The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Is Royal Wedding cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason the next Yo-Yo Ma?
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By Jacob Stockinger
If you watched the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and American Meghan Markle – who are now known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – you were probably impressed by many things.
Not the least of them was the performance by the young Afro-British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who performed three pieces: “After a Dream” by Gabriel Faure; “Ave Maria” by Franz Schubert; and “Sicilienne” (an ancient dance step) by Maria Theresia von Paradis.
The young player acquitted himself just fine, despite the pressure of the event, with its avid public interest in the United Kingdom and a worldwide TV viewership of 2 billion.
But that is to be expected. He is no ordinary teenage cellist. Now 19, he was named BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2016 — the first black musician of African background to be awarded the honor since it started in 1938. A native of Nottingham, even as he pursues a busy concert and recording schedule, he continues his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
So it was with great anticipation that The Ear listened to “Inspiration,” Kanneh-Mason’s new recording from Decca Records, which is already a bestseller on Amazon.com and elsewhere, and has topped the U.S. pop charts. (There are also many performances by him on YouTube.)
Unfortunately, The Ear was disappointed by the mixed results.
The cellist’s playing is certainly impressive for its technique and tone. But in every piece, he is joined by the City of Birmingham Orchestra or its cello section. The collaboration works exceptionally well with the Cello Concerto No. 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich.
However, so many of the other works seem too orchestrated and overly arranged. So much of the music becomes thick and muddy, just too stringy. The Ear wanted to hear more of the young cellist and less of the backup band.
One also has to wonder if the recording benefits from being a mixed album with a program so full of crossovers, perhaps for commercial reasons and perhaps to reach a young audience. There is a klezmer piece, “Evening of the Roses” as well as a reggae piece, “No Woman, No Cry” by Bob Marley and the famous song “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen.
In addition, there are the familiar “The Swan” from “The Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saens and two pieces by the inspiring cellist referred to in the title of the recording, Pablo (or Pau in Catalan) Casals (below).
A great humanist and champion of democracy who spent most of his career in exile from dictator Franco’s Spain, Casals used the solo “The Birds” as a signature encore. Played solo, it is a poignant piece — just as Yo-Yo Ma played it as an encore at the BBC Proms, which is also on YouTube). But here it simply loses its simplicity and seems overwhelmed.
Clearly, Sheku Kanneh-Mason is a musician of great accomplishment and even greater promise who couldn’t have wished for better publicity to launch a big career than he received from the royal wedding. He handles celebrity well and seems a star in the making, possibly even the next Yo-Yo Ma, who has also done his share of film scores and pop transcriptions
But when it comes to the recording studio, a smaller scale would be better. Sometimes less is more, and this is one of those times. (Listen to his beautiful solo playing and his comments in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
To take the full measure of his musicianship, The Ear is anxious to hear Kanneh-Mason in solo suites by Johann Sebastian Bach and concertos by Antonio Vivaldi; in sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms; in concertos by Antonin Dvorak and Edward Elgar; and in much more standard repertory that allows comparison and is less gimmicky.
Did you hear Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s live performance at the royal wedding? What did you think?
And if you have heard his latest recording, what do you think of that?
Do you think Sheku Kanne-Mason is the next Yo-Yo Ma?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Music education: Suzuki Strings of Madison will perform its FREE all-school Spring Concert this Saturday afternoon in Middleton
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ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature the Canzone for Flute and Piano, transcribed by Samuel Barber, from the second movement of his Piano Concerto, Op 38; and the Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano by Claude Bolling (1973) for flute, piano, drum set and bass.
Performers are: Marilyn Chohaney, flute; Joseph Ross, piano; Bradley Townsend, double bass; and Thomas Ross, drums.
The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
On this Saturday, May 12, at 3 p.m. Suzuki Strings of Madison (below) will present a FREE all-school Spring Concert.
The performance runs about two hours, and will be at the Middleton Performing Arts Center, 2100 Bristol Street, which is attached to Middleton High School. The building is wheelchair-accessible. Doors open at 2:30 p.m.
This Suzuki Strings of Madison Spring concert will showcase the string orchestra; the Sonora Strings touring ensemble, which has done pre-concert performances at the Wisconsin Union Theater); a presentation of the 2018 Twinkle class; and an all-school performance.
Featured selections include the Hungarian Dance No. 1 by Johannes Brahms; “On Wings of Song” by Felix Mendelssohn; the Minuet from the String Quartet, Op. 15, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; and with favorite concertos by Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach.
In the spirit of the Suzuki violin tradition, the children will perform selections from the method volumes with the addition of lovely rich harmonies.
