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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.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: University Opera’s production of Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte” is a musical treat despite its outdated story. Performances remain this afternoon and Tuesday night

March 1, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

Larry Wells – the very experienced Opera Guy for this blog – took in the University Opera’s production of Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte” Friday night at Music Hall on Bascom Hill and filed this review. (Performance photos are by Michael R. Anderson.)

By Larry Wells

I attended the opening night of University Opera’s production of Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte” (So Do They All or Such Are Women).

Considered a musical masterpiece, the opera features a cast of six singers who participate in a comedy about love and fidelity. (Below, from left, are Cayla Rosché as Fiordiligi, Benjamin Hopkins as Ferrando, James Harrington as Don Alfonso, Kelsey Wang as Despina, Kevin Green as Guglielmo and Chloe Agostino as Dorabella.)

In director David Ronis’ attempt to make the story more timely, the action took place in a vaguely early 20th-century setting – the Roaring Twenties, to be precise — suggested by the women’s costumes and the art deco set.

Two of the men, who are called off to war, brandished swords, which I believe were not widely used in World War I. (Below, from left, are Benjamin Hopkins as Ferrando, James Harrington as Don Alfonso and Kevin Green as Guglielmo in the opening scene from Act I.)

In any event, an attempt to make an historic artifact with its incumbent unenlightened views of women relevant to the 21st century may be fruitless, and I believe that audiences today recognize the archaic attitudes expressed therein as comic and dated.

That sexist manipulation needs to be discussed today, as suggested in the director’s notes, and that women’s “agency” — to quote an overused academic term — remains an issue today is the tragedy. This comedy goes only a small distance in helping us realize that some things have not changed, even though many have.

But on to the performance.

The three female characters (below) included the vocally stunning Cayla Rosché as Fiordiligi. Her “Come scoglio” was a showstopper. (Below, from left, are Chloe Agostino as Dorabella and Cayla Rosché as Fiordiligi in their Act I duet.)

Chloe Agostino’s sweet soprano perfectly reflected her Dorabella, and Anja Pustaver’s comic turn as Despina revealed an interesting voice that reminded me of Reri Grist’s Oscar in the Erich Leinsdorf recording of Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera” – which is a compliment, albeit possibly obscure.

Kevin Green as Guglielmo grew on me as the evening progressed and as he became more confident. But the standout was James Harrington as Don Alfonso. I feel that he is a major talent in our midst. (Below in the foreground are Cayla Rosché as Fiordiligi and Benjamin Hopkins as Ferrando; in the background are James Harrington as Don Alfonso and Kevin Green as Guglielmo.)

Green and his partner, Benjamin Hopkins’ Ferrando, had to don disguises in order to tempt each other’s intended. In the libretto they disguise themselves as Albanians.

In what I can only hope was a nod to political correctness in order to spare the feelings of our Albanian brothers, they disguised themselves in this production as lumberjacks clad in flannel shirts and denim jeans — which was incongruously absurd but amusing at the same time. (Below,Kelsey Wang, left, as Despina examines Benjamin Hopkins as the Albanian Ferrando in a fake medical examination during the finale of Act I.)

The vocalists shone most in their many ensembles – duets, trios, quartets and sextets. The blendings of the various voices were always harmonious. The trio “Soave sia il vento” (Gentle Be the Breeze) — featuring Rosché, Agostino and Harrington (below) — was sublime and worth the price of admission on its own. (Below, from left, are Chloe Agostino as Dorabella, James Harrington as Don Alfonso and Cayla Rosché as Fiordiligi in the famous Act I trio “Soave sia il vento,” which you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

The UW Symphony Orchestra was ably and nobly led by new conductor Oriol Sans (below) whose hiring proved to be a major coup for the university. Everything I’ve heard him conduct so far has been excellent, and this performance was no exception.

The harpsichord continuo by Thomas Kasdorf (below) was captivating in its nuance and effortlessness – very impressive.

I enjoyed the abstract unit set designed by Joseph Varga and complemented by the effective lighting designed by Zak Stowe.

In all, it was an evening primarily in which to close one’s eyes and listen.

