The Well-Tempered Ear
Ailing superstar maestro and pianist Daniel Barenboim, 80, quits longtime German opera post
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By Jacob Stockinger
Yesterday — Friday, Jan. 6, 2023 — superstar maestro and pianist Daniel Barenboim, 80, resigned his longtime post of over 30 years as director of the Berlin State Opera.
Barenboim (below) cited ill health — specifically a severe inflammation of blood vessels — as the reason for his resignation.
Local residents might recall his long tenure at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where many of them probably heard him conduct and perhaps even perform as a concert pianist.
Here is a long biographical entry in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Barenboim
Below are links to two news articles about Barenboim’s decision.
In them you can read a lot of details about: his philosophy of interpretation; his childhood as a Jewish child prodigy in Argentina; his training and early career as both pianist and conductor; his performances with marriage to British cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who died young; his love of German music and his role in Germany’s reunification; his controversial criticism of how Israel treats Palestinians; and the orchestra and music school he co-founded with the Palestinian activist and world-famous literary scholar Edward Said.
Here is a story from British newspaper The Guardian:
And here is the story from the German broadcasting network and media conglomerate Deutsche Welle:
https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dw.com%2Fen%2Fconductor-daniel-barenboim-resigns-as-berlin-state-opera-director-over-ill-health%2Fa-63760683&data=05%7C01%7C%7Ceeb75c8f244542d0496e08daf02ed28b%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0e%7C638086381129033294%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=qmTwyPzkWpJKfAT4ohHJVWWnISE%2BxZS%2FxuM7hrC09zQ%3D&reserved=0
Finally, here is a recent compilation video from the outstanding arts website and streaming service medici.tv to celebrate Barenboim’s recent 80th birthday. It is called “80 Minutes with the Barenboim” and it features many other classical luminaries such as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman and Pierre Boulez who have been vital to his life and global career.
Do you know any of Barenboim’s many recordings?
Do you have a favorite recording to recommend?
Did you ever hear Barenboim in person conduct or play the piano?
What did you think of him? Of his conducting or playing?
The Ear wants to hear.
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This weekend, starting Friday night, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra finishes up its winter season of online chamber music
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By Jacob Stockinger
This is the time of the year when music groups generally announce their next season while finishing up the current one.
But of course the pandemic continues to shroud plans for the new upcoming season in uncertainty and whether it will be online or in-person.
Meanwhile, groups are in the final stretch of finishing up this season.
This Friday night, April 16, at 7:30 p.m., the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO, below in photo by Mike Gorski) will debut the fourth and last online chamber music concert of its curtailed and substituted winter season.
The varied program includes works, both well-known and neglected, by four composers — from Italy, Russia, France and Austria — who come from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
The concert begins with the complete Concerto for Four Violins in B minor, RV 580, by Antonio Vivaldi (below). The string accompaniment will be scaled down.
Then comes the complete Septet for Winds, Strings and Piano by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (below).
The first and third movements of the Nonet by the rediscovered 19th-century French composer Louise Ferenc come next. (Here is the Wikipedia link to Ferenc (below):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Farrenc
The final music will be the first, fourth and fifth movements – including the famous theme-and-variations – of the famously tuneful “Trout” Piano Quintet by Franz Schubert (below).
In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear the namesake theme-and-variations movement — based on one of Schubert’s songs — played by Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Daniel Barenboim, Jacqueline du Pre and Zubin Mehta, with a graphical depiction of the score.
The concert lasts 60-75 minutes.
Tickets are $30.
Here is a link to program notes by WCO music director and conductor Andrew Sewell (below, in a photo by Alex Cruz) and to purchasing a ticket through the Overture Center box office.
