"Nothing in Mahler’s life was simple."

John Adams has written a wonderful piece about Mahler and it underscores everything I felt intuitively about the composer long before I ever read a single biographical fact. You could sense the existential dread or the "angst"- a word so commonly thrown about that it's become cheap and meaningless - but in Mahler's case, it was both a result of circumstance and destiny. Mahler's inner turmoil, to use common parlance, was "for reals."

Men of great creativity, such as Mahler, are truly oddballs - they simply don't fit in. They are not meant to live within the narrow confines of the societal expectations of Mahler's own time, nor would he fit in our "anything goes" time:

"He weathered negative criticism in the press throughout his life. His symphonies didn’t behave right, didn’t fit the mold. Their extravagance of scale and expressivity offended conservative tastes." 

If Mahler was in his prime today and living in the great New York city, would he be appreciated? I really doubt it. While Mahler's music and genius is now widely accepted, the unworthy of his contemporaries sought to bring him down:

"Nothing in Mahler’s life was simple. Even at the end during his three seasons of conducting in America, when he should have been able to enjoy the esteem and fame that had finally been accorded him, he was belittled and humiliated by New York critics, impresarios and board members who complained about his programming, found his manners too arrogant and wanted him to share the podium with the rising star Toscanini." 

I believe that great composers are the shamans of their time who feel, see, hear and speak in languages that are foreign to fellow travelers. People of extraordinary creative ability act very differently than the rest of us. For example, while we seek out rest and relaxation on vacations, these people use the time to write symphonies:

"When he composed he did it in a white heat, sketching the outlines of his large symphonic forms in a hasty shorthand scrawl, going as fast as his quicksilver mental powers allowed him, usually during all-too-brief summer “vacations” in picturesque alpine settings." 

Composers have no other choice but to compose. It is a calling from an unseen world that does not ask, but demand obedience. Mahler wrote:

“The creator spiritus took possession of me, held me in its clutches and chastised me for eight weeks, until the work was all but finished.”   

The muse may flirt with the mediocre, but to the extraordinary, the yoke is very heavy and for you and me, probably unbearable. Put it this way: when God wishes to speak through music, he doesn't call upon those that cannot bear the weight.

John Adam's piece. 

TO SEE:

See artwork from local students at Clay Center 

(Charleston,W.Va.) 5/2/12 – See impressive artwork from Kanawha County students at the Clay Center beginning this Saturday. Two- and three-dimensional pieces in a variety of media including pencil, pen and ink, paint, photography and sculpture will be on display through May 13.    

Student work was chosen by teams of local educators and artists, and this exhibit showcases the top finishers in each category in grades K – 12. The Clay Center partnered with Kanawha County Schools on this exciting exhibition.   

The artwork will be on display in the Center’s Mylan Explore-atory. Gallery admission is free for Clay Center museum members or just $6 for kids and $7.50 for adults. Museum hours are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Wednesday – Saturday and noon – 5 p.m. on Sunday.  

For more information on this and all Clay Center programs and exhibits, visit www.theclaycenter.org or call 304-561-3586. 

TO HEAR: 

Charleston Civic Chorus   

3 pm

Sunday, May 6

Charleston Baptist Temple

Works by John Rutter, Eric Whitacre, Mark Hayes, Andre Thomas, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Cole Porter and more!

I am so awful.

For a guy who espouses the virtues of live concerts, my attendance at such events is very limited. In fact, it's rare that I drag myself out of my house and go to hear some live music.

But, I am trying to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

There is no DVD or CD recording of a concert that can capture the experience of having been there. It's the x factor that makes live music so special. Plenty to hear:

Kanawha Forum.

 WV Symphony.

Wheeling Symphony.

Pittsburgh Symphony.

Obviously, I have omitted some concerts and events. Want me to post yours here? Then, email me: feedback@wvpubcast.org.

Michael Slattery and La Nef have a new album called, Dowland in Dublin.

This is simply a great CD and it's one that I'm very excited about. Tenor Michael Slattery and the ensemble La Nef have joined together to celebrate what they believe is the Irish connection to John Dowland.

There are many fine recordings of both the songs and instrumental works of Dowland, but what makes this recording shine is the treatment of the songs as Celtic folk songs and the caliber of performances by Slattery and the ensemble. The artists use an even hand, never forcing the music, and the pieces come to life like never before. These are not museum pieces treated with such reverence that they are curios from another era. Nay, this is flesh and blood, far from academia.

Michael Slattery's voice is a wonder. The beauty of it might be enough, but his interpretation serves the music well. 

Never overpowering the songs, he gives each word, each phrase, exactly what is needed. It is perfection. I suspect even old John Dowland, whose 450th birthday is next year, would have been pleased.

Purchase me at Amazon.

“Violetta Valery, a Parisian courtesan, is receiving guests  when Alfredo Germont is introduced as an admirer. Violetta invites him
to make a toast and Alfredo leads the crowd in a drinking song (Libiamo ne’lieti calici). …Violetta is disturbed, realizing she has never truly loved or been loved, yet concluding it is her destiny to ‘flutter from pleasure to pleasure’ (Sempre libera).” Thus the story begins in Act I of La Traviata (1853) by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). “The figure of the lost woman – rather, the strayed woman – touched the composer’s heart. " Verdi thought the subject “simple and tender.”

 La Traviata, a melodrama in three acts, is the last High Definition (HD) Live simulcast from the Lincoln Center stage of The Met
Opera in New York City to selected theaters around the world in the 2011-2012 season. Local opera lovers can view this production this Saturday, April 14, at 12:55 pm to 4 pmat the Cinemark Theater in the Huntington Mall and Great Escape in Nitro, Hollywood Stadium 12 in Granville and Greenbrier Valley Theatre in Lewisburg.

French soprano Natalie Dessay will wear the red dress and sing the role of Violetta. American tenor Matthew Polenzani will sing the role of lover Alfredo Germont. The role of Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s father,will be sung by the Russian baritone Dimitri Hvorostovsky. The stage direction is by Willy Decker and Fabio Luisi, principal conductor at The Met Opera will be on the podium.

The opera will be sung in Italian with English subtitles and will have an approximate running time of three hours.

The libretto (script) for La Traviata is by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play La Dame aux Camelias by Alexandre Dumas, Jr.

The courtesan redeemed by love reminds us of last week’s simulcast of Manon by Massenet. The HD Encore performance will be on Wednesday, May 2 at 6:30 pm at Cinemark in the Huntington Mall if you miss the live broadcast this Saturday. You can also listen to it on WV Public Radio this Saturday, April14 and then experience the Encore.i 

Larry Stickler is professor of music at Marshall University.

2011-2012 Pipesounds Concert Series on the Harrah Symphonic Organ 

presents Symphonic Organ 'Pops' Concert  

David Hegarty and Nahri Ahn ~ award winning student of classical/theatre organ at age 16 

Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 3:00 PM 

at Forrest Burdette United MethodistChurch 

2848 Putnam Avenue, Hurricane, West Virginia 

ADMISSION: Adults $10, Students $5, Under 5, free 

Tickets available at The CHURCH OFFICE 

HURRICANE FLORAL, 2757 Main Street, Hurricane 

For more information call 304.562.5903 

Or visit website at http://www.pipesounds.org/  

What is music?

Such a simple question has many answers in the minds and ears of listeners.

One thing that every great composer has done throughout the centuries is to REDEFINE what music is. Composers introduce concepts which open up the very possibilities of music. Think what Perotin alone did for music.

When exposed to a non traditional approach to music, musicians and listeners alike may get all riled up and proclaim, "That's not music!"

After all, where's the melody? People of this persuasion have a point, but they limit what might be an really interesting listening experience. Art is limitless as the imagination is limitless, but the world is not such an open-minded place.

I feel that there is the traditional world of music making and then there's the infinite world of sound. Composers work in both. It's as simple as that. There are people for whom an amplified cactus is simply a ridiculous notion, while others cheerfully accept this as something really cool. The act of performing or composing on timpani is no more "serious" than it is on a cactus as long as the intention of the performer/composer is true to the artistic vision.

Revered or hated, John Cage split the world in two when his seminal (and sometimes outright wacky) ideas entered the musical world.

I am so pleased that this young percussion group draws on Cage as inspiration. I also hear a bit of Steve Reich as well.

Sō Percussion Tiny Desk Concert. Check out all the other Tiny Desk Concerts while you are there.

The innocent and lovely young Manon is on her way to a life in the convent when she introduced to the world of love and seduction in the first act of Jules Massenet’s 1884 opera ‘Manon’. 

The new production, which debuted on March 26 at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, makes use of simple staging to highlight the music, namely the swelling vocals of powerhouse soprano Anna Netrebko. 

The story unfolds as Manon seduces her way up the social ladder of an 18th century Paris aristocracy, finding the good-hearted love of   the Chevalier Des Greiux (tenor Piotr Beczala) as an escape from her impending life of cloister.

She is soon caught up in the luxurious offerings of another suitor irresistible as she climbs another rung of the ladder. Her guilt soon forces her back into the arms of the heartbroken, and soon to be priest, Des Greiux. She persuades him to end his quest for the priesthood, and they once again become lovers. 

Not content with her love’s sagging fortunes, she convinces him to gamble, but things go awry when Des Greiux and Manon are arrested for cheating. Des Greiux is saved by his father, but Manon is left to face charges. 

She is sentenced to be deported to Louisiana, but her lover bribes the guard for her release. He catches her in his arms as she collapses from exhaustion brought on by consumption.  He mourns for their lost happiness as she dies in his arms. 

This production will be broadcast live in HD from the stage at the Met Opera in New York to theatres throughout West Virginia at noon on Saturday, April 7. 

You can catch the show at Cinemark Huntington Mall  in Barboursville, Great Escape in Nitro, Hollywood Stadium12 in Granville/Morgantown and Greenbrier Valley Theatre in Lewisburg. Ticket prices vary at each theater.

If you aren’t able to attend the HD broadcast, you can still catch all of the seduction and intrigue by tuning in & listening to WV Public Radio or online at www.wvpubcast.org.  

Those within driving distance of The Huntington Mall can then enjoy attending  the HD Encore at 6:30 pm on April 25. To win free passes for Barboursville & Nitro contact LaRee at (304) 344-9091; for Morgantown contact Barton at (304) 599-3423.
 

NOTE: John Porter is WV Agriculture Extension Agent of Kanawha County & Charleston and a volunteer for WVPB

The Shenandoah Conservatory is alive with the arts. In fact, there's so much going on, I recommend you bookmark the site. There are plenty of performances, so search around.

"Shenandoah Conservatory’s The World of the Piano Series will present Ann Schein with funding in part from the Adams Foundation on Sunday, April 15 at 3 p.m. in Armstrong Concert Hall on the campus of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va. Ticket prices are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors and $10 for students and active military. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact the Shenandoah University Box Office at (540) 665-4569 or visit www.conservatoryperforms.org. Group discounts are available for groups of 20 or more."

One thing's for sure: musicians need places to play. Not only that, they need places that nuture and bring out the best in them. Kanawha United Prebyterian Church is hands-down one of the best places to play in Charleston. Ron Neal, the man who dreamed up the Kanawha Forum, is himself a musician and always provides a completely supportive environment. That's not only rare, but valuable.

I have never heard this group, but David Porter, a friend and colleague, plays in the Kanawha Brass Quintet. As David never does anything without total comittment and conviction, I know they are going to be stellar.

Future Kanawha Forum concerts.

For the most part, I stay away from music criticism. You will not find me searching the web for concert or album reviews. I find that, most of the time, the writer has an agenda which has nothing to do with music. It's more about the writer's ego and clever use of puns or word play than any valuable information about a composer, orchestra or conductor. Writers act (not all) as if they are the sole guardians of good taste and are able to see when the "Emperor has no clothes." One writer actually penned: "Music is too valuable to be left to musicians." Really?

