The Well-Tempered Ear
How do you rank Beethoven’s five piano concertos? Which is your favorite set of recordings?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Lately, The Ear has been listening to the five piano concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven (below).
That, of course, is not counting the composer’s rarely performed piano transcription of his own violin concerto.
The five concertos are so different but so consistently great that they are always in demand for programming and always a pleasure to listen to as well, I imagine, to play.
Lately I have been sampling two new complete recordings that have received high praise from critics: one (below top) by the Chinese pianist Haochen Zhang, who won the Van Cliburn competition in 2009 and recorded his set, including a cadenza by him, with the Philadelphia Orchestra under conductor Nathalie Stutzmann; and the other, a complete live set (below bottom) by the American pianist Garrick Ohlsson, the winner of the 1970 Chopin competition, recently recorded at the Grand Teton Festival.
Both are fine recordings and well worth listening to.
They made me once again recalculate my personal ranking of the five piano concertos. I don’t mean a ranking by quality or which one is the best, but simply which individual concertos I prefer to listen to by frequency. Here is any order: 4, 3, 5 (Emperor), 1, and 2.
How would you rank these five masterworks?
There are so many excellent recordings of these glorious works. I have listened to individual concertos and complete sets by Claudio Arrau, Emanuel Ax, Alfred Brendel (who has recorded them three times), Maurizio Pollini, Mitsuko Uchida, Daniel Barenboim, Murray Perahia, Leif Ove Andnes, Glenn Gould, Arthur Rubinstein (who recorded them twice), Rudolf Serkin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jan Lisiecki, Rudolf Buchbinder, Krystian Zimerman, Yefim Bronfman; and on and on. It is hard to pick just one favorite and the idea of a “definitive” performance is impossible.
And truth be told, I generally turn to different performers for different concertos. Martha Argerich has not recorded all five but I love her performances of Piano Concertos 1, 2 and 3. I admire the late Nelson Freire in the Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”). And I am very moved by Krystian Zimerman’s playing of the inspired and unconventional middle movement of the Piano Concerto No. 4 in the YouTube video at the bottom.
But overall the most consistent sets I continue to like are classics by the late Leon Fleisher and Richard Goode, who completely understands and captures what is special about Beethoven, as he demonstrated in his pioneering complete set of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas.
How would you personally rank the Beethoven pianos concertos as your favorites by appeal and listenability?
Which pianist in Beethoven’s five piano concertos do you listen to and like the most often?
Is there a complete set you find irresistible and recommend to others? Or a particular recording of a particular concerto?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Too bad the Wisconsin Union Theater didn’t book a great pianist for next season
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By Jacob Stockinger
“We are living in a Golden Age of pianists,” famed concert pianist, Juilliard teacher and frequent Madison performer Emanuel Ax (below) has said.
He should know. But you would never guess that from the recently announced next season at the Wisconsin Union Theater (below).
The WUT has not booked a solo pianist for the 2022-23 season.
Here is a link to the lineup for the next season:
https://union.wisc.edu/visit/wisconsin-union-theater/seasonevents/
Is The Ear the only one who has noticed and is disappointed?
Who else feels bad about it?
After all, this is the same presenting organization that brought to Madison such legendary pianists as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Ignaz Jan Paderewski, Percy Grainger, Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Dame Myra Hess, Guiomar Novaes, Egon Petri, Robert Casadesus, William Kapell, Claudio Arrau, Alexander Brailowsky, Gary Graffman, Glenn Gould, Rosalyn Tureck, Byron Janis, Misha Dichter, Peter Serkin, André Watts, Lili Kraus and Garrick Ohlsson
It is the same hall (below) in which The Ear has heard Rudolf Serkin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Angela Hewitt, Alfred Brendel, Murray Perahia, Valentina Lisitsa, Andras Schiff, Joyce Yang, Yefim Bronfman, Jeremy Denk, Ingrid Fliter, Richard Goode, Leon Fleisher, Simone Dinnerstein, Wu Han and so many other great and memorable names including, of course, Emanuel Ax.
What a history!
As you can see and as The Ear likes to say, the Wisconsin Union Theater is “The Carnegie Hall of Madison.” For over 100 years, it is where the great ones play.
One irony is that many of those former bookings of pianists took place when the University of Wisconsin School of Music had many more pianists on the faculty and provided a major alternative venue for piano recitals.
Another irony is that so many young people take piano lessons (below) and are apt to want to attend, probably with their parents, to hear a live professional concert piano recital. You would think the WUT would also see the advantages of having such community outreach links to the public and to music education, especially since the WUT has hosted Open Piano Day for the public. (See the YouTube video of a Channel 3000 story in February 2020 at the bottom.)
