The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra and conductor Kyle Knox brightened a soggy spring with early Beethoven and Elgar. On Tuesday night, an organ and cello concert takes place in Overture Hall.
2 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
ALERT: On this Tuesday night, April 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Overture Hall, organist Greg Zelek and guest cellist Thomas Mesa will close out the season of Concert Organ performances sponsored by the Madison Symphony Orchestra. The program includes music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Claude Debussy and Charles-Marie Widor. For tickets ($20) and more information about the program with detailed biographies of the performers, go to: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/thoms-mesa-greg-zelek/
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a veteran and well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
The early spring concert on last Wednesday night by the Middleton Community Orchestra (below, in a photo by Brian Ruppert) at the Middleton Performing Arts Center that is attached to Middleton High School was comparatively short – it had no intermission — and was devoted to only two composers.
The first was Edward Elgar (below, in 1910), whose early orchestral works included a good deal of music drawn from his youthful sketchbooks. Notable in that category were two suites, given the joint title of The Wand of Youth.
From the eight sections of the First Suite (1907), six were played, and from the six sections comprising the Second Suite (1908), four were given. All these movements are colorful and evocative little miniatures, reflecting early imagination, often touching, but many quite boisterous.
The other composer was Ludwig van Beethoven (below), as represented by his Symphony No. 2. This shows the young composer moving quite distinctly beyond the stylistic world of Haydn and Mozart into the rambunctious new symphonic idiom he would go on to create. (You can hear Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic play the opening of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The guest conductor this time, Kyle Knox – the recent University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate who is the music director of Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras and the associate conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra — chose to give the music a “big orchestra” approach.
For both the suites and the symphony, the lighter and cleaner textures of a chamber orchestra would seem best. But with an orchestra totaling some 91 players, Knox chose to go for volume and sonority.
His tempos, especially in the Beethoven were notably fast. As the largely amateur orchestra followed loyally, there was some raw playing at times.
Still, the MCO asserted strong character, which made a very happy impression on the audience and brightened an evening of soggy weather.
Tags: #AmateurMusician, #AmericanRecordGuide, #BaroqueMusic, #BeethovenSymphony, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrassSection, #CelloMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberOrchestra, #Charles-MarieWidor, #ClaudeDebussy, #EdwardElgar, #EmeritusProfessor, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FranzSchubert, #GregZelek, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnW.Barker, #KyleKnox, #LeonardBernstein, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedievalHistory, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MiddletonPerformingArtsCenter, #MusicalStyle, #MusicCritic, #MusicReview, #OrganMusic, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #PercussionSection, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #Pre-concertLecture, #SpringWeather, #StringMusic, #StringSection, #TheWandofYouth, #ThomasMesa, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViennaAustria, #ViennaPhilharmonic, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WoodwindSection, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, amateur, American Record Guide, April, Arts, audience, Austria, Bach, Baroque, Baroque music, Beethoven, big, biography, blog, boisterous, brass, category, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, character, Charles-Marie Widor, Classical music, Claude Debussy, clean, colorful, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, critic, early, Early music, Edward Elgar, emeritus professor, evocative, Facebook, fast, forward, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, graduate, Greg Zelek, guest, happy', Haydn, idiom, imagination, impression, intermission, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John W. Barker, joint, Kyle Knox, lecture, Leonard Bernstein, lighter, like, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mead Witter School of Music, Medieval history, Middleton Community Orchestra, Middleton High School, Middleton Performing Arts Center, miniature, movement, Mozart, Music, music critic, music review, night, opening, Orchestra, organ, organist, Overture Center, Overture Hall, percussion, performer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, players, professor, program, raw, recent, review, Season, Serenade, share, short, sketchbooks, soggy, sonority, sping, string section, strings, style, Suite, symphony, tag, Tempo, texture, The Wand of Youth, Thomas Mesa, title, touching, Tuesday, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, Vienna, Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Viola, Violin, volume, weather, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, woodwind, WORT-FM 89.9, Writer, youthful, YouTube
Classical music: Greg Zelek closes out the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s organ recital season this Friday night with music by Bach, Schumann, Franck and Liszt
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) organist Greg Zelek (below) will perform a recital this Friday night, May 11, at 7:30 p.m. in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, 201 State St.
According to the MSO, “Zelek thrilled the Overture audience with his spellbinding debut recital in 2016, and then again with his appearances in 2017 and 2018 as the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s new Principal Organist and Curator of the Overture Concert Organ (below).”
This past weekend, Zelek played an impressively virtuosic organ passage in the “Glagolitic Mass” by Leos Janacek and was warmly received by the audience.
This time, Zelek returns to close out the season’s concert organ series in a “Voices of Spring” program of music that includes music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, John Weaver, Cesar Franck and Gioachino Rossini as well as the monumental 30-minute Fantasy and Fugue on the Chorale “Ad nos, ad salutarem unjam” by Franz Liszt.
For the complete program and an audiovisual sample of Zelek’s playing Bach, go to: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/zelek
Zelek recently completed Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, and an Artist Diploma at the Julliard School. Adds the MSP: “Greg continues to cultivate his reputation as one of the most exciting organists in the American organ scene.” (You can hear Zelek play Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Admission for each Overture Concert Organ performance is $20.
Tickets can be purchased at madisonsymphony.org/zelek, (608) 258-4141 or the Overture Box Office.
Student Rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $10 tickets.
This performance is sponsored by Walter and Karen Pridham. Support for all Overture Concert Organ programs is provided by the Diane Endres Ballweg Fund.
With a gift from Pleasant T. Rowland, the Madison Symphony Orchestra commissioned the Overture Concert Organ, which is the stunning backdrop of all MSO concerts.
Tags: #A, #AmericanMusic, #CesarFranck, #ConcertOrgan, #FranzLiszt, #GioachinoRossini, #GlagoliticMass, #GregZelek, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnWeaver, #JuilliardSchool, #LeosJanacek, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #OvertureHall, #PleasantT.Rowland, #RobertSchumann, #ToccataandFugueinDminor, #Voices ofSpring, American, artist, Arts, audiovisual, Bach, bachelor's, Baroque, Cesar Franck, Classical music, commission, composer, Concert, curator, debut, degree, Diane Endres Ballweg, diploma, Early music, fantasy, Franz Liszt, Friday, fugue, fund, funding, gift, Glagolitic, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Weaver, Leos Janacek, Liszt, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, mass, master's, Music, New York City, organ, Overture Center, Pleasant T. Rowland, principal, program, recital, Rossini, sample, Schumann, Season, sping, support, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, voices, weekend, Wisconsin, 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 