The Well-Tempered Ear
Today – Monday, March 22 — is Day 6 of the 2021 online Bach Around the Clock festival. The program features string, keyboard, percussion and vocal music with some interesting transcriptions
Leave a Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Yesterday – Sunday, March 21 — was the actual birthday, the 336th, of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
But the 10-day virtual and online celebration being held by Bach Around the Clock (BATC) continues.
Here are the pieces and performers that will take place.
The Ear is especaially pleased by some of the transcriptions, which offer more proof of just how indestructible and versatile Bach’s music remains.
Particularly interesting is the string quartet version of the famous cantata “Wachet auf” (Sleepers, Wake) and the Three-Part Inventions or Sinfonias transcribed for marimba, and played by Sean Kleve (below), a UW-Madison graduate who performs with the critically acclaimed experimental Madison-based percussion ensemble Clocks in Motion.
Monday’s program is available starting at 8 a.m.
Click here and scroll down to Day 6 to view.
Performers
• Minuet 2 in G Major, Anh 116; Suite in G Minor, BWV 822; Gavotte from Double Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1043, I. Vivace. Suzuki Strings Sonora Ensemble
• Cantata 140: “Wachet Auf” (Sleeper, Wake), arranged for string quartet. St. Croix Valley String Quartet: Janette Cysewski and Debbie Lanzen, violins; Dianne Wiik, viola; and Joel Anderson, cello.
• French Suite No. 3 in B Minor for keyboard, BWV 814: Sarabande, Anglaise, Menuett and Trio. Kris Sankaran
• Sinfonia 1 in C Major, BWV 787; Sinfonia 7 in E Minor, BWV 793; Sinfonia 10 in G Major, BWV 796; Sinfonia 11 in G Minor, BWV 797; Sinfonia 15 in B Minor, BWV 801. Sean Kleve, marimba. (You can hear Glenn Gould playing the original version of the first Sinfonia in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
• Chorale: We thank Thee, Lord, for sending. Katie Hultman, soprano, and Kenneth Stancer, organ
Live and Recorded Evening Program at 7 p.m.
Click here and scroll down to Day 6 to view.
BATC audiences will remember pianist Lawrence Quinnett (below) from his exquisite renderings of selections from The Well-Tempered Clavier, at the 2018 Festival.
Quinnett, on the piano faculty of Livingstone College, returns in 2021 to give a brief talk on his approach to ornamentation in the six French Suites, as a prelude to his live performance of Suite No. 5. The floor will open for questions, followed by Quinnett’s recorded performance of the remaining five Suites.
Tags: #BachAroundtheClock, #BachCantata, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOrnamentation, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #CityofMadison, #ClocksinMotion, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #DoubleConcerto, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FrenchSuite, #GlennGould, #JacobStockinger, #JesusChrist, #JohannSebastianBach, #KeyboardMusic, #LawrenceQuinnett, #LiveMusic, #LiveStreaming, #LivingstoneCollege, #MadisonWisconsin, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicEducation, #OnlineConcert, #OnlineFestival, #PercussionEnsemble, #PercussionMusic, #RecordedMusic, #SeanKleve, #Sleeps, #SonoraStrings, #StringMusic, #StringQuartet, #SuzukiMethod, #SuzukiStrings, #TheEar, #TheUW, #TheWell-TemperedClavier, #Three-PartInvention, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #VirtualFestival, #WachetAuf, #Well-TemperedClavier, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, 1685\2021, Anglaise, answer, approach, arrange, arrangement, Arts, audience, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, Baroque, BATC, birthday, blog, Blog post, blog posting, brief, BWV, Cantata, celebration, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, channel, choral music, Chorale, Christ, Classical music, classicalmusic, clavier, Clocks in Motion, composer, Concert, concerto, continue, critically acclaimed, day, double, double concerto, Early music, evening, experimental, exquisite, Facebook, faculty, famous, festival, floor, forward, French, French Suite, Gavotte, Glenn Gould, harpsichord, harpsichordist, indestructible, interesting, Jacob Stockinger, Jesus, Johann Sebastian Bach, Keyboard, Lawrence Quinnett, like, link, live, live music, livestream, Livingstone College, Lord, Madison, major, march, marimba, marimbist, Mead