The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Pianist Alon Goldstein and the UW’s Pro Arte Quartet perform Scarlatti, Mozart and Brahms this coming Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at Farley’s
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
Acclaimed Israeli pianist Alon Goldstein (below, in a photo by Cigna Magnoli) returns to Madison this weekend for a Salon Piano Series concert in which he will be joined by University of Wisconsin-Madison’s own Pro Arte Quartet.
There will be two performances: on Saturday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m.; and on Sunday, March 11, at 4 p.m. Both performances are at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west side neat West Towne Mall.
Tickets are $45 in advance or $50 at the door, with $10 admission for full-time students. You can buy tickets by calling Farley’s at (608) 271-2626 or going online at www.brownpapertickets.com
An artist’s reception follows each concert and is included in the ticket price.
Goldstein will begin the concert with solo Scarlatti sonatas, one of which he’ll play on a clavichord built by Tim Farley. (A half-hour before each concert, a video about the restoration of the 1908 Chickering concert grand that Goldstein will play on will be screened.)
Then the Pro Arte Quartet (below top, in a photo by Rick Langer) and UW-Madison double bassist David Scholl (below bottom) will join him on stage for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488, in a chamber music arrangement, and the Brahms Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34. (You can hear the opening movement, with an engaging graphic display of its structure, of the Brahms Quintet, played by pianist Stephen Hough and the Takacs String Quartet, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
According to a press release: “Alon Goldstein is one of the most original and sensitive pianists of his generation, admired for his musical intelligence, dynamic personality, artistic vision and innovative programming.
“He has played with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco, Baltimore, St. Louis, Dallas, Houston, Toronto and Vancouver symphonies as well as the Israel Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Los Angeles and Radio France Orchestra. He played under the baton of such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Herbert Blomstedt, Vladimir Jurowski, Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, Peter Oundjian, Yoel Levi, Yoav Talmi, Leon Fleisher and others.
“The New York Times’ senior music critic Anthony Tommasini wrote of Goldstein’s performance: “Here was a beautifully balanced approach to the score, refined yet impetuous, noble yet spirited.” The Philadelphia Inquirer stated “Such performances take a kind of courage so seldom heard these days you want to hear him at every possible opportunity.”
About the Salon Piano Series
Now in its fifth season, Salon Piano Series was founded by Tim and Renée Farley to continue the tradition of intimate salon concerts at Farley’s House of Pianos.
The setting replicates that experienced by audiences throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, and offers audiences the chance to hear artists whose inspiring performances are enhanced by the setting and the fine pianos.
Concerts take place at Farley’s House of Pianos and feature historic pianos restored in the Farley’s workshop. For more information, go to: www.SalonPianoSeries.org
Tags: #ChamberMusic, #ChicagoSymphonyOrchestra, #DomenicoScarlatti, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #HerbertBlomstedt, #JohannesBrahms, #LeonFleisher, #LondonPhilharmonic, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #PeterOundjian, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #RafaelFrühbeckdeBurgos, #ScarlattiSonatas, #TakacsQuartet, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VladimirJurowski, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YoavTalmi, #YoelLevi, #ZubinMehta, 18th century, 19th century, Alon Goldstein, Anthony Tommasini, arrangement, artist, artistic, Arts, audience, Baltimore, Baroque, bass, bassist, Cello, Chamber music, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chickering, Classical music, clavichord, composer, concert grand, concerto, conductor, critic, Dallas, display, double bass, dynamic, Farley's House of Pianos, France, generation, graphic, historic, Houston, innovation, innovative, intimacy, Israel, Israeli, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, London, Los Angeles, Madison, movement, Mozart, Music, New York City, New York Times, opening, original, performance, personality, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Enquirer, photo, Pianist, Piano, Piano Quintet, Pro Arte Quartet, quintet, Radio, Radio France, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, reception, restoration, restored, salon, San Francisco, Scarlatti, score, sensitive, solo, Sonata, St. Louis, stage, Stephen Hough, symphonies, Takacs, Takacs Quartet, Takacs String Quartet, The New York Times, ticket, Toronto, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vancouver, video, Viola, Violin, vision, weekend, West Towne Mall, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, workshop, YouTube, Zubin Mehta
Classical music: UW-Madison’s Hunt Quartet performs a FREE MUST-HEAR concert of Beethoven, Schubert and Webern this Sunday evening. Plus, there is a FREE concert of Schubert’s song cycle “Winterreise” this Saturday afternoon at the UW-Madison
1 Comment
ALERT: On Saturday night at 3:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, David Richardson, a first-year DMA candidate in Collaborative Piano at the UW-Madison, will be joined by a guest artist, baritone Alan Dunbar, for a FREE performance of the famous song cycle “Winterreise” (Winter Journey) by Franz Schubert. The Ear hears it promises to be an outstanding performance.
