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NPR names relevant classical albums in a musical Diary of the Plague Year of the pandemic, racial protests, wildfires and hurricanes

December 29, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

For an unusual and difficult year, NPR (National Public Radio) and critic Tom Huizenga have found a new and unusual way to recommend this past year’s top classical music recordings.

On the “Deceptive Cadence” blog for NPR, Huizenga kept a personal month-by-month diary of “music and mayhem.”

For last February, for example, this ancient image of The Dance of Death inspired contemporary composer Thomas Adès to compose his own “Totentanz” or Dance of Death. (You can hear an excerpt from the work in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Some of the thematically-related music is modern or contemporary, some of it is from the Baroque or Classical era.

In June, as protests against the death of George Floyd (below top) flared up and spread worldwide, NPR names a recording of the “Negro Folk Symphony” by African-American composers William Dawson and Ulysses Kay (below bottom), thereby helping to rediscover Black composers whose works have been overlooked and neglected in the concert hall and the recording studio.

Devastating wildfires on the West Coast, Presidential impeachment and hurricanes on the Gulf Coast also found their way into the choices of music to listen to.

It is an unusual approach, but The Ear thinks it works.

See and hear for yourself by going to the sonic diary and listening to the samples provided.

Here is a link to the NPR album diary: https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2020/12/21/947149286/music-and-mayhem-a-diary-of-classical-albums-for-a-troubled-2020

But many roads, if not all, lead to Rome, as they say.

What is also interesting is that a number of the NPR choices overlap with ones listed by music critics of The New York Times as the 25 best classical albums of 2020.

Some choices also are found on the list of the nominations for the Grammy Awards that will be given out at the end of January.

In other words, the NPR diary can also serve as yet another holiday gift guide if you have gift cards or money to buy some new and notable CDs, and are looking for recommendations.

Here is a link to the Times’ choices, which you can also find with commentary and a local angle, in yesterday’s blog post: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/arts/music/best-classical-music.html

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/12/27/the-new-york-times-names-the-top-25-classical-recordings-of-2020-and-includes-sample-tracks/

And here is a list to the Grammy nominations: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/11/28/for-holiday-shopping-and-gift-giving-here-are-the-classical-music-nominations-for-the-63rd-grammy-awards-in-2021/

What do you think of the NPR musical diary of the plague year?

Do you find it informative? Accurate? Interesting? Useful?

Would you have different choices of music to express the traumatic events of the past year?

The Ear wants to hear.

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Classical music: The Madison Opera performs Verdi’s popular “La Traviata” this Friday night and Sunday afternoon in Overture Hall

October 28, 2019
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By Jacob Stockinger

This weekend, the Madison Opera opens its 59th season with a traditional production of Verdi’s “La Traviata” (The Lost One), one of the most popular operas in history.

According to the website www.operasense.com — specifically at https://www.operasense.com/most-popular-operas/ — it has been the most performed opera in the world, beating out such perennial favorites as Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” Puccini’s “La Boheme” and “Madama Butterfly,” and Bizet’s “Carmen.” (Below are photos by Matthew Staver from the production by Opera Colorado in Denver, which features the same sets and costumes that will be used in the production by Madison Opera.)

Performances in Overture Hall are this Friday night, Nov. 1, at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, Nov. 3 at 2:30 p.m. The opera will be sung in Italian with projected supertitles in English. The running time, with two intermissions, is 2 hours and 45 minutes.

PRE-OPERA TALKS are on Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the Wisconsin Studio of the Overture Center. One hour prior to performances, general director Kathryn Smith will give an entertaining and informative talk about “La Traviata.” The talks are free to ticket holders.

POST-OPERA Q&A’s are on Friday and Sunday and will also take place in the Wisconsin Studio of the Overture Center. Audience members can join general director Kathryn Smith immediately after the performance to ask questions about what they have just seen. The sessions are free to ticket holders.

Tickets are $18-$135 with student and group discounts available. For information about tickets, the production and the cast, go to: https://www.madisonopera.org

Set in mid-19th century Paris, “La Traviata” tells of Violetta, a courtesan who tries to follow her heart. But societal pressures force her to leave the man she loves, and an incurable illness takes care of the rest.

Glittering parties contrast with quiet desperation, and ravishing music underscores all-consuming emotions.

