The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge sings a varied program with organ accompaniment this Wednesday night in Overture Hall
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By Jacob Stockinger
The new season of the popular Overture Concert Organ series, sponsored by the Madison Symphony Orchestra and curated by MSO organist Greg Zelek, begins this Wednesday night, Sept. 11, at 7:30 p.m. in Overture Hall.
All single tickets are $20. (A subscription to all four organ concerts is $63.)
The opening program features the world-famous Choir of Trinity College Cambridge (below), on tour from its home in the United Kingdom.
Adds Zelek:
“Our season opens with the amazing Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, named by Gramophone Magazine as one of the best choirs in the world.
“Conducted by the choir’s music director Stephen Layton (below top) and accompanied on the mighty Klais concert organ (below bottom), this 25-voice choir will present a program of music spanning many centuries that will display its beauty of tone and depth of feeling. These rich voices will make this varied program soar through Overture Hall and leave everyone in the audience breathless.”
Here are some sample reviews:
Virtuoso is the right word. I, for one, can’t immediately think of any more appropriate way of describing singing of such staggering accomplishment. – BBC Music Magazine
Sitting front and center at a recent Trinity Choir of Cambridge concert at Grace Cathedral was, sonically speaking, a heavenly experience. -The New York Times
Here is Wednesday night’s eclectic program:
William Byrd | Sing joyfully
William Byrd | O Lord, make thy servant, Elizabeth
Thomas Tallis | Salvator mundi
Henry Purcell | Thou knowest, Lord
Arvo Part | Bogoroditse Djévo
John Tavener | Mother of God, here I stand
Vasily Kalinnikov | Bogoroditse Djevo
Robert Parsons | Ave Maria
Eriks Esenvalds | The Heavens’ Flock (You can hear a different Esenvalds work, “Only in Sleep,” sung by the Trinity College Choir, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Morten Lauridsen | O magnum mysterium
Jaakko Mantyjarvi | Stuttgarter Psalmen
Herbert Howells | Take him, earth, for cherishing
Herbert Howells | Trinity St. Paul’s
For more information about the Overture Organ Series, detailed background about the Trinity College Choir and how to purchase tickets, call (608) 258-4141 or go to: https://madisonsymphony.org/concerts-events/overture-concert-organ-performances/ or https://madisonsymphony.org/event/organ-trinity-choir/
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Classical music: Two new memoirs and a new recording are revealing but uneven in marking the centennial of Leonard Bernstein
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By Jacob Stockinger
We are only a month away from the centennial of the birthday of conductor, composer, educator and pianist Leonard Bernstein, which will be celebrated on Saturday, Aug. 25. Larry Wells, who is The Opera Guy for The Ear, recently assessed three of the many works – two new books of memoirs and one new recording — reexamining the life, career and legacy of Leonard Bernstein.
By Larry Wells
During this year commemorating the centenary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein (below, in a photo by Jack Mitchell), one need only consult https://leonardbernstein.com to find a day-by-day calendar of performances of his works.
As well as world-wide opportunities to hear his works -– even in Madison — there have been two recent books about Bernstein and a new recording of his final opera, “A Quiet Place,” that might be worth your time.
“A Quiet Place” was premiered in Houston as a sequel to his earlier opera “Trouble in Tahiti.” These first performances were conducted by our own John DeMain, the longtime artistic director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and music director of the Madison Opera.
This nearly two-hour one-act opera dealing with incest, bisexuality, alcoholism and psychosis did not please the critics either for its libretto or for its music.
Soon thereafter Bernstein refashioned the opera by inserting “Trouble in Tahiti” in the middle and cutting some music. His subsequent recording has always baffled me because the music is so uninteresting and the casting is so haphazard.
The new recording on the Decca label (below) is of yet another version devised by Garth Edwin Sunderland. Reducing the orchestration to a chamber ensemble of 18 players, removing “Trouble in Tahiti,” and restoring some of the cuts, this recording by Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra allows us to hear most of the original version of the opera.
(To read Sunderland’s analysis of his edition, check https://leonardbernstein.com/uploads/pages/files/PFR_2013_FW.pdf.)