From what The Ear reads, there are lots of up-and-coming pianists, many affordable names of various winners of national and international competitions. They should be affordable as well as worthy of being introduced to the Madison public.
But that seems a mission now largely left to the Salon Piano Series.
Plus, so many of the new pianists are young Asians who have never appeared here, which should be another draw for the socially responsible and diversity-minded WUT.
But that is another story for another day.
What do you think of the WUT not presenting a solo pianist next season?
Maybe there will be a pianist booked for the 2023-24 season.
What pianists would you like see booked by the WUT student programming committee?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Salon Piano Series offers a free video of pianist Maxim Lando playing quiet Beethoven to ease the burden of the pandemic
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following note from the Salon Piano Series to post:
During these uncertain times, we appreciate remembering time spent together enjoying music.
Please take a break from your day to see and hear the young, prize-winning pianist Maxim Lando (below) perform the theme-and-variations third movement of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109, “Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo” (Slowly, very singing and expressive).
The 15-minute video – posted and viewable now- — was recorded live at Farley’s House of Pianos, as part of the Salon Piano Series, on Nov. 17, 2019.
Over the years, you have supported Salon Piano Series with your attendance, individual sponsorships and donations. We look forward to bringing you world-class musical performances in our unique salon setting again soon.
For updates and more information, go to: https://salonpianoseries.org
Here is the Lando video:
Editor’s note: Here is a Wikipedia entry with more impressive information about Maxim Lando’s biography and many concert performances around the world including China and Russia as well as the U.S.: https://maximlando.com
If you want to hear the entire Beethoven Sonata, you can hear a performance by Richard Goode in the YouTube video below.
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Classical music: For you, what were the best, most memorable or most enjoyable concerts of 2017? Here are the highlights for critics John W. Barker and The Ear
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By Jacob Stockinger
The end of the calendar year is only the mid-point of the new season and the concert calendar.
Still, it is a good time to take stock of the past year and the various performers and performances that we heard.
John W. Barker (below), who writes frequently for this blog as well as for Isthmus, recently published his top picks of concerts in 2017 in Isthmus. Here is a link to his year-end assessment:
https://isthmus.com/music/best-2017-classical-music/
To be fair, The Ear doesn’t always agree with Barker on the quality of some pieces and of certain performances. But by and large the two of us are in accord, and even when we aren’t, the Ear respects and learns from Barker’s expertise and experience.
The Ear would only add several things he found that Barker doesn’t mention:
The all-Mozart concert in the fall by the Pro Arte Quartet (below) — with UW faculty clarinetist Alicia Lee and San Francisco cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau filling in for Parry Karp, was a much-needed balm in these times of distress.
If you are a fan of amateur music-making and love the music of Bach, the revival of the Bach Around the Clock marathon in March proved enthralling. (Below are violist father Stan Weldy and mandolinist son Alex Weldy.)
You heard all kinds of musicians, from students and adult amateurs to professionals, in all genres of music, including arrangements and transcriptions that Johann Sebastian would no doubt have approved of.
Pianist Richard Goode (below), who played this fall at the Wisconsin Union Theater, showed the power of softness and quiet.
His subtle playing was full of nuance in preludes and fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, by Johann Sebastian Bach; in a late sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven; in the only sonata by Anton Webern; in a generous group for Chopin works; and in an unexpected encore by the English Renaissance composer William Byrd. All in all, Goode proved a wonderful reprieve from some of the heavier, louder and more dramatic keyboard playing we hear.
But if you wanted drama, you only had to attend the recital by UW-Madison virtuoso Christopher Taylor (below). He excelled in everything, especially the total-body playing of the solo piano arrangement by Franz Liszt of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, which wowed the house. But he also showed great restraint, tone and subtlety in contemporary American composer John Corigliano “Ostinato” based on that symphony’s famous second movement.
Then Taylor finished up with contrasting sets of six Musical Moments by Franz Schubert and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
BUT NOW IT IS YOUR TURN: YOU BE THE CRITIC!
Recognizing that the best concert is not necessary the most memorable concert, and that the best or most memorable concert is not necessarily the most enjoyable concert, please tell us:
What did you think was the best concert and best single performance you heard in 2017?
What was the most memorable classical music experience you had in 2017?
