The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: What is your favorite Sousa march for the Fourth of July? What other classical music celebrates the holiday?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is the Fourth of July, Independence Day, when we mark the day and the Declaration of Independence when the U.S officially separated from Great Britain to become not a colony but its own country.
Over the past decade The Ear has chosen music from many American composers to mark the event – music by Edward MacDowell, Charles Ives, William Grant Still, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, William Schuman, Joan Tower, John Adams and so many others.
And of course also featured around the nation will be the “1812 Overture” by Peter Tchaikovsky.
You will probably hear a lot of that music today on Wisconsin Public Radio and other stations, including WFMT in Chicago and WQXR in New York City.
Here is a link to nine suggestions with audiovisual performances:
http://www.classical-music.com/article/nine-best-works-independence-day
But The Ear got to thinking.
It is certainly a major achievement when a composer’s name becomes synonymous with a genre of music. Like Strauss waltzes. Bach cantatas and Bach fugues. Chopin mazurkas and Chopin polonaises.
The Ear thinks that John Philip Sousa is to marches what Johann Strauss is to waltzes. Others have done them, but none as well.
So on Independence Day, he asks: Which of Sousa’s many marches is your favorite to mark the occasion?
The “Stars and Stripes Forever” — no officially our national march — seems the most appropriate one, judging by titles. “The Washington Post” March is not far behind.
But lately The Ear has taken to “The Liberty Bell” March.
Here it is a YouTube video with the same Marine Band that Sousa, The March King, once led and composed for:
And if you want music fireworks in the concert hall to match the real thing, you can’t beat the bravura pyrotechnical display concocted and executed by pianist Vladimir Horowitz, a Russian who became an American citizen and contributed mightily to the war effort during World War II.
Horowitz wowed the crowds – including fellow virtuoso pianists – with his transcription of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” in which it sounds like three or four hands are playing. Judge for yourself. Here it is:
Of course, you can also leave the names of other American composers and works to celebrate the Fourth. Just leave a word and a link in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear!
Tags: 1812 Overture, Aaron Copland, America, Arts, audiovisual, Bach, band, Baroque, brass, Cantata, Chamber music, Charles Ives, Classical music, colony, composer, concert hall, country, Edward MacDowell, England, Fireworks, Fourth of July, freedom, fugue, genre, George Gershwin, Great Britain, Holiday, Horowitz, independence, Independence Day, Jacob Stockinger, Joan Tower, John Adams, John Philip Sousa, July 4, Leonard Bernstein, Liberty Bell, Madison, march, Marine, mazurka, Music, National Public Radio, NPR, Orchestra, Piano, polonaise, pyrotechnics, Radio, Russia, Samuel Barber, Sousa, Stars and Stripes Forever, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, U.S., UK, United Kingdom, United States, United States Declaration of Independence, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, virtuoso, Vladimir Horowitz, Waltz, Washington D.C., Washington Post, WFMT, William Schuman, Willian Grant Still, wisconsin public radio, World War II, WQXR, WW II, YouTube
Classical music: Conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who pioneered an originality and difference that changed our appreciation of early music, has died at 86
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ALERT: The UW Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of music director UW-Madison Professor James Smith, will perform a FREE concert on this Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall. The program features “Mathis der Mahler” by Paul Hindemith and the Symphony No. 1 by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.
By Jacob Stockinger
The pioneering conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt (below) died this past week.
He was 86. He had been ill, and died only three months after his last public appearance on the concert stage.
He leaves behind a huge recorded legacy, some 560 entries — including many multiple-disc boxes — according to a search at Amazon.com.
Harnoncourt started as a concert-level cellist who was especially well-known for who conducting early music. But he also worked with more modern orchestra groups and soloists in a lot of big mainstream music. (Below, in photo from Getty Images, he is seen conducting in 2012.)
True, it for his Johann Sebastian Bach, his Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his Ludwig van Beethoven — done with the group he and his wife Alice founded, the Concentus Musicus Wien — that The Ear will most remember him for. They were strong and forceful. No music box Mozart for Harnoncourt!
