The Well-Tempered Ear
‘Lord of the Rings’ to become an opera
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
Here is something a lot of old — and especially new — opera fans should like.
The globally popular “The Lord of the Rings” — a popular set of epic fantasy books that was turned into a blockbuster movie (below) by Peter Jackson — will become a full-blown opera. Or perhaps, like Wagner’s more famous “Ring of the Nibelung” cycle, several operas.
Just this week, the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate granted permission to the British composer Paul Cofield Godfrey (below) to compose a complete opera based on the best-selling work if fantasy.
https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/lord-of-the-rings-opera-approved-tolkien-estate
Godfrey (below) has already composed some possible excerpts that will likely be used in the opera — and might have helped to persuade the Tolkien Estate to grant him permission. You can hear one — a burial dirge or “Lament for Boromir” — in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Translated into more than 38 languages with sales of more than 150 million copies, the fantasy — which met with mixed critical reaction when it was first published — has been nothing short of a phenomenon. One can justifiably expect guaranteed success of the operatic version.
For more about the history and the plot of “The Lord of the Rings’ see the Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings
Does an opera based on “The Lord of the Rings” interest you?
Do you think it will be successful?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: academic, alto, Android, Apple, Arts, Asia, asian, audience, baritone, bass, best-sellebest, best-selling, blockbuster, blog, Book, Boromir, British, British composer, Choir, choral music, Classic FM, Classical music, composer, Concert, copies, copy, critic, dirge, drama, duckduckgo, Earth, England, epiuc, estate, Facebook, famous, fan, fantasy, film, global, globe, Google Alert, Google Alerts, Google Search, grant, Great Britain, guarantee, History, J.R.R.Tolkien, Jacob Stockinger, lament, language, languages, like, link, Lord of the Rings, Madison, mezzosoprano, Microsoft, Microsoft Bing, million, movie, Music, musical drama, new, New Zealand, old, opera, opera-based, Orchestra, OS, Paul Cofield Godfrey, permission, Peter Jackson, Peter Jacobs, phenomenon, plot, popular, publish, published, reviews, Ring cycle, Ring of the Nibelung, sales, scholastic, sell, share, sing, singer, Singing, sold, soprano, success, successul, symphony, tag, Television, tenor, The Ear, The Lord of the Rings, The Tolkien Estate, The Well-Tempered Ear, theater, theatre, translate, TV, UK, United States, universal, vocal music, Wagner, Well-Tempered, Wisconsin, world, worldwide, YouTube
Remembering the classical musicians who died in 2023
3 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
It remains an end-of-the-year ritual: remembering the dead who brought beauty to us through music.
Here are remembrances of the classical musicians we lost in 2023.
From Presto Music comes a list of world-known talents who died this past year — plus those who died in recent past years. It is relatively short and has links to the full obituaries, including the of American mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry (below, in 2009, in the singing the famous Habanera from Bizet’s “Carmen” in the YouTube video at the bottom). A pioneer, she was the first Black singer to perform at the annual summer Wagner festival in Beyreuth, Germany, and she performed at the Wisconsin Union Theater during the 1978-79 season:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/articles/obituary/browse
Here is a longer, less renowned and more international list from The Violin Channel.
It includes many very well known musicians, including Menahem Pressler (below who co-founded and played for more than 50 years with the Beaux Arts Trio, which performed several times at the Wisconsin Union Theater. He also taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
It also includes the jazz and classical bassist Richard Davis (below), who spent decades teaching and performing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music.
The Ear especially likes this list because ordinary “house” musicians — and not just stars — are remembered. After all, the majority of musicians who add so much to our lives are not stars — but usually just mainstream workers in the arts.