Repeat performances, with alternating cast members, take place this afternoon – Sunday, March 1 – at 2 p.m. and again on Tuesday night, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. Running time is about 3 hours with one intermission. The opera is sung in Italian with English surtitles.

Tickets are $25, $20 for seniors and $10 for students. For more information about the opera, the cast and the production, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/2020/02/10/cosi-fan-tutte/

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #20thCentury, #21stCentury, #AMaskedBall, #ArtDeco, #BascomHill, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BlogReview, #CosifanTutte, #DavidRonis, #DeminCoveralls, #ErichLeinsdorf, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FamousMusic, #FlannelShirt, #GeneralAdmission, #GiuseppeVerdi, #HarpsichordContinuo, #HomeWebsite, #HumanVoice, #JacobStockinger, #LarryWells, #LoveintheTimeofCholera, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedicalExamination, #MichaelR.Anderson, #MusicHall, #MusicReview, #OpeningNight, #OperaLibretto, #OperaReview, #OriolSans, #PoliticalCorrectness, #Roaring20s, #RoaringTwenties, #RunningTime, #SeniorCitizen, #SopranoSinger, #TheEar, #ThomasKasdorf, #UnBalloinMaschera, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #VocalMusic, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WordWarI, 20th-century, 21st century, A Masked Ball, abstract, absurd, academic, act, action, admission, agency, Albania, Albanian, archaic, aria, art deco, artifact, Arts, attempt, attitude, audience, Bascom Hill, blog, bluejeans, brother, captivating, cast, character, Classical music, comedy, comic, complement, compliment, composer, conduct, conductor, confident, continuo, correctness, Cosi fan tutte, costumes, coup, coveralls, dated, David Ronis, delight, denim, denim coveralls, design, director, discuss, disguise, distance, don, duo, effective, effortless, English, Erich Leinsdorf, eveing, examination, excellent, exception, Facebook, fake, famous, female, fidelity, flannel shirt, forward, fruitless, fun, Giuseppe Verdi, harmonious, harpsichord, hiring, historic, hours, I, impressive, information, interesting, intermission, issue, Italian, Jacob Stockinger, Jeans, Larry Wells, libretto, lighting, like, link, Love, lumberjack, Madison, major, manipulation, masterpiece, Mead Witter School of Music, medical, member, men, Michael R. Anderson, Mozart, Music, Music Hall, musical, new, nuance, obscure, opening night, opera, Opera review, Orchestra, Oriol Sans, outdated, perfect, performance, performer, photo, photos, political, political correctness, post, posting, price, production, progress, Quartet, quogte, recording, reflect, relevant, remain, repeat, review, Roaring 20s, Roaring Twenties, running time, scene, senior, set, setting, sex, sexist, sextet, share, showstopper, singers, soprano, standout, story, string sextet, Student, stunning, sublime, sung, surtitles, sweet, sword, symphony, tag, talent, term, The Ear, Thomas Kasdorf, tickets, today, tragedy, trio, Un ballo in maschera, United States, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, UW, UW Symphony Orchestra, UW-Madison, Verdi, view, vocal music, vocalist, vocalists, voice, war, Website, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, women, World War I, YouTube

Classical music: This Saturday night, the Con Vivo woodwind quintet makes its debut. Plus, the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble performs a variety of chamber music

February 11, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

Valentine’s Day weekend is turning out to be a popular time for concerts. Here are two more performances on this coming Saturday night:

CON VIVO

Con Vivo!, or “Music With Life,” continues its 18th season of chamber music concerts with the inaugural performance of CVQ, the Con Vivo woodwind quintet (below).

The concert will take place this Saturday night, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Ave., across from Camp Randall Stadium.

Tickets can be purchased at the door for $20 for adults and $15 for seniors and students.

Convenient free parking is only 2 blocks west at the University Foundation, 1848 University Ave.

The debut concert will include music — no specific titles have been named — by Aaron Copland, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Gyorgy Ligeti and Ludwig van Beethoven. The woodwind quintet comprises flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn.

