The Well-Tempered Ear
UW-Madison alumna Kathryn Lounsbery gives a FREE virtual online talk this Tuesday night about how musicians can develop and market new skills during COVID
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By Jacob Stockinger
It is no secret that the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic have been especially hard on gig workers and artists worldwide – hurting musicians financially and professionally as well as psychologically and artistically.
But this Tuesday night, Nov. 10, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. UW-Madison alumna Kathryn Lounsbery (below) will give a FREE virtual and interactive talk about developing marketable skills that can help carry musicians through the pandemic and beyond.
There is no in-person attendance. But here is a link to the live-streaming session of YouTube video: https://youtu.be/me1tC0LfEVU
Here is more information from the Mead Witter School of Music:
“Pure talent does not always equal a paycheck. Now, more than ever, musicians need to be savvy and employ out-of-the-box thinking with regards to their careers.
“Kathryn Lounsbery — a graduate of the UW-Madison School of Music — has taken her two classical piano degrees and crafted a life in music that includes teaching, performing, comedy, workshops, music-directing, cabaret and more.
“In this interactive session, she will pass on ways in which musicians can craft creative and rewarding careers for themselves, all while making a living.
“Lounsbery is a Los Angeles-based pianist, vocal coach, educator, comedian, music director, composer, arranger and educator. She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Southern California (2004) and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2000).
“She has served on the faculty of The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) for a decade. Many of her former students are currently on Broadway and have been in feature films and television shows. Prior to her tenure at AMDA, she was on the faculty at Sonoma State University.
“Lounsbery is endorsed by Roland Pianos and frequently gives concerts and clinics on their behalf across the U.S. and abroad.
“For seven years, she served as a Keyboard Editor at Alfred Music Publishing, the world’s largest educational music publisher.
“Lounsbery has worked alongside entertainment industry greats including David Foster, Jim Brickman, Evan Rachel Wood, Travis Barker, Kathy Najimy, Charlotte Rae, Laura Benanti and Aubrey Plaza to name a few. She has been a music coach for HBO, Showtime and ABC series.
“As a comedian, Kathryn was featured on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and has appeared at The Laugh Factory and The Improv, and has headlined at The World Famous Comedy Store. Her musical improv skills lead her to hold the position of music director at the famed Second City in Chicago for several years.
“Lounsbery is the creator and director of “Authenticity and Bad-Assery,” a popular performance-based workshop in Los Angeles. There is currently a waitlist to participate.
“She has toured the country with her solo show “Kathryn Lounsbery Presents Kathryn Lounsbery.” Her comedy videos have garnered millions of views and have been shown at film festivals around the world. (You can see a comedy beefcake video based on Beethoven’s “Pathetique” piano sonata in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“She is also the music arranger on “The Potters” an animated feature to be released through Lionsgate in 2021.”
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Classical music: There was so much to like about the Grand Tour finale of the 2019 Madison Early Music Festival. But where were the high notes in Allegri’s legendary “Miserere”?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Fair is fair.
Before he talks about last Saturday night’s conclusion of the successful 2019 Madison Early Music Festival – which marked its 20th anniversary — The Ear has a confession to make: He generally prefers later Baroque music and he generally prefers instrumental music to vocal or choral music.
That said, he nonetheless had a memorable and very enjoyable time on the “Grand Tour” during the well-attended All-Festival concert. There was so much to like and to admire.
The concert used the conceit of a Grand Tour by a composite 17th-century traveler going to London, Venice, Rome, Naples, Paris and Dresden to take in the local sights and local music, and included lesser-known composers such as William Lawes and William Child as well as such famous figures as Claudio Monteverdi, Giovanni Gabrieli , Jean-Baptiste Lullyand Heinrich Schütz.
Like most journeys, this one – once again assembled in an ingenious scissors-and-paste job by early music specialist Grant Herreid (below) – had many entertaining and uplifting moments.
But it also had one big disappointment.
The Ear really looked forward to hearing a live performance of the famous “Miserere” by Gregorio Allegri (below) as a high point. But those haunting, ultra-high descant notes that give you goosebumps and that you never forget hearing just never materialized.
