pianist James Giles will replace Ya-Fei Chuang for TONIGHT’s recital at Farley’s House of Pianos
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the followed announcement from Farley’s House of Pianos about its solo recital tonight.
“We are sad to announce that pianist Ya-Fei Chuang has sustained an injury that will prevent her from performing for us TONIGHT and teaching a master class on Sunday. It is our intent to reschedule her as soon as her health and schedule permit.
“In the meantime, we are very fortunate that James Giles (below), of Northwestern University, is able to step in and perform for us, and we are excited about the program and repertoire he has shaped for us.
“We apologize for this last-minute change, but are excited to introduce James Giles to our Salon Piano Series audience, and look forward to seeing you TONIGHT at 7:30 p.m. at 6522 Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall.”
His recital at Salon Piano Series will include works of Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Isaac Albeniz, Ignaz Jan Paderewski, Leopold Godowsky and others.
An artist’s reception will follow the concert.
Tickets are $50 in at the door ($10 for tickets) and $45 in advance at:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3499200
For more information about the master class, including participants and repertoire, call Farley’s at (608) 271-2626 or go to:
Giles has been praised as “a technically polished, elegant pianist” (Sibelius Academy, Helsinki), “with a riveting intelligence given to everything he play[s],” (Wigmore Hall, London), a “distinctive interpretive persona [and] beautiful pianism … direct and unmannered” (Alice Tully Hall, New York). His Paris recital at the Salle Cortot in 2004 was hailed as “a true revelation, due equally to the pianist’s artistry as to his choice of program.” (You can hear Giles playing the Humoresque by Robert Schumann in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Giles regularly performs in important musical centers in America, Europe, and Asia, in solo and chamber recitals and as concerto soloist. A native of North Carolina, he studied at the Manhattan School, the Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, and at Oberlin College. He was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study in Italy with the legendary Russian pianist Lazar Berman.
Coordinator of the Piano Program and Director of Music Performance Graduate Studies at Northwestern University, Giles is director of the Amalfi Coast Music Festival during the summers, and was director of the 2017 American Liszt Society Festival.
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Classical music: Superstar soprano Renée Fleming and pianist Emanuel Ax headline the 100th anniversary of the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Concert Series next season
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following major announcement to post about the Wisconsin Union Theater, which The Ear calls “the Carnegie Hall of Madison” for its long and distinguished history of presenting great performing artists.
The Wisconsin Union Theater (below top, with Shannon Hall below bottom) is delighted to announce the schedule for its 100th Concert Series during 2019-20.
In this celebratory year, we introduce two exciting additions: A transformative gift by Kato Perlman establishes the David and Kato Perlman Chamber Series, ensuring the world’s best chamber ensembles continue to perform as a regular feature of the Concert Series.
Additionally, two Concert Series performances will take place in the Mead Witter School of Music’s new Hamel Music Center (below). We look forward to increased collaborations with the school of music.
The 100th anniversary series was curated by the Wisconsin Union Directorate’s Performing Arts Committee, with wife-and-husband advisors pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel (below, in a photo by Tristan Cook), who are celebrated musicians and directors of several festivals of classical music and also serve as co-artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. (You can hear them performing music by Johann Sebastian Bach in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The first season of this distinguished series was in 1920-1921, and featured soprano May Peterson, violinist Fritz Kreisler and pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch.
Nineteen years later, in 1939-1940, the series moved to the newly opened Wisconsin Union Theater. The first season in the Wisconsin Union Theater featured bass singer Ezio Pinza, cellist Emanuel Feuermann, violinist Joseph Szigeti, pianist Robert Casadesus and, the highlight, contralto Marian Anderson.
Through these 99 years, numerous renowned, accomplished and prominent classical musicians have played in the series, the longest continuous classical series in the Midwest. Some made their debut here and continued returning as their fame rose.
See this article for an interview with former WUT director Michael Goldberg about the history of the series.
The schedule for the 100th Concert Series, including the inaugural David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Series, is:
Oct. 6 – A cappella choral group Chanticleer, Hamel Music Center. Program To Be Announced
Nov. 2 – Pianist Emanuel Ax (below), Shannon Hall. All-Beethoven program, including Piano Sonatas Nos. 1, 2 and 3.
Dec. 6 – The Kalichstein, Laredo and Robinson Piano Trio (below), Shannon Hall. “Canonic Etudes” by Robert Schumann; Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor by Felix Mendelssohn; and Piano Trio in B-flat major “Archduke” by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Jan. 25, 2020 – The Escher String Quartet (below), featuring David Finckel, Shannon Hall. Quartets by Franz Joseph Haydn, Fritz Kreisler and Franz Schubert.
March 5, 2020 – Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center – featuring David Finckel, Wu Han, Paul Neubauer and Arnaud Sussman, Shannon Hall. Sonatine by Antonin Dvorak; Piano Quartet by Josef Suk; Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25, by Johannes Brahms.
March 7, 2020 – Wu Han with the UW Symphony Orchestra, Hamel Music Center. Program TBD.
March 28, 2020 – Violinist Gil Shaham (below) with pianist Akira Eguchi, Shannon Hall. Program TBD.
May 2, 2020 – Special Gala Concert with Renée Fleming (below). Shannon Hall. Mixed Recital.
All programs are subject to change.