Witter School of Music, menuett, minor, morning, Music, Music education, offer, online, open, ornamentation, percussion, Percussion Ensemble, Percussion music, perform, performer, Pianist, Piano, piece, play, please, pleased, professor, program, proof, Q&A, question-and-answer, questions, recorded, recorded music, remain, renderings, return, sarabande, Sean Kleve, selection, share, sinfonia, Sleepers, Sonora Strings, start, string music, String quartet, Student, subscriber, Suite, Suzuki Method, Suzuki Strings, tag, talk, temper, thank, The Ear, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Thee, Three-Part Invention, transcribed, transcription, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, versatile, video, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, virtual, vivace, vocal music, Wachet auf, Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme, wake, Well-Tempered Clavier, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: This summer’s Token Creek Festival is CANCELED. Plus, a teenager’s piano “practice journal” on Instagram is instructive, entertaining and encouraging
Leave a Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
NEWS ALERT: This summer’s Token Creek Festival (TCF) — with the chamber music theme of Legacy to run from Aug. 21-Sept. 6 –has been CANCELED. Organizers say they hope to launch a virtual online season of archived performances at the end of the summer. Also, once modestly sized gatherings are safe again, the TCF hopes to hold an off-season event. For more information and an official statement from TCF, go to: https://tokencreekfestival.org
By Jacob Stockinger
Somewhere in New York City is a young Chinese piano prodigy who can help you get through what is often the most challenging and discouraging part of piano lessons: practicing.
His name is Auston (below) – no last name is given – and you can find him, in T-shirts and shorts, on Instagram at Auston.piano.
Auston is quite the prodigy. A 13, he plays difficult and dramatic repertoire: the Nocturne in C minor, the Scherzo No. 1 in B minor and the Ballade No. 1 in G minor, all by Chopin.
You can also hear him play the Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C-sharp minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, by Johann Sebastian Bach; the fiendish Toccata by Sergei Prokofiev; and the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
One day, The Ear expects, Auston might well be among the impressive amateurs and, later, professionals who compete in international competitions.
But more than listening to him playing, his frequent social media entries – sometimes he posts two or three times a day — allow us to hear him practice. We even hear him practicing scales – so-called Russian scales that combine scales in parallel and contrary motion.
This week, he hit 100 video posts. Just yesterday Auston started sight-reading the “Winter Wind” Etude of Chopin, Op. 25, No. 11, which many consider to be the most technically difficult of all Chopin’s etudes. (You can hear the etude – played by Maurizio Pollini – and see the note-filled score in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Starting out, he often plays hands separately (below) and sight-reads the score very, very slowly, making mistakes and working out fingering. He also uses a metronome at a very slow tempo. He gets frustrated but he never gives up. He just starts over again and provides an excellent role model for aspiring piano students.
But this young man is also fun to read. In his one-minute or less entries of his “practice journal” – which he also calls his “practice journey” — he is witty and self-deprecating in his commentaries about the music and especially about himself when he makes mistakes. As seriously as he takes the piano and practicing, he doesn’t take himself too seriously.
All in all he can even encourage others – including The Ear –to persevere and go through the same frustrations of practicing and learning a new piece.
In this case, it is the piano, but the postings could easily apply to practicing any other instrument or even to singing.
Check it out.
You will be impressed.
You will admire him.
You will laugh along with him.
And you just might practice more.
If this practice journal is a pandemic project, it succeeds way beyond what you — and probably Auston himself — might expect.
Happy listening!
And patient, productive practicing!
