The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: This Sunday afternoon at Farley’s, pianist Shai Wosner performs sonatas by Beethoven, Schubert, Scarlatti and Rzewski. On Saturday afternoon, he gives a FREE public master class
1 Comment
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.
ALERT and CORRECTION: Earlier this week, The Ear mistakenly said the concert by UW Concert Band is Wednesday night. He apologizes for the error.
It is TONIGHT at 7:30 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall of the new Hamel Music Center, 740 University Ave. In addition, the School of Music website has updated information about the program to be played under director and conductor Corey Pompey. Go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-concert-band-3/
By Jacob Stockinger
This coming Sunday afternoon, one of the today’s most interesting and creative concert pianists will return to Madison to make his solo recital debut.
His name is Shai Wosner (below, in a photo by Marco Borggreve) and he is an Israeli-American who is acclaimed for his technique, his tone and his subtle interpretations.
But what also makes Wosner especially noteworthy and one of the most interesting musical artists performing today is his eclectic, thoughtful and inventive approach to programming.
For more information about Wosner, go to his home website: http://www.shaiwosner.com
Wosner returns to Madison to perform his first solo recital here at 4 p.m. this coming Sunday afternoon, Feb. 23, on the Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos, at 6522 Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall.
Born in Israel and now teaching in Boston while touring, Wosner will play sonatas by Beethoven, Scarlatti, Rzewski and Schubert.
He has performed with orchestras throughout the U.S. and Europe, and records for Onyx Classics. “His feel for keyboard color and voicing is wonderful,” said The Washington Post.
The Madison program is: Beethoven’s Sonata No. 15 in D Major (“Pastoral”), Op. 28; Scarlatti’s Sonata in D minor, K. 141, Allegro, with Rzewskis’ Nanosonata No. 36 (“To A Young Man”); Scarlatti’s Sonata in D minor, K. 9, Allegro, with Rzewski’s Nanosonata No. 38 (“To A Great Guy”); Scarlatti’s Sonata in C minor, K. 23, with Rzewski’s Nanosonata No. 12; and Schubert’s last Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960.
An artist’s reception will follow the concert.
Tickets are $45 in advance (students $10) or $50 at the door. Service fees may apply. Tickets are also for sale at Farley’s House of Pianos. Call (608) 271-2626.
Student tickets can only be purchased online and are not available the day of the event.
To purchase tickets, go to: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/706809
For more information about Wosner’s FREE public master class at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22, including the names of local students and their teachers plus the titles of works by Mozart, Debussy and Ravel to be played, go to: https://salonpianoseries.org/concerts.html
Wosner (below) recently did an email Q&A with The Ear:
In concerts and recordings, you like to mix and intersperse or alternate composers: Brahms and Schoenberg; Haydn and Ligeti; Schubert and Missy Mazzoli; and Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Dvorak, Ives and Gershwin. Why do you pair sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) and the American composer Frederic Rzewski (1938-) in this program?
I like to pair together composers from very different periods in ways that, hopefully, bring out certain things they have in common in spite of the differences.
Perhaps it is a way of looking for the underlying principles that make music work, for the ideas that go beyond styles and time periods and that stimulate composers across centuries.
In the case of Scarlatti (below top) and Rzewski (below bottom), it is the extreme conciseness of their sonatas and also their almost impulsive kind of writing with ideas and twists and turns kept unpredictably spontaneous, almost in the style of stream-of-consciousness.
Their sonatas are closer to the literal meaning of the word – “a piece that is played” as opposed to sung (which was more common in Scarlatti’s time perhaps). They are also very much about treatment of the keyboard and gestural writing rather than the more essay-type sonatas that were the dominant idiom for Beethoven and Schubert.
Why did you pick these particular sonatas by Beethoven and Schubert to bookend the program?
The sonata by Beethoven (below top) is quite unusual for him, without many contrasts and very lyrical, which perhaps is a certain parallel with the Schubert sonata. (You can hear Wosner playing an excerpt from another Beethoven sonata in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
But they are also very different. Beethoven’s sonata looks around it and is about idyllic nature — the title “Pastoral” isn’t by Beethoven but it is written in that kind of style — and the sonata by Schubert (below bottom) is more introspective, perhaps about human nature.
What would you like the public to know about specific works and composers on your Madison program?
I think it’s always stimulating to challenge preconceptions we have about composers.