Click on the names in red to see the full biographies, many of which are more touching than you might expect — for example, the Ukrainian conductor who died young while defending his country against Russia.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #YouTubevideo, 2023, African American, America, American, André Watts, Android, Apple, aria, Arts, Asia, asian, audience, Austria, Bach, baritone, Baroque, bass, Bayreuth, beauty, Beaux Arts Trio, Beethoven, Belgium, Berlin Philharmonic, biographies, Bizet, black, blog, Britain, Carmen, Cello, Chamber music, Choir, choral music, Classical, Classical music, Colombia, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, Czech, Czech Republic, dead, death, dying, Early music, end, England, English, Facebook, famous, festival, Finland, Finnish, France, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, German, Germany, Google, Grace Bumbry, Greece, Greek, Habanera, Hong Kong, House, Hungary, I Musici, Indiana University, Ingrid Haebler, international, Israel, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Jazz, Jewish, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kaija Saariaho, know, Korea, Korean, Latvia, life, link, Liszt, lives, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mead Witter School of Music, meaning, Menahem Pressler, mezzo-sorpano, Mozart, Mozart in the Jungle, Music, Musician, Netherlands, New Year, obituaries, obituary, Oboe, opera, Orchestra, OS, Oscars, Overture Center, passed, passing, perform, performance, performer, performing, Pianist, Piano, Piano Trio, popular, Prague, Presto Music, remember, remembrance, Renata Scotto, Richard Davis, ritual, Romania, Russia, Russian, Sakamoto, Scotland, share, singer, Singing, Sonata, South Korea, South Korean, star, String quartet, strings, summer, symphony, tag, teach, Teacher, tenor, The Ear, Turkey, Turkish, U.S., UK, Ukraine, Ukrainian, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, Viola, Violin, Violin Channel, vocal music, Wagner, winds, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, woodwinds, worker, working, year, YouTube
New Yorker critic Alex Ross names 26 notable classical music recordings from 2023
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
Alex Ross (below) writes for The New Yorker magazine and is perhaps the most respected classical music critic not only in the U.S. but in the world.
His bestselling book of collected essays, “The Rest Is Noise,” has been acclaimed and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. HIs latest book about Wagner, art and politics has also been highly praised.
This year, unlike in many others, Ross chose to list notable recordings along with a few general observations about the live performances and the recording scene.
For example, he has both sharp criticism and high praise of how the largest commercial labels as well as smaller specialty labels such as BIS and Hyperion are coping with the ever-growing popularity and challenge of streaming.
Ross also sounds a warning about the “transformation” of the iconic Mostly Mozart Festival by Lincoln Center to re-conceive the famous summer concert series as more “inclusive” — despite its financial and artistic success over decades.
Ross’ remarks serve as a timely warning for programmers at concert venues and radio shows to be careful of trying to increase popularity with simplistic ways to “de-canonize” and “de-colonialize” the repertoire in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion.
One suspects that what matters most of all to Ross is the quality of the compositions and the performances — not the genre, color or culture of those who are responsible for them. Not all parts of culture, he suggests in a longer version of the remarks, need to appeal to all parts of society.
Anyway, read his remarks about the best recordings and see the list of 20 others and see what you think:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/2023-in-review/notable-classical-recordings-of-2023
One noteworthy fact is that he named the young Korean pianist Yunchan Lim (below, in a photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucci) to his “best-of” list for Lim’s live recording made during the Van Cliburn Competition that he won last year at the age of 18.
In the YouTube video at the bottom you can hear Lim play “Mazeppa,” perhaps the most fiendishly difficult of Liszt’s “Twelve Transcendental Etudes.” It depicts a Ukrainian folk hero who is punished for his adultery by being strapped naked to a galloping wild horse and struggles to free himself.
And if you have not yet heard Lim’s electrifying performance Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with conductor Marin Alsop during the finals of the Cliburn competition, you should check it out at YouTube.
Do you have any opinions about the recording that Ross selected?
About Yunchan Lim?