Maybe it had to do with the different ornamentation that the MEMF forces used. Maybe it was based on a different manuscript or score. Maybe there was no one capable of singing those spellbinding and unforgettable high notes.
Whatever the reason, The Ear’s hope for a live performance of the dramatic and iconic work were dashed and the famous, even classic, recorded versions – the 1980 recording by the Tallis Scholars is heard in the YouTube video at the bottom — remain for him the unsurpassed standard.
The evening also had its ironies. That same night on the NBC TV news The Ear saw a story about “overtourism” in Europe and China. Venice, for example, has now shrunk to only about 50,000 unhappy residents who put up with some 20 million tourists a year.
But centuries ago, travel was a rare and exotic luxury of the wealthy and well-educated, not an affordable indulgence or curiosity by ever-expanding middle classes. And this metaphorical trip proved an ideal vehicle to sample 16th- and 17th-century music in England, France, Germany and Italy.
Combining high culture and low, Herreid chose witty and detailed travelogue texts that gave the audience the rich flavor of various cultures at the time.
Details mattered to the four sharp-eyed travelers on which this tour was based. So as “our hero” wandered, we got to hear about the “libidinous ladies” of Naples and the musical talented courtesans of Venice as well as the richly attired archbishop of Paris attending a feast day service in the newly finished Notre-Dame cathedral.
Such descriptions were well delivered by unnamed narrators (below) from the chorus and proved a refreshingly earthy and entertaining counterpoint to the more serious spiritual and religious music of the era.
Another big satisfaction was the exceptional quality of the ensemble playing – exhibited even in large amounts of less interesting music — by the many singers and instrumentalists on the stage of Mills Hall, and, at one point, in the hall’s balcony.
Whether the players and singers were conducted by Herreid or by assistant conductor Jerry Hui — a UW-Madison graduate who is now a tenured professor at UW-Stout — the music sounded tight, authentic and expressive.
As for more superficial pleasures, it is great visual fun watching such early versions of modern string, wind and percussion instruments being played — trombone-like sackbuts, oboe-like shawms, flute-like recorders and lute-like theorbos. (Below are cello-like viols.)
The players, both faculty and students, were particularly convincing on their own in the sound painting done to depict battle scenes and political upheaval. And who will ever forget the surprise of loud foot-stomping by all the performers and conductor?
Herreid was absolutely spot-on to keep the program to about 80 minutes with no intermission. It helped the audience stay in the spirit of the Grand Tour and added cohesion to the program.
The Grand Tour, in short, proved outstanding in concept and excellent in execution.
But was The Ear alone in missing to those high notes?
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Classical music: Today is the summer solstice. Here is information about the solstice plus 20 pieces of classical music to mark the coming of summer
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ALERT: Today is the fifth annual Make Music Madison. More than 300 FREE outdoor performances will be featured at some 100 venues. For information about artists, kinds of music, places and times, go to: http://www.makemusicmadison.org
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Thursday, June 21, 2018.
The summer solstice arrives in Wisconsin early today at 5:07 a.m. Central Daylight Time.
If you want to know more about the summer solstice, here are two stories from NBC and The Washington Post with some interesting information you might not know:
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/what-summer-solstice-ncna884991
Quite a few composers and works of classical music celebrate the coming of summer.
Twenty of the best-known are featured on a blog at the famous classical radio station WQXR FM in New York City. Here is a link:
https://www.wqxr.org/story/20-summertime-classical-pieces-maximum-chill/
The blog posting features many terrific sound samples, including such well-known works as “Summer” section from “The Four Seasons” violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi.
Still, some of the titles – including the famous Overture to “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream” by Felix Mendelssohn – are not accompanied by sound.
That includes one of The Ear’s favorites, “Knoxville, Summer 1915” by the American composer Samuel Barber with words by the journalist and documentarian James Agee.
Here it is, in a much-praised recording by soprano Dawn Upshaw, in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Here’s hoping summer is better in this part of the country than spring was, what with record cold in April and record rainfall in May that seems to be continuing with disastrous flooding in June.
Happy Summer, all.