“Only a few operas ever achieve a truly beloved status — and “La Traviata” is one of them,” says Kathryn Smith (below, in a photo by James Gill). For being over 150 years old, its story is quite modern: a young woman trying to overcome the limitations that society has placed on her because of her class and gender, searching for happiness yet willing to make sacrifices.

“Plus it is full of very famous music, from the ‘Brindisi’ to ‘Sempre Libera’ and more,” Smith adds. “It’s always a pleasure to have a new generation discover this work, and to share it with opera omnivores who know it well.” (You can hear Renée Fleming sing Violetta’s signature aria “Sempre libera” (Always Free) at the Royal Opera House in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

“La Traviata” is based on the play and novel “La Dame aux Camélias” (The Lady of the Camellias) by Alexandre Dumas the son (below top), which were in turn based on his real-life relationship with the courtesan Marie Duplessis (below bottom), who died in 1847 of consumption.

The play was an instant hit when it premiered in Paris in 1852, and Verdi (below) turned it into an opera the following year.

While the first production of the opera was not a success, due to the poor singing of two cast members and the physical unsuitability of one singer, its second production was acclaimed, and the opera swiftly became one of the most performed operas in the world, a status it has not lost.

Both the opera and the play have inspired countless films, including “Camille” (with Greta Garbo), “Pretty Woman” (with Julia Roberts) and “Moulin Rouge” (with Nicole Kidman).

Madison Opera’s artistic director John DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) says: “”La Traviata” has been a part of my artistic life since the very beginning of my career – it’s one of the reasons I so wanted to conduct opera. The heartfelt and tragic story of a love that was cut short by both health and cultural circumstances is still deeply moving today.

“The role of Violetta is a tour-de-force that ranges from high-flying coloratura to dramatic vocalism, with a strongly-etched character. I love this opera so deeply and look forward to conducting it for our audience.”

Returning to Madison Opera as Violetta is Cecilia Violetta Lopez (she played Carmen in Madison), whom The Washington Post reviewer called “as compelling a Violetta as I’ve seen.”

Mackenzie Whitney (below, who appeared in “Florencia en el Amazonas” for the Madison Opera) returns as Alfredo, the young man for whom she sacrifices everything.

Weston Hurt (below) debuts with Madison Opera as Alfredo’s father Germont, whose disapproval of his son’s relationship with Violetta has tragic consequences.

Madison Opera’s Studio Artists are featured: Kirsten Larson as Flora, Emily Secor as Annina, Benjamin Hopkins as Gastone, and Stephen Hobe as the Marquis d’Obigny.

Rounding out the cast are Benjamin Sieverding (Romeo and Juliet) as Dr. Grenvil and Benjamin Major in his Madison Opera debut as Baron Douphol.

Fenton Lamb (below) directs this traditional production in her Madison Opera debut.

Maestro John DeMain conducts the singers, the Madison Opera Chorus and the Madison Symphony Orchestra.

The Madison Opera’s production of “La Traviata” is sponsored by the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, Bert and Diane Adams, Carla and Fernando Alvarado, Chun Lin, Patricia and Stephen Lucas, Millie and Marshall Osborn, Kato and David Perlman, the Wallach Family, Helen Wineke, Capitol Lakes, and the Wisconsin Arts Board.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: Chamber versions of symphonies and piano concertos by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven helped secure the composers’ reputations back when they were new music

August 30, 2019
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By Jacob Stockinger

Perhaps you heard one at Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society concerts (below), where they have become a kind of signature.

Or perhaps you heard one at a concert by the Ancora String Quartet or the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet.

What we’re talking about are scaled-down chamber versions of symphonies and piano concertos by Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Today they seem like curiosities, perhaps programmed to keep budgets smaller and use fewer performers.

But historically those same arrangements were more than conveniences or compromises. They proved vital in securing the works and reputations of those composers for posterity up until today.

Recently, The New York Times published a record review by Zachary Woolfe that provides valuable background about these rearranged works.

Here is a link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/arts/music/mozart-jupiter-hyperion.html

If you would like to experience one for yourself, you have the chance this Saturday and Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival.

