The Well-Tempered Ear
Pianist Yuja Wang’s new ‘Vienna Recital’ is another triumph
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By Jacob Stockinger
Yuja Wang remains the hottest pianist on the touring concert circuit — and not just for her daring, high fashion clothes and her sensuous legs and arms, and her especially expressive face.
Lang Lang might make more money.
Newcomer Yunchan Lim might inspire more anticipation.
And veterans Martha Argerich and Emanuel Ax might command more authority for their interpretations.
But the supremely talented China-born, U.S.-educated Wang remains in very high critical regard and high popular demand — something that the release just yesterday of her latest album “The Vienna Recital” is sure to sustain and increase.
The recital’s program features an eclectic and somewhat unusual mix of works by Beethoven, Scriabin, Isaac Albéniz, Nikolai Kaspustin and Philip Glass (whose Etude No. 6 you can hear Wang perform in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The Ear also likes seeing that Wang uses the music through a printed score on what appears to be an iPad.
Here is a link to a rave review by Tal Agam from the The Classic Review that is based in Tel Aviv, Israel:
What do you think of Yuja Wang?
Have you listened to The Vienna Recital?”
What do you think of it?
Do you intend to listen to it?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Is impromptuing the impromptu ok?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Recently, The Ear heard an unusual version of the very familiar Fantaisie-Impromptu for solo piano by Chopin.
It was played by the 35-year-old, prize-winning Russian pianist Pavel Kolesnikov (below). You can hear his performance in the YouTube video at the bottom.
What made it unusual is that the pianist took liberties and added passing notes or runs and a melodic overlay to part of it.
It seemed odd at first.
Why mess with Chopin, who was such a meticulous crafter of beauty?
But when you think about it, it makes a certain sense.
It is, after all, an impromptu. And an impromptu is based on and suggests improvisation.
So why not impromptu the impromptu? Why not add some extra spontaneity or variation, since many impromptus take the form of a theme with variations and elaborations.
These days performers are even expected to elaborate the Baroque repertoire, especially Bach and Handel. And it is becoming standard practice to do so with Mozart’s piano sonatas and concertos.
Now the Fantaisie-Impromptu is by far the most popular of Chopin’s four impromptus, no doubt in part because its lovely middle section melody inspired the classic Vaudeville pop song “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows.”
But the Fantaisie-Impromptu, the last composed, is The Ear’s least favorite of the four impromptus that Chopin wrote. And Chopin apparently didn’t like it much either. He wanted it to remain unpublished and destroyed.
It made me want to know: What might the same pianist do with the other three great impromptus by Chopin?
Or the famous ones by Schubert and the less famous ones by Fauré?
Listen to the 5-minute performance and tell The Ear what you think of the ornamented version that Kolesnikov plays?
Which one of four is your favorite Chopin impromptu?
What impromptus by Schubert and Fauré do you especially like? Would changing the score work with them?
What other impromptus by other composers do you suggest listening to and playing — and perhaps even ornamenting?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Is the math-music link real?
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By Jacob Stockinger
The blog post before the last one was about solving the “beautiful mathematics” in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Here is a link: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2024/02/18/solving-the-beautiful-math-in-bach/
But does a link between math and music really exist?
And if such a link does exist, how strong is it?
Can one discipline be used to teach the other?
Many readers have no doubt heard of how devoted Albert Einstein (below) was to his violin, even playing string quartets at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. He said he thought about physics in musical terms and found his greatest joy in music. He also played duets with physicist Max Planck, who was an accomplished pianist as were Werner Heisenberg and Edward Teller.
Dr. Francis Collins, the well-known geneticist and former head of the National Institutes for Health, is known for playing the guitar. As the 2020 winner of the Templeton Prize for scientific and spiritual curiosity, Collins accompanies superstar soprano Renée Fleming in the Stephen Foster song “Hard Times, Come Again No More” in the YouTube video at the button.)
Locally, the late pioneering University of Wisconsin-Madison geneticist Jim Crow (below) played the viola, even sitting in with the Pro Arte Quartet.