Someone sent me a link to a concert review and it is a howler. All names have been omitted to protect the clueless. The jaw-dropping, breath-taking dopiness has not been altered in any way. My own insertions are in brackets to clarify and correct a few mistakes.

 “Despite his podium acrobatics and choreography, the conductor did a fine job in creating a big, beautiful sound and clearly met with enthusiastic, foot-stomping approval from the orchestra players.” 

“The big piece on the program was Brahm’s Third Symphony is a curious and difficult, if generally understated work, that, written in a major key with some memorable moments, exudes a certain sense of freedom and joy.” 

You might think of it as a bullfight. Except instead of awarding the bullfighter one or two years, the audience awarded [the conductor and the orchestra] two loud and long standing ovations.” 

 “It was for the flashy work by Rimsky-Korsakov (Capriccio Espagnol), which, though short on substance, is a terrific illustration of the composer’s mastery of orchestration and ability to show off all the section of the orchestra to maximum effect.” 

 “The symphony by Brahms  (below) was done well, but I thought needed a little more sweep and tension. It needed less rubato, less freedom and fussing. It needed to move more and be more straightforward. 

 The secret to most Brahms, I think, is to allow the music to have sentiment without sentimentality. This performance came close, but it needed still more impersonality and distance, more attention to structure than content. It needed to be left alone and speak for itself, to let the composer and the score do the heavy-lifting.” 

[Rodrigo’s Concierto Andaluz was performed] 

 “The music itself is pleasant enough but slight stuff, even second-tier in the large picture. It is mostly scales and arpeggios running up and down the keyboard accompanied by some lovely melodies and rhythms. [The guitar has no keyboard, but a “fingerboard.”] 

True, it felt a like cheating when the guitarists amplified their sound through electronic microphones and loudspeakers. I mean, whatever did they do with guitar concertos by Vivaldi and Boccherini before electric amplification? [Most concertizing guitarists use amplification when performing with symphony orchestras to be heard at all.] 

“It is not by chance that Schoenberg and Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, did NOT composer [Sp?] music for the classical guitar, at least not to my knowledge. 

Now, I do not say this condescendingly.” 

 The West Virginia Youth Symphony will hold its annual Chamber Concert on Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 3 pm at Kanawha United Presbyterian Church located at 1009 Virginia Street, East in Charleston. Performances will be given by nine different Chamber Ensembles, comprised of 31 student musicians between the ages of 9-18. The ensembles range from duets, to trios, to quartets and quintets and are comprised of string or wind and brass musicians.

Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for students and seniors and may be purchased at the door.

For more information on the West Virginia Youth Symphony, please call the office at 304-561-3542 or visit our website at www.wvyouthsymphony.org.

Praised by American Record Guide as "the gold standard of academic choirs in America," the Westminster Choir will present an engaging concert focused on the theme of memory and music's ability to connect individuals and communities. The program, entitled “Light of a Clear Blue Morning,” will include works by Eriks Esenvalds, Cyrillus Kreek, Bo Hansson, Sergei Rachmaninov, Paul Crabtree, Craig Hella Johnson and Moses Hogan.

WHEN? January 14, 2012 - 7pm 

WHERE? Kanawha United Presbyterian Church
1009 Virginia Street, East
Charleston, WV
www.kanawhachurch.org
304-342-6558

Be "Faust" in line to get a pair of free tickets to see the Met's Faust on Saturday, December 10. Listen to Classical Music today in the noon hour for details. "Faust" come, "Faust" served. OK, I like puns. 

Gounod’s Faust– New Production
December 10, 2011, 12:55 pm ET

With Jonas Kaufmann in the title role, René Pape as the devil, and Marina Poplavskaya as Marguerite, Gounod’s classic retelling of the Faust legend couldn’t be better served. Tony Award-winning director Des McAnuff updates the story to the first half of the 20^th century with a production that won praise in London last season. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts on the heels of his Don Carlo success.

Approximate running time: 4 hours, 10 minutes

Go see the MET in HD at these theaters.

 Barboursville, Huntington Mall, 500 Mall Rd 25504   

 Granville, Hollywood Stadium 12, 1001 Mountaineer Dr 26534 

Jeanne Lamon has been performing and recording early music since 1981 with Tafelmusik. Early music orchestras have certainly established a firm place in the world of concert music and Lamon's group has been an important part of that.

It must have taken quite a bit of courage to try to establish an "authentic" Baroque music ensemble which might have been seen as nothing more than a curiosity along side well-established modern orchestras.

The stunning surprise here is countertenor Daniel Taylor. Taylor's voice has depth, ease and clarity as he sings Cantata BWV 170 and 54.

WikiPedia defines countertenor. 

Buy me at Amazon. 

You may have heard people talking about the "Dissonances" Mozart recording by Quatuor Ebène that is one of the thank you gifts when you donate to WV Public Radio this week. Check out the videos to hear a preview.

So good. Or you could also get the COMPLETE works of Beethoven, or the 100 Best Classics samplers (nice intros to classical music), as a thank you gift when you donate.

Check it out. Thank you for continuing to make WV Public Radio possible with your support!

We have some good, substantive interviews to post for you here soon, but for now, while we're busy raising money to support WV Public Radio and this site, I have just a few more short silly things to hopefully make you smile.

If Carmen and her friends were on Facebook..., well her drama would fit right in.


When practicing playing Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumble-bee, I bet some musicians have wished they could eliminate a few of those notes!

Another classical music product placement -- someone just let me know of a whiskey commercial that makes good use of Saint-Saens's Danse Macabre (very appropriate for this time of year):

And then some radio fun...with George Hrab's "Symphonic Call-In Show":

Finally, in honor of the WV Symphony's upcoming Beethoven Symphony No. 5 concert, here's a classic from P.D.Q. Bach -- New Horizons in Music Appreciation: 

Related posts:

 * Classical internet silliness
 * Classical Fish
 * A Fugue a Day

Happy fall! Here's a busy month of concerts to enjoy. Let me know if I've missed anything!

Oct. 1: Tiberius String Quartet (Charleston Chamber Music Society)

Oct. 1: West Virginia Symphony Orchestra (Hurricane)

Oct. 1: Shenandoah Conservatory Symphonic Wind  Ensemble

Oct. 2: ASHU (Fairmont Chamber Music Society)

Oct. 2: West Virginia Symphony Orchestra (WV State University)

Oct. 2: John O'Conor, piano (Shenandoah Conservatory) (interview)

Oct. 3: Mikylah McTeer, violin; Peter Amstutz, piano (WVU Faculty Recital)

Oct. 4: WVU Wind Symphony

Oct. 5: Wendell Dobbs, flute; John Ingram, piano (Marshall University Faculty Recital)

Oct. 5: Betsy Billock, piano (West Liberty University)

Oct. 5: Josh Meredith, baritone; Nathan Moheebi, tenor; Ron Neal, piano (Kanawha Forum)

Oct. 6: Marshall University Wind Symphony

Oct. 7: WVU New Music Recital

Oct. 8: Huntington Symphony Orchestra

Oct. 9: Montclaire String Quartet

Oct. 9: Magnets Project Brazilian Student Recital (Marshall University)

Oct. 9, 2pm: Juan Jaramillo, violin; Robert Troeger, keyboards; Jose Puentes, bass and cuatro (St. Matthew's, Wheeling)

Oct. 10: WVU Chamber Winds

Oct. 11: Glenville State College Music Fest: Bluegrass, Choir, Band, Percussion, and More!

Oct. 11: Aubrey Ford, tuba masterclass (WV State University)

Oct. 11: Tuesday with Fran: Mozart (Carnegie Hall Lewisburg)

Oct. 12: Marshall University Orchestra

Oct. 12: Ryan Anthony, trumpet; Gary Beard, organ (West Liberty University)

Oct. 12: Cara Escue; soprano; Madeline Southall, soprano; Allie Sargent, mezzo-soprano; Ron Neal, piano (Kanawha Forum)

Oct. 13: SAI Musicale (Fairmont State University)

Oct. 14: WVU Percussion Concert

Oct. 14: Fairmont State University Collegiate Singers and Chamber Choir

Oct. 14: Wheeling Symphony Pops: Richie Cole and Five by Design

Oct. 15: WVU New Music Concert

Oct. 15: Alderson-Broaddus Brass Choir, Chamber Ensemble, and Concert Choir

Oct. 15: Alderson-Broaddus Quartets, Jazz Ensemble, and The West Virginians

Oct 15: Met Opera Live in HD: Donizetti's Anna Bolena (Morgantown, Barboursville, Lewisburg, Nitro, other locations in surrounding region)

Oct. 18: Nina Assimakopoulos, flute (WVU Faculty Recital)

Oct. 19: Rob Barron, Trombone Masterclass (Shepherd University)

Oct. 19: Alderson-Broaddus Afternoon Recital

Oct. 19: Timpani Chamber Music Ensemble (Kanawha Forum)

Oct. 19: Juan Jaramillo, violin; Robert Troeger, keyboards; Jose Puentes, bass and cuatro (Wheeling Jesuit University)

Oct. 20: Clyde English Memorial Organ Recital (West Virginia University)

Oct. 20: West Liberty University Bands

Oct. 20: Rebecca Rischin, clarinet; Youmee Kim, piano (Marshall University Guest Artist Recital)

Oct. 21: Shepherd University A Capella Choral Concert

Oct. 21-22: West Virginia Symphony Orchestra; Julie Albers, cello

Oct. 21-23: Shenandoah Conservatory Bach-Handel Festival

Oct. 22: Lynn Hileman, bassoon (WVU Faculty Recital)

Oct. 22-23: Marshall University Guitar Festival

Oct. 22-23: Maryland Symphony Orchestra; Nick Kendall, violin

Oct. 23: MTNA Recital (Alderson-Broaddus)

Oct. 23: WVU Fall Choral Concert

Oct. 23: William Haller, organ (WVU Recital)

Oct. 23: Ron Barron, trombone (WVU Guest Artist Recital)

Oct. 24: Octubafest I: Tuba and Euphonium Solo Night (Marshall University)

Oct. 24: Starry Night of Romeo & Juliet, Philadelphia Orchestra (Carnegie Hall Film Series)

Oct. 25: Masterclass: Elizabeth Wotring Nelson, voice (Fairmont State University)

Oct. 26: Triptych Concert (Marshall University)

Oct. 25: WVU Faculty Piano Quartet

Oct. 25: Van Buren Quintet (Shenandoah Conservatory)

Oct. 26: Christy Banks, clarinet (West Liberty University Guest Artist Recital)

Oct. 29: Met Opera Live in HD: Mozart's Don Giovanni (Morgantown, Barboursville, Lewisburg, Nitro, other locations in surrounding region)

Oct. 29: Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra; Timothy Roberts, saxophone

Oct. 27: John Beall, composer (WVU Faculty Recital)

Oct. 28: Maria Yefimova, piano (MUsic Alive, Marshall)

Oct. 28: Shenandoah Conservatory Brass Ensemble

Oct. 31: Octubafest II: Tubaween (Marshall University)

Oct. 31: Laureate Wind Quintet

Here's some recent fun and silliness shared by friends. Happy Friday:)

Mozart opera + comic book heroes=Don Supermani!

Lady Gaga + Bassoons = The Breaking Winds (more from NPR)

And please pardon me, all you wonderful maestri out there:

-

On tonight’s concert, the WVU Symphony Orchestra will also be playing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 (in my book, the best Beethoven). If you have seen The King's Speech, you’ve encountered the second movement of this symphony in a dramatic context (If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t just watch this video here. Go watch the whole movie!)

The Wheeling Symphony Orchestra is playing the first concert of its season tonight at the Capitol Theater. You may have heard a little bit about it on the radio.  

Here’s just a few minutes more from Wheeling Symphony Orchestra music director Maestro Andre Raphel about tonight’s concert: 

Alderson-Broaddus music professor Timothy Dewitt was featured this morning on West Virginia Morning. You can hear (and read) the radio story here.

