The Well-Tempered Ear
The New York Times music critics pick 10 online concerts and operas to watch through the month of November
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
Classical music critics for The New York Times have again listed their picks of virtual and online concerts that will be streamed during the month of November, starting this Sunday, Nov. 1, and running right through Nov. 30. In September, they did the same for the month of October.
The list of 10 highlights includes chamber music, orchestral music and operas as well as lots of new music, world premieres of commissions and even the Cliburn International Piano Competition, now known simply as The Cliburn.
Most of the events are posted and available for quite a while.
Note that all times are Eastern and that on this Sunday, Nov. 1, daylight saving ends.
As the critics point out, the list may be especially helpful and enjoyable now that the weather is turning colder, people are isolating at home during the nationwide spikes in coronavirus cases, and concert halls remain closed to the public.
Well-known institutions such as The Metropolitan Opera (below) and the Los Angeles Opera are featured. (You can sample an earlier Met production of Philip Glass’ “Satyagraha” – about the early life of Gandhi — in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
So are symphony orchestras from Detroit, Seattle, San Francisco and Cincinnati.
And pianist Igor Levit (below top), who this past year released the highly praised, award-winning complete cycle of 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven and who was named Artist of the Year by Gramophone magazine, is also featured, as is the outstanding Chicago-based violinist Jennifer Koh (below bottom, in a photo by the Los Angeles Times).
Here is a link to the story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/arts/music/classical-music-stream.html
What do you think of the choices?
Do you have other concerts or classical music events to add to the list?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #18thCentury, #African-AmericanComposer, #AnthonyDavis, #AnthonyMcGill, #BangonaCan, #BeethovenPianoSonatas, #BeethovenYear, #BerlinGermany, #BlackComposer, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonModernOrchestraProject, #BrettDean, #CarlVine, #CassieWieland, #CelloConcerto, #CelloSonata, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberOpera, #ChevalierdeSaint-Georges, #ChoralMusic, #CincinnatiOhio, #CincinnatiSymphonyOrchetsra, #ClaudeDebussy, #CommissionedMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DavidRobertson, #DaylightSaving, #DetroitMichigan, #DetroitSymphonyOrchestra, #ElectionDay, #EllenReid, #Esa-PekkaSalonen, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FerruccioBusoni, #FlorencePrice, #folksongs, #FranzSchubert, #FredericRzewski, #GramophoneMagazine, #IgorLevit, #JacobStockinger, #JamesConlon, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnAdams, #JordanNelson, #JosephBoulogne, #JuliaHagen, #JuliaPerry, #KevChoice, #LiveStreaming, #LosAngelesCalifornia, #LosAngelesOpera, #LouisLangree, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MeredithMonk, #MetropolitanOpera, #MinimalistMusic, #Mirandawarning, #MusicCritic, #MusicDirector, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #NewYorkPhilharmonic, #NewYorkTimes, #NicoMuhly, #OnlineConcert, #OrchestralMusic, #PhilipGlass, #PianoMusic, #PianoSonata, #PulitzerPrize, #RoscoeMitchell, #SanFranciscoSymphony, #SeattleSymphony, #SethParkerWoods, #SocialDistancing, #SouthAfrica, #SouthAsia, #SouthKorea, #StandardTime, #StevenLin, #SteveReich, #StringQuartet, #SymphonyOrchestra, #TheAnonymousLover, #TheCliburn, #TheEar, #TheMet, #ThomasKocheff, #TrackMusic, #TyshawnSorey, #UnfinishedSymphony, #VanCliburn, #VanCliburnInternationalPianoCompetition, #VickyChow, #ViolinConcerto, #ViolinMusic, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #WigmoreHall, #WorldPremiere, #XianZhang, #YouHavetheRighttoRemainSilent, #YouTubevideo, 18th century, acclaimed, African American, Anthony Davis, Anthony McGill, arrangement, Arts, asian, audience, available, award, Bach, Bang on a Can, Beethoven, Beethoven piano sonatas, Beethoven Year, Berlin, birthday, black, blog, Blog post, blog posting, Boston, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Brett Dean, Busoni, California, cancel, Carl Vine, Cassie Wieland, cellist, Cello, Cello Concerto, Chamber music, chamber opera, Chevalier de Saint Georges, China, Chinese, choral music, Cincinnati, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, clarinet, clarinetist, clarinettist, Classical music, classicalmusic, Claude Debussy, colder, commissions, company, Competition, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, coronavirus, counterpoint, David Robertson, Daylight Saving, Debussy, December, Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, early, Election Day, Ellen Reid, enjoyable, Esa-Pekka Salonen, event, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, Fantasia, Ferruccio Busoni, Florence Price, forward, Franz Schubert, Frederic Rzewski, Gandhi, Germany, Gramophone (magazine), helpful, highlight, Home, hymn, Igor Levit, improvisatory, India, institution, instrumentalist, insurrection, isolating, Jacob Stockinger, James Conlon, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Adams, Jordan Nelson, Joseph Boulogne, Julia Hagen, Julia Perry, Kev Choice, known, Korea, Korean, Korean musician, life, like, link, list, livestream, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Opera, Louis Langrée, Ludwig van Beethoven, masterpiece, Meredith