Says Con Vivo’s artistic director Robert Taylor: “We continue our season with our newest members joining forces to perform pieces for the woodwind quintet genre, providing new sounds for our audiences. We are excited to add these fabulous musicians to our group. This concert will be a great way to shake off those winter blues!”

Con Vivo (below) 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: convivomusicwithlife.org

WISCONSIN BAROQUE ENSEMBLE

The Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble (below) will perform a concert of baroque chamber music this Saturday night, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 1833 Regent Street.

Players include: Eric Miller, viola da gamba; Sigrun Paust, recorder; Chelsie Propst, soprano; Charlie Rasmussen, baroque cello and viola da gamba; Daniel Sullivan, harpsichord; and Anton TenWolde, baroque cello and viola da gamba.

Tickets at the door only are: $20, $10 for students.

The program includes:

François Couperin – Pieces for viol, Suite No. 1 (You can hear the Prelude, played by Jordi Savall, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre – Cantata “Jacob and Rachel”

Pietro Castrucci – Sonata No. 3 for recorder and basso continuo

Jean-Baptiste Barriere – Adagio from Sonata No. 2 for cello and basso continuo, Book 1

Marin Marais – Chaconne 83 from Pieces for Viol, Book 5

Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana – “Veni dulcissime Domine” (Come, Sweet Lord)

Girolamo Frescobaldi – Toccata No. 8, Partita on the Aria of Monicha (1637)

Unico van Wassenaer – Sonata No. 2 for recorder and basso continuo

Johann Michael Nicolai –Sonata for Three Viola da Gambas in D major

For more information, go to: www.wisconsinbaroque.org

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: This week brings Baroque music from Just Bach this Wednesday at noon and Sonata a Quattro next Sunday afternoon

November 17, 2019
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By Jacob Stockinger

This week brings authentic Baroque music from two newer groups that employ period instruments and historically informed performance practices: Just Bach and Sonata a Quattro.

The concert for November by Just Bach (below, in a photo by John W. Barker, takes place this Wednesday, Nov. 20, from noon to 12:30 p.m. at Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Ave, in Madison.

The performance is free and open to the public, with a good will offering collected.

Performers are: Sarah Brailey, soprano; Lindsey Meekhof, mezzo-soprano; Thore Dosdall, tenor; Paul Rowe, baritone; Linda Pereksta, flute; Kangwon Lee Kim and Nathan Giglierano, violins; Marika Fischer Hoyt, viola; James Waldo, cello; and Mark Brampton Smith, organ.

The program opens with the six-minute instrumental Sinfonia from Cantata 209. Just Bach favorite Linda Pereksta will be the featured flute soloist, backed up by the strings-and-organ band. (You can hear the Sinfonia in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Cantata 151 ‘Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kommt‘ (Sweet comfort, my Jesus comes) closes the program. Each of the first four movements of this cantata features a different vocal soloist — the serene soprano aria also boasts a lovely flute obbligato — concluding with the chorale in which all take part.

Those who attend are invited to “bring your lunch, bring your ears and your voice, bring a friend, but most of all bring yourself to this stirring program of J.S. Bach.”

The next Just Bach program is Wednesday, Dec. 18, at noon.

For more information, go to:

https://justbach.org/

https://www.facebook.com/events/451732972120968/

SONATA A QUATTRO

This week the Madison-based group Sonata à Quattro (below) will give two performances of its program “A Dark and Stormy Night”:

Saturday, Nov. 23, at 7 p.m. at the St. Matthias Episcopal Church, 11 East Main St. in., Waukesha. Tickets for the general public, seniors and students are $15, $10 and $5 in advance; and $20, $15 and $10 at the door. Go to: stmatthiasepiscopalchurch.ticketleap.com/sonata-a-quarttro
Sunday, Nov. 24 at 2:30 p.m. at the Madison Chinese Christian Church, 1510 Madison St., in Madison. Tickets $15 in advance or at the door. Online, go to: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4429975

The program is:

