The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The weeklong 21st annual Madison Early Music Festival is virtual and will be free online here and worldwide starting this Saturday
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
The Ear has received the following announcement from the directors of the Madison Early Music Festival and the UW-Madison Division of the Arts to post:
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and concerns about public health for performers and audiences, the 21st annual Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) will be virtual.
It will be held as MEMF Online! from this Saturday, July 11, through next Saturday, July 18. It can be accessed at Facebook.com/MadisonEarly or madisonearlymusic.org.
All events are FREE. Lectures and special features begin at NOON (not 11 a.m., as first listed) and concerts begin at 7 p.m. (CDT). All events will be available nationwide and internationally.
The Madison Early Music Festival is internationally recognized as a top early music festival that features music from medieval, Renaissance and baroque eras from award-winning performers and distinguished faculty.
The uncertainty of the future for the arts and MEMF is daunting, but we have persevered and put together a virtual experience to showcase the musicians and faculty members that were supposed to perform this summer.
Each ensemble prepared a special video of highlights from past performances, and other faculty members recorded lectures.
Our focus was going to be “Musical Life from the Burgundian Court,” and the videos of the Orlando Consort, Piffaro, performances and lectures by Michael Allsen and Peggy Murray reflect that theme.
The other two ensembles, Trefoil and Nota Bene, sent us live concert recordings of Trecento and Italian repertoire.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are launching a fundraiser campaign to help support the artists that were to perform this season. It is critical that we help these musicians as many of them have lost substantial and irreplaceable income for the foreseeable future.
People can donate online at madisonearlymusic.org — where you can also see the concert programs — and click on the Support tab at the top of our home page. All money raised is for the MEMF musicians.
HERE IS A COMPLETE SCHEDULE OF MEMF ONLINE:
Different events will be released each day of the festival, but the content will be available after that time for later viewing.
Saturday, July 11, at 7 p.m.: Orlando Consort (below) in 15th-Century Chansons from the Library of Congress
Sunday, July 12, at 7 p.m.: Piffaro, The Renaissance Band: (below) Excerpts from Burgundian Beginnings and Beyond, Philadelphia
Monday, July 13, at noon: Michael Allsen (below), Musical Life and History at the Burgundian Court
Tuesday, July 14, at 7 p.m.: Trefoil (below): Trecento Music from Bowerbird Concert Series, Philadelphia
Wednesday, July 15, at noon: T-shirt challenge! Post a photo wearing a MEMF T-shirt! #MEMF2020; plus Lecture by William Hudson (below) on style in singing and ornamenting Baroque songs
Thursday, July 16, noon: Renaissance Valois Dance at the Burgundian Court, a lecture by Peggy Murray (below)
Friday, July 17, at 7 p.m.: Nota Bene viol consort (below) in Sonetti Spirituali; Italian Madrigals and Divine Poetry of the High Renaissance composed by Pietro Vinci (c.1525–1584) to settings of the poetry of Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547) Brandeis University in Boston
Saturday, July 18, at 7 p.m.: All-Festival Concert videos from previous festivals. There will be a sing-along of Pastime With Good Company! by King Henry VIII (below). It will be led by a virtual MEMF Faculty Ensemble. You can hear the popular song — also known as “The King’s Ballad” — in the YouTube video at the bottom. (You can download the music and lyrics at: https://memf.wisc.edu/annual/online-program/)
We hope to see everyone in 2021, and that a vaccine is approved to help us gather again as a community experiencing all the arts with musicians, artists and audiences — at MEMF in Madison and around the world.
Tags: #All-FestivalConcert, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOrnamentation, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonMassachusetts, #BowerbirdConcertSeries, #BrandeisUniversity, #BurgundyFrance, #ChamberMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #CoronavirusPandemic, #CourtMusic, #COVID-19, #DivisionoftheArts, #EnglishComposer, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FundraisingCampaign, #GreatBritain, #HenryVIII, #HomePage, #InstrumentalMusic, #ItalianMusic, #J.MIchaelAllsen, #JacobStockinger, #LibraryofCongress, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedievalMusic, #MEMFOnline, #Musicfaculty, #NotaBene, #OrlandoConsort, #PeggyMurray, #PietroVinci, #PiffaroRenaissanceBand, #PublicHealth, #RecordedMusic, #RenaissanceMusic, #SheetMusic, #TheEar, #TheKing'sBallad, #TrefoilEnsemble, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VittoriaColonna, #VocalMusic, #YouTubevideo, access, All-Festival concert, annual, approve, Arts, audience, available, award-winning, band, Baroque, blog, Boston, Bowerbird Concert Series, Brandeis University, Burgundy, campaign, century, challenge, Chamber music, chanson, classicalmusic, community, company, compose, composer, Concert, consort, coronavirus, court, critical, dance, daunting, distinguished, divine, division, Division of the Arts, download, early msuic, Early music, earlymusic, England, English, ensemble, era, event, excerpts, experience, Facebook, faculty, feature, festival, foreseeable, France, free, fundraiser, future, good, Great Britain, Henry VIII, highlight, History, home page, income, instrumental, international, internationally, irreplaceable, Italian, Italy, J. Michael Allsen, Jacob Stockinger, King, lecture, Library of Congress, life, like, link, live, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, madrigal, Mead Witter School of Music, Medieval, MEMF, MEMF Online, Michael Alsen, money, muisician, Music, musical, nationwide, Nota Bene, online, Orlando, Orlando Consort, ornament, ornamentation, pandemic, past, pastime, Peggy Murray, perform, performers, persevere, Philadelphia, Pietro Vinci, Piffaro, Poetry, popular, post, posting, program, programming, Public health, recognize, record, recorded, reflect, Renaissance, repertoire, repertory, Saturday, schedule, Season, series, setting, share, sheet music, short, showcase, sing-along, Singing, song, specail, start, substantial, summer, support, T-shirt, tag, tee short, The Ear, The King's Ballad, theme, top, Trecento, Trefoil, Trefoil Ensemble, UK, uncertainty, unemployed, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, vaccine, video, Vinci, Viol, virtual, Vittoria Colonna, vocal music, weeklong, Wisconsin, world, YouTube
Classical music: Today is the Summer Solstice. What music best greets summer during this odd year? Plus, here is information about Make Music Madison this Sunday
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
Today – Saturday, June 20, 2020 – is the Summer Solstice.
Summer officially arrives this afternoon at 4:43 p.m. CDT.
Is The Ear alone in thinking that the time since the winter solstice has passed both more slowly and also more quickly than usual, thanks to the pandemic?