And what was the most enjoyable classical music performance you heard in 2017?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: amateur, arrangement, Arts, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, balm, Baroque, Beethoven, Book, Byrd, calendar, Cello, Chamber music, Chopin, choral music, Christopher Taylor, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, concerto, critic, distress, drama, Early music, encore, end, English, experience, expertise, famous, Franz Schubert, fugue, genre, George Frideric Handel, Great Britain, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Corigliano, John DeMain, John W. Barker, Keyboard, Liszt, loud, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, mandolin, marathon, Moments Musicaux, movement, Mozart, Music, Musical Moments, nuance, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, performance, performer, Piano, piece, playing, power, Prelude, Pro Arte Quartet, professional, quiet, quintet, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, restraint, Richard Goode, San Francisco, Schubert, Season, soft, softness, Sonata, String quartet, Student, subtle, subtlety, symphony, Symphony No. 7, The Well-Tempered Clavier, time, times, tone, transcription, UK, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Webern, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, year, you, YouTube
Classical music: On Saturday night, the Festival Choir of Madison will sing a program of modern Norwegian and Baltic music about the Northern Lights. Plus on Friday there is a FREE noontime concert of music by Mozart and Ernesto Nazareth and a FREE PUBLIC master class by pianist Richard Goode
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ALERT I: This Friday’s FREE Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ernesto Nazareth. (Sorry, no specific works for either composer were named.) The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
The performers in Mozart are: Joanne Schulz and Sarah Gillespie, horns; Elspeth Stalter-Close, violin; Melanie De Jesus and Shannon Farley, violas; Emma Downing, cello. The performers in Nazareth are: Chris Allen, guitar; Shannon Farley, viola; and Iva Ugrcic, flute.
ALERT II: On Friday from 1 to 3 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, pianist Richard Goode will give a FREE and PUBLIC master class on Haydn, Beethoven and Debussy. For more about Goode’s recital on Saturday night at the Wisconsin Union Theater, go to:
By Jacob Stockinger
This Saturday night, at 7:30 p.m., at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, the Festival Choir of Madison (below top) will perform under director and Edgewood College professor Sergei Pavlov (below bottom).
The program features contemporary Norwegian and Baltic choral music around the theme of the “Northern Lights” or Aurora Borealis (below, as seen in northern Norway).
For more information, go to: https://www.festivalchoirmadison.org/concerts/2017/11/northernlights
Admission is $20 for the public; $15 for seniors; and $10 for students. For ticket information, go to: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3054565?ref=349591
The voices will be supported by leading Madison-based musicians in a journey through the mystical soundscapes of the North with music by Ola Gjeilo (below top), Peteris Vasks, Trond Kverno, Eriks Esenvalds (below middle), and retired UW-Madison horn professor and composer Douglas Hill (below bottom).
The specific program includes: “Northern Lights” by Ola Gjeilo; “Dark Night of the Soul” by Ola Gjeilo; “Mate Saule” by Peteris Vasks; “Ave Maris Stella” by Trond Kverno; “Northern Lights” by Eriks Esenvalds (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom); and “Homage to Thoreau” by Douglas Hill.
Tags: Arts, Aurora borealis, Ave, Baltic, Beethoven, Cello, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, contemporary, Debussy, Douglas Hill, Edgewood College, Eriks Esenvalds, Ernesto Nazareth, Festival Choir of Madison, First Unitarian Society of Madison, flute, free, Friday, guitar, Haydn, homage, Horn, Jacob Stockinger, journey, light, Madison, master class, modern, Mozart, Music, musicale, Musician, New Music, night, north, Northern, Northern Lights, Norway, Norwegian, Ola Gjeilo, Peters Vasks, Piano, professor, program, Richard Goode, Saturday, Sergei Pavlov, soul, soundscape, theme, Thoreau, Trond Kverno, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Master pianist Richard Goode performs music by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Alban Berg in a MUST-HEAR recital this Saturday night at the Wisconsin Union Theater
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By Jacob Stockinger
He may not have the instant worldwide name recognition and box-office appeal of, say, Lang-Lang or Martha Argerich.
But in The Ear’s book American pianist Richard Goode (below) is nonetheless a superstar.
That is because Goode is a chameleon in the best sense.
Whatever he plays — live or on recordings — feels as if someone with a deep understanding and a natural affinity for the unique qualities of that specific composer and work is at the keyboard.
His Bach always sounds so Bachian. His Mozart always sounds so Mozartean. His Beethoven always sounds so Beethovenian. His Schubert always sounds so Schubertian. And his Brahms – for which he won a Grammy – always sounds so Brahmsian. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear Goode discuss how he deliberately chooses a selective repertoire that he can return to again and again.)
Whenever you hear Goode, you come away thinking, “Now that is how the composer meant his music to sound.” Goode just disappears into the music.
Goode, who co-directed the venerable summertime Marlboro Music Festival for 14 years until 2013, always puts himself at the service of the music, never the other way around as so many other firebrand virtuosos do.
