In honor of Chopin's 200th birthday today, here are some great artists playing an assortment of his compositions for piano, plus a lively and impropmtu set of variations on Happy Birthday thrown in for good measure.
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Thursday, January 7, 2010
Kirill Gerstein named as 2010 Gilmore Artist
How reassuring it is when something really spectacular happens for someone who has devoted countless hours to perfecting his craft. A perfect case in point is this story, reprinted below from the New York Times online.
Kirill Gerstein has received the 2010 Gilmore Artist Award, given every four years to an unsuspecting pianist. Similar to the MacArthur Foundation "genius" grants, the prize grants $300,000 to a musician who doesn't even know he or she has been nominated. This is a well-deserved and very prestigious recognition and we add our "Congratulations!!" to the chorus of Kirill's many well-wishers.
He makes his CSO debut on Thursday, March 4th when he performs Rachmaninov's 'Piano Concerto No. 2' under the direction of Charles Dutoit. And you can hear him play live on WFMT's IMPROPMTU the day before, on March 3rd at 4pm.
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January 7, 2010
Young Pianist Thrust Into Elite Group
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Odd, the pianist Kirill Gerstein thought. A music critic from Houston was coming to interview him in Jacksonville, Fla. Mr. Gerstein?s manager had arranged the meeting, at the Omni Hotel?s J bar, to coincide with a run of concerts last November. Might as well meet the writer, the pianist thought.
But instead of a critic waiting at the bar, it was the man from the Gilmore festival. And in his hand was an envelope proclaiming Mr. Gerstein the latest winner of one of the arts world's great windfalls: the $300,000 Gilmore Artist Award, given every four years to an unsuspecting pianist.
"I swallowed it," Mr. Gerstein said of the mischievous ruse in an interview in New York on Tuesday. "I was so amazed. I went kind of blank for a minute."
Mr. Gerstein, 30, is the sixth member of an elite and eclectic group of pianists that includes Ingrid Fliter, Piotr Anderszewski and Leif Ove Andsnes. He will receive $50,000 outright to spend as he wishes and can apply the rest to anything that furthers his career or artistry, subject to the Gilmore festival's approval. He will give a recital at the festival in Kalamazoo, Mich., on May 3.
The award, which will officially be announced on Thursday morning, is music's answer to the MacArthur Foundation "genius" grants. And it is something of an anti-Van Cliburn Competition, a tacit rejection of the hoopla, bloodlust and horse-race quality of the international competition circuit.
It is administered by the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo. Nominations are solicited; an anonymous committee sifts through commercial and noncommercial recordings, some of them surreptitiously obtained; committee members secretly slip into dozens of concerts -- sometimes keeping to the balcony or hiding their faces with programs -- to assess the performers, who are not supposed to know they are under consideration.
Mr. Gerstein, a naturalized American citizen of Russian origin, said he had no immediate plans to spend the money. "I?m looking forward to fantasizing with Dan the things that can be done," he said, referring to Daniel R. Gustin, the festival?s director and the supposed music critic from Houston.
Mr. Gerstein ran through a few ideas: commissioning a work; carrying out a project that marries piano playing to a visual display or dance element; or combining his roots in jazz with his classical career. Mr. Gerstein also has long-term ambitions to record the music of Busoni, whom he calls the James Joyce of composition for his modernist, magpie tendencies.
Previous winners have used the money to take a sabbatical for practicing, to hire a publicist or commission works and, in almost all cases, to buy a piano. Mr. Gerstein ruled out the last option. He owns five pianos. They are lodged at his family home in Newton, Mass., and his residence in Stuttgart, Germany, where he teaches at the conservatory. "I think I should not be buying one for a while," he said dryly.
His instruments include a Bechstein with two keyboards, one of 16 made by the company; a Steinway B grand; an 1899 Blüthner; and an 1848 Pleyel, its original parts intact, that is identical to Chopin's favorite piano. Of the piano in general, he said: "At times it's your friend. At times it's an all-consuming monster that's about to devour you."
Mr. Gerstein has thinning hair and an overbite that gives him a boyish air. He ponders the effect of recordings on listeners' ears and finds freshness in sticking to the score and stripping away performing tradition (a word he does not like). "It can sound shockingly original if you just follow what?s written there," he said. He also does not like the word career. "I prefer life in music," he said.
Mr. Gerstein was born in Voronezh, in southern Russia, to a mathematician father and music-teaching mother. His parents, unusually for the time and place, had a large jazz collection that absorbed Mr. Gerstein. From the time of his earliest memory he studied musicianship and piano fitfully, until he became serious about the instrument at 10, at a specialized music school. At 11 he won a piano competition in Poland, where he encountered live jazz musicians for the first time. He later spent two summers there at a jazz seminar. "This was like a revolution," he said.
At a jazz festival in St. Petersburg, Russia, Mr. Gerstein encountered Gary Burton, a vibraphonist and teacher at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, who eventually arranged for him to attend. At only 14, and without a high school diploma, Mr. Gerstein moved to Boston with his mother to study jazz at Berklee.
Soon, he said, he began to feel a little "overfed" with jazz and turned to classical music, partly influenced by an acquaintanceship with Ralph Gomberg, the former principal oboist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Looking back, Mr. Gerstein explained his conversion as the "radical position of a 16-year-old." He said it seemed more interesting "to be busy with the great creations of the great minds" rather than with whatever he could produce as an improviser.
He dropped out of Berklee just shy of a degree and attended the Manhattan School of Music. His teacher there was Solomon Mikowsky. He also took lessons with the prominent pedagogues Dmitri Bashkirov (in Madrid) and Ferenc Rados (in Budapest), both of whom excoriated his playing at first hearing but eventually took him on.