By Jacob Stockinger
There are many student recitals and concerts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison each season – many dozens and maybe even into the hundreds.
But still there are standouts.
One such standout is coming up this Sunday night at 6 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall. That’s when the Hunt Quartet, made up of very talented UW-Madison graduate students, will perform a FREE concert.
Too bad it has to compete with the special two-hour final episode of the popular PBS series “Downton Abbey,” which The Ear suspects will cut into the audience. Could they have moved the concert up to 5 or earlier? That would be nice, but maybe hall logistics made that impossible.
Anyway, the members of the string quartet were selected by the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music faculty because they are outstanding performers and pedagogues.
Members are seen below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot. They are from left: Clayton Tillotson, violin; Blakeley Menghini, viola; Paran Amirinazari, violin; and cellist Andrew Briggs, cello.
The appealing all-masterpiece program is: String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18 No. 5, by Ludwig van Beethoven; Six Bagatelles for String Quartet, Op. 9, by Anton Webern; and the famous String Quartet in D minor, “Death and the Maiden,” by Franz Schubert. (You can hear the slow movement of the Schubert, based on a song he composed, played by the Alban Berg Quartet in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
The Hunt Quartet is the graduate string quartet for UW-Madison’s School of Music. As Project Assistants within the School of Music, the Quartet performs concerts at the School of Music and university events, as well as part of community outreach.
Members work closely with faculty, including the Pro Arte Quartet, and have Professor Uri Vardi as their principal coach. Other artists who have worked with the Quartet include violist Nobuko Imai, violist Lila Brown, and members of the Takacs String Quartet.
The Quartet is also the integral part of the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s “Up Close and Musical” program, visiting area schools to teach students about fundamentals of music and the string quartet.
The Hunt Quartet is generously sponsored by Kato Perlman and the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Tags: Arts, bagatelle, Beethoven, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, collaborative piano, community outreach, Death and the Maiden, Franz Schubert, Jacob Stockinger, Lila Brown, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, masterpiece, Music, Nobuko Imai, Orchestra, outreach, PBS, Piano, public television, Schubert, song, song cycle, Takacs String Quartet, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Uri Vardi, Viola, Violin, Webern, Winterreise, Wisconsin Public Television, WPT, YouTube
Classical music: The new Grammy nominations can serve as a holiday gift guide.
2 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Each year at holiday time, The Ear offers a series of roundups of the best recordings and classical music gifts of the past year. The idea is to use them as holiday gift guides.
Today is Grammy Day.
So far, The Ear has listed choices made by the BBC Music Magazine and the Telegraph newspaper:
And another roundup of book and videos as well as CDs by critics for The New York Times:
Now he adds the 58th annual Grammy nominations of 2016 that were announced this past Monday. The winners will be announced on Sunday, Feb. 15, on CBS television network. The telecast will be live and feature live performances.
The Ear likes to see if he can predict the winners. Outguessing the industry can be a fun, if frustrating, game to play.
He also notices two items of local interest.
The late Twin Cities composer Stephen Paulus, whose works were often commissioned and premiered in Madison by the Festival Choir of Madison and groups at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, has been nominated for several work.
In addition, producer Judith Sherman, who has several Grammys to her credit, is nominated again. She is also the producer of the two recordings of the centennial commissions by the Pro Arte Quartet.