Goode, a shy man who collects books and fine art, is not given to flamboyance or theatrics. His interpretations always seem exactly right, never exaggerated and weird but both beautiful and emotionally convincing. He is, in short, a complete musician — recitalist, soloist in concertos and chamber music partner — and not just a great pianist. His is a quiet, self-effacing virtuosity.
You get the idea.
And you can sample such superlative musicianship for yourself this Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. when Goode returns to perform a varied recital in Shannon Hall at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
This is a performer and a program that no serious fan of the piano – professional or amateur, teacher or student — should miss.
On the program of music from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, are: a selection of Preludes and Fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, by Johann Sebastian Bach; Alban Berg’s Sonata No. 1; Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101, which Goode, who has recorded all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas, says is his favorite; the Nocturne in B Major, Op. 62, No. 1, and the Mazurka in C-sharp Minor, Op. 50, No. 3, by Chopin.
Wisconsin Public Radio host Norman Gilliland (below) will deliver a free pre-concert lecture at 6 p.m.
Tickets run from $20 to $47.
Here is a link to more background and information about obtaining tickets:
https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/richard-goode-piano/
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Classical music: Former UW pianist Catherine Kautsky will talk, play music and sign copies of her book “Debussy’s Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Epoque” this Thursday night at the Mystery to Me bookstore in Madison
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By Jacob Stockinger
Some of you may recall the pianist Catherine Kautsky (below). She came from the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wis., to the UW-Madison where she performed many memorable concerts.
Then, after about five years, she returned to Lawrence as the head of the piano department.
Kautsky always showed an affinity for French music — she has recorded both books of Debussy‘s Preludes for piano — and now she has transformed her francophilia into a book: “Debussy’s Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Epoque” ($38, below).
Kautsky will be in Madison this Thursday night from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Mystery to Me bookstore, 1863 Monroe Street, next to Neuhauser Pharmacy and across from Trader Joe’s.
A terrific explainer, Kautsky will talk about her book and sign copies. A keyboard will also be available for Kautsky to play some of the music she talks and writes about. (You can hear Kautsky playing and discussing the great last Sonata in B-Flat Major, D. 960, by Franz Schubert in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Here is a description of the book with biographical information:
“Debussy’s Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Époque takes readers on a tour of Paris through detailed descriptions of the city’s diversions and the music Debussy wrote reflecting them.
“Catherine Kautsky explores how key works reveal not only the most appealing aspects of Paris, but also the more disquieting attitudes of the time. In contrast to the childlike innocence of fairy tales, minstrel shows had racist overtones, colonization entailed domination, and the brooding nationalism of the era was rife with hostility.
“Debussy (below) left no avenue unexplored, and his piano works present a sweeping overview of the passions, vices, and obsessions of the era’s Parisians.
“When played today, Debussy’s music breathes the story of one the world’s most fascinating cities. Kautsky reveals little known elements of Parisian life during the Belle Époque and weaves the music, the man, the city, and the era into an indissoluble whole.
“Her portrait will delight anyone who has ever been entranced by Debussy’s music or the city (below) that inspired it.”
Catherine Kautsky is chair of keyboard at Lawrence University and has been lauded by the New York Times as “a pianist who can play Mozart and Schubert as though their sentiments and habits of speech coincided exactly with hers…” She has concertized widely, performing in major halls in New York, Chicago, Washington, and Boston, soloing with the St. Louis Symphony and other orchestras and appearing frequently on public radio.
Here is a link with more information, including praise from pianist Richard Goode who will perform in Madison at the Wisconsin Union Theater at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4.
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Classical music: Tickets are now on sale for the Wisconsin Union Theater’s impressive 2017-18 season
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By Jacob Stockinger
Historically, for almost a century, the Wisconsin Union Theater has been the Carnegie Hall of Madison.
And despite so much competition from other newer presenters and groups these days, the WUT continues to put on impressive seasons in its renovated Shannon Hall (below).
Plus, nine years ago the Wisconsin Union Theater inaugurated and continues to sponsor The Well-Tempered Ear blog.
For that reason, The Ear is listing the complete 98th concert season. Follow the links for more information about the performers, the programs and ticket prices.
BUT PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOUR CLASSICAL CONCERTS ARE MARKED WITH AN ASTERISK AND A PHOTO.
You can also check out more, including biographies and sound clips, by going to: https://union.wisc.edu/visit/wisconsin-union-theater/seasonevents/concert-series/
Here is the complete press release:
Tickets for the Wisconsin Union Theater’s 2017-2018 season became available as of this week. They may be purchased at the Campus Arts Ticketing Box Office in Memorial Union, online, or by phone at 608-265-ARTS (2787).
A few shows have been added to the season, including the most popular Egyptian TV personality of all time, Bassem Youssef, also known as “The Egyptian Jon Stewart,” a free performance by the Quebecois Le Vent du Nord, and Madison Celtic Festival.