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Classical music: This weekend the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Grammy-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin will perform Spanish music and a new concerto by Chris Brubeck
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By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO), with music director John DeMain conducting, will present the third concert of its 92nd season.
“Troubadour: Two Faces of the Classical Guitar” features Grammy-winning guitar virtuoso Sharon Isbin (below) playing two works: one written for Isbin by American composer Chris Brubeck; and the other by the Spaniard Joaquin Rodrigo. (Isbin will also give a FREE and PUBLIC master class on Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon in Morphy Recital Hall on the UW-Madison campus in the Humanities Building on North Park Street.)
In addition the MSO will perform two 20th-century ballet suites — The Three-Cornered Hat by Spanish composer Manuel De Falla and Billy the Kid by American composer Aaron Copland.
The concerts (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) are in Overture Hall at the Overture Center, 201 State Street on Friday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Nov. 19, at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are $18-$90. Details are below.
Invoking a sense of the American heartland, Billy the Kid was written by Copland (below) as a ballet following the life of the infamous outlaw. This piece is most well-known for the memorable “cowboy” tunes and American folk songs that paint a vivid picture of the Wild West.
The virtuosity and versatility of multiple Grammy Award-winner Sharon Isbin is on display in this program of contrasts: the jazz idioms of the American composer Chris Brubeck’s “Affinity: Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra,” written for Sharon Isbin, alongside the lush romanticism of the Spaniard Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez.” (You can hear Sharon Isbin play the beautiful slow movement of the Rodrigo concerto in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The piece by Brubeck (below) contains strong hints of the jazz influence of his father, noted pianist and composer Dave Brubeck. Inspired by the gardens at Palacio Real de Aranjuez, Rodrigo’s composition attempts to transport the listener to another place and time through the evocation of the sounds of nature.
Isbin’s performances of Chris Brubeck’s “Affinity: Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra” have received wide acclaim: “The concerto takes off with Isbin delivering rapid-fire virtuosity with infectious themes. The slow middle is a tender jazz-based tribute to Dave Brubeck, and Isbin played with heartfelt warmth and tenderness. The finale was an infectious rhythmically driven journey through myriad styles. It was as intriguing as it was moving … Isbin is much more than a virtuoso; she is an artist of depth.”
The Three-Cornered Hat by De Falla (below) is based on a story written by Pedro de Alarcón about a Corregidor (magistrate) who tries, without success, to seduce the pretty wife of the local miller.
One hour before each performance, Michael Allsen (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot), professor at UW-Whitewater, MSO trombonist and writer of MSO’s program notes, will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience.
For more background on the music, please read Allsen’s Program Notes at: http://www.allsenmusic.com/NOTES/1718/3.Nov17.html.
The Symphony recommends concert attendees arrive early for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations, and so they can experience the pre-concert talk (free for all ticket-holders).
Single Tickets are $18-$90 each and are on sale now at https://www.madisonsymphony.org/singletickets, through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141.
Groups of 15 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information, go to: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/groups
Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $12 or $18 tickets. More information is at: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush
Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
ABOUT SHARON ISBIN
Acclaimed for her extraordinary lyricism, technique, and versatility, Sharon Isbin has been hailed as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time.” Recipient of numerous prestigious awards, her debut concert with the MSO comes after over 170 solo performances with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony, London Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Orchestre National de France, and the Tokyo Symphony.
Isbin is the subject of a one-hour documentary presented by American Public Television. Seen by millions on over 200 PBS stations throughout the US, it is also available on DVD/Blu-ray and won the 2015 ASCAP Television Broadcast Award. “Sharon Isbin: Troubadour” paints the portrait of a trailblazing performer and teacher who over the course of her career has broken through numerous barriers to rise to the top of a traditionally male-dominated field.
The following is a dedicated website where you can view the trailer, read rave reviews, and see detailed broadcast dates: www.SharonIsbinTroubadour.com
Major funding for the September concerts is provided by: NBC-15, the Madison Symphony Orchestra League, and Elaine and Nicholas Mischler. Additional funding provided by Scott and Janet Cabot, John DeLamater and Janet Hyde, Steven Weber, and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Classical music: New biography explains the professional importance and personal quirks of famed maestro Arturo Toscanini
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By Jacob Stockinger
You know how sometimes a movie preview or trailer gives so much away of the story that it leaves you feeling you don’t really need to see the movie.