That’s when and where pianist and Harvard University professor of musicology Robert Levin (below) will perform a chamber version of the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58, by Beethoven. It is part of a program by Levin and pianist Ya-Fei Chuang that explores the piano and concludes this year’s 30th anniversary festival. (You can hear the opening movement of the Beethoven piano concerto in the version with string quartet in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Here is a link with more information about tickets ($32) and the festival:

http://tokencreekfestival.org/2019-season/programs/

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Classical music: Con Vivo concludes its 17th season Saturday night with chamber music by Prokofiev, Haydn, Medtner and Mozart. Children in Music Makers perform a FREE concert on Sunday afternoon

May 30, 2019
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ALERT: The final Music Makers concert is this Sunday, June 2, at 4 p.m. in the First Unitarian Society of Madison’s Atrium Auditorium, 900 University Bay Drive. The concert is FREE and open to the public and will include performances by students from age 8 to 18 performing works by Shostakovich, Puccini and more.

Part of Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, Music Makers aims to enrich and develop the music skills of children from all backgrounds in an inclusive and non-competitive environment. Music Makers provides the financial support for instruments, lessons and performance opportunities, making music education accessible for all children. Learn more at wysomusicmakers.org.

By Jacob Stockinger

This Saturday night, the chamber music group Con Vivo (below) will close out its 17th season.

The concert, entitled “Overture to Summer,” will include music for violin and piano by Nikolai Medtner; the Overture on Hebrew Themes by Sergei Prokofiev; the Piano Trio in G Major “Gypsy Rondo” by Joseph Haydn; and the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. (You can hear the Gypsy Rondo movement from Haydn’s piano trio in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

The concert takes place on this Saturday night, June 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the intimate Chapel at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, across from Camp Randall Stadium.

Tickets can be purchased at the door for $18 for adults and $15 for seniors and students.

Audience members are invited to join the musicians after the concert for a free reception to discuss the concert.

About the concert, artistic director Robert Taylor says: “We conclude our 17th season with music evocative of warm summer days in the sun. The wonderful lush strains of Medtner’s violin music are contrasted by the bright music of Haydn in his Piano Trio in G Major nicknamed “Gypsy Rondo.” The evening continues with one of Con Vivo’s signature pieces, Overture on Hebrew Themes by Prokofiev. We conclude with the beautiful Quintet for Clarinet and Strings by Mozart. What could be a better way to ring in the warm sunny days of summer?”

Con Vivo is a professional chamber music ensemble comprised of Madison area musicians assembled from the ranks of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and various other performing groups familiar to Madison audiences.

For more information, go to the home website www.convivomusicwithlife.org

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Classical music: The Ancora String Quartet closes its 18th season with three upcoming local concerts of music by Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Caroline Shaw

May 12, 2019
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ancora String Quartet closes its 18th season with a trio of concerts, and a program featuring two quartets from the early 19th century, juxtaposed with a shorter piece of much more recent date.

The program is the String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 13, by Felix Mendelssohn; “Entr’acte” (Minuet and Trio) by Caroline Shaw; and String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6, by Ludwig van Beethoven.

The schedule of concert dates, times and venues is below.

Members of the Ancora String Quartet (below, from left, in a photo by Barry Lewis), who also perform with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Madison Bach Musicians among other groups, are: Wes Luke and Robin Ryan, violins; Marika Fischer Hoyt, viola; and Benjamin Whitcomb, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Whtewater.

Here are some program notes provided by violist Marika Fischer Hoyt:

“Mendelssohn’s Op. 13 was written in 1827 when he was 18 years old. He’d written the Octet two years earlier, but this was his first mature string quartet. It expresses his youthful passion and includes one of his signature bubbly scherzos.

“Between our two more-established works, we insert a short piece entitled (appropriately enough) “Entr’acte” (“Intermission,” heard in the YouTube video at the bottom), composed by the American Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw (below, in a photo by Dashing Burton) in 2011. (It is one of The Ear’s favorite contemporary works.)

The 12-minute piece, subtitled “a minuet and trio,” takes haunting fragments and memes from Baroque and Classical styles and treats them with 21st-century audacity. With an ABA structure, the opening and closing sighing motif seems dolorous, but takes its own sadness in a philosophical spirit.

“While both the Mendelssohn and Shaw end quietly, we conclude the program with Beethoven’s exuberant Quartet No. 6, the final quartet in the composer’s set of six early quartets, his Opus 18. This delightful work, completed in 1800, is full of energy and drive; the melancholy mood of the brief fourth movement “La malinconia” (Melancholy) is banished by a cheerful Allegretto, ending with a flourish in the final Prestissimo.”