And now the days will start getting shorter. Can that be possible? Is the year really half over?
Well, it has been an unusual spring and promises to be an unusual summer, to say the least.
So how about some unusual Vivaldi?
If you listen to Wisconsin Public Radio, chances are good that today or sometime soon you will hear the hyper-popular original version of “Summer” from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.”
But The Ear finds this unusual contemporary version a welcome change from the over-programmed and too familiar original version, and more appropriate to the special summer that will follow the special spring.
It is a version that has been “recomposed” by British composer Max Richter (below top) with violin soloist Daniel Hope (below bottom), a protege of the legendary Yehudi Menuhin, who performed several years ago with the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
The Ear finds the entire work very appealing, but here is the YouTube video of just the Summer section as it was being recorded.
If you don’t like this music, what music would you choose to listen to as you celebrate the coming of summer?
And if you like this excerpt, here is a link to the complete version of “Vivaldi Recomposed”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJnxPgT83rw
MAKE MUSIC MADISON
Today may be the Summer Solstice, but this year’s Make Music Madison will take place this Sunday, which also happens to be Father’s Day.
The eight annual Make Music Madison – which includes classical music but also rock, jazz, folk, blues, hip-hop and country — is part of Make Music Day, an international celebration of the Summer Solstice that this year will take place in some 1,000 cities in 120 countries.
Here is a helpful listing with locations, time, performers and programs as well as form (virtual and online, with links, or real): http://www.makemusicmadison.org
Here is a story with more background about the event: http://www.makemusicday.org
If you attend or hear some of the events, let us know what you thought.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AmericanJazz, #AntonioVivaldi, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BluesMusic, #BritishComposer, #ChamberMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #CountryMusic, #COVID-19, #DanielHope, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Father'sDay, #FolkMusic, #FourSeasons, #GreatBritain, #Hip-hopmusic, #ItalianBaroque, #italianComposer, #JacobStockinger, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MakeMusicDay, #MakeMusicMadison, #MaxRichter, #MusicalExcerpt, #OriginalVersion, #RapMusic, #RockandRoll, #SummerSolstice, #TheBlues, #TheEar, #UnitedKingdom, #ViolinConcerto, #VocalMusic, #WinterSolstice, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #YehudiMenuhin, #YouTubevideo, alone, Antonio Vivaldi, appealing, arrive, Arts, attend, audience, background, Baroque, blog, blues, British, celebrate, Chamber music, change, cities, city, Classical music, complete, compose, composer, concerto, contemporary, coronavirus, countries, country, country music, Daniel Hope, day, Early music, England, event, excerpt, Facebook, fathers day, find, folk, form, forward, Four Seasons, Great Britain, greet, half, helpful, hip-hop, information, international, Italian, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, June, legend, legendary, like, link, listing, location, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Make Music Day, Make Music Madison, Max Richter, Music, odd, official, online, original, over, pandemic, passed, perform, performer, Piano, popular, possible, post, posting, program, promise, protege, quickly, rap, real, recompose, Richter, Rock, Saturday, Season, share, shorter, slowly, soloist, solstice, Spring, story, summer, Summer solstice, Sunday, tag, thanks, The Ear, The Four Seasons, think, time, today, UK, United States, unusual, version, Violin, Violin concerto, violinist, virtual, Vivaldi, vocal music, welcome, winter solstice, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, years, Yehudi Menuhin, YouTube
Classical music: Legendary American cellist Lynn Harrell, who performed in Madison, is dead at 76
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
Legendary American cellist Lynn Harrell (below) died Monday at 76.
If his name sounds familiar, it could be because Harrell performed in Madison at least three times – twice with the Madison Symphony Orchestra (2007 and 2011), in concertos by Lalo and Victor Herbert, and a recital with pianist Yefim Bronfman at the Wisconsin Union Theater (1994).
No cause of death has yet been given, but various sources say it was unrelated to COVID-19 or the coronavirus pandemic.
To know more about his remarkable life and impressive career, go to his biography on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Harrell
Colleagues were quick to praise Harrell not only as a master musician – gifted with beautiful tone and sensitive, expressive interpretations — but also as a great teacher and a congenial man who made friends easily. He also cut promotional ads for National Public Radio (NPR) urging members to donate, as he himself did.
Here is an interview he did in 2011 with host Norman Gilliland for Wisconsin Public Radio:
https://www.wpr.org/shows/lynn-harrell
Here is a link to an obituary from The Violin Channel that features quotes from many musicians who admired Harrell:
https://theviolinchannel.com/cellist-lynn-harrell-has-passed-away-died-obituary-rip/
And here are tributes from many of his colleagues for British critic Norman Lebrecht’s blog “Slipped Disc”:
https://slippedisc.com/2020/04/lynn-harrell-tributes-pour-in/
A prodigy who made his Carnegie Hall debut at 17, Harrell, who studied at Juilliard and the Curtis Institute, was renowned internationally. He later taught at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
In 1994 he played a Papal Concert at the Vatican to mark the first commemoration and remembrance of the Holocaust. His performance there of Max Bruch’s “Kol Nidrei” for cello and orchestra can be seen and heard at the bottom in the most popular of Harrell’s many YouTube videos.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarnegieHall, #CelloConcerto, #ChamberMusic, #COVID-19, #CurtisInstitute, #EdouardLalo, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GreatBritain, #JacobStockinger, #JuilliardSchool, #KolNidre, #KolNidrei, #LondonEngland, #LynnHarrell, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MaxBruch, #MusicalInterpretation, #MusicCritic, #NationalPublicRadio, #NormanGilliland, #NormanLebrecht, #OrchestralMusic, #PianoAccompaniment, #PianoAccompanist, #RadioHost, #RoyalAcademyofMusic, #SlippedDisc, #TheEar, #TheHolocausr, #TheHolocaust, #ThePope, #TheVatican, #TheViolinChannel, #VictorHerbert, #Wikipediabiography, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #YefimBronfman, #YouTubevideo, ad, admire, American, Arts, Bach, beautiful, biography, blog, British, Bruch, career, Carnegie Hall, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, channel, Classical music, colleague, Concert, concerto, congenial, coronavirus, critic, Curtis Institute, dead, death, die, donate, Edouard Lalo, England, expressive, Facebook, familiar, friend, friends, great, Great Britain, himself, Holocaust, impressive, interview, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Juilliard School, Kol Nidre, Kol Nidrei, legendary, life, London, Lynn Harrell, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, man, many, Max Bruch, members, Music, Musician, name, National Public Radio, Norman Gilliland, Norman Lebrecht, obituary, Orchestra, orchestral, Overture Center, pandemic, Papal, perform, Pianist, Piano, play, Pope, popular, post, posting, prodigy, promotion, Radio, recital, remarkable, remembrance, Remembrance Day, royal, Royal Academy of Music, sensitive, Slipped Disc, sounds, source, study, symphony, Teacher, The Ear, The Vatican, The Violin Channel, tone, tribute, UK, United States, Victor Herbert, Violin, virus, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, Yefim Bronfman, YouTube
Classical music: NPR explores musical responses to epidemics and pandemics from The Black Plague through HIV-AIDS and COVID-19. Do you know of any more?