Motet: “In furore iustissimae irae” (In the fury of most righteous wrath), RV 626 by Antonio Vivaldi
Quartet No. 1 in D Major by Johann Joachim Quantz
Cello Sonata in C Minor, Book II No. 6 by Jean-Baptiste Barrière
Concerto for 4 in D Minor, TWV 43:d2 by Georg Philipp Telemann
Cantata 209: “Non sa che sia dolore” (He does not know what sorrow is) by Johann Sebastian Bach

Sonata à Quattro performers are: Christine Hauptly Annin and Nathan Giglierano, violins; Marika Fischer Hoyt, viola; Charlie Rasmussen, cello; Daniel Sullivan, harpsichord; and Kristin Knutson, soprano. Special guest artist is flutist Linda Pereksta (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot).

Says founder and violist Marika Fischer Hoyt (below): “Join us for a program of dark and stormy pieces, on period-instruments. Sonata à Quattro’s third season opens with a program exploring the darker side of human experience, from Vivaldi’s motet, burning with godly rage, to Bach’s secular Cantata, deploring the departure of a beloved friend.

“Quantz’ bubbly Flute Quartet in D Major provides some needed moments of optimism, before we turn to the poignant, brooding Cello Sonata by Barrière. Even the viola gets a turn, in the Telemann, to unfold a haunting saga of tragic beauty.

“But the composers do not leave us in despair; each one leads the listener through the dark night of the soul, to the morning after.”

The Bach Cantata opens with an instrumental Sinfonia, heard in the YouTube video at the bottom, that features flutist Linda Pereksta, who also plays in the works by Quantz and Telemann.

For more information, go to:

https://sonataaquattro.com

facebook.com/sonataaquattro

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: The adventurous Oakwood Chamber Players open their new ”Panorama” season of unusual repertoire this coming Saturday night and Sunday afternoon

September 13, 2019
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By Jacob Stockinger

How many of the composers’ names below do you recognize?

Probably very few, if you are like The Ear.

But here is your chance to explore new musical territory.

Over many years, the adventurous Oakwood Chamber Players (OCP) have built a reputation for first-rate performances of rarely heard repertoire, both old and new.

This year is no different.

The group will begin its new season — entitled Panorama— with performances on this coming Saturday night, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, Sept. 15, at 2 p.m.

Both concerts will be held at the Oakwood Village Center for Arts and Education, 6209 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall.

Tickets can be purchased with cash or personal checks — no credit cards — at the door: $25 for general admission, $20 for seniors and $5 for students. Visit www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com for more information.

Members of the Oakwood Chamber Players (below) are: flutist Marilyn Chohaney; clarinetist Nancy Mackenzie; bassoonist Amanda Szczys; hornist Anne Aley; violinist Elspeth Stalter-Clouse; and cellist Maggie Darby Townsend.

Guest artists are: pianist Eric Tran; flutist Dawn Lawler; oboist Valree Casey; bassoonist Midori Samson; and trumpeter John Aley.

The ensemble is pleased to feature a new member at its opening concert. Violinist Elspeth Stalter-Clouse’s talents will be heard in two works: a fiery piano trio by Spanish composer Gaspar Cassado (below top); and as a soloist on the sweetly expressive Canzonetta for violin and piano by Italian-American composer Rosa Alba Vietor (below bottom). You can hear the Recitative movement, which takes about 10 seconds to start, from the Piano Trio by Gaspar Casado in the YouTube video at the bottom.

The program will include two larger wind works by French composers: Pastoral Variations in the Old Style by Gabriel Pierne (below top); and Octet for Winds by Claude Pascal (below bottom).

The ensemble will round out the program with two short contrasting works for winds and piano: the flute trio La Bergere des Brise de Vallee (The Shepherdess of the Valley Breezes) by American composer Margaret Griebling-Haigh (b. 1960, below top); and Suite for flute, oboe, clarinet and piano by Danish composer Johan Amberg (below bottom).

The Oakwood Chamber Players is a group of Madison-area professional musicians who rehearse and perform at Oakwood Village University Woods. Members also play in other area ensembles, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and have ties to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music.

