The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra honors retired music critic John W. Barker with a special performance of Brahms and a season dedication
7 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE 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
How does an individual musician or musical group pay tribute and say thank you to a critic?
By performing, of course.
And that is exactly what 30 members of the Middleton Community Orchestra did, playing under guest conductor Kyle Knox (below top), last Friday night for the veteran music critic John W. Barker (below bottom).
The orchestra performed for him at the downtown Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, near the Capitol Square, where the ailing Barker lives with his wife Margaret.
Because of space limitations, word of the special performance never went public. But the large basement room was packed with affectionate and respectful fans and friends.
The MCO members played the lyrical and sunny Serenade No. 1, Op. 11, of Johannes Brahms. (You can hear the opening movement of the Serenade by Brahms in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The orchestra also announced that it would dedicate its upcoming 10th anniversary season to Barker as a gesture of thanks for all he has done over the past nine years to promote the mostly amateur orchestra — which opens its new season on Wednesday, Oct. 9.
“I’ve known this piece most of my life,” said Barker, who soon turns 86 and who started reviewing in his teens. “It’s lots of fun.”
And so was the unusual honor.
“An orchestra paying tribute to a critic? It’s unprecedented,” Barker quipped, as both he and the audience laughed. Barker also quoted the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius who once said, “A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.”
After the 40-minute performance, Barker spoke briefly to the players and audience.
“The job of the critic,” he said, “is to stimulate performers to play up to their best standards and to give readers some background and context. Being critical doesn’t mean being negative, although at times I have made some negative comments. But you never have to be nasty. I guess I’ve succeeded,” he said looking around at the players and the public, both of whom generously applauded his remarks.
Barker’s list of personal accomplishments is impressive. He has written local music reviews for The Capital Times, Isthmus and this blog.
But he is a participant as well as a critic. He has sung in many choirs, including 47 years in the one at the local Greek Orthodox Church, and has performed with the Madison Opera. He directed Gilbert and Sullivan productions for the Madison Savoyards.
Barker is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which may help to explain his general taste for the traditional. He also is a well-known classical music critic, with a national reputation, who has written for 63 years for the American Record Guide. For many years, he hosted an early music radio show on Sunday mornings for WORT-FM 89.9.
He also worked with Opera Props, the support group for University Opera, and was a member of the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival. And he frequently gave pre-concert lectures in Madison. He has published two books on Wagner and written a definitive history of the Pro Arte Quartet.
But this time even the voluble Barker had to admit, “I am grateful and thankful. I am very moved, even floored. But I’m afraid I’m finally at a loss for words.”
You can leave your own words of tribute in the Comment section.
To see the full “Barker season” schedule for the Middleton Community Orchestra and to read many of Barker’s past reviews of the MCO, go to: http://middletoncommunityorchestra.org
Thank you, John, for all you have done to enrich the cultural and musical life of Madison!
Tags: #AmateurMusicians, #AmericanRecordGuide, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoardofAdvisors, #CapitalLakesRetirement Community, #CapitolLakes, #CapitolSquare, #CapTimes, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #CriticalAcclaimed, #EmeritusProfessor, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FinnishComposer, #Fridaynight, #GilbertandSullivan, #GreekOrthodoxChurch, #GuestArtist, #HomeWebsite, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JeanSibelius, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnW.Barker, #KyleKnox, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSavoyards, #MedievalHistory, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MusicCritic, #MusicReview, #NationalReputation, #OperaProps, #OrchestralMusic, #ProArteQuartet, #RichardWagner, #SpecialPerformance, #StringQuartet, #SundayMorning, #ThankYou, #TheCapitalTimes, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #WORT-FM89.9, accomplishment, admit, affectionate, ailing, amateur, American Record Guide, anniversary, applaud, audeience, audience, background, basement, blog, board, Board of Advisors, Book, Cap Times, Capitol Lakes, Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, Capitol Square, Chamber music, choirs, choral music, church, Classical music, classicalmusic, comments, composer, conductor, context, critic, cultural, culture, dedicate, downtown, Early music, earlymusic, emeritus professor, enrich, erect, Facebook, fan, festival Madison Early Music Festival, Finnish composer, forward, Friday, Friday night, friend, fun, generous, gesture, Gilbert and Sullivan, grateful, gratitude, Greek Orthodox Church, group, guest artist, History, home website, honor, host, impressive, individual, Isthmus, Jean Sibelius, job, Johannes Brahms, John W. Barker, Kyle Knox, laugh, lecture, life, like, limitation, link, list, local, loss, lyrical, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Savoyards, Medieval, member, MEMF, Middleton Community Orchestra, morning, moved, music critic, music review, musical, Musician, nasty, national, negative, Newspaper, night, opera, Opera Props, Orchestra, orchestral music, past, pay, perform, performer, personal, piece, play, player, post, posting, pre-concert, Pro Arte Quartet, professor, promote, published, quip, quote, Radio, remarks, reputation, respectful, Retirement, Richard Wagner, room, schedule, Season, Serenade, share, show, sing, singer, space, special, special performance, standards, statue, stimulate, String quartet, sun, Sunday, sunny, tag, taste, teens, thank you, thankful, thankfulness, The Capital Times, traditional, tribute, university, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, unprecedented, unusual, UW-Madison, Veteran, voluble, Wagner, Website, well-known, Wisconsin, words, WORT-FM 89.9, written, years
Classical music: The reviews are in — and they are all raves. This afternoon is your last chance to hear the season-opening concert by maestro John DeMain and the Madison Symphony Orchestra with piano soloist Emanuel Ax
1 Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR SHARE IT (not just “Like It”) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
Are you still undecided about whether to attend the season-opening concert — this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall — by the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below top, in a photo by Greg Anderson), with world-famous piano soloist Emanuel Ax (below bottom, in a photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco)?