(I prefer listening – that way you get to hear the music, both from Dewitt’s recording and a recording by the AB College Brass Choir). 

The radio story includes excerpts from an interview that we did over two days. During our conversation, Dewitt had many more things to say about teaching, his musical experiences, and musical life at Alderson-Broaddus that are worth hearing. 

Here’s the full interview, in four parts:

-

-

-

-

I just got this note from the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. What a cool program!

Paging anyone who needs service hours, wants something good on their college application, or wants a chance to hear the Wheeling Symphony for free.

The Wheeling Symphony Auxiliary is accepting high school students for its Volunteer Junior Usher Program.

Volunteering for the Symphony is a great way to help our community, gain good experience, meet new people and enjoy wonderful music.

Volunteering for the Symphony will involve, but is not limited to, ushering a minimum of two concerts during the school year. Ushering a concert means that you will be helping concert patrons before the concert actually begins by opening and holding doors, helping patrons find their seats and assisting the Wheeling Symphony Office staff with whatever they may need.

Ushers are dismissed once the concert begins but are welcome to stay and enjoy the concert at no expense. Other duties may include, assisting at the Patron Party and Viennese Winter Ball in January & February and  helping at the 4th of July concert and Symphony Office.

If you know someone who is in grades 9–12 and you think they would like to participate in our program, please send their name and postal mailing address to us at jennifercroft@comcast.net no later than September 23, 2011.

Personal invitations to our mandatory training will be sent out the week of September 26th. The invitation will contain specific instructions for the students (not an adult) to follow in order to reserve their spot at training.

Students who are interested in volunteering are required to attend the training session on Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 6:00pm. Due to current fire code regulations and restrictions mandated by the Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Authority, all volunteers must attend training that also provides fire safety procedures. Any student not attending this year’s training will not be permitted to participate in the 2011-2012 concert season.

During the training session students will be asked to sign up for their required two concerts. They may visit the Wheeling Symphony’s website to view the concert schedule for the season prior to the training session to determine the concerts when the student will be available.

Interested students (not adults) must call and speak with Jennifer Croft (304-242-6017), Sandra Chapman (304-233-4503) or Angela Thompson (740-695-4115) by Saturday, October 15 to reserve their spot at the training session, or they can call us for more details or with any questions.

It was difficult to listen to the radio this morning, despite the beauty of the music. It was important to listen to the radio this morning, despite the sadness and pain in the music.  

I hadn’t wanted to think about it. The music forced me to feel more than I had planned.

Performance Today’s memorial “Ten Years Later” program, including Steve Reich’s “WTC 9/11” and excerpts from Robert Moran’s Trinity Requiem can be heard online for the next week. Listen, if you can bear it.

This Sunday at 6pm, the WVU Symphony Orchestra will perform John Beall’s September Morning: Elegy for 2001, written five years ago.

And as I write this little unplanned post, I am listening to “Sarabanda in Memoriam” by Aaron Jay Kernis. I can’t imagine this recording on MySpace is legal, but it is there. You can also download an mp3 or purchase a CD from Amazon.

Having just settled down from our fabulous state fair (highlights of which included freshly fried doughnuts, ALICE COOPER, and some terrifying carnival rides), America's Coolest Small Town is rocking some cool classical music events this fall.

Carnegie Hall Lewisburg's film series includes operas and classical concerts broadcast in HD from Germany, Austria, and Philadelphia

Sept. 26, 7pm: An Evening with Renee Fleming from the Waldbuhne Berlin (?? This date doesn't seem right. Confirming date with Carnegie Hall Lewisburg)

Sept. 26, 7pm: Verdi's La Traviata from the Roman Quarry at St. Margarethen

Oct. 24, 7pm: Starry Night of Romeo & Juliet from the Philadelphia Orchestra Concert Series

Nov. 28, 7pm: Bizet's Carmen from the the Roman Quarry at St. Margarethen

Pianist Fran Belin has also announced the fall line-up for her Tuesdays with Fran series of free lunchtime concerts, which start next week.

This fall, she is exploring "the golden age of the piano sonata," starting with music by Franz Joseph Haydn on September 13th. The series continues the second Tuesday of October, November, and December with music by Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert.

That's in addition to the Liszt recital by pianist Barbara Nissman, on November 5, also at Carnegie Hall Lewisburg.

Lewisburg is sounding pretty cool this fall.


For a guide to classical concerts throughout West Virginia, check out our WV Classical Calendar each month. Here's this September's calendar. 

Fall is on its way, with plenty of concerts all around the state. Let me know if we've missed any concerts!


Sept. 4: Wheeling Symphony Under the Stars (Wheeling)

Sept. 4: WV Symphony Labor Day Concert at Haddad Riverfront Park

Sept. 5: Wheeling Symphony Under the Stars (Morgantown)

Sept. 9: Windy Tunes: Kingsbury Woodwind Quintet (MUsic Alive Series)

Sept. 11: Remembering through the Arts (WVU)

Sept. 11: John Weigand, clarinet; James Miltenberger, piano (WVU Faculty Recital)

Sept. 13: Tuesdays with Fran (Haydn)

Sept. 13: Jan Berry, saxophone; Stuart Gerber, percussion (WVU Guest Artist Recital)

Sept. 15: George Palton, tuba (Marshall University Faculty Recital)

Sept. 16-17: West Virginia Symphony; Domenico Codispoti, piano

Sept. 18: Christine Kefferstan, piano (WVU Faculty Recital)

Sept. 19: Andrew Kohn, double bass (WVU Faculty Recital)

Sept. 20: William Skidmore, cello; Carol Beall, piano; Dorothy Skidmore, flute (WVU Faculty Recital)

Sept. 21: Concord University Faculty Recital (Fine Arts Building)

Sept. 21: Ikarus Celtic Quartet (Kanawha Forum)

Sept. 23: Wheeling Symphony; Caitlin Tully, violin “Carnival at the Capitol”

Sept. 24: Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra

Sept. 24: Maryland Symphony “Wicked Divas”

Sept. 25: Alvaro Henrique, classical guitar (Marshall University Guest Artist Recital)

Sept. 25: Janis Rozena-Peri, soprano (WVU Community Music Faculty Recital) (interview)

Sept. 25: River Cities Symphony Orchestra; Stephen Doane, cello CANCELED

Sept. 26: Verdi's La Traviata from the Roman Quarry at St. Margarethen (Carnegie Hall Film Series)

Sept. 28: Wendell Dobbs, flute (Marshall University Faculty Recital) (interview)

Sept. 28: Lindsey Goodman, flute; Robert Turriziani, clarinet; Vicki Berneking-Cavendish, piano (Kanawha Forum)

Sept. 29: West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra

Sept. 29: Solen Dikener, cello; Henning Vauth, piano (Marshall University Faculty Recital)

Sept. 29: West Virginia Symphony Orchestra (Matewan)

Sept. 30: Freya String Quartet (MUsic Alive)

I never thought I’d get to write these words of this blog: the following is NSFW (not safe for work) -- unless you’ve got a lenient workplace and a decent set of headphones.

That’s part of why I’m a day late in posting this recording; I waited until I got home to check it out then spent the whole evening debating whether I could post it here! Titillated enough yet? Here we go.

“Leck mich im Arsch,” K. 232 was a naughty little novelty when Mozart wrote it ca. 1782.

That’s the part you where you needed the headphones at work.

If you’d like a recording of the Mozart sans ICP, I’d recommend Mozart Unexpurgated (it does also appear in the Complete Mozart box set issued by Brilliant Records).

My favorite album of naughty classical fun is The Art of the Bawdy Song by the Baltimore Consort (many thanks to Dr. Paul Borg, who introduced a group of  wide-eyed undergraduates at Illinois State University to this album, along with Florence Foster Jenkins, Anna Russell, the 1812 Overture at West Point, and other great classics…)

As for ICP and White, classical connections do not play out in the rest of this release. According to Pitchfork:

The B-side will be "Mountain Girl" (which concerns itself with "tall tales about a shotgun wedding, meth problems and moonshine").

Goodman commissioned Cooper to write a work for solo flute, and he responded with the work Other Voices. (listen here)

That description makes it all sound much simpler than it was. It took an involved collaborative process to take this music from the initial idea (a piece for solo flute) to a completed two-movement work that expresses the working of the human mind through musical transformations. 

This spring, Cooper and Goodman came into the studio to discuss the creation of Other Voices, and their approach to the collaboration between composers and performers. Listen to the conversation below:

You can hear Goodman’s performance of Other Voices by Grant Cooper here on Goodman’s website, in a recording from a Charleston Chamber Music Society concert that was part of FestivALL Charleston in June, 2010.

Lindsey Goodman is principal flutist of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, solo flutist of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and adjunct lecturer of flute at Marietta College. A charismatic soloist, chamber collaborator, teacher, and clinician, Lindsey is a strong advocate for contemporary music, living composers, and electroacoustic and multidisciplinary works.

I’m a big fan of new music: brand-spanking fresh music which smacks of the world we see out our windows and on our computer screens. For me, performing this vibrant, diverse repertoire is a calling, and one of the most visceral ways for me to get that fresh ink buzz is by asking composers to write me new pieces. That process is a called commissioning, and anyone, from an individual performer, to a musical ensemble, an arts patron, or a music lover, can commission a new work.

Why commission?

Today, in your state, your county ... perhaps even down the road from you, exist the people of legends: composers. Composers write music, and they, contrary to your history-book memories of powdered wigs worn over stern looks, are living, breathing people who express their experience in our shared world by pressing pencils into paper (or keys on a computer keyboard), stating their world views through notes, rhythms, and sonic colors.

 To me, this skill is completely and utterly magical. Where only silence existed before, living composers create powerful emotional experiences through sound. Commissioning is my way, as a purely re-creative (re-creative in this sense meaning one who reinterprets another’s original outputs instead of crafting her own) artist, to tap into the musical birthing process.  

 Personal zeal aside, commissioning is vitally important to keeping classical art music alive and thriving. “All music was once new”, quips the catchy tagline for Composer’s Datebook on radio broadcasts through American Public Media. To take that one logical step farther, if there is no music of today, there can be no music of tomorrow.

What’s the commissioning process like?

Hopefully, my unabashed soapboxing has you running down the street in search of your friendly neighborhood composer, but before you knock down her door, consider the very individual nature of the commissioning process. I’ve commissioned twenty pieces and premiered over fifty, and each experience has been as unique as the people involved.  

At the outset, it’s all about choosing the right person for the job at hand. When I needed a set of encores, I trolled through my mental list of incredibly-talented composer colleagues to select someone who exhibited both lyricism and virtuosity in his flute writing. Alternatively (and flatteringly!), sometimes a composer has chosen me as his inspiration. Either way, thorough knowledge of each other’s styles and aesthetics helps a commissioner discern who will be a good match personally and professionally for his own artistic voice.

After the initial icebreaking email, cup of coffee, or bowl of Pho during which the commissioner pitches a collaboration to her composer du jour, it’s time to communicate about the project expectations. Will the commission be specific in scope (a ten-minute piece for singing flutist and singing pianist) or provide more general inspiration (something for flute with or without piano or electronics)? Is there a premiere date already on the books, or will the piece be written as opportunity and the muse rear their ephemeral heads? 

Once composition is actually underway, put on your hard hat and enter the construction zone, if asked! While some composers understandably are most comfortable to deliver only the glossy final product (with all the messy birthing occurring safely behind closed doors), others want to have fertile conversations beginning with questions like “does the flute have to use vibrato?” If your newly-christened composer best friend wants feedback, collaborate fully, offering both practical pointers from your instrumental expertise and honest, uplifting musical reactions. 