The Oakwood Chamber Players are a professional music ensemble proudly supported by Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries and the Oakwood Foundation.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society closes its 28th season this weekend by honoring three guest artists. Plus, here are all the winners of the 16th International Tchaikovsky Competition

June 28, 2019
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ALERT: The Ear has been following two competitors in the 16th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia who have local ties. (The only American to win Gold was cellist Zlatomir Fung.) The final results are in: trumpet player Ansel Norris took fifth place and received an artist’s diploma; pianist Kenneth Broberg shared the third prize with two other winners. For a complete list of winners in all the categories — piano, violin, cello, voice, brass and woodwinds — go to this page: https://tch16.com/en/news/

You can also watch and listen to, via live streaming, the two Gala Concerts for the winners today at 11 a.m. and on Saturday at 1 a.m. Valery Gergiev will conduct both. Go to https://tch16.medici.tv

By Jacob Stockinger

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society will close out its 28th annual summer chamber music season with concerts in Madison, Stoughton and Spring Green.

Judging by the first two weekends of concerts, The Ear expects it to be a memorable conclusion of the season with the punning theme of “Name Dropping.”

Here is the announcement he received.

“Our third week of concerts celebrates three great musicians, all of whom are audience favorites: cellist couple Anthony (“Tony”) Ross and Beth Rapier; and firebrand violinist Carmit Zori.

“And the Tony Award for Rapier Wit goes to…” is a program centered around cello duets. Rapier and Ross (below), principal and co-principal cellists with the Minnesota Orchestra, start the program with George Frideric Handel’s gorgeous Sonata in G minor for two cellos and piano. (You can hear the Handel sonata, payed by Amit Peled in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

They both display crazy virtuosity in Luigi Boccherini’s Quintet in B-flat Major for flute, violin, viola and two cellos.

The first half ends with Gian Carlo Menotti’s Suite for two cellos and piano, a work that they have performed to acclaim around the world.

The second half of the program is given over to one of Brahms’ greatest works, the Sextet in G Major, Op. 36, for two violins, two violas and two cellos.

Ross and Rapier are joined by violinists Carmit Zori and Leanne League (assistant concertmaster of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra) and violists Toby Appel (below, a faculty member at the Juilliard School who plays in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center) and Katrin Talbot (a Madisonian who performs with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra) in this spectacular piece.

“And the Tony Award for Rapier Wit goes to…” will be performed at the Stoughton Opera House on Friday, June 28, at 7:30 p.m.; and in Spring Green at the Hillside Theater at Taliesin on Sunday, June 30, at 2:30 p.m.

Firebrand violinist Carmit Zori (below), founder and artistic director of the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society in New York City, will sizzle her way through the second program, entitled “The Legend of Zori.”

The program will open with Johannes Brahms’ Sonata in G Major for violin and piano. Viaje, by living Chinese composer Zhou Tian, is a fun and exciting new piece featuring flute and string quartet.

Zori will bring the program home with the torridly passionate Piano Quintet in F minor by Cesar Franck (below), a work written while Franck was in the throes of a love affair with one of his young students.

“The Legend of Zori” will be performed at The Playhouse at the Overture Center for the Arts on Saturday, June 29, at 7:30 p.m.; and in Spring Green at the Hillside Theater at Taliesin, on Sunday, June 30, at 6:30 p.m.

Venue Locations: the Stoughton Opera House is at 381 East Main Street; the Overture Center in Madison is at 201 State Street; Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Hillside Theater in on County Highway 23 in Spring Green.

Single admission tickets start are $43 and $49. Student tickets are always $10. All single tickets must now be purchased from Overture Center for the Arts, www.overturecenter.org or (608) 258-4141 (additional fees apply) or at the box office. Tickets are available at the door at all locations.

You can also enjoy a pre-ordered picnic at the Hillside Theater made with love from Pasture and Plenty, using ingredients from local farmers and producers. They are available for pick up at the Hillside Theater after the 2:30 p.m. concert or before the 6:30 p.m. concert, for $18.

Spread a blanket on the beautiful Hillside Theater grounds or eat in the Taliesin Architecture School Dining Room, which will be open exclusively to BDDS concert-goers.