Subscriptions will be available starting March 18, 2019. Subscribers benefits include: access to the best seats, 20% off the price of single tickets, no order fees, a free ticket to Wu Han’s performance with the UW Symphony Orchestra, and the opportunity to be first to purchase tickets to Renée Fleming’s 100th Anniversary Gala Concert.
Find more information about the series and the artists at www.uniontheater.wisc.edu. Subscriptions will be available on March 18 at www.artsticketing.wisc.edu.
Tags: #ACappellaMusic, #AkiraEguchi, #All-Beethoven, #AntoninDvorak, #ArchdukeTrio, #ArtisticDirector, #BaroqueMusic, #BassSinger, #BennoMoiseitwitsch, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarnegieHall, #ChamberEnsemble, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberMusicSocietyofLIncolnCenter, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #ConcertSeries, #ContraltoSinger, #DavidFinckel, #EmanuelAx, #EmanuelFeuermann, #EscherStringQuartet, #EzioPinza, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FranzSchubert, #FritzKreisler, #GalaConcert, #GilShaham, #HamelMusicCenter, #husband-and-wife, #JaimeLaredo, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JosefSuk, #JosephKalichstein, #JosephSzigeti, #KalichsteinLaredoRobinsonPianoTrio, #KatoPerlman, #LincolnCenter, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MarianAnderson, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MichaelGoldberg, #MusicFestival, #NewYorkCity, #PerformingArtists, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #PianoQuartet, #PIanoRecital, #PianoSonata, #PianoTrio, #RenéeFleming, #RobertCasadesus, #RobertSchumann, #SchoolofMusic, #ShannonHall, #SharonRobinson, #SopranoSinger, #StringQuartet, #SubscriptionConcert, #TheEar, #TheMidwest, #ToBeAnnounced, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #VocalMusic, #VoiceRecital, #Wife-and-Husband, #WisconsinUnionDirectorate, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WuHan, #YouTubevideo, a cappella, access, accomplished, addition, advisor, Akira Eguchi, anouncement, Antonín Dvořák, Archduke Trio, Artistic director, artists, Arts, audience, Baroque, bass, Beethoven, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Canon, Carnegie Hall, cellist, Cello, centennial, chamber ensemble, Chamber music, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chanticleer, choral music, Classical music, classical musician, collaboration, composer, concerto, contralto, curated, David Finckel, debut, director, distinguished, Emanuel Ax, Escher String Quartet, etude, Ezio Pinza, Facebook, fame, feature, fee, Felix Mendelssohn, forward, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, free, gala, gift, Gil Shaham, great, Hamel Music Center, highlight, History, husband, inaugural, information, interview, Jacob Stockinger, Jaime Laredo, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Josef Suk, Joseph Kalichstein, Joseph Szigeti, Kato Perlman, like, LIncoln Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, link, long, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Marian Anderson, Mead Witter School of Music, Michael Goldberg, Midwest, Music, Music festival, New York City, performer, performing artists, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, Piano Quartet, Piano sonata, Piano Trio, post, posting, program, prominent, recital, regular, Renée Fleming, renowned, Robert Casadesus, Robert Schumann, schedule, School of Music, seat, Shannon Hall, share, Sharon Robinson, singer, Sonata, Sonatine, soprano, star, String quartet, subscription, superstar, tag, TBA, The Ear, ticket, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Symphony Orchestra, violinist, vocal music, voice, voice recital, wife, Wisconsin Union Directorate, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wu Han, year, YouTube
Classical music: Cellist-composer Steuart Pincombe performs music by Bach, Biber and Abel on this Thursday night at the Chocolaterian Cafe in Middleton
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement about a special and unusual populist concert:
Cellist Steuart Pincombe (below) can regularly be found playing in some of the world’s more prestigious concert halls, premiering new compositions and soloing in major festivals.
On this coming Thursday night, Sept. 20, at 7:30 p.m., Pincombe will perform music in a more intimate setting: the Chocolaterian Cafe (below), located at 6637 University Avenue in Middleton. Phone is 608 836-1156.)
The concert is part of an international movement called Music in Familiar Spaces, which is bringing the classical music experience at its highest level into homes, cafes, breweries, bookstores or any place where people feel comfortable.
One of the aims of the Music in Familiar Spaces is to make classical music accessible to a wide and varied audience. This is accomplished not only by performing in familiar, comfortable and untraditional spaces, but by designing programs that invite the audience to experience the music in a new and engaging way.
The program at the Chocolaterian is titled “Sweet Sorrow” and features music of some of the Baroque period’s most beloved composers: Karl Friedrich Abel (below top in a painting by Thomas Gainsborough), Heinrich Biber (below middle) and Johann Sebastian Bach (below bottom) plus an original composition by Pincombe.
Pincombe will be joined by local violinist and concertmaster of the Madison Bach Musicians Kangwon Kim (below) in a selection from Biber’s Rosary Sonatas.
Here is the program:
Selections in D minor (From 27 Pieces for Viola da gamba) by Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Violin Sonata No. 10 in G minor, “Crucifixion” (From the Rosary sonatas) by Heinrich Biber (1644-1702)
Suite No. 5 in C minor for Solo Cello, BWV 1011, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). You can hear Mischa Maisky playing the Prelude to the Bach suite in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Psalm 56 for Voice and Viola da gamba by Steuart Pincombe (1987-)
In order to make the concert accessible to anyone, the audience is asked to name-their-own-ticket-price for the concert, paying what they can afford and what they deem the concert is worth.