When the piece, be it first draft or performance-ready, finally makes its way into your expectant palms, ink still wet on the page, maintain an open line of communication to both provide and accept constructive criticism as you make yourself available for consultations and readings. Crafting the best end result for all involved should be job one!

The commission is done. Now what?

A commissioner not only provides the genesis for a new project, but should help that burgeoning masterpiece succeed at every juncture, understanding that her job doesn’t end with the premiere. If the fates have smiled on your collaboration, you’ll have a thrilling new masterwork of immense personal significance which you’re bursting to share with the world. Alternatively, even Beethoven wrote some clunkers, and I am personally guilty of having commissioned some hard-to-program pieces with orchestration too specific to remount. The unknown is part of this package deal!

Assuming the first option (!), you and your composer are responsible for ensuring that your musical baby has a long and happy life. You should be the work’s best advocate to fellow performers and audiences, utilizing your resources to give the piece multiple performances, keeping the composer informed of concerts, giving her a rightful bow, sending along programs and recordings, and continuing to accept feedback as your interpretation evolves. 

Final thoughts

Of all the aspects of my musical life, my commissioning projects are among the most cherished. Through these processes, I’ve forged deep friendships, gained immense personal insight, and been the recipient of some staggeringly-beautiful music. Every time I perform one of these collaborations, I walk on stage to a friend smiling back at me from the waiting music stand. Sharing these works with fresh audiences is an unmitigated joy, and that sense of wonder and discovery, that fresh ink buzz, is available to anyone intrepid enough to answer the call to commission.

You too might have meetings to attend, dishes to wash, emails to answer, work to get done. You too can stop for a few minutes to dance a crooked dance with Erik Satie.

My favorite recording (the one heard on the radio today) is by pianist Alexandre Tharaud. For more excellent Satie, check out recordings by Aldo Ciccolini.

Now, on to that next meeting ...

Today's word of the day  (via A.Word.A.Day) is fugue:

noun:
1. A musical form in which a theme is repeated in several voices and developed into a complex pattern.
2. A pathological state of consciousness in which someone appears to be conscious of one's actions but has no memory of them after returning to a normal state.

Read the full entry here. Then check out this explanation from Glenn Gould:

And the Nokia fugue, by Vincent Lo:

Yum, right?

I've also recently realized that Janáček might be part of the answer to a problem I've been having: I owe a few friends some mixes (mix tape? mix CD? Pando-Spoti-shark playlist? Format hasn't been too much an issue, because I have gotten around to making any of them!)

I've been overwhelmed by choosing what to put on this mix, whatever form it takes. For some friends, I feel responsible for introducing them to the *right* classical music that will lead them to explore. Other friends already know the greatest hits, and I want to show them something a little different. The length of pieces is also something of an issue; if I do make a CD, one symphony or two, and there goes a whole disc.

I'm thinking a Janáček mix might be the thing. A few good orchestra pieces, some of those pretty piano works...

Here are some nice news items from pianist Barbara Nissman, who makes her home in Lewisburg (when not busy traveling to perform and record!)

* Barbara Nissman will be playing a recital at Carnegie Hall Lewisburg on November 5 celebrating Liszt’s 200th birthday. Here’s the concert info and a preview of the Carnegie Hall Lewisburg 2011-12 season.

* She has recently released the sixth installment in her “Recital Favorites” recording series on Pierian Records, including music by Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Scriabin, Chopin, and Ravel. 

Update: (We've also now received Nissman's Recital Favorites Volume 7, which includes the most wonderfully playful recording of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations that I've ever heard.)

You can check out our interview from a couple years ago here.We’ll be sure to catch up with Nissman again this fall before the Liszt recital.

You can also hear a preview of her recordings in this video that a fan uploaded of Nissman playing Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 6.

-

Jenny Morris is an oboe and English horn player who lives in Charleston. She has previously written for Classically Speaking about her adventures playing outdoor summer concerts.

Leaving “Oboes on the Ohio” on Saturday evening inspired a curious thought: Is this what string players feel like leaving gigs?  I had the pleasure to play in a group with about 16 other double reed players, which was a first for me.

We oboists and bassoonists tend to work in groups of 2 or 3, and for most of us, that is fine. Once in a while for a Mahler Symphony, or perhaps Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, our sections in the orchestra grow to 4 or 6 players, but in these days of cost-cutting repertoire, even those sizes are considered huge. Unlike our string-playing colleagues, we seldom experience playing in large groups together.

“Oboes on the Ohio” was a day-long gathering of oboists and bassoonists from Ohio, Indiana, and two of us from West Virginia.It took place in the Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Performing Arts Centre in Gallipolis, OH, which is also home to the Ohio Valley Symphony.

It was a rare treat to be amongst so many double-reed playing colleagues, and yet in an environment still small enough to be able to speak to the vendors who had instruments and tools available. Where else but a double reed workshop would one encounter a session about knife sharpening, 63 different colors of reed thread, and a library of music for double reed ensembles?

One of the highlights of the day was attending a masterclass led by Robert Sorton, who teaches oboe at Ohio State University. Two young men aged 12 and 15 years played amazingly well, and assured all of us who are two (or three!) times their ages, that there will be fine oboe players in the future generation.

Guest artist Colin Maier, whose usual performance venue is with Canadian crossover group, Quartetto Gelato, talked with those gathered about the importance of being passionate in our music making, and making a connection with our audiences. He encouraged us not to hide behind our music stands, or the conductor, or even the composer, but to take ownership and responsibility for what we do with our instruments. He also challenged us to learn from our failures, and find the positives from them.

The evening recital was a delightful informal gathering featuring Colin Maier’s incredible virtuosity, a lovely woodwind trio of faculty members from Ohio University in Athens, and a quartet of “ladies” that made fabulous music. (Let’s just say that the costumes will be somewhere on Facebook by now—and I love a man who can play the oboe in a dress and high heels!) 

A beautiful Contra-bassoon solo played by Matthew Morris dispelled any myth you might still have that the instrument is just a low-note machine, and the closing ensemble group featured all the participants brave enough to play in a presentation of Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks. Unlike the original presentation of the work, the players did not have to sit on a barge in a river, but perhaps that could happen if the festival repeats again in Gallipolis!

Related links:

* Oboes on the Ohio festival held this weekend

* Oboe on the Ohio (William Baker interview)

Hildegard is the star of the children’s book Hildegard Sings, and now she’s transitioned to the digital age in an interactive iPod/iPad application version of her story:

Meet Hildegard’s creator: Thomas Wharton.

Related links:

* Hildegard Sings
* One Hundred Robots
* Wharton Studio

You may have noticed an unusual musical event on this month's classical calendar -- Oboes on the Ohio. It's a celebration of all things double-reed (while oboes are in the name, bassoon and English horn are definitely welcome). The festival is for students, teachers, performers, and anyone interested in the instruments.

The one-day festival on the Ohio River will include performances, lectures, workshops, classes, vendors, demonstrations, and chamber music readings. Quartetto Gelato's athletic oboist Colin Maier is one of the featured performers.

Oboes on the Ohio takes place August 6 at the Ariel-Ann Carson Dater Performing Arts Centre in Gallipolis, Ohio. You can find out more about the event on the event website.

Bonus track: William Baker explains why oboe players need to be good with a knife

It's the last quiet month before concert seasons and college music programs really get started. Here are the concerts that I've found around the region. Let me know if I'm missing anything:)

Aug. 6: Oboes on the Ohio

Aug. 7, 7pm: Kevin Michael, violin (Vance Memorial Presbyterian, Wheeling)

Aug.13: Paul Jacobs, organ (Upper St. Clair, PA)

Aug. 20: Huntington Symphony Orchestra Picnic with the Pops

Aug. 21: Pipes and Pedals at PamelArt: An Introduction to the Pipe Organ (Montrose)

Aug. 23: Peter Amstutz, piano (WVU Faculty Recital)

Aug. 27: Schmidt Vocal Competition (WVU)

Aug. 28: Lillian Long, organ (Alderson-Broaddus Faculty Recital)

Sept. 4: WV Symphony at Haddad Riverfront Park

Sept. 4: Wheeling Symphony Under the Stars

I can't resist adding just a little something to this page. Here's a musical treat from Copenhagen to brighten a muggy Monday morning:)

-

We visited Nadia Boulanger, thanking her for all she did to teach composers (including Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, and many, many others.) She was a major force in 20th century music. If you're not familiar with her, I think you should read more about her.

Nadia's sister Lili Boulanger was a talented young composer who passed away in her twenties; Lili wrote several beautiful pieces, including a Pie Jesu setting.

I hadn't realized that Harriet Smithson, the actress that drove Berlioz to romantic despair and the writing of the Symphonie Fantastique, was buried alongside Berlioz. Although they did end up getting married, it didn't work out for them.

Here's another grand romantic character haunted by an ill-fated romance. Alexandre Dumas, fils, wrote La dame aux camélias [Camille] in 1848. Dumas fils (the son of the noted novelist) used his own life as his inspiration to write this tale of a doomed love affair with a courtesan amidst the joys and struggles of Bohemian Paris. The story of Camille is now known to opera lovers through Giuseppe Verdi's operatic adaption -- La Traviata.

Russian dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky has of the most striking monuments in Montmartre Cemetery. You can watch Nijinsky's choreography for Stravinsky's Rite of Spring here.

Even in Montmartre Cemetery, there are many musicians and related figures whose monuments we didn't find. I was interested in paying respects to these figures from the past, but I also found the cemetery too sad of a place to stay for long.



You can see my other musical Parisian pictures in my previous posts about signs, museums, and concerts.

Just one more thought, if you find you find yourself traveling to Paris. Well, two thoughts. First -- take me with you! Second -- read David Lebovitz's website and book on living the sweet life in Paris. We found it indispensable (and a whole lot of fun).

Waldstein. Nadezhda von Meck. Louis XIV. [insert your favorite musical patron here].

Oh yeah, and you. Really. 

People have been finding financial backers (and convincing their friends and relatives to lend them money for stuff) long before the Internet existed, but web funding platform Kickstarter has made it a lot easier.

It’s sort of a roll-your-own-mini-public radio fund drive (something with which I’m all too familiar): you set a financial goal for your project, set different donation levels (with different rewards to go with them), and make your pitch. You receive the donations only if you reach your goal within your set time. Some of the support comes from friends and family, some from those who know you through your artwork, and some support might come from people who discover your work through Kickstarter.

That’s how it worked for my friend and high school music theory-classmate Kevin Clark. As we've kept in touch over the years, I've been interested in his theatrical compositions and his work with Meet the Composer/MTC Studio. I happened to see his pitch for the project  - Cucumbers and Gin: Inside a Studio Recording - online. I contributed and got my very own custom drink recipe. I also shared the project with all my friends. He and his collaborators reached their goal and set to work using our money.

Yesterday, I saw the finished project. Check it out:

Supercool.

When I meet performers and composers who have an idea, and they’re not sure how to find the financial support for their worthwhile projects, I keep telling them about Kickstarter. It’s not a given that it will work for everyone, but I think it’s a useful tool that, combined with some smart planning, can be a great resource.

So stop saying "if only ..." Get your project planned, and let me (and the world) know about it.

Or if you'd like to help someone else do something cool, don't hesitate to throw some change in the hat for any classical music projects on Kickstarter that catch your fancy.

Recognize this logo?

Heymann is founder and president of Naxos, one of the few major companies producing and distributing classical recordings. It’s not by CD sales alone that Naxos exists – they also run the streaming Naxos Music Library, license music to film and TV, and distribute a whole bunch of labels.


I've already read several interesting interviews with Heymann, so I was a bit unsure as to what new things I could ask him. I’m also not really a business expert (Unless borrowing one of my dad’s business magazines to read about Spotify counts? Probably not...)


We did find plenty of things to discuss, including the music that has influenced him, different trends in classical music recording industry, and how radio still impacts classical music sales. On a sort of strange whim, I also asked him for his advice for the newspaper industry (one of his first jobs was for a newspaper).