The ticket is good for one viewing between Friday night and Monday night, April 19, at 7:30 p.m.
https://wcoconcerts.org/events/winter-chamber-series-no-iv
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Classical music: A busy week brings FREE concerts of violin, orchestra, percussion, band, cello and bassoon music to the UW-Madison
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ALERT: This afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall is your last chance to hear John DeMain lead the Madison Symphony Orchestra with guest soloists violinist Pinchas Zukerman and cellist Amanda Forsyth in music by Brahms, Berlioz and Copland. Here is a positive review from Michael Muckian for Isthmus: https://isthmus.com/music/masterful-sounds-on-a-miserably-cold-night/
For more information about the program, soloists and tickets, go to: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/02/10/classical-music-this-weekend-the-madison-symphony-orchestra-celebrates-valentines-day-with-violinist-pinchas-zukerman-and-cellist-amanda-forsyth-in-the-romantic-double-concerto/
By Jacob Stockinger
The coming week at the UW-Madison will be busy with FREE concerts of violin, orchestral, percussion, band, cello and bassoon music.
Here is the lineup:
MONDAY
At 6:30 p.m. in the Collins Recital Hall at the new Hamel Music Center, 740 University Ave., you can hear a FREE performance of the popular Violin Concerto by Beethoven.
It is a student performance of the entire Beethoven Violin Concerto with the orchestra. The conductor is doctoral candidate Ji Hyun Yim (below) who is studying with UW conducting professor Oriol Sans. It is a concert of friends who enjoy playing together. The violinist soloist is Rachel Reese.
Then at 7:30 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, the Chamber Percussion Ensemble (below) – formerly the Western Percussion Ensemble – will give a FREE concert of contemporary music.
The conductor is director and UW-Madison percussion professor Anthony DiSanza, who is also the principal percussionist with the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
The program is “A Forest from a Seed.” Featured is post-minimalist music by composers not named Steve Reich. No specific works or composers are named.
Says DiSanza (below, in a photo by Katherine Esposito): “From the seed of minimalism (1964-1972), a deep and exhilarating repertoire has blossomed. Join us as we explore 40 years of diverse and engaging post-minimalist percussion chamber music.”
The Chamber Percussion Ensemble, he adds, “is dedicated to the performance of significant and engaging works for the Western percussion ensemble tradition, emphasizing core repertoire and works by emerging composers.”
TUESDAY (not Wednesday, as originally and incorrectly posted)
At 7:30 in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, the UW Concert Band (below) will give a FREE concert under director and conductor Corey Pompey. For the complete program, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-concert-band-3/
THURSDAY
At 7:30 p.m. in Collins Recital Hall, UW cello professor Parry Karp (below), who plays in the UW’s Pro Arte Quartet, will give a FREE recital.
Piano accompanists are Bill Lutes; Martha Fischer; Frances Karp, the mother of Parry Karp; and Thomas Kasdorf.
The program is:
Robert Schumann: “Five Pieces in Folk Style” for Piano and Cello, Op. 102 (You can hear the first of the five pieces in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Johannes Brahms: Sonata in F Minor for Piano and Clarinet, Op. 120 No. 1 (arranged for piano and cello by Parry Karp)
Robert Kahn (below): Three Pieces for Piano and Cello, Op. 25
Richard Strauss: Andante from “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme” (The Bourgeois Gentleman), Op. 60
Ernest Bloch: “Schelomo” – a Hebraic Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra
FRIDAY
At 8 p.m. in Collins Recital Hall, UW-Madison bassoon professor Marc Vallon (below) and friends – fellow faculty members and students — will perform a FREE concert of chamber music.
Joining Vallon, who plays in the acclaimed UW Wingra Wind Quintet, are: pianist Satoko Hayami; percussionist Todd Hammes; bassoonist Midori Samson; flutist Iva Ugrcic, clarinetist Alicia Lee; trumpeters Jean Laurenz and Gilson Luis Da Silva; trombonist Cole Bartels; and Travis Cooke.
Composers to be performed are: Robert Schumann; Alexander Ouzounoff; Sophia Gubaidulina (below); and Igor Stravinsky. No word about titles of specific works on the program.