The suggested ticket price is $15-30 per person, plus the cost of whatever food and drink you wish to purchase from the cafe.
Want to know more about Steuart Pincombe?
Here is a link to his home website: https://www.steuartpincombe.com
Steuart Pincombe’s career as a cellist has brought him to leading halls and festivals across North America and Europe and he has been named by the Strad Magazine as a “superb solo cellist” and a “gorgeous player [with] perfect intonation, imaginative phrasing” by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Highlights of Steuart’s recent concert seasons include being a featured soloist with Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop (Germany), festival appearances with Asko | Schönberg (Netherlands), Cello8ctet Amsterdam (Netherlands), Ensemble Ansonia (Belgium), Oerknal! (Netherlands), performing with Holland Baroque Society (Netherlands) for King Willem Alexander of The Netherlands, appearing as soloist at the Amsterdam Cello Bienalle (Netherlands), and recording Bach’s Cello Suite No. 2 in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw for All of Bach.
His concert “Bach and Beer” was selected by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as one of the Top 10 Classical Events of the Year and a concert in which he appeared as soloist with Rene Schiffer and Apollo’s Fire was numbered in London’s ‘5 Best Classical Music Moments of 2014’ according to The Telegraph (United Kingdom).
In 2015-2016, Pincombe toured North America for one year bringing classical music to new spaces and new audiences in a project he started called Music in Familiar Spaces.
He is currently visiting Teacher of Historical Performance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
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Classical music: The Mosaic Chamber Players perform an all-Schubert concert on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, Opera Props presents singers in a benefit concert to support the opera program at the UW-Madison
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ALERT: On this Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m., in the Madison Christian Community Church at 7118 Old Sauk Road on Madison’s far west side, Opera Props will present a benefit concert to raise money for the UW-Madison’s opera program and University Opera.
Student singers and piano accompanist Daniel Fung will perform arias and songs. But the spotlight will shine on University of Wisconsin-Madison alumna soprano Julia Rottmayer, who is a new faculty member at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. (Sorry, no specific program is given and no names of composers and works are mentioned.)
Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door with student tickets costing $10. Tickets include a reception with local Gail Ambrosius chocolate, fruit, cheese and wine. For more information, go to: https://www.uwoperaprops.org
By Jacob Stockinger
Why is The Ear increasingly drawn to the music of Franz Schubert (below) over, say, the music of his contemporary and idol Ludwig van Beethoven? It seems to be more than its sheer beauty and lyricism. It also seems to possess a certain warmth or human quality that he finds irresistible, poignant and restorative, especially if it is true, as the Buddha said, life is suffering.
In any case, The Ear is not alone.
The Madison-based Mosaic Chamber Players (below, in a photo by John W. Barker) will open their new and ambitious season this coming Saturday night with a concert of music by Franz Schubert.
The all-Schubert concert is at 7:30 p.m. in the chapel of the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, near Camp Randall Stadium — NOT at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, as was incorrectly stated earlier in this blog post.
The program includes two Sonatinas for Violin and Piano in D Major, D. 384, and A minor, D. 385; the famous “Arpeggione” Sonata, D. 821, performed on the cello with piano; and the lovely and songful Adagio or “Notturno” (Nocturne) for Piano Trio, D. 897, which you can hear with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Daniil Trifonov, in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Tickets cost $15 for adults; $10 for seniors; and $5 for students. Cash and checks only will be accepted; no credit cards.
Members of the Mosaic Chamber Players are: founder and pianist Jess Salek (below top); violinist Wes Luke (below second), who plays with the Ancora String Quartet and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; violinist Laura Burns (below third), who also plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the MSO’s Rhapsodie String Quartet; and cellist Kyle Price (below bottom), who founded the Caroga Lake Music Festival in New York State and is pursuing his doctoral degree at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music with distinction and who was a member of the graduate student Hunt Quartet while he studied for his master’s.
A reception will follow the concert.
For more information about the Mosaic Chamber Players and about their new season, which includes some very varied composers but no specific titles of works, go to: http://www.mosaicchamberplayers.com
What do you find so appealing and so special about the music of Schubert?
What is your favorite Schubert work?
Leave your thoughts in the COMMENT section with a link, if possible, to a YouTube video performance.
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Music festivals, with premieres of new operas and chamber music, might fit into your summer travel plans. Check them out here.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Many people are starting to make their summer travel plans.
Those plans could include music festivals, many of which will include the American premiere or even world premiere of a new opera or new chamber music. (Below is Marin Alsop conducting the Cabrillo Festival in Santa Cruz, California, which champions new music.)
Many are well known, such as the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City, the Bard Music Festival in the Hudson River Valley and the Aspen Festival in Colorado as well as the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina and the Wolf Trap Festival in Virginia, not far from Washington, D.C.
But there are many, many others you may not know.
Here is a line-up as it appeared on the Deceptive Cadence blog for NPR or National Public Radio:
Tags: Arts, Aspen Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, Bard Music Festival, California, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, Colorado, Hudson Valley, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Mostly Mozart Festival, Mozart, Music, Music festival, New York, New York City, NPR, Orchestra, South Carolina, Spoleto Festival, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Virginia, Wisconsin, Wolf Trap
Classical music: Pianists Peter Serkin and Julia Hsu will play works for piano-four hands by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms this Saturday night at Farley’s House of Pianos.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Our friends at Farley’s House of Pianos write to the blog with news of a noteworthy piano concert this Saturday night:
Renowned American pianist Peter Serkin (below top) and Julia Hsu (below bottom) will perform piano, four-hand pieces by Schumann, Bizet, Mozart and more, as part of the Salon Piano Series concerts held at Farley’s House of Pianos at 6522 Seybold Road on Madison’s far west side near West Towne.
