The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Visionary Venezuelan music educator José Antonio Abreu is dead at 78
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ALERT: Because of Good Friday and Easter, there is no Friday Noon Musicale this week at the First Unitarian Society of Madison. The free concerts, from 12:15 to 1 p.m., will resume next week.
By Jacob Stockinger
By any measure José Antonio Abreu (below), who died on March 24 at age 78, was a titan — but a beloved and accessible titan.
He invented and nurtured the famous El Sistema program of music education for all students – especially poor students – in his native Venezuela.
First he worked hard to make the program grow and succeed throughout his homeland.
Then in recent years, he helped to spread his inspired model around the world.
A tireless educator, Abreu has altered how we think about music education and how we do it. As a result, many countries and cities as well as music schools and professional music organizations have adopted El Sistema.
If you have heard of him before, it is likely because of his most famous pupil, the superstar conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Gustavo Dudamel (below right).
Here are two excellent obituaries, with a lot of background and details about El Sistema in Venezuela and around the world, including the United States, about Abreu:
From The New York Times:
From The Washington Post:
You can find many tributes to Abreu, including an 18-minute TED Talk by Abreu himself, on YouTube. Many of them are in Spanish and many offer a lot of music.
Here is something shorter and simpler to remember him by: the beautiful and stately “Pavane for a Dead Princess” by Maurice Ravel accompanying Abreu’s own words and those of others.
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Classical music: Handbell director Brad Schultz will say good-bye to Madison with two performances of “Postcards From France” this weekend.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following notice:
Music director Brad Schultz of the Madison Area Concert Handbells (MACH) will finish his tenure with MACH by conducting “Postcards from France” in two performances this weekend.
Concerts are on Saturday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Asbury Church, 6101 University Avenue; and on Sunday, May 15, at 3 p.m. in the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, near Camp Randall Stadium.
Tickets can be purchased in advance ($12 adult, $9 senior/student) at any of the advance ticket outlets (Cool Beans Coffee Café, Ward-Brodt Music, Metcalfe’s Market at Hilldale, and Orange Tree Imports) or at the door ($15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students).
After three very successful years of directing the choir, music director Brad Schultz (below) has resigned due to added responsibilities on the Luther College faculty starting next fall. Throughout his tenure, Brad has helped MACH’s ringers retain the spirit and skills which have led this auditioned choir to be recognized as one of the leading handbell groups in America. He introduces the concert as follows:
“Maybe it was the first time you tasted a delicious French roll, or saw the Eiffel Tower. Maybe it was an exposure to music, culture, or fashion. Maybe it was in your early ventures as a reader (“In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines”), or depictions of la belle vie (the French “good life”) in the movies. We have always had a fascination with all things French; from culture to custom, from cuisine to cinema.
“There’s no denying French advancements in music, either. From the cathedral to the salon, Leonin and Pérotin to composers of chanson and popular music, France has always left a musical mark on the world.
“We invite you to join us this weekend for a celebration of all things French. Revered composers Bizet, Ravel, Debussy, Chopin and Faure will be represented, alongside pieces that remind us of French culture, landscape and architecture. We’re excited to be joined again this season by flutist Barbara Paziouros Roberts.”
Here is the complete program:
Grand Valse Brillante, Op. 18, by Frédéric Chopin, Arranged by Ruth Artman
Jubilation by Fred Gramann
The Sunken Cathedral (La cathédrale engloutie) by Claude Debussy, Transcribed by Kevin McChesney
Pavane by Gabriel Fauré, Arranged by Albert Zabel
The Ball (from “Children’s Games”) by Georges Bizet, Arranged by Betty B. Garee
Suite for Flute & Piano, Op. 116, by Benjamin Godard: II. Idylle
Danse Macabre by Camille Saint–Saéns, Arranged by Michael R. Keller
Down the River by Jason W. Krug
Intermission
Fountains by Kevin McChesney
Gymnopédie No. 1 by Erik Satie, Arranged by Karen Roth
Pavane pour une Infante Defunte by Maurice Ravel, Transcribed by Kevin McChesney
Cathedrals by Margaret R. Tucker
Autumn Leaves (Les feuilles mortes) by Joseph Kosma, Arranged by Bank Wu
MACH rings over 6 octaves of handbells and 7 octaves of handchimes, the largest assemblage of these instruments in Wisconsin. This fall, while the choir searches for a new director, MACH will be led by founder and former director Susan Udell, who retired from the group in 2010.
For more information about MACH, visit the website at http://www.madisonhandbells.org.
Tags: Arts, autumn leaves, Bizet, cathedral, Chamber music, Champs-Élysées, chanson, children, Chopin, cinema, Classical music, Claude Debussy, cuisine, culture, dance, Debussy, Eiffel Tower, Faure, flute, fountains, France, French, French music, games, Gymnopedie, handbells, Jacob Stockinger, Luther College, Madison, Madison Area Concert Handbells, Maurice Ravel, Music, Paris, pavane, Piano, pop, popular music, Ravel, Saint-Saens, salon, Satie, Suite, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Waltz, YouTube
Classical music: Let us now praise flutist Robin Fellows, who has died. He played with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and taught at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Plus, this afternoon is your last chance to hear the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s all-French program with cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio.