SCHEDULE

Monday, May 13, at 3 p.m. in the Stoughton Opera House‘s Music Appreciation Series, 381 East Main Street, Stoughton. Free and open to the public

Tuesday, May 14, 7:30 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 1833 Regent Street, Madison. Ticketed event — $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $6 for young people. There will be a reception following the concert.

Saturday, June 15, at noon in Grace Episcopal Church for “Grace Presents,” 116 West Washington Avenue, on the Capitol Square in downtown Madison. Free and open to the public.

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Classical music: Saturday at noon, Bizet’s “Carmen” airs in cinemas during “Live from The Met in HD” and on Wisconsin Public Radio. Saturday night, the Pro Arte Quartet performs a FREE concert of Haydn, Schumann and Shostakovich

February 1, 2019
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FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR SHARE IT (not just “Like It IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE”) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.

ALERT: This Saturday night, Feb. 2, at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet performs a FREE concert. The program offers the String Quartet in D Major, Op. 50, No. 6, “The Frog” by Franz Joseph Haydn; the String Quartet No. 9 in E-flat Major by Dmitri Shostakovich; and the String Quartet in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3, by Robert Schumann. For more about the unusual history of the critically acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/pro-arte-quartet-2/

By Jacob Stockinger

This Saturday, Feb. 2, the seventh production of this season’s “Metropolitan Opera Live in HD” series is Georges Bizet’s lusty, sultry and violent “Carmen,” one of the most popular operas ever composed.

Its successful world premiere was in Paris in 1875, which Bizet did not live to see. But Bizet’s masterpiece of the gypsy seductress who lives by her own rules has had an impact far beyond the opera house.

The opera’s beautiful melodies are as irresistible as the title character herself, a force of nature who has become a defining female cultural figure. (You can hear one of Carmen’s signature arias– “Love Is a Wild Bird” — in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

“Carmen” was a scandal at its premiere but soon after became a triumphal success and has remained one of the most frequently staged operas in the world.

French mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine reprises her acclaimed portrayal of opera’s ultimate temptress, a triumph in her 2017 debut performances.

Opposite her is the impassioned tenor Roberto Alagna (below right, in a photo by Karen Almond for The Met) as her lover, Don José.

French native Louis Langrée (below, in a photo by Jennifer Taylor), who heads the Mostly Mozart Festival and is the artistic director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, will conduct Sir Richard Eyre’s production, a Met favorite since its 2009 premiere.

The hi-definition broadcast of the live performance from the Metropolitan Opera (below) in New York City starts at 11:55 a.m. and runs until 3:45 p.m. with two intermissions. (It will also air at noon on Wisconsin Public Radio.)

There will be encore HD showings next Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. (“Carmen” is so popular that some cities will also host a second encore showing on Saturday, Feb. 9.)

The opera will be sung in French with supertitles in English, German, Spanish and Italian.

Tickets for Saturday broadcasts are $24 for adults, and $22 for seniors and children under 13. For encore showings, all tickets are $18.

The cinemas where the opera can be seen are two Marcus Cinemas: the Point Cinema on the west side of Madison (608 833-3980) and the Palace Cinema (608 242-2100) in Sun Prairie.

Here is a link to the Marcus Theaters website for addresses and more information. You can also use them to purchase tickets:

https://www.movietickets.com/movies

Here is a link to the Metropolitan Opera’s website where you can find the titles, dates, casts, production information and video clips of all Met productions this season:

https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/

Here is a link to a synopsis and cast list:

https://www.metopera.org/globalassets/season/in-cinemas/hd-cast-sheets/carmen_global.pdf?performanceNumber=15202

Here is a link to other information about the production of “Carmen,” including photos and audiovisual clips:

https://www.metopera.org/season/2018-19-season/carmen/

And here is a Wikipedia history of the broadcast series that gives you more information about how many cinemas it uses, the enormous size of the worldwide audience – now including Russia, China and Israel — and how much money it makes for The Met.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Opera_Live_in_HD

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Classical music: The Green Lake Festival’s popular “Barn Concert” is this Saturday night and features a “Circle of Sound” with faculty and students in the string program as well as additional free seating

July 6, 2018
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By Jacob Stockinger

The annual Green Lake Festival of Music has sent the following announcement to post:

The ever-popular barn concert this Saturday night, July 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the centennial “Boston Farm” will feature Green Lake Festival Chamber Music string faculty and students, and will include their signature “Circle of Sound” performance that surrounds the audience.