The Ear also knows of many middle schoolers, high schoolers and UW students, especially undergraduates, who pursue dual majors in music and math, science or medicine — often to pursue a more practical and better paying career than being a professional musician.
Personal anecdotes can be dramatic and convincing.
But anecdotes and evidence are not the same thing.
Here is a more formal study:
https://www.iflscience.com/is-there-really-a-link-between-math-skills-and-musical-skills-73069
What do you think?
Are math and music linked?
Do you know of other famous examples?
What has been your own experience with math and music?
If you are a music, math or science teacher, have you noticed such a link among your students?
What do students themselves — for example, those in the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) — say about such a math-music link?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Why do we like sad music?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Why does sad music — or sad art — appeal to so many of us?
One psychologist and brain researcher — Matthew Sachs of Columbia University (below) — says it serves an evolutionary and social purpose by eliciting empathy for other humans and purging us of negative emotions, according to a story and interview on NPR (National Public Radio).
To The Ear, the explanation sounds a lot like the ancient Greek philosophy of catharsis that was the cornerstone justification for the public staging of great ancient tragedies by writers such as Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and of course the famous tragedies of Shakespeare such as “Romeo and Juliet,” Hamlet” and “King Lear” that were famously popular dramas as well as great masterpieces of Western literature.
Consider the case of Samuel Barber’s often-played “Adagio for Strings,” analyzed at length in a book called “The Saddest Music in the World.” Or perhaps the “Pathétique” piano sonata by Beethoven and the “Funeral March” piano sonata by Chopin. Or the requiems by Mozart and Brahms.
Or consider the music “Beautiful Sadness” by the contemporary composer Cliff Masterson (below). You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Here is a link to the NPR story that discusses “the rules of musical melancholy.”
You can read it, or take four minutes to listen to it:
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/06/1173993223/understanding-the-joy-that-many-find-in-sadness
Do you find solace in sad music?
Does sad music make you feel better?
Do you have a favorite piece of sad music?
Or maybe a favorite tragic play, opera or work of art?
The Ear wants to hear.
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MSO and FUS community summer choir sings start Monday, July 10
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following message from the First Unitarian Society of Madison to distribute to the public:
*** PLEASE FORWARD TO MADISON SINGERS ***
Please join us for the second annual “Madison Sings!” community singing events.
A collaboration between the Madison Symphony Chorus and the First Unitarian Society.
• Open to all. Bring a friend!
- 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
- $10
- Scores available when you arrive or bring your own
- First Unitarian Society of Madison’s Atrium Auditorium (at bottom, in photo by Zane Williams)
- GPS: 900 University Bay Drive, Madison, WI 53711
- Casual environment
- Seating limited to 400 participants
- Piano accompaniment
“MADISON SINGS!” FOR SUMMER 2023
Attend one, two, or all three!
- July 10 — Mozart “Requiem”
- July 17 — Beethoven “Mass in C”
- July 24 — Fauré “Requiem”
If you are interested in singing one of the solo movements, please contact drewc@fusmadison.org.
Drew Collins, D.M.A. (he/him/his … what is this?)
Music Director
First Unitarian Society of Madison
900 University Bay Drive, Madison, WI 53705
drewc@fusmadison.org • 608.233.9774, x121 (I check email and voicemail Tues.–Fri. 9-5)
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Is it pretentious for the NFL to use Roman numerals for the Super Bowl?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today — Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023 — is Super Bowl LVII.
Or as we say in ordinary English — “57.”
(It airs at 5:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Fox.)
The Ear thinks it is pretentious for the NFL to use Roman numerals, which are esoteric and incomprehensible to many members of the public.
Does anyone else think so?
Using the Roman numerals in sports also seems unpractical.
Imagine the NBA using the same antiquated number system to record LeBron James’ new record for a lifetime basketball score — 33,388 points. According to Google, it would be XXXIIICCCLXXXVIII.
How convenient! And silly, no?
It seems the same kind of pretentious authenticity The Ear hears too often in Classical music where authentic foreign pronunciations often seem a sort of status symbol that says “Look at what I know and you don’t, but should.”