But Harnoncourt refused to be pigeonholed into smaller Baroque ensembles.
The Ear also likes him with much larger modern groups in mainstream Romantic fare such as the symphonies and concertos by Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner and Antonin Dvorak with the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. He even conducted Johann Strauss waltzes for the New Year’s Concerto from Vienna.
Harnoncourt often found beauty in unexpected places, in music that we thought had nothing new to say after so many performances and such a long history. But he loved vibrancy and modernity. He did what Ezra Pound advised poets to do: Make it new.
And boy, did Harnoncourt — a thoughtful and passionate advocate — ever make music new, whether it was Baroque, Classical or Romantic! Although he was not a pioneer of new music per se, he always seemed to turn early music or whatever else he touched into new music.
The Ear recalls with relish some of the ways he put percussion and brass forward in early music, giving incredible rhythm and impulse or momentum to it. The same goes for using boy sopranos instead of women in the cantatas, oratorios and passions by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Harnoncourt always seemed less interested in authenticity as a justification than in the results he got from such changes or such different interpretations.
Often Harnoncourt had certain differences he wanted to emphasize. They were not always convincing, but they were usually convincing. And they were always interesting and illuminating, even if you disagreed with them.
In the special memorial YouTube video at the bottom is the Sinfonia from J.S. Bach’s Cantata BWV 156 in a performance by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Concentus Musicus of Vienna:
Here are some illuminating obituaries:
From The New York Times:
From the Deceptive Cadence blog on NPR (National Public Radio) by Anastasia Tsioulcas:
http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2016/03/07/469505636/remembering-nikolaus-harnoncourt
From The Guardian in the United Kingdom:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/06/nikolaus-harnoncourt-obituary
From The Washington Post:
And finally, here is a story from MTV, which called Harnoncourt the “punk genius of classical music,” a description The Ear likes and which he suspects Harnoncourt himself would have liked:
http://www.mtv.com/news/2750555/nikolaus-harnoncourt-was-classical-musics-punk-genius/
Do you have an observation about Nikolaus Harnoncourt to share?
Is there a specific composer, work or recording of his that you hold special?
Leave word in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: amazon.com, Amsterdam, Anastasia Tsioulcas, Anton Bruckner, Arts, Austria, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, brass, Bruckner, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical era, Classical music, concerto, Deceptive Cadence, Dvorak, Early music, Europe, Ezra Pound, Finland, Franz Schubert, Germany, Hindemith, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Strauss, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, modern, Mozart, Music, Music director, National Public Radio, New Music, New Year, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, NPR, opera, Orchestra, percussion, punk, Romantic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Schubert, Schumann, Sibelius, symphony, The Guardian, UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vienna, Vienna Philharmonic, vocal music, Waltz, Washington Post, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Is it piano neglect? The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music should take better care of the piano used for student concerts. Plus, Madison Symphony Orchestra maestro John DeMain gets raves for conducting an opera in Washington, D.C.
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ALERT: Did you wonder what Madison Symphony Orchestra maestro John DeMain was up to since the MSO concerts last weekend used a guest conductor?
Well, the hometown maestro was guest conducting a week-long production of Kurt Weill‘s opera “Lost in the Stars” for the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
A number of critics didn’t particularly like the opera itself, which is based on the famous anti-apartheid novel “Cry, the Beloved County” by Alan Paton, and some criticized the theatrical aspects of the production.
But music director and conductor DeMain received praise for his part.
Here are links to various reviews:
http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2016/02/15/review-lost-in-the-stars-at-wno-2/
http://dctheatrescene.com/2016/02/15/lost-in-the-stars-from-washington-national-opera-review/
There is more praise in a mention on Page 2:
By Jacob Stockinger
Calling it piano abuse it would be a stretch. That sounds too accusatory and too sensational.
But calling it piano neglect certainly seems justified and fair.