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
For many centuries, artists of all kinds have responded to major social catastrophes or crises. (Below is “The Dance of Death” from the Wellcome Library in London).
Musicians and composers are among them.
Many musicians are now performing and then live streaming music in their homes because of the need for self-isolation and quarantining or social distancing.
But here we are talking about composers who tried to translate the tragedy of sickness into sound.
So it is with the coronavirus and COVID-19.
But the writer puts in it in a context that transforms it into a kind of tradition.
Tom Huizenga, who writes for the “Deceptive Cadence” blog of NPR (National Public Radio), also provides audio samples of the work he is discussing.
He starts with The Black Plague of the 14th century and British composer John Cooke (below), who wrote a hymn to the Virgin Mary.
He offers an example of how Johann Sebastian Bach (below), who suffered his own tragedies, responded to a later plague in France in one of his early cantatas.
The story covers the HIV-AIDS pandemic in the 1980s and how both the disease and the government’s slow response to it inspired a symphony by the American composer John Corigliano (below).
The survey concludes with a contemporary American composer, Lisa Bielawa (below), who is in the process of composing a choral work that responds to the coronavirus pandemic.
Here is a link to the NPR story, which you can read and or else spend seven minutes listening to, along with the audio excerpts of the works that have been discussed.
Here is a link: https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2020/04/13/827990753/when-pandemics-arise-composers-carry-on
What do you think of the story?
Do you know of other composers or musical works that responded to epidemics, pandemics and other public health crises?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #BlackPlague, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChoralWork, #COVID-19, #DeceptiveCadence, #Epidemic, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FederalGovernment, #GreatBritain, #HIV-AIDS, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnCorigliano, #LisaBielawa, #LiveStreaming, #LivingComposer, #MusicalExcerpt, #NationalPublicRadio, #PublicHealth, #Self-Isolation, #Sickness, #SocialDistancing, #TheEar, #TheUK, #TomHuizenga, #UnitedKingdom, #VirginMary, #VocalMusic, #YouTubevideo, 1980s, AIDS, America, American composer, artists, Arts, audience, Audio, Bach, Baroque, Black Plague, blog, British, Cantata, catastrophe, centuries, century, choral music, choral work, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, Corigliano, coronavirus, crises, crisis, dance, death, Deceptive Cadence, discuss, Disease, early, Early music, England, English, excerpt, Facebook, forward, France, government, Great Britain, Health, HIV, Home, hymn, inspire, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Corigliano, library, like, link, Lisa Bielawa, live, livestream, Living composer, London, Madison, major, Medieval, minutes, Music, musical, musical works, National Public Radio, need, New York City, NPR, Orchestra, pandemic, perform, plague, post, posting, process, public, Public health, quarantine, quarantining, Radio, read, respond, response, sample, share, slow, social distancing, social upheaval, Sound, story, stream, streaming, survey, symphony, tag, The Ear, Tom Huizenga, tragedy, translate, U.K., UK, United Kingdom, United States, Virgin Mary, vocal music, works, write, YouTube
Classical music: Acclaimed native son Kenneth Woods returns this weekend to conduct the Madison Symphony Orchestra. He talks to The Ear about what Madison meant to him and his international career
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
This weekend, native Madisonian Kenneth Woods (below) returns from his home in the UK to conduct three performances of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
The concerts feature two MSO debuts: the prize-winning young Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor; and the acclaimed guest conductor, Kenneth Woods, leading the orchestra for the MSO premiere of Haydn’s Symphony No. 96, “Miracle” plus Richard Strauss’ tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life).
Performances will be held in Overture Hall on Friday night, March 6, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday night, March 7, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday afternoon, March 8, at 2:30 p.m.
Single tickets are $19-$95 each and are on sale now, along with discounted tickets, at: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/the-miracle/; through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street; or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141. Fees apply to online and phone sales.
You can view program notes for this concert online at http://bit.ly/msomar2020programnotes
A Prelude Discussion by Randal Swiggum will take place one hour before each concert.
Guest conductor Kenneth Woods is a busy and versatile musician. He is the Principal Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra and the artistic director of both the Colorado MahlerFest and the Elgar Festival in England. (You can hear Woods conducting Carl Maria von Weber’s “Oberon” Overture in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Woods has won accolades for rediscovering and recording the music of the Austrian-British composer Hans Gàl. Woods, who has played guitar in a rock band, is also a professional cellist who solos with orchestras and plays chamber music. He writes a respected blog. And he currently plays and records in the Briggs Piano Trio for Avie Records.
For much more information about Kenneth Woods, including his blog “A View From the Podium,” go to: https://kennethwoods.net/blog1/
Woods recently spoke via email to The Ear about what Madison has meant to him and to his international career.
How did living in Madison play a role in your decision to become a professional musician?
Madison offered me a chance to hear music at an early age. I was taken to watch a rehearsal of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra as a very young kid, maybe three or four years old. That made a huge impression on me, especially seeing the rehearsal process. Later, my parents took us to all the UW Symphony Orchestra concerts for years.
There’s really no reason not to take young kids to concerts! For me, a love of live music led to a love of recorded music, listening to records at home, and from there, to an interest in playing music as a kid.
We were lucky to have a very strong music program in the Madison public schools when I was growing up here. The orchestras at Memorial High School played some really impressive repertoire under Tom Buchhauser (below top, in a photo by Jon Harlow). The UW Summer Music Clinic made being a musician social – it was a great immersion with one’s peers.
Most important, however, was probably the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO). Playing under Jim Smith (below bottom) was the most fantastic education in orchestral playing one could hope for. He and Tom are a big part of why I became a conductor.
Madison in those days wasn’t a super-pressurized scene, like one might encounter around the big pre-college programs in New York or LA. But what I might have missed in terms of conservatory-level instrumentalists in every corridor, one made up in terms of feeling like you could find your own path. By the time I was in high school, I pretty much knew music was that path.
How did your experiences in Madison help prepare you for that career?