Not exactly the kind of effort at reaching out that classical music needs to draw bigger and younger audiences.
It’s like when non-Hungarian, American speakers say “Budapesht” when in English it is simply Budapest. And this often comes from the same people don’t usually say München for Munich, or Roma for Rome, or Paree for Paris.
Can American speakers just speak plain American English for the sake of clarity and simplicity?
And can the NFL just use either English numbers or, like the Olympics, the year to show which competition it is?
Anyway, despite such preciousness and pretentiousness, we can enjoy today’s 57th or 2023 Super Bowl championship game in Phoenix between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Here’s another easier equivalency: a beautiful long pass and a beautiful javelin throw.
Which why The Eater is offering the classical music piece “Javelin” in the YouTube video at the bottom, played by Yoel Levi conducting the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra.
Written on commission for the Atlanta Olympics by the Wisconsin-born composer Michael Torke, it soars with a grace and an energy that is made all the more understandable and moving for its lack of words and numbers.
Whatever quarterback does it, winner or loser, here’s to the thrower of the most beautiful pass today.
What do you think of the music? And of the comparison between passing a football and throwing a javelin?
And what do you think about using Roman numerals is sports and foreign pronunciations in classical music
The Ear wants to hear.
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Beethoven helps LeBron James break a big basketball scoring record
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By Jacob Stockinger
Sometime this coming week — maybe even by the time you read this — basketball superstar LeBron James (below) will break the all-time scoring record for the NBA.
The current record of 38,387 points is held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (known earlier in his career as Lew Alcindor) who he broke the previous record held by Wilt Chamberlain on April 5, 1984. Abdul-Jabbar, who is famous for his “skyhook,” retired at 42 in 1989 and is now 75.
At 38, James — who is just 63 points away from the record as of this writing — still has many years to play and score.
Based on what the James (below, in action) — who is also the first player to become a billionaire while playing in the NBA — usually scores each game, professional sports watchers expect he will surpass Abdul-Jabbar at a game against the Milwaukee Bucks this coming Thursday night, Feb. 9, in Milwaukee.
When he does, you will no doubt hear about it. It will be big news since the previous NBA scoring record has lasted for almost 34 years.
James, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, is known as a very disciplined, even obsessive, player who even follows a special diet to stay in shape.
What’s more, according to reports, James — who took his first piano lesson from the famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang — also listens to classical music. He especially likes to listen to Beethoven (below) after he listens to hip-hop while in the weight room, and then leaves to get ready and “calm down” before a game and heading out to the court.
Here is a link to that story on ClassicFM:
What Beethoven pieces do you think LeBron James listens to in order to calm down before a game? Symphonies? Concertos? Chamber music? A lot of Beethoven seems more aggressive than relaxing to The Ear. But the slow middle movement of the Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” (played by Lang Lang in the YouTube video at the bottom) seems like a good choice.
Maybe James will even somehow read this and let us know his favorite works by Beethoven and other classical composers.
Do any other readers or athletes listen to classical music as part of their athletic training, preparation and activity? Do a lot of the runners who are listening to something through ear buds listen too classical music?
The Ear wants to hear.
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YOU MUST HEAR THIS: No piece captures the mixed emotions of Memorial Day better than Charles Ives’ “Decoration Day”
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Memorial Day, 2022.
It is the annual holiday to remember those who died in military service to the country. (Below are flags placed each year at the tombstones in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.)
If you want to honor survivors and current service members, that would be Veterans Day on Nov. 11.
All weekend long the radio has been playing music and the television has been showing war movies.
A lot of the music is familiar and repeated every year: Sousa marches and Morton Gould suites, elegies by Gustav Mahler, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein; requiems by Mozart and Fauré; a hymn by John Williams and other movie scores. This year has also seen the playlist include rediscovered works of homage by African-American composers such as William Grant Still.
But only this year did The Ear finally hear — thanks to Wisconsin Public Radio — the one piece that, to his mind, best captures Memorial Day with its blending of consonance and dissonance, its mix of major and major keys, of familiar or “found” music and original music.