When The Ear attended some recent student recitals, he noticed the unfortunate treatment of a concert grand piano in Morphy Recital Hall, on which many students perform their degree recitals.
From a distance, and under the glare of stage lighting, the piano (below) seemed more or less OK.
But when he went up close, The Ear saw just how chewed up the wood was in so many places.
Now some wear-and-tear seems normal, especially for a piano that gets so much use for solo recitals and chamber music. And truth be told, it probably plays pretty well and is maintained in good shape internally.
But the outer condition of this piano nonetheless seemed as if it had indeed been neglected over the years — though maybe there are other reasons.
There were eye-catching scrapes and gouges that just look junky.
Now The Ear knows that the talented piano technician at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music is very busy. After all, there are a lot of pianos to tune and regulate.
And The Ear also knows that budget cuts are presenting challenges to the School of Music and its staff.
But that seems all the more reason to take care of the pianos the school has. The likelihood of replacing it with a new one seems little to none.
After all, these days a Steinway concert grand Model D sells for pretty close to $125,000.
If you had a car worth that much, you would surely not neglect its maintenance and upkeep. So why would you do it to a piano, especially one that gets so much use and is in the public eye so frequently?
So on the eve of more student degree recitals, which will only increase as the end of the spring semester draws closer, here is The Ear’s plea:
Please use the padded covering that can protect the piano when it gets moved, and try to be careful about bumping or scraping into things that can cause permanent damage.
Also, if there are times that the piano’s finish gets marred, please use that specially made piano dye to restore the ebony finish and please repair any chipped keys, which are plastic not ivory, by the way.
The Ear doubts other instruments — strings, brass, woodwinds — would be allowed by their owners to fall into such a state.
If you doubt all this or think it is overstating the case, here are some close-up photos that The Ear took.
It hurts The Ear to see such a fine instrument neglected and deteriorate. He assumes that the students who use it feel the same way – and he hopes the public does too. Owning such a fine musical instrument imposes a certain responsibility on the owner, and it should be repaired.
Is The Ear being too hard or fussy?
He would like to know what students who play the piano and what other audience members think.
Use the COMMENT section to let him know.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: abuse, Alan Paton, Arts, Chamber music, Classical music, conductor, Cry, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Kennedy Center, Keyboard instrument, Kurt Weill, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, neglect, opera, Orchestra, Piano, Steinway & Sons, symphony, the Beloved Country, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Washington D.C., Washington National Opera, Washington Post, Wisconsin
Classical music: Today marks 70 years since the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The Ear commemorates the event with Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.” What music would you choose?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is August 6, 2015 – the 70th anniversary of the United States dropping the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in the hope of ending World War II. (That took a second atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki.)
Controversy still rages about whether it was the right decision to make.
The Ear has an opinion about that, but is keeping it to himself.
All he wants to do today is commemorate the historic event with music.
First, as background, here is a story from The Washington Post about what it was like to survive the bombing of Hiroshima:
I can’t think of a better piece of music to listen to this day than the sadly eloquent, heart-wrenching and poignant Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber (below), which is at the bottom in a YouTube video and is performed by Leonard Bernstein conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The moving music does not take sides, but simply expresses profound sorrow.
Perhaps you have other choices for this day. Maybe a chorale from a passion or cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach? Maybe an aria by George Frideric Handel? Perhaps a Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Johannes Brahms, Giuseppe Verdi or Gabriel Faure? Maybe the Ninth Symphony “Ode to Joy” by Ludwig van Beethoven or the Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” by Gustav Mahler? Maybe the opera “Doctor Atomic” by John Adams?