The Ear want to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #YouTubevideo, 2023, Adès, African American, Alex Ross, appeal, Arnold Schoenberg, Art, Arts, Asia, asian, audience, Bach, Barbara Hannigan, Baroque, Beethoven, Berg, best, Biber, BIS, black, blog, Britain, Busoni, Byrd, Canada, Canadian, Cassandra Miller, CDs, Cello, Chamber music, Chausson, choral music, Classical music, commercial, composer, Concert, concerto, contemporary composers, critic, crossover, culture, de-canonize, de-colonize, Decca, Decca Records, DEI, Deutsche Grammophon, DG, difficult, diversion, Early music, Ebene Quartet, electrifying, England, equity, essay, etude, Facebook, female, festival, fiendish, Finland, Finnish, folk, France, free, French, gallop, George Walker, Great Britain, Haydn, Heinrich Biber, hero, Hindemith, horse, Hyperion, Igor Levit, inclusion, interpretation, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Luther Adams, Kaija Saariaho, Korea, Korean, label, last year, Ligeti, LIncoln Center, link, Liszt, Live Recording, London, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ludwig van Beethoven, Machaut, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, magazine, Marin Alsop, Mazeppa, merit, Michael Tilson Thomas, Missy Mazzoli, Monteverdi, Mostly Mozart, Mostly Mozart Festival, Mozart, Music, naked, New Music, New Yorker, nomination, nominee, notable, observations, opera, Orchestra, performing, Pianist, Piano, poerformance, Politics, popularlity, program, Pulitzer Prize, quality, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, Radio, remarks, repertoire, repertory, review, Saariaho, Schubert, share, society, Sonata, Sony Classical, South Korea, South Korean, St. Lawrence Quartet, Steinway, streaming, String quartet, string quintet, symphony, tag, The Ear, The New Yorker, The Rest Is Noise, Transcendental Etudes, UK, Ukraine, Ukrainian, United States, Van Cliburn, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, vespers, Violin, virtuosity, vocal music, Wagner, warning, Weinberg, wild, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, women, young, YouTube, Yunchan Lim
Met operas start this Saturday at noon on Wisconsin Public Radio and in local cinemas. Check out the Top 10 rising opera stars
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 new season of weekly live radio broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera starts this Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, at noon on Wisconsin Public Radio. It open the “Met Live in HD” season at noon at the Point and The Palace cinemas on Madison’s west side and Sun Prairie, respectively. Here is the “Live in HD” schedule: https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA98WrBhAYEiwA2WvhOj0HP5-xcXKDJFvUeS_2VO_wu0imdxy1aRnN-aFgYuC3yYL90dbf2BoCFKsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
The opening opera is the exotic, lyrically melodic and Romantic “Florencia en el Amazonas” (Florence in the Amazon, below and in the YouTube preview at the bottom) by the Mexican composer Daniel Catan.
It will be the first opera staged in Spanish at the Met in many decades. But you might recall that the Madison Opera and Madison Symphony Orchestras under John DeMain presented it in an outstanding production at the Overture Center in the spring of 2018.
Here is a review from this blog to remind you about the work and the local production:
And here is the complete schedule of Met radio broadcasts on Saturday afternoons, which includes works by Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Bizet, Puccini, Wagner, Gounod, Terrence Blanchard, Anthony Davis and Jake Heggie among others.
https://www.metopera.org/season/radio/saturday-matinee-broadcasts/
But The Ear thought you might also like to read and listen to what OperaWire sees at the The Top 10 up-and-coming opera singers, who just might be heard in this season’s or future productions at the Met.
The story has profiles with biographies, appearances in upcoming productions, here and in Europe, as well as singing samples from YouTube:
What do you think of “Florencia en el Amazonas”?
Which singers, productions and broadcasts do you most look forward to?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #OperaWire, #YouTubevideo, alphabet, alto, Amazon, America, Android, Anthony Davis, appearance, Apple, Arts, audience, Baroque, bass, Beethoven, biography, Bizet, blog, Broadcast, Carmen, Chamber music, choral music, cinema, Classical music, composer, Concert, contemporary, contemporary music, Daniel Catan, Donizetti, Early music, Europe, European, excellent, exotic, Facebook, Florencia en el Amazonas, Google, Gounod, Hispanic, Jacob Stockinger, Jake Heggie, John DeMain, La bohème, La Scala, Latin American, Latino, link, live performance, Living composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyrical, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, matinee, melodic, Met Live in HD, Metropolitan Opera, Mezzo-soprano, Movie theater, Mozart, Music, new, opera, Orchestra, OS, outstanding, Overture Center, Palace Cinema, Point Cinema, Poster, preview, production, Puccini, Radio, Romantic, Saturday, Season, share, singer, Singing, soprano, South American, Spanish, Spanish language, star, Sun Prairie, symphony, tag, Tannhauser, tenor, Terrence Blanchard, The Ear, the Met, Top 10, trailer, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, vocal music, Wagner, weekly, west side, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WPR, YouTube
American violinist Joshua Brown wins a global competition in China
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
Earlier this week — just before the start of the tense American-Chinese summit meeting between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping — the young American violinist Joshua Brown (below) won a global music competition in Beijing, China.