I learned so much about rehearsing from Jim Smith. In his first year, we worked on Dvorak’s 8th Symphony pretty much all year. Every week, he opened our ears to new facets of the music. I’ve never forgotten that.
I went off to Indiana University to do my Bachelor’s degree, but returned to Madison for a Master’s, when I studied cello with UW-Madison professor Parry Karp (below top).
Those were wonderful years for me. I learned an enormous amount from Parry as both a cello teacher and chamber music coach (and especially as a person).
I played in fantastic chamber groups, did lots of wacky new music and had solo opportunities. UW Symphony Orchestra conductor David Becker (below bottom) even gave me my first meaningful chance to rehearse an orchestra when he had me take a couple of rehearsals on the Copland Clarinet Concerto.
And I played in both the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. I came away from that time with both new skills and new confidence.
What does returning to your hometown to conduct the Madison Symphony Orchestra mean to you?
It’s both very exciting and a little surreal. Under the leadership of John DeMain (below top, in a photo by Greg Anderson), the MSO (below bottom, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) has come so far since the time I was in it. And the new hall is such a treasure for all of Wisconsin – it’s practically a different orchestra.
I still have many friends and former mentors in the orchestra and it’s going to be wonderful to see them all and make music together again after so long.
But it’s more than a homecoming. It’s a chance to celebrate where we’ve all been and what we’ve all done the last 20 years or so. My musical life has mostly been in the UK for a long time, so to re-connect with my musical roots here is rather magical.
What are your major current and upcoming projects?
The English Symphony Orchestra (below) represents the biggest chunk of my musical life. This year we’re celebrating Beethoven’s 250th birthday and the orchestra’s 40th anniversary.
The ESO has a special commitment to new and unknown music, and right now we’re in the midst of something called the 21st Century Symphony Project, which involves commissioning, premiering and recording nine new symphonies by diverse composers. It’s one of the most ambitious commissioning projects I’ve ever heard of, let alone been involved in.
I’m also excited about this year’s Colorado MahlerFest in Boulder, where we’re focusing on Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” this May, which will crown a week of music exploring themes of color and visual art with music by Wagner, Messiaen and British composer Philip Sawyers.
Is the MSO program special to you?
I must say that it was incredibly generous of John DeMain to offer me such a fantastic program. Not every music director is gentleman enough to let a guest have Ein Heldenleben.
What would you like the public to know about your approach to music and about the specific works by Haydn, Mendelssohn and Richard Strauss?
Haydn’s music is maybe the richest discovery of my adult life. I didn’t get it as a kid, largely because most performances I heard were so dull.
His music is so varied, and his personality so complex, one mustn’t try to reduce him down to a simplistic figure. The late symphonies, of which this is one of the finest, are inexhaustible sources of wisdom, beauty, humor and sanity.
The Mendelssohn is really an astonishing piece. I’ve probably conducted it as much as any piece of music, with so many different soloists, all of whom had hugely different temperaments, personalities, sounds and approaches.
I’ve played it with some of the greatest violinists in the world and with young students. Somehow, whoever is playing, it always leaves me, and the audience, smiling. I’m pretty sure we can continue that streak with Blake Pouliot (below, in a photo by Jeff Fasano).
The Strauss is a rich, personal, wise, funny and moving work. It’s always a challenge, particularly bringing out all the astonishing detail in the score, but it’s also a real joy to perform. If the Mendelssohn always leaves me smiling, the Strauss always leaves me smiling with a tear in my eye.
Tags: #21stCentury, #AaronCopland, #AntoninDvorak, #ArtisticDirector, #AvieRecords, #AViewFromthePodium, #Bachelor'sDegree, #BeethovenYear, #BlakePouliot, #BlogInterview, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BloomingtonIndiana, #BoxOffice, #BriggsPianoTrio, #BritishComposer, #CarlMariavonWeber, #ChamberMusic, #CityofMadison, #ClarinetConcerto, #ClarinetMusic, #ColoradoMahlerFest, #CommissionedMusic, #DavidBecker, #EdwardElgar, #EinHeldenleben, #EnglishSymphonyOrchestra, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #FranzJosephHaydn, #Fridaynight, #GreatBritain, #GrowingUp, #GuestArtist, #GustavMahler, #HansGàl, #HighNotes, #HighSchool, #HomeWebsite, #IndianaUniversity, #JacobStockinger, #JamesSmith, #JimSmith, #JohnDeMain, #KennethWoods, #LiveMusic, #LosAngeles, #LosAngelesCalifornia, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonMemorialHighSchool, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MakeMusic, #Master'sDegree, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MemorialHighSchool, #MiracleSymphony, #MusicClinic, #MusicEducation, #NativeSon, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #OlivierMessiaen, #OrchestralMusic, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #ParryKarp, #PhilipSawyers, #PianoTrio, #PreludeDiscussion, #Prize-Winning, #ProfessionalMusician, #ProgramNotes, #PublicSchools, #RandalSwiggum, #RecordedMusic, #ResurrectionSymphony, #RichardStrauss, #RichardWagner, #RockBand, #SaturdayNight, #Sundayafternoon, #TheEar, #TheU.K., #TheUK, #ThomasBuchhauser, #TomBuchhauser, #TonePoem, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UnknownMusic, #UWProfessor, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #VirtuosoViolinist, #VisualArt, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #YouTubevideo, 21st century, A View From the Podium, Aaron Copland, accolades, accomplished, adult, age, ambitious, anniversary, Antonín Dvořák, approach, Art, Artistic director, Arts, astonishing, audience, Austrian, Avie Records, Bachelor's degree, band, beauty, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, birthday, Blake Pouliot, blog, Bloomington, Boulder, box office, Briggs Piano Trio, British, busy, Canada, Canadian, career, Carl Maria von Weber, celebrate, cellist, Cello, challenging, Chamber music, chance, clarinet, clarinetist, Classical music, coach, college, color, Colorado, Colorado MahlerFest, commission, commitment, Compact Disc, complex, composer, Concert, concerto, conduct, conductor, confidence, conservatory, Copland, David Becker, debut, decision, detail, different, discount, discovery, discussion, dukk, Dvorak, early, ears, Education, Edward Elgar, Ein Heldenleben, Elgar, email, England, English, English Symphony Orchestra, enormous, event, excited, exciting, experience, eye, Facebook, facet, fantastic, fee, Felix Mendelssohn, festival, finest, forward, Franz Joseph Haydn, Friday, friend, funny, generous, gentleman, Great Britain, growing up, guest artist, guitar, Gustav