Tags: #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GiveUp, #HomeWebsite, #InstagramPost, #InstagramVideo, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnHarbison, #LastName, #MassGathering, #MaurizioPollini, #MusicEducation, #NewsAlert, #NewYorkCity, #PianoConcerto, #PianoLessons, #PianoMusic, #PianoVirtuoso, #PracticingMusic, #PublicHealth, #RoleModel, #RoseMaryHarbison, #SergeiProkofiev, #SergeiRachmaninov, #SocialMedia, #TheEar, #TheWell-TemperedClavier, #TokenCreekChamberMusicFestival, #TokenCreekFestival, #WinterWind, #YouTubevideo, 100, admire, alert, all, amateur, archive, Arts, Asia, asian, aspiring, audience, auston.piano, available, Bach, Ballade, Baroque, blog, canceled, challenge, challenging, Chamber music, China, Chinese, Chopin, Classical music, commentary, Competition, composer, concerto, coronavirus, correct, discouraging, Early music, encourage, end, entry, etude, event, Facebook, festival, fiendish, fingering, frequent, frustrated, frustration, fugue, fun, gathering, give up, hand, hands, happy', Harbison, himself, home website, impress, impressive, information, Instagram, ironic, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Harbison, journal, journey, last, last name, launch, lessons, like, link, listening, mass gathering, Maurizio Pollini, metronome, mistake, mistakes, modest, Music, music educaiton, name, never, New York City, news, nocturne, notes, off-season, one hundred, online, organizer, pandemic, patient, performance, persevere, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff), piano lessons, Pollini, post, posting, practice, practicing, Prelude, prodigy, productive, professional, project, Prokofiev, provide, Public health, Rachmaninov, role model, Rose Mary Harbison, safe, Scherzo, score, Season, self-deprecating, separately, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninov, seriously, share, shorts, sight-reading, social media, start, statement, Student, succeed, summer, T-shirt, tag, teenage, Tempo, The Ear, The Well-Tempered Clavier, theme, toccata, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, Token Creek Festival, United States, virtual, virtuoso, Website, Winter Wind, Wisconsin, witty, working, young, YouTube
Classical music: Bach Around the Clock marks Johann Sebastian’s 334th birthday next Saturday with a FREE 12-hour celebration. Here is the full schedule. Plus, Parry Karp plays all-French cello music on Thursday night
3 Comments
ALERT: This coming Thursday night, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, UW-Madison cellist Parry Karp, of the Pro Arte Quartet, will perform a FREE all-French recital with longtime piano partner Eli Kalman of the UW-Oshkosh. The program includes the Cello Sonata by Claude Debussy; the Cello Sonata by Albéric Magnard; “Granada” from “Foreign Evenings” by Louis Vierne; and Cello Sonata No. 1 by Camille Saint-Saens. For more information, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/faculty-recital-parry-karp-cello-and-eli-kalman-piano-2/
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
The event is coming a couple of weeks earlier than the actual birthday on March 21.
But next Saturday, March 2, from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., the annual Bach Around the Clock will celebrate the 334th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
At 10 p.m., there will even be a birthday cake for the birthday boy and for those who are still there celebrating the Big Bang of classical music.
The FREE informal event – complete with interviews, snacks and beverages – will take place at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (below) at 1833 Regent Street on Madison’s near west side close to Randall Elementary School.
How do you like your Bach?
Sung? Played on instruments?
As originally scored? As arranged and transcribed?
Played by students? By adult amateurs? Or by professionals?
Whatever you are looking for and love to hear, chances are good you will find it on the schedule. There will be all of the above, and more. There will be cantatas and concertos, suites and sonatas, preludes and fugues. (You can hear the instantly recognizable and frequently played Prelude No. 1 in C Major from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The whole event will be streamed live locally and beyond.
To get an idea of what will happen from previous events, go to the previous blog post, which has a lot of photos, or use this blog’s search engine:
For more information, here is a link to the home website that has both the full schedule and a link for streaming as well as other information about free parking as well as how to participate in and support the event.