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ALERT: This afternoon at 2:30 p.m in Overture Hall of the Overture Center is your last chance to hear the acclaimed all-French program by the Madison Symphony Orchestra with guest cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio. Here are links to two very positive reviews.
Here is the review written by critic John W. Barker for Isthmus:
http://www.isthmus.com/arts/stage/madison-symphony-orchestra-november-waltz/
And here is the review written by Jessica Courtier for The Capital Times and the The Wisconsin State Journal:
And here is a link to an interview with more about the concert, the program and the soloist:
By Jacob Stockinger
This news is old and dated, and it comes late, too late for you to attend the memorial service. The Ear apologizes for his tardiness.
But the past several weeks have been very busy with concerts, and therefore with previews and reviews. Plus, he didn’t hear about the news until later.
Putting excuses aside, The Ear wants to take a moment to recognize the passing of an extraordinary talent many of us heard in performance and deeply appreciated.
Flutist Robin Fellows (below) has died of cancer at 66. For many years, he was principal flute with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. He was also a longtime music professor at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
And he performed his share of other dates, such as playing with the Ancora String Quartet (below, in a photo by John W. Barker)
Here is a link to his obituary:
http://www.wcoconcerts.org/in-memoriam-robin-fellows
In his memory, here — in a YouTube video at the bottom featuring flutist Emmanuel Pahud and Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic — is a favorite work of The Ear with a major flute part: the Sarabande by French composer Gabriel Faure.
http://www.wcoconcerts.org/in-memoriam-robin-fellows
Please feel free to leave your personal memories and recollections in the COMMENT section for others and the family to see.
Tags: Ancora String Quartet, Arts, Baroque, Berlin Philharmonic, Chamber music, Classical music, concerto, dead, death, Emmanuel Pahud, Faure, France, French language, French music, funeral, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jessica Courtier, John W. Barker, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra, pavane, Sara Sant'Ambrogio, Simon Rattle, The Capital Times, The Wisconsin State Journal, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Whitewater, Waltz, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: What music best commemorates today’s 70th anniversary of D-Day, which marked the beginning of the end of Nazi domination of Western Europe? The Ear offers two works by Edward Elgar and Maurice Ravel.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is June 6, 2014 –- the 70th anniversary of D-Day, when the Allies invaded the northwest coast of France on the beaches at Normandy and started the beginning of the end of Nazi domination in Western Europe by Adolf Hitler.
A lot of music commemorates war and the troops who fell in battle.
I offer two that may not be the best choices but that move me.
First, I offer the ninth variation, “Nimrod,” from British composer Sir Edward Elgar’s “Enigma” Variations. American documentary filmmaker Ken Burns used it very effectively in a solo piano version in his epic film about World War II called simply “The War.”
But I cannot find that version. So here is the a haunting and deeply moving orchestral performance in a popular YouTube video played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under its former music director and conductor Daniel Barenboim:
And here is the “Pavane for a Dead Princess” by French composer Maurice Ravel. He actually wrote “Le Tombeau de Couperin” and dedicated each movement to a different friend of his who died in World War I. But there is something quietly eloquent about the way Ravel uses the stately and processional dance step of the Pavane to express understated sorrow.
Ravel usually composed on the piano, and then orchestrated his own work. So here are two versions, the first orchestral and the second done on the piano and played by the great Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter, who captures just the right bittersweetness and poignancy.
You can decide which one best expresses your sentiments about today’s historic commemoration. Despite the coughing in the background, I tend to favor the simpler and more austere piano version. But both are deeply moving to me.
I am sure that many other works, from two famous funeral marches by Ludwig van Beethoven (in the Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” and the Piano Sonata in A-Flat Major, Op. 26) to the famous Funeral March by Frederic Chopin, would be appropriate.
Classical music –- instrumental, vocal and choral as well as operatic – offers so many appropriate choices. My guess is that NPR and Wisconsin Public Radio, like radio stations and even TV stations around the country and the world, will feature many such works in their programming for today. I would especially love to hear Requiems by Johannes Brahms, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Gabriel Faure.
If you have a favorite, please leave a reply with a YouTube link if possible, plus the reasons why you like the work so much.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Adolf Hitler, Allies, America, Arts, Beethoven, Brahms, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chopin, Classical music, D-Day, Daniel Barenboim, documentary, Eroica, film, France, funeral march, Great Britain, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, Ken Burns, Le tombeau de Couperin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Maurice Ravel, Mozart, Music, Nazi, Normandy, NPR, Orchestra, pavane, Pavane pour une infante défunte, Piano, Ravel, Requiem, Sonata, Sviatoslav Richter, symphony, Television, The War, TV, U.S., United States, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, World War I, World War II, YouTube
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