Choose from Green Goddess Chicken Salad, Market Veggie Quiche with Greens, or Hearty Greens and Grains with Seasonal Veggie Bowl (gluten-free/vegan). Seasonal sweet treat and beverage included. See the BDDS order form or call BDDS at 608 255-9866.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: This Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, the Oakwood Chamber Players finish their “Vignettes” season with an American audio-visual work and music by French, Italian and British composers

May 14, 2019
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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 weekend, the Oakwood Chamber Players — known for highlighting neglected composers and works — perform the last concert of their current season series “Vignettes” with an array of contrasting and generally neglected works from the late 19th to 21st century.

Performances will take place on Saturday night, May 18, at 7 p.m. and on Sunday afternoon, May 19, at 2 p.m. Both concerts will be held at the Oakwood Village Center for Arts and Education, 6209 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall.

Tickets can be purchased with cash or personal checks at the door: $25 for general admission, $20 for seniors and $5 for students.

Members of the Oakwood Chamber Players (below) are: Marilyn Chohaney, flute; Nancy Mackenzie, clarinet; Amanda Szyczs, bassoon; Anne Aley, horn; and Maggie Townsend, cello.

They are joined by guest artists: Valree Casey, oboe; Hillary Hempel, violin; Michael Koszewski, percussion; Jason Kutz, piano; and Carrie Backman, conductor.

American composer Michael Gandolfi (below top) collaborated with MIT computer animator Jonathan Bachrach (below bottom) to create a unique musical and visual partnership for his Abridged History of the World in Seven Acts. Six instrumentalists create overlapping textures and rhythmic interplay in response to mesmerizing images.

Four French composers from the late 19th to mid-20th century are featured: The piano, four-hand “Dolly Suite” by Gabriel Fauré (below top) in an arrangement for woodwind quintet and piano; Petite Pièces (Small Pieces) for violin, horn and piano by his student Charles Koechlin (below middle; the sweetly engaging quartet Sérénade (Serenade) by Reynaldo Hahn (below third); and five Pièces en Trio (Trio Pieces) for oboe, clarinet and bassoon by Jacques Ibert (below bottom).

The Piano Trio in One Movement” by British composer Norman O’Neill (below) is full of verve and heart-felt melodies.

The woodwind quintet Piccolo Offerta Musicale” by noted Italian film composer Nino Rota (below), who wrote the scores for many films by Federico Fellini, is a short homage to Johann Sebastian Bach. (You can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

The Oakwood Chamber Players are a group of Madison-area professional musicians who have rehearsed and performed at Oakwood Village for over 30 years. They perform in other groups, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Willy Street Chamber Players.

For more information, go to www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com or call (608) 230-4316.

The Oakwood Chamber Players are a professional music ensemble supported by Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries and the Oakwood Foundation.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: Two noteworthy concerts of Baroque chamber music, organ music and vocal music take place this Wednesday midday and Saturday night

February 19, 2019
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By Jacob Stockinger

This is another very busy week for classical music in the Madison area. If Baroque music interests you, there are two noteworthy concerts this week that should attract your attention.

JUST BACH

This Wednesday, Feb. 20. at 1 p.m. in Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Avenue, the February midday concert by Just Bach (below, at its September concert) will take place.

Admission to the all-Johann Sebastian Bach concert is FREE with a goodwill offering accepted.

Because it will be lunchtime, food and drink are allowed.

This month’s concert includes three diverse works.

Organist Mark Brampton Smith (below) will open the program with the first movement of the Concerto in D Minor BWV 596. This is Bach’s arrangement for organ of the popular Concerto for Two Violins by Antonio Vivaldi, and it comes off with dramatic effect when transcribed to the organ.

Violinist Leanne League will take the stage next, with the Sonata for Violin in A Minor, BWV 1003.

The program ends with the hauntingly beautiful Cantata 82 “Ich habe genug”(I have enough), scored for solo bass voice and oboe, strings and continuo. The vocal soloist will be UW-Madison bass-baritone Paul Rowe (below). You can hear the incomparable Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sing the aria in YouTube video at the bottom.)