Again this season, UW-Madison student tickets for most performances are only $10 or less.
See the season video here. Listen to the Spotify list here.
The full season – classical concerts have an asterisk –includes:
Madison World Music Festival-FREE!
September 15-16, 2017, Memorial Union Terrace and Willy St. Fest
Saturday, September 23, 2017, 8 PM, Shannon Hall
Black Music Ensemble. Free!
Thursday, September 28, November 30, 2017, and February 15, 2018, 8:30 PM, Fredric March Play Circle
The Re:Generation Tour
Thursday, October 5, 2017, 8 PM; Shannon Hall
InDIGenous Jazz Series: Johannes Wallmann – Love Wins. Free!
Friday, October 6, 2017, 7:00 PM; Fredric March Play Circle
With WUD Music
Friday, October 6, 2017, The Sett
“Retribution”
Saturday, October 7, 2017, 8 PM; Shannon Hall
Thursday, October 12, 2017, 2017, 8 PM ; Fredric March Play Circle
InDIGenous Jazz Series: Dave Stoler Quartet. Free!
Friday, October 20, 2017, 7:30 PM; Fredric March Play Circle
Inti Illimani- 50th Anniversary Tour!
Sunday, October, 22, 2017, 8 PM; Shannon Hall
InDIGenous Jazz Series: Nestle and Lovely Socialite. Free!
Friday, November 3, 2017, 7:30 PM; Fredric March Play Circle
* Richard Goode photo by Steve Risking (He discusses repertoire and plays his favorite Beethoven sonata, which he will perform here, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Saturday, November 4, 2017, 7:30 PM ; Shannon Hall
Chasing Rainbows: A World Tour and Historic Look at Travel Films
Travel Adventure Film Series
Monday, November 6, 2017, 7:30 PM ; Shannon Hall
Thursday, November 9, 2017, 8 PM; Shannon Hall
InDIGenous Jazz Series: Paul Dietrich Big Band. Free!
Friday, November 17, 2017, 7:30 PM; Fredric March Play Circle
Saturday, December 2, 2017, 8 PM; Fredric March Play Circle
* Takács String Quartet w/ Garrick Ohlsson
Sunday, December 3, 2017, 7:30 PM; Shannon Hall
Free lecture by Wisconsin Public Radio’s Norman Gilliland, 6:30 pm, Festival Room
Thursday, December 7, 2017, 8 PM; Fredric March Play Circle
“Stepping Out”
Friday, February 2, 2018, 8 PM; Shannon Hall
Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas
Thursday, February 8, 2018, 8 PM ; Fredric March Play Circle
Saturday, February 9, 2018, 8 PM ; Shannon Hall
Wednesday, February 14, 2018, 8 PM ; Fredric March Play Circle
Saturday, March 3, 2018, 7:30 PM; Shannon Hall
Free lecture by Randal Swiggum, 6:30 pm, Play Circle
How to Travel the World for Free
Travel Adventure Film Series
Monday, March 5, 2018, 7:30 PM; Shannon Hall
Marcia Legere Student Play Festival-FREE!
March 15-17, 2018 ; Fredric March Play Circle
Thursday, March 8, 2018, 8 PM; Shannon Hall
Saturday, March 17, 2018, 8 PM; Shannon Hall
Saturday, March 10, 2018; Memorial Union
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
Sunday, April 8, 2018, 8 PM; Shannon Hall
China: Beyond the Great Wall (World Premiere by Karin Muller)
Monday, April 9, 2018, 7:30 PM; Shannon Hall
Saturday, April 14, 2018, 7:30 PM; Shannon Hall
Le Vent du Nord. Free!
Saturday, May 5, 2018, 8:00 PM; Terrace
This season is presented by the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Performing Arts Committee.
Tags: Arts, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Brahms, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, eighth blackbird, Garrick Ohlsson, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, King's Singers, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mozart, Music, Norman Gilliland, Randal Swiggum, Richard Goode, Takacs Quartet, vocal music, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Union Theater
Classical music: The well-named Nonesuch Records turns 50 –– and keeps being a pioneer in music from budget baroque, electronic music and contemporary classical music to folk, ragtime, rock and world music.
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By Jacob Stockinger
If you judge solely by the size of an operating budget and the number of albums released in a year, Nonesuch Records surely does not rank among the industry titans like Deutsche Grammophon, Decca or Sony Classical.
But what the label does, it does exceptionally well.
Of late, I am especially taken with Nonesuch because they feature two of my favorite pianists -– Richard Goode and Jeremy Denk (below) –- and of one my all-time favorite singers, soprano Dawn Upshaw, as well as the great Kronos Quartet.