The grand finale invites our youngest performers on stage with the Variations on the theme of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” (You can hear the same finale, with teacher and director Diana Popowycz, from last year’s concert in the YouTube video at the bottom).
Suzuki Strings of Madison has been providing quality violin instruction to all ages since 1990.
For more information about Suzuki Strings, call (608) 695-4020 or visit: www.suzukistringsofmadison.org
Tags: #AntonioVivaldi, #ClaudeBolling, #FelixMendelssohn, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FridayNoonMusicale, #HungarianDance, #JazzMusic, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MiddletonPerformingArtsCenter, #MiddletonWisconsin, #MusicEducation, #PianoConcerto, #SamuelBarber, #SonoraStrings, #StringQuartet, #SuzukiMethod, #SuzukiStringsofMadison, #TwinkleTwinkleLittleStar, #WheelchairAccessible, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, Arts, Bach, Baroque, canzone, Chamber music, children, Classical music, Claude Bolling, composer, Concert, concerto, double bass, drums, Early music, First Unitarian Society of Madison, flute, free, harmony, Hungarian, Hungarian Dance, Hungary, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Madison, Middleton High School, Middleton Performing Arts Center, minuet, Mozart, Music, Music education, Piano, rich, Samuel Barber, song, spirit, Spring, String quartet, strings, Suite, Suzuki, tour, transcription, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, wheelchair-accessible, wing, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Sunday is a good time to remember and praise three men whose musical legacies live on decades later at the UW-Madison and Edgewood College. Plus, the UW’s Perlman Trio plays this afternoon
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CORRECTION: Today, Saturday, April 14, at 3:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall — NOT yesterday as was mistakenly listed in the early edition of yesterday’s post — is the annual FREE concert by the UW’s Perlman Trio (named after benefactor Kato Perlman).
It will perform piano trios by Franz Joseph Haydn and Robert Schumann, and a piano quartet by Johannes Brahms. A reception will follow. For more information about the student performers and the full program, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/the-perlman-trio/
By Jacob Stockinger
This Sunday afternoon is a good time to remember three men whose musical legacies continue to survive after their deaths and decades after they made their contribution.
At 3:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall on the UW-Madison campus, the three winners of the 33rd annual Beethoven Sonata Competition will perform a FREE recital.
The competition was started by chemistry professor and former UW-Madison Chancellor Irving Shain, who once contemplated a career as a flutist and who died at 92 in March.
The 2018 winners (with photos below the names) are:
ANNA SIAMPANI
MICHAEL MESSER
ERIC TRAN
One interesting and unusual aspect of the concert is that the same piano sonata — the beautiful and soulful, theme-and-variations Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109 — will be performed twice by two different winners. The Ear thinks that is a first in the history of the competition. (You can hear Richard Goode play the sonata in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
A reception will follow the concert.
Here is the program:
Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109 — Anna Siampani
Sonata No. 7 in D major, op.10, no.3 — Michael Messer
— INTERMISSION—
Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109 — Eric Tran
Adds the Mead Witter School of Music’s website: “We bid farewell to former Chancellor Irving Shain (below), who died on March 6 at the age of 92. Chancellor Shain was a champion of the piano, founding both the Shain Piano/Woodwind Duo Competition (that concert was on March 4) and the Beethoven Piano Competition.
“His contributions to the School of Music were significant. We have missed his presence at these concerts and we remember him with fondness.”
Read more about Chancellor Shain here:
https://news.wisc.edu/former-uw-madison-chancellor-irving-shain-dies-at-92/
EDGEWOOD COLLEGE
At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive, Edgewood College will also mark a special event: a FREE celebratory concert to mark the 25th anniversary of the Edgewood Chamber Orchestra.
The program, under the baton of Blake Walter (below), features audience favorites, such as the Claude Debussy’s Petite Suite and the Overture to the opera The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
There is no admission charge, but donations to the Edward Walters Music Scholarship are accepted. The scholarship fund directly benefits Edgewood College students participating in ensembles.
A reception will follow the concert in the Washburn Heritage Room.
Adds Edgewood College (below) in a press release: “Founded in 1993 through a generous endowment established by Edgewood College benefactors William O. Hart and Vernon Sell, the Edgewood Chamber Orchestra fulfills a unique role at Edgewood College and in the Madison community. (Sorry, The Ear could not find photos of either William O. Hart or Vernon Sell.)
“Hart and Sell envisioned hosting a permanent in-house chamber orchestra that would provide Edgewood College students and community members access to high-quality performances and unique educational opportunities.