Mahler, hall, Hans Gàl, Haydn, hear, hero, high school, Home, home website, Homecoming, huge, Humor, immersion, important, impression, impressive, Indiana, Indiana University, inexhaustible, information, instrumentalist, instrumentalists, interest, international, interview, Jacob Stockinger, James Madison Memorial High School, James Smith, Jim Smith, John DeMain, Kenneth Woods, kid, kids, know, LA, late, leadership, learn, life, like, link, listening, live music, living, Los Angeles, Love, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Memorial High School, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madisonian, magical, Mahler, make, master's, masters degree, Mead Witter School of Music, Memorial High School, Mendelssohn, mentor, Messiaen, Miracle Symphony, moving, MSO, Music, music clinic, Music education, musical, Musician, native, new, New Music, New York City, night, notes, Oberon, Olivier Messiaen, online, Orchestra, orchestral music, Overture, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, Overture Hall, parents, Parry Karp, path, peers, perform, performance, performer, personal, personality, Philip Sawyers, Piano Trio, play, podium, poem, pre-college, premiere, prepare, pressure, principal, prize, process, professional, professor, program, program notes, project, public, public schools, Q&A, Randal Swiggum, re-connect, record, recorded music, records, rediscover, rehearsal, repertoire, respect, respected, Resurrection Symphony, return, rich, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, rock band, role, roots, sale, sanity, Saturday, scene, score, share, simplistic, skill, smile, smiling, social, soloist, son, Sound, Strauss, strong, study, Sunday, surreal, symphony, tag, talk, Teacher, tear, temperament, The Ear, theme, Thomas Buchhauser, tickets, Tom Buchhauser, tone, tone poem, treasure, U.K., UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unknown, unknown music, UW, UW Symphony Orchestra, varied, versatile, view, Violin, violinist, visual art, Wagner, Website, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, wisdom, won, wonderful, works, write, WYSO, year, young, YouTube
Classical music: Renowned organist Hector Olivera will play classics and also improvise spontaneously in Overture Hall on Tuesday night
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
At 7:30 p.m. on this Tuesday night, Feb. 11, in Overture Hall, the renowned Argentinian organist and composer Hector Olivera (below) will make his local debut on the Overture Concert Organ Series sponsored by the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Olivera will perform on the Klais Overture Concert Organ (below)
All tickets are $20.
The program includes works by: Johann Sebastian Bach; Cesar Franck; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Astor Piazzolla; Louis Vierne; Marco Enrico Bossi; and William Ralph Driffill.
For the specific works on the program, plus information about buying tickets, biographical background and reviews of his past performances, go to: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/organ-hector-olivera/
Says Greg Zelek (below), the MSO organist and Juilliard School graduate who also organizes the organ concert series:
“Known as one of the most exciting organists of the 20th century, international concert organist Hector Olivera will entertain and exhilarate the audience with an unforgettable performance.
“Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mr. Olivera has performed all over the world and has had audiences leaping to their feet with applause for years.
“His debut performance at Overture Hall will feature organ classics like Vierne’s Carillon de Westminster, as well as transcriptions like “Oblivion” by another Argentine native, Astor Piazzolla.
“He will close the concert with an improvisation on a submitted theme that is sure to enthrall and amaze everyone in attendance.”
Want proof or a preview?
You can hear Olivera improvise on a traditional Chinese folk song, first sung to him, during a concert in Shenzhin, China, in the YouTube video below:
Tags: #20thCentury, #ArgentineanComposer, #ArgentinianComposer, #AstorPiazzolla, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BuenosAires, #CesarFranck, #ConcertOrgan, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GregZelek, #HectorOlivera, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #JuilliardSchool, #KlaisOrgan, #LouisVierne, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MarcoEnricoBossi, #MusicReview, #NewTango, #NuevoTango, #OrganMusic, #OrganTranscription, #OvertureHall, #TheEar, #TraditionalMusic, #Tuesdaynight, #UnitedKingdom, #WilliamRalphDriffill, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, amaze, applause, Argentina, Argentine, Argentine tango, Argentinean, Argentinian, audience, Ástor Piazzolla, Bach, biographical, biography, blog, born, Bossi, British, Buenos Aires, Cesar Franck, China, composer, Concert, concert organ, debutt, Driffill, England, entertain, enthrall, exciting, exhilarate, Facebook, February, folk, folksong, forward, Franck, Greg Zelek, Hector Olivera, improvisation, improvise, international, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Juilliard, Juilliard School, Klais, like, link, local, Louis Vierne, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marco Enrico Bossi, Mozart, MSO, native, night, Oblivion, Olivera, organ, organ music, organize, Overture Concert Organ, Overture Hall, past, performer, post, posting, preview, program, proof, renown, renowned, review, series, share, Shenzhin, sing, Singing, song, specific, sung, tag, tango, The Ear, theme, tickets, traditional, transcription, Tuesday, UK, Vierne, Westminster, William Ralph Driffill, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, works, world, years, YouTube
Classical music: Artificial Intelligence will complete Beethoven’s 10th Symphony
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
The timing of the announcement and project couldn’t be more perfect as we are now about the enter The Beethoven Year.
2020 will see the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven (below).
And word is that hi tech in the form of AI will come to rescue of art through a powerful computer program.
That is, artificial intelligence will be used to complete the drafts and sketches of an unfinished 10th symphony by Beethoven. (Below is Beethoven’s manuscript for the opening of the iconic Fifth Symphony.)
It will not be the first time. You can hear a well researched if less rigorous and less technological version of Beethoven’s 10th, assembled by Barry Cooper, in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Whether we end up with a piece of music that can be performed or that we want to hear remains to be seen. After all, how many times do you hear — or want to hear — live performances of completed versions of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony or Mahler’s unfinished 10th?
So Beethoven’s 10th may end up being more a curiosity than a work of art.
But at least we may get an idea of where Beethoven was headed after his unconventional and revolutionary Ninth Symphony that influenced so many later composers.