Mr. Gerstein came to public attention in 2001 with a first prize at the Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. The next year he received a Gilmore Young Artist Award worth $25,000, becoming the first Gilmore Artist Award winner to have done so.
Mr. Gerstein has a busy concert schedule and plays with major European orchestras. He also collaborates in chamber groups with highly respected players like the cellists Steven Isserlis and Clemens Hagen, the violinist Joshua Bell, the flutist Emmanuel Pahud and the clarinetist Martin Frost. Reviews have generally glowed.
He has been teaching at the conservatory in Stuttgart since 2006, an unusual pursuit for a young pianist with a blossoming international career. But teaching, studying and performing are all part of the same endeavor, he said. "When I have to explain a piece to another person, I have a greater clarity of vision," he said.
The official profile of a Gilmore Award winner is "a superb pianist and a profound musician" with charisma and broad musicianship who wants, and can keep up, a major international career. Candidates can be of any age or nationality; recent winners have been around 30. Countries of origin include Argentina, Poland, Norway, Finland and Britain.
The award was created in 1989 by the foundation established from the wealth of Irving S. Gilmore, whose family owned a department store in Kalamazoo and who was an heir to the Upjohn fortune. A modest and shy man who lived in a small apartment later in life, he was a serious amateur pianist and wanted to dedicate some of his money to helping musicians. The Gilmore Foundation, which has an endowment of $188 million, is the major provider of funds for the festival and the award.
The festival's director chooses the evaluation committee, which this year consisted of Mr. Gustin himself; Matías Tarnopolsky, at the time the artistic administrator of the New York Philharmonic; Sherman Van Solkema, a music professor at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Ann Schein, a concert pianist and teacher; Don Michael Randel, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and Curtis Price, then the president of the Royal Academy of Music in London.
"They saw me in Toledo and Wichita and Birmingham, England," Mr. Gerstein said. "You never know who is watching you where."
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Monday, December 28, 2009
Perlman & Ashekazy & Harrell Play Beethoven
Shortly after 1pm on Monday, December 28 WFMT will air the Beethoven Piano Trio in B Flat, Opus 11 in a performance by Rudolph Serkin, Richard Stoltzman, and Alain Meunier.
Here is an excerpt from a performance of a later Beethoven trio, Opus 70, #2, played at Covent Garden in 1977 by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Itzhak Perlman, and Lynn Harrell.
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Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Stravinsky's "The Firebird "
On December 23 at 3pm WFMT will play The Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky in a performance by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under the direction of Riccardo Chailly.
Here is a video of the composer on the podium with the Royal Philharmonia Orchestra in a 1965 performance which was broadcast by the BBC.
In her book DANCING IN AMERICA Barbara Diamond writes that in 1949, Igor Stravinsky, Maria Tallchief, and George Balanchine worked together to create the ballet The Firebird, which is based on a story from Russian folklore. The story takes place in a magical garden where a prince discovers and captures the beautiful and rare firebird. In exchange for her freedom, the firebird gives the prince one of her feathers. If the prince is ever in need of her, he may use the feather to call for aide. Soon after this encounter, the prince?s beloved princess falls under an evil magician?s spell. The prince calls on the firebird, and she saves the princess. The Firebird was an instant success and became Maria Tallchief's most famous role.
Here is Maria Tallchief in collaboration with Rudolf Nureyev, and a 1962 performance of The Flower Festival pas de deux.
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Bach Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248
At 3pm on December 22, WFMT will play Part 3 of the Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 by Bach. Nikolaus Harnoncourt leads the Vienna Concentus Musicus, the Arnold Schoenberg Choir, and soloists Bernarda Fink, Christine Schäfer, Gerald Finley, Werner Güra, and Christian Gerhaher.
If you'd like to follow along, you can find a score at Archive.org is an invaluable Internet resource where you can find a great number of digitized books in the public domain.
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Monday, December 14, 2009
BEETHOVEN AND I: A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP
by Daniel Phillips
With the release of their latest CD featuring the late Quartets of Beethoven, the Orion String Quartet has completed their voyage through the entire cycle of Beethoven Quartets. The following article first appeared in the 2007 Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival program book and is reprinted here by gracious permission of the author.
Are we all better off knowing Beethoven? I am, by nature, a lazy guy. I like to spend my evenings sharing a bottle of Amarone with my wife while staring at our gorgeous new flat panel HDTV. But, here we are, faced with the entirety of Beethoven's composition for string quartet, arguably his crowning achievement. Oh, good, isn't classical music supposed to be soothing, relaxing, and entertaining?
Unfortunately, Beethoven had no use for such music. He went as far as to say that he "despised a world that did not feel that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." Being a great lover of nature, and feeling inspired by a higher calling, he set out in his composing to create art that not only strained the capacity of human emotion, but that somehow expressed the great forces of the cosmos. His strategy to apprehend his lofty vision was to make powerful structures using simple material. Beethoven was a great admirer of Handel, because of Handel's ability to "achieve vast effects with simple means." Just think of the famous "Hallelujah" chorus from Handel's Messiah. It has very simple, memorable motives and chords, yet builds to such an exaltation that audiences to this day are brought to their feet no matter how many times they hear it. Beethoven's way is to create themes that are potent in character, and by developing them with his fertile imagination, craft a storyline that captivates the listener and gives an experience that far transcends normal human life. His music runs the gamut from the cosmic to the trivial, and sometimes, like the first movement of Op. 135, one isn't sure which it is.
