The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Pianist Ilya Yakushev returns to play Russian jazz with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra on Friday night, then a recital of piano classics at Farley’s House of Pianos on Saturday night
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ALERT: The second of two FREE Friday Noon Musicales — devoted to the music of John Harbison on the occasion of his 80th birthday — will take place this Friday at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive. The Mosaic Chamber Players will perform. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m. The composer will be there to sign copies of his new book “What Do We Make of Bach?”
By Jacob Stockinger
Although he has heard the jazz suites by Dmitri Shostakovich many times, The Ear was surprised to learn how many modern Russian composers fell under the spell of American jazz.
Cultural difference combined with cultural exchanges might be one explanation.
But he also wonders if perhaps living in a state of psychological and emotional distress and danger – the Stalinist Terror facing composers in the Soviet Union and the Jim Crow racism facing African-American jazz artists in the United States – created a certain affinity between such apparently different musical traditions.
One thing is certain: the program that Ilya Yakushev (below), who was born and trained in Russia and now teaches at the Mannes College of Music in New York City – promises to be one of the most interesting programs of this season.
During his return to Madison, the Russian virtuoso pianist – who has his own interest in jazz and played a solo version of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” when last here — will perform two programs at venues where he has proven to be a sensational audience favorite.
This Friday night, Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center, Yakushev will once again team up with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below) and its music director and conductor Andrew Sewell, to perform two rarely heard Russian works that demonstrate the influence of American jazz.
Those two Russian works are “Ten Bagatelles for Piano Orchestra” by Alexander Tcherepnin (below top) and the “Jazz Suite for Piano and Small Orchestra by Alexander Tsfasman (below bottom).
You can hear the Lyrical Waltz from Tsfasman’s Suite in the YouTube video at the bottom.
The WCO complements that with two jazz-influenced works by Igor Stravinsky (below): Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra and “Ragtime.”
Then the concert concludes with one of the most iconic and well-known pieces of all classical music: the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
For much more information about Yakushev and the program as well as to a link to buy tickets ($15-$80) go to:
https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-ii-4/
SATURDAY
Then on this Saturday, Feb. 23, at 7:30 p.m. at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall, Yakushev will perform a program of impressive tried-and-true classics as part of the Salon Piano Series.
An artist’s reception will follow the concert.
Tickets are $45 in advance (students $10) or $50 at the door. Service fees may apply. Tickets can also be purchased at Farley’s House of Pianos. Call (608) 271-2626.
Student tickets can only be purchased online and are not available the day of the event. Tickets can be purchased in advance from:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/706809brownpapertickets.com
For more information, go to: https://salonpianoseries.org
Yakushev’s recital program is:
Adagio in B minor, K. 540 (1788), by Mozart
Sonata in F minor “Appassionata,” Op. 57 (1804), by Ludwig van Beethoven
Vallée d’Obermann, S. 160 (1855), from “Années de pèlerinage, Première année” (Years of Pilgrimage, First Year), by Franz Liszt
The song “Widmung” (Dedication) by Robert Schumann as transcribed for solo piano by Liszt, S.566 (1848)
“Mephisto Waltz No. 1,” S. 514 (1862), by Liszt (below, in an 1886 photo, the year before he died, when Liszt was teaching many students, by Nadar)
In addition, on Saturday at 4 p.m., Yakushev will teach a FREE and PUBLIC master class at Farley’s House of Pianos, where he will instruct local students.
The master class program will include:
Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2, No. 1, First Movement by Beethoven; performed by Kevin Zhang who studies with Kangwoo Jin.
Six Variations on “Nel cor piu non mi sento” (In My Heart I No Longer Feel) by Beethoven, performed by Daniel Lee who studies with Irmgard Bittar.
Etude in G-Flat Major (“Black Key”) Op. 10, No. 5,by Frederic Chopin; performed by Alysa Zhou, who studies with Denise Taylor.
Master classes for the 2018-19 season are supported by the law firm of Boardman & Clark LLP.
