The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The world premiere of John Harbison’s Sonata for Viola and Piano this Sunday night headlines a busy weekend at the UW that includes wind music and band music
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
By Jacob Stockinger
This is a big and busy weekend at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
The most publicized event this week, justifiably, is the world premiere of a new Sonata for Viola and Piano by composer John Harbison, who has won many awards and honors including a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship. The guest pianist, from Minnesota, is Timothy Lovelace.
The premiere takes place in Mills Hall on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. The Pro Arte Quartet will also play the “Sunrise” Quartet by Franz Joseph Haydn and “Four Encores for Stan” by Harbison. Pro Arte violist Sally Chisholm (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) will perform the new work that was written for her. It was commissioned by an anonymous patron to mark the composer’s 80th birthday.
For more information about the concert, the piece and tickets, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/2018/12/17/world-premiere-of-john-harbisons-viola-sonata/
In addition, Harbison (below) will give a free and public master class on Monday, Feb. 18, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Mills Music Library Seminar Room (Room B162G in the Memorial Library).
But that is far from the only important or noteworthy event going on.
Here is a day-by-day schedule, not including the concert by the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Youth Orchestra with guest clarinetist Amitai Vardi that takes place TODAY in Mills Hall at 4 p.m. Here is a link to more about the WYSO concert:
TODAY
At 3 p.m. in Morphy Hall, the winners’ FREE concert of the Irving Shain Woodwind-Piano Duo Competition will take place. To see the four winners and their complete programs, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/irving-shain-woodwind-piano-duo-competition-winners-recital-2/
At 7:30 p.m., faculty member bassoonist Marc Vallon (below, in a photo by James Gill), who plays with the Wingra Wind Quintet, and friends will give a FREE concert. Music to be performed includes works by Robert Schumann, John Harbison, Ida Gotkowsky, Emmanuel Chabrier, Georges Bizet, Jules Massenet and Marc Vallon, although specific titles are not listed. For more information, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/faculty-recital-marc-vallon-bassoon-2/
SUNDAY
At 2 p.m. in Mills Hall, a FREE concert will be the inaugural Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition and its winner Midori Samson (below). Scott Teeple is the faculty conductor, and Cole Hairston and Ross Wolf are graduate student conductors. The concert will be STREAMED LIVE. Here is a link to the streaming portal, which also has an archive of other streamed concerts: https://www.music.wisc.edu/video/
At 4 p.m. in Mills Hall, the UW Concert Band will perform a FREE concert under the baton of its retiring director Mike Leckrone (below).
The program, subject to change, include: “Nessum Dorma” by Giacomo Puccini; “Universal Judgment” by Camille de Nardis; “Psalm for Band” by Vincent Persichetti; “La Boutique Fantastique” by Gioacchino Rossini, arranged by Ottorino Respighi; and “Nobles of the Mystic Shrine” by John Philip Sousa.
Here is a link to the program: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-concert-band/
Tags: #AmitaiVardi, #BandMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CamilledeNardis, #ClarinetConcerto, #ConcertBand, #ConcertoCompetition, #EmmanuelChabrier, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FranzJosephHaydn, #GeorgesBizet, #GiacomoPuccini, #GioachinoRossini, #GuestArtist, #IdaGotkowsky, #IrvingShain, #JohnHarbison, #JohnPhilipSousa, #JulesMassenet, #LiveStreaming, #MacArthurFellow, #MarcVallon, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MemorialLibrary, #MidoriSamson, #MikeLeckrone, #MillsMusicLibrary, #MusicEducation, #NessumDorma, #NewMusic, #OttorinoRespighi, #ProArteQuartet, #RobertSchumann, #SallyChisholm, #SunriseQuartet, #TimothyLovelace, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWConcertBand, #VincentPersichetti, #WingraWindQuintet, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #WoodwindInstruments, #WoodwindMusic, #WorldPremiere, admission, Amitai Vardi, anonymous, archive, Arts, audience, band, band music, Bassoon, birthday, blog, Camille de Nardis, Chamber music, clarine concerto, Classical music, commission, composer, Concert, Concert Band, concerto, concerto competition, conductor, donor, duo, Emmanuel Chabrier, event, Facebook, faculty member, fellowship, Franz Joseph Haydn, free, fund, genius, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Puccini, gues, guest artist, Ida Gotkowsky, important, information, Irving Shain, Jacob Stockinger, John Harbison, John Philip Sousa, Jules Massenet, library, like, link, live streaming, live-stream, livestream, Livestreamed, Lovelace, MacArthur Fellow, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marc Vallon, master class, masterclass, Mead Witter School of Music, Memorial Library, Midori Samson, Mike Leckrone, Mills Music Library, Minnesota, Music, Music education, Nessum Dorma, New Music, noteworthy, Orchestra, patron, performer, Pianist, Piano, portal, post, posting, Pro Arte Qartet, program, psalm, public, Pulitzer Prize, Respighi, Robert Schumann, Rossini, Sally Chisholm, Sunrise Quartet, symphony, tag, ticket, title, today, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Concert Band, Vincent Persichetti, Viola, Violin, Wings Wind Quartet, winner, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, woodwind, works, world premiere, YouTube
Classical music: The Ancora String Quartet excels in music by Haydn, Dvorak and especially Ravel as it impressively opens its new season in two acoustically different venues
2 Comments
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. He also took the performance photos.