Here is the specific link to the full schedule, with names of performers and pieces:
https://bachclock.com/concert-schedule/
Take a look. Do you have any suggestions or recommendations about what others should attend and listen to? Leave a COMMENT if you want.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AlbéricMagnard, #BachAroundtheClock, #BachCantata, #BaroqueMusic, #BigBang, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CamilleSaint-Saens, #CelloSonata, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ClaudeDebussy, #EliKalman, #EnglishHorn, #GuitarMusic, #HarpsichordMusic, #InstrumentalMusic, #JesusChrist, #JohannSebastianBach, #LiveStreaming, #LouisVierne, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #OboeMusic, #OrganMusic, #OriginalScore, #ParryKarp, #PianoAccompaniment, #PianoAccompanist, #ProArteQuartet, #RandallElementarySchool, #RecorderMusic, #St.Andrew'sEpiscopalChurch, #StreamedLive, #StringMusic, #StringQuartet, #TheWell-TemperedClavier, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityofWisconsin-Oshkosh, #ViolaMusic, #ViolinMusic, #WestSide, adult, Albéric Magnard, alert, amateur, arrangement, Arts, audience, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, Baroque, beverage, Big Bang, birthday, blog, boy, cake, Camille Saint-Saëns, Cantata, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Christian, Christian church, Classical music, classicalmusic, Claude Debussy, composer, concerto, counterpoint, Early music, Eli Kalman, English horn, Episcopalian, evening, event, foreign, free, French, fugue, global, Granada, guitar, harpsichord, home website, Horn, informal, instrument, interviews, Jacob Stockinger, Jesus Christ, Johann Sebastian Bach, like, link, live streaming, local, Louis Vierne, Love, Madison, Music, Oboe, Orchestra, organ, original score, parking, Parry Karp, participate, partner, performer, photo, Piano, play, post, posting, Prelude, Pro Arte Quartet, professional, Randall Elementary School, recital, recorder, schedule, search engine, share, Singing, snacks, Sonata, song, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, streamed live, String quartet, strings, Student, Suite, sung, support, tag, transcription, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, weeks, Well-Tempered Clavier, Wisconsin, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | samanthacrownoversbc… on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Polly Kuelbs on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
| welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 
New York Times critics name their Top 10 online concerts in April. They start today with a Good Friday performance of Bach’s “St. John Passion.”
1 Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
More people are getting COVID vaccines, but concerts will remain virtual and online for quite a while yet, especially if a fourth wave or another spike hits the U.S. and the world.
So here, once again, are the Top 10 online choices for April listening picked by the classical music critics for The New York Times.
This being the weekend of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, it couldn’t be more timely.
The first choice, which starts steaming today, is perfect for both occasions. It is a production of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St. John Passion.” It is conducted by THE Bach performers – the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque soloists, all conducted by Bach expert John Eliot Gardiner.
Gardiner has recorded and toured the world with Bach’s cantatas and oratorios. He also wrote the well criticially acclaimed book “Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven.”
If you like Bach, you are in for some good listening this month. Pianist Jeremy Denk (below) will also perform the complete first book of Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier” at the end of the month. (You can hear the famous first prelude, popular with students and amateurs but also used in a sacred setting by Schubert and Gounod, in the Youtube video at the bottom.)
You may recall that Denk performed Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” several years ago at the Wisconsin Union Theater, which also hosted an online concert by Denk this season in a program of Brahms and the two Schumann’s – Robert and Clara.
You can also hear chamber music, including a concert of contemporary composers by the Attacca Quartet.
And there is a period performance of “Pelleas and Melisande” by Debussy (below). It will attempt to recreate how the opera score sounded when it was first performed in 1902.
The ever-inventive music educator Leon Botstein will conduct a concert of music by Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein and Tania Leon.
German baritone Benjamin Appl will perform the famous song cycle “Die Schöne Müllerin” (The Beautiful Miller’s Daughter) by Franz Schubert. It streams from the faned Wigmore Hall in London.
One of the most intriguing choices is the score to Philip Glass’ “pocket opera” based on the short story “In the Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka.