The new recording is a valiant attempt by Nagano (below) to breathe some life into this dreary work, but I remain unconvinced that “A Quiet Place” is any more than a failed, final stab by a composer most of whose work I admire very much.
Charlie Harmon was Bernstein’s personal assistant, and his recent memoir ”On the Road and Off the Record with Leonard Bernstein: My Years with the Exasperating Genius” (below) goes a long way in explaining the failure of “A Quiet Place.” (You can hear the Postlude to Act I of “A Quiet Place” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
To hear Harmon tell it, by this time in Bernstein’s life the maestro depended on drugs to go to sleep, drugs to keep himself awake, and alcohol in excess. He also had a penchant for younger men.
The picture he paints of a troubled genius is rather pathetic, and Bernstein comes across as thoughtless, self-centered and exasperating. When Harmon (below, on the right with Bernstein) writes of his shock at being groped by Bernstein, I had to wonder what else he had expected. Still, it is an entertaining read.
Bernstein’s daughter Jamie Bernstein has recently published “Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein” (below) Here we get a glimpse into Bernstein’s family life. The portrait of his troubled relationship with his long-suffering wife Felicia Montealegre is particularly interesting.
I heard Jamie Bernstein (below) speak recently in Tucson, and she told amazing anecdotes about Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and William Schuman.
Little of that appears in the book. She assumes that the reader is interested in her own love life and her failed pop music career. I would have preferred to read more about the many fascinating people who surrounded Bernstein and less about her privileged and entitled life.
I have always been a big fan of Bernstein. I admired him as a conductor, teacher and composer. Anyone who has even a nominal interest in the man will find both of the recent memoirs at least diverting. The recording of “A Quiet Place,” however, is only for the true devotees.
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AQuietPlace, #ChamberEnsemble, #CharlieHarmon, #DeccaRecords, #DrugsandAlcohol, #FamilyLife, #FeliciaMontealegre, #GarthEdwinSutherland, #JohnDeMain, #KentNagano, #LeonardBernstein, #LoveLife, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MentalIllness, #MontrealCanada, #MontrealSymphonyOrchestra, #MusicEducation, #OfftheRecord, #OntheRoad, #OriginalVersion, #PersonalAssistant, #PopMusic, #PrivilegedLife, #SamuelBarber, #SexualHarassment, #SleepingPills, #TroubleinTahiti, #TucsonArizona, #WilliamSchuman, #YoungMen, #YouTubevideo, A Quiet Place, Aaron Copland, alcohol, alcoholism, anecdote, AODA, Arizona, Arts, bisexual, bisexuality, Book, calendar, Canada, cast, casting, centennial, Chamber music, Charlie Harmon, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, conductor, daughter, day, devotee, drugs, educator, Family, genius, Houston, husband, incest, interest, Jacob Stockinger, Jamie Bernstein, John DeMain, Kent Nagano, Leonard Bernstein, LGBT, LGBTQ, life, Love, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, man, memoir, Montealegre, Montreal, Music, off-the-record, opera, Orchestra, original, pathetic, performance, personal assistant, Pianist, Piano, player, pop, psychosis, psychotic, record, recording, relationship, road, Samuel Barber, self-centered, Sleep, suffering, symphony, Teacher, Texas, thoughtless, troub;e, Trouble in Tahiti, Tucson, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, version, vocal music, wife, William Schuman, Wisconsin, young men, YouTube
Classical music: Sound Out Loud and Madison Public Philosophy explore cultural appropriation in three FREE concerts and discussions over the coming week
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
Musicians from the Sound Out Loud ensemble (below) and Madison Public Philosophy are teaming up to present an interactive exploration of cultural exchange, appreciation, appropriation, and assimilation in music, from Claude Debussy‘s Pagodas (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom) to the hit song The Lion Sleeps Tonight to Irving Berlin’s nostalgic White Christmas.
There will be three performances:
Monday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. at Lathrop Hall’s Virginia Harrison Parlor (1002 University Avenue, below);
Saturday, Oct. 28, at 1:30 p.m. at the American Family Insurance‘s DreamBank (1 N. Pinckney Street , below);
and Sunday, Oct. 29 at 2:30 p.m. at the Arts + Literature Laboratory (2021 Winnebago Street, below).