“Their dream remains vital today, as the ensemble contributes directly to the advancement of music students by giving them the rare opportunity arrange for the ensemble, perform with the group as selected soloists, and to conduct the ensemble. It also provides students and the community exposure to world-class soloists and distinctive programming.”
Tags: #BeethovenSonataCompetition, #ChamberOrchestra, #ClaudeDebussy, #EdgewoodChamberOrchestra, #EdgewoodCollege, #EndowmentFund, #FranzJosephHaydn, #IrvingShain, #JohannesBrahms, #KatoPerlman, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonCommunity, #MarriageofFigaro, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicEducation, #OperaOverture, #PerlmanTrio, #PianoQuartet, #PianoSonata, #PianoTrio, #RichardGoode, #RobertSchumann, #ThemeAndVariations, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WoodwindMusic, admission, annual, Arts, audience, beautiful, Beethoven, blog, Brahms, Cello, Chamber music, chancellor, chemistry, Classical music, community, Competition, composer, conductor, contribution, Debussy, donation, duo, early, edition, endowment, favorite, flute, flutist, fugue, Haydn, History, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, legacies, legacy, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, men, Mozart, Music, Music director, Music education, musical, opera, Orchestra, Overture, Piano, post, professor, program, scholarship, Schumann, Sonata, Suite, theme and variations, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, winner, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, woodwind, yesterday, YouTube
Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra and UW-Madison horn player Dafydd Bevil excel in a concerto by Richard Strauss and a theater suite by Ralph Vaughan-Williams. Plus, the UW’s Perlman Trio performs Saturday afternoon
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ALERT: On SATURDAY – (not today as first mistakenly listed) –at 3:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, the annual FREE concert by the UW’s Perlman Trio — named after benefactor Kato Perlman — will perform piano trios by Franz Joseph Haydn and Robert Schumann, and a piano quartet by Johannes Brahms. A reception will follow For more information about the student performers and the full program, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/the-perlman-trio/
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 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. Barker also took the performance photos.
By John W. Barker
The Middleton Community Orchestra (below), under conductor Kyle Knox, brought off a splendid concert on last Wednesday evening.
The opening item was the Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47, for string quartet and string orchestra by Edward Elgar. This is a broad work of great Romantic sweep, featuring the lush textures pitting a large ensemble against a miniature one.
The largely amateur Middleton orchestra fields a very large string section. It has not yet completely fused into a suave entity, but the 30-odd players did a brave job of capturing the music’s rhetorical richness.
The soloist for the evening was Dafydd Bevil (below), a French horn player who is very active in a number of orchestras and ensembles in the Madison area while currently engaged in doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
Bevil boldly chose as his vehicle the second of Richard Strauss’ two horn concertos. Neither is heard in concert very much, though the Concerto No. 1 is a little more familiar from recordings. That is a bravura piece, composed in 1882, when Strauss (below) was 18, and was written for his father, Germany’s foremost horn virtuoso.
The Concerto No. 2 dates from the other end of Strauss’s career, in 1942, the first of some wind concertos undertaken during and after World War II. Intended to recapture his earlier instrumental style, it is a much more studied piece than its predecessor.
Bevil, clearly a player of exceptional skill and musicality, powerfully met Strauss’ showy and florid solo writing. This is a virtuoso musician with a promising future.
The remainder of the concert was devoted to the first of what would be a number of scores Ralph Vaughan Williams (below) prepared to fit Classical Greek plays. (RVW was himself a very accomplished master of ancient Greek.)
In 1912, inspired by the translations of Gilbert Murray, he produced music to set Murray’s English texts for three of the plays by Euripides: The Bacchae, Electra, and Iphigenia in Tauris.
Before that, however, in 1909, still early in his career, Vaughan Williams composed incidental music to a production (in Greek) of the comedy by Aristophanes, The Wasps.
From that Aristophanic score, the composer put together an orchestral concert suite of an overture and five incidental numbers. The overture itself has enjoyed some frequency of concert performances, but the full suite is little known to the public over here.
It was a clever stroke of programming that Kyle Knox (below) led the orchestra in the full suite. This is delightful music, full of typical Vaughan Williams whimsy, inventiveness, and cleverness. Sounding simple, it creates balances and details not easy to manage, but Knox and the orchestra performed it with dazzling flair. (You can hear the rarely performed full suite in the YouTube video at the bottom)
This is exactly the kind of enterprise that makes the Madison area’s musical life so stimulating and joyous.