It is not exactly a Van Cliburn moment in terms of his victory at the first Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 at the height of the Cold War. For that surprise win, the young Cliburn received instant stardom and received a ticket tape parade in New York City.
Plus, Cliburn’s first recording for RCA of the Tchaikovsky First and Rachmaninoff Third piano concertos became the first classical recording to sell a million copies.
Still, the win by the 24-year-old Brown — who has won many other national and international competitions — should bring the American musician wider recognition at home and abroad through many more bookings and recordings as well as the first prize of $100,000 and three years of tours under management through an agent that come with the gold medal.
You can hear him play an unfamiliar piece by the opera composer Richard Wagner in the YouTube video at the bottom.
By the way, second prize was also won by America violinist Ellie Choi while third place went to Chinese violinist Chaowen Luo. Both are 22.
Here is the story in The Strad:
And here, with some other details, is the story on The Violin Channel, which also allows you to hear the competition.
And if you would like to know more about him, especially his full biography, here is a link to his own website:
https://www.joshuabrownviolinist.com/
Have you heard him or of him?
What do you think?
Do you think we should or will get to hear him perform live in Madison?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #YouTubevideo, America, American, Arts, Asia, asian, audience, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Beijing, Biden, bio, biography, blog, Brahms, bronze medal, Chamber music, Chaowen Luo, China, Chinese, Classical music, Cold War, Competition, composer, Concert, concerto, detail, Ellie Choi, Facebook, global, globe, Gold medal, Google, Home, international, Jacob Stockinger, Joe Biden, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joshua Brown, link, live, live music, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, meeting, Moscow, Mozart, Music, national, one miliion, opera, Orchestra, parade, perform, Piano, Piano concerto, piece, President, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, RCA, Richard Wagner, Russia, share, silver medal, star, stardom, summit, surprise, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky International Competition, tense, The Ear, The Strad, The Violin Channel, ticket tape, unexpected, unfamiliar, United States, USSR, Van Cliburn, victory, Violin, Violin concerto, violinist, Wagner, Website, win, Xi Jinping, YouTube
What is the best classical Halloween music?
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
There is a lot of spookily appropriate classical music to mark Halloween, which is this Tuesday.
The British radio station ClassicFM has published its choice of the “20 scariest Classical music pieces” for Halloween. Here’s a link to the website, which has links to performances of the pieces:
https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/scary-classical-music-halloween/
But much has been left out from J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor to Beethoven’s “Ghost” Piano Trio, from the finale of Chopin’s “Funeral March” sonata to Philip Glass’s film score for “Dracula” (below):
At the bottom is a YouTube video that has another selection that offers 2.5 hours of Halloween music, maybe something you want to play while you pass out goodies to trick-and-treaters.
Do you have a favorite piece of classical music that particularly expresses the mood or atmosphere of Halloween?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ClassicFM, #FacebookPost, #YouTubevideo, Arts, atmosphere, audience, Bach, Baroque, Bartok, Beethoven, Berlioz, Bernard Herrmann, blog, British, Cello, Chamber music, choice, Chopin, choral music, Classical music, composer, Concert, concerto, Copland, Dracula, Dukas, Early music, English, express, Facebook, favorite, Film score, FM, Frankenstein, ghoist, goodies, grave, graveyard, Grieg, Hitchcock, Holiday, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Williams, link, Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, magic, Mahler, Maurice Jarre, mood, Mozart, Music, Mussorgsky, opera, Orchestra, Orff, Overture Center, performance, Philip Glass, Piano, Piano Trio, piece, play, Prokofiev, Psycho, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, Radio, Requiem, share, Sonata, sorcerer, spook, spooky, symphony, The Ear, toccata, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, trick or treat, Trick-or-treating, UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, Viola, Violin, Vivaldi, vocal music, Wagner, Website, werewolf, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
New York Times critics choose 10 online classical music concerts to stream in February, starting this Thursday
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
As they have done for previous months during the coronavirus pandemic, the classical music critics for The New York Times have named their top 10 choices of online concerts to stream in February, which is also Black History Month, starting this Thursday, Feb. 4.