Leave your thoughts and choice in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Adagio for Strings, American classical music, aria, Arts, atomic bomb, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Brahms, Cantata, Chamber music, choral music, Chorale and Fugue, Classical music, Faure, George Frideric Handel, Handel, Hiroshima, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Adams, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mahler, Mozart, Music, Nagasaki, Ode to Joy, opera, Orchestra, Passion, Requiem, Samuel Barber, strings, Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven), United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, Washington Post, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, World War II, YouTube
Classical music: Famed child prodigy conductor Lorin Maazel has died at age 84. To the end, he was surrounded by controversy and contradiction.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Last Sunday. as you may have already heard, the distinguished conductor Lorin Maazel (below, in a photo by AFP-Getty Images) died at his summer festival grounds and home in Virginia from complications of pneumonia. He was 84. Many expected him to live much longer — since conducting is such aerobic exercise, since extreme longevity ran in his family, since conductors are a very long-lived group as a rule.
Here is a specially posted tribute video, with Maazel conducting music by Gustav Mahler — the famed Adagietto from the Symphony No. 5:
I read a lot about outstanding and searing performances by Maazel, who had a truly international career, but never heard any first-hand.
I also read a lot about his mechanical and uninspired approach to conducting, despite his mastery of “stick technique” with the baton. I never heard that in person either.
When I did hear him, usually conducting the New York Philharmonic on the PBS program “Live From Lincoln Center” or the Vienna Philharmonic “New Year’s Day in Vienna,” he seemed perfectly competent and acceptable, if never outstandingly original or impressive or inspired. (You can hear him conduct in Seoul, Korea, the dramatic and moving “Egmont” Overture by Ludwig van Beethoven in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
Born in France, Maazel as a major talent who started as a violin prodigy and then went on to conducting major orchestras before he reached the age of 10. Later, he also turned to opera, including appearances at the Metropolitan Opera. And he often talked about how lucky he had been to have parents who did not exploit his talent during childhood. And he was full of forward-looking plans to the end.
Maazel’s death was all over the media -– including media that don’t normally care to give much coverage to the arts, especially to the current arts and to living artists. Perhaps the fact that he made history by taking the New York Philharmonic to Pyongyang, North Korea, where he also performed our national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner” to applause, had something to do with it.
Nonetheless, here are some stories to help you catch up:
Here is a story, with sound clips and a fine appreciation, from the classical music blog “Deceptive Cadence” on NPR:
Here is an exhaustive and comprehensive obituary from The New York Times:
Here is a story from the Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/conductor-lorin-maazel-dies-at-84-1405273033
Here is a fine memorial from The Washington Post critic Anne Midgette:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2014/07/13/lorin-maazel-1930-2014/
Here is a fine summing up by The New Yorker magazine of the contradictions and controversies that surrounded Maazel’s conducting. I love the headline – “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” which is a timely reminder of the balance needed between intellectualism and emotional directness, the latter of which is, for The Ear, the heart of making music:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/07/lorin-maazel-the-man-who-knew-too-much.html
Did you hear Lorin Maazel?
Do you have a favorite memorable performance or recording by him?
A least favorite one?
What do YOU think of Lorin Maazel?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Anne Midgette, Arts, Beethoven, Castleton Festival, Classical music, Conducting, Gustav Mahler, Jacob Stockinger, Korea, Lorin Maazel, Ludwig van Beethoven, Maazel, Mahler, Music, national anthem, New York Philharmonic, New York Times, New Yorker, North Korea, NPR, opera, Orchestra, Pyongyang, Seoul, South Korea, Star-Spangled Banner, Violin, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, YouTube
Classical music: Is classical music in America dead or dying? Or is it alive and thriving? The debate rages on. Hear both sides in these essays and videos.
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By Jacob Stockinger
For a couple of months now, a discussion or even a debate has been quietly but vociferously raging, with lots of adamant back-and-forth, in the blogosphere.
The subject is the state of health –- of lack of health –-of classical music in America. It is a timely and endless topic of debate given the financial difficulties of many symphony orchestras (below, members of the beleaguered Minnesota Orchestra) and opera companies, of record companies, and even of piano sellers.
You can search or Google other sources.