Tags: #AmateurMusicians, #AmericanRecordGuide, #AncientGreece, #AncientGreek, #ClassicalGreece, #ClassicalGreek, #EdwardElgar, #EnglishLanguage, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FrenchHorn, #GilbertMurray, #GreekLiterature, #GreekTragedy, #HornConcerto, #HornMusic, #IncidentalMusic, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnW.Barker, #JohnWBarker, #KatoPerlman, #KyleKnox, #LateRomanticism, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedievalHistory, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MiddletonWisconsin, #PerlmanTrio, #PianoQuartet, #PianoTrio, #RadioMusic, #RadioShows, #RalphVaughanWilliams, #RichardStrauss, #RobertSchumann, #RomanticMusic, #StringMusic, #StringQuartet, #TheWasps, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WindMusic, #WorldWarII, #WORT-FM89.9, allegro, amateur, Aristophanes, Arts, balance, brave, bravura, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, cleverness, comedy, composer, concerto, critic, dazzling, details, doctoral, Early music, earlymusic, English, ensemble, Euripides, father, flair, florid, future, Germany, guest, History, host, incidental music, instrumental, introduction, Introduction and Allegro, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, job, Johannes Brahms, John W. Barker, Joy, joyous, large, lecture, lush, Madison, Medieval, Medieval history, miniature, Music, musicians, Orchestra, orchetsras, Overture, performance, photo, production, professor, promising, Radio, rhetoric, rhetorical, richness, Romanticism, score, solo, stimulating, String quartet, strings, studies, style, Suite, symphony, text, texture, translation, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vehicle, Viola, Violin, virtuoso, winds, YouTube
Classical music: UW-Madison horn player Dafydd Bevil solos with the Middleton Community Orchestra this Wednesday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m., UW graduate horn student Dafydd Bevil (a Welsh named related to David, below top) will solo in the penultimate concert of the season by the mostly amateur but critically acclaimed Middleton Community Orchestra (below bottom).
The concert is held in the Middleton Performing Arts Center (below) that is attached to Middleton High School, 2100 Bristol Street.
The program, to be performed under the baton of guest conductor Kyle Knox (below), features the Horn Concerto No. 2 by Richard Strauss. (You can hear the opening movement of the horn concert in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Also on the program are Sir Edward Elgar‘s Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op. 47, and Ralph Vaughan-Williams “The Wasps: Aristophanic Suite.”
General admission is $15 general admission; students are admitted for free.
Tickets are available at Willy St. Co-op West and at the door.
Students can get tickets at the door only on the night of the show. The box office opens at 6:30 p.m. and concert hall doors open at 7 p.m.
As usual, there will be a meet-and-greet reception (below) for the musicians and the audience after the performance.
Tags: #AmateurMusicians, #BoxOffice, #BrassMusic, #EdwardElgar, #FrenchHorn, #HornConcerto, #KyleKnox, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MiddletonPerformingArtsCenter, #MiddletonWisconsin, #RalphVaughan-Williams, #RichardStauss, #TheWasps, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WelchLanguage, allegro, amateur, Aristophanes, Arts, box office, Cello, Classical music, composer, concerto, critic, graduate student, guest, introduction, Jacob Stockinger, Kyle Knox, Madison, Middleton High School, movement, Music, Orchestra, program, reception, Richard Strauss, Season, solo, Student, Suite, symphony, ticket, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Wales, wasps, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: James Levine has been fired by The Met for sexual abuse. Plus, “Pulcinella Re-Imagined: An Evening of Music by Mr. Chair” will be performed at The Mineral Point Opera House this Friday night at 7 p.m.
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NEWS ALERT: James Levine was fired Monday night by the Metropolitan Opera for sexual abuse.
Here is a link to a story in The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/12/arts/music/james-levine-metropolitan-opera.html
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has been asked to post the following announcement:
“Pulcinella Re-Imagined: An Evening of Music by Mr. Chair” will be performed at The Mineral Point Opera House this Friday night at 7 p.m.
The Opera House is located at 139 High St. in Mineral Point.
Based in Madison, Mr. Chair (below, in a photo by Ryan Gilman) is a multi-genre group that plays a mix of rock, jazz, modern classical and improv-based styles.
This show will feature an arrangement of Igor Stravinsky‘s “Pulcinella” ballet as well as original music. It features beautiful, hip and surreal textures from whispering lyricism to thunderous wails in a gorgeous, historic theater. (You can hear the original version of “Pulcinella” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Members of the groups are UW-Madison professor Mark Hetzler on trombone, electronics; Jason Kutz on piano/keyboards; Ben Ferris on basses; and Michael Koszewski on drums
The concert will feature a special appearance by dancer/choreographer Amy Ryerson (below top) and narration by Buzz Kemper (below bottom).