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Classical music: This weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra celebrates Valentine’s Day with violinist Pinchas Zukerman and cellist Amanda Forsyth in the Romantic “Double Concerto” by Brahms
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By Jacob Stockinger
This coming weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of John DeMain, will celebrate Valentine’s Day.
The program “Romantic Encounter” examines the brashness of French composer Hector Berlioz’s “Le Corsaire” Overture, as well as the thundering seriousness of American composer Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3.
The husband-and-wife duo (below) of violinist Pinchas Zukerman, and cellist Amanda Forsyth make their return to Madison to reprise their performance of German composer Johannes Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor. (You can hear the passionate slow movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Performances will be held in Overture Hall, 201 State Street, on Friday, Feb. 14, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 16, at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are $19 to $95. See below for details.
Says maestro DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) about the world-renowned duo: “The married team of Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsyth return to recreate their exciting interpretation of the Brahms Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra.
“One of Berlioz’s finest overtures, the exhilarating Le Corsaire opens the concert. And Aaron Copland’s majestic, powerful and lyrical Third Symphony — which is one of Copland’s great masterpieces and includes his Fanfare for the Common Man — is heard on the second half of the program.”
Eight minutes long, Berlioz’s swashbuckling “Le Corsaire” was composed in Nice, France, after the final break-up of his marriage. The composer resided in a tower above the sea, which explains the ruined fortification’s depiction in his overture. “Corsaire” translates to “a ship used for piracy,” but this meaning is not related to the work.
The Double Concerto was Brahms’ final work for orchestra. He composed the concerto for his old but estranged friend, violinist Joseph Joachim, as well as for cellist Robert Hausmann. With few recent precedents, the closest comparison to this work would be the Baroque concerto grosso, in which a soloist or small group is contrasted with an entire ensemble.
Copland’s monumental Symphony No. 3 was commissioned by conductor Serge Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The work perfectly reflects the spirit of post-war America and impressively holds the title of “Greatest American Symphony.” In writing this piece, Copland (below) borrowed from himself by incorporating his triumphant Fanfare for the Common Man.
ABOUT PINCHAS ZUKERMAN
With a celebrated career encompassing five decades, Pinchas Zukerman reigns as one of today’s most sought-after and versatile musicians — violin and viola soloist, conductor and chamber musician. He is renowned as a virtuoso, admired for the expressive lyricism of his playing, singular beauty of tone, and impeccable musicianship, which can be heard throughout his discography of over 100 albums.
Born in Tel Aviv, Zukerman came to the United States where he studied at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian as a recipient of the American-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Ronald Reagan and is a recipient of the Isaac Stern Award for Artistic Excellence in Classical Music.
ABOUT AMANDA FORSYTH
The Canadian and Juno Award-winning Amanda Forsyth is considered one of North America’s most dynamic cellists. She has achieved her international reputation as soloist, chamber musician and was principal cello of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra from 1999 to 2015. Her intense richness of tone, remarkable technique and exceptional musicality combine to enthrall audiences and critics alike.
PROGRAM NOTES, TICKETS AND EVENT DETAILS
The lobby opens 90 minutes prior to each concert. The MSO recommends that 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 Prelude Discussion that takes place one hour before each concert.
Program notes are available at: http://www.allsenmusic.com/NOTES/1920/5.Feb20.html
- Single Tickets are $19-$95 each and are on sale now at: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/romantic-encounter/through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141. Fees apply to online and phone sales.
- Groups of 10 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information, visit, https://madisonsymphony.org/concerts-events/buy-tickets/group-discounts/.
- 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 $15 or $20 tickets. More information is at: https://madisonsymphony.org/concerts-events/buy-tickets/student-rush/
- 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.
Major funding for the February concert has been provided by NBC 15; The Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club; Marvin J. Levy; Fred and Mary Mohs; Nancy Mohs; and David and Kato Perlman.