Here is the essay, written from the perspective of a pessimist, that first appeared on Slate.com and seemed to kick off the controversy:
And for optimists, here are some responses –- from such usually reputable sources as The New Yorker and The Washington Post — and rejoinders that take issue with the initial premise:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/01/stop-trying-to-kill-classical-music.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2014/01/30/classical-music-dead-or-alive/
And at the bottom are two YouTube videos that take up the question. Be sure to check out viewer comments.
What points — either experiential or theoretical — would you make in defense of one side or the other?
Please leave your thoughts in the COMMENT section.
Have you read other essays supporting either side?
You could also leave some links in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Art, Arts, Classical music, Google, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Minnesota Orchestra, Music, New Yorker, opera, Orchestra, Piano, Slate.com, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Washington Post, YouTube
Classical music: Court victories favoring same-sex marriage equality and an extended Valentine’s Day weekend add up to a magical and loving mix for musical partners, including opera star Patricia Racette, who comes out as a lesbian.
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ALERT: If you are undecided about going to this afternoon’s concert at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall by the Madison Symphony Orchestra with Norwegian trumpet soloist Tine Thing Helseth (below), here are links to positive reviews by John W. Barker for Isthmus and by Greg Hettmansberger for Madison Magazine’s blog “Classically Speaking”:
http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=42078&sid=4d977189e5be9d039af0d641c547219f
By Jacob Stockinger
Well, when a holiday falls on a Friday – like Valentine’s Day this year — one can be forgiven for prolonging it over the weekend, don’t you think?
But it seems a good chance to blend two recent stories and trend lines that are increasingly coming together.
And coming out.
One is the recent various court victories for marriage equality, or same-sex marriage, or gay marriage. Whatever you want to call it, it seems to becoming more and more a legal and social reality with every week that passes.
And those legal victories lead to more and more gays and lesbians coming out, including the star football player and top NFL draft possibility star Michael Sam (below top) and “Juno” actress Ellen Page (below bottom).
Here is a link to a New York Times story about Michael Sam:
And here is a link to a Washington Post story about Ellen Page:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/juno-actress-ellen-page-comes-out-as-gay/2014/02/15/f3327800-9627-11e3-ae45-458927ccedb6_story.html
As for Valentine’s Day, imagine what how rewarding it could be to work cooperatively in the performing arts with your life partner and love.
That is exactly what was documented in a recent story on NPR’s great blog “Deceptive Cadence.”
NPR highlighted various musical couples in classical music who met in a musical setting and fell in love while working, and who now get to work together.
And for good measure, they included the Metropolitan Opera star soprano Patricia Racette (below top, out of costume, and below bottom in the title role of Puccini’s “Tosca”), who openly talks about what a great marriage she has with her female partner. (You can hear Patricia Racette as the title character Cio-Cio-San sing the finale of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” at the Metropolitan Opera in a popular YouTube video at the bottom.)
Of course, most of the couples are heterosexual in the story just as they are in real life. And we have seen some of them – tenor Stephen Costello (below top) at the Madison Opera‘s Opera in the Park as well as cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han (below bottom) at the Wisconsin Union Theater, in Madison.
But it is both sensitive and brave of NPR, which is always under the gun and budget knife of the self-righteous and nutty right-wing extremists and homophobes, to do the story.
Here is a link:
One can only hope and imagine the chain reaction that is to happen as each coming out brings several more, as bravery and tolerance build, and as the visible becomes visible.
Saint Valentine -– at least my Saint Valentine — would be very pleased.
Tags: Arts, Chamber music, Classical music, David Finckel, Ellen Page, football draft, Friday, gay, Gay Lesbian and Bisexual, gay marriage, Giacomo Puccini, homophobia, Jacob Stockinger, lesbian, Madama Butterfly, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, marriage equality, Metropolitan Opera, National Football League, New York Times, NFL, NFL draft, NPR, opera, Patricia Racette, Puccini, right-wing, Saint Valentine, Same-sex marriage, Stephen Costello, Tine Thing Helseth, Tosca, Valentine's Day, Washington Post, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wu Han, YouTube
Classical music: Critic John W. Barker says Eliza’s Toyes impressively surveyed early British music while exploring the religious shift from Latin Catholicism to English Anglicanism. Plus, acclaimed Italian conductor Claudio Abbado dies at 80.