Well, there it is -- music that is clearly one of the greatest achievements in western civilization. There is an optimistic belief among some musical schools of thought that if you can play the notes with proficiency and a beautiful tone, the greatness of the music speaks for itself. Unfortunately, music doesn't speak for itself any better than a great script does without a convincing actor. No, in order to play music you have to feel it, understand it, be taken over by it, and somehow keep control over your playing at the same time. Beethoven's quartets seem to provide an ultimate challenge in all these aspects. Not only is the musical content impossibly ambitious, but they are terribly difficult to play. The individual parts are at least as challenging as any virtuoso solo piece. Schuppanzigh, the violinist who premiered virtually all the Beethoven's quartets, complained that some passages were nearly unplayable. Beethoven retorted "what do I care for your fiddle, when I am writing from inspiration from God?" What can you say to that, but go home and try a hundred fingerings? Plus, you have to play this stuff well together, in tune, balanced so the listeners' ears can follow the composition, etc, etc. Sometimes, in a Beethoven rehearsal, I'll just start playing a Wieniawski Violin Concerto, just for the relief of playing something relatively easy.
Unless we budget our time carefully when we rehearse Beethoven, we can easily spend three hours on a movement we have been working on for years. All-Beethoven concerts usually leave us utterly exhausted. We once played a very challenging program of the Schumann first Quartet, Hindemith third Quartet, and the extravagant Smetana Quartet. Afterwards, we all remarked how easy it was to get through compared to any all-Beethoven concert. One of my most important mentors, Sandor Vegh, said that performing and listening to Beethoven strengthens you. I understand this more and more as we continue to grapple with these works. Often, as I turn the pages of my score, my lazy bones groan at the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual hurdles Beethoven is about to put me through. My chances of arriving at the next page unscathed are slim. I would be safer at home flipping and sipping. Yet, somehow the music is so absorbing as I am compelled to follow it, that I don't realize how consuming it is until it is over. I suppose this shows the reason every quartet player wants to play the complete Beethoven Quartets. It is to us as Mt. Everest is to mountain climbers.
Here is an example of the kind of thing Beethoven typically does that creates such a strong effect, and ends up requiring tremendous resources in the performer to attempt to realize. Sing through the song Happy Birthday to yourself. When you get to the final "Happy Birthday TOOOOOOOO.........", the moment that often gets prolonged when every closet soprano and tenor goes for the high note, notice the great expectation you have to finally sing "YOU!" In technical terms, the chord on the word "TOOOO" is a dominant seventh chord, which always wants to resolve to the tonic, or home chord, which you get when you sing the final "YOU!" Beethoven will typically take this dominant seventh chord, which raises great expectations in the ear to resolve, and prolong it for an superhumanly long time. One example is at the end of the heart wrenching third movement of Op. 59 #1. The group rests on this famous chord, and the first violin prolongs it with an impossible and impossibly long flourish before the chord resolves where you expect it. He uses the same device near the end of the slow movement of Op. 59 #2. This time the first violin slowly soars over this endlessly expectant chord for a very long time. This gives the effect of unbearable expectation. And then, Beethoven does not give you the chord you have been expecting, but detours you through a series of other chords before you finally come home to the final chord you have longed for. This simple, yet huge musical concept requires the performer to support it with a sense of grand tension that is beyond any normal human experience, all the while keeping his sanity enough to control the pitch, ensemble, and tone.
If you want to analyze Beethoven's music, the genius usually comes down to this kind of powerful use of underlying structure. In this way, without the listener even needing to be aware of his craft, expectations and great longings are raised, and are either dashed, or spectacularly fulfilled.
Another great fascination of the Quartets is the interplay between the instruments. We recently played the first movement of Op. 18 #6 for a group of fourth graders in Portage, Michigan. When asked their impressions, one adorable little girl said it was like the instruments were having a battle. We, of course, were flabbergasted at this wonderfully pure perception, since it basically sums up the greatness of chamber music. In fact, Beethoven continued to develop the idea of making his musical constructs out of greatly disparate musical ideas, often pitting the instruments against each other. Op. 132 is the epitome of this kind of crazy juxtaposition of moods and characters. The first movement of Op. 132 contains startlingly abrupt changes of emotional attitude, from almost still quiet, to the most wild and disturbing, to the most lovely. It seems to defy attempts to make a sensible musical progression, yet it holds itself together nonetheless in some miraculous way. It is endlessly fascinating and elusive to work on. The slow movement of Op. 132, entitled the "Holy Song of Thanksgiving", is some of the most profoundly spiritual music ever to be conceived. The long unfolding of this movement is interrupted twice by extremely lively sections that Beethoven marks "with renewed strength". The two kinds of writing couldn't be more different, yet it adds up to one monumentally transcendent experience. Summoning the power to support this huge idea, finding the control to move the bow slowly and steadily, and the facility to negotiate the insane notes in the lively sections, is certainly one of the Mt. Everest endeavors for quartet players.
Naturally, being a musician on a long road to mastery yields continuing levels of perception. Beethoven's music alone seems to offer enough challenge for many lifetimes. At the same time, it is remarkable how the power of the music reaches anybody willing to listen. We performed our first Beethoven Cycle in May 2000. It was a unique presentation by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, a series of six absolutely free concerts as a New Millennium gift to the city. Each concert was in honor of a different children's arts organization. The good economy at the time allowed for the placing of full page ads in the New York Times as well as the Spanish and Chinese papers. The free tickets became available at 11:00 AM on a Sunday the week before the cycle started. There was a line around the block that formed at 8:00 AM, and every ticket was given out for all six concerts by 12:30 PM the same day. Before each concert, there was a line around the block, complete with police barricades, waiting for turn backs! The audience generally clapped between movements, except when we asked them not to (then they were the quietist New York audience ever), and they hooted and hollered after. Imagine! Whooping audiences for late Beethoven! Even Ludwig would have been impressed and vindicated that the universality of his most evolved music moved regular people.