Listen to our interview below (streaming or download): 

Listening back to the interview, it caught my ear that he discussed several things in terms of  “placing bets." We don't know the future, but people are trying a lot of interesting things. Some of the small bets that he mentioned include digital books with embedded music and classical music apps.

It was a good discussion, but I still feel that I missed asking something crucial that I still haven't figured out.

What questions would you ask a classical music executive if you got a chance to chat with one?

I’ve recently heard about two nice-sounding pipe organ concerts happening in the region this summer.

Andrew Swing and Paul Isaacs will be playing a concert this Sunday (July 24) at 3pm at Village Chapel Presbyterian in Charleston. The free concert is sponsored by the Kanawha Chapter of the AGO (American Guild of Organists).

Swing and Isaacs have just graduated high school and heading off to college next year, where they will continue to play the king of instruments.

Recordings of both of these talented young musicians were featured on the Classically Speaking blog a few years ago. Visit this post listen to them play music by Bach and Buxtehude as part of the “World’s Largest Organ Concert” that took place in October 2008. Here's the Facebook invitation for this weekend's concert.

--

Grammy-winning organist Paul Jacobs will perform at Westminster Presbyterian in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania (just south of Pittsburgh) on Friday August 19 at 7:30pm. The church is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Austin pipe organ, and suggested donation for that concert is $10.

You can listen to Jacobs on Saint Paul Sunday, check out his Grammy-winning recording of music by Messaien, and listen to some of his playing in the video below:

Related links:

* Pipes Heard Around the World

* WV Classical Calendar -- July

* Pipe organ assembly stories:
   - Delivering the Baby
   - Some assembly required
   - More assembly required

-

Just heard some news from up north -- Noah Bendix-Balgley is the new concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Meet the new concertmaster, originally from North Carolina, in this video produced by our colleagues at WQED in Pittsburgh:

You can catch his first performances as concertmaster of the orchestra in Pittsburgh this fall, and welcome him to West Virginia, when the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs three concerts in Morgantown during the upcoming season.

The world is full of gifted musicians, but among those gifted people, there are some talents that stand out even among the best of the best.

Chris Thile is one of those rare talents and perhaps the best mandolin player I have ever heard. The video above is his rendition of Bach’s Prelude in E major, transcribed for mandolin. His compositions have also been featured on classical radio program Performance Today (including here and here).

Thile makes seemingly everything seem effortless. Really! Just watch. He can shred in a bluegrass setting or in any other venue. Check out his work with Edgar Meyer; it is top notch!

Even in the simplest of bluegrass tunes, Thile’s prowess has a way of just bubbling out, as if the tune itself can’t contain his chops.

Thile was a founding member of Nickel Creek and is currently heading the experimental quintet The Punch Brothers. He also just released a pared down duo record with guitarist/singer Michael Daves, called Sleep with One Eye Open.

You can hear the Punch Brothers on Mountain Stage through NPR Music (sets from 2008 and from 2010).

The Punch Brothers also play some adventurous cover -- here they are playing The Strokes' “Reptilia.”

Aran Jenkins is a graduate of WV State University. He plays piano and guitar, writes for theCharleston Gazette, and is working on a novel.

Previous posts by Aran Jenkins:

An orphan girl (soprano), a nice young Tyrolean (tenor), and a supportive family (the 21st regiment) make for a happy ending in La Fille du Regiment [The Daughter of the Regiment], an opera comique (comic opera) written by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848). 

An encore presentation of La Fille du Regiment from the Metropolitan Opera high definition series will be shown at the Cinemark Theater in the Huntington Mall, the Cinemark Theater in Bridgeport, and Hollywood Stadium in Morgantown  at 6:30pm, this Wednesday, July 13, 2011.

La Fille is a two act performance sung in French with English subtitles.  This production was originally simulcast live in high definition from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on Saturday, April 26, 2008.  The running time is 2 hours and 20 minutes.

The advantage of writing about this encore performance is that I saw the 2008 simulcast. I highly recommend this performance for the outstanding singing and active staging.

La Fille du Regiment was premiered at the Opera-Comique in Paris on February 11, 1840. This opera is a fine example of the bel canto (beautiful singing) operatic style.

In this MET production soprano Natalie Dessay sings the tomboy role of Marie, the orphan daughter of the 21st regiment of the French army, with a florid, pyrotechnical vocal technique and with an exuberant physical stage presence with a flair for comedy. You will be amazed!

Tenor Juan Diego Florez sings the role of Toneo, the Tyrolean villager, with great vocal fireworks as well.  Near the end of Act I, Toneo sings and aria (song) known as a great vocal challenge to all tenors.  The tenor must sing nine high Cs at the conclusion of the aria, eight of which are complete octave jumps (lower C to the high C).

Remember that La Fille is a comic opera from beginning to end.  Watch for the singing lesson in Act 2. Another thing to watch for is the tank in this MET production – a vehicle Donizetti did not use in his 1840 version.
   
Enjoy the music and the comedy of La Fille du Regiment!

One more belated bit of Mahler birthday celebrations, with a discovery from the very cluttered shelves of the West Virginia Public Radio library.

In 2008, musicologist Timothy Freeze gave a talk on the subject of "Mahler and his World" with West Virginia Symphony Orchestra artistic director Grant Cooper at the Clay Center in Charleston. I wasn't able to make the talk, so the symphony kindly shared a recording with me. Now that I've recently rediscovered the CD, the WVSO said that I can also share it with you! You can stream or download the discussion below:

All the other Mahler fun is collected in yesterday's post Mahler at 151.

p.s. belated 100th birthday wishes also go out to Bernard Hermann and Gian Carlo Menotti!

Mahler, Mahler, Mahler ... his name was everywhere for a while, and then after his 150th birthday last year and anniversary of his death this year, he'd wandered away from my attention. When it's this hot, it seems to be more of a season for Gershwin, Copland, Mozart, Vivaldi, or I don't know, most things that aren't Mahler.

A couple weeks ago, a few acquaintances who have only a casual interest in classical music started talking about Gustav Mahler, which surprised me. It turns out, they'd been seeing Mahler TV; the Keeping Score series on PBS featured Mahler in an episode. Mahler: Origins is available to watch online now through PBS Video (along with a bonus video of Mahler's Symphony No. 1, which I'm really enjoying listening to as I write this post).

Then there was a Mahler request to play on the radio today:

And then, I was startled to hear on the Writer's Almanac that today is Mahler's birthday (along with Robert Heinlein's birthday and the anniversary of the invention of sliced bread).

How shameful of me to have almost missed his birthday, especially during his centennial year! (it's the centennial of his death, not his birth, but it's still a bit special).

In case you're catching up, like me, here's some of the Mahler content that has previously been featured on Classically Speaking:

* Anna Larsson sings Mahler (interview)

 * Mahler and Homecoming (Chad Winkler of the PSO)

 * Who's Afraid of  Gustav Mahler?

 * Giant Hammers and Opera Corpses

 * Life & Death & Mahler in Wheeling



And if all of this Mahler has you in the mood to hear some in concert, fear not. The Mahler year is not over in West Virginia -- the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra will be performing Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in September.

Added bonus: Mahler just made it onto a very distinguished list; he was voted one of the "Top Ten Badass Composers" on a list compiled by NPR's Deceptive Cadence blog. Not a bad way to be at 151.

Congratulations to Heidi Morey of Fayetteville, West Virginia! This 13-year harp player recently won first prize in the American Harp Society National Competition. She came in first in the Intermediate I age division (13-15) and was recognized for the best performance of Claude Debussy's Reverie.

Morey was also just featured in an article in the Charleston Gazette: "With help, Fayette teen wins national harp competition"

She's set up a website, which includes a section where you can listen to recordings of her playing the harp (including the Debussy).

I hope to have more from this talented young musician for you soon. I've written to her to see if we can get some recordings to feature on West Virginia Public Radio and perhaps an interview to share here on Classically Speaking.

Fourth of July weekend concerts, an arts festival nearby in Western Maryland, and the Metropolitan Opera encore screenings at the movies are on the calendar this month. Otherwise, it seems to be a pretty quiet month for classical music in West Virginia. Be sure to let me know if we’re missing anything.

July 1: Wheeling Symphony (Weirton)

July 1: Pittsburgh Symphony

July 2: Wheeling Symphony (Clarksburg)

July 2: Marlyand Symphony (Antietam)

July 2: Pittsburgh Symphony

July 3: West Virginia Symphony

July 3: Wheeling Symphony (Canaan)

July 3: Pittsburgh Symphony

July 4: Wheeling Symphony

July 4: Ohio Valley Symphony

July 13: Met Opera HD Encore: Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment [Daughter of the Regiment] (Huntington Mall, Morgantown, Bridgeport)

July 15: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Garrett Lake Arts Festival (Deep Creek, MD)

July 16: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Garrett Lake Arts Festival (Deep Creek, MD)

July 20: Met Opera HD Encore: Verdi’s Don Carlo (Huntington Mall, Morgantown, Bridgeport)

July 23:   Huntington Symphony “Picnic with the Pops”

July 27: Met Opera HD Encore: Verdi’s Don Carlo (Huntington Mall, Morgantown, Bridgeport)

July 28: Movie Theater Concert Broadcast: Israel Philharmonic Orchestra - Live from Jerusalem, Zubin Mehta, cond., with Renee Fleming and Joseph Calleja (Huntington Mall, Morgantown; Pittsburgh, PA; Ashland, KY; Germantown, MD)

Something missing? Leave a comment or send me an email! 

The holiday weekend will be here in just a few days. Here’s a guide to where orchestras in and around West Virginia are performing for the Independence Day weekend. All concerts are outdoors and free unless otherwise marked. 

July 1:
       Wheeling Symphony: Weir High School, Weirton
       Pittsburgh Symphony: Lincoln Park Performing Arts
              Center, Pittsburgh, PA(tickets $32-48)

July 2:
      Wheeling Symphony: Clarksburg City Park, Nutter Fort**      
       Maryland Symphony Orchestra: Antietam National
              Battlefield, Maryland **
       Pittsburgh Symphony: South Park, Pittsburgh, PA

July 3:
       West Virginia Symphony: Haddad Riverfront Park,
                Charleston**
       Wheeling Symphony: Canaan Valley State Park
       Pittsburgh Symphony: Hartwood Acres, Pittsburgh, PA       

July 4:
       Wheeling Symphony: Heritage Port Amphitheatre,
          Wheeling**
       Ohio Valley Symphony: Gallipolis City Park, Gallipolis, OH**

** fireworks!

Photo by Jon Sullivan via PD Photo.

I've just heard that the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is having a Paris Festival during its upcoming season (including a Parisian concert in Morgantown). Génial! Perhaps that's a good enough excuse to post some more musical vacation photos.

Our first concert in Paris was at Notre Dame Cathedral, where organist Jeremy Filsell played a recital of music by Vierne and Dupre on le grand orgue de Notre-Dame de Paris. Not a bad set of pipes there. (The concert was wonderful. The combination of the music, the instrument and the setting was overwhelming.)

Check out Notre Dame Cathedral's organ page -- they've done a bit better on the pictures there and have thrown in technical details and history.

I didn't take any pictures at the other cathedral concert we attended, but you can read about the beautiful Eglise-Saint-Eustache and see pictures here.

The concert featured Mozart's Requiem, along with his Symphony No. 26, organ improvisations, and a reading of one of Mozart's letters to his father made for a full musical evening. The Requiem (as advertised, with 300 singers and instrumentalists) sounded great, as did the organ. The symphony didn't fare as well with the church acoustics; other pieces resonated, while the symphony just seemed mushy.