Audience members will hear live music performed by Sound Out Loud accompanied by historical context and analysis from UW-Madison musicologist Andrea Fowler.
After the performances, Madison Public Philosophy will lead a discussion about the musical examples. Audience members will be asked to decide which of the following categories the examples fall into: exchange, appropriation, appreciation, and assimilation.
The events are free, but donations are accepted. Each program will last just over one hour.
For more information, got o these websites:
https://www.soundoutloudensemble.com
https://publicphilosophysite.wordpress.com
About the Organizations:
Madison Public Philosophy is a group of philosophy students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Its mission is to share philosophy with all members of the community through educational programs and public performances.
Sound Out Loud is a new music performance ensemble currently based out of Madison, Wisconsin. The group seeks to expand the realm of possibilities within the chamber ensemble repertoire through the implementation of experimental techniques, innovative performance practice, and the use of live electronics.
Tags: American, American Family Insurance, Andrea Fowler, appreciation, appropriation, Arts, Arts and Literature Laboratory, assimiilation, audience, Chamber music, Christmas, clarinet, community, composer, context, cultural, Debussy, Education, electronic, ensemble, exchange, experimental, exploration, explore, Family, flute, free, historical, History, hit, insurance, interactive, Irving Berlin, Jacob Stockinger, Laboratory, Lathrop Hall, lion', literature, live, Madison, Music, musicologist, musicology, New Music, nostalgia, Pagodas, performance, philosophy, Piano, pop, pop music, practice, program, public, singer, Singing, Sleep, song, Sound Out Loud, technique, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, tonight, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, white, White Christmas, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Do you have trouble sleeping? Try listening to composer Max Richter’s new eight-hour lullaby.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Not many days go by where you don’t see, hear or watch stories about how far too many Americans have insomnia and are sleep-deprived.
In fact it sometimes seems like sleep research and insomnia cures are two of the big payoff fields in contemporary American medicine. The Ear wonders: Is it the same story elsewhere in the world? Why or why not?
Of course, there are drugs that can be used and behavioral changes that can be made.
But maybe some music can help.
Especially the eight-hour lullaby by the London-based German composer Max Richter (below, in a photo by Rhys Frampton for Deutsche Grammophon), who last found fame for his minimalist reworking of “The Four Seasons” in “Vivaldi Recomposed.”
Richter’s mammoth lullaby is called – what else? – “Sleep.” A shorter version will soon be released on CD by Deutsche Grammophon.
You can hear a sample of “Sleep” in a YouTube video at the bottom. Is The Ear the only one who thinks that this sample owes something to the famous Prelude No. 1 in C major of “The Well-Tempered Clavier” by Johann Sebastian Bach — the same prelude that was later reworked into a popular setting of “Ave Maria” by the French composer Charles Gounod?
Here is a link to the story about the work and an interview with the composer that appeared on NPR or National Public Radio:
Tags: Album, Antonio Vivaldi, Arts, Ave Maria, Bach, Baroque, Berlin, Cello, Chamber music, Charles Gounod, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, Deutsche Grammophon, France, French music, German music, Germany, insomnia, Johann Sebastian Bach, London, Max Richter, Music, Orchestra, Prelude (music), Sleep, sleep deprivation, The Four Seasons, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Vivaldi, vocal music, Wisconsin, YouTube
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: You Must Hear This: Violinist Hilary Hahn plays “Mercy” by Max Richter
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By Jacob Stockinger
One of the gems in the 27 encores that violinist Hilary Hahn commissioned from 27 different composers a couple of years ago is “Mercy” by the German-born British composer Max Richter.
Hahn has played here several times, mostly at the Wisconsin Union Theater but also with the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Although Max Richter’s Minimalist music has not been played in Madison as far as The Ear remembers, you might already know his name from the popular recording of his take on Vivaldi in “The Four Seasons Recomposed” or his more ambitious and most current project “Sleep,” which provides music for eight and a half hours of sleeping.
But The Ear confesses he had not heard this moving miniature called “Mercy” until recently, even though Hahn recorded it along with the other 26 encores with pianist Cory Smithe.
He likes it.
And so apparently do a lot of other listeners.
So it is something that is well worth using five minutes of your time to sample.
Write your comments, positive or negative, below.
The Ear wants to hear.
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