As we continue to delve into Beethoven's quartets, we are more and more convinced that the music is meant to have clear and powerful meaning that is common to all human beings. The practice, energy, and consuming passion it takes to try to articulate his musical message seems to demand more exertion and concentration than any human is comfortable with, let alone yours truly, the TV-watching wine enthusiast. Yet, there is Beethoven's creation: compelling, challenging, teasing, moving us to tears, revolutionizing, transforming us. I don't know whether to love him or hate him!
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Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Chadwick's Ode to the Chicago World's Fair
On October 21, 1892 Theodore Thomas conducted the nascent Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a performance of George Chadwick's Columbus Ode which he wrote for the opening of the Chicago World's Fair.
Chadwick based his composition on the poem Columbian Ode by Harriet Monroe.
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Cuarteto Casals
Since its founding at the Escuela Reina Sofia in Madrid under Professor Antonello Farulli in 1997, Cuarteto Casals has quickly become recognized as one of Europe's most distinguished string quartets. This Spanish ensemble has garnered extensive critical acclaim and has won top prizes at many international competitions, including First Prizes at the 2000 London and the 2002 Johannes Brahms International String Quartet Competitions. In 2005, the ensemble was honoured with the prize of the City of Barcelona, in 2006 received the National Music Award - the highest distinction for musicians in Spain, and in 2008 was chosen for the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in England.
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Thursday, December 3, 2009
Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto
Their spirits turn into a pair of beautiful butterflies and emerge from the grave. They fly together as a pair and are never to be separated again.
Reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, the bittersweet love story told in the classical Chinese fairy tale of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai is expressed through the music of The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto.
Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto: Adagio Cantabile by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao
Violinist Gil Shaham solos with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor Lan Chui.
The legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai is set in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. You can learn more about this story here: http://www.targetchinese.com/targetpedia/10061/view/
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Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Happy 300th Franz Xaver Richter
Today marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of composer Franz Xaver Richter in Holleschau, Moravia.
The video below features the first movement from Richter's 5th Concerto for Clarino (or piccolo trumpet) from Brian Shaw's album "Virtuoso Concertos for Clarino," recorded on baroque trumpet and a New-York based period instrument orchestra in June, 2008. The video includes some fascinating images of Richter's manuscript (located in the Library of Congress).
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
David Finckel's Cello Talks
Looking for something to watch this weekend? How about David Finckel's home-grown Cello Talks?
That's where David sits down in front of his web cam to share his groundbreaking, ongoing series of lessons on all aspects of cello playing. Even without promotion, the number of viewings has grown to over five hundred per week, and he is receiving increasing numbers of questions, comments and thanks as the project progresses.
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Urge For Going
It was in 1965 that an up-and-coming Canadian folk singer named Joni Anderson appeared on Oscar Brandt's Canadian TV show Let's Sing Out to sing her song, "Urge for Going."
In a surprise union of two quintessentially American composers from different eras, one the 1960s mastermind of "Good Vibrations," the other the Jazz Age creator of "Rhapsody in Blue," former Beach Boy Brian Wilson has been authorized by the estate of George Gershwin to complete unfinished songs Gershwin left behind when he died in 1937.
He plans to finish and record at least two such pieces on an album of Gershwin music he hopes to release next year.
The Gershwin-Wilson project may strike some as an odd coupling: one New York musician famous for sophisticated 1920s and '30s pop songs including " 'S Wonderful" and "Someone to Watch Over Me" as well as such expansive, classically minded compositions as "Rhapsody"; the other the driving force behind Southern California beach culture hits such as "Surfin' U.S.A.," "I Get Around" and "California Girls." But their career paths and evolution of their artistry have common threads, noted people involved with the project and some independent scholars, and that gives the proposed collaboration logic.
Todd Gershwin, George's great-nephew and a trustee of the George Gershwin family trusts, said, "George for his time was a visionary. He certainly crossed genres and musical lines, tried things that hadn't been done before and Brian Wilson has done exactly the same thing."
For his part, Wilson, 67, described himself Tuesday as "thrilled to death."
"I'm proud to be able to do it," he said in an interview. "Hopefully I'll be able to do them justice."
Todd Gershwin said a collection of several dozen song fragments, ranging from "a few bars to some almost finished songs and everything in between" had been sitting virtually untouched for more than seven decades. He and other trustees began reaching out in the last year or two to find contemporary artists who might be interested in completing those musical bits and pieces.
Wilson, who says "Rhapsody in Blue" is his earliest musical memory, said the pieces he's working with are very likely to remain as instrumentals, and that they could easily wind up as three-minute pop songs. But he's also holding open the possibility of expanding them to more substantive pieces.
Wilson said many of them aren't easy to evaluate.
"I can't decipher the verse from the chorus from the bridge," he said, "so I'm going to try to insert some new music into them. I might even write some music for an introduction."
The Gershwin project grew out of a proposal to Wilson from Walt Disney Records for a two-album contract.
"I'm a massive Brian Wilson fan," label president David Agnew said. "I'd always wanted to do something with him, and the Gershwin angle was something I had always thought about. In so many interviews he has mentioned Gershwin as a big influence, and if you listen to his music, that influence is obvious."
Meanwhile, the Gershwin estate and Warner/Chappell Music, the Gershwin publisher, had been considering what to do with the many song fragments in their archive. A pianist working from manuscripts left by Gershwin recorded the music at the behest of the estate, according to Brad Rosenberger, senior vice president of catalog development and marketing for Warner/Chappell.
