The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Free “Just Bach” concerts change the starting time to NOON and begin their second season this Wednesday at Luther Memorial Church. Here are programs for this semester
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The Ear has received the following announcement from the organizers and performers of Just Bach, which had a very successful inaugural run last season:
Join us on this coming Wednesday, Sept. 18, as we kick off our second season of “Just Bach” concerts. The concerts are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, with a goodwill offering collected.
The Just Bach concert series – which features Baroque period instruments and historically informed performance practices — resumes as part of the weekly free noontime “Music at Midday” concerts in the gorgeous sanctuary (below) of Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Ave. For more information and a schedule of other performances and performers in the series, go to: luthermem.org/music-at-midday
PLEASE NOTE: While the one-hour Just Bach concerts last season started at 1 p.m., this season they will start at NOON.
The photo (below, from left) shows three performers for this upcoming first concert: soprano Sarah Brailey, violist Marika Fischer Hoyt, and traverse flutist Linda Pereksta.
The season-opener is an instrumental program titled “Gamba Sonatas Without the Gambas.” (Gamba is the Italian word for leg and was used to describe what would evolve into the modern cello.)
Of the three sonatas written for viola da gamba (an early version of the modern cello) and harpsichord, BWV 1027-1029, we’ll hear the first and third, but in alternate versions.
First on the program is the hauntingly beautiful Sonata No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 1029, performed on viola da braccio (baroque viola) and harpsichord. (You can hear the opening movement of the original version, played on a modern cello and piano by Janos Starker and Gyorgy Sebok, respectively, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Following that will be the jaunty Sonata in G Major BWV 1039, the Trio Sonata arrangement for cello, flute and harpsichord that Bach made of the Sonata No. 1, BWV 1027.
Just Bach regulars traverse flutists Linda Pereksta and Monica Steger and violist Marika Fischer Hoyt return to the stage. They will be joined by cellist Lindsey Crabb (below top) and UW-Madison harpsichordist John Chapell Stowe (below bottom on the right), who are making their debuts at Just Bach.
Just Bach organizer and regular performer, as well as UW graduate student and professional touring soprano, Sarah Brailey (below) leads the chorale sing-along, a beloved audience-participation feature of these programs.
Bring your lunch, bring your ears and your voice, and bring a friend, but most of all bring yourself to enjoy the sublime music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Here is a schedule of upcoming Just Bach concerts this fall, all taking place on Wednesdays at noon:
Oct. 16: Cantata 158 Der Friede sei mit dir (Peace be with you)
Nov. 20: Cantata 151 Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kommt (Sweet comfort, my Jesus comes)
Dec. 18: Christmas Pastiche
For more information, including tips on parking, go to the website justbach.org
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Classical music: Here are practicing tips from pianist Emanuel Ax who uses software to help correct wrong notes
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By Jacob Stockinger
Even professional musicians can find practicing to be an ordeal.
“Ax is back,” says the publicity.
That’s because world-famous pianist Emanuel Ax (below, in a photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco) is back in Madison to help open John DeMain’s 25th anniversary season with the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Ax will perform the monumental and fiendishly difficult Piano Concerto No. 2 by Johannes Brahms tonight, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
It is a piece that Ax performed live some 200 times before he would agree to recording it.
Here is a link to more about the MSO concerts with the famous pianist:
And here is a link to a story about how Ax, who describes himself as a slow learner and who teaches students at the Juilliard School in New York City, practices. It contains his own tips and also talks about special software he uses to detect and correct wrong notes that is available to students and amateurs :
https://lifehacker.com/how-emanuel-ax-makes-piano-practice-less-of-a-slog-1826402441
And as a follow-up, here is a short example of the many YouTube videos of master classes with Emanuel Ax. This one small passage in a sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven gives you a good idea of the hard work that goes into the 50-minute concerto by Brahms:
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Classical music education: Here are 10 tips from China for productive practicing. Also, this afternoon is your last chance to hear the Madison Symphony Orchestra and violinist-composer Henning Kraggerud
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ALERT: This afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall is your last chance to hear the Madison Symphony Orchestra with violinist-composer Henning Kraggerud (below). The popular “Pastorale” Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven is also on the program. Here are some reviews, all positive:
Here is the review that John W. Barker wrote for Isthmus:
http://isthmus.com/music/something-old-something-new/
Here is Jessica Courtier’s review for The Capital Times and The Wisconsin State Journal:
And here is the review written by Greg Hettmansberger for his blog “What Greg Says”:
https://whatgregsays.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/no-place-like-a-second-home/
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear, who is an avid amateur pianist, ran across these 10 tips for productive practicing – something he can always use.
He knew some of them before. But it never hurts to review the basics. That’s why they are called the basics.
And some tips — included on a website based in Hong Kong, China, where music education is booming — were new.
He thought that you too – no matter what instrument you play or if you sing – would find them helpful too.
And if you don’t play or sing, maybe these tips will still enhance your appreciation of the hard work that goes into playing and practicing.
So here they are:
http://www.interlude.hk/front/ten-tips-productive-practice/
If you have some practice tips of your own to add, just leave them in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
And to play better.
Tags: Arts, Asia, Beethoven, blog, Cello, China, Classical music, Classically Speaking, Education, Greg Hettmansberger, Henning Kraggerud, Hong Kong, instrumentalist, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jessica Courtier, John W. Barker, Madison, Madison Magazine, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, Music education, Orchestra, Overture Center, pastoral, Pastorale, Piano, play, practice, review, sing, singer, symphony, Teacher, teaching, The Capital Times, tip, tips, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, What Greg Says, Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Journal
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