The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Violinist Axel Strauss and pianist Trevor Stephenson will recreate a historic concert of Beethoven, Debussy and Bartok this Friday night
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
On this coming Friday night, Sept. 14, at 7:30 p.m. at West Middleton Lutheran Church, the prize-winning and internationally acclaimed violinist Axel Strauss (below) — a Madison favorite through his many wonderful concerts with the San Francisco Trio for the Bach, Dancing and Dynamite Society — and pianist Trevor Stephenson, artistic director of the Madison Bach Musicians, will collaborate on a program of masterpieces by Beethoven, Bartok and Debussy.
The event is something of a re-creation of a legendary concert given by famed violinist Joseph Szigeti (below top) and pianist-composer Bela Bartok (below bottom) at the Library of Congress on April 13, 1940 when Bartok, fleeing Europe and World War II, had been in the U.S. only a couple of days.
You can hear a recording of their historic performance of the Rhapsody by Bartok in the YouTube video at the bottom.
At the Sept. 14 concert, Strauss — who now teaches at McGill University in Montreal, Canada — and Stephenson will perform three major works that Szigeti and Bartok also played that April evening in 1940: Beethoven’s Sonata in A major Op. 47 (“Kreutzer”), Bartok’s Rhapsody No. 1 and Debussy’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, the last completed major work by Debussy (below) finished less than a year before his death in 1918. (You can find more about the impressive biography of Axel Strauss at http://www.axelstrauss.com and at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axel_Strauss on Wikipedia.)
Stephenson will bring his 1855 Boesendorfer concert grand piano (both are below in a photo by Kent Sweitzer). Although heavily strung like a modern piano, this mid 19th-century Boesendorfer piano has no metal plate to alleviate the tension of the strings, but relies instead upon an ingenious wooden frame design.
The resonance of the sound is thus carried entirely by the wood, resulting in a complex and dark tone wonderfully suited to the sensibility of 19th- and early 20th-century music.
The West Middleton Lutheran Church (below top and bottom) is at 3763 Pioneer Road — the intersection of Mineral Point Road and Pioneer Road, just 10 minutes west of West Towne Mall.
It has superb acoustics for chamber music. The seating is very comfortable. The sight-lines are terrific. And there is plenty of parking.
Concert tickets are $25 available at the door (credit card, check and cash) or in advance (check only). Seating is limited to 225.
To reserve tickets, email trevor@trevorstephenson.com
Find more information at www.trevorstephenson.com.
Tags: #19thCentury, #20thCentury, #AxelStrauss, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BösendorferPiano, #BelaBartok, #CashPayment, #ChamberMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ChristianReligion, #ClaudeDebussy, #ConcertGrandPIano, #CreditCard, #EuropeanImmigration, #EuropeanRefugee, #HistoricConcert, #HistoricRecording, #HungarianComposer, #JohannSebastianBach, #JosefSzigeti, #JosephSzigeti, #KreutzerSonata, #LibraryofCongress, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #LutheranChurch, #MadisonBachMusicians, #MadisonWisconsin, #McGillUniversity, #MiddletonWisconsin, #MontrealCanada, #PeriodInstrument, #PianoTrio, #Prize-Winning, #SanFrancisco, #SanFranciscoTrio, #SightLines, #TrevorStephenson, #UnitedStates, #ViolinSonata, #WestMiddletonLutheranChurch, #WestTowneMall, #Wikipediaentry, #WorldWarII, #YouTubevideo, 19th century, 20th-century, acclaimed, acoustics, Arts, Axel Strauss, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Béla Bartók, Beethoven, biography, Bosendorfer, Canada, cash, Chamber music, check, church, Classical music, Compact Disc, complex, composer, Concert, concert grand piano, credit card, dark, death, Debussy, design, email, Europe, favorite, German, historic concert, historic recording, Hungarian, immigrant, immigration, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Josef Szigeti, Joseph Szigeti, Kreutzer Sonata, legendary, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, masterpiece, McGill University, metal, Middleton, Montreal, Music, parking, period-instrument, Pianist, Piano, Piano Trio, prize, refugee, rhapsody, San Francisco, San Francisco Trio, seating, sight-lines, Sonata, symphony, tone, Trevor Stephenson, trio, U.S., University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, violinist, Website, West Middleton Lutheran Church, West Towne Mall, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, wood, wooden, World War II, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | samanthacrownoversbc… on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Polly Kuelbs on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
| welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 