"When we did this, nobody had any idea that an artist like Brian Wilson was even thinking about doing something like this," Rosenberger said.
Todd Gershwin said Wilson is the first to move ahead, but some uncompleted songs also may be used in a Gershwin tribute album that veteran engineer and producer Phil Ramone is putting together with a dozen artists for release in 2010.
Gershwin, who collaborated on most of his hit songs with his lyricist brother, Ira, stretched music of the day far beyond the compact pop song of Tin Pan Alley to more ambitious compositions incorporating elements of jazz and the classics, including "Rhapsody," "An American in Paris" and the opera "Porgy and Bess." He died of a brain tumor in Los Angeles at age 38 while working on a movie musical.
Wilson was one of the prime forces behind the expansion of pop music's boundaries in the mid-'60s, taking the Beach Boys well beyond the frothy songs about surf, cars and girls. That culminated in the group's 1966 album "Pet Sounds" and its planned follow-up, "Smile." But "Smile" was shelved because of dissension within the band and lack of record company support, contributing to a psychological breakdown Wilson suffered in 1967. In 1999, he started on a career renaissance that led to the belated completion of "Smile" in 2004.
" 'Smile' is 'Rhapsody in Blue' circa 2004," Rosenberger said. "It's very experimental, very rich and very melodic and really pushed popular music."
Chris Sampson, associate dean of USC's Thornton School of Music, said a Gershwin-Wilson collaboration is not as far-fetched as it may seem, despite the vastly different musical landscape of the two eras.
"Where they both made their mark was extending the form," he said. "George Gershwin was the only composer of his time to make a mark with the popular style of the time and then successfully cross over to quote-unquote serious music by extending the form beyond the basic [pop song] structure, getting into operatic styles and things of that sort.
"Brian Wilson," Sampson added, "redefined the pop song form . . . . through his orchestrations that took music in an entirely new direction. They're coming from two very different musical styles to end up with what I presume will be something new. That's the exciting interaction I see in this."
Wilson joins some illustrious company in the scope of the Gershwin project. When Mozart died at age 35 in 1791, a consortium of his contemporaries worked to fill in the incomplete portions of his Requiem. J.R.R. Tolkien's son commissioned writer Guy Gavriel Kay to complete the novel "The Silmarillion" that his father hadn't finished when he died.
But even in such unusual cases it's been exceedingly rare that the person finishing the uncompleted work has been as prominent as the artist who left the work behind.
For many of those involved with the project, the prospect of one day seeing songs credited to "George Gershwin-Brian Wilson" borders on the enticingly surreal. "For me personally," Rosenberger said, "it's a weird dream come true."
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Saturday, September 26, 2009
Alicia de Larrocha
MADRID (AP) Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha who thrilled music listeners for decades with polished and enthralling interpretations of great classical works, has died aged 86.
Music producer and family friend Gregor Benko says de Larrocha died late Friday in a hospital in her native Barcelona.
Measuring just under 5 feet tall, and with unusually small hands for a piano virtuoso, de Larrocha won listeners over with the richness and robustness of her sound. Critically acclaimed for her polished technique in performing Mozart, Beethoven, Schuman and Rachmaninov, de Larrocha was also unrivaled in her interpretation of Spanish composers such as Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados and Isaac Albeniz.
De Larrocha retired from public performances in 2003, after 75 years as a pianist.
- From the Associated Press (online at http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jj4yj37U9DWYfLMh8iNpt2MokknAD9AUT0880)
Alicia de Larrocha plays Beethoven piano concerto no.1 with London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. This video is the rehearsal and discussion during the recording session, which Dudley Moore introduces.
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Monday, September 21, 2009
Bear Down!
I was all of two years old when the Bears captured their last Super Bowl win--as a result, every Chicago-area kid with the ability to speak was taught the words to "Bear Down, Chicago Bears." Good teams have been few and far between since that time, and our collective memory of the song's complete lyrics seems to have fallen by the wayside. Following last night's Bears victory, the first in the Jay Cutler era, I feel it's time that we relearn the lyrics and history of our beloved fight song.
The song, sung at Soldier Field (and Wrigley Field before it) following each Bears score, was written in 1941 by Jerry Downs--a pseudonym for Al Hoffman, member of the Songwriter's Hall Of Fame.
(He also wrote "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked A Cake")
"Bear Down, Chicago Bears" was written to reference the 1940 NFL Championship Game, where the Bears "thrilled the Nation" with their offense's "T Formation," implemented to whomp the Washington Redskins by the score of 73-0; a score which remains the league's widest shutout margin in any game in its history. The game's officials asked the Bears coaching staff to run or pass for their last few PATs as they were running out of footballs since the bears kicked so many into the stands following all those touchdowns. The game was also the last that an NFL player (Bears end Dick Plasman) played without a helmet.
Let's refamiliarize ourselves with the lyrics--you'll want to sing along with the performances posted below:
Bear down, Chicago Bears, Make every play, clear the way to victory! Bear down, Chicago Bears, Put up a fight, with a might so fearlessly!
We'll never forget the way you thrilled the nation With your T formation. Bear down, Chicago Bears, And let them know why you're wearing the crown. You're the pride and joy of Illinois Chicago Bears, Bear down!
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/ Sir Georg Solti
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Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Brahms Double Concerto in A Minor, Op 102
Composed in the summer of 1887, and first performed on 18 October of that year, the Double Concerto in A Minor, Op 102 was Brahms' final work for orchestra. Brahms, approaching the project with anxiety over writing for instruments that were not his own, wrote it for the cellist Robert Hausmann and his old estranged friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim.