Most of our concerts we found by checking out flyers and advertisements posted in the metro and on the streets. We found out about the Glenn Branca Ensemble's performance at the Villette Sonique Festival through one of these posters (also on that concert: the excellently entertaining band Half Japanese). Most of my pictures of Branca conducting his guitar ensemble came out fuzzy, but this one at least gives you a view of the musicians:

If ... when ... I go back, I'm sure there will be even more great music in store (perhaps some chamber music, a piano recital or two, an opera, and some more jazz...). There seemed to be so many concert options in Paris every day.

And here's a hopefully not too morbid transition -- In addition to all the live music, Paris also has its musical dead. Next time, I'll post pictures of some musical figures whose resting places we visited.

Related posts:

* City of Lights, City of Music: Part I, Signs

* City of Lights, City of Music: Part II, Museums

Thank you to Tom Moore for posting this intriguing classical music-local food connection on the Music Library Association mailing list.

Dr. Marguerite Bostonia recently traveled to Canterbury, England to present her paper “Bells and beyond: How tintinnabuli reflect meaning and iconic structures” about Arvo Pärt’s music at the Baltic Music and Musicologies Conference. She shares some of her impressions and pictures from the conference here. You can also listen to her discuss researching Arvo Pärt’s music in a recent interview for Classically Speaking. 

A full day of Arvo Pärt presentations was one of the three days at the Baltic Musics and Musicologies Conference held on May 26-28, in Canterbury, UK. Conference host was Canterbury Christ Church University, a growing institution that arose out of the post-war rebuilding of the severely-bombed city. To put our Arvo Pärt day into broader perspective, the Baltic Conference was also held in collaboration with the Sounds New Contemporary Music Festival, founded by Nicholas Cleobury in 1997. Another collaborator was the Institute of Music Research, parented by the University of London, founded in 2005.

Sounds New hosted a number of UK premiers of Pärt works, with most of the performances taking place in the nave or the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral. Some of the other Baltic composers receiving attention were Tormis, Ciurlionis, Senderovas, Baltic opera, Mägi, Roiha, and Tüur among many others.

The Arvo Pärt conference papers were mostly comprised of a group of scholars who have gathered at previous conferences in Boston and London. Here is a special picture from London, from September 2010, when I had a chance to discuss music with Arvo Pärt:

Arising out of these gatherings will be the publication of the Cambridge Companion to Arvo Pärt, due out later this year from Cambridge University Press. Most of us were present at Canterbury for this photo with the composer:

There was a lot of joking going on, despite Pärt’s serious look. My sister had an armful of cameras, clicking away for everyone to have their own. At one point, Arvo Pärt pretended to try to escape, and quipped, “We are NOT professional models!”

While Mr. Pärt had many dress rehearsal duties and events to attend for Sounds New, we were blessed with his presence at our morning conference sessions. It is daunting to present analysis and speculation about musical meaning with the composer in the room! He does speak English, but his gestures and body language are most expressive, as well as a piercing connection with eye contact. He left his seat and approached me after my presentation, grasped both my hands and said, “Thank you very much.” There was no time to chat or ask for specifics.

The title of my paper was “Bells and Beyond: How Tintinnabuli Reflects Meaning and Iconic Structures.” My ideas were based on visual and programmatic connections to his music which stem from strong, architectural structures. Without proselytizing, I also incorporated a number of Orthodox icons to illustrate what I found in the music, and to reflect his genuine religious beliefs. I have no idea what combination of ideas elicited his thanks. This will remain a mystery, but I like to think that a simple, visual inspiration is an optimum to not only understand his compositional approach, but to appreciate his music as a general listener.

Arvo Pärt himself is very reluctant to provide detailed explanations to the mystery of his compositional journeys, and his love of simplicity has been paramount in his music. He has always expressed great joy in the ways others connect to his music. In the documentary of his life, 24 Preludes to a Fugue, he illustrates his relationship as a composer to the performers: He holds up a coat, then drops it. His music is like a coat with no hanger; it cannot hang on its own. The musicians make it possible for the music to exist.

Being a free agent at the festival/conference, Mr. Pärt was seen at many of the dress rehearsals for the numerous performances. At our charming Bed & Breakfast, my sister and I exchanged stories over breakfast about our travels, and the young, Latvian jazz specialists at our house sat in on some of the orchestral rehearsals where Pärt did his usual pacing and watching from all around the performance venue.

It was also wonderful to hear about the depth of Baltic musics represented at the conference, including a new twist on the recent history of jazz from that region alone. Having a number of jazz practitioners in my theory class at WV Wesleyan, I was amazed to hear the same sort of banter, using the same lingo and jazz terms. Their love of jazz is as American as ours. I jokingly mentioned that the concept of the tritone substitution can be such a challenge for us classical musicians, and they just laughed and said, “Oh, that’s so easy!” Their English was excellent, and they explained, “It has to be,” since their own small countries are such a minority even in Europe. They were young, energetic, and impressive.

Mr. Pärt’s most public profiles were seen at the evening performances. His love of the Cello Octet Amsterdam (Cello8ctet Amsterdam) was seen in the Cathedral Crypt, where the lush sound and ethereal resonance of such an ensemble was heard at its best. Here we heard the England premiers of Pärt’s Da Pacem Domine, Missa Brevis, O-Antiphonen, and Summa. The Octet offers many original works by modern composers, and at the end of the concert, Mr. Pärt walked behind the semi-circle of players, kissing each one on the head in thanks.

The next night was the UK Premiere of Adam’s Lament, performed by the Choir of King’s College Cambridge and the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Cleobury in the nave. This evening’s performances were recorded for broadcast on “Hear and Now” by BBC Radio 3. Present were representatives of the Embassy of Estonia, as well as other Baltic representatives. Arvo Pärt has a manner of humility in the way he accepts applause and ovations extending over many minutes. He truly delights in the artistry of all the performers, and with the audience that forms connections to his music.

There were too many events to attend, such as poetry, Jazz Day, folk instrument days for accordion, kantele, recorders, and kokle. Interactive performances for young people, and dance were also scheduled. Films about the Baltic Way, such as The Singing Revolution were viewed. Few in the west are aware of the non-violent human chain and the strong singing traditions that empowered the Baltic nations to become free of Soviet domination beginning in 1989. Our new jazz friends told of how jazz musicians went underground during Soviet occupation, and that the old men kept it alive. They were also planning to travel again to the Jazz and National Identities Conference in Amsterdam, to be held in September.

Canterbury has a population of about 45,000 or less, so is comparable to my home town of Morgantown. However, the atmosphere is quite different. The entire rebuilding of the city after the Blitz was done and even redone to maintain the historical styles of the ancient metropolis that it has always been.

Academically, there are many institutions of learning: The King’s School, supposedly the oldest organized school in the western world, University of Kent, Canterbury College, Canterbury Christ Church University, and University College for the Creative Arts in Canterbury. There could be more. Rather than the dominance of one institution to which I am accustomed, there was a great deal of mutual collaboration during the week of the commercial and academic events of the Sounds New Festival.

In general, a multi-media approach to community culture, and an appreciation for the Humanities as a whole seem to permeate the European academic hierarchies. Historically, it was also extremely meaningful to visit Canterbury Cathedral, inside the medieval walled circle of the old city, and see the steps worn by pilgrims on their knees, and the place of Thomas Becket’s martyrdom.

On the Sounds New web page is a photo gallery of Arvo Pärt in the Cathedral rehearsals and performances. As the composer simply states: “Every minute, every second, I was happy...". Those of us who met with him again, and have the privilege of publishing our studies of his life’s work, would have to agree!



Related post: Researching Arvo Pärt

Recently, I’ve been hearing about a new theater production in Charleston – Saint Stephen’s Dream: A Space Opera. Space is pretty cool, and I do like opera, so I spent a little bit of time finding out more about this production.

Merriam-Webster kindly tells me that a space opera is “a futuristic melodramatic fantasy involving space travelers and extraterrestrial beings.” Wikipedia elaborates and makes a special note:

“The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap opera" (see below).”

Not anymore!

While Saint Stephen’s Dream is “a futuristic melodramatic fantasy involving space travelers,” it also involves music. It’s a folk/rock/experimental musical drama, with an intriguing interactive online aspect.  Creator Doug Imbrogno explains the whole thing in a brief interview:

For more info, visit the Saint Stephen’s Dream website, and check out the videos below. WestVirginiaVille.com presents four performances of Saint Stephen's Dream this weekend as part of FestivALL.

-

* Turns out that some people call operas about space science fiction operas. There aren’t many of them, but one very cool example was written by one of my favorite professors – Paradises Lost by Stephen Andrew Taylor. It's a setting of novella by Ursula K. Le Guin. I'm definitely planning to see if I can swing an interview with the composer. 

Rome is the setting.  An elderly bachelor, Don Pasquale, wants to marry in order to produce an heir.  If he is successful, his nephew Ernesto, who is infatuated with the young widow Norina, would be disinherited.  Humorous and amorous adventures ensue.

Conducted by James Levine, the comic opera (opera buffa) Don Pasquale will be the Metropolitan Opera encore performance in the Cinemark Theatre at the Huntington Mall this Wednesday at 6:30pm.  This performance was originally transmitted live on November 13, 2010.

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) composed this, his sixty-fourth opera, in about two weeks time in 1842 and it was premiered at Theatre Italian in Paris on January 3, 1843.  A singer himself, Donizetti knew how to bring out the beauty of the human voice.

For those who have never seen an opera, Don Pasquale would be a good start.  The plot is easy to follow, the circumstances are comic and the music is enjoyable.  The opera will be sung in Italian with English subtitles.  An added treat is that the singers are interviewed as they exit the stage during intermissions.

Larry Stickler
Professor of Music
Marshall University

The Metropolitan Opera encore series can been seen at the movies in Barboursville (Huntington Mall), Morgantown, and Bridgeport on Wednesdays throughout the summer. Find the full summer opera schedule here.

I've been home for over a week, and life is getting back to normal.

Most of the Parisian chocolates have disappeared, and all that remains of my adventures are memories and photos (and a fascination with things like French podcasts about Erik Satie festivals.)

As I look over the photos, I'm regretting not taking notes as to what some of these things were, especially these instruments from the Musée de la Musique at La Cité de la Musique.

Can anyone help -- is this terrifying cousin of the English horn perhaps a serpent?

I would pay good money to see those two instruments fight it out.

And who is this guy winking at us at the Louvre?

The violinist in the window in Matisse's painting seems to have a nice place to practice, at the Centre Pompidou.

Music in Paris was more than signs and museums! I also got to some great concerts. I have just a few pictures from the concerts, which I'll post soon.

-

Adventures in Good Country Music with Karl "Hoss" Cartwright

Written by Larry Groce
Karl “Hoss” Cartwright: John Kessler 

Piano and music arrangements: Eric Kitchen 

Vocals (Plastico Flamingo, et. al): Larry Groce 

Violin (Peggy Nini): Deni Bonet.

(c) Larry Groce and (p) West Virginia Public Radio 1987.

Special thanks to Andy Ridenour for sharing the cassette and to Paul Flaherty for digitizing it.

Previously on “Adventures in Good Country Music”

* Okie from Vienna

* They're Gonna Put Me in the Oratorio

* Bourbon and Water Music

* Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Valkyries
* The Round Mound of Profound Sound
* Waltzin’ Prison Blues
* Take this Jig and Shove It
* I’m so lonesome I could pleure

"What was your favorite thing about Paris?"

I've stumbled quite a few times when trying to answer this question over the week since I returned from my trip. I loved the food, museums, parks, buildings, history, cafes...but perhaps most of all, the music.

I found classical music everywhere in Paris -- concerts every day throughout the city, history and art in the museums, and even out in the streets. Here are some of the music-related pictures from my new favorite city.

Bernstein's sign could use some love! This place is right near the new home of La Cinemathèque Française.

Stravinsky has a nice little area near Centre Pompidou, home of IRCAM.