The concert is at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday night, April 4 and will include an introduction by Karlos Moser (below), a retired University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of music and former longtime director of the University Opera at the UW-Madison School of Music.
The program includes: Six Etudes in the Form of Canons for Pedal-Piano, Op. 56, by Robert Schumann; Three Pieces from “Jeux d’Enfants” (Children’s Games) by Georges Bizet; the Sonata in B flat Major, K. 358, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the Allegro ma non troppo in A minor (the dramatic and lyrical “Lebenssturme” or “Lifestorms” that you can hear in a live performance in a YouTube video at the bottom), D.947, and the Rondo in A Major, D.951, by Franz Schubert; and Four Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms.
Tickets are $45 and are expected to sell quickly. They are available online at www.salonpianoseries.org and http://www.brownpapertickets.com/profile/706809 or at Farley’s House of Pianos, (608) 271-2626.
For more information about the Salon Piano Series, visit: http://salonpianoseries.org
The distinguished American pianist Peter Serkin has performed with the world’s major symphony orchestras with such conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Daniel Barenboim, George Szell, Claudio Abbado, Eugene Ormandy and James Levine. A dedicated chamber musician, Serkin has collaborated with artists including violinist Pamela Frank and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
An avid exponent of the music of many contemporary composers, Serkin has brought to life the music of Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Wolpe, and others for audiences around the world. He has performed many world premieres written specifically for him, in particular, works by Toru Takemitsu, Oliver Knussen and Peter Lieberson. Serkin currently teaches at Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Longy School of Music. Serkin became friends with the Farleys in 1994 when he was in town for a concert and visited the Farley’s showroom (below).
Originally from Taiwan, Julia Hsu received scholarships to study at The Purcell School for young musicians at the age of 14. She has also studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London and at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Germany. Julia has collaborated with conductors Fabio Panisello, Lutz Koeler and cellist Ivan Moniguetti. She was a Festival Fellow at Bowdoin Music Festival, and a scholar at the Banff Centre, Canada before she became a Piano Fellow at Bard College Conservatory of Music in 2013.
The Salon Piano Series is a non-profit founded by Tim and Renée Farley to continue the tradition of intimate salon concerts at Farley’s House of Pianos.
Upcoming concerts include the internationally acclaimed Czech pianist Martin Kasík (below top), who will play the “Moonlight” and “Les Adieux” Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven and Sonata No. 3 by Sergei Prokofiev, on Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. Jazz pianist Dick Hyman (below bottom) will perform on May 30 and 31, 2015, at 4 p.m. both days.
For ticket information and concert details see www.salonpianoseries.org.
All events will be held at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, Madison, on Madison’s west side near the Beltline, and plenty of free parking is available. It is also easy to reach by bicycle or Madison Metro.
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Classical music: Violinist Rose Mary Harbison talks about the 25th anniversary of the upcoming Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, while composer John Harbison discusses C.P.E. Bach, whose 300th anniversary will be observed during the festival.
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By Jacob Stockinger
On Monday, The Ear offered an overview of the 25th annual Token Creek Chamber Music Festival that opens this coming Saturday night and runs through Sunday, Aug. 31.
Here is a link to that post:
For more information, including programs, performer biographies and archives, visit: http://tokencreekfestival.org
For tickets ($30 with a limited number of $10 student tickets): Call (608) 241-2524 or visit http://tokencreekfestival.org/2014-season/tickets/
Today, as promised but postponed by stories about the Metropolitan Opera labor negotiations and about two local concerts this Friday, the blog features two important essays by the two co-artistic directors of the festival.
The first essay is a discussion by violinist Rose Mary Harbison about the 25th anniversary of the festival.
The second is a personal essay by composer John Harbison about the composer C.P.E. Bach, whose 300th anniversary will play an important role in the festival.
NEW BEGINNINGS AT TOKEN CREEK
By Rose Mary Harbison (below)
When the Token Creek Festival began, 25 years ago, we had many ideas and many ideals, but none of our plans involved growth. The reason for that was at first practical. We wanted to perform in a converted barn, the very space where we already practiced and played.
The space, and its surroundings, is welcoming, but able to seat, optimally, no more than 80 people. We had no stage, no lights and no parking plan. We were our own maintenance and grounds-keeping staff.
We also had ideas about the music we would like to present. We had participated in various summer festivals, and were not too interested in the concept of “summer” music. Along with our founding colleagues, Jorja Fleezanis and Michael Steinberg, we came up with some initial programs — Ludwig van Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge, Arnold Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon, recent pieces by Helps and John Harbison, thinking of music we wouldn’t likely be asked to prepare at other festivals, in late August.
In the official re-opening season (1994) there were three concerts: all Bach, all Mozart, all Schoenberg. Single composer concerts have since been rare at Token Creek, but we have instead done series: many Haydn trios, the complete Mozart concertos for which he made chamber music arrangements; the “esoteric” final period of Bach (below), including generous selections from The Art of Fugue, and The Musical Offering in two different orderings and instrumentations.