Today in the three o'clock hour we have a performance of this epic work by violinist Isaac Stern and cellist Yo Yo Ma, and they're playing it with our home town band, the Chicago Symphony, along with conductor Claudio Abbado.
Thanks to the excellent video archivists at Medici.TV, here is an excerpt David Oistrakh and Mstislav Rostropovitch playing the Brahms Double Concerto, under the baton of Kirill Kondrashine.
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Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Lark Ascending
This afternoon in the 2 o'clock hour WFMT offers a performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams' romance for violin and orchestra, The Lark Ascending.
For much of his life Vaughan Williams lived near Dorking, Surrey, not far from the poet, George Meredith. The composer expressed Meredith's imagery in music, and in so doing, managed to convey the idyllic mood of England before the first world war.
We've posted the text of Meredith's beautiful poem below.
Enjoy, Louise
~~~
The Lark Ascending
George Meredith (1828?1909)
HE rises and begins to round, He drops the silver chain of sound Of many links without a break, In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake, All intervolv?d and spreading wide, Like water-dimples down a tide Where ripple ripple overcurls And eddy into eddy whirls; A press of hurried notes that run So fleet they scarce are more than one, Yet changingly the trills repeat And linger ringing while they fleet, Sweet to the quick o? the ear, and dear To her beyond the handmaid ear, Who sits beside our inner springs, Too often dry for this he brings, Which seems the very jet of earth At sight of sun, her musci?s mirth, As up he wings the spiral stair, A song of light, and pierces air With fountain ardor, fountain play, To reach the shining tops of day, And drink in everything discern?d An ecstasy to music turn?d, Impell?d by what his happy bill Disperses; drinking, showering still, Unthinking save that he may give His voice the outlet, there to live Renew?d in endless notes of glee, So thirsty of his voice is he, For all to hear and all to know That he is joy, awake, aglow, The tumult of the heart to hear Through pureness filter?d crystal-clear, And know the pleasure sprinkled bright By simple singing of delight, Shrill, irreflective, unrestrain?d, Rapt, ringing, on the jet sustain?d Without a break, without a fall, Sweet-silvery, sheer lyrical, Perennial, quavering up the chord Like myriad dews of sunny sward That trembling into fulness shine, And sparkle dropping argentine; Such wooing as the ear receives From zephyr caught in choric leaves Of aspens when their chattering net Is flush?d to white with shivers wet; And such the water-spirit?s chime On mountain heights in morning?s prime, Too freshly sweet to seem excess, Too animate to need a stress; But wider over many heads The starry voice ascending spreads, Awakening, as it waxes thin, The best in us to him akin; And every face to watch him rais?d, Puts on the light of children prais?d, So rich our human pleasure ripes When sweetness on sincereness pipes, Though nought be promis?d from the seas, But only a soft-ruffling breeze Sweep glittering on a still content, Serenity in ravishment.
For singing till his heaven fills, ?T is love of earth that he instils, And ever winging up and up, Our valley is his golden cup, And he the wine which overflows To lift us with him as he goes: The woods and brooks, the sheep and kine He is, the hills, the human line, The meadows green, the fallows brown, The dreams of labor in the town; He sings the sap, the quicken?d veins; The wedding song of sun and rains He is, the dance of children, thanks Of sowers, shout of primrose-banks, And eye of violets while they breathe; All these the circling song will wreathe, And you shall hear the herb and tree, The better heart of men shall see, Shall feel celestially, as long As you crave nothing save the song. Was never voice of ours could say Our inmost in the sweetest way, Like yonder voice aloft, and link All hearers in the song they drink: Our wisdom speaks from failing blood, Our passion is too full in flood, We want the key of his wild note Of truthful in a tuneful throat, The song seraphically free Of taint of personality, So pure that it salutes the suns The voice of one for millions, In whom the millions rejoice For giving their one spirit voice.
Yet men have we, whom we revere, Now names, and men still housing here, Whose lives, by many a battle-dint Defaced, and grinding wheels on flint, Yield substance, though they sing not, sweet For song our highest heaven to greet: Whom heavenly singing gives us new, Enspheres them brilliant in our blue, From firmest base to farthest leap, Because their love of Earth is deep, And they are warriors in accord With life to serve and pass reward, So touching purest and so heard In the brain?s reflex of yon bird; Wherefore their soul in me, or mine, Through self-forgetfulness divine, In them, that song aloft maintains, To fill the sky and thrill the plains With showerings drawn from human stores, As he to silence nearer soars, Extends the world at wings and dome, More spacious making more our home, Till lost on his aërial rings In light, and then the fancy sings.
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Thursday, August 27, 2009
Violin Partita #2 in d minor, BWV 1004 by Bach
In the 3 o'clock hour today. WFMT broadcasts Christoph Poppen's rendition of the Chaconne movement from the Violin Partita #2 in d minor, BWV 1004 by Bach.
Here is another version featuring Nathan Milstein in a vintage television program.
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Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Pepe Romero discusses Rodrigo's "Concierto para una Fiesta"
In the 2 o'clock hour today, Kerry Frumkin will play a recording of Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto madrigal in a performance by the fraternal guitar duo, Pepe & Angel Romero along with St Martin's Academy under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner.
Although Rodrigo composed the work in 1966 for the husband-and-wife duo guitarists, Alexandre Lagoya and Ida Presti, it was the Romero brothers who gave the work it's premiere. That first performance took place in 1967 in a concert at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.
In this video, Pepe Romero discusses -- in Spanish -- his interactions with Joaquin Rodrigo, and the development of another composition which Rodrigo composed for the Romero brothers, the Concierto para una Fiesta.