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NEWS: As you have probably heard by now, the acclaimed Italian conductor Claudio Abbado (below) has died at 80. Here are links to some stories about this maestro who had such a varied and prolific career:
The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/arts/music/claudio-abbado-italian-conductor-dies-at-80.html?_r=0
The Washington Post:
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show every other Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
It was a great pity that no more than 25 people turned out at the Gates of Heaven on Sunday afternoon for the latest program offered by Jerry Hui’s early-music group, Eliza’s Toyes (below, inside Gates of Heaven).
His program this time was a post-Christmas survey of English sacred music. The range of material ran from late-Medieval three-voice pieces through composers of the early 17th century, adding up to 13 selections in all.
This is the kind of music most regularly performed by a choir of some or another size, sometimes of mixed voices, sometimes in the British-cathedral style of all-male voices, with boys on the upper parts.
Hui (below) fielded a consort of six singers (three female, three male), so that each item was sung one singer per part — with a couple cases of a little doubling, I believe. While the result favored clarity against sonority, it must be said that, in certain full-textured items, some very lovely sonority was achieved.
My principal reservation was that the ordering of the program seemed aimed at a smooth variety of sounds, rather than at a demonstration of the momentous changes in English sacred composition. The key to those changes was the liturgical shift in the Anglican Reformation from motets setting traditional Latin texts to the new anthems with English texts.
The shift could be noted in the dominant composer of the program, the great William Byrd (1540-1623, below), represented by two Latin motets, and then an English anthem. “Sing joyfully”, which served as the dazzling finale (see the YouTube video at the bottom).
Byrd’s teacher, and then partner, Thomas Tallis (below), likewise spanned the reforming shifts, but was heard in one Latin motet, “O scrum convivium”, and a gorgeously harmonized Latin hymn, “O nata lux de lumina”. Earliest in the pre-Reformation lineup was Robert Fayrfax (1464-1521), whose five-voice setting of the Magnificat was in the traditional alternatim setting (odd-numbered verses of the canticle sung in chant, the even-numbered ones set polyphonically).
On the other hand, a poignant victim of the Reformation was Peter Philips (1560-1628, below), a staunch Roman Catholic who fled his homeland for a successful career in Catholic music on the Continent. His five-voice “O beatum et sacrosanctum Deum” made a noble closer to the first part of the program.
As for the Anglican, English-language composers, besides the case of Byrd, and besides the 15th-century para-liturgal songs, we had a rousing anthem by Christopher Tye (1505-1573, below top), “A sound of angels,” and, finally, a six-voice secular piece, “Music divine”, by the last survivor of the great era of Tudor music, Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656, below bottom).
The six singers who have been making up Eliza’s Toyes have settled into a beautifully balanced and smooth ensemble. They listen to, and sing in sync with, each other. There is nothing else like them, as a continuing performing group for early sacred ensemble music in Madison. Although he is a UW-Madison graduate who now teaches at University of Wisconsin- Stout, Hui has kept up his association with the group, convinced of its need for continuity.
It is one more of those blessings that make Madison’s musical life so wonderfully rich!
Tags: American Record Guide, Anglicanism, Baroque, Baroque music, chant, Christmas, Christopher Tye, Classical music, Claudio Abbado, conductor, Early music, England, English Renaissance, Italian, Jacob Stockinger, Jerry Hui, John W. Barker, La Scala, Latin, London Symphony Orchestra, Madison, Medieval, New York Times, Peter Philips, Reformation, Renaissance music, Robert Fayrfax, Roman Catholicism, Sunday, The Washington Post, Thomas Tallis, Thomas Tomkins, University of Wisconsin-Stout, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Washington Post, William Byrd, Wisconsin, WORT FM, YouTube
Classical music: The great British conductor Sir Colin Davis is dead at 85. Here is a round-up of stories and remembrances, appreciations and obituaries.