You can learn more about it by going to the homepage of Classical FM, an important British radio station. Here is a link:
https://www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/news/computer-completes-unfinished-tenth-symphony/
Tags: #ArtificialIntelligence, #BarryCooper, #BeethovenYear, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalFM, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FifthSymphony, #FranzSchubert, #GustavMahler, #HighTechnology, #HomePage, #InstrumentalMusic, #LiveMusic, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #NinthSymphony, #RadioStation, #UnfinishedSymphony, #VocalMusic, #WorkofArt, #YouTubevideo, AI, anniversary, announcement, Art, artificial intelligence, Arts, Barry Cooper, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, Beethoven's Fifth, birth, birthday, blog, British, choral music, Classical FM, Classical music, composer, computer, curiosity, curious, draft, Facebook, Fifth Symphony, forward, Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler, hi tech, high tech, iconic, idea, influence, instrumental music, Jacob Stockinger, like, link, live music, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, manuscript, Music, Ninth Symphony, Orchestra, perfect, performance, project, Radio, radio station, reader, rescue, revolutionary, Schubert, share, sketch, subscription, symphony, tag, technology, time, timing, UK, unconventional, unfinished, Unfinished Symphony, United Kingdom, United States, version, vocal music, Wisconsin, work of art, YouTube
Classical music: Legendary Austrian pianist and scholar Paul Badura-Skoda dies at 91. In the 1960s, he was artist-in-residence at the UW-Madison School of Music
4 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE 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
Paul Badura-Skoda, the celebrated Austrian pianist who was equally known for his performances and his scholarship, and who was artist-in-residence at the UW-Madison in the mid-1960s until 1970, died this past Tuesday at 91.
A Vienna native, Badura-Skoda was especially known for his interpretations of major Classical-era composers who lived and worked in that city including Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.
He was the only pianist to have recorded the complete sonatas by those composers on both the modern piano and the fortepiano, the appropriate period instrument.
If memory serves, Badura-Skoda’s last appearances in Madison were almost a decade ago for concerts in which he played: the last piano sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert; a Mozart piano concerto with the UW Chamber Orchestra; and a solo recital of Bach, Mozart, Schubert and Chopin at Farley’s House of Pianos.
But he also performed and recorded Bach, Chopin and Schumann among others. And Badura-Skoda was also renowned as a conductor, composer, editor and teacher.
You can find many of his recordings and interviews on YouTube. Normally, this blog uses shorter excerpts. But the legendary Paul Badura-Soda is special. So in the YouTube video at the bottom you can hear Badura-Skoda’s complete last recital of Schubert (Four Impromptus, D. 899 or Op. 90), Schumann (“Scenes of Childhood”, Op. 15) and Mozart (Sonata in C Minor, K. 457). He performed it just last May at the age of 91 at the Vienna Musikverein, where the popular New Year concerts take place.
Here are links to several obituaries:
Here is one from the British Gramophone Magazine:
Here is one from WFMT radio station in Chicago, which interviewed him:
https://www.wfmt.com/2019/09/26/pianist-paul-badura-skoda-dies-at-age-91/
Here is one, with some surprisingly good details, from Limelight Magazine:
https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/news/paul-badura-skoda-has-died/
And here is his updated Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Badura-Skoda
But you will notice a couple of things.
One is that The Ear could not find any obituaries from such major mainstream media as The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. But each had many other feature stories about and reviews of Badura-Skoda’s concerts over the years in their areas.
The other noteworthy thing is that none of the obituaries mentions Badura-Skoda’s years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music in the 1960s, where he helped to raise the profile and prestige of the School of Music. Getting Badura-Skoda to join the university was considered quite an unexpected coup.
So here are two links to UW-Madison press releases that discuss that chapter of his life and career.
Here is an archival story from 1966 when Badura-Skoda first arrived at the UW-Madison:
And here is a press release that came from the UW-Madison News Service eight years ago on the occasion of one of Badura-Skoda’s many visits to and performances in Madison:
https://news.wisc.edu/writers-choice-madison-welcomes-badura-skoda-again-and-again/
Rest in Peace, maestro, and Thank You.
It would be nice if Wisconsin Public Radio paid homage with some of Badura-Skoda’s recordings since a complete edition was issued last year on the occasion of his 90th birthday.
If you wish to pay your own respects or leave your memories of Paul Badura-Skoda and his playing, please leave something in the comment section.
Tags: #AustrianComposer, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberOrchestra, #Classicalera, #ClassicalMusc, #CompactDisc, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FranzSchubert, #FredericChopin, #GramophoneMagazine, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #JohannSebastianBach, #LimelightMagazine, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MainstreamMedia, #ModernPiano, #MusicalInterpretation, #MusicCritic, #MusicCriticism, #MusicReview, #NewYear, #PaulBadura-Skoda, #PeriodInstruments, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #PianoSonata, #PressRelease, #RadioStation, #RestinPeace, #RobertSchumann, #ScenesofChildhood, #SchoolofMusic, #ThankYou, #The1960s, #TheEar, #TheFortepiano, #TheNewYorkTImes, #TheWallStreetJournal, #TheWashingtonPost, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViennaMusikverein, #WallStreetJournal, #WFMTRadioStation, #Wikipediabiography, #Wikipediaentry, #WisconsinPublic Radio, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 1960s, artist-in-residence, Arts, audience, Austria, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, birthday, blog, British, CDs, celebrated, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, Chicago, Chopin, Classical, Classical music, comment, Compact Disc, complete, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, coup, criticism, death, decade, details, Deutsch number, die, died, edition, editor, English, Facebook, Farley's House of Pianos, feature story, fortepiano, forward, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, good, Gramophone, Haydn, historically informed performance practices, impromptu, instrument, interpretation, interview, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kinderszenen, last, legend, legendary, like, Limelight magazine, link, live, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Maestro, magazine, mainstream, mainstream media, major, media, memories, modern piano, Mozart, Music, native, New Year, New York City, news, NPR, obituary, occasion, Orchestra, Paul Badura-Skoda, pay, performance, performer, period instruments, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, piano music, Piano sonata, popular, post, posting, press release, prestige, profile, Radio, radio station, reader, recital, record, recording, renown, respect, rest in peace, review, RIP, Robert Schumann, Scenes of Childhood, scholar, scholarship, School of Music, Schumann, section, share, Sonata, station, tag, Teacher, thank you, The Ear, The New York Times, The Washington Post, UK, unexpected, United States, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, updated, UW, UW-Madison, UW-Madison School of Music, Vienna, Vienna Musikverein, visit, Wall Street Journal, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, WMFT, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, WPR, YouTube
Classical music: The Beethoven Year in Madison will include complete cycles of string quartets and piano trios as well as many other early, middle and late pieces. Here is a partial preview
6 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE 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
As you may have already heard, 2020 is a Beethoven Year. It will mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. (He lived from mid-December of 1770 to March 26, 1827. Dec. 17 is sometimes given as his birthday but it is really the date of his baptism. No one knows for sure the actual date of his birth.)
Beethoven, who this year overtook Mozart as the most popular composer in a British radio poll, clearly speaks to people — as you can see at the bottom in the YouTube video of a flash mob performance of the “Ode to Joy.” It has had more than 16 million views.
