The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: On this Veterans Day, what music best marks today’s centennial of the armistice that ended World War I?
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By Jacob Stockinger
In August of 2014 the world marked the centennial of the outbreak of World War I.
It was supposed to be over by that Christmas.
It wasn’t. It lasted for more than four years.
It was supposed to be “The war to end all wars.”
It didn’t. In fact, most historians agree that World War I directly set up the conflicts and conditions that led to World War II.
It was supposed to be the war that “made the world safe for democracy.”
It didn’t do that either, although it did lead to the overthrow of many kings and royal rulers in Russia, Germany and Austria.
The one thing World War I did do was kill people, especially the trench-bound soldiers, on a scale never before seen. It was nothing short of a bloody meat grinder of a war that saw the introduction of air warfare and chemical warfare.
Four years later – today, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018 – we mark the centennial of the armistice that, 100 years ago, that ended the war on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
That is why the holiday was called Armistice Day before it became Veterans Day.
Anyway, what music is appropriate to the occasion?
Rather than reinvent the wheel, The Ear is giving you this link to the other centennial celebration post that mentioned , via links to other web sites, a lot of works and a lot of composers.
Many of those favorites remain relevant today — although Benjamin Britten’s epic War Requiem (you can hear the opening in the YouTube video at the bottom) and Samuel Barber’s moving Adagio for Strings (also at the bottom, conducted by Leonard Bernstein) still seem to tower over all the others.
Use this link to read about music and let us know what thoughts you have about the centennial of the armistice and the music you would listen to mark it.
And, finally, here is The Ear’s fervent hope that — given the rise of the far right and of populist, nationalistic politics here and around the globe — we are not working our way back to World War I rather than away from it.
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Classical music: Cellist-composer Steuart Pincombe performs music by Bach, Biber and Abel on this Thursday night at the Chocolaterian Cafe in Middleton
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement about a special and unusual populist concert:
Cellist Steuart Pincombe (below) can regularly be found playing in some of the world’s more prestigious concert halls, premiering new compositions and soloing in major festivals.
On this coming Thursday night, Sept. 20, at 7:30 p.m., Pincombe will perform music in a more intimate setting: the Chocolaterian Cafe (below), located at 6637 University Avenue in Middleton. Phone is 608 836-1156.)
The concert is part of an international movement called Music in Familiar Spaces, which is bringing the classical music experience at its highest level into homes, cafes, breweries, bookstores or any place where people feel comfortable.
One of the aims of the Music in Familiar Spaces is to make classical music accessible to a wide and varied audience. This is accomplished not only by performing in familiar, comfortable and untraditional spaces, but by designing programs that invite the audience to experience the music in a new and engaging way.
The program at the Chocolaterian is titled “Sweet Sorrow” and features music of some of the Baroque period’s most beloved composers: Karl Friedrich Abel (below top in a painting by Thomas Gainsborough), Heinrich Biber (below middle) and Johann Sebastian Bach (below bottom) plus an original composition by Pincombe.
Pincombe will be joined by local violinist and concertmaster of the Madison Bach Musicians Kangwon Kim (below) in a selection from Biber’s Rosary Sonatas.
Here is the program:
Selections in D minor (From 27 Pieces for Viola da gamba) by Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Violin Sonata No. 10 in G minor, “Crucifixion” (From the Rosary sonatas) by Heinrich Biber (1644-1702)
Suite No. 5 in C minor for Solo Cello, BWV 1011, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). You can hear Mischa Maisky playing the Prelude to the Bach suite in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Psalm 56 for Voice and Viola da gamba by Steuart Pincombe (1987-)
In order to make the concert accessible to anyone, the audience is asked to name-their-own-ticket-price for the concert, paying what they can afford and what they deem the concert is worth.
The suggested ticket price is $15-30 per person, plus the cost of whatever food and drink you wish to purchase from the cafe.
Want to know more about Steuart Pincombe?
Here is a link to his home website: https://www.steuartpincombe.com
Steuart Pincombe’s career as a cellist has brought him to leading halls and festivals across North America and Europe and he has been named by the Strad Magazine as a “superb solo cellist” and a “gorgeous player [with] perfect intonation, imaginative phrasing” by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Highlights of Steuart’s recent concert seasons include being a featured soloist with Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop (Germany), festival appearances with Asko | Schönberg (Netherlands), Cello8ctet Amsterdam (Netherlands), Ensemble Ansonia (Belgium), Oerknal! (Netherlands), performing with Holland Baroque Society (Netherlands) for King Willem Alexander of The Netherlands, appearing as soloist at the Amsterdam Cello Bienalle (Netherlands), and recording Bach’s Cello Suite No. 2 in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw for All of Bach.
His concert “Bach and Beer” was selected by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as one of the Top 10 Classical Events of the Year and a concert in which he appeared as soloist with Rene Schiffer and Apollo’s Fire was numbered in London’s ‘5 Best Classical Music Moments of 2014’ according to The Telegraph (United Kingdom).
In 2015-2016, Pincombe toured North America for one year bringing classical music to new spaces and new audiences in a project he started called Music in Familiar Spaces.
He is currently visiting Teacher of Historical Performance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Tags: #AmsterdamTheNetherlands, #Apollo'sFire, #BachandBeer, #BaroqueMusic, #BiblicalPsalms, #BookofPsalms, #CarlFriedrichAbel, #CelloMusic, #ChocolaterianCafe, #ChristianReligion, #ClevelandOhio, #ConcertHall, #HeinrichBiber, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #HistoricalPerformance, #InternationalMovement, #IntimateSetting, #JesusChrist, #JohannSebastianBach, #KangwonKim, #KarlFriedrichAbel, #LondonEngland, #MadisonBachMusicians, #MiddletonWisconsin, #MischaMaisky, #MusicFestival, #MusicinFamiliarSpaces, #NewMusic, #NorthAmerica, #OberlinConservatory, #PhiladelphiaInquirer, #RosarySonata, #RosarySonatas, #SoloCelloSuite, #SteuartPincombe, #StradMagazine, #SuiteforSoloCello, #TheBible, #TheWorld, #ThomasGainsborough, #Thursdaynight, #UnitedKingdom, #VioladaGamba, #VocalMusic, #YouTubevideo, Abel, accessible, Amsterdam, announcement, Apollo's Fire, Arts, audience, Bach, Bach and Beer, bar, Baroque, Baroque music, Beer, Belgium, bewery, Bible, Book of Psalms, bookstore, cafe, Carl Friedrich Abel, cellist, Cello, cello suites, Chamber music, chocolate, Chocolaterian Cafe, Christian religion, Classical music, Cleveland, comfortable, composer, concert hall, Concertgebouw, concertmaster, crucifixion, drink, Early music, England, Europe, experience, familiar, food, Germany, Heinrich Biber, historical, historical performance, Home, internaitonal, intimate, intonation, Jacob Stockinger, Jesus Christ, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kangwon Kim, Karl Friedrich Abel, London, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Middleton, Mischa Maisky, movement, Music festival, Music in Familiar Spaces, Netherlands, new, New Music, Newspaper, North America, Oberlin Conservatory, Ohio, original, painting, performance, performing, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Inquirer, phrasing, populist, Prelude, premiere, prestige, price, program, psalm, rosary, Rosary Sonatas, Season, selection, setting, society, solo, Solo Cello Suites, Sonata, special, Steuart Pincombe, Strad magazine, Suite, Suite for solo cello, Teacher, Thomas Gainsborough, Thursday night, ticket, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, untraditional, unusual, varied, viol da gamba, Violin, visiting, vocal music, voice, web site, Website, wide, Wisconsin, world, worth, YouTube
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