Also predictably, they focus on new music – including a world premiere — new conductors and new composers, although “new” doesn’t necessarily mean young in this context.
For example, the conductor Fabio Luisi (below) is well known to fans of Richard Wagner and the Metropolitan Opera. But he is new to the degree that just last season he became the new conductor of Dallas Symphony Orchestra and its digital concert series.
Similarly, the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg (below top, in a photo by Saara Vuorjoki) and the American composer Caroline Shaw (below bottom, in a photo by Kait Moreno), who has won a Pulitzer Prize, have both developed reputations for reliable originality.
But chances are good that you have not yet heard of the young avant-garde cellist Mariel Roberts (below top) or the conductor Jonathon Heyward (below bottom).
Nor, The Ear suspects, have you probably heard the names and music of composers Angélica Negrón (below top), who uses found sounds and Tyshawn Sorey (below bottom). (You can sample Negrón’s unusual music in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Of course, you will also find offerings by well-known figures such as the Berlin Philharmonic and its Kurt Weill festival; conductor Alan Gilbert; pianists Daniil Trifonov and Steven Osborne; violinist Leonidas Kavakos; and the JACK Quartet.
Tried-and-true composers are also featured, including music by Beethoven, Schnittke, Weber, Ravel and Prokofiev. But where are Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann and Handel? No one seems to like Baroque music.
Here is a link to the events with links and descriptions. All times are Eastern: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/arts/music/classical-music-streaming.html
Do you have other virtual and online concerts to suggest? Please leave details in the Comment sections.
Tags: #African-AmericanComposer, #AlanGilbert, #AlfredSchnittke, #AmericanComposer, #AngelicaNegron, #AnthonyTommasini, #AntonioVivaldi, #BaroqueMusic, #BavarianStateOpera, #BerlinGermany, #BerlinPhilharmonic, #BertoltBrecht, #BlackComposer, #BlackHistory, #BlackHistoryMonth, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarlMariavonWeber, #CarolineShaw, #ChamberMusic, #ClassicalSymphony, #ConcertSeries, #ContemporaryMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #CountertenorSinger, #COVID-19, #DallasSymphonyOrchestra, #DallasTexas, #DaniilTrifonov, #DetroitMichigan, #DetroitSymphony, #DetroitSymphonyOrchestra, #EasternTime, #FabioLuisi, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzJosephHaydn, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GeorgPhilippTelemann, #HamburgGermany, #HannahKendall, #HelmutLachenmann, #JACKQuartet, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnHoliday, #JohnStorgards, #JonathonHeyward, #JoshuaBarone, #KurtWeill, #LatinoComposers, #LeonidasKavakos, #LivingComposer, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MagnusLindberg, #MarielRoberts, #MauriceRavel, #MetropolitanOpera, #ModernMusic, #MotherGoose, #MotherGooseSuite, #MunichGermany, #MusicCritic, #NDRElbphilharmonieOrchestra, #NewMusic, #NewYorkTimes, #OnlineConcert, #OnlineFestival, #OperaMusic, #OrchestralMusic, #PercussionEnsemble, #PercussionMusic, #PianoConcerto, #PuertoRico, #PulitzerPrize, #RichardWagner, #RiseandFalloftheCotyofMahagonny, #SeattleSymphony, #SergeiProkofiev, #SethColterWalls, #SoPercussion, #SteveOsborn, #StringQuartet, #TheEar, #TheMet, #TheThreeopennyOpera, #TheVoice, #TVShow, #TyshawnSorey, #ViolinConcerto, #VirtualConcert, #VirtualFestival, #VocalMusic, #YouTubevideo, #ZacharyWoolfe, abolitionist, African American, African-Amercian, Alan Gilbert, Alfred Schnittke, America, American, Angelica Negron, Anthony Tommasini, Antonio Vivaldi, Arts, audience, avant-garde, Bach, Barone, Baroque, Baroque music, Bavaria, Bavarian State Opera, Beethoven, Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, Bertolt Brecht, black, black composer, Black history, Black History Month, blog, Brecht, Carl Maria von Weber, Caroline Shaw, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chance, Classical