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By Jacob Stockinger
In case you haven’t already heard, the great British conductor and longtime music director of the London Symphony Orchestra Sir Colin Davis (below) died last Sunday at 85 after a brief illness.
The news came unexpected to The Ear as Davis seemed actively involved in conducting almost up to the end. He seemed to have the stamina that would take him well into his 90s – especially since the aerobic act of conducting seems conducive to conductors have long careers and lives.
But then again, the obituaries make it clear that he suffered deeply from the death of his wife.
I never heard him live. But I loved his recorded performances –- and he recorded prolifically with some 250 albums to his credit. In the works of Sibelius and Berlioz he was a stalwart champion and acclaimed master. He also championed British composers such as Edward Elgar, William Walton and Benjamin Britten.
But I also liked his complete command of the Classical era-style in Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven – symphonies, concertos, operas, oratories and other choral works. (Below is the cover of his recording on the London Symphony Orchestra‘s own in-house label LSO Live of the Berlioz Requiem.)
Sir Colin earned fame and a fine living early on (below) in the 1950s and 1960s. But I especially liked that his career seemed to peak late in his life –- a good riposte to the cultural tendency today to worship prodigies and young achievers. He was never better than when his hair turned white.
There is also something endearing and Britty eccentric about Davis who liked to sit in a chair and think about musical interpretations while he was puffing on his pipe and knitting.
Yes, knitting.
And in his stage performances and touring, and it sounds to The Ear as if Sir Colin led a very good and very full life. Which may help explain why Sir Colin’s music-making sounded so healthy and robust and natural rather than neurotic or forced. (Below is a photo of Sir Colin at his home.)
Anyway, here are links to some of the best stories, remembrances and obituaries I found along with a fitting YouTube video of Sir Colin conducting Mozart’s Requiem at the bottom):
Here is a comprehensive and compassionate overview of Sir Colin’s life and career from NPR’s always outstanding blog “Delayed Cadence”:
And here is a story from Sir Colin’s native UK:
Here is a column, with some details of Sir Colin’s personal life and turmoil, by Anne Midgette of The Washington Post:
Here is a link to BBC report:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22148334
Here is a link to report from The New York Times:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/sir-colin-davis-british-conductor-dies-at-85/
And here is a story from another UK source, The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/apr/14/sir-colin-davis-obituary
Here is a report from the UK wire service Reuters:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/04/15/uk-davis-idUKBRE93E0BJ20130415
And here are two more from the Los Angeles Times and The Huffington Post:
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Tags: Anne Midgette, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, Berlioz, Classical, Colin, Colin Davis, Davis, Edward Elgar, Franz Josef Haydn, Jacob Stockinger, Jean Sibelius, London, London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Times, Mozart, New York Times, NPR, Requiem, Royal Opera House, Sibelius, Washington Post, William Walton, YouTube
Classical music EXTRA: News flash – Famed German conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch has died at 89.
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By Jacob Stockinger
I especially loved his Schumann symphonies. (The first movement from Robert Schumann‘s Symphony No. 4 in D minor is in a YouTube video at bottom, with Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting the Dresden State Orchestra.)
The German conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch always exuded a sense of proportion and rightness in the music he conducted. (Below is a photo from his younger years):
He was not a flashy maestro, but one who let the music do the talking and feeling for him.
And now Wolfgang Sawallisch (below) has died at 89 in his native Germany after a globe-spanning career that include major stops in the U.S., Japan and Great Britain as well as Europe.
Here is a link to an obituary in the Australian arts magazine Limelight, which is well worth following:
(Below is another photo of him conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra in a photo by Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times.)
And here is the obituary from the Associated Press:
And here is a long obituary-appreciation from The New York Times written by critic and blogger Anne Midgette (is she back at the Times from The Washington Post?)”
Finally, here is a noteworthy remembrance by the famed British critic Norman Lebrecht:
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