The orchestra of baroque period-instrument specialists will be led by concertmaster Leanne League, and will include oboist Claire Workinger (below), in her Just Bach debut.

Organizers and performers say the goal of this series is to share the immense range of Bach’s vocal and instrumental repertoire with the Madison community at large. The period-instrument orchestra will bring the music to life in the manner and style that Bach would have conceived.

The audience will be invited to sing along during the opening hymns and the closing cantata chorales.

The other Just Bach dates, all Wednesdays, this semester are March 13, April 24 and May 29.

WISCONSIN BAROQUE ENSEMBLE

The veteran Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble will perform a varied concert of vocal and instrumental chamber music this coming Saturday night, Feb. 23, at 7:30 p.m. in St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 1833 Regent Street.

Tickets can be purchased only at the door. Admission is$20, $10 for students.

Performers are: Nathan Giglierano, baroque violin; Eric Miller; viola da gamba; Sigrun Paust, recorder; Charlie Rasmussen, baroque cello and viola da gamba; Consuelo Sañudo, mezzo-soprano; Daniel Sullivan, harpsichord; and Anton TenWolde, baroque cello.

The program is:

Nicolas Bernier – “Diane” Cantata for voice and basso continuo

Marin Marais – Pièces de violes (Pieces for Viola da Gamba), selections from Book 4

Louis Couperin – Pièces de clavecin (Pieces for harpsichord)

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier – Trio sonata, Op. 37, No. 2

INTERMISSION

Francesco Paolo Supriani – Sinfonia for cello and basso continuo

Georg Fridrich Handel – “Nel dolce dell’ oblio” (In Sweet Forgetfuness)

Tommaso Giordani – Duo for two cellos, opus 18 no 5

Georg Philipp Telemann – Quartet in G minor TWV 43 g4

Following the concert, there will be a reception at 2422 Kendall Ave., Apt. 2.

For more information, go to www.wisconsinbaroque.org

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Classical music: Madison Bach Musicians, with dancers and guest vocal soloists, will perform a tragic Purcell opera and comic Bach cantata this Saturday night and Sunday afternoon

April 2, 2018
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By Jacob Stockinger’

This coming weekend the Madison Bach Musicians — an acclaimed local group devoted to period instruments and historically informed performance practices — will present a double bill that features the tragic opera “Dido and Aeneas” by British composer Henry Purcell (below top) and the comic “Coffee” Cantata, BWV 211, by Johann Sebastian Bach (below bottom).

Both performances take place in the Atrium Auditorium (below in a photo by Zane Williams) of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive.

On Saturday, April 7, there is a 6:45 p.m.  lecture by MBM founder and artistic director Trevor Stephenson followed by a 7:30 p.m. performance.

On Sunday, April 8, there is a 2:45 p.m.  lecture by Trevor Stephenson followed by a 3:30 p.m. performance.

Purcell’s vivid and eloquent operatic masterpiece, Dido and Aeneas is based on the tragic love story told in Book IV of Virgil’s epic Latin poem “Aeneid”and is depicted in the 1815 painting (below) by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin.

The performance of the Baroque opera uses a full baroque orchestra.

In addition there are three guest singers as soloists: Chelsea Shepherd (below top) as Dido; Elijah Blaisdell (below middle) as Aeneas; and Nola Richardson (below bottom) as Belinda.

Adding to the production are dance sequences, all coming together thanks to the collaboration of director David Ronis (below top in a photo by Luke Delalio) of the University Opera; Karen McShane-Hellenbrand (below middle) of the UW-Madison Dance Department; and Baroque-performance specialist conductor and UW bassoonist Marc Vallon (below bottom in a photo by James Gill).

J. S. Bach’s witty Coffee Cantata will add some mischievous fun to the program.

This work suggests that perhaps Johann Sebastian himself was a coffee enthusiast at a time when coffee was sweeping the Continent and often seen as a sinful new fad. “Ah! How sweet coffee tastes! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter than muscatel wine! I must have my coffee….” sings Lieschen in an aria that you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.