Locally, not all Beethoven events have been announced yet. But some that promise to be memorable are already taking shape. Many programs include early, middle and late works. And you can be sure that, although nothing formal has been announced yet, there will be special programs on Wisconsin Public Television and especially Wisconsin Public Radio.
Here is a partial round-up:
The UW’s famed Pro Arte String Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer), for example, will perform a FREE and complete cycle of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets in six concerts. It will start later this fall.
This is not the first time that the Pro Arte has done a Beethoven cycle. But it is especially fitting since that is the same Beethoven cycle that the Pro Arte was performing in Madison at the Wisconsin Union Theater in May of 1940 when World War II broke out and the quartet was stranded on tour in the U.S. after its homeland of Belgium was invaded and occupied by the Nazis.
That is when the ensemble was invited to become musical artists-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and accepted – thereby establishing the first such association in the world that became a model for many other string quartets.
The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society with the San Francisco Trio (below) plans on performing a cycle of piano trios next summer. No specific dates or programs have been announced yet.
The 20th anniversary of the Ancora String Quartet (below, in a photo by Barry Lewis) will coincide with the Beethoven Year. That is when the Ancorans will complete the cycle of 16 string quartets that they have been gradually programming over the years. Three quartets remain to be performed: Op. 59, No. 2 “Rasumovsky”, Op. 130 and Op. 131.
Adds violist Marika Fischer Hoyt: “We’ll perform Op. 130 in February (with the original final movement, NOT the “Grosse Fuge”), and we plan to do the remaining two quartets in the summer and fall of 2020.”
Here are some other Beethoven dates to keep in mind:
On Nov. 2 in Shannon Hall at the Wisconsin Union Theater, and as part of the WUT’s centennial celebration of its Concert Series, pianist Emanuel Ax (below, in a photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco), who since 1974 has played many solo recitals, chamber music recitals and piano concertos in Madison, will play Beethoven’s first three solo piano sonatas, Op. 2.
On Dec. 6 at the Wisconsin Union Theater, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Piano Trio will perform the famous “Archduke” Trio, Op. 97. Also on the program are works by Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann.
On Feb. 1, UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor, who has performed all 32 piano sonatas in Madison, will continue his cycle of Beethoven symphonies as transcribed for solo piano by Franz Liszt. He will perform Symphony No. 1 and the famed Symphony No. 9, the ground-breaking “Choral” Symphony with its “Ode to Joy.” No chorus will be involved, but there will be four solo singers. Taylor said he will then complete the cycle with Symphony No. 2 at some future time.
The Mosaic Chamber Players (below, in a photo by John W. Barker) will perform two all-Beethoven programs: on Feb. 21, a FREE program offers two sonatas for violin and piano (Op. 12, No. 3 and Op. 30, No. 2, and one sonata for cello and piano (Op. 5, No. 1); on June 13, a ticketed program features three piano trios (Op. 1, No. 1; Op. 70, No. 2; and Op. 121a “Kakadu” Variations).
On May 8, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below top, in a photo by Mike Gorski), under conductor Andrew Sewell (below bottom, in a photo by Alex Cruz), will perform the popular Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral” – a pioneering piece of program music — to commemorate the Beethoven Year.
There is one very conspicuous absence.
You will notice that there is nothing by Beethoven programmed for the new season of the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers).
But The Ear hears rumors that music director John DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) is planning something special for the following season that might involve both symphonies and concertos, both original Beethoven works and perhaps “reimagined” ones.
(For example, pianist Jonathan Biss, who has just completed recording the piano sonata cycle and who performed with the MSO several years ago, has commissioned and will premiere five piano concertos related to or inspired by Beethoven’s five piano concertos.) Sorry, but as of now only rumors and not details are available for the MSO. Stay tuned!
The Ear would like to hear complete cycles of the violin sonatas and cello sonatas performed, and a couple of the piano concertos as well as the early symphonies and the famed Ninth Symphony with its “Ode to Joy” finale. He fondly remembers when DeMain and the MSO performed Symphonies Nos. 1 and 9 on the same program. Talk about bookending a career!
What Beethoven would you like to hear live?
What are your most favorite or least favorite Beethoven works?
Do you know of other Beethoven programs during the Beethoven Year? If so, please leave word in the Comment section.
And, of course, there is the inevitable question: Can you have too much Beethoven?
Tags: #All-Beethoven, #AncoraStringQuartet, #AndrewSewell, #ArchdukeTrio, #Artists-in-Residence, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BeethovenYear, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CelloSonata, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralSymphony, #ConcertSeries, #EmanuelAx, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #FranzLiszt, #GreatBritain, #GrosseFuge, #JohnDeMain, #JohnW.Barker, #JonathanBiss, #KakaduVariations, #KalichsteinLaredoRobinsonPianoTrio, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MarikaFischerHoyt, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MosaicChamberPlayers, #Nazi-occupied, #NinthSymphony, #OdetoJoy, #PianoConcerto, #PianoSonata, #PianoTrio, #ProArteQuartet, #ProgramMusic, #RasumovskyQuartet, #RazumovskyQuartet, #RobertSchumann, #SanFrancisco, #SanFranciscoTrio, #SchoolofMusic, #ShannonHall, #SoloPiano, #StringQuartet, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViolinSonata, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinPublic Radio, #WisconsinPublicTelevision, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WorldWarII, #YouTubevideo, absence, actual, Ancora String Quartet, Andrew Sewell, anniversary, announce, Archduke Trio, Arts, association, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, baptism, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, Belgium, birth, Blegium, blog, bookend, British, career, celebration, cellist, Cello, Cello Sonata, centennial, Chamber music, choral music, Choral Symphony, chorus, Classical music, classicalmusic, commemorate, comment, composer, concert series, conductor, conspicuous, cycle, date, day, death, December, details, early, Emanuel Ax, England, event, Facebook, fall, favorite, Felix Mendelssohn, final, Flash mob, Flashmob, Franz Liszt, free, Great Britain, Grosse Fuge, groundbreaking, homeland, invade, invasion, Johann Sebastian Bach, John DeMain, John W. Barker, Jonathan Biss, Kakadu Variations, Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, know, late, like, link, Liszt, local, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marika Fischer Hoyt, Mead Witter School of Music, memorable, Mendelssohn, middle, million, mob, model, Mosaic Chamber Players, movement, MSO, Music, musical, Nazi, Ninth Symphony, occupied, occupy, Ode to Joy, Orchestra, original, Overture Center, partial, Pastoral Symphony, PastoralSymphony, People, performance, performer, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, Piano sonata, Piano Trio, pioneer, pioneering, poll, popular, post, posting, Pro Arte Quartet, program, program music, Radio, Rasumovsky, Razumovsky, reader, recital, reimagined, remember, Robert Schumann, round-up, rumor, San Francisco, San Francisco Trio, School of Music, Schumann, Shannon Hall, share, singers, solo, Sonata, speaks, stranded, String quartet, subscriber, summer, symphony, tag, Television, tour, transcription, TV, UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, variations, view, Viola, Violin, Violin Sonata, violinist, violist, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Public Television, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, works, world, World War II, WPR, WPT, year, YouTube, YouTube video
Recent Comments
 | Mary Gordon on Classical music: Joel Thompson… |
 | Rolf Mjaanes on Classical music: Joel Thompson… |
 | Ronnie Hess on Classical music: Today is the… |
 | bratschespeilerin on Classical music: What do you t… |
 | Ginny Moore Kruse on Classical music: Here are the… |
Classical music: During the COVID-19 pandemic, hosts at Wisconsin Public Radio suggest music that expresses gratitude and hope
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
The various hosts of Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) — an indispensable companion during self-isolation at home — listen to a lot of music and think a lot about it, especially about its meaning and appeal to the public.