The concert is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Salon Piano Series is a nonprofit founded to continue the tradition of intimate salon concerts featuring exceptional artists. To become a sponsor of the Salon Piano Series, please contact Renee Farley at (608) 271-2626 or email renee@salonpianoseries.org
Tags: #African-AmericanMusic, #AfricanAmerican, #AlexanderTcherepnin, #AlexanderTsfasman, #AmericanJazz, #AndrewSewell, #AnnéesdePèlerinage, #AppassionataSonata, #AudienceFavorite, #BlackKey, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BookSigning, #BrownPaperTickets, #CapitolTheater, #ChamberOrchestra, #ChopinEtudes, #CulturalExchange, #DmitriShostakovich, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FirstYear, #FranzLiszt, #FredericChopin, #FridayNoonMusicale, #IgorStravinsky, #IlyaYakushev, #IntimateSetting, #JazzMusic, #JazzSuite, #JimCrow, #JohnHarbison, #JosefStalin, #LawFirm, #LocalArts, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MannesCollege, #MephistoWaltz, #MosaicChamberPlayers, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #NewYorkCity, #NonprofitOrganization, #OvertureCenter, #PianoSonata, #RagtimeMusic, #RhapsodyinBlue, #RobertSchumann, #RussianComposer, #RussianMusic, #SalonPIanoSeries, #SongTranscription, #SovietUnion, #StalinistTerror, #StateOfWisconsin, #SymphonyNo.40, #TheDevil, #TheTerror, #Tried-and-True, #UnitedStates, #Valléed'Obermann, #VirtuosoPianist, #WestTowneMall, #WhatDoWeMakeofBach?, #WineReception, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YearsofPilgrimage, adagio, advance, affinity, African American, Alexander Tcherepnin, Alexander Tsfasman, American, Andrew Sewell, Années de pèlerinage, Appassionata, artist, Arts, audience, bagatelle, Beethoven, Black Key, blog, Book, book signing, Brown Paper Tickets, Capitol Theater, Cello, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, Chopin, Classical music, classics, composer, composers, concerto, cultural exchange, culture, danger, death, dedication, Devil, died, distress, Dmitri Shostakovich, donor, emotional, etude, event, Facebook, Farley's House of Pianos, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, free, Friday Noon Musicale, funding, George Gershwin, georgegershwin, Igor Stravinsky, Ilya Yakushev, influence, interesting, intimate, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, jazz suite, Jim Crow, John Harbison, law firm, local, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyrical, Madison, Mannes College of Music, master class, masterclass, Mephisto, Mephisto Waltz, Mosaic Chamber Players, movement, Mozart, Music, Nadar, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, New York City, nonprofit, Nonprofit organization, online, Orchestra, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, performer, photograph, Piano, Piano sonata, program, promise, psychological, racism, Ragtime, reception, Rhapsody in Blue, Robert Schumann, rush, Russia, Russian, salon, Salon Piano Series, Satan, sensational, Sonata, song, Soviet Union, sponsor, Stalin, Stalinist Terror, State of Wisconsin, Student, Suite, Switzerland, symphony, Symphony No. 40 (Mozart), Teacher, teaching, terrorism, tickets, tradition, transcription, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vallée d'Obermann, variations, Viola, Violin, virtuoso, virtuoso pianist, vocal music, Waltz, WCO, West Towne Mall, What Do We Make of Bach?, Widmung, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, works, Years of Pilgrimage, YouTube
Classical music: Japanese writer Haruki Murakami and composer Franz Liszt work well together. Both are haunting creators. Here is a chance to hear how as you read.
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By Jacob Stockinger
As longtime readers of this blog know, The Ear is a loyal fan of the Japanese writer and novelist Haruki Murakami (below).
I have had a longstanding bet with friends that the prolific Murakami will win the Nobel Prize “this” year. But so far, a decade or more later, I am still waiting — as, I suspect, he is since he has won other major prizes.
So The Ear says: Let’s get on it, members of the Nobel Prize committee in Oslo. What are you waiting for?
Longtime fans also know that I am NOT a big fan of Franz Liszt (below). He wrote some great music that I like a lot. But he also wrote a lot of second-rate music that I don’t like a lot. What is good, I find, is very good; and the rest too often strikes me as melodramatic pieces full of self-exhibitionistic pyrotechnical keyboard tricks and gimmicks.
But recently the contemporary Japanese novelist got me to appreciate one piece by the 19th-century Romantic Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso.
The work is called “Le mal du pays,” or, roughly translated, “Homesickness,” and comes from the first of three books, and the first year of three, of Liszt’s generally subdued “Years of Pilgrimage: Book I — Switzerland.”
Not surprisingly it is featured, referred to and analyzed repeatedly in Murakami’s new novel the “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (below, published by Knopf), in which the meanings of home and belonging are explored in many different ways. The piano music is a kind of thematic summary of the plot, the setting and the characters.
The Liszt work, which runs about six or so minutes, is a curious piece, less showy than many and full of the kind of strangeness, disjointedness and mysteriousness that Murakami treasures and so effectively conveys in his writings.
The piano piece perfectly matches the novel, its plot and characters and tones, in the music’s eerie chromaticism, in its insistent repetition, in its austerity and lack of sensuality, even in its identification with what is empty or missing and its plain old weirdness.
The haunting music embodies the book and may have been inspired it in part. Not for nothing is Murakami known as The Japanese Kafka, and the Liszt music is worthy of that equivalency.
The two works of art deserve each other, as I am increasingly finding out, and work well together.
I am now about fourth-fifths of the way through the novel, which has been No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list for hardback fiction for several weeks. It certainly has me enchanted and under its spell.
Murakami often refers to Western culture, classical and pop, and especially to classical music and jazz. (He once ran a jazz bar in Tokyo.)
In other works such as “Kafka on the Shore,” Murakami even seems something of a connoisseur of Western classical music who has compared works and various recordings of them, by Franz Schubert, Johann Sebastian Bach and others. In fact, Murakami himself could be said to have spent his own years of pilgrimage journeying through Western culture as well as fiction writing.
This time Murakami, who has excellent taste and deep knowledge or familiarity, favors a performance by the late Russian pianist Lazar Berman (below).
Other fans of both Murakami and Liszt have set up a website where you can listen to a YouTube recording of Berman’s playing ‘Le mal du pays.” (You can also find quite a few other recordings of it, including one by Alfred Brendel (below), on YouTube, which is also featured in a secondary role in Murakami’s new novel.)
And I have also found a Hyperion recording by British pianist and MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant-winner Stephen Hough that I like a lot:
Here is a link to the Lazar Berman version, a second one that was set up by a Murakami fan:
Have fun listening and happy reading.
And please let us know what you think of the Liszt piece, Murakami’s newest novel and your favorite Murakami novel.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Alfred Brendel, Années de pèlerinage, Arts, bestseller, books, Classical music, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki, fiction, Franz Kafka, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, genius grant, Haruki Murakami, Homesickness, Hungrary, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Kafka on the Shore, Lazar Berman, List of Romantic-era composers, Liszt, MacArthur Foundation, Mal du Pays, Murakami, Music, New York Times, Nobel Prize, novel, Oslo, Piano, Romantic, Schubert, Stephen Hough, Switzerland, Years of Pilgrimage, YouTube
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