That’s how The Ear felt when he read a recent review in The New York Times of a new and exhaustive biography by Harvey Sachs of the famous conductor Arturo Toscanini (below).
Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867 – 1957) conducts the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a televised recording of Verdi‘s ‘Hymn of the Nations‘, 1944. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
This is the second time that Sachs has written about the maestro. This time, however, he had access to recently released private papers.
And boy, are there some surprises.
In his lengthy review, Robert Gottlieb gives The Ear just about all he wants to know or needs to know about the Italian master from his youth (below, ca. 1890) to old age — and then some. (In the YouTube video at the bottom you can hear and see Toscanini conducting “The Ride of the Valkyries” by Richard Wagner in 1948.)
The Ear knew Toscanini was important. But he was never really quite sure why.
Now he knows.
Here is a link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/books/review/toscanini-biography-harvey-sachs.html
Read the review and see if you agree.
And tell us what you make of Toscanini the musician and Toscanini the man.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Arts, Arturo Toscanini, Beethoven, biography, Book, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, critic, Franz Schubert, Getty Images, Harvey Sachs, hear, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, man, movie, Mozart, Music, Musician, NBC, New York Times, opera, Orchestra, personal, preview, professional, quirk, review, Ride of the Valkyries, see, story, symphony, The New York Times, Toscanini, trailer, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, video, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: This 90-year-old Belgian classical pianist learned how to play slow movements by Mozart and Beethoven by hearing Ray Charles – and shows why The Ear likes the arts reporting on PBS and NPR
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By Jacob Stockinger
Yesterday, I posted a disconcerting story from the Columbia Journalism Review about how most mainstream newspapers and traditional media are cutting way back on art coverage.
After all, runs the conventional wisdom, how can the arts compete with sports, politics and crime for attracting readers?
Here is a link to that post:
Well, that kind of mistaken thinking is one reason why The Ear likes to watch PBS and national Public Radio or NPR. Especially on the PBS NewsHour, you find terrific stories about and interviews with major figures in the fine arts and the performing arts.
PBS treats the arts as vital and essential, not ornamental or secondary.
A wonderful example happened this week on the segment called “Brief But Spectacular” in which people offer their thoughts about their own lives and careers.
In this case, it was Jean Stark — a 90-year-old Belgian-born woman who was an accomplished concertizing classical pianist. She performed in Carnegie Hall and Town Hall in New York City, and in halls around the world, and who talks about her life and career for PBS.
In the four-minute interview, she laments how classical music isn’t promoted these days and emphasizes how wonderful it was to be alive during the golden years of classical music with such great figures as composer-pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff and Sergei Prokofiev.
But, she confesses, for all her accomplishments she was unsatisfied with how she played slow movements of sonatas by Classical-era masters Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
Until she came to the U.S. and went with a friend to a concert by Ray Charles.
Charles, she says, taught how to play slowly.
The Ear only wishes she had been more specific about the lessons she learned. Was it phrasing? Tempo? Accents? “Rubato,” or flexible timing?
It is a great, heart-warming story and typical of the kind of human interest arts coverage that you generally do not find on other television news channels, whether traditional networks like CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX or cable TV channels such as CNN and MSNBC.
So The Ear offers it as both an enjoyable and informative arts story, and as an endorsement of the PBS NewsHour and especially reporter Jeffrey Brown, who does such a terrific job of reporting on the arts.
Here is the segment, which you can find on YouTube, along with other recordings by Stark:
An after-thought: To the best of his knowledge, The Ear thinks that the music you hear her playing is the “Aeolian Harp” Etude in A-Flat Major, Op. 25, No. 1, by Frederic Chopin and part of the suite “Pour le piano” (For the Piano) by Claude Debussy.
What do you think of arts coverage on the mainstream media and on PBS?
What do you think Jean Stark learned from Ray Charles?