Here is a link to the label’s website with forthcoming releases and a list of recording artists:
In addition, I find the sonic engineering Nonesuch provides is also top-notch. Much as I loved the old Emerson Quartet, when it moved from DG to Sony, it received inferior sonic engineering that favored an echoing or overly resonant ambient sound. Myself, I prefer a clean and close-up microphone that lets my own living room provide the performance space acoustics.
Anyway, I was listening to National Public Radio Wednesday afternoon last week and heard this terrifically informative report on the 50th anniversary of Nonesuch, which is based in New York City and the anniversary of which is being celebrated with special concerts and special releases.
The story particularly emphasized the foresight of the label’s longtime top boss Robert Hurwitz (below, on the left next to Kronos violist Hank Dett and producer Judith Sherman, who also recorded the world premiere commission of the Pro Arte Quartet centennial at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.)
Using his own taste and instinct, Hurwitz anticipated the best-selling popularity of electronic music, Cuban music, ragtime music and many other genres. (Below in an interview he did at the Brooklyn Academy of Music that can be found on YouTube.) One person, it seems, can make a huge difference.
I do wish Hurwitz had offered a fuller explanation of why the wonderful and cheap budget recordings of Baroque music and early music that Nonesuch issued in the 1960s and 1970s -– the ones with the great art on the covers and the ones that hooked so many of us on relatively littkle-known works as well as masterpieces –- have not been remastered and reissued on CD.
But in any case, the NPR story provided a fascinating look at how a record company continued to expand and branch out – not by following listeners’ tastes and desires, but by ANTICIPATING them. It is kind of like what happened with Sony and the success of the Walkman.
Some things you just cannot judge by polls and surveys, no matter what the branding and PR experts say. They take personal vision and leadership and risk-taking. That is what the Nonesuch way.
Anyway, here is the link to the NPR story. I hope you find it compelling as The Ear did.
http://www.npr.org/2014/09/10/347155810/nonesuch-at-50-a-record-label-without-borders
Tags: Arts, Baroque, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Chamber music, Classical music, Cuban music, Dawn Upshaw, Deutsche Grammophon, Early music, Electronic music, Jacob Stockinger, Jeremy Denk, Kronos Quartet, Music, New Music, New York City, Nonesuch, Nonesuch Records, NPR, Piano, Pro Arte Quartet, Ragtime, Richard Goode, Singing, song, SONY, soprano, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, vocal music, YouTube
Classical music Q&A: How do you make chamber music both fun and fine? Co-directors Stephanie Jutt and Jeffrey Sykes discuss this summer’s 23rd annual three-weekend, three-venue season of the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society that starts this Friday night. Part 1 of 2.
2 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Some people might refer to it as a highlight of the summer music season in Madison.
The Ear prefers to think of it as a highlight of the entire concert season in Madison. He waits all fall, winter and spring to find out the next theme, the next repertoire, the next performers. But the waiting ends soon.
This Friday night the Madison-based chamber music group the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society (below top) will open its six-concert, three-weekend and three-venue season at 7:30 p.m. in The Playhouse (below bottom) at the Overture Center. Then it will move on to the Hillside Theater at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin compound in Spring Green and the beautifully restored Opera House in Stoughton, Wisconsin.
And this summer shows no sign of disappointing.
Much of the BDDS concert format or formula will remain the same: familiar classics of the repertoire mixed in with rarely heard artists and works, including commissions and a world or local premiere; familiar local performers mixed in with top-flight imported musicians; and the signature atmosphere that combines chatty levity with serious first-rate music-making.
Am I excited? You bet! And you should be too.
Some of my favorites are the piano trios, piano quartets and piano quintets performed by the San Francisco Trio. They will be playing here again, including one trio by Dmitri Shostakovich and another by Antonin Dvorak.
Other favorites of The Ear are the symphonies by Franz Joseph Haydn and the piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the long-neglected chamber music reductions intended to be performed as “house music” in private homes. This summer includes one of the most popular Mozart piano concertos –- again.
I love the string works that BDDS plays – and this summer I will get to hear Claude Debussy’s phenomenal Violin Sonata, the last work he composed (you can hear it played by violinist James Ehnes, who has performed in Madison with the Madison Symphony Orchestra in a YouTube video at the bottom), and Maurice Ravel’s unusual Sonata for Violin and Cello.
I especially love piano music: the more, the better. This summer I will get to hear two of the best: Jeffrey Sykes, who possesses the chameleon-like gift of Richard Goode in that he can sound absolutely natural and at home in just about any musical style, from Baroque, Classical and Romantic to Modern and New Music. But this summer is a twofer. Sykes will also perform two-piano pieces by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Witold Lutoslawski and Maurice Ravel with the celebrated University of Wisconsin-Madison virtuoso Christopher Taylor.