Tickets can be purchased at the door or through BrownPaperTickets at https://m.bpt.me/event/3341686
Admission is $15 for adults, $5 for students and under 12 (at the door)
The program includes:
- “Mile of Ledges” 2. “Correction” 3. “Freed” 4. Three Views of Infinity, Mangalore to Bangalore Express”
Intermission
“Pulcinella”
Tags: #IgorStravinsky, #JamesLevine, #JazzMusic, #MetropolitanOpera, #MineralPoint, #MineralPointOperaHouse, #MrChair, #NewYorkCity, #RockMusic, #SexAbuse, #SexualAbuse, #TheNewYorkTImes, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, Arts, ballet, Baroque, beauitufl, Chamber music, choroegrapher, Classical music, composer, conductor, dance, dancer, director, fired, Friday, genre, hip, historic, Igor Stravinsky, infinity, Jacob Stockinger, James Levine, Jazz, lyricism, Madison, Metropolitan Opera, modern, Music, narrator, New York City, New York Times, Orchestra, Peter Gelb, Piano, Pulcinella, sexual abuse, style, Suite, surreal, symphony, texture, the Met, The New York Times, theater, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, view, wail, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: This Saturday’s CAN’T MISS, MUST-HEAR Bach Around the Clock 5 is new and improved with something for everyone who loves the music of Johann Sebastian
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By Jacob Stockinger
How do you like your Bach?
No matter how you answer, it is just about certain that you will find it at this Saturday’s marathon Bach Around the Clock 5, which is even more impressive this year than last year, which was plenty successful.
BATC 5 is a community birthday celebration of the life and music of Baroque master Johann Sebastian Bach (below) – for many, The Big Bang of classical music — who turns 333 this month.
BATC 5 will take place this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (below) at 1833 Regent Street, on Madison’s near west side.
NOTE: If you can’t make it in person, the entire event will be streamed live, as it was last year, from the church via a link on the BATC web page.
https://bacharoundtheclock.wordpress.com/live-stream/
But also – new this year – you can listen via streaming from the web site of Early Music America, which also awarded the event one of only five $500 grants in the entire U.S.
https://www.earlymusicamerica.org
For all 12 hours, BATC 5 is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Those who attend are also encouraged to be informal in dress and behavior – to come in and listen, then leave and came back again – in short, to wander in and out as they want to or need to.
To The Ear, the event has been improved in just about every way you can think of.
Do you like to hear professional performers? Amateurs? Students? You will find lots of all of them. (Below are the Sonora Suzuki Strings of Madison.)
Do you like your Bach on period instruments, such as the harpsichord and the recorder, using historically informed performance practices? BATC 5 has that.
Do you like your Bach on modern instruments like the piano? BATC has that too. (Below is Tim Adrianson of Madison who will play the Partita No. 5 in G Major this year.)
Do you like more familiar works? There will be the Harpsichord Concerto No. 1 in D minor, the Concerto for Two Violins and the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. (Last year saw Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 and 5, and BATC director Marika Fischer Hoyt says her plans call for the one-day festival to work its way through all six Brandenburgs before repeating any.) You can hear the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Do you like less familiar works to expand your horizon? There will be lots of those too.
Do you prefer Bach’s vocal and choral writing? BATC has lots of it, including the famous Cantata No. 140 (“Wachet auf”) performed by UW baritone Paul Rowe (below, in a photo by Michael R. Anderson) and his students from the UW’s Mead Witter School of Music, plus two solo cantatas. The Wisconsin Chamber Choir will also sing.
Do you prefer Bach’s instrumental music? BATC has that in abundance, from solo pieces like a Cello Suite to chamber music such as an Organ Trio Sonata and larger ensembles.
Do you like the original versions? No problem. BATC has them.
Do you like novel or modern arrangements and transcriptions of Bach’s universal music? BATC has them too.
Concerned about how long the event is?
You might want to bring along a cushion to soften a long sit on hard pews.
Plus, there is more food and more refreshments this year, thanks to donations from Classen’s Bakery, HyVee, Trader Joe’s and the Willy Street Co-op.
There are more performers, up from 80 last year to about 200. And they include a pianist who is the official Guest Artist Lawrence Quinnett (below) and is coming all the way from North Carolina, where he teaches at a college, to perform two half-hour segments of Preludes and Fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II.
Here is a link to Quinnett’s own web site:
http://www.lawrencequinnett.com
But familiar faces and voices from the UW-Madison and other groups in the Madison area will also be returning to perform.
Also new this year is a back-up group for concertos and accompaniment.