Our guests have been friends whom we have cone to know in our various travels. We were once told by a possible patron that he would fund the festival for two seasons if we would bring X, a conductor with whom we were in close partnership. But this is not the way we have chosen to construct our seasons — independence in programming and staffing has remained our most precious freedom.
We have presented what interests us, and the varying audience sizes, from sold-out to modest, reflects that determination. Thirty excited, involved listeners provide a sufficient presence, in our small barn, for an unforgettable occasion, like Leonard Stein’s lecture-demonstration on the Hammerklavier sonata (played in live performance by Daniel Barenboim in a YouTube video at bottom) by Ludwig van Beethoven (below).
Ten years ago, we expanded into jazz, eventually composer-focused, with an idea that some of the players would play in both, and we would encourage an audience to embrace the whole series. In the early years we stressed themes and issues shared by both forms. (An audience survey later revealed that, in fact, the crossover audience is very small; we were surprised.) The jazz became popular, and began in certain ways to drive the festival, especially logistically (a night-club set up, an eventual two-concerts-per-day schedule). Part of our effort to recapture the original spirit of the festival involves letting go of the jazz for this year, becoming smaller and more thoughtful again.
One of our best colleagues, a performer, has a brother, a violinist, who started a European festival. It grew and it added things on, his responsibilities changed. Is he happy with the growth? we asked. “Well of course, it’s a success, but he is pretty sad. … he no longer plays the violin.”
Every musician is challenged, at every point in their development, to try to remember why they went into music, to recapture the basic impulse. Sometimes that requires going back to a starting point, and either starting over, or summarizing what has happened.
Institutions, like individuals, are always challenged to grow, to go forward, to move on, and must occasionally reconstruct themselves, at the risk of not fitting expectations, dreams, or the economic model.
I write with the hope of encountering their best instincts and reconnecting with like souls, the natural constituency.
CARL PHILIP EMMANUEL BACH (1714-1799), AN ANNIVERSARY
By John Harbison (below)
One of the many privileges of co-directing a music festival is study, a chance to pause over music that might go by too fast; a chance, even, to make a connection with music that has remained alien too long. For many years I cherished a suspicion of, close to an aversion to, CPE Bach’s music. This was based on a large number of keyboard pieces I heard in the ‘60s played by the eminent harpsichordist Louis Bagger. The pieces had a pronounced WOW factor, they were calculated to immediate effect, they asked provocative questions, then shirked answering. The non-sequiturs, as in many of today’s novelties, seemed mere posturing, the work of a gadfly without a message.
Tied to this was an impression that CPE was an ingenious person. In spite of his good stewardship of the materials left to him from his father, he seemed self-servingly willing to promote J.S. Bach’s teacher reputation, a prescription that stemmed from the competition between them.
I now believe many of these impressions were wrong, or at best uninformed. CPE Bach is a complicated case, and needs a much more attentive examination.
He was J.S. Bach’s second son. The first, Wilhelm Friedemann, was more talented, but less industrious. Friedmann’s best pieces seem to have a naturalness and pure musicality unavailable to CPE, but they lack a strategy to fully separate from his father.
Such a strategy does CPE deploy, with a vengeance. This took courage and an investigative mind. It seems clear that the son’s valuation of his father’s music grew during the course of his career. Together with his vast experience as a composer came an appreciation of the foundation he had received from his only teacher, together with a perception of the enormity of that teacher’s artistic achievement.
Carl Philip Emmanuel (below, in a 1733 portrait by a relative Gottfried Friedrich Bach) was too good a musician not to notice something: In spite of being the most famous and highly regarded composer in the world by the 1740s (J.S. Bach was still alive), he was not in the same league with the old man. He becomes, instead, an avatar of the new, often at his best while disturbing the logic, proportion and density that were his father’s hallmark.
Much has been said about the manner, the tone of much of his music, which says: This need not always be so serious, this need not be so responsible, this is apprehendable right away. These are things worth stating, periodically, and can be expressed, as in CPE’s music, by a kind of nervousness, hurry, irresponsibility — winning qualities in his best pieces.
But the main agent of change in CPE can be very simply described: He dismantles his father’s bass-line—radically clears it out, reduces it much of the time to skeletal support, thus placing new emphasis on the charm, buoyancy and unpredictability of the melodies.
J.S. Bach’s music, in asserting that the bass possesses a profile very like the upper parts in activity and articulateness (and often surpasses them in importance) draws on very old principles carried forward from Renaissance polyphony. In reducing and domesticating the bass, CPE achieves a new intelligibility and friendliness of texture, and cuts his hereditary umbilical cord.
Still he retains a lot of J.S. in his ability, when he chooses, to develop and vary motives, to spin out large phrases, and to create drama and propulsion.
In this 300th anniversary year there is an added fascination: A scholarly filling out of his canon. A great proportion of his output is being made available for the first time in published form. There are many surprises, especially in the form of vocal and instrumental chamber music.
“Premieres” are being offered, around the world, and the music, which has always been valued as a necessary historical moment, is now being valued for itself.
We can hear not only the way he both holds and breaks with his father, we can also hear why Joseph Haydn (below and at the bottom in a YouTube video of the famed Beaux Arts Trio playing the same Haydn piano trio that will be played during this year’s festival) was so taken with this music. It has its own surprises, quirks, and above all a burning energy, singular, bold, drawing our attention, chastening our misconceptions.