Famed impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes Sergei Diaghilev has a home at the Paris Opera's Palais Garnier (the fuzziness of the photo might relate to amount of stress caused by the three visits it took to get tickets! In the end, we did manage to find affordable tickets for Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker's beautiful ballet Rain, set to music by Steve Reich.)

That's enough daydreaming for today. I'll post some pictures from concerts and museums soon.

The Metropolitan Opera is bringing back a few favorite operas from previous seasons and showing them in movie theaters Wednesday evenings June 15 through July 27 this summer.

In West Virginia, you can catch these screenings at Huntington Mall (Barboursville), Bridgeport, and Morgantown.  

June 15: Madama Butterfly (Puccini)


June 22: Don Pasquale (Donizetti)

June 29: Simon Boccanegra (Verdi)

July 13: La Fille du Régiment [Daughter of the Regiment] (Donizetti)

July 20: Tosca (Puccini)

July 27: Don Carlo (Verdi)

Stay tuned to West Virginia Public Broadcasting's Facebook page for ticket giveaways! You can also read more about the operas on the Met's site: 2011 Summer HD Encores.

It’s a bit quiet between the end of the regular season and all the July 4^th concerts.

Let us know if something’s missing from the calendar.

June 5: Symphony Sunday (Charleston)

June 14: Tuesdays with Fran: Domenico Scarlatti (Carnegie Hall, Lewisburg)

June 15: Met Opera HD Summer Encores: Puccini’s Madama Butterfly

June 17: Caswell Sisters and Contrarians (FestivALL)

June 22: Met Opera HD Summer Encores: Donizetti’s Don Pasquale

June 29: Met Opera HD Summer Encores: Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra

Karl “Hoss” Cartwright’s madcap musical adventures continue in France, with music from the opera Orpheus in his Underwear and by beloved composer Hank Debussy (of Paris – both Texas and France).

Adventures in Good Country Music with Karl "Hoss" Cartwright

Written by Larry Groce
Karl “Hoss” Cartwright: John Kessler 

Piano and music arrangements: Eric Kitchen 
Vocals (Plastico Flamingo, et. al): Larry Groce 
Violin (Peggy Nini): Deni Bonet.

(c) Larry Groce and (p) West Virginia Public Radio 1987.

Special thanks to Andy Ridenour for sharing the cassette and to Paul Flaherty for digitizing it.

Previously on “Adventures in Good Country Music”

* Okie from Vienna

* They're Gonna Put Me in the Oratorio

* Bourbon and Water Music

* Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Valkyries
* The Round Mound of Profound Sound
* Waltzin’ Prison Blues

Dr. Marguerite Bostonia discovered Arvo Pärt’s music when she was preparing to do research for her doctorate at West Virginia University. She found one of his organ works on the shelf, and was intrigued by this composer whose music she knew nothing about. Through her research, she learned and heard quite a lot about Pärt and music.

She’s now written several papers about Pärt’s music, and she’s traveled to conferences to present them, including one where she met the composer.

Next week, she travels to Canterbury, England to present her paper “Bells and beyond: How tintinnabuli reflect meaning and iconic structures”at the Baltic Music and Musicologies Conference, at which Arvo Pärt will the guest composer in residence.

Dr. Bostonia and I spoke this week about her research and the appeal of Arvo Pärt’s music. You can hear our full conversation here:

When she returns, we hope to catch up and share some of her stories and pictures from the conference.

Previous Classically Speaking posts about Arvo Pärt:

 * Arvo Pärt Playlist (Happy 75!)

* Arvo Pärt Portrait: Angèle Dubeau interview

More about Dr. Marguerite Bostonia:

Marguerite Bostonia, D.M.A, has devoted a lifetime to church music as an organist, organ teacher, conductor, soloist, and accompanist. As a founding member of the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists, she has coordinated various introductory sessions to pipe organ in the community. One of these classes is “Pedals, Pipes, and Pizza” offered both privately and in the Community Arts Program, to help people of all ages learn about the “King of Instruments.”

She has also assisted in renovations of church pipe organs. Her experience with tower bell renovations was incorporated into her recent dissertation about the tintinnabuli style of contemporary composer Arvo Pärt. A native West Virginian, Marguerite received performance degrees in piano and organ from West Liberty State College and West Virginia University, and was the final candidate to receive a doctorate in organ under Dr. William Haller. As a member of Tre Claviers, Marguerite is part of a keyboard trio that has presented choral and solo programs in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan using organ, piano, and harpsichord. She currently is on the keyboard and theory faculty of West Virginia Wesleyan College where she also accompanies opera workshop.

This week, we have two more Adventures in Good Country Music with Karl “Hoss” Cartwright, who might bear a suspicious resemblance to a classical music radio host you may remember combined with the host of one of our favorite live performance radio shows.

Listen these episodes to hear some wrestling composers and Johnny Strauss's wild journey from saloons to salons.

-

Until next week -- so long, and y'all come back, ya hear?

Adventures in Good Country Music with Karl "Hoss" Cartwright
Written by Larry Groce
Karl “Hoss” Cartwright: John Kessler
Piano and music arrangements: Eric Kitchen
Vocals (Plastico Flamingo, et. al): Larry Groce
Violin (Peggy Nini): Deni Bonet.

(c) Larry Groce and (p) West Virginia Public Radio 1987.

Special thanks to Andy Ridenour for sharing the cassette and to Paul Flaherty for digitizing it.

Previously on “Adventures in Good Country Music”

* Okie from Vienna
* They're Gonna Put Me in the Oratorio
* Bourbon and Water Music
* Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Valkyeries

This Friday, the Wheeling Symphony’s final concert of the 2010-2011 season focuses on themes of life and death, in music by Richard Strauss (Four Last Songs), Jean Sibelius (The Swan of Tuonela), and Gustav Mahler (Symphony No. 1).It also wraps up a season that has focused on Gustav Mahler, marking the years of both his birth and death. 

Listen to Maestro Andre Raphel discuss the music and working with guest soloist Liane Coble for this concert:

The concert is this Friday, May 20, at the Capitol Theater in Wheeling. Find concert details on their site.

Look ahead to next season by listening to a preview of the Wheeling Symphony’s 2011-2012 season and checking out a list of the concerts.  

More about the painting above and the artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela.

-

Looking for more “Adventures in Good Country Music” with Karl "Hoss" Cartwright? Listen to the first two episodes here, and then check back next Friday!

Adventures in Good Country Music
with Karl "Hoss" Cartwright
Written by Larry Groce
Karl “Hoss” Cartwright: John Kessler
Piano and music arrangements: Eric Kitchen
Vocals (Plastico Flamingo, et. al): Larry Groce
Violin (Peggy Nini): Deni Bonet.

(c) Larry Groce and (p) West Virginia Public Radio 1987.

Special thanks to Andy Ridenour for sharing the cassette and to Paul Flaherty for digitizing it. 

No quarters or dimes needed; you can spin the historical hits for free on the recently launched National Jukebox.

Check out Enrico Caruso and Nellie Melba singing Puccini.

Here are some of the details about the Jukebox from the Library of Congress:

“The Library of Congress presents the National Jukebox, which makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. The Jukebox includes recordings from the extraordinary collections of the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation and other contributing libraries and archives. Recordings in the Jukebox were issued on record labels now owned by Sony Music Entertainment, which has granted the Library of Congress a gratis license to stream acoustical recordings.

At launch, the Jukebox includes more than 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925. Jukebox content will be increased regularly, with additional Victor recordings and acoustically recorded titles made by other Sony-owned U.S. labels, including Columbia, OKeh, and others.”

Want to know more about the upcoming opera? Browse the interactive version of the Victrola Book of the Opera.

You can explore by date with the Jukebox Day by Day, and see what was recorded on any given day of the year. Like this recording of aria from Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte that was recorded on today’s date in 1922.

You can also wander by genre. I found the Mountaineer’s Song (I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again) in Traditional/Country, and the Victor Concert Orchestra’s recording of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in Classical. I think I'll check out the "Whistling" section next.

It’s not really procrastination…it’s educational and historical and stuff ;)  Have fun!

This week's Mountain Stage show on the radio includes Ra Ra Riot (who you might remember as the fun pop band with a violinist and cellist that I featured on Classically Speaking a few months ago). Find their show on the radio, check out their set on NPR Music, and check out my interview with Ra Ra Riot violinist Rebecca Zeller here on the Classically Speaking blog.  (Susan Werner is also on that show, and she has some classical connections of her own.)

 Then next week on the radio, you can hear Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, and Zakir Hussain's performance on Mountain Stage from March. You can hear more of this great trio in the Performance Today archives, a recording from when they joined Fred Child on stage for a live interview and performance in Miami, Florida. You can also see them play a couple tunes over at NPR's Tiny Desk.

(Thanks to Chris for the tip on the Performance Today Facebook page about the Meyer/Fleck/Hussain performance from the PT archives!)

In the spirit of P.D.Q. Bach, Victor Borge, and Anna Russell, Mountain Stage used to include a feature called “Adventures in Good Country Music.” It’s a very funny spoof on the beloved classical music radio program “Adventures in Good Music” with Karl Haas. Only in this case, the host is Karl “Hoss” Cartwright and the featured composers include George Frederic Jones and Wolfgang Amadeus Haggard.

Here are two episodes to enjoy – be sure to come back for more Adventures in Good Country Music next Friday!

-

Adventures in Good Country Music
with Karl "Hoss" Cartwright
Written by Larry Groce
Karl “Hoss” Cartwright: John Kessler
Piano and music arrangements: Eric Kitchen
Vocals (Plastico Flamingo, et. al): Larry Groce
Violin (Peggy Nini): Deni Bonet.

(c) Larry Groce and (p) West Virginia Public Radio 1987.

Special thanks to Andy Ridenour for sharing the cassette and to Paul Flaherty for digitizing it. 

I'm fighting the rainy day blues and blahs with an album of American music for clarinet and piano by Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu.

Check out samples and more information on Harmonia Mundi's site or Amazon. It's especially hard to stay sad with John Novacek's rag music playing.

The clarinet and piano "Four Rags for Two Jons" that are on the album aren't on YouTube, so here's Novacek playing another of his pieces.

p.s. and May the 4th be with you!

May has arrived with flowers (and still some of those spring showers), and a few concerts. Even as campuses are getting quieter as the semester ends and summer pops aren't yet in swing, there are still some good things to check out. Let me know if I'm missing anything!

May 1: Charleston Civic Chorus

May 1: Janis-Rozena Peri (WVU Community Music Faculty Recital) (interview)

May 1: WV Wesleyan College Concert Chorale

May 1: Alderson-Broaddus Brass in the Grass

May 1: Glenville State College Honor Band

May 2: WV State University Choir

May 3: Fairmont State University Collegiate Singers and Community Chorus - Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonnelle

May 3: WV State University Wind Ensemble

May 3: Charleston Civic Chorus (Oak Hill)

May 3: Glenville State College Jazz Band

May 4: Fairmont State University Percussion Ensemble

May 4: Shepherd University Preparatory Ensembles Concert

May 5: Fairmont State University Chamber Music Recital

May 5: WV State University Jazz Ensemble

May 6-7: From Broadway to Broadstreet - WV Symphony with Ryan Hardiman and Randall-Reid Smith

May 7: Shepherd University Preparatory Division Recital

May 9: West Virginia Wesleyan College Concert Chorale (Laurel, MD)

May 10: Tuesday with Fran: Fran Belin, piano; Leah Trent, recorder

May 10: Fairmont State University Wind Ensemble

May 11: Met Opera HD Encore: Strauss’s Capriccio (various locations)

May 14: Met Opera Live in HD: Wagner’s Die Walküre (various locations)

May 14: OPUS Chorale Spring Concert (Charleston)

May 15: Kanawha Organ Works Anniversary Recital

May 15: WV Youth Symphony Spring Concert

May 17: Wheeling Symphony String Quintet (7pm, Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wheeling)

May 18: Met Opera HD Encore: Verdi’s Il Trovatore (various locations)

May 20: Wheeling Symphony with Lianne Coble, soprano

May 21: WV Symphony Chorus (Charleston)

May 21: WV Symphony Idol Auditions

May 22: WV Symphony Chorus (Huntington)

May 28: Buckhannon Choral Society (WV Wesleyan College)

May 29: Montclaire String Quartet “Spring Idyll”

Something missing? Let me know.