Then there is the fabulous new clarinetist, Alan Kay, performing the sublime Clarinet Trio by Johannes Brahms.
You can hear all that plus a lot more, including a generous serving of South American music — tangos by Astor Piazzolla and songs by Carlos Guastavino — music that flutist Stephanie Jutt brought back from her sabbatical year in Argentina.
But you can check out the programs for yourself. I challenge you to find one that just doesn’t interest and impress you.
Here is a link to the complete new season:
You might recall that The Ear has been so impressed with the consistent high quality of the BDDS programs and performances that he named the group Musician of the Year for 2012. Here is a link to that posting:
And here is a link to the BDDS website with full details about the dates, time, venues, programs and performers’ bios.
http://bachdancinganddynamite.org
The co-founders and co-artistic directors flutist Stephanie Jutt and pianist Jeffrey Sykes, agreed to an email Q&A that will run two parts. The first part runs today. The second part will run tomorrow.
Why is this summer’s season called “23 Skiddoo,” and what exactly does the term mean or refer to?
SJ: Jeff and I love old-fashioned American vernacular -– like “Deuces are Wild” for 2013, and now “23 Skiddoo” for 2014.
It’s a lot of fun trying to find out where words come from, what expressions mean, and how it defines a country’s style and idiom. As musicians, we are constantly doing this kind of detective work -– what does the composer intend? What else was going on when he wrote it? What are the references and the “inside jokes?”
JS: The following passage comes from the “preface” in our 2014 program booklet: “Popular legend has it that “23 skiddoo” was first heard in the area around the Flatiron Building at the intersection of 23rd Street, Fifth Avenue and Broadway in New York City. Because of the building’s triangular shape, winds swirl around it. During the early 1900s, groups of men would allegedly gather to watch women’s skirts get caught by the wind, revealing their legs, which were seldom seen publicly at that time. Local constables, telling such groups of men to take a hike, were said to be giving them the “23 skiddoo.” ”
Our 23rd season is appropriately entitled “23 Skiddoo” (see the poster below) and this year’s programs are inspired by energetic departures and exit strategies of all kinds.
Why would we choose a title that tells you to cut and run when we want you to flock to our concerts? We want to give the “23 skiddoo” to your expectations of what a chamber music concert ought to be. We aim to deliver an experience that makes your skirt fly up, reveals a little leg, and makes you hightail it to our next concert with a smile on your face. So getta move on and join in on the fun. Hasta la vista, baby!
Is there some overarching theme or continuity to the entire season, or to the various weekend programs?
JS: Absolutely. It’s an oblique theme and a surprising continuity, but it’s definitely there. Stephanie and I love word games of all kinds, and this comes into play when we pick season titles and concert titles.
The expression “23 skiddoo” relates to the idea of “getting out while the getting’s good.” As it turns out, English is full of colloquialisms that express the idea of a rapid departure—expressions like “take a hike” or “cut and run” or “hightail it.” We thought of a bunch of expressions that relate to this idea—and from them, we chose expressions that could ALSO be read in a different way.
“Take a hike” can also mean “scram!” or it can mean to go wander out in the countryside. It fits in with our season theme because of its colloquial meaning. We used it as a program title with its literal meaning in mind — music that was inspired by the countryside, like Johannes Brahms’ Clarinet Trio and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488.
“Getta move on” can mean “scram!” or it can mean “to dance”—as in “get your moves on.” It fits with our season theme because of the first meaning, and its second meaning gave us a program of dance-inspired music.
One of our cutest titles (in my humble opinion) is “hightail it,” again, an expression that means to leave quickly. As I’m sure you know, many pieces of chamber music have very exciting codas, the coda being the last section of a movement or a piece. And “coda” is the Italian word for—you guessed it—”tail.” We picked pieces that have super-exciting codas for this program.
Of course, there are a lot of other considerations in picking music. Expense is certainly a big one.
We can only hire a certain number of artists each week, so we have to find programming that works with those artists and instruments.
We like variety, so you’ll never find us doing an all-Baroque program or an all-modern program.
(I actually find that such programming in the end marginalizes the music it’s designed to celebrate. Maybe it’s just me, but I find the Bach’s music actually benefits from being heard alongside Aaron Jay Kernis and Rachmaninoff and vice versa.)
Another big consideration is, of course, what we want to play. I really wanted to do another two-piano extravaganza with University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Christopher “Kit” Taylor; Stephanie really wanted to do this brand new piece by Aaron Jay Kernis, “L’arte della danssar” (The Art of Dancing), one of the few pieces he’s written that has a flute part. We figured out a way to do BOTH things in a single week of programming.