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
From one ordinary opera goer to another
All this month on WFMT we have been exploring the music and complicated personality of Richard Wagner. As comedic musicologist (or musicological comedian) Anna Russell so often said, Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungs is "a magnificent work, providing you can making any sense out of it."
Here she is, in her farewell concert, explaining the whole story of the Ring "from one ordinary opera goer to another."
After a feast like that, what we really need is a nice dessert. Here is What's Opera Doc? , Chuck Jones' inspired 1957 creation for Merrie Melodies and Warner Brothers.
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The Michael Maltese story features Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny through a operatic parody Wagner's operas, particularly Der Ring and Tannhäuser.
Enough of these ridiculous entertainments... What are some your favorite sublime performances of Wagner's music? Please add your suggestions to the comments box below. -
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Saturday, May 16, 2009
Happy Birthday, Studs
Last week I met Jack Lane, a fabulous photographer, who kindly shared this wonderful photograph he took of Studs Terkel enjoying a martini at Riccardo's.
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Friday, May 1, 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETE SEEGER
Pete Seeger's 90th birthday is on May 3rd.
Pete Seeger helped introduce America to its own musical heritage, devoting his life to using the power of sing as a force for social change. Standing strong for deeply-held beliefs, Seeger went from the top of the pop charts to the top of the blacklist and was banned from American commercial television for more than 17 years. This determined singer songwriter made his voice heard and encouraged the people of the world to sing out along with him. He wrote this song, "Quite Early Morning" in 1969 and sang it just a few years ago for the PBS documentary series AMERICAN MASTERS for the episode, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song. AMERICAN MASTERS is produced for PBS by Thirteen/WNET New York.
Pete Seeger narrates Alan Lomax's 1947 documentary on the evolution and appreciation of American folk music, To Hear Your Banjo Sing. This video includes cameo appearances by Woody Guthrie and Brownie McGhee, and others.
And then there's "Turn Turn Turn" as performed by Judy Collins on Pete Seeger's 1960's TV show, "Rainbow Quest...."
Among my proudest moments at WFMT was the time I talked to Pete Seeger about his old friend, Studs Terkel, on the occasion of Studs' 95th birthday in 2007. Here's what Pete had to say about how they first met.
Also from the "My Favorite Things" department, here is an excerpt from a 1955 Studs Terkel Program in which Pete played selections from his then-new album, The Goofing Off Suite. The yodeling at the end may be the happiest sound I know.
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Thursday, April 23, 2009
It's Shakespeare's birthday and everybody's getting into the act.
Earlier this week, Mayor Richard M. Daley announced that April 23, Shakespeare's 445th Birthday, will be Talk Like Shakespeare Day, an occasion for Chicagoans to bring the spoken words of Shakespeare into their daily lives. "On his 445th birthday, Shakespeare still speaks to the people of Chicago through timeless words and works," said Mayor Daley in his formal city proclamation." On April 23, I encourage citizens to celebrate Shakespeare by vocal acclamation, through his words."
Chicago Shakespeare Theater will mark the occasion as well. "We're asking our artists and audiences to find a moment to bring Shakespeare into their daily discourse-even if it's just asking a coworker to pass 'yonder stapler,'" said Artistic Director Barbara Gaines. "This is someone who literally, single-handedly, introduced at least 2,000 words to the English language that we still use today. We wish him a very happy birthday."
Some of those 2,000 words include some pretty colorful bluster and insults, as documented in great and random detail on this website, no doubt operated by someone with a surplus of time on their hands. For those of you looking for more of a Do-It-Yourself experience, leave it to the folks at MIT to have a Shakespeare Insult Kit.
There seem to be countless renditions of the Bard's creative output out there. Here are just a few examples, from the mirthful and merry to the sublime.
Enjoy, Louise
The Beatles present a version of "Pyramus and Thisbe" from A Midsummer Night's Dream on this 1964 British television program.
Judi Dench is the sleep-walking Lady Macbeth in the 1979 TV version of the Trevor Nunn production by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Denyse Alexander is the Gentlewoman and John Woodnutt is the Doctor.
And here Lady Macbeth is portrayed by Shirley Verrett in this scene from Act 4 of Verdi's opera. This is from the Claudio Abbado and Giorgio Strehler la Scala production from the 1975/76 season.
Dance partners Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn portray Romeo and Juliet to Prokofiev's classic score in this 1965 Royal Opera House presentation.
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Steve Reich Wins 2009 Pulitzer Prize for "Double Sextet," a work commissioned by eighth blackbird
Steve Reich's Double Sextet -- commissioned by eighth blackbird and given its first performances by the group last season -- has won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Music. This is the second time an eighth blackbird commission has been nominated (Stephen Hartke's Meanwhile received a nod last year).
Scored for two identical sextets each comprising flute, clarinet, violin, cello, vibraphone, and piano, Double Sextet can either be played by six musicians against a recording of themselves, or by an ensemble of twelve. For both the world premiere, on March 26, 2008 at the University of Richmond, Virginia, and the New York premiere, at Carnegie's Zankel Hall on April 17, 2008, eighth blackbird performed simultaneously live and pre-recorded; a few months later, the Grammy-winning group collaborated with six students from the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble to perform the work completely live at New York's downtown new music venue The Kitchen. The Chicago premiere took place in May 2008 when eighth blackbird performed the Double Sextet at the Harris Theater.