It is called, simply, “Decoration Day” and it was composed in 1912 — but not published until 1989 — by the 20th-century iconoclastic and early modernist American composer Charles Ives (below, 1874-1954). It ended up as part of a work the composer called “A Symphony: New England Hollidays.”
See if you agree with The Ear.
Listen to the 8-minute performance by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Listen to the deep anguish and and sense of loss conveyed in the opening, when a solemn remembrance procession goes to a cemetery to plant flags and lay flowers and wreaths to “decorate” the graves of the fallen.
Listen carefully and you will hear a faint version of “Taps” and ringing church bells in the atmospheric music.
Then as so often happens in reality, life suddenly intrudes in the form of a celebration by a loud marching brass band as it leaves the cemetery for the celebratory marches, picnics and fireworks.
But at the end, the darkness briefly returns. The sense of loss lingers long after the actual death and long after the holiday has been celebrated.
There is no closure.
Just resignation.
Just living with loss.
Here is the background from Wikipedia about how the holiday started as Decoration Day after the Civil War and when it evolved into Memorial Day in 1970: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
And here is biographical background, with the actual sources and depictions of “Decoration Day” — just go down the page to compositions and click — about Charles Ives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ives
Did you know and like Charles Ives’ music?
Does “Decoration Day” impress or move you?
What music most embodies Memorial Day for you?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Critics for The New York Times name their Top 10 online classical concerts for May
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By Jacob Stockinger
Even as we wait to see whether concerts in the next season will be mostly streamed or live, the critics for The New York Times have named their Top 10 classical concerts to stream and hear online in May.
The Times critics have been doing this during the pandemic year. So perhaps if and when they stop, it will be a sign of returning to concert life before the pandemic.
Then again, maybe not, since The Ear suspects that many listeners have liked the online format, at least for some of the times and for certain events. So maybe there will be a hybrid format with both live and online attendance.
As the same critics have done before, they mix an attention to contemporary composers, world premieres and up-and-coming performers, including the Finnish conductor Susanna Maliki (below top) in a photo by Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times).
In a welcome development, the recommendations for this month also seem to mention more Black composers, performers and pieces than usual, including the rising star bass-baritone Davon Tines (below, in a photo by Vincent Tullo for The New York Times).
But you will also find many of the “usual suspects,” including Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Bartok, Benjamin Britten, Olivier Messiaen and Shostakovich. (On the play list is Schubert’s last song, “The Shepherd on the Rock,” which you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
You will also find dates and times (all are Eastern), links to the event and some short commentaries about what makes the concerts, programs and the performers noteworthy.
Here is a link to the story: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/arts/music/classical-music-streaming.html
Do you know of local, regional, national or international online concerts that you recommend? Leave word with relevant information in the Comment section.
Happy Listening!
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
How do post-pandemic concert attendance and programming in Madison compare to the rest of the U.S.?
6 Comments
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By Jacob Stockinger
How has concert attendance rebounded from the covid pandemic?
What kind of programming seems to help orchestras recover the most?
Earlier this week The New York Times published a well-researched story that explored those trends and questions in other major cities, including Cleveland, Detroit and St. Louis in the Midwest.
It includes statistics about attendance figures rising after the pandemic and links the results to certain trends in programming, including scheduling more of the core repertoire that draws people in.
Overall it paints an optimistic and hopeful picture of recovery for symphony orchestras.
It got The Ear to thinking: How are local groups such as the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Madison Opera doing in comparison?
Lessons from other organizations might help to explain why next season’s concerts include an all-film score concert celebrating Pixar and Disney, and a live mariachi band.
Perhaps I missed it, but I can’t recall any local media doing a similar story with hard box office statistics about ticket sales and attendance numbers. But it would certainly be enlightening to see specific data and commentary about how well local groups have rebounded from the pandemic.
Here is a link to The New York Times story. You should be able to read it if you scroll down past the ad that says you need to set up a free account:
Do you have some idea or sense about attendance trends from personal experience?
How do you think orchestras and other groups, including chamber music, have fared as covid fears have eased?
The Ear wants to hear.
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