Perhaps the following rave reviews — which all agree on quality of the program and the performances that start DeMain’s 25th anniversary season and the MSO’s 93rd season — will help you to make up your mind.
The program is certainly an attractive one. It features the curtain-raising “Fanfare Ritmico” by the living American composer Jennifer Higdon (below); Sergei Prokofiev’s dramatic and appealing score to the ballet “Romeo and Juliet” in a suite specially put together by DeMain; and the monumental Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83, by Johannes Brahms.
Here is a link to a longer background story with details about the program, the performers and tickets, which run $18-$93:
Here is a review written by Matt Ambrosio (below), a graduate student at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, for The Capital Times:
And here is the lengthy review — with many discerning details about the background and the actual performance — from the veteran and very knowledgeable reviewer Greg Hettmansberger (below) from his blog “What Greg Says”:
https://whatgregsays.wordpress.com/2018/09/29/john-demain-launches-his-25th-madison-symphony-season/
Unfortunately, The Ear could not find an opening-night review by John W. Barker, who usually covers the MSO for Isthmus.
Of course, you can be a critic too. If you already have heard the MSO concert, either on Friday or Saturday night, please leave your own remarks – positive or negative – in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #BalletScore, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BlogReview, #EmanuelAx, #FacebookPost, #FanfareRitmico, #GregHettmansberger, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JenniferHigdon, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnDeMain, #JohnW.Barker, #LivingComposer, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MattAmbrosio, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicCritic, #MusicDirector, #MusicReview, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #PianoConcerto, #RaveReview, #RomeoandJuliet, #SergeiProkofiev, #TheCapitalTimes, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WhatGregSays, #World-famous, #WorldFamous, American, anniversary, appealing, Arts, audience, background, ballet, blog, Blog post, Cello, clarinet, Classical music, composer, concerto, conductor, critic, drama, Emanuel Ax, Facebook, Fanfare, graduate student, Greg Hettmansberger, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jennifer Higdon, Johannes Brahms, John DeMain, John W. Barker, knowledgeable, link, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Maestro, Matt Ambrosio, Mead Witter School of Music, mind, Music, music critic, music review, negative, Orchestra, Overture Center, performance, pianistsoloist, Piano, Piano concerto, positive, program, quality, rave, remarks, rhythm, Romeo and Juliet, score, Season, Sergei Prokofiev, Student, symphony, The Capital Times, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Veteran, Viola, Violin, What Greg Says, you, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: The timing and political climate could not be more relevant for seeing the Madison Opera’s production of “Fellow Travelers” this Friday night and Sunday afternoon
3 Comments
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
You might recall from a previous blog posting that this weekend, the Madison Opera will present its production of the 2016 opera “Fellow Travelers.”
(A preview from the Minnesota Opera’s production, which featured the same sets and many of the same singers at the Madison Opera’s production, can be seen in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Performances are this Friday night, Feb. 7, at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, Feb. 9, at 2:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
Here is a link to more background and details about American history, the production, the cast and tickets.
https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/01/14/classical-music-background-discussions-lectures-and-documentaries-lead-up-to-madison-operas-production-of-the-new-lgbtq-themed-opera-fellow-travelers-on-feb-7-and-9/
Today, all The Ear wants to do is to point out how timely this story about the “Lavender Scare” of purging and punishing gays during the Red Scare, anti-Communist witch hunt of McCarthyism in the late 1940s and 1950s.
The opera’s story is about a young man (below) who supports Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin and then finds himself romantically and sexually attracted to another man who works in the State Department, one of McCarthy’s favorite targets.
He then has to deal with hypocrisy, with the contradictions between his personal life and his political beliefs as he goes from being victimizer to victim.
The political climate for such a work exploring fear and prejudice couldn’t be more relevant .