Some features have been carried over, including mini-interviews with performers conducted by hosts, including Stephanie Elkins (below top) of Wisconsin Public Radio and Marika Fischer Hoyt herself (below bottom, with flutist Casey Oelkers, on the left, who works for the Madison Symphony Orchestra)
But The Ear is also impressed by how little repetition in repertoire there is from last year. So far, each year feels pretty much new and different, and the newly designated non-profit organization, with its newly formed board of directors, is working hard to keep it that way.
What more is there to say?
Only that you and all lovers of classical music should be there are some point – or even more than one.
Here is a link to the BATC general web site, with lots of information including how to support this community event — which, for the sake of full disclosure, The Ear does:
https://bacharoundtheclock.wordpress.com
And here is a link to the full schedule that you can print out and use as a guide. It also has last year’s schedule for performers and pieces that you can use for purposes of comparison:
https://bacharoundtheclock.wordpress.com/concert-schedule/
Let the music begin!
See you there!
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Classical music: Here are the classical music winners of the 2018 Grammy Awards.
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By Jacob Stockinger
This posting is both a news story and a gift guide of sorts about recordings you might like to give or get.
It features the classical music nominations for and winners of the Grammy Awards, which were just announced this past Sunday night.
Read them and in the COMMENT section what you think of the recordings that you know and which ones you think deserved to win. (The Ear got about half right.)
You can also encouraged to comment on the Grammys in general.
NOTE: THE WINNERS HAVE AN ASTERISK AND A PHOTO, AND ARE BOLDFACED
HISTORICAL ALBUMS:
- “The Goldberg Variations — the Complete Unreleased Recording Sessions June 1955” — Robert Russ, compilation producer; Matthias Erb, Martin Kistner & Andreas K. Meyer, mastering engineers (Glenn Gould)
- *”Leonard Bernstein — the Composer” (below) — Robert Russ, compilation producer; Martin Kistner & Andreas K. Meyer, mastering engineers (Leonard Bernstein)
ENGINEERED ALBUM, CLASSICAL
- “Danielpour: Songs of Solitude & War Songs” — Gary Call, engineer (Thomas Hampson, Giancarlo Guerrero & Nashville Symphony)
- “Kleiberg: Mass for Modern Man” — Morten Lindberg, engineer (Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Trondheim Vokalensemble & Trondheim Symphony Orchestra)
- “Schoenberg, Adam: American Symphony; Finding Rothko; Picture Studies” — Keith O. Johnson & Sean Royce Martin, engineers (Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony)
- *”Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio” (below) — Mark Donahue, engineer (Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)
- “Tyberg: Masses” — John Newton, engineer; Jesse Brayman, mastering engineer (Brian A. Schmidt, Christopher Jacobson & South Dakota Chorale)
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, CLASSICAL
- Blanton Alspaugh
- Manfred Eicher
- *David Frost (below)
- Morten Lindberg
- Judith Sherman
ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE
- “Concertos for Orchestra” — Louis Langrée, conductor (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
- “Copland: Symphony No. 3; Three Latin American Sketches” — Leonard Slatkin, conductor (Detroit Symphony Orchestra)
- “Debussy: Images; Jeux & La Plus Que Lente” — Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor (San Francisco Symphony)
- “Mahler: Symphony No. 5” — Osmo Vänskä, conductor (Minnesota Orchestra)
- *”Shostakovich (below): Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio” — Manfred Honeck, conductor (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)
OPERA RECORDING
- “Berg: Lulu” — Lothar Koenigs, conductor; Daniel Brenna, Marlis Petersen & Johan Reuter; Jay David Saks, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra)
- *”Berg: Wozzeck” (below) — Hans Graf, conductor; Anne Schwanewilms & Roman Trekel; Hans Graf, producer (Houston Symphony; Chorus of Students and Alumni, Shepherd School of Music, Rice University & Houston Grand Opera Children’s Chorus)
- “Bizet: Les Pêcheurs de Perles” — Gianandrea Noseda, conductor; Diana Damrau, Mariusz Kwiecień, Matthew Polenzani & Nicolas Testé; Jay David Saks, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)
- “Handel: Ottone” — George Petrou, conductor; Max Emanuel Cencic & Lauren Snouffer; Jacob Händel, producer (Il Pomo D’Oro)