So it comes as no surprise that they have once again suggested music to listen to during the coronavirus pandemic and the mounting toll of COVID-19.
Almost two months ago, the same radio hosts suggested music that they find calming and inspiring. They did so on the WPR home page in an ongoing blog where they also included YouTube audiovisual performances.
Here is a link to that earlier posting, which is well worth reading and following: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=Wisconsin+Public+Radio
This time, the various hosts – mostly of classical shows but also of folk music and world music – suggest music that inspires or expresses hope and gratitude. (Below is Ruthanne Bessman, the host of “Classics by Request,” which airs at 10 a.m. on Saturdays.)
Here is the genesis of the list and public service project:
“At a recent WPR music staff meeting, we talked about the many ways music can unite us and about how music can express the gratitude we feel for people and things that are important to us, often much better than words.
“That discussion led to this collection of music, which we wanted to share with you. It’s eclectic and interesting, just like our music staff.”
The composers cited include some familiar names such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Benjamin Britten and John Williams.
But some new music, based on historical events and written by contemporary or modern composers, is also named. It includes works by the American composer Daniel Gawthrop (b. 1949, below top) and the Israeli composer David Zehavi (1910-1977, below bottom). Here are links to their biographies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_E._Gawthrop
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/zehavi-david
Sound-wise, it is quite an eclectic list that runs from solo harpsichord music to orchestral and choral music as well as chamber music.
Many of the performers have played in Madison at the Overture Center, with Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, at the Wisconsin Union Theater, at the UW-Madison and on the Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos.
They include: the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; cellist Amit Peled and pianist Eli Kalman, who received his doctorate from the UW-Madison and now teaches at the UW-Oshkosh; conductor-composer John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers; and superstars violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma along with Venezuelan pianist-improviser Gabriela Montero in a quartet that played at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
Here is a link to the new WPR suggestions: https://www.wpr.org/wpr-hosts-share-music-gratitude-and-hope
Happy listening!
If you read the blog or listen to the music, let us know what you think in the Comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #AmitPeled, #BarackObama, #BaroqueMusic, #BenjaminBritten, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CambridgeSingers, #CambridgeUniversity, #CelloMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicsByRequest, #COVID-19, #DanielGawthrop, #DavidZehavi, #EclecticMusic, #EliKalman, #EnglishComposer, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FolkMusic, #GabrielaMontero, #GayComposer, #GayHistory, #GreatBritain, #HarpsichordMusic, #IsraeliComposer, #IsraeliMusician, #ItzhakPerlman, #JacobStockinger, #JewishComposer, #JewishReligion, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnRutter, #JohnWilliams, #LivingComposer, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MilwaukeeSymphonyOrchestra, #ModernComposers, #NaziGermany, #NewMusic, #OrchestralMusic, #OvertureCenter, #PabloCasals, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PresidentObama, #PublicService, #RadioHost, #RuthanneBessman, #SalonPIanoSeries, #Self-Isolation, #TheEar, #TheHolocaust, #TheUK, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityofWisconsin-Oshkosh, #VocalMusic, #Wikipediabiography, #Wikipediaentry, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WisconsinUnionTeater, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WorldMusic, #WorldWarll, #Yo-YoMa, #YouTubevideo, African American, air, airs, American, Amit Peled, appeal, Arts, audience, Audio, audiovisual, Auschwitz, Auschwitz concentration camp, Bach, Barack Obama, Baroque, Baroque music, Benjamin Britten, better, biography, blog, Britten, calm, calming, Cambridge Singers, Cambridge University, Capriccio, cellist, Cello, cello music, Chamber music, choral music, chorus, Classical music, classicalmusic, classics, Classics by Request, collection, comment, companion, composer, Concert, conductor, contemporary, coronavirus, Daniel Gawthrop, David Zehavi, discussion, doctorate, Early music, eclectic, Eli Kalman, encyclopedia, England, English, event, expresses, Facebook, Farley's House of Pianos, feel, folk, Folk music, forward, Gabriela Montero, Gawthrop, gay, gay composer, Genesis, German, Germany, gratitude, Great Britain, harpsichord, hear, historical, History, Holocaust, Home, honor, hope, host, important, improvise, inauguration, indispensable, inspiration, inspires, inspiring, isolation, Israel, Israeli, Itzhak Perlman, Jacob Stockinger, Jewish, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Rutter, John Williams, Kalman, know, LGBT, LGBTQ, like, link, list, listen, Living composer, Ma, Madison, Mead Witter School of Music, meaning, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, modern, Montero, Mozart, Music, Musician, Nazi, New Music, Orchestra, orchestral music, Oshkosh, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, Pablo Casals, pandemic, Peled, People, performer, Perlman, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Pianist, Piano, post, posting, President, President Obama, project, public, public service, Quartet, Radio, read, reading, Religion, request, Russian, Ruthanne Bessman, Rutter, Salon Piano Series, Saturday, section, share, show, singer, solo, Sound, staff\, subscriber, suggest, superstar, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, The Ear, things, think, U.S., UK, unite, United States, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, US, UW-Madison, Venezuela, Venezuelan, venue, Violin, violinist, visual, vocal, vocal music, war, Wikipedia, Williams, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, words, World music, World War II, WPR, Yo-Yo Ma, YouTube, Zehavi