The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The critically acclaimed and popular Willy Street Chamber Players start their fifth summer series with a FREE community concert this Friday
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement for a remarkable and must-hear summer series of chamber music concerts that from its very beginning seems to have found a successful formula that resonated with the public It relies on informality, affordable tickets, first-rate musicianship, short concerts, eclectic programs that mix classics with sure-fire new music, support for their local community.
Now in their fifth year, the Willy Street Chamber Players (WSCP, below) have become an established part of the Williamson Street neighborhood.
Recently awarded the silver medal in Madison Magazine’s prestigious “Best of Madison” reader poll in the category of “Best Classical Music Group,” WSCP has received numerous accolades for its accessible and exciting performances, intelligent and fun programming, and dedication to community partnerships.
The group has also been named “Musician of the Year”for 2016 by this blog.
The Summer Series concerts are on Friday evenings at 6 p.m. in the sanctuary of the beautiful Immanuel Lutheran Church (below) at 1021 Spaight St. The church is right on Lake Monona in the Williamson Street neighborhood. Enjoy 60-90 minutes of inspiring and unforgettable live music, then go explore the neighborhood with the remaining daylight hours.
Following the performance, enjoy a reception provided by one of our Willy Street restaurant partners. (Past contributors have been the Underground Butcher, Let It Ride Cold Brew Coffee, Madison Sourdough, the Willy Street Co-Op, Festival Foods, Roman Candle Pizza and more.)
While you enjoy your snacks, chat with the friendly musicians and ask them about the performance, the pieces and the group. We love interacting with our awesome audience.
A season pass is $40. Admission to individual concerts is $15. For tickets and more infomation, got to: http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org/2019-summer-series.html
COMMUNITY CONNECT – This is a FREE and family-friendly concert with all ages welcome for music, interactive learning, conversation and connections.
It takes place this Friday, July 5, at 6 p.m. at the Goodman Community Center (149 Waubesa Street on the east side), as is posted on the home website — NOT at the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center, which is listed in the printed brochure but is undergoing construction.
The program – “Growing Sound: A Sonic Exploration” – features music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Corigliano, Antonin Dvorak, Friedrich August Kummer and Alberto Ginastera.
SUMMER SERIES 1
Friday, July 12, at 6 p.m. – Mozart and Mendelssohn
Prize-winning UW-Madison graduate Danny Kim, viola (below)
PROGRAM:
Mendelssohn: String Quintet No. 1 in A major, Op. 18 (1826)
Simon Steen-Andersen: Study for String Instrument No. 1 (2007)
Mozart: String Quintet No. 2 in C minor, K. 406/516b (1787)
SUMMER SERIES 2
Friday, July 19, at 6 p.m. – Bassoon and Strings
UW-Madison Professor Marc Vallon, bassoon (below)
PROGRAM:
Beethoven: Allegretto for Piano Trio in B-flat major, WoO. 39 (1812)
Jennifer Higdon: “Dark Wood” (2001)
Franz Danzi: Bassoon Quartet in D minor, Op. 40, No. 2 (ca. 1820)
Alberto Ginastera: String Quartet No.1, Op. 20 (1948)
SUMMER SERIES 3
Friday, July 26, at 6 p.m. – Christopher Taylor, piano (below)
PROGRAM:
Ernest Bloch: Three Nocturnes (1924)
Jessie Montgomery: “Voodoo Dolls” (2008)
Dvorak: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81 (1887) with UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor. (You can hear the first movement of Dvorak’s beautiful and melodic Piano Quintet in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
For more information, including background, biographies of the musicians, critics’ reviews, photos and how to support the Willy Street Chamber Players, go to:
http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org
Tags: #AlbertoGinastera, #AntoninDvorak, #BassoonMusic, #BassoonQuartet, #BestofMadison, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ChristopherTaylor, #CriticalAcclaim, #DannyKim, #ErnestBloch, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FamilyFriendly, #FelixMendelssohn, #FestivalFoods, #FoodandDrink, #FranzDanzi, #FriedrichAugustKummer, #GoodmanCommunityCenter, #HomeWebsite, #ImmanuelLutheranChurch, #JenniferHigdon, #JessieMontgomery, #JohnCorigliano, #LakeMonona, #LetItRide, #LiveMusic, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonMagazine, #MadisonSourdough, #MarcVallon, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MelodicMusic, #MusicianoftheYear, #MusicReview, #NewMusic, #PianoQuintet, #PianoTrio, #Prize-Winning, #RomanCandlePizza, #SimonSteen-Andersen, #Steen-Andersen, #StringInstruments, #StringMusic, #StringQuartet, #StringQuintet, #TheEar, #UndergroundButcher, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VoodooDolls, #Wil-MarNeighborhoodCenter, #WilliamsonStreet, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WillyStreetCo-op, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, accessible, accolade, admission, affordable, age, Alberto Ginastera, Antonín Dvořák, Arts, audience, awesome, background, Bassoon, beautiful, Beethoven, Best of Madison, blog, brochure, category, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chat, Christian, Christopher Taylor, church, Classical music, classics, coffee, community, composer, Concert, connection, construction, contributor, cost, Danny