~~~ The following comes from newmusicbox.com, the web Magazine from the American Music Center. The photo of Steve Reich was taken by Jeffrey Herman. ~~~
Steve Reich has been awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Music for Double Sextet. The award, for distinguished musical composition by an American that has had its first performance or recording in the United States during the previous calendar year, comes with a $10,000 cash prize.
"It was a completely unexpected surprise," exclaimed Reich. "I think Double Sextet is definitely one of my best pieces and I'm glad the Pulitzer committee felt the same way."
Double Sextet, published by Hendon Music/Boosey & Hawkes (BMI), was commissioned by eighth blackbird which premiered it on March 26, 2008 at the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. The 22-minute work, completed in October 2007, is scored alternately for 6-piece ensemble ("Pierrot plus percussion": flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion) and pre-recorded tape or 12-piece ensemble. The Pulitzer citation describes the piece as "a major work that displays an ability to channel an initial burst of energy into a large-scale musical event, built with masterful control and consistently intriguing to the ear." Click here to see and hear eighth blackbird's first rehearsal of Double Sextet and here to see and hear excerpts from their recent record sessions of the work.
Also nominated as finalists for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Music were: Seven Etudes for Solo Piano, by Don Byron (nottuskegeelike music/BMI), premiered on March 15, 2008 at Hallwall's Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo, NY, which the jury has characterized as "a deft set of studies that display rhythmic inventiveness and irresistible energy, charm and wit"; and Brion, by Harold Meltzer (Urban Scrawl Music Company/ASCAP), premiered on April 23, 2008 at Merkin Hall, New York City, a sonic portrait of a cemetery in northern Italy which the jury described as "painted with the touch of a watercolorist and marked by an episodic structure and vivid playfulness that offer a graceful, sensual and contemplative experience."
The jury consisted of: John Schaefer, host, Soundcheck, WNYC Radio, New York, NY (chair); Dwight Andrews, composer and associate professor, music theory and jazz studies, Emory University; Justin Davidson, music critic, New York Magazine; Anthony Davis, composer, University of California-San Diego; and David Lang, composer and co-founder, Bang on a Can, New York, NY.
You are the bread and the knife, the crystal goblet and the wine... - Jacques Crickillon
You are the bread and the knife, the crystal goblet and the wine. You are the dew on the morning grass and the burning wheel of the sun. You are the white apron of the baker, and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.
However, you are not the wind in the orchard, the plums on the counter, or the house of cards. And you are certainly not the pine-scented air. There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.
It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge, maybe even the pigeon on the general's head, but you are not even close to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.
And a quick look in the mirror will show that you are neither the boots in the corner nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.
It might interest you to know, speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world, that I am the sound of rain on the roof.
I also happen to be the shooting star, the evening paper blowing down an alley and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.
I am also the moon in the trees and the blind woman's tea cup. But don't worry, I'm not the bread and the knife. You are still the bread and the knife. You will always be the bread and the knife, not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow--the wine.
(Included in Billy Collins' book, Nine Horses.)
And here he narrates Forgetfulness to extraordinary animation by Julian Grey of Headgear.
Forgetfulness
The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,
something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.
Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.
It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.
(Included in Billy Collins' book, Sailing Around the Room: New and Selected Poems)
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Bryn Terfel's performance saved thanks to the man with the right sized pants!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Article and photograph from: Telegraph.co.uk April 11, 2009 Stephen Adams, Arts Correspondent http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/5140272/Bryn-Terfels-night-at-the-opera-with-no-trousers.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was less a case of the wrong trousers and more a case of none at all for Bryn Terfel, the world-renowned opera singer, at a recent concert.
Before leaving his hotel to perform on a warm day in the South Korean capital of Seoul, the Welsh bass-baritone opted to wear a pair of shorts.
But, his mind no doubt on the performance ahead, he unfortunately forgot to pack his trousers.
Arriving at the venue with only minutes before he was due on stage there was no time to return to the hotel, and Terfel was left with the prospect of singing in his shorts.
However, fortune smiled on the singer. When he appealed for help one good-natured Korean opera lover agreed to the odd request of equipping 6ft 4 ins Terfel with an alternative pair.
Speaking to Shân Cothi, a soprano and presenter on the Welsh language television channel S4C, Terfel explained: "One can be a bit forgetful on the day of a concert ? and I forgot my trousers at the hotel.
"But what could I do? Tell the audience 'I'm sorry, but I have to wear my shorts'?" he recalled.
However, he said by a stroke of luck he managed to find someone with almost exactly the same build.
"There was one person there who happened to be the same height and size as me. And if there was ever a pair of trousers that fits like a glove ? that's the one."
Terfel handed back the trousers at the end of the concert, at which nobody noticed anything was awry, and went back to his hotel in his shorts.
The 43-year-old would have been relieved that his trouser donor enabled him to avoid the embarrassment of going on stage half-dressed, or having to postpone or cancel the concert.
In September 2007 he faced severe criticism for deciding to withdraw from performing as Wotan in Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Royal Opera House.
He pulled out after just one day of rehearsals because his youngest son had a broken finger, leading some to question his professionalism.
A professional opera singer for most of his adult life, Terfel was initially regarded as something of a Mozart specialist before branching out into heavier roles, particularly Wagner.
He made his operatic debut as Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and in the title role of the composer's The Marriage of Figaro, at the Welsh National Opera in 1990.
Just two years later the singer made his Covent Garden debut as Masetto in Don Giovanni.
He was named Male Artist of the Year in 2004 at the Classical Brit Awards and won a Grammy in 2007 for Best Classical Crossover Album.
Terfel has increasingly performed abroad but his busy work schedule has often been at odds with his desire for a quiet home life.
He lives with his wife Lesley and their three sons in a village near Caernarvon in North Wales.