I’m very keen on the music of Osvaldo Golijov, especially this gorgeous piece he wrote for klezmer clarinet and string quartet called “The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind.” When playing in a music festival in New York, I worked with this incredible clarinetist Alan Kay, co-principal of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. I wanted to have him come to BDDS. Turns out he’s played this piece—which is VERY hard—a lot.
Another thing I’ve been loving lately is playing arrangements of the Mozart piano concertos. Well, here we have a string quartet and a clarinet. Just add in Stephanie’s flute, and suddenly you’ve got a mini-orchestra for the Mozart concerto.
I often say that putting together the season is like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle—except the pieces change size and shape as you work with them, and you don’t know the picture you’re aiming for. The pieces of this season’s jigsaw puzzle have come together beautifully.
What have you changed for this season, and what have you kept and continued? Program elements? Repertoire? Artists ?
SJ: The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society tradition is a blend of the hottest, cutting-edge compositions, combined with our love of the Baroque, Romantic and Impressionistic eras of music. When you take the huge breadth of musical expression and mix it with musicians of the loftiest caliber, you’ll always find “something for everyone” at our concerts.
Just like the weather in Wisconsin, if you don’t like one piece, that’s fine, because in ten minutes we’ll play something that will break your heart and make you fall in love all over again.
Sometimes we are asked, “Would you like to grow Bach Dancing and Dynamite into a larger festival, with more cities, more venues?” Our answer is an enthusiastic, “No!” The festival is just about perfect the way it is – small venues, intimate and profound music, a living room atmosphere, informality, surprises – these are the hallmarks of BDDS, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
JS: What we have changed: We have new artists and new repertoire for the season, combined in surprising, interesting and unusual ways.
What we’ve continued: We have new artists and new repertoire for the season, combined in surprising, interesting and unusual ways.
Maybe it’s funny answering two questions with the same answer, but it’s really true. I wouldn’t say we have a “formula.” That implies that we get the same result every season. We don’t. Our results vary widely. The result is always great (in my humble opinion), but it’s really different each time.
I guess you could say we are like chefs working with the crème-de-la-crème of ingredients (musicians and musical compositions). Using our skills, we can combine these ingredients into staggeringly different yet exciting meals: same high-quality ingredients, same well-honed chef skills, completely different meals.
A couple of people to watch out for:
The aforementioned clarinetist Alan Kay (below top) in Week Two. He’s amazing.
Soprano Disella Larusdottir (below middle) in Week One. She’s a gorgeous singer, and she sings Aaron Jay Kernis’ music beautifully.
The return of the San Francisco Piano Trio (me, Axel Strauss and Jean-Michel Fonteneau) playing Dvorak and Shostakovich.
Tango pianist Pablo Zinger (below bottom) from New York in Week Two. Authentic Argentine flair!
Repertoire to look out for:
Aaron’s new piece (Week One)
Golijov’s piece (Week Two)
Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dances” and Maurice Ravel’s “La valse” with me and Kit Taylor. (Fun!)
Darius Milhaud’s piano, four-hand version of “Le boeuf sur le toit,” which was originally conceived as a score for a Charlie Chaplin silent movie. We’re reuniting it with Chaplin’s classic “The Count”—a movie that culminates in an exceedingly well-timed cut-and-run.
Tomorrow: What should newcomers and old-timers know about this year’s Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society concerts? What has changed and what has stayed the same? How do Stephanie Jutt and Jeffrey Sykes measure the success of a BDDS season?
Tags: 23 Skiddoo, 23rd Street, Aaron Jay Kernis, Alan Kay, Antonín Dvořák, Arts, Axel Strauss, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, BDD, BDDS, Carlos Guastavino, Cello, Chamber music, Charlie Chaplin, Christopher Taylor, clarinet, Classical, Classical era, Classical music, Claude Debussy, cut-and-run, Darius Milhaud, Disella Larusdottir, Dmitri Shostakovich, Dvorak, film, Flat Iron Building, Flatiron Building, flute, Frank Lloyd Wright, Franz Joseph Haydn, Golijov, Haydn, Impressionist, Jacob Stockinger, James Ehnes, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Jeffrey Sykes, Johannes Brahms, klezmer, Latin American, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Ravel, modern, movie, Mozart, Music, New Music, New York City, Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Osvaldo Golijov, Overture Center, Pablo Zinger, Piano, Piano concerto, Piano Trio, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Richard Goode, Romantic, San Francisco, Sergei Rachmaninoff, singer, Sonata, South America, Stephanie Jutt, tango, The Count, two-piano, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Violin Sonata, Witold Lutoslawski, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
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The Well-Tempered Ear 