Beethoven is often associated with a certain “heroic” style and bold, dramatic gestures while this piece is quite understated in many ways.
Schubert’s last sonata is often seen as a farewell to the world. But at the same time Schubert himself may not have been aware of his impending death as much as we think – he made some plans right near the end that may suggest otherwise.
I prefer to let everyone find in this music what they will, of course. But I think these works reveal other aspects of these composers that we don’t always think of. Is Schubert’s piece really about his own tragedy? It is probably much broader than that.
Now that your acclaimed Schubert project is completed, what are your current or upcoming projects?
I am currently working with five other composers on a project that is a collection of five short pieces written as “variations” for which the theme is a quote from a 1938 speech by FDR: “remember, remember always, that all of us… are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”
Each composer chose a figure of an immigrant — some famous, some not — to write about. The composers are Vijay Iyer, Derek Bermel (below top), Anthony Cheung, Wang Lu and John Harbison (below bottom).
These “variations” will be paired with Beethoven’s “Diabelli” Variations.
What else would you like to say about your career and, after several concerto appearances with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, about your solo recital debut in Madison?
Madison has a lovely audience that I was fortunate to meet in the past, and I certainly look forward to being back there!
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #AmericanMusic, #AmericanOrchestras, #AnthonyCheung, #AntoninDvorak, #ArnoldSchoenberg, #BandMusic, #BlogInterview, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonMassachusetts, #BrownPaperTickets, #CharlesIves, #ClaudeDebussy, #CommissionedMusic, #ConcertBand, #ContemporaryComposer, #ContemporaryMusic, #CoreyPompey, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #DerekBermel, #DiabelliVariations, #DomenicoScarlatti, #EclecticMusic, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FranklinDelanoRoosevelt, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FranzLiszt, #FranzSchubert, #FredericChopin, #FredericRzewski, #GyorgyLigeti, #HamelMusicCenter, #HomeWebsite, #HumanNature, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnHarbison, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #LyricalMusic, #MarcoBorggreve, #MauriceRavel, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MissyMazzoli, #MusicalArtist, #MusicalInterpretation, #MusicalStyle, #MusicCommission, #NanoSonata, #NewMusic, #NewsUpdate, #OnyxClassics, #PastoralSonata, #PianoConcert, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #SalonPIanoSeries, #ShaiWosner, #Stream-of-Consciousness, #Sundayafternoon, #TheEar, #TheGoldenDoor, #ThemeAndVariations, #TheWashingtonPost, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWConcertBand, #VijayIyer, #WangLu, #WestTowneMall, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YoungMan, #YouTubevideo, advance, afternoon, alert, alternate, American, Anthony Cheung, Antonín Dvořák, apologize, appearance, approach, Arnold Schoenberg, artist, Arts, audience, aware, band music, Baroque, Beethoven, Bermel, blog, bold, bookend, Boston, Brahms, Brown Paper Tickets, career, centuries, challenge, Charles Ives, Cheung, Chopin, Classical music, classicalmusic, Claude Debussy, color, commission, common, Compact Disc, composer, Concert, Concert Band, concerto, conciseness, consciousness, contemporary, contrast, Corey Pompey, correction, creative, critically acclaimed, death, Debussy, debut, Derek Bermel, descend, descended, Diabelli Variations, difference, Domenico Scarlatti, dominant, door, dramatic, Dvorak, Early music, eclectic, email, end, essay, Europe, everyone, excerpt, extreme, Facebook, familiar, famous, farewell, Farley's House of Pianos, FDR, find, fortunate, forward, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Frederic Rzewski, free, George Gershwin, georgegershwin, Gershwin, gestural, great, guy, György Ligeti, Hamel Music Center, Harbison, Haydn, heroic, Home, human nature, idea, idiom, idyllic, immigrants, impulsive, information, interesting, interpretation, intersperse, interview, introspective, inventive, Israel, Israeli, Israeli-American, Ives, Iyer, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John Harbison, Keyboard, last, let, Ligeti, like, link, Liszt, literal, look, lovely, Lu, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyrical, Madison, Marco Borggreve, master class, masterclass, Maurice Ravel, Mazzoli, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, meaning, Missy Mazzoli, Mozart, Music, musical artist, name, nano, nature, New Music, noteworthy, online, Onyx Classics, Orchestra, pair, parallel, past, Pastoral Sonata, performer, period, periods, Pianist, Piano, pieces, plans, played, playing, preconceptions, prefer, principle, program, programming, project, public, purchase, Q&A, Ravel, recital, remember, revolutionists, Roosevelt, Salon Piano Music, Scarlatti, Schoenberg, Schubert, Shai Wosner, share, short, solo, Sonata, speech, spontaneous, stimulate, Student, style, subtle, Sunday, sung, tag, Teacher, teaching, technique, The Ear, The Washington Post, theme, theme and variations, thoughtful, tickets, time, together, tone, tour, touring, tragedy, treatment, turns, twists, type, U.S., underlying, understated, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unusual, update, UW Concert Band, UW-Madison, variations, Vijay Iyer, voicing, Wang Lu, Website, west side, West Towne Mall, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, working, world, writing, young man, YouTube
Classical music: A FREE concert of Polish piano music is on this Sunday afternoon at the UW-Madison
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
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
On this Sunday afternoon, Oct. 21, at 4 p.m., University of Oklahoma Professor Igor Lipinski (below) will perform a solo piano recital with commentary at Mills Concert Hall of UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. Mills Hall is located at 455 North Park Street in the George Mosse Humanities Building.