The well-known conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen (below), who is also the new music director of the San Francisco Symphony after Michael Tilson Thomas retired last year. Much of the program is Salonen’s own music, along with Minimalist music by Steve Reich and Terry Riley.
There are also “Monumental Trios, featuring piano trios by Brahms and Beethoven, performed by members of the Chamber Music of Society.
And of course there will be a world premiere of the Symphony No. 2 by Huw Watkins (below is his Wikipedia bio with a photo in case you haven’t heard of the composer).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huw_Watkins
For more details, here is a link to the Times story. Click on the headline. It includes some commentary by the critic who chose each piece. You will also find links to the artist and organization plus the debut date and how long the post will remain available. Please note that all times are Eastern Daylight Time.
Do you have other concerts you recommend for streaming – local, regional, national or international?
Please leave your selection in the Comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Happy listening.
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: #AttaccaQuartet, #BachCantata, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOratorio, #BenjaminAppl, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberMusicSocietyofLIncolnCenter, #CharlesGounod, #ChineseConductor, #ChoralMusic, #ClaraSchumann, #ClassicalMusicians, #ClaudeDebussy, #ConcertProgram, #ConcertTour, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #EasternTime, #EasterOratorio, #EasterSunday, #EnglishBaroqueSoloists, #Esa-PekkaSalonen, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzKafka, #FranzSchubert, #GoodFriday, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #HuwWatkins, #IgorStravinsky, #JacobStockinger, #JeremyDenk, #JesusChrist, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnEliotGardiner, #LeonardBernstein, #LeonBotstein, #LondonEngland, #MinimalistMusic, #MonteverdiChoir, #MusicCritics, #NewYorkTimes, #OnlineConcert, #OperaMusic, #OrchestralMusic, #PelleasandMelisande, #PelleasetMelisande, #PeriodInstruments, #PhiliipGass, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #PianoTrio, #RecordedMusic, #RobertSchumann, #SanFranciscoSymphony, #ShortStory, #St.JohnPassion, #SteveReich, #StringQuartet, #TaniaLeon, #TerryRiley, #TheEar, #TheWell-TemperedClavier, #ViolinConcerto, #VirtualConcert, #WigmoreHall, #Wikipediabiography, #Wikipediaentry, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WorldPremiere, April, artist, Attacca Quartet, Bach, Baroque music, Benjamin Appl, Bernstein, blog, Blog post, blog posting, Book, Brahms, Cantata, castle, Chamber music, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Charles Gounod, choice, choral music, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Clara Schumann, Classical music, classicalmusic, Claude Debussy, commentary, Concert, concert tour, coronavirus, critically acclaimed, date, Debussy, Denk, Easter, Easter Sunday, Eastern time, English Baroque Soloists, Esa-Pekka Salonen, expert, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, forward, Franz Kafka, Franz Schubert, fugue, German baritone, Germany, Glass, God, Good Friday, Gounod, heaven, historically informed performance practices, Holiday, Huw Watkins, Igor Stravinsky, Jacob Stockinger, Jeremy Denk, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Eliot Gardiner, Kafka, Leon Bostein, Leonard Bernstein, like, link, London, Lord, minimalism, minimalist, Monteverdi Choir, MTT, Music, music critics, name, New York Times, occasion, online, opera, opera music, oratorio, Orchestra, orchestral music, organization, pandemic, Pelleas and Melisande, Pelleas et Melisande, perfect, period instruments, Philip Glass, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, piano music, Piano Trio, post, posting, Prelude, program, recorded music, Reich, Religion, Robert Schumann, sacred, San Francisco Symphony, Schubert, Schumann, score, Season, share, short story, Spring, St. John Passion, stage, staged, staging, Steve Reich, Stravinsky, String quartet, symphony, tag, Tania Leon, Terry Riley, The Ear, The Well-Tempered Clavier, time, tour, trio, vaccination, vaccine, Violin, Violin concerto, virtual, Watkins, Wigmore Hall, Wikipedia, Wisconsin Union Theater, world premiere, WUT