The faculty includes international chamber musicians of the Boston and Seattle Chamber Music Societies who perform regularly with concert pianist Andrew Armstrong, the director of the Chamber Music Camp. Students also come from all over the country, and this year a violinist from South Korea is a participant.

Registration for FREE tickets had been closed at the barn’s capacity, but so many have asked to attend this concert that the Festival is providing overflow seating at tables at the base of the barn where the music can be heard through the large opening above.

Hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar begin at 6:30 p.m. with the concert at 7:30 p.m. Admission is FREE, and donations will support the Green Lake Festival Chamber Music program.

The event is located at W3320 State Road 23 in Green Lake, Wisconsin.

To read about the Chamber Music faculty or see more information about the Festival, go to: www.GreenLakeFestival.org, or write to info@GreenLakeFestival.org, or call (920) 748-9398.

Classical music: Charismatic Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky is dead at 55

November 24, 2017
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By Jacob Stockinger

The charismatic Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky (below, in a 2006 photo by Richard Termine of The New York Times) had it all.

Most importantly, the great opera singer, concert singer and recitalist possessed a superb voice with wonderful tone and breath control that allowed him to even beat out Bryn Terfel to win Singer of the World at a competition in Cardiff, Wales.

But he also had handsome face and fit beefcake body that made him a believable actor in so many roles and proved a pleasure to watch on stage.

And what about that fabulous mane of prematurely white hair that became his signature?

But on Wednesday, the acclaimed Siberian singer Dmitri Hvorostovsky — who was well on his way to becoming a superstar — lost a two-year bout with brain cancer.

He died at 55 – but not after winning plaudits for unexpected appearances at the Metropolitan Opera (below) and Carnegie Hall even while he was ill.

Here are two obituaries.

The first comes from the Deceptive Cadence blog of National Public Radio (NPR) and features three samples of his singing as well as some memorable interview quotes, including the renowned singer’s unapologetic take on his own sex appeal (below) that landed him in People magazine:

https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2017/11/22/565450465/dmitri-hvorostovsky-renowned-baritone-dies-at-55

And here is a longer obituary, also with samples, from The New York Times. It includes a lot of background about the singer’s early life and career:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/arts/music/dmitri-hvorostovsky-dead.html

Did you ever see or hear Dmitri Hvorostovsky in person or perhaps in “Live From the Met in HD” broadcasts? (He sings two folk songs in the YouTube memorial video at the bottom.)

And for those of you can judge singers better than The Ear can, what was your opinion of the Russian baritone?

Did you have a favorite role or aria you liked him in?

The Ear wants to know.

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Classical music: Music is another reason to like Emmanuel Macron, the new President of France

May 12, 2017
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ALERT 1: Due to unforeseen circumstances, the recital TONIGHT by the Ancora String Quartet in Janesville will take place in St. Mary’s Catholic Church, instead of in the Janesville Woman’s Club building.

For more information, go to: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2017/05/05/classical-music-next-week-the-ancora-string-quartet-closes-its-16th-season-with-three-concerts-that-contrast-the-german-romanticism-of-beethoven-and-the-french-impressionism-of-saint-saens/

REMINDER: This Saturday, “Live From the Met in HD” will feature Richard Strauss‘ “Der Rosenkavalier.” The acclaimed Metropolitan Opera production features superstar soprano Renee Fleming in a farewell performance of her signature role of the aging Marshallin.

By Jacob Stockinger

Besides the fact that he decisively defeated the dangerous far right candidate Marine Le Pen to become the new President of France, there is much to like about centrist Emmanuel Macron (below).

PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images

Some people like his background in economics and international banking, and his desire to stay in the European Union.

Some people like that he is a newcomer who has formed his own political party.

Some people like the fact that he married a high school teacher, Brigitte Trogneux, who is 25 years older than he is.

Some people like the fact that he has foregone having his own children in order to be an instant stepfather and step-grandfather through his wife’s family.

But here is another reason to like Macron.

Classical music.

Not only is Macron a winning politician, he is also an avid amateur pianist.

For details – including his training and his favorite composers — see the story on National Public Radio (NPR).

Here is a link:

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/05/09/527577050/something-you-didnt-know-about-emmanuel-macron-hes-a-pianist

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