Tags: Arnold Schoenberg, Art of Fugue, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Beaux Arts Trio, Beethoven, C.P.E. Bach, Chamber music, Classical music, Concert, Daniel Barenboim, Early music, Franz Schubert, Hammerklavier, Haydn, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Harbison, labor, Leonard Stein, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Metropolitan Opera, Michael Steinberg, Mozart, Music, Music festival, musical offering, opera, Piano, Piano sonata, Piano Trio, Rose Mary Harbison, Schoenberg, Sonata, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, trade unions, unions, Violin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: The weeklong Madison Early Music Festival starts Saturday. It turns 15, puts early Italian music in the spotlight and adds FREE noontime lectures while enhancing the second annual Handel Aria smack-down and using new venues. Part 2 of 2.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Can it really be 15 years already?
The Madison Early Music Festival began as a dream and an experiment. But it has endured, survived and prospered. This summer it marks its 15th anniversary with a focus on Italian music from 1300 to 1600. The theme is called “Italia Mia.”
This year’s installment starts on this Saturday, July 12, and runs through the following Saturday, July 19. It features many of the traditional things such as workshops, lectures and public concerts. But it also features new out-of-town groups, free noon-time lectures and only the second annual Handel Aria Competition, which has been enhanced.
Venues are the biggest challenge this year, given the upgrading of Mills Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
Here is a link to the festival’s home website for information about tickets, events, programs and performers:
To get things straight, and to provide a larger context, The Ear asked University of Wisconsin-Madison baritone Paul Rowe and his soprano wife Cheryl Bensman Rowe -– who are the co-artistic directors of the Madison Early Music Festival -– to do an email Q&A for this blog.
They graciously agreed, and the results has been posted in two parts, yesterday and today.
Here is a link to Part 1:
How does Italian music from that period differ from its counterparts in, say, Germany, France and England? How does it set up and participate in the artistic qualities we identify with the Italian Renaissance? What is the historical origin and role of the music from that era in that part of the world, and what is its legacy today?
Paul: Italy was the leading artistic, educational and philosophical country in Europe until the mid- to late-17th century. Its influence continued to be felt long afterwards. The musical language of Italy spread throughout Europe because many composers came to study in Italy before returning home and because it was the center of publishing.
Many of the developments in music such as polyphony, virtuosic solo writing, opera, monodic song and improvements in instrument-making took place in Italy or in other areas where Italians settled. Italy gradually lost its position of cultural leadership. It was replaced first by France and then by Germany.
What music and composers of the era have been most neglected and least neglected by historians and performers?
Monteverdi and Palestrina (below) are probably the most well-known of the major composers from Italy at this time. Others who should be better known are Cipriano de Rore, Luzzaschi, Caccini, Gesualdo, Lassus, Tromboncino, Landini and many others.
Can you tell us about the program “Trionfi: The Triumphs of Petrarch” for the concluding All-Festival Concert on Saturday, July 19?
Cheryl: Grant Herreid, who is a member of Piffaro, has been a part of the MEMF faculty since the beginning. When we chose the topic for this year, he had a wonderful selection in mind for the July 19 program. I’ve included his notes, which describe the All-Festival Concert that Grant designed for our 15th season.
TRIONPHI: A Poet’s Vision of Love and Truth — Petrarch’s Triumphs Expressed in Music of the Italian Renaissance
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch, July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374, below), considered the father of humanism, was the most influential poet of the Italian Renaissance. Autobiographical, composed and revised over 30 years, his Trionfi, or “Triumphs,” is a series of poems composed in terza rima (the same form and meter as Dante’s “Inferno” in “The Divine Comedy”) in which the poet witnesses a succession of triumphal entries or trionfi, each featuring an allegorical figure more powerful than the first: Love, Chastity, Death, Fame, Time and Eternity.
The idea of the succession of trionfi or triumphs was a popular theme in Italian art and literature of the 15th and 16th centuries, and may even have influenced the development of tarot and playing cards (trionfo = “trump”). Many bridal chests were depicted with scenes from the trionfi, and in Florence troupes of young men and women acted out the battle of Cupid and Chastity on decorated wagons during the festivities of Carnival and Calendimaggio (May Day). Two of these “canto carnascialeschi” or “carnival songs” have come down to us without their musical settings, and are incorporated into our performance set to other carnival tunes of the early Renaissance.
The music chosen to illustrate the Trionfi runs the gamut of musical styles of the 1500s, from light-hearted “frottole” and carnival songs by Bartolomeo Tromboncino and others, through the rise of the polyphonic madrigal as cultivated by Cipriano da Rore and Orlando di Lasso, to Francesco Cavaliere and the beginnings of monody. Some pieces are actual settings of passages of Petrarch’s poem itself, including Wert’s “Nel tempo che rinnuova,” the anonymous “Dura legge d’amor” and Lassus’ “Passan vostri triumph.’ Portions of the Trionfo di Morte are sung to 16th-century melodic formulae designed for reciting terza rima or other kinds of verse.
Finally, attesting to its popularity, many characters and themes of the Trionfi are featured in songs and madrigals of the 16th century, including the frottole “Nui siam tutti amartelati,” “Alla guerra” and “Huom terren caduco et frale”; and the early monody by Cavaliere “Il tempo fugue.” The lauda (devotional song) collected by Serafino Razzi, “Dolce Dio,” reflects in its simplicity the poet’s final vision of a world conquered by Eternity, in which Time stands still. In the midst of this vision of Eternity, we rejoice with Claudio Monteverdi‘s setting of Psalm 116.