If you saw this story, how did it affect you?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music education: Retiring UW-Madison and Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras maestro James Smith gets the monthly ‘Making a Difference’ award from NBC TV Channel 15
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ALERT: In yesterday’s post about the upcoming house concert of keyboard music by Trevor Stephenson, The Ear listed the wrong date in the headline. It was corrected, but The Ear apologizes and feels a correction is still needed for those who missed it: The concert is on Friday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. For more information, go to:
By Jacob Stockinger
It comes as welcome and heart-warming news at a time when so much news is negative, accusatory and depressing.
Maestro James Smith (below, in a photo by Michael Anderson) — who has been conducting the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra, the UW-Madison Chamber Orchestra and the University Opera as well as the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras for 32 years — has received a fine piece of community recognition.
Smith has just received the monthly “Making a Difference” award from NBC TV Channel 15, which also broadcast once again three times WYSO’s traditional concert “Sounds of the Season” on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Here is the 3-1/2 minute video, which includes an interview with Smith as well as testimony from a former student who has gone on to have a professional career in music, about the NBC award:
http://www.nbc15.com/content/news/Maestro-making-a-difference–408450735.html
Such recognition is nothing new for Smith, who has won many honors as well as the esteem of his colleagues, his students and his audiences.
Six years ago, The Ear named Smith as ‘Musician of the Year’ for 2010:
Here is that post:
More recently, The Ear talked about Smith’s upcoming retirement and his post-retirement plans in a post about four major people who will retire this spring from the UW-Madison School of Music:
The Ear loves Smith’s reply when he was asked by anchor John Stofflet of NBC for advice to his successor:
“Learn from the students,” said Smith, a trained professional and concertizing clarinetist who turned to conducting.
The Ear, who was a longtime teacher himself, knows the truth of that answer.
Thank you and bravo, Maestro Smith.
Bravissimo!!
Tags: Arts, award, Beethoven, Cello, Channel 15, choral music, Christmas, Christmas Day, christmas eve, clarinet, Classical music, community, concerto, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Maestro, Making a Difference, Mozart, Music, Music education, NBC, NBC15, news, opera, Orchestra, Season, Student, symphony, Teacher, Television, Trevor Stephenson, TV, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Chamber Orchestra, UW Symphony, video, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Youth Symhony Orchestras, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WYSO
Classical music: Fresco Opera Theatre opens its new season, starting this Sunday afternoon, with five FREE garage performances of “Snow White” in Madison, Waunakee and Sun Prairie
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By Jacob Stockinger
Fresco Opera Theatre has justifiably developed a reputation for quality quirkiness.
Little wonder, then, that it has also developed a loyal following.
Fresco Opera Theatre opens its new season with FREE garage performances of “Snow White” in Madison, Waunakee and Sun Prairie.
There will be five afternoon performances, at 2 p.m., starting this Sunday afternoon and running through Aug. 28. All performances take place at different addresses.
You are advised to bring lawn chairs and blankets.
Here is what was Fresco Opera Theatre posted on Facebook:
COMING THIS SUMMER…
TO A NEIGHBORHOOD GARAGE NEAR YOU…
IT’S MUSIC!
NO! IT’S THEATER!
NO – IT’S GARAGE OPERA!
Our 16/17 season starts with a BANG! by bringing Garage Opera out to the suburbs again!
This year, Snow White will be the story set to some of the most beautiful music the world has ever heard.
BUT WAIT! There is a twist in this tale…
While this is the story of Snow White you are familiar with, in true Fresco fashion we have added a few twists, including a mild-mannered “dwarf” of a man who befriends Snow White. And who will save her after the Evil Queen has poisoned her?
Come to Fresco’s GARAGE OPERA – SNOW WHITE to find out!
NOTE: You can hear Melanie Cain and Jeff Turk discuss with the local NBC affiliate Channel 15 Fresco’ s past production of Smackdown – which mixed high-brow opera with low-brow professional wrestling — in the YouTube video at the bottom.