Additional funding has been provided by Robert Benjamin and John Fields; Boardman and Clark LLP; Forte; Barbara Melchert and Gale Meyer; 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: Today is Super Bowl Sunday, so The Ear asks: Who are the winners and champions in the concert hall? Here are the most popular pieces, composers and soloists. Plus, on Tuesday night, violist Elias Goldstein returns to perform Paganini’s fiendish Caprices in a FREE recital
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ALERT: The Ear has received the following note from University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music viola professor Sally Chisholm, who also plays with the Pro Arte Quartet: “Elias Goldstein, who has a doctorate from UW-Madison (2011) and was a Collins Fellow, is playing a concert of all 24 Caprices, originally composed for solo violin by Niccolo Paganini, on VIOLA this Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Hall. Admission is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
“On March 9, he will perform this program at Carnegie Hall in New York City, as the first violist ever to perform all 24 Caprices in one concert. This is such a feat that it is difficult to believe one of our own is accomplishing it. I was with him in Krakow, Poland when he performed 6 of them. He got standing ovations. He is professor of viola at Louisiana State University, won top prizes at the Primrose International Viola Competition and the Yuri Bashmet Viola Competition in Moscow in 2011.”
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is the 50th Super Bowl of the NFL, and will be played by the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos in the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, near San Francisco.
It starts at 5:30 p.m. CST.
Lady Gaga will sing the national anthem. Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars will perform in the half-time show. The Super Bowl will be broadcast live on CBS-TV.
So, one might ask in a society that loves competition, what constitutes The Super Bowl of classical music?
It is a source of endless discussion and often disagreement.
What classical music is the most mainstream, if not best?
Who are the big winners and champions in the concert hall?
A survey, compiled by a student at the UW-Milwaukee, of the most popular or frequently performed composers, works and soloists was recently conducted by the League of American Orchestras. The rest are for the 2010-11 season.
The No. 1 work is a YouTube video at the bottom. It is the Symphony No. 1 in C Minor by Johannes Brahms and is performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under its late music director and conductor Sir George Solti.
And on March 11, 12 and 13 the Madison Symphony Orchestra hosts TWO of the Top 10 winners: Pianist Emanuel Ax performing the Piano Concerto No. 4 by Ludwig van Beethoven. (The Symphony No. 4 by Gustav Mahler completes the program.)
Here is a link to the complete results along with the method used to gather data:
http://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2014/04/08/league-american-orchestras-performance-data
See what you think and leave a COMMENT.
Do they match up with your preferences and your choices of favorites?
In your opinion, what makes them so popular?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Sound Ensemble Wisconsin opens its return season this Sunday night with an event that combines music, food and poetry.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear’s friends at Sound Ensemble Wisconsin (SEW) write:
After Sound Ensemble Wisconsin’s 2014-2015 hiatus, which allowed director Mary Theodore to care for her new baby, SEW is pleased to announce its return for the 2015-16 season. Please stay tuned for news on the rest of the season.
What does food sound like? What does music taste like? This coning Sunday night, participants can enjoy a lovely evening out as they explore their senses as the pathway to their souls through the performing arts of food and music, accompanied by poetry.
The 2015 realization of 2014’s highly successful “SEWing Taste and Sound, Bite by Byte” is a collaboration between Sound Ensemble Wisconsin’s Mary Theodore (below left in a photo by Katrin Talbot); Chef Dan Bonanno (below right) of Madison’s celebrated restaurant Pig in a Fur Coat; and poet-violist Katrin Talbot (center).
The event centers around the aesthetic similarities of food and music, both of which Mary Theodore, SEW’s director and violinist, considers performing arts.
This year, SEW has based the evening on a set of six Duos for Two Violins by Bela Bartok. (You can hear many of them performed by Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Each duo, or byte of music, will inspire Chef Bonnano and be paired with one course, or bite, of food — and performed/served as such to create a six-course meal, including a beverage pairing for each course. Talbot will also read her original poems, composed for each variation.