music, Classical Symphony, colorful, comment, composer, computer, Concert, concert series, concerto, conductor, contemporary, contemporary music, context, coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, countertenor, critics, Dallas, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Daniil Trifonov, dergee, description, details, Detroit, Detroit Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, digital, Eastern time, enchanting, Europe, European, event, Fabio Luisi, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, February, female, festival, Finland, Finnish, forward, Franz Joseph Haydn, Georg Philipp Telemann, George Frideric Handel, German, Germany, Gilbert, Hamburg, Handel, Hannah Kendall, Haydn, Helmut Lachenmann, Heyward, Hispanic, History, JACK Quartet, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Holiday, John Storgards, Jonathon Heyward, Joshua Barone, Kavakos, Kendall, Kurt Weill, Latina, Latino, Leonidas Kavakos, like, Lindberg, link, living composers, Ludwig van Beethoven, Luisi, Magnus Lindberg, Mariel Roberts, Maurice Ravel, Metropolitan Opera, modern music, Mother Goose, Mother Goose Suite, Munich, Music, music critic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Negrón, new, New Music, New York Times, online, opera, Orchestra, orchestral music, original, originality, Osborn, Overture, percussion, Percussion Ensemble, performers, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, post, posting, Prokofiev, Puerto Rico, Pulitzer Prize, Ravel, reliable, reputation, Richard Wager, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Roberts, Romantic, Schnittke, Season, Seattle, Seattle Symphony, section, Sergei Prokofiev, series, Seth Colter Walls, share, Shaw, singer, Singing, So percussion, Sorey, Steven Osborn, Storgards, stream, String quartet, suffragist, suggestion, Suite, symphony, tag, Telemann, Texas, The Ear, the Met, The Threepenny Opera, The Voice, time, Tommasini, Trifonov, TV, TV show, Tyshawn Sorey, United States, Violin, Violin concerto, violinist, virtual, Vivaldi, vocal music, Wagner, Weber, Weill, win, women, Woolfe, young, YouTube, Zachary Woolfe
Today is Veterans Day. Here is some appropriate music by Beethoven to mark it. Can you guess which piece? What composer or music would you choose?
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 – Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020 – is Veterans Day.
It started out as Armistice Day in 1918 when the end of World War I was declared to take place on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
It is a day to mark the service of all veterans – not just those who died in the line of duty, as is celebrated on Memorial Day.
You can find a lot of choice of classical music to play for Veterans Day. Here is one link to a compilation that features patriotic songs and marches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJepYzH1VUY
But The Ear settled on Beethoven (below, in an 1815 portrait by Joseph Willebrord Maehler).
Can you guess which piece?
It is not the memorable funeral marches on the Piano Sonata in A-Flat, Op. 26, or the Symphony No. 3 “Eroica.”
It is also not the “Sacred Hymn of Thanksgiving” in the String Quartet, Op. 132.
And it is not “Wellington’s Victory” or the “Egmont” Overture or the Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” with its triumphant fast movements.
Instead it is the second movement of the Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. (You can hear it see it represented graphically in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
That is the very well known Allegretto movement with its repetitious and almost hypnotizing, soaring theme. It seems like a funeral march, full of introspection, poignancy and sadness, that is a bit brisker and more lyrical than usual.
It is so popular, in fact, that it has been used as a soundtrack in many movies, including “The King’s Speech” and has inspired works based on it including the “Fantasia on an Ostinato” by the contemporary American composer John Corigliano.
If it seems an unexpected choice, you just need to know more about its history.