Program notes by Grant Herreid (below)
Are there other sessions, guest lectures and certain performers, performances or programs that you especially recommend to the general public?
Paul: This will be a great summer to explore all things Italian with a special emphasis on poetry and painting. Music is always at the center of things at the Madison Early Music Festival, but there were so many other cultural and philosophical developments that this will be a great summer to learn about other aspects of Italian culture.
Cheryl: This is a difficult question to answer, because I am so enthusiastic about everything we have to offer this summer! That said, everyone should be aware that there are new artists at MEMF this summer.
The Toronto Consort is new to MEMF, as is the group Trefoil (below), a hearty trio of medieval minstrels! On Friday, July 18, in Music Hall, Trefoil (at bottom in a YouTube video playing 13th-century Spanish music at a concert on Wall Street) will be performing their program “Dio Mio! That’s Amore!” that features musical works of the trecento and the Italian fixation upon love.
Countertenors Drew Minter (below top) and Mark Rimple (below middle) and soprano Marcia Young (below bottom) have appeared with leading early music ensembles around the country, and it’s the first time we’ve had two countertenors appear on one program.
There are special lectures on Monday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to noon that are not repeated as pre-concert lectures, but all the daytime lectures from 11 a.m. to noon are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Several University of Wisconsin-Madison professors will be lecturers, including John W. Barker (below), Professor Emeritus of History, who has written music criticism for Isthmus and The Well-Tempered Ear. Besides the lectures, we have a fun dance event with a live band, featuring dances of the Italian Renaissance. (Costumes are welcome!) The European court dance specialist will be teaching the dances, and she is a delightful presence, all week long!
Please check out our web site to get full descriptions about everything that is happening: www.madisonearlymusic.com
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Cheryl: The electrical system in Mills Concert Hall is being overhauled this summer, and this has been our biggest obstacle. We almost used the Wisconsin Union Theater, which would have been really exciting, because we would have been the first group in there after the renovations at the Union. But the cost was prohibitive.
So we decided to use Luther Memorial Church (below top) for the Saturday, July 12, Toronto Consort performance, the Sunday, July 13, LIBER concert, and the final All-Festival Concert on Saturday, July 19. We will be in Music Hall (below bottom) for the other concerts; Ex Umbris on Tuesday, July 15; the second annual Handel Aria Competition on Thursday, July 17; and Trefoil on Friday, July 18.
The singers in the finals of the second Handel Aria Competition (below is a photo of the first competition last year that featured just a harpsichord accompaniment) will be accompanied by a small instrumental ensemble this year. We had a higher number of applicants this year from all over the country and several from Europe.
Also, Piffaro (below), the Renaissance Wind Band, will have their only performance in Edgerton at the Wartmann Prairie, on Friday, July 11, which will benefit the Edgerton Arts Council. MEMF artists have appeared on this benefit concert for the past 11 years. William Wartmann, a great patron of the arts in Rock and Dane counties, invited us to start this series and help raise scholarship funds for students in the Edgerton area to attend summer music programs.
Paul: Since this is our 15th year, we will be celebrating some of our past events and planning for new things in the future. We are excited about several new developments that we feel will set us up well for the next 15 years.
Tags: American Record Guide, Amherst, aria, Arts, Aspen, Baroque, Bartolomeo Tromboncino, Berkeley, Boccaccio, Boston, Boston Early Music Festival, Chamber music, Classical music, Claudio Monteverdi, Dante, Early music, England, France, George Frideric Handel, Germany, Handel, harpsichord, Inferno, instruments, Italian Renaissance, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Marcia Young, Music, Music festival, Paul Rowe, period instruments, Petrarch, Renaissance, Serafino Razzi, Singing, songs, The Divine Comedy, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, YouTube
Classical music: The weeklong Madison Early Music Festival gets more national attention as it marks 15 years. The festival kicks off on Saturday and focuses on Italian early music and art from 1300 to 1600. Part 1 of 2.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Can it really be 15 years already?
The Madison Early Music Festival began as a dream and an experiment. But it has endured, survived and prospered. This summer it marks its 15th anniversary with a focus on Italian music from 1300 to 1600. The theme is called “Italia Mia.”
This year’s installment starts on this coming Saturday, July 12, and runs through the following Saturday, July 19. It features many of the traditional things such as workshops, lectures and public concerts. But it also features new out-of-town groups and only the second annual Handel Aria Competition, which has been enhanced.
Venues are perhaps the biggest challenge this year, given the upgrading of Mills Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
Here is a link to the festival’s home website for information about tickets, events, programs and performers:
To get things straight, and to provide both some history and a larger context, The Ear asked baritone Paul Rowe and his soprano wife Cheryl Bensman Rowe -– who are the co-artistic directors of the Madison Early Music Festival -– to do an email Q&A for this blog.
They graciously agreed, and the results will be posted in two parts, today and tomorrow.
How successful is this year’s festival compared to others in terms of enrollment, budgets, guest performers, ticket sales, media interest, etc.? This is the 15th anniversary of MEMF. After 15 years, is MEMF clearly established now nationally or even internationally?