Here are the 58th annual Grammy nominees for Classical Music:
BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, CLASSICAL
Ask Your Mama: Leslie Ann Jones, John Kilgore, Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum & Justin Merrill, engineers; Patricia Sullivan, mastering engineer (George Manahan & San Francisco Ballet Orchestra) Label: Avie Records
Dutilleux: Métaboles; L’Arbre Des Songes; Symphony No. 2, ‘Le Double’: Dmitriy Lipay, engineer; Alexander Lipay, mastering engineer (Ludovic Morlot, Augustin Hadelich & Seattle Symphony) Label: Seattle Symphony Media
Monteverdi: Il Ritorno D’Ulisse In Patria: Robert Friedrich, engineer; Michael Bishop, mastering engineer (Martin Pearlman, Jennifer Rivera, Fernando Guimarães & Boston Baroque) Label: Linn Records
Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil: Beyong Joon Hwang & John Newton, engineers; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Charles Bruffy, Phoenix Chorale and Kansas City Chorale) Label: Chandos
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3, ‘Organ’: Keith O. Johnson and Sean Royce Martin, engineers; Keith O. Johnson, mastering engineer (Michael Stern and Kansas City Symphony) Label: Reference Recording
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, CLASSICAL
Blanton Alspaugh: • Hill: Symphony No. 4; Concertino Nos. 1 & 2; Divertimento (Peter Bay, Anton Nel & Austin Symphony Orchestra) • Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil (Charles Bruffy, Phoenix Chorale & Kansas City Chorale) • Sacred Songs Of Life & Love (Brian A. Schmidt & South Dakota Chorale) • Spirit Of The American Range (Carlos Kalmar & The Oregon Symphony) • Tower: Violin Concerto; Stroke; Chamber Dance (Giancarlo Guerrero, Cho-Liang Lin & Nashville Symphony)
Manfred Eicher: • Franz Schubert (András Schiff) • Galina Ustvolskaya (Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Markus Hinterhäuser & Reto Bieri) • Moore: Dances & Canons (Saskia Lankhoorn) • Rihm: Et Lux (Paul Van Nevel, Minguet Quartet & Huelgas Ensemble) • Visions Fugitives (Anna Gourari)
Marina A. Ledin, Victor Ledin: • Dances For Piano & Orchestra (Joel Fan, Christophe Chagnard & Northwest Sinfonietta) • Tempo Do Brasil (Marc Regnier) • Woman At The New Piano (Nadia Shpachenko)
Dan Merceruio: • Chapí: String Quartets 1 & 2 (Cuarteto Latinoamericano) • From Whence We Came (Ensemble Galilei) • Gregson: Touch (Peter Gregson) • In The Light Of Air – ICE Performs Anna Thorvaldsdottir (International Contemporary Ensemble) • Schumann (Ying Quartet) • Scrapyard Exotica (Del Sol String Quartet) • Stravinsky: Petrushka (Richard Scerbo & Inscape Chamber Orchestra) • What Artemisia Heard (El Mundo) • ZOFO Plays Terry Riley (ZOFO)
Judith Sherman: • Ask Your Mama (George Manahan & San Francisco Ballet Orchestra) • Fields: Double Cluster; Space Sciences (Jan Kučera, Gloria Chuang & Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra) • Liaisons – Re-Imagining Sondheim From The Piano (Anthony de Mare) • Montage – Great Film Composers & The Piano (Gloria Cheng) • Multitude, Solitude (Momenta Quartet) • Of Color Braided All Desire – Music Of Eric Moe (Christine Brandes, Brentano String Quartet, Dominic Donato, Jessica Meyer, Karen Ouzounian, Manhattan String Quartet & Talujon) • Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (Ursula Oppens) • Sirota: Parting The Veil – Works For Violin & Piano (David Friend, Hyeyung Julie Yoon, Laurie Carney & Soyeon Kate Lee) • Turina: Chamber Music For Strings & Piano (Lincoln Trio
BEST ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4: Manfred Honeck, conductor (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) Label: Reference Recordings
Dutilleux: Métaboles; L’Arbre Des Songes; Symphony No. 2, ‘Le Double’: Ludovic Morlot, conductor (Seattle Symphony) Label: Seattle Symphony Media