It was composed 1811-1812, and Beethoven correctly considered it one of his finest works. So did Richard Wagner who famously described as the “apotheosis of the dance” for the infectious rhythms throughout the symphony.
At its premiere in Vienna, in his introductory remarks Beethoven said: “We are moved by nothing but pure patriotism and the joyful sacrifice of our powers for those who have sacrificed so much for us.”
Beethoven (below, in 1815 as depicted in a paining the Joseph Willibrord Maehler) premiered the symphony at a charity concert in 1813 to help raise money for the Austrian and Bavarian soldiers who had been wounded at the Battle of Hanau while fighting against France during the Napoleonic Wars.
It was so popular with the first performance that the audience demanded and received an immediate encore performance of the second movement.
Here is a Wikipedia link to the history of the symphony: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._7_(Beethoven)
To this day, the Seventh Symphony, so charged with energy, remains for many people, conductors and orchestral players their favorite Beethoven symphony.
It is ironic that Leonard Bernstein (below, in a photo by Paul de Hueck) performed the Seventh Symphony at the last concert he ever conducted – at the Tanglewood Festival in August 1990. He took the second movement at a slower-than-usual tempo and many have criticized Bernstein, who was in terrible health, and have suggested that he was using it as a funeral march or homage for himself.
They may be right. But in retrospect the choice of Bernstein – who died two months later — finds a certain justification in the original motive for the entire symphony and especially the second movement.
Listen for yourself.
Then tell us what you think.
Does this movement justify it being played on Veterans Day?
What music would you choose to mark the day?
What do you think of the Symphony No. 7 in general and the second movement in particular?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #ArmisticeDay, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #EgmontOverture, #EmperorConcerto, #EroicaSymphony, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FantasiaonanOstinato, #FilmSoundtrack, #FuneralMarch, #HealthEmergency, #JacobStockinger, #JohnCorigliano, #LeonardBernstein, #LivingComposer, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MemorialDay, #MovieSoundtrack, #MusicCritic, #NapoleonicWars, #NewMusic, #OperaMusic, #OrchestralPlayers, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #PianoSonata, #RichardWagner, #SacredHymnofThanksgiving, #SeventhSymphony, #SlowMovement, #StringQuartet, #TanglewoodFestival, #TanglewoodMusicCenter, #TheEar, #TheKing'sSpeech, #VeteransDay, #ViennaAustria, #VisualArt, #Wellington'sVictory, #Wikipediaentry, #WorldWarI, #YouTubevideo, 1918, Allegretto, apotheosis, appropriate, Armistice Day, Arts, audience, Austria, Austrian, battle, Bavaria, Bavarian, Beethoven, Bernstein, blog, brisk, celebrate, Chamber music, choice, choose, Classical music, compendium, compilation, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, Corigliano, critic, criticize, dance, day, dead, death, declare, describe, duty, Egmont Overture, Emperor Concerto, encore, end, energy, Eroica, Eroica Symphony, Facebook, Fantasia, Fantasia on an Ostinato, fight, film soundtrack, forward, France, French, funeral march, graphic, graphically, guess, Hanau, Health, help, History, hour, hymn, hypnotizing, immediate, infectious, introspection, ironic, Jacob Stockinger, John Corigliano, joyful, know, Leonard Bernstein, like, link, listen, Living composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyrical, march, mark, melody, Memorial Day, month, movement, movie, Movies, Music, Napoleon, Napoleonic, Napoleonic Wars, need, New Music, opera, Orchestra, orchestral, orchestral players, ostinato, Overture, patriotic, patriotism, peace, People, performance, Piano, Piano concerto, piano music, Piano sonata, piece, play, player, poignancy, popular, post, posting, pure, repetitious], represent, rhythm, Richard Wagner, sacred, Sacred Hymn of Thanksgiving, sacrifice, sadness, said, say, schematic, service, Seventh Symphony, share, sing, slow, Slow movement, soldiers, Sonata, song, songs, soul, soulful, soundtrack, String quartet, subscriber, suggest, symphony, tag, Tanglewood Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, Tempo, terrible, Thanksgiving, The Ear, The King's Speech, theme, think, today, triumph, triumphant, truce, unexpected, United States, usual, Veteran, Veterans Day, victory, Vienna, visual schematic, Wagner, war, Wednesday, Wellington, Wellington's Victory, Wikipedia, work, World War I, wound, wounded, YouTube, YouTube video
Recent Comments
 | Brian Jefferies on Classical music: A major reass… |
 | welltemperedear on What made Beethoven sick and… |
 | rlhess5d5b7e5dff on What made Beethoven sick and… |
| welltemperedear on Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200… |
 | Robert Graebner on Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Does Wisconsin Public Radio play too much harp music?