Monk, Met, Metropolitan Opera, Michigan, minimalist music, Miranda warning, monk, month, music critic, Music director, nationwide, New Music, New York City, New York Philharmonic, Nico Muhly, October, Ohio, online, opera, option, Orchestra, orchestral music, pandemic, People, performer, Philip Glass, Pianist, Piano, piano music, Piano sonata, pick, Politics, postpone, production, program, Pulitzer Prize, resident, Roscoe Mitchell, running, San Francisco, San Francisco Symphony, Satyagraha, Schubert, Seattle, Seattle Symphony, Septemeber, Seth Parker Woods, share, singer, social distance, soloist, Sonata, song, South Africa, South Asia, spike, spriritual, standard time, starting, Steve Reich, Steven Lin, stream, String quartet, subscriber, symphony, symphony orchestra, tag, testament, The Anonymous Lover, The Cliburn, The Ear, the Met, The New York Times, Thomas Kocheff, time, track record, turn, Tyshawn Sorey, Unfinished Symphony, United States, Van Cliburn, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Vicky Chow, Violin, Violin concerto, violinist, virtual, vocal music, weather, well-known, Wigmore Hall, winner, world premiere, Xian Zhang, YouTube
Classical music: Today is the Winter Solstice. It’s a good time to listen to Schubert’s “Winterreise” (Winter Journey) — this year in English translation
2 Comments
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
Winter starts today – Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019 – when the Winter Solstice arrives tonight at 10:19 p.m.
That means tonight — the longest night of the year — we turn the corner. The days start getting longer and the nights shorter.
It is also the day when The Ear likes to listen to the best winter music ever written: the cycle of 24 songs called “Winterreise” (Winter Journey) by Franz Schubert (1797-1828).
Over the years, The Ear has heard many fine versions. Among his favorite singers are Ian Bostridge, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Matthias Goerner and Thomas Quasthoff.
Next year, you can probably expect to see a new release of the performance this past week by mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and the pianist-conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
But this year, he is listening – even as he writes – to a 2018 version by the critically acclaimed British baritone Roderick Williams (below top) with pianist Christopher Glynn (below bottom) on the Signum Classics record label.
The real and unusual appeal is that all the songs are sung in English — not the original German.
And The Ear finds it very appealing not to have to read translations but instead to sit back and listen directly to the meaning of the stories in the songs — all sung with excellent diction — in the austere, subtle and outstanding translation by theater director and writer Jeremy Sams (below).
It makes The Ear want to hear more Lieder or art songs sung in English translation — both live and recorded — just as he likes the translation, used by the Metropolitan Opera, done by the late American poet J.D. “Sandy” McClatchy of Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute”
Try it and see what you think.
Here is the first song on YouTube, where the audio proceeds through the remainder of the 70-minute cycle after the end of each song.
Enjoy. And let us know what you think of the English translation:
Tags: #ArtSong, #AustrianComposer, #BaritoneSinger, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChristopherGlynn, #CollaborativePianist, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #DietrichFischerDieskau, #EnglishTranslation, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzSchubert, #IanBostridge, #J.D.McClatchy, #JeremySams, #JoyceDiDonato, #LiveMusic, #MatthiasGoerner, #MetropolitanOpera, #Mezzo-sopranoSinger, #OriginalEnding, #PianoAccompaniment, #PianoAccompanist, #RecordLabel, #RoderickWilliams, #SaturdayNight, #SchubertLieder, #SignumClassics, #SongCycle, #TheEar, #TheMagicFlute, #ThomasQuasthoff, #ViennaAustria, #VocalMusic, #WinterJourney, #WinterSolstice, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YannickNezet-Seguin, #YouTubevideo, American, art song, Arts, austere, Austria, baritone, blog, British, Chamber music, Christopher Glynn, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, Concert, conductor, corner, critically acclaimed, day, diction, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, director, English, excellent, Facebook, forward, Franz Schubert, German, good, hear, Ian Bostridge, Jacob Stockinger, Jeremy Sams, Joyce DiDonato, label, lieder, like, link, listen, live, live music, Madison, Metropolitan Opera, Mezzo-soprano, minute, Mozart, Music, new, night, opera, original, performance, Pianist, Piano, poet, record, recording, release, rhyme, Roderick Willliams, Saturday, Schubert, Schubert Lieder, share, Signum Classics, sing, singer, Singing, solstice, song, song cycle, start, subtle, sung, tag, The Ear, The Magic Flute, theater, theatre, think, Thomas Quasthoff, time, today, translation, turn, unusual, version, Vienna, vocal music, winter, Winter Journey, winter solstice, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, write, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, years, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | Kathy O on Should the 1812 Overture be pl… |
 | Genie Ogden on Should the 1812 Overture be pl… |
 | Polly kuelbs on Should the 1812 Overture be pl… |
 | Barbara Furstenberg on Should the 1812 Overture be pl… |
 | Ronnie Hess on Should the 1812 Overture be pl… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 