At the end of the meal, SEW musicians will perform the music from beginning to end with the aim of offering participants a new experience of the music, a new journey of taste and sound.
Please see the Wisconsin State Journal interview and the Madison Magazine review based on the highly successful 2014 “SEWing Taste and Sound, Bite by Byte” at SEW’s website: http://soundensemblewisconsin.org/press/
This performance will take place on Sunday, Sept. 13, at 6 p.m. at Pig in a Fur Coat, 940 Williamson Street. Tickets are currently on sale at www.soundensemblewisconsin.org and are $105 per person or $100 per person by check (with guests’ names) to: Sound Ensemble Wisconsin, 716 Edgewood Avenue, Madison, WI 53711.
Performing musicians are Mary Theodore and Eleanor Bartsch (below), a prize-winning graduate of the UW-Madison School of Music.
“SEW will certainly bring a new dimension to Madison’s cultural scene,” veteran music critic John W. Barker has written.
Tags: A Pig in a Fur Coat, Arts, Bartok, Béla Bartók, beverage, bite, byte, Chamber music, Classical music, duet, duets, duo, food, Itzhak Perlman, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, Madison, Madison Magazine, Music, Performing arts, Pinchas Zukerman, Poetry, restaurant, soul, Sound, Sound Ensemble Wisconsin, taste, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Journal, YouTube
Classical music: UW-Madison-trained violist Jeremy Kienbaum, will perform a concert this Saturday to benefit his attending the Juilliard School.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following request for coverage from a very worthy project.
Writes Jeremy Kienbaum (below):
I was a student of David Perry and Sally Chisholm, who both play in the Pro Arte Quartet and teach at the UW-Madison School of Music.
I served as the Principal Viola of the UW Symphony Orchestra, the UW Chamber Orchestra and the University Opera orchestra.
I graduated this May with distinction and in September will start my Masters of Music degree at the Juilliard School in New York City with Samuel Rhodes (below), the retired violist of the famed Juilliard String Quartet who has also often performed and recorded with the Pro Arte Quartet in Madison.
I am presenting a send-off concert on this Saturday night, June 13, at 7 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, before I leave for New York.
Admission is $20.
The program will feature the “Arpeggione” Sonata by Franz Schubert (with pianist SeungWha Baek, below, playing as a winner of the UW-Madison Concerto Competition); Figment IV for Solo Viola by Elliott Carter; the Eyeglasses Duo (with pianist Andrew Briggs) by Ludwig van Beethoven; and the Viola Sonata in E-flat Major by Johannes Brahms (with pianist SeungWha Baek).
Editor’s note: You can hear the beautiful Brahms sonata, played by violist Pinchas Zukerman and pianist Daniel Barenboim, in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
Proceeds from this concert will go towards paying tuition at Juilliard. I also have a GoFundMe page for donations.
You can find it at: http://www.gofundme.com/jeremykienbaum.
Thank you.
Tags: Arpeggione, Arts, Beethoven, Brahms, Chamber music, Classical music, concerto, Daniel Barenboim, Elliott Carter, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Franz Schubert, GoFundMe, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, Juilliard School, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Music, New York City, opera, Orchestra, Piano, Pinchas Zukerman, Pro Arte Quartet, Sonata, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, viola sonata, Violin, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: St. Paul Chamber Orchestra gets a new, first-rate hall to perform in.
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By Jacob Stockinger
For a couple of years, the music news coming out of the Twin Cities has been pretty negative. It involved labor strife, personnel strife and economic strife.
But now something welcome and promising, in addition to the resurgence of the Grammy-winning Minnesota Orchestra under Finnish-born conductor Osmo Vanska, has emerged: A new state-of-the-art and unusual hall (below) as the musical home in Ordway Center for the acclaimed St. Paul Chamber Orchestra -– where the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director and the Madison Opera’s Artistic Director John DeMain once served as an associate conductor.