- “Rimsky-Korsakov: The Golden Cockerel” — Valery Gergiev, conductor; Vladimir Feliauer, Aida Garifullina & Kira Loginova; Ilya Petrov, producer (Mariinsky Orchestra; Mariinsky Chorus)
CHORAL PERFORMANCE
- *”Bryars: The Fifth Century” — Donald Nally, conductor (PRISM Quartet; The Crossing)
- “Handel: Messiah” — Andrew Davis, conductor; Noel Edison, chorus master (Elizabeth DeShong, John Relyea, Andrew Staples & Erin Wall; Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Toronto Mendelssohn Choir)
- “Mansurian: Requiem” — Alexander Liebreich, conductor; Florian Helgath, chorus master (Anja Petersen & Andrew Redmond; Münchener Kammerorchester; RIAS Kammerchor)
- “Music of the Spheres” — Nigel Short, conductor (Tenebrae)
- “Tyberg: Masses” — Brian A. Schmidt, conductor (Christopher Jacobson; South Dakota Chorale)
CHAMBER MUSIC/SMALL ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
- “Buxtehude: Trio Sonatas, Op. 1” — Arcangelo
- *”Death & the Maiden” — Patricia Kopatchinskaja & the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
- “Divine Theatre — Sacred Motets by Giaches De Wert” — Stile Antico
- “Franck, Kurtág, Previn & Schumann” — Joyce Yang & Augustin Hadelich
- “Martha Argerich & Friends — Live From Lugano 2016” — Martha Argerich & Various Artists
CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTAL SOLO
- “Bach: The French Suites” — Murray Perahia
- “Haydn: Cello Concertos” — Steven Isserlis; Florian Donderer, conductor (The Deutsch Kammerphilharmonie Bremen)
- “Levina: The Piano Concertos” — Maria Lettberg; Ariane Matiakh, conductor (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin)
- “Shostakovich: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2” — Frank Peter Zimmermann; Alan Gilbert, conductor (NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester)
- *”Transcendental” – Daniil Trifonov (below)
CLASSICAL SOLO VOCAL ALBUM
- “Bach & Telemann: Sacred Cantatas” — Philippe Jaroussky; Petra Müllejans, conductor (Ann-Kathrin Brüggemann & Juan de la Rubia; Freiburger Barockorchester)
- *”Crazy Girl Crazy — Music by Gershwin, Berg & Berio” — Barbara Hannigan (Orchestra Ludwig)
- “Gods & Monsters” — Nicholas Phan; Myra Huang, accompanist
- “In War & Peace — Harmony Through Music” — Joyce DiDonato; Maxim Emelyanychev, conductor (Il Pomo D’Oro)
- “Sviridov: Russia Cast Adrift” — Dmitri Hvorostovsky; Constantine Orbelian, conductor (St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra & Style of Five Ensemble)
CLASSICAL COMPENDIUM
- “Barbara” — Alexandre Tharaud; Cécile Lenoir, producer
- *”Higdon: All Things Majestic, Viola Concerto & Oboe Concerto” (below with the first movement of the Viola Concerto in the YouTube video at the bottom) — Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor; Tim Handley, producer
- “Kurtág: Complete Works for Ensemble & Choir” — Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor; Guido Tichelman, producer
- “Les Routes de l’Esclavage” — Jordi Savall, conductor; Benjamin Bleton, producer
- “Mademoiselle: Première Audience — Unknown Music of Nadia Boulanger” — Lucy Mauro; Lucy Mauro, producer
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION
- “Danielpour: Songs of Solitude” — Richard Danielpour, composer (Thomas Hampson, Giancarlo Guerrero & Nashville Symphony)
- *”Higdon: Viola Concerto” — Jennifer Higdon, composer (below)(Roberto Díaz, Giancarlo Guerrero & Nashville Symphony)
- “Mansurian: Requiem” — Tigran Mansurian, composer (Alexander Liebreich, Florian Helgath, RIAS Kammerchor & Münchener Kammerorchester)
- “Schoenberg, Adam: Picture Studies” — Adam Schoenberg, composer (Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony)
- “Zhou Tian: Concerto for Orchestra” — Zhou Tian, composer (Louis Langrée & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
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Classical music: The reviews are in! This afternoon is your last chance to hear the critically acclaimed violin virtuoso Gil Shaham and the Madison Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff
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By Jacob Stockinger
It has been 17 years since the internationally renowned, award-winning American violin virtuoso Gil Shaham (below) performed in Madison, and that was a recital with his pianist-sister Orli Shaham at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
This weekend he was back for three performances with the Madison Symphony Orchestra under John DeMain in an all-Russian program that featured one of the greatest violin concertos: the Violin Concerto in D major by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. (You can hear Gil Shaham performing an excerpt from the finale of the Tchaikovsky concerto in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Both the critics and audiences loved him.
This afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, 201 State Street is your last chance to hear Gil Shaham in the Tchaikovsky, along with the “Love for Three Oranges” Suite by Sergei Prokofiev and the Symphony No. 3 by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Tickets are $18-$90.
For more information about tickets, the performers and the program, go to the website:
https://www.madisonsymphony.org/shaham
Here are two reviews that you can read as a preview if you haven’t yet gone or as a chance to measure your own impressions against the critics’ if you went to the performances on Friday and Saturday nights.
Here is the review that John W. Barker, a frequent guest critic for this blog, wrote for Isthmus:
http://isthmus.com/music/violin-virtuosity/
And here is the review that Jessica Courtier wrote for The Capital Times:
What did you think of Gil Shaham’s performance?
Of the playing by the Madison Symphony Orchestra?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Acclaimed violinist Gil Shaham debuts here this weekend in an all-Russian program with the Madison Symphony Orchestra
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By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below) performs three concerts that include the long-awaited Madison debut of violin virtuoso Gil Shaham. MSO music director John DeMain will conduct.
The all-Russian program features works by three of the most popular and beloved Russian composers of all time: the Suite from “The Love for Three Oranges” by Sergei Prokofiev; the Symphony No. 3 in A minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff; and the Violin Concerto in D Major by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The concerts are in Overture Hall at the Overture Center, 201 State Street, on this Friday, Jan. 19, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 20, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Jan. 21, at 2:30 p.m.
(See below for ticket information.).
“Our January concerts feature a number of significant firsts,” says MSO music director John DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad).
“Most important is the Madison Symphony Orchestra debut of one of the world’s premier violinists, Gil Shaham. We have sought out Mr. Shaham for many seasons, and we are thrilled his international schedule aligned with ours this year. His offer to play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto led me into creating another one of my all-Russian programs.
“From Prokofiev, we open the concert with MSO’s first performance in nearly 40 years of his Suite from his opera, The Love of Three Oranges. This will also be our first-ever performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony.”
“The Love for Three Oranges” Suite by Sergei Prokofiev (below) is based on a satirical opera commissioned during the composer’s first visit to the United States in 1918.
“The suite is composed in six parts and follows the story of a prince that is cursed to love three oranges, roaming the Earth searching for them. When he finds the oranges and peels them, each discloses a beautiful princess inside. The first two princesses to emerge die, but the third and most beautiful is saved, and she and the Prince live happily ever after.
“The Violin Concerto by Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky (below) is one of the best-known violin concertos in the repertoire and is considered one of the most technically difficult works ever written for the violin. The concerto was written in 1878 as Tchaikovsky ended his marriage to Antonina Milyukova, a marriage that lasted only three months.”
Declared “the outstanding American violinist of his generation” by Time magazine, Gil Shaham is one of the foremost violinists of our time: his flawless technique combined with his inimitable warmth and generosity of spirit has solidified his renown as an American master.
Grammy Award-winner Shaham (below), also named Musical America’s “Instrumentalist of the Year,” is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors, and regularly gives recitals and appears with ensembles on the world’s great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals. (You can hear Gil Shaham rehearsing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto last month in Paris in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
In his Symphony No. 3, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s melodic outline and rhythm characterize what is believed to be his most expressively Russian symphony, particularly in the dance rhythms of the finale.
Composed between 1935 and 1936, this was the last symphony Rachmaninoff (below) would create, with an orchestration more transparent than that of his previous symphonies.
One hour before each performance, Randal Swiggum (below), artistic director of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra and interim director of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO), will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience.
For more background on the music, please read the Program Notes by MSO trombonist and UW-Whitewater professor J. Michael Allsen (below, in photo by Katrin Talbot) at: http://www.allsenmusic.com/NOTES/1718/5.Jan18.html
NOTE: The MSO recommends that concert attendees ARRIVE EARLY for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations, and so they can experience the pre-concert talk, which is free for all ticket-holders.
TICKET INFORMATION
Single Tickets are $18-$90 each and are on sale http://www.overture.org/events/gil-shaham-plays-tchaikovsky, through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141.
Groups of 15 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734.
For more information, visit: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/groups.
Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $12 or $18 tickets.
More information is at: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush
Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Major funding for the January concerts is provided by the Irving and Dorothy Levy Family Foundation, Inc., Kenneth A. Lattman Foundation, Inc., Marilyn and Jim Ebben, Dr. Stanley and Shirley Inhorn, Kato L. Perlman, and Cyrena and Lee Pondrom. Additional funding provided by James and Joan Johnston, von Briesen & Roper, S.C., and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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