Bach even premiered and performed many of his works at Zimmermann’s Coffeehouse in Leipzig, which he frequented and which is depicted below in an 18th-century engraving by Georg Schreiber.

As usual, MBM artistic director Trevor Stephenson (below) will offer his insightful and entertaining commentary on these two diverse masterworks in his lecture preceding each concert.

Tickets are $38, $35 for seniors and $10 for student rush tickets at the door if the concert is not sold out.

Advance tickets are available at the Willy Street Coops East and West. More information about the production and tickets can be found at madisonbachmusicians.org

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #BachCantatas, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOpera, #BassoonMusic, #CoffeeCantata, #CoffeeHouse, #DidoAndAeneas, #EpicPoems, #EpicPoetry, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #GreatBritain, #HenryPurcell, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #JohannSebastianBach, #KIss, #LatinLiterature, #LatinPoetry, #LeipzigGermany, #LoveStory, #MadisonBachMusicians, #PeriodInstruments, #Sin, #Sinful, #TheAeneid, #TheContinent, #UnitedKingdom, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, Aeneas, aria, Artistic director, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Baroque opera, Bassoon, British, cafe, Cantata, Cello, choral music, Classical music, classics, coffee, comedy, comic, composer, Concert, conductor, dance, Dido, Early music, earlymusic, eloquent, engraving, epic, etching, fad, founder, Germany, Henry Purcell, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, kisses, Latin, lecture, Leipzig, Love, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Music, new, opera, operatic, Orchestra, painting, performance, Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, poem, Poetry, production, senior, singer, Singing, soloist, song, story, Student, sweet, tragedy, Tragic, Trevor Stephenson, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vergil, Viola, Violin, vivid, vocal music, Wine, Wisconsin, YouTube

Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra reveals a leaner Sibelius and violin soloist Tim Kamps proves masterful in a rarely heard concerto by Alexander Glazunov

March 2, 2018
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CORRECTION: The performances by the Madison Symphony Chorus that were incorrectly listed for this coming Sunday in yesterday’s post took place last Sunday. The Ear apologizes and regrets the error.

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

Under maestro Steve Kurr, the Middleton Community Orchestra (below) again showed its capacities for offering surprisingly excellent concerts with its latest one on Wednesday night at the Middleton Performing Arts Center.

The guest soloist was a fine young local violinist, Tim Kamps (below). His vehicle was an interesting venture off the beaten path. How often do we hear the Violin Concerto in A minor by Alexander Glazunov? Well, we were given a chance this time.

This is not your typical Romantic concerto. It is not long, and is essentially an entity in four sections—not distinct movements, but a steady continuity, with interconnecting thematic material. Glazunov did not always do the best by his themes, somewhat burying them in the total texture. Still, this is very listenable music, with a solo part that is full of virtuosic demands but avoids overstatements.

Kamps (below) did full justice to the florid parts, but used his sweet and suave tone to emphasize the lyrical side of the writing as much as he could. In all, he provided a worthwhile encounter with an underplayed work of individual quality. Kamps is an experienced member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, but he deserves more solo exposure like this.

The program opened with Rossini’s overture to his comic opera La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie). There is a lot of good fun in this piece, but a corrupt edition was used which reinforced the brass section to coarse effect. Moreover, Kurr gave the music a somewhat leisurely pace, rather diminishing its vitality and thrust. (You can hear the familiar Overture in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

The big work of the program was the Symphony No. 2 by Jean Sibelius. Here again, as so often before, conductor Kurr and his players bravely took on a workhorse piece of challenging familiarity. There were a few rough moments, especially some slight slurring here and there by the violin sections.

But Kurr (below) wisely chose not to seek polished sound for its own sake. Rather, he drove the orchestra to convey constant tension and drama, with a fine ear for the frequent exchanges and dialogues between instrumental groups, notably in the long and high-powered second movement.

By such means, we were able to hear less of the Late Romantic bombast usually stressed and more of the lean textures that Sibelius was to perfect in his subsequent symphonic and orchestral writing.

The orchestra played with steady devotion, once again demonstrating what an “amateur” orchestra could work itself up to achieving.

Posted in Classical music
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