A lot of the credit for that can go directly to President Donald Trump (below), the master of “Fake News.”
Trump is a right-wing fear-monger and name-smearer, constantly raging against “radical left-wing Democrats.” He has even called Sen. Bernie Sanders — a Democratic candidate for president — a “Communist,” even though Sanders describes himself as a democratic Socialist along the lines of Western European socialists.
It is also no secret that in addition to such unfair and insulting name-calling, Trump and his homophobic supporters – including Vice President Mike Pence and Christian Fundamentalists – are looking to roll back the civil rights and human rights of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer.
And they want to do so even at a time when an openly gay man who is married, Pete Buttigieg, is running for president and seems to have just won the Iowa caucuses.
Moreover, there is a direct link between McCarthyism and the homophobia of the Liar-in-Chief.
Remember that McCarthy’ lawyer was a closeted and self-hating gay man named Roy Cohn (below right, with McCarthy). There is some evidence that McCarthy himself was secretly homosexual too.
After the humiliating end of the Army-McCarthy hearings and the premature death of McCarthy, Cohn went into private practice in New York City.
And that is where Cohn became the lawyer – and a role model of thuggish public behavior — for a young real estate developer named Donald Trump (below left, with Roy Cohn).
Such partisan times as the present seem to call for and inspire didactic art – better called “message art.” The Ear hasn’t seen the opera yet, so he can’t say how well it fits the bill.
But at first glance, the opera sure seems to fit the times we live in and the personalities of many of those who determine such a disturbing political and social climate. As The Nation magazine put it, “Trumpism is the New McCarthyism.”
In short, the opera’s plot seems both pertinent and realistic, one that could take place in today’s Washington, D.C.
The Ear is anxious to find out more and to make up his own mind, including about the music to be sung by the cast and played by the Madison Symphony Orchestra under conductor John DeMain.
He also hopes many of you will see the opera, and then leave your reactions and comments here, be they positive or negative.
The Ear wants to hear.
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: #Anti-Communist, #Army-McCarthy, #BernieSanders, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CapitolTheater, #ChristianFundamentalist, #ChristianReligion, #CivilRights, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FakeNews, #FellowTravelers, #Fridaynight, #HomeWebsite, #HumanRights, #IowaCaucauses, #JacobStockinger, #JohnDeMain, #LavenderScare, #LGBTQrights, #LivingComposer, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #McCarthyEra, #MessageArt, #MIkePence, #MinnesotaOpera, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #OperaPlot, #OvertureCenter, #PersonalLife, #PeteButtigieg, #PoliticalBeliefs, #PresidentDonaldTrump, #PresidentTrump, #RedScare, #RoleModel, #RoyCohn, #SociallyRelevant, #StateDepartment, #Sundayafternoon, #The1950s, #TheEar, #TheNation, #USArmy, #VicePresident, #VocalMusic, #WesternEurope, #WitchHunt, #YouTubevideo, 1940s, 1950s, American, anti-Communism, Army, Art, Arts, attract, audience, background, behavior, belief, Bernie Sanders, bisexual, blog, candidate, Capitol Theater, cast, choral music, Christian, Christian Fundamentalist, civil, civil rights, Classical music, climate, closeted, colleagues, comment, Communism, composer, Concert, conductor, contradiction, D.C., death, Democratic, describe, details, determine, didactic, didacticism, disturbing, do, Donald Trump, evidence, Facebook, fake news, fear, Fellow Travelers, forward, Friday night, fundamentalist, gay, heartings, homophobia, homosexual, Homosexuality, human, human rights, humiliation, hypocrisy, hypocritical, Iowa, Iowa caucuses, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, Lavender Scare, lawyer, left-wing, lesbian, LGBT rights, LGBTQ, liar, life, like, link, Living composer, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, magazine, man, married, McCarthyism, message, message art, Mike Pence, mind, Minnesota Opera, Music, name, name-calling, negative, new, New Music, New York City, online, open, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, partisan, People, performer, personal, personal life, personalities, personality, pertinent, Pete Buttigieg, plot, political beliefs, Politics, positive, possible, post, posting, practice, premature, President, President Donald Trump, President of the United States, President Trump, preview, private, production, public, punish, punishment, purge, queer, radical, reaction, realistic, recall, recognize, Red Scare, relevant, Republican, Republican Party, right, rights, role model, Romantic, Roy Cohn, see, self-hating, senator, sets, sex, share, singer, smear, social, socialist, State Department, story, sung, supporter, tag, The Ear, The Nation, thug, tickets, time, timely, today, transgender, Trump, Trumpism, U.S. Senator, unfair, United States, vice president, victim, victimizer, vocal music, want, Washington, Website, weekend, Western Europe, Western European, win, Wisconsin, witch hunt, works, young, YouTube