And, of course, a lot of Madison-area residents travel to the Twin Cities to see the sights and maybe hear the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. (In a YouTube video at the bottom, the orchestra performs Johann Pachelbel’s famous Canon in D, with former music director Pinchas Zukerman conducting.)
So important is the new hall as an event that The New York Times sent out a critic to file a review. Here it is:
Tags: Arts, Baroque, Canon, Chamber music, Classical music, conductor, Finland, Grammy, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota, Minnesota Orchestra, Music, Osmo Vanska, Pachelbel, Pinchas Zukerman, St. Paul, The New York Times, Twin Cities, United States, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: A video of UW-Madison violinist Eleanor Bartsch serenading two elephants at Circus World in Baraboo with Bach goes viral — and makes a National Public Radio blog.
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By Jacob Stockinger
This isn’t the first time that one or both of the extremely talented violinist Bartsch sisters — Alice (below top) and Eleanor (below bottom), who come from the Twin Cities — have made news and generated headlines during their time as students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, or even in the time following graduation.
But it may well be the first time that the event and headline went national, or even international.
Here’s the situation: Eleanor Bartsch played two gigs of the famous and beautiful Concerto for Two Violins by Johann Sebastian Bach with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below top). (This spring her sister Alice left her position as concertmaster of the Middleton Community Orchestra.) One concert, at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, went well and without incident.
Then, she and her concerto partner, violinist Tim Kamps (below bottom) — who also studied at the UW-Madison and who is a member of the Kipperton String Quartet, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra as well as the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra — moved on to Circus World in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Just as an aside, Bartsch decided to use some of her warming up time, her practicing and rehearsing, to go serenade two of the elephants at the world-famous headquarters of Circus World with her part of the Bach concerto. The elephants started swaying in time and it was all captured on video and then posted on YouTube.
The Ear was put onto the elephant-violin encounter and its video – which runs under one minute and has been called “adorable” and “cute” by some viewers — by a close friend and loyal reader of this blog.
But then the word spread like – well, like an elephant stampede. The video has gone viral with almost 2 million hits since August 24.
And of course someone who knows animals pointed out that the way the elephants were swaying was NOT really their way of dancing happily to the Bach rhythms and tune. It was instead a pitiful sign of what happens to animals in captivity when the are subject to obsessive compulsive behavior. Or perhaps what happens when they are in Musk (like heat or rut) and ready to reproduce. Or when they are ready to attack.
Some viewers even said it amounted to distress or animal abuse.
Here are the original videos:
And then: VOILA
The outstanding blog Deceptive Cadence, put together by NPR or National Public Radio, linked that video to four other memorable and unusual music videos -– and included the objections from animal-lovers.
By the way, the other four videos are also well worth a look and a listen.
Here is a link to the more comprehensive NPR story:
You can decide for yourself.
But somehow The Ear can empathize with those who do not like to see caged animals since I am among them. But I surely do not consider hearing violin by Bach as insult added to injury.
Make up your own mind – and let us know: WHAT DO YOU THINK? Thumbs up or down?
The Ear wants to hear.
And for the record and your listening pleasure, as they say on radio, here is a link to a great performance – WITHOUT elephants — of the same Bach Double Violin Concerto with Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman:
Tags: American Players Theatre, Arts, Bach, Baraboo, Baraboo Wisconsin, Baroque, Chamber music, circus, Circus World, Classical music, concertmaster, Concerto for Two Violins, Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, elephant, Itzhak Perlman, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kipperton String Quartet, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Middleton Community Orchestra, Music, National Public Radio, NPR, Orchestra, Pinchas Zukerman, Spring Green, String quartet, Twin Cities, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, viral, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: Under guest conductor Kevin McMahon of Sheboygan, the Middleton Community Orchestra rises to guest string soloists Daniel Kim and Eleanor Bartsch in Mozart, then warms up the winter with colorful Rimsky-Korsakov and lyrical Brahms.