Kim, dark, daylight, dolls, drink, east, eclectic, Ernest Bloch, established, event, exciting, explore, Facebook, Family, family-friendly, Festival Foods, first-rate, food, formula, forward, Franz Danzi, free, Friday, Friedrich August Kummer, friendly, fun, Goodman Community Center, group, grow, growing, home website, Immanuel Lutheran Church, informal, informality, inspiring, instrument, intelligent, interacting, Jacob Stockinger, Jennifer Higdon, Jessie Montgomery, John Corigliano, jours, Lake Monona, Let It Ride, link, live, live music, Love, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Magazine, Madison Sourdough, Marc Vallon, Mead Witter School of Music, melodic, melody, member, Mendelssohn, Montgomery, movement, Mozart, Music, Musician, Musician of the Year, neigborhood, New Music, nocturne, numerous, part, partner, partnership, pass, performance, performer, photo, Pianist, Piano, Piano Quintet, Piano Trio, piece, pizza, poll, printed, prize, program, public, Quartet, reader, reception, repairs, restaurant, review, Roman Candle Pizza, sanctuary, series, share, short, Simon Steen-Andersen, snack, sonic, Sound, String quartet, string quintet, strings, study, subscriber, success, successful, summer, support, sure-fire, tag, The Ear, tickets, trash, Underground Butcher, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vibrant, video, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, Voodoo, we, Website, welcome, Wil-Mar, Williamson Street, Willy Street Chamber Players, Willy Street Co-op, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, wood, word, YouTube
Classical music: Today is Memorial Day – a good time to remember the civilian dead as well as the military dead. The Ear likes Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin.” What music would you listen to to mark the holiday?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Memorial Day, 2019, when the nation honors the men and women who died in military service. The Ear would like to see much more attention and remembrance paid to the huge number of civilians — much higher than military personnel and soldiers — who have died in wars and military service, whose lives weren’t given but taken.
In fact, why not establish and celebrate a separate holiday to honor civilian deaths in war? Perhaps it would help to know the detailed history and background of the holiday, since it is not as straightforward or modern as you might expect:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
What piece of classical music would you listen to in order to mark the holiday?
There is a lot to choose from.
The Ear especially likes “Le Tombeau de Couperin” by the early 20th-century French composer Maurice Ravel. It is a “tombeau” – a metaphorical “tomb” or “grave” used by the French to mean paying homage to the dead – in two senses.
Its neo-Classical or neo-Baroque style recalls the 18th-century world of French composers and harpsichordists including Jean-Philippe Rameau and Francois Couperin. But in a second sense, Ravel (below, in 1910) dedicated each of the six movements to a friend – in one case, two brothers — who had died during World War I. So part of its appeal is that it is a very personal statement of grief.
Here is more detailed background about the piece:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_tombeau_de_Couperin
The work was orchestrated later, which added sonic color but cut out two movements. The Ear prefers the original piano version, which seems a little more percussive, austere and straightforward — less pretty but more beautiful, and more in keeping with the holiday by evoking sentiment without sentimentality.
In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear it in a live performance by Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt.
But there are lots of other works to choose from by many composers: John Adams (“The Wound Dresser” after poetry of Walt Whitman); Samuel Barber (Adagio for Strings); Ludwig van Beethoven (slow movements of Symphonies 3 and 7, and of the Piano Sonata Op. 26); Johannes Brahms (“A German Requiem”); Benjamin Britten (War Requiem); Frederic Chopin (Funeral March from Sonata No. 2, polonaises, preludes and the “Revolutionary” Etude); Aaron Copland (“Fanfare for the Common Man” and “Letter From Home”); Edward Elgar (“Nimrod” from “Enigma Variations”); Gabriel Faure (Requiem and Elegy for cello); Franz Joseph Haydn (“Mass in Time of War”); Paul Hindemith (“When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d – A Requiem for Those We Love”); Charles Ives (Variations on “America” and “Decoration Day”); Henry Purcell (“When I Am Laid in Earth”); John Philip Sousa (“Honored Dead” March); Ralph Vaughan Williams (Symphony No. 3 “Pastoral”); and many others, including Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Here is a list from the British radio station Classical FM:
Here is a list of patriotic music from Nashville Public Radio:
Here is another list from an American source:
http://midamerica-music.com/blog/five-classical-works-memorial-day/
Here are more sound samples from NPR:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104341851
And here is another one from Northwest Public Radio:
https://www.nwpb.org/2015/05/22/memorial-day-music-commemorate-celebrate/
What do you think of a holiday commemorating civilian deaths in war?
What favorite piece of classical music would you play and listen to as you mark Memorial Day?
Let us know, with a YouTube link if possible, in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
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