At this FREE CONCERT, Lipinski will perform music by 19th through 21st century Polish composers: Fryderyk (Frederic) Chopin, Karol Szymanowski, Ignaz Jan Paderewski, Grazyna Bacewicz and Pawel Mykietyn. (Editor’s note: Sorry, no titles of specific works are listed.)
Since classical music from Poland has been rarely performed in concert halls in Madison, this recital will be a unique occasion to experience Poland’s musical heritage and diversity.
This concert also commemorates the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining independence at the conclusion of World War I, after 123 years of its partition and disappearance from the map of Europe.
Please join our local Polish community in celebrating this joyous occasion through appreciation of beautiful and captivating music from some of the Poland’s most important composers.
This event is organized by the Polish Student Association of UW-Madison and Mad-Polka Productions, with cooperation and financial support provided by Lapinski Fund (UW-Madison German, Nordic and Slavic Departments) and the Polish Heritage Club of Madison as well as the Sounds & Notes Foundation from Chicago.
ABOUT THE PERFORMER:
Prof. Igor Lipinski is native to Poland and currently teaching at the University of Oklahoma. At the age of 12, he won a Grand Prize at the Paderewski Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Poland.
He is a musician, piano teacher, performer and also a magician, sometimes surprisingly combining all of his interests during his performances.
He received his Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from Northwestern University and since then performed over 100 concerts, both solo and with orchestras, all over the U.S.
This will be his debut in Madison.
For more information, go to: www.igorlipinski.com
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS:
Fryderyk (Frederic) Chopin (1810-1849, below): He was born in Poland, but also composed and performed in Germany, Vienna and France. Probably the most prominent Polish composer as well as pianist and performer. Much of Chopin’s inspiration came from Polish village music from the Mazovia region. Chopin composed 57 mazurkas – the mazurka being one of his most beloved type of compositions. He also composed numerous polonaises, concertos, nocturnes and sonatas. (You can hear famous Polish pianist Arthur Rubinstein perform Chopin’s famously nationalistic “Heroic” Polonaise in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937, below): Part of “Young Poland” group of composers at the beginning of 20th century, Szymanowski composed operas, ballets, sonatas, concertos, cycle of songs, string quartets. Many of his compositions were also inspired by Polish folk music, including the famous ballet “Harnasie” based on the culture of Polish highlanders which he experienced while living in Zakopane.
Ignaz Jan Paderewski (1860-1941, below) was a remarkable figure in Poland’s turn-of-the-century history. He was a pianist, composer, statesman, politician, philanthropist, actor, businessman, patron of the arts and architecture, wine grower and humanitarian. As a pianist, he was praised for his interpretations of music of Chopin, Liszt, Bach and Beethoven. He successfully toured western Europe before eventually setting off for the USA. Starting with his first 1891 tour he crossed U.S. about 30 times in his 50-year career.
He was a very popular, charismatic and somewhat extravagant figure, which eventually resulted in “Paddymania” phenomenon. He was largely influenced by Chopin in his composition of sonatas, concertos, polonaises, Polish dances, symphonies, mazurkas, krakowiaks, minuets and even one opera. He also relentlessly supported and lobbied for Poland ‘s independence as World War I unraveled. He influenced U.S. politicians and played a crucial diplomatic role in Poland regaining its independence in 1911.
Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969, below): Violinist, pianist, teacher, writer and composer, she was one of the few female classical music composers at the time in Poland and in the world. Thanks to a generous grant from Ignaz Jan Paderewski, she was able to study music in Paris. She composed numerous concertos, string quartets, sonatas, symphonies.
Pawel Mykietyn (1971-, below in a photo by Oliva Soto): Composer, clarinetist, member of Nonstrom Ensemble. In 1995, he won a first prize in the young composers category during the UNESCO composers competition in Paris. Mykietyn’s composing style is at times aggressive and postmodern, incorporating sharp rhythms to create a vivid and provocative sound. He has composed concertos, sonatas, symphonies, preludes and string quartets.
Thanks to all the sponsors and community support, this concert is FREE and open to the public.
Tags: #19thCentury, #20thCentury, #21stCentury, #ArthurRubinstein, #ArtsPatron, #BalletMusic, #Beautifulmusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #CommunitySupport, #ConcertHall, #CulturalDiversity, #DoctoralDegree, #FemaleComposer, #FinancialSupport, #FirstPrize, #FolkDance, #FolkMusic, #FranzLiszt, #FredericChopin, #GeorgeMosse, #GermanDepartment, #GrandPrize, #GrazynaBacewicz, #HeroicPolonaise, #IgnazJanPaderewski, #JohannSebastianBach, #KarolSzymanowski, #LivingComposer, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #Mad-PolkaProductions, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicalDiversity, #MusicalHeritage, #MusicalInterpretation, #NewMusic, #NonstromEnsemble, #NordicDepartment, #NorthwesternUniversity, #OpentothePublic, #OperaMusic, #PaderewskiPianoCompetition, #ParisFrance, #PawelMykietyn, #PianoCompetition, #PianoConcert, #PIanoRecital, #PIanoTeacher, #PolishComposers, #PolishDance, #PolishHeritageClub, #PolishIndependence, #PolishMusic, #PolishStudentAssociation, #PostmodernMusic, #PostmodernStyle, #SharpRhythm, #SlavicDepartment, #SongCycle, #SoundsandNotesFoundation, #StringQuartet, #Turn-of-the-Century, #UnitedNations, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofOklahoma, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViennaAustria, #VillageMusic, #WesternEurope, #WomanComposer, #WorldWarI, #YoungComposer, #YoungPianists, #YoungPoland, #YouTubevideo, 19th century, 20th-century, 21st century, Actor, aggressive, anniversary, Arthur Rubinstein, Arts, Bacewicz, Bach, ballet, Baroque, beautiful, Beethoven, blog, businessman, captivating, career, chaismatic, Chamber music, charisma, Chicago, Chopin, clarinet, clarinetist, Classical music, community, composer, concert hall, concerto, diplomancy, diplomatic, disappearance, diversity, doctor, Europe, famous, female, figure, financial support, first prize, folk dance, Folk music, France, Franz Liszt, George Mosse, German department, Germany, grand prize, Grazyna Bacewicz, Harnasie, Heroic Polonaise, History, humanitarian, humanities, Ignaz Jan Paderewski, independence, interpretation, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Karol Szymanowski, krakowiak, Liszt, Living composer, lobby, lobbyist, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mad-Polka Productions, Madison, magician, map, mazurka, Mead Witter School of Music, minuet, Mosse Humanities Building, Music, musical heritage, Musician, nationalistic, native, New Music, nocturne, Nordic department, Northwestern University, Nostrum Ensemble, occasion, open to the public, opera, Orchestra, Paderewski, Paderewski Piano Competition, Paris, partition, partriotism, patriotic, patron, Pawel Mykietyn, performer, phenomenon, philanthropist, Pianist, Piano, piano competition, piano teacher, Poland, Polish, Polish dance, Polish Heritage Club, Polish music, Polish Student Association, politician, polka, polonaise, popular, post, posting, postmodern, postmodernism, Prelude, professsor, provocative, recital, sharp rhythm, sing, Slavic Department, solo, Sonata, song, song cycle, Sound, Sounds and Notes Foundation, sponsor, statesman, String quartet, symphony, Teacher, tour, UNESCO, United Nations, United States, University of Oklahoma, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, USA, Vienna, violinist, vivid, Western Europe, Wine, winegrower, Wisconsin, woman, World War I, Writer, Young pianists, Young Poland, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 