By John W. Barker
The Ancora String Quartet offered a nicely balanced program last Saturday night to open its new season at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.
The program began with Haydn’s String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 76, No. 4, known as the “Sunrise” quartet. A work of the composer’s maturity, published in 1799, it shows him straining the boundaries of Austrian Classicism and pushing close to the proto-Romanticism of his student, Beethoven.
Each work in the program was preceded by a spoken introduction, given by a member of the ensemble, and for the Haydn quartet violist Marika Fischer Hoyt did the honors.
Then came three (Nos. 2, 5 and 10) of the 12 arrangements for quartet that Antonin Dvorak made from his song cycle, Cypresses. The spoken introduction in this case was given by first violinist Wes Luke (below), who not only spoke but also sensibly read aloud — in English translation — the words of each song. Dvorak’s deeply personal lyric expression came through the more meaningfully for that.
Finally came the Quartet in F Major by Maurice Ravel. For this, cellist Benjamin Whitcomb (below) gave a cogent spoken introduction. Ravel’s work matches Debussy’s string quartet — to be played later this season — as a chamber music contribution to so-called French “Impressionism.” But it also is one of the last great demonstrations of how initially stated themes can be quoted or re-introduced in new characters and colors throughout all the movements.
This program had special value for me because it was one I was able to hear twice on two successive evenings. I particularly profited from a double hearing of the Ravel, which allowed me to listen how the various themes popped out here and there in ever-varied differences. (You can hear the String Quartet by Ravel in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The performances each time were beautifully precise and atmospheric, but the particular points of contrast involved instead a factor too often forgotten in evaluating a concert: the acoustic divergences of different performing sites.
The previous Friday evening, I heard the program in the Grand Hall of the Capitol Lakes Retirement Center. Its acoustics are tight and bright, bringing great clarity and immediacy to the playing.
By comparison, the sound at St. Andrew’s is bigger, richer and more reverberant, although differing in relation to how far up front or way back you sit—another variable to consider.
I spoke with the players about this, and it is clear that they must, and do, take account of such acoustic differences as they move from one performing site to another. Careful concert-goers, too, should always consider these differences as they listen.
A final thought: The Ancora String Quartet, which also includes Robin Ryan as second violin, has always played with splendid expertise and stylistic sense. But it seems clear to me by now that the settling in of Wes Luke as the new first violinist has brought added vigor and assertiveness to the group’s playing, making it an even more important ensemble than ever before in Madison’s musical life.
The concert will be repeated tonight in Janesville at 7:30 p.m. in the Kilmark Theatre of the UW-Rock County at 2909 Kellogg Avenue. The performance is FREE and OPEN to the public.
For more information about the Ancora String Quartet and its new season, go to the website: http://ancoraquartet.com
Tags: acoustics, American Record Guide, Ancora String Quartet, Arts, Austria, Beethoven, blog, bright, Capitol Lakes, Capitol Square, Cello, Chamber music, character, church, clarity, Classical music, Classicism, color, composer, critic, cypress, cypresses, Debussy, Dvorak, Early music, English, ensemble, Episcopal, expertise, expression, factor, festival, forgotten, France, French Impressionism, Friday, Haydn, History, host, introduction, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Janesville, John W. Barker, lecture, life, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyric, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, maturity, Medieval, morning, movement, Music, night, performance space, photo, poem, professor, quote, Radio, Ravel, read, relation, Retirement, reverberant, review, rich, Romanticism, Saturday, song, spoken, St. Andrew, String quartet, Student, style, Sunday, sunrise, Sunrise Quartet, theater, theatre, theme, tight, translation, tree, trees, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Rock County, venue, Viola, Violin, words, work, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: It will be a busy week with many FREE concerts of many different kinds of music at the University of Wisconsin School of Music. Plus, the Miro Quartet of Austin, Texas, will perform Haydn, Schubert and Philip Glass on Friday night.
6 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
The next two weeks will be especially busy ones at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
All save one of the concerts will be FREE, and they include orchestral music, percussion, strings, winds and even lectures linking science and music.