Shostakovich: Under Stalin’s Shadow – Symphony No. 10: Andris Nelsons, conductor (Boston Symphony Orchestra) Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Spirit Of The American Range: Carlos Kalmar, conductor (The Oregon Symphony) Label: Pentatone
Zhou Long and Chen Yi: Symphony ‘Humen 1839’: Darrell Ang, conductor (New Zealand Symphony Orchestra) Label: Naxos
BEST OPERA RECORDING
Janáček: Jenůfa: Donald Runnicles, conductor; Will Hartmann, Michaela Kaune & Jennifer Larmore; Magdalena Herbst, producer (Orchestra Of The Deutsche Oper Berlin; Chorus Of The Deutsche Oper Berlin) Label: Arthaus
Monteverdi: Il Ritorno D’Ulisse In Patria: Martin Pearlman, conductor; Fernando Guimarães & Jennifer Rivera; Thomas C. Moore, producer (Boston Baroque) Label: Linn Records
Mozart: Die Entführung Aus Dem Serail: Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; Diana Damrau, Paul Schweinester & Rolando Villazón; Sid McLauchlan, producer (Chamber Orchestra Of Europe) Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Ravel: L’Enfant Et Les Sortilèges; Shéhérazade: Seiji Ozawa, conductor; Isabel Leonard; Dominic Fyfe, producer (Saito Kinen Orchestra; SKF Matsumoto Chorus & SKF Matsumoto Children’s Chorus) Label: Decca
Steffani: Niobe, Regina Di Tebe: Paul O’Dette & Stephen Stubbs, conductors; Karina Gauvin & Philippe Jaroussky; Renate Wolter-Seevers, producer (Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra) Label: Erato
BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis: Bernard Haitink, conductor; Peter Dijkstra, chorus master (Anton Barachovsky, Genia Kühmeier, Elisabeth Kulman, Hanno Müller-Brachmann & Mark Padmore; Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks; Chor Des Bayerischen Rundfunks) Label: BR Klassik
Monteverdi: Vespers Of 1610: Harry Christophers, conductor (Jeremy Budd, Grace Davidson, Ben Davies, Mark Dobell, Eamonn Dougan & Charlotte Mobbs; The Sixteen) Label: Coro
Pablo Neruda – The Poet Sings: Craig Hella Johnson, conductor (James K. Bass, Laura Mercado-Wright, Eric Neuville & Lauren Snouffer; Faith DeBow & Stephen Redfield; Conspirare) Label: Harmonia Mundi
Paulus: Far In The Heavens: Eric Holtan, conductor (Sara Fraker, Matthew Goinz, Thea Lobo, Owen McIntosh, Kathryn Mueller & Christine Vivona; True Concord Orchestra; True Concord Voices) Label: Reference Recordings
Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil: Charles Bruffy, conductor (Paul Davidson, Frank Fleschner, Toby Vaughn Kidd, Bryan Pinkall, Julia Scozzafava, Bryan Taylor & Joseph Warner; Kansas City Chorale & Phoenix Chorale) Label: Chandos
BEST CHAMBER MUSIC/SMALL ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
Brahms: The Piano Trios: Tanja Tetzlaff, Christian Tetzlaff & Lars Vogt. Label: Ondine
Filament: Eighth Blackbird. Label: Cedille Records
Flaherty: Airdancing For Toy Piano, Piano & Electronics: Nadia Shpachenko & Genevieve Feiwen Lee. Track from: Woman At The New Piano. Label: Reference Recordings
Render: Brad Wells & Roomful Of Teeth. Label: New Amsterdam Records
Shostakovich: Piano Quintet & String Quartet No. 2: Takács Quartet & Marc-André Hamelin. Label: Hyperion
BEST CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTAL SOLO
Dutilleux: Violin Concerto, L’Arbre Des Songes: Augustin Hadelich; Ludovic Morlot, conductor (Seattle Symphony) Track from: Dutilleux: Métaboles; L’Arbre Des Songes; Symphony No. 2, ‘Le Double’. Label: Seattle Symphony Media
Grieg & Moszkowski: Piano Concertos: Joseph Moog; Nicholas Milton, conductor (Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern). Label: Onyx Classics
Mozart: Keyboard Music, Vol. 7: Kristian Bezuidenhout. Label: Harmonia Mundi
Rachmaninov Variations: Daniil Trifonov (The Philadelphia Orchestra) Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated! Ursula Oppens (Jerome Lowenthal). Label: Cedille Records
BEST CLASSICAL SOLO VOCAL ALBUM
Beethoven: An Die Ferne Geliebte; Haydn: English Songs; Mozart: Masonic Cantata: Mark Padmore; Kristian Bezuidenhout, accompanist. Label: Harmonia Mundi