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ALERT and REMINDER: Just a reminder that the Pro Arte Quartet will perform a FREE concert this Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall. The program features the WORLD PREMIERE of the quartet’s fifth of six commissions to mark its centennial. (Also on the work is Franz Jospeh Haydn’s Quartet, Op. 20, Np. 4, and Anton Bruckner’s Viola Quintet with guest Samuel Rhodes of the Juilliard School and formerly of the Juilliard String Quartet.) The new work is the String Quartet No. 3 by Belgian composer Benoit Mernier, who is in Madison to coach the quartet and attend the premiere, where he will be interviewed by John W. Barker preceding the concert at 7:15 p.m. And here is a link to a review of the new CD recording (below) of the first four commissions by Greg Hettmansberger, who writes Madison Magazine’s classical music blog “Classically Speaking.”
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show every other Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
The third program in the current season of the Middleton Community Orchestra (below), on Wednesday night at the comfortable Middleton Performing Arts Center that is attached to Middleton High School, was a rich and ambitious one.
For this concert, the regular MCO conductor Steve Kurr retired modestly to the viola and percussion sections, and yielded the podium to a visiting maestro, Kevin McMahon (below), a University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music alumnus who directs the Sheboygan Symphony.
Of three works on the program, the first was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s sublime Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat for Violin, Viola and Orchestra. Well-known, especially from many recordings, the work is in fact rarely performed in concerts, perhaps because of the demand for two soloists of high and equal merit.
In this case, it got them.
Local violin star Eleanor Bartsch and Juilliard-trained violist Daniel Kim of New York City — but both distinguished and prize-winning former students in the UW School of Music — have known each other since childhood. They were clearly on a shared wavelength in this performance, paired beautifully in music that makes one glad to be alive. (At bottom, you can hear a popular YouTube recording of the work with violinist Itzhak Perlman and violist Pinchas Zukerman under the baton of Zubin Mehta conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.)
The orchestra, a sturdy accompanist in the Mozart, came into its own in the next piece, the flashy “Capriccio espagnol” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (below). It is really a short five-movement concerto for orchestra, showing off a kaleidoscope of colors, and demanding a performance of virtuosic capacity.
Clearly, guest maestro McMahon had drilled the orchestra thoroughly, so that the performance was a stellar achievement for the MCO. And it also gave the concertmaster, Alice Bartsch, sister of the violin soloist in the Mozart, her own opportunities for some brilliant solo moments.
Finally came the longest work of the night, the Symphony No. 2 in D Major of Johannes Brahms (below).
This is perhaps the most genial of the composer’s four symphonies, but its lyricism conceals some challenging demands made on the orchestra. Brahms requires absolute perfection of technique and fully polished sonorities. And so, precisely because it is a very well-known score, it really puts an orchestra like the MCO to the test.
The group met the test quite creditably. Perhaps out of mercy, McMahon dropped the first-movement repeat. He had some very good ideas about phrasing and nuances throughout, and the players worked hard to put them to good effect.
Indeed, the performance gave one a chance to assess the community orchestra’s progress in no more than its fourth season of existence.
Well, there are still concerns to be faced. There are rough elements in the brass playing, but the woodwinds provide a secure and reliable anchor for the orchestra. The strings still lack that full sheen we might crave, but they are growing in security and discipline, especially the violins.
And so, after not that much time in the growing yet, music director and usual conductor Steve Kurr (below) has succeeded in building the MCO into a treasure for the city of Middleton and a genuine asset to the musical life of the Madison area. It deserves all possible support and encouragement — and attendance.
Tags: American Record Guide, Arts, Benoit Mernier, Brahms, Classical music, Compact Disc, Greg Hettmansberger, Israel Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Itzhak Perlman, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John W. Barker, Juilliard School, Juilliard String Quartet, Madison, Madison Magazine, Middleton High School, Mozart, Music, New York City, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Orchestra, Pinchas Zukerman, Pro Arte Quartet, Samuel Rhodes, String quartet, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube, Zubin Mehta
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