For more information, visit:
http://www.frescooperatheatre.com
Tags: Arts, blanket, chair, choral music, Classical music, Facebook, Fresco Opera Theatre, garage, high-brow, Jacob Stockinger, lawn, low-brow, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, NBC, opera, professional wrestling, Queen (Snow White), smackdown, Snow White, Sun Prairie, theater, theatre, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, WAUNAKEE, Wisconsin, wrestling, YouTube
Classical music: Keep Your Eye On – young conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla
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By Jacob Stockinger
Female conductors are getting less rare these days.
But they are still an exception in the largely male world of conducting.
So when The Ear saw and heard the following report – by Harry Smith for NBC’s Today Show — about the young firecracker and Lithuanian female conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, who is with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he thought it would be good to share with his readers.
Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla. Foto: Philipp Zinniker
Here is a link to the TV report (the photo below is by the Los Angeles Times):
http://www.hulu.com/watch/889178
Here is a link to more detailed background:
http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/mirga-grazinyte-tyla
And here is an interview with her and music conducted by her on YouTube:
Tags: Arts, California, Classical music, Conducting, female, Harry Smith, hulu, Jacob Stockinger, Lithuania, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, Music, NBC, Orchestra, Television, Today (U.S. TV program), Today show, TV, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, women, YouTube
Classical music: World-class conductors are making news with two retirements, a death and a contract renewal. Who will emerge as the new and younger star maestros? Plus, today is the last performance by the Madison Symphony Orchestra and pianist Ingrid Fliter of music by Benjamin Britten, Frederic Chopin and Robert Schumann. Read two reviews of the concert.
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ALERT: Today at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall is the last performance by the Madison Symphony Orchestra under John DeMain and pianist Ingrid Fliter (below) of the “Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge” by Benjamin Brittten, the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor by Frederic Chopin and the Symphony No. 4 in D Minor by Robert Schumann. Here are two reviews to tempt you.
Here is a review that John W. Barker wrote for Isthmus:
http://www.isthmus.com/daily/article.php?article=44522&sid=841e6fa0653921af622026d5ee793a0f
And here is a review that Jess Courtier wrote for The Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal:
By Jacob Stockinger
Sometimes things just seem to happen in waves and clusters.
This past week has been a rough one for the media, for example.
There were the deaths of reporter Bob Simon (he was 73) of CBS News and “60 Minutes” and columnist David Carr (he was 58) of The New York Times.
Then there are the ongoing truth-telling problems of NBC’s top-rated anchor Brian Williams. And comedian-host Jon Stewart is leaving The Daily Show.
The same seems to go for orchestral conductors.
ITEM: Edo DeWaart will step down at the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra after the 2016-17 season. It is a major loss for the orchestra that many critics say has never sounded better.
ITEM: Alan Gilbert will step down from The New York Philharmonic after only eight seasons, after the 2016-17 season. He has his reasons for leaving such a prestigious post, especially after all the praise he has earned for programming and performing during his tenure.
Here is a terrific story from NPR (National Public Radio):
And another story for the revered British magazine Gramophone:
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/alan-gilbert-to-leave-the-new-york-philharmonic
ITEM: The conductor Israel Yinon – known for exploring neglected repertoire — has died at the age of 58, during a performance in Lucerne, Switzerland of Richard Strauss’ “An Alpine Symphony.”
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/conductor-israel-yinon-has-died
But there is some good news:
On the other hand, the acclaimed Yannick Nézet-Séguin -– the openly gay French-Canadian maestro — has just extended his contract with the Philadelphia Orchestra through 2022.
Here is a story:
Tags: 60 Minutes, Alan Gilbert (conductor), Arts, Asian American, Avery Fisher Hall, Benjamin Britten, Board of Directors, Bob Simon, Brian Williams, CBS, Chopin, Classical music, Compact Disc, concerto, conductor, David Carr, French-Canadian, Fundraising, gay, Gramophone, Great Britain, Ingrid Fliter, Israel Yinon, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, John W. Barker, Jon Stewart, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Lucerne, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Music director, National Public Radio, NBC, NBC-TV, New York City, New York Philharmonic, NPR, opera, Orchestra, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Orchestra, Robert Schumann, Switzerland, symphony, The Capital Times, The New York Times, The Wisconsin State Journal, UK, United Kingdom, Wisconsin, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
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