Joyce & Tony – Live From Wigmore Hall: Joyce DiDonato; Antonio Pappano, accompanist. Label: Erato
Nessun Dorma – The Puccini Album. Jonas Kaufmann; Antonio Pappano, conductor (Kristīne Opolais, Antonio Pirozzi & Massimo Simeoli; Coro Dell’Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia; Orchestra Dell’Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia) Label: Sony Classical
Rouse: Seeing; Kabir Padavali: Talise Trevigne; David Alan Miller, conductor (Orion Weiss; Albany Symphony) Label: Naxos
St. Petersburg: Cecilia Bartoli; Diego Fasolis, conductor (I Barocchisti). Label: Decca
BEST CLASSICAL COMPENDIUM
As Dreams Fall Apart – The Golden Age Of Jewish Stage And Film Music (1925-1955): New Budapest Orpheum Society; Jim Ginsburg, producer. Label: Cedille Records
Ask Your Mama: George Manahan, conductor; Judith Sherman, producer. Label: Avie Records
Handel: L’Allegro, Il Penseroso Ed Il Moderato, 1740: Paul McCreesh, conductor; Nicholas Parker, producer. Label: Signum Classics
Paulus: Three Places Of Enlightenment; Veil Of Tears & Grand Concerto: Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor; Tim Handley, producer. Label: Naxos
Woman At The New Piano: Nadia Shpachenko; Marina A. Ledin & Victor Ledin, producers. Label: Reference Recordings
BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION
Barry: The Importance Of Being Earnest: Gerald Barry, composer (Thomas Adès, Barbara Hannigan, Katalin Károlyi, Hilary Summers, Peter Tantsits & Birmingham Contemporary Music Group) Label: NMC Recordings
Norman: Play: Andrew Norman, composer (Gil Rose & Boston Modern Orchestra Project) Track from: Norman: Play. Label: BMOP/Sound
Paulus: Prayers & Remembrances: Stephen Paulus, composer (Eric Holtan, True Concord Voices & Orchestra). Track from: Paulus: Far In The Heavens. Label: Reference Recordings
Tower: Stroke: Joan Tower, composer (Giancarlo Guerrero, Cho-Liang Lin & Nashville Symphony). Track from: Tower: Violin Concerto; Stroke; Chamber Dance. Label: Naxos
Wolfe: Anthracite Fields: Julia Wolfe, composer (Julian Wachner, The Choir Of Trinity Wall Street & Bang On A Can All-Stars) Label: Cantaloupe Music. (Note: You can hear a haunting part of the work that won a Pulitzer Prize in the YouTube video below.)
Tags: accompany, Andris Nelsons, Antonio Pappano, aria, arias, Arts, Avie Records, ballet, Baroque, BBC Music Magazine, Beethoven, books, Boston, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Brahms, Brentano String Quartet, Bruckner, CBS, CD, Cecilia Bartoli, Cedille Records, Cello Concerto No. 1 (Saint-Saëns), Chamber music, Chandos Records, choral music, Classical music, coal, Compact Disc, concerto, conductor, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, DG, Early music, ECM, Erato, Festival Choir of Madison, Grammy, Grieg, Handel, Harmonia Mundi, Henri Dutilleux, Hyperion, Jacob Stockinger, Janacek, Jerome Lowenthal, Jewish, Jewish music, Joan Tower, Jonas Kaufmann, Joyce DiDonato, Keyboard, Lars Vogt, Linn Records, Madison, Manfred Eicher, Marc-André Hamelin, Monteverdi, Mozart, Music, Naxos, New York Times, Onyx, opera, Orchestra, organ, Pablo Neruda, Paganini, Pentatone, Piano, Piano concerto, Piano Trio, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pro Arte Quartet, producer, Puccini, Pulitzer Prize, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Russia, Rzewski, sacred music, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay Area, Schubert, secular, Seiji Ozawa, Shostakovich, SONY, Sony Classical, St. Petersburg, Stephen Paulus, symphony, Takacs, Takacs Quartet, Takacs String Quartet, Telegraph, tenor, theme and variations, Trifonov, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Ursula Oppens, variations, vespers, videos, Violin, Violin concerto, vocal music, Wigmore Hall, Wisconsin, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 