The one major non-free exception is a notable MUST-HEAR: The acclaimed Miro Quartet (below) as presented by the Wisconsin Union Theater, will perform on Friday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall. The Miro Quartet is in residence at the University of Texas-Austin. (You can hear it playing Beethoven in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
The program of Classical and contemporary masterpieces of features the “Lark” Quartet, Op. 64, No. 5, by Franz Joseph Haydn; Franz Schubert’s well-known and the String Quartet No. 14 “Death and the Maiden”; and Philip Glass’ Quartet No. 5 (1991).
Tickets are $25 for the general public; $21 for UW faculty and staff and for Memorial Union members; and $10 for UW students.
Here is a link to more information that includes tickets, sound samples and critical reviews:
http://www.uniontheater.wisc.edu/Season13-14/Miro-String-Quartet.html
TUESDAY
At 7:30 p.m.in Mills Hall, the accomplished UW Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of director James Smith, the Overture to “La scale di seta” (The Silk Ladder) by Gioacchino Rossini; the Chamber Symphony by Franz Schreker; the “Classical” Symphony by Sergei Prokofiev; and the “Winter’s Tale” by Lars-Erik Larsson.
WEDNESDAY
At 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, guest artist Todd Reynolds (below) will give a FREE recital. Reynolds is the violinist of choice for such well known individual and ensemble performers as composers as Steve Reich and Meredith Monk and the group Bang on a Can. He violinist, composer, educator and technologist is known as one of the founding fathers of the hybrid-musician movement.
Todd Reynolds will be performing compositions of his own from his critically acclaimed 2011 CD “Outerborough,” including music by Michael Gordon, David Little, Michael Lowenstern and Ingram Marshall, and a couple of pieces written and improvised especially for the evening, right there, from the stage and in real time.
THURSDAY
At 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, the UW Western Percussion Ensemble (below) will perform a concert that features the monumental work “Strange and Sacred Noise” by the contemporary American composer John Luther Adams (below), whose work was also featured recently by Clocks in Motion. Directors of the Western Percussion Ensemble are Tom Ross and Anthony Di Sanza.
FRIDAY
At 7 p.m. in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery (below), at 330 North Orchard Street, across from the Union South, the ongoing SoundWaves program, curated by UW hornist Daniel Grabois, program will explore the science and art of wood. Here is a summary that, unfortunately, offers no information about the music and specific topics and speakers:
Wood You Could You? The Science and Music of Wood
“SoundWaves combines scientific lectures about the world with live classical music performances. Each event revolves around a theme, exploring it first from many scientific angles and then through the lens of music. The program concludes with a live performance of music related to the evening’s theme.
“The science lectures are delivered using language that the curious layman can understand, with a minimum of jargon and formulas. The music lectures, while demanding careful listening, are likewise designed for the layman and not the specialist.
“Every SoundWaves event brings UW-Madison scientists from several departments together with UW-Madison School of Music faculty performers to explore a topic that is relevant to our world and our lives. SoundWaves is free and open to the public. This series generally is held in the evening at the Town Center of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.’
8 p.m. in Mills Hall: The Miro Quartet. (See above.)
SATURDAY
At 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, the UW Wind Ensemble (below) will give concert under director Scott Teeple that features the Wisconsin premiere of a work by composer Roger Zare.
Works on the program include “Smetana Fanfare,” by Karol Husa; “Mar Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility),” by Roger Zare (Wisconsin premiere); and “Ecstatic Waters for Wind Ensemble and Electronics,” by Steven Bryant.
SUNDAY
At 2 p.m. in Mills Hall, the UW Concert Band will perform under Mike Leckrone (below). Sorry, no details about the program are available yet.
Then at at 3:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, the Hunt Quartet will perform a FREE concert. The program includes Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Sunrise” Quartet, Op. 76, No. 4, and Bela Bartok’s String Quartet No. 1.
The Hunt Quartet (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) is comprised of outstanding graduate students from the School of Music, and is sponsored by the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
This year’s members (from the left) include Ju Dee Ang, Elspeth Stalter-Clouse, Paran Amirinazari and Lindsey Crabb.
Tags: Arts, band, band music, Béla Bartók, Beethoven, Chamber music, Classical, Classical music, Concert Band, Death and the Maiden, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schreker, Franz Schubert, Jacob Stockinger, John Luther Adams, Karol Husa, Lars-Erik Larsson, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Michael Lowenstern, Mills Hall, Miró Quartet, Miro String Quartet, percussion, Philip Glass, Roger Zare, Rossini, Sergei Prokofiev, Steven Bryant, String quartet, Sunrise Quartet, Texas, Todd Reynolds, University of Texas-Austin, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Chamber Orchestra, Western percussion, wind ensemble, wind music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, Wisconsin Union Theater, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 