Cheryl: We have been getting more attention in the national press, and we continue to feature ensembles and artists from Europe and Canada. This year the Toronto Consort — seen below and heard at the bottom in a YouTube video of Italian music and art from the period that MEMF will cover — will open the festival with their program “The Da Vinci Codex,” which features Italian Music from the musical world of Leonardo Da Vinci.
In May, the blog Deceptive Cadence from NPR Classical mentioned MEMF 2014 as a “Can’t Miss Classical Music Festivals” in the Midwest region.
MEMF was again the only Wisconsin music festival listed on May 14, 2014 in the The New York Times story “Birds Aren’t The Only Music Amid Nature.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/arts/music/birds-arent-the-only-music-amid-nature.html
Besides the attention in the press, we are well-known in early music circles. Our performers and faculty are also hired by many well-established festivals, including the Berkeley Early Music Festival, Boston Early Music Festival (below), Amherst Early Music Festival, Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute and others.
What is new and what is the same in terms of format, students, faculty members and guest performers?
Paul: This year we are adding two new intensive workshops that will run concurrently with MEMF. One is focused on wind instruments that will form a loud band and be led by Robert Wiemken (below top) of Pifarro.
There are eight people in the loud band intensive class who play sackbut, shawm, dulcien and other instruments (below bottom). The other is a Baroque opera workshop that will be led by Drew Minter, Christa Patton and me.
We will use music from the operas “Orfeo” and “The Coronation of Poppea” by Claudio Monteverdi (below) as source material to explore Baroque gesture and dance as well as ornamentation and stylistic singing. We have 15 singers who will be taking this workshop. The two intensive classes will present an informal performance on Saturday afternoon, July 19, at 2 p.m.
Why was the topic of the Italian music 1300-1600 chosen for the early music festival? What composers and works will be highlighted?
Paul: We wanted to have a broader historical focus this year in order to include very early instruments and music as well as the larger format pieces that are a feature of the later Renaissance and early Baroque.
The most famous composer of this period is Claudio Monteverdi, but there are many others. Italy was really the hub of poetry and music for all of Western culture during the time period we are considering. The poetry of Petrarch (below) will provide the focus for the All-Festival Concert this year. This is the era of Boccaccio and Dante as well as Petrarch.
Tomorrow: What makes early music in Italy different? What will the All-Festival Concert next Saturday night be like? What is new about the second annual Handel Aria Competition and the new FREE noontime lectures?
Tags: American poetry, Amherst, aria, Arts, Baroque, Berkeley, Boccaccio, Boston Early Music Festival, Chamber music, Classical, Classical music, Claudio Monteverdi, Dante, Deceptive Cadence, Early music, early music festivals, festivals, George Frideric Handel, Handel, instrument, Italian Renaissance, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Leonardo Da Vinci, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Opera, Monteverdi, Music, Music festival, New York Times, NPR, Oberlin, Orchestra, Paul Rowe, Petrarch, Piano, Poetry, Renaissance, Saturday, Singing, songs, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Here are some suggestions for summer music festivals from NPR, the BBC and The New York Times that may help you plan your summer vacation.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear admits it: He is more of an armchair traveler than a true explorer of the globe and its many cultures and cultural events.
But that approach has its compensations. At least it gives me a certain satisfaction that my carbon footprint is smaller than many “eco-friendly” people and “greens” who say they worry about global warming and climate change but think nothing of hopping on a jet to travel thousands of miles.
But if I were to go on big trips, I might well plan some of them around the many wonderful classical music festivals that have sprung up in the area, the regional, the nation and the world.
Here is a link to 10 “can’t miss” classical music festivals. They include the always intriguing Bard Festival (below) that takes place near New York City on the Hudson River and in a concert hall (below) designed by celebrated architect Frank Gehry. Here is a link to the list on the terrific blog “Deceptive Cadence” on NPR:
The New York Times has a more international list that includes the Salzburg Festival (below top) in Austria and the self-consciously hip Bach Festival (below bottom and at the bottom in a YouTube video) in Leipzig, Germany:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/23/arts/international/a-summer-feast-of-classical-music.html?_r=0
The list of festivals from the BBC Music Magazine is understandably heavy on festivals in the United Kingdom:
http://www.classical-music.com/festival-guide-2014
The Ear also found it helpful to Google “2014 summer classical music festivals.” He found quite a few festivals that were not listed in the other guides.
Of course, you still have to pay attention to the local media for word of local music festivals. This month, for example, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society (below) kicks off its annual three-weekend season of chamber music on Friday, June 13.
In July, to offer another example, the Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) will take place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. This year it is devoted to Italian music from 1300 to 1600, and will take place July 12-19. MEMF (below) made the New York Times listing last year, if I remember correctly, but not this year.
And then in late August the annual Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, which takes place in a renovated barn (below), will happen. The 2014 season is the 25th anniversary season. Specific programs of composers and works are not listed, although performers and concert titles or themes are given. The site says to check back soon for details:
Tags: architect, architecture, Arts, Austria, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Bach Festival, Bard, Bard College, Bard Music Festival, BBC, BBC Music Magazine, Chamber music, Classical music, climate change, Early music, eco-friendly, festival, Frank Gehry, global warming, green, Jacob Stockinger, jet, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leipzig, Leipzig Bach Festival, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Opera, Mozart, Music, Music festival, New York City, New York Times, NPR, opera, Piano, Salzburg Festival, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, travel, United Kingdom, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
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