7 Comments
PLEASE NOTE: Due to a technical glitch, the following commentary was posted briefly yesterday and then withdrawn. That also disabled the commentary function temporarily. Once the glitch is solved, The Ear will post it again. That means some of you will get it twice. I apologize for any inconvenience. And to the fans who have kindly greeted my return, heartfelt thanks. I will be posting more details about the use and frequency of this blog in the near future.
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
Can’t help it.
The harp always reminds The Ear of a giant egg slicer.
Still, The Ear loves the sound of the harp — in the right works.
That usually means when it is blended into orchestral works (Brahms, Wagner, Tchaikovsky and Mahler come to mind) and chamber music works (Debussy and Ravel come to mind).
But when it comes to solo harp and harp concertos, no thanks. Barring some Baroque music and Classical works — Handel’s concerti grossi and Mozart’s “Brunch” Concerto for Flute and Harp — he’ll pass for the most part.
So much harp music, both original and arranged, just sounds second-rate or worse. Can anyone name a masterpiece for the solo harp written by a great composer? And I don’t mean Louis Spohr who composed for his harpist wife.
The solo harp repertoire is very small, hence the need for so many transcriptions.
That’s a problem.
The harp tends to make music for other instruments sound so .. so … so pleasant! Even when the original is dramatic, it’s all pluck pluck, twang twang, zing zing. Just listen to the YouTube video at the bottom of J.S. Bach’s mighty Toccata and Fugue in D minor for Organ played on the harp.
So, The Ear asks, why has Wisconsin Public Radio started playing so much harp music on almost every show? (Below is WPR host, accomplished harpist and harp evangelist Ruthanne Bessman, who often includes harp music in her Saturday Morning program “Classics by Request.”)
Is it because the public really loves hearing the harp so much?
Is it because the radio show hosts do?
Do listener surveys indicate a preference for the harp?
Does the covid pandemic play a role in seeking bland but soothing music?
What do you think?
Do you like or even crave harp music?
Do you think WPR is programming too much harp music these days?
Too little?
Or the right amount?
Leave a comment, please.
The Ear wants to hear.
Share this:
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ClassicsByRequest, #ClaudeDebussy, #ConcertoGrosso, #CoronavirusPandemic, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FluteMusic, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #HarpMusic, #InstrumentalMusic, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #LouisSpohr, #MauriceRavel, #OrganMusic, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PluckedInstruments, #PublicRadio, #RadioHost, #RichardWagner, #TechnicalGlitch, #ToccataandFugueinDminor, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, arrangement, Arts, audience, Bach, Baroque, bland, blog, Brahms, Chamber music, choral music, classic, Classic By Request, Classical music, comment, commentary, compose, composer, Concert, concerto, Concerto Grosso, coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, crave, Debussy, details, Early music, egg, evangelist, Facebook, flute, frequency, future, George Frideric Handel, glitch, great, Handel, harp, harpist, heart, heartfelt, host, husband, instrument, instrumental music, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, link, listener, Louis Spohr, Love, Madison, masterpiece, Maurice Ravel, Mozart, Music, near, Orchestra, organ, pandemic, play, pleasant, pluck\, poll, preference, programming, public, public radio, Radio, Ravel, reply, Richard Wagner, right amount, role, Ruthanne Bessman, share, solo, Sonata, soothing, Spohr, survey, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, technology, thanks, think, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, too little, too much, transcription, twang, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, use, Wagner, wife, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WPR, you, YouTube, zing