On her recital this Sunday in Morgantown, soprano Janis-Rozena Peri will sing songs from different places and times in three different languages. Despite their differences, these songs some common ideas. We spoke earlier this week about the songs, the themes they share, and her approach to music and semi-retirement:

Listen to our conversation and check out her recital program here:

The Community Music Program of the College of Creative Arts

presents

Janis-Rozena Peri, soprano

Catherine Crotty, piano

Sunday, May 1, 5:30 p.m.

Music for a while.

All ye songsters                                                    Purcell

Music for a while     

Love can make you crazy .                                                          

Das verlassene Mägdelein                                 Hugo Wolf

Das verlassene Mägdelein                                 Robert Schumann

Spleen                                                        Claude Debussy                       

Losing my Mind                                                Sondheim                                                                                 

War: what is it good for?  Absolutely Nothing!!                        

C                                                                      Poulenc

Au pays ou se fait la guerre                               Deparc

Noel des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison           Debussy

INTERMISSION

 The Teacher-Student Connection: Arnold taught Alban who taught Kurt who taught etc.

Erhebung                                                   Arnold Schoenberg

Sommertage                                                      Alban Berg

Die Nachtigall                                                   Alban Berg

Surabaya Johnny                                               Kurt Weill

The great divide: body and spirit, with the river in between.

A Negro speaks of Rivers                                  Margaret Bonds

City Called Heaven                                           arr Hall Johnson

Ride on King Jesus                                            arr Hall Johnson

Will you be watching the wedding?

As if it's not wild enough that I'm heading to Moundsville for the next two days, I've promised a friend to stay up tonight (tomorrow morning?) and watch the royal wedding in our cabin.*  I hadn't quite been getting into the spirit of it all, but I'm now glad to know that there will be some good British music to enjoy along with all the pomp and circumstance.

No Pachelbel, Mendelssohn, or Wagner for these kids!

"Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton are pleased to announce the music for their Wedding Service. The music has a largely British theme. The Couple have put considerable thought into selecting the music, and their choices blend traditional music with some newly commissioned pieces."

Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Delius, Walton, Finzi, Maxwell Davies, Parry, Rutter... Check out the full list of wedding music selections here. Thanks to my colleague Beth Vorhees for sharing the link!

* As much as I like The Night of the Hunter, we will not be staying in the prison. I'm not as brave as some of my colleagues.

You probably don't need any more things clanging around your head on a Monday, but I can't get over all the versions of the Anvil Chorus from Verdi's opera Il Trovatore [The Troubador] that are out there. Here are a few to enjoy.

As presented by Buster Bunny and Plucky Duck...

Perhaps you're more of a traditionalist?

Or like your opera to swing?

Or just looking for some catharsis...

The anvils will be there this weekend at the Metropolitan Opera (on the radio and at the movies...)

If you want to check out the full opera, anvils and all, you can hear it on West Virginia Public Radio or find it at some movie theaters this Saturday at 1pm and Wednesday May 18^th at 6:30pm.

What is the nature of opera? What is most important – the words, the music or the theatrical production? These are the questions being mulled over as we go to a chateau near Paris in the 1920’s.

It is the birthday of the widowed Countess Madeleine. The composer Flamand and the poet Olivier are rivals for the affection of the Countess. Whom will she choose – the composer (music) or the poet (words)?

This is the premise of the opera Capriccio by the German composer Richard Strauss (1864-1949). The libretto (script) was written by Richard Strauss and Clemens Krauss. The opera had its premier at the State Opera in Munich on October 28, 1942.

Capriccio will be broadcast live in high definition from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City to movie theaters around the world this Saturday, April 23, 2011. Local opera lovers may watch the live transmission of the opera at 1pm this Saturday in the Cinemark Theaters at the Huntington Mall or in Ashland

(Editor's note:  or at the Great Escape Theaters in Nitro or Hollywood Theaters Stadium in Morgantown and several other theaters in bordering states).

Famed soprano Renee Fleming will sing the role of Countess Madeleine and Andrew Davis will  conduct the orchestra. The expected running time of the opera broadcast is 2 hours and 45 minutes. Capriccio will be sung in German with English subtitles.

If you miss the broadcast on April 23, there will be an encore showing on Wednesday, May 11 at 6:30pm. (note: Encores will be shown in Barboursville, Ashland, and Bridgeport.)

The next live transmission from the Metropolitan Opera will be Il Trovatore by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi on Saturday, April 30 at 1 pm.


Larry Stickler
Professor of Music
Marshall University


Related links:

* Preview video selections from Strauss's Capriccio
* Metropolitan Opera Live in HD
* Listen to West Virginia Public Radio to hear the opera on the radio this Saturday at 1pm.
* Follow West Virginia Public Broadcasting on Facebook. We give away a few pairs of tickets there the week before each of the opera screenings.

Over the weekend, my friend Kathy was talking about composer Eric Whitacre. Her daughter had just played some of his music in the All-County Band, and she’s now interested in his Virtual Choir. 

This morning, I started to write her a note with some of my favorite Whitacre links, and I’ve decided to just post it here and send her this link instead. And if you have more suggestions, add them in the comments:)

First, the virtual choir – read about it here. You can also follow the choir on Twitter. Check out their performances of his pieces "Lux Aurumque" and "Sleep":

-

Totally cool and inspiring. But my favorite version of  “Sleep” doesn’t involve any voices – it’s a mallet ensemble arrangement, performed by the TorQ Percussion Quartet (thanks to percussionist Andrew Flanagan, who is studying at WVU, for sharing this with me).

My two go-to Whitacre albums are Eric Whitacre: The Complete A Capella works 1991-2001 / Brigham Young University Singers, Ronald Staheli, cond. (alas, out of print) and Eric Whitacre Choral Music / Elora Festival Singers, Noel Edison, cond.

You can hear Whitacre speaking about his music with Raymond Bisha in this podcast from Naxos about the Elora Festival Singers recording.

On the sillier side, my friend Robert from music school recently shared a few Whitacre-themed webcomics (isn’t the Internet wonderful some days?)

* Behind the Scenes of the Virtual Choir

* Eric Whitacre Whitafacts

* Pros and Cons of being Eric Whitacre

* A Timeline of Eric Whitacre’s Haircuts

Finally, I'm singing Whitacre's music for the first time. The Charleston Civic Chorus is singing “Water Night” this spring (our concert is May 1st!). It’s challenging to blend all the different parts, but the poetry (by Octavio Paz) and music are so lovely:

How about you? Anything you think I should be adding to my list of Whitacre links?

Mm, coffee is especially good in my public radio mug with the Writer's Almanac playing...

The first day of each month means a new West Virginia Classical Calendar, which could be special enough, but this month always brings a bit more fun at its start, including a new Beethoven discovery featured on Performance Today.

Here's the calendar; let me know if we're missing anything!

April 1: Around the World…in About an Hour -- WV Youth Symphony, River City Youth Ballet, Appalachian Children’s Chorus (Clay Center, Charleston)

April 2: Shenandoah Conservatory Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Joseph Schwantner, guest composer)

April 3: Wesleyan Singers and Concentus Vocum

April 3: WVU Low Brass Concert

April 3: Scarborough Trio (Fairmont Chamber Music Society)

April 3: Marshall University Chamber Choir

April 4-7: Wheeling Symphony Young People’s Concert Tour

April 6: Colleen Tan, violin; Vicki Cavendish, piano (Kanawha Forum)

April 6: Shenandoah Chamber Choir

April 7: Marguerite Bostonia, organ (West Virginia Wesleyan College)

April 7: WVU Faculty Piano Quintet

April 7: Marshall University Percussion Ensemble

April 7: Sigma Alpha Iota Composer’s Showcase (Fairmont State University)

April 7: Alderson-Broaddus Chamber Music

April 8: Wheeling Symphony Pops “The Music of Led Zeppelin”

April 8: WVU New Music Concert

April 8: Robert Henry, piano (Clarksburg)

April 8: Shenandoah Brass Ensemble

 April 9: Robert Henry, piano masterclass

April 9: Trio Con Brio Copenhagen (Charleston Chamber Music Society)

April 9: Metropolitan Opera Live in HD: Rossini's Comte d'Ory (various locations)

April 9: Marshall University Choir Invitational

April 9: Dallas Brass "An American Musical Journey" (West Virginia University at Parkersburg)

April 9: Clipper Erikson, piano (Randolph County Community Arts Center, Elkins)

April 10: WVU Choir

April 10: Fairmont State University Community Orchestra; Robert Henry, piano; Kim Henry, horn

April 10: Faith Esham, soprano (West Liberty University Concert Artist Series)

April 10: Nexus (Shenandoah Conservatory)

April 11: WVU Graduate Wind Quintet

April 12: Lynn Hileman, bassoon (WVU Faculty Recital)

April 12: Tuesdays with Fran: J.S. Bach Sampler (Carnegie Hall Lewisburg)

April 12: WVU Percussion Concert

April 12: West Virginia Wesleyan Wind Ensemble

April 12: Shenandoah Concert Band

April 13: The Kanawha United Presbyterian Church Choral Scholars (Kanawha Forum)

April 15: MUsic Alive: Baroque to Bernstein (First Presbyterian Church, Huntington)

April 15: Looking Glass (Marshall University)

April 15: Alderson-Broaddus Concert Choir

April 15: WVU World Music Concert

April 15: West Virginia Wesleyan Percussion Ensemble

April 15-16: WV Symphony Orchestra, “Das Lied von der Erde”

April 15-17: Opera Up Close (Shenandoah Conservatory Performances)

April 16: Shenandoah Chamber Chorus

April 16: Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra; Michael Forest, tenor "Das Lied von der Erde"

April 17: Elaine Ross, pianist/composer; Gayla Blaisdell, soprano; John Neurohr, trombone (WVU Guest Artist Recital)

April 17: Alderson-Broaddus Orchestra, Concerto Concert

April 17: Shenandoah Percussion Ensemble

April 18: WVU Chamber Winds

April 18: Anita White, piano (Glenville State College)

April 19: West Virginia Wesleyan Concert Band

April 19: WVU Symphonic Band and Concert Band

April 19: Shenandoah Guitar Ensemble

April 20: Marshall University Woodwind Ensemble

April 20: Sonos (West Virginia Wesleyan)

April 21: Alderson-Broaddus Concert Band

April 21: WVU Symphony Orchestra

April 21: Marshall University Wind Symphony

April 23: Metropolitan Opera Live in HD: Strauss's Capriccio (various locations)

April 25: Phi Mu Alpha American Composers Recital (Marshall University)

April 25: WVU Electronic Music

April 26: Marshall University Orchestra

April 26: WVU Wind Symphony

April 27: Metropolitan Opera HD Encore: Rossini's Le Comte d'Ory (various locations)

April 27: River Cities Symphony Young People and Young at Heart Concert

April 28: WVU Graduate String Quartet

April 28: Marshall University Symphonic Band

April 29: Glenville State Concert Band

April 29: Marshall University Choral Collage

April 29: WV Department of Education Arts Alive! Showcase (Clay Center, Charleston)

April 30: Ohio Valley Symphony; Ilya Kaler, violin

April 30: WomanSong Spring Concert (Charleston)

April 30: Metropolitan Opera Live in HD: Verdi's Il Trovatore (various locations)

The Metropolitan Opera movie theater broadcasts can now be seen in a couple more West Virginia locations – live broadcasts in Nitro and encores in Bridgeport.

 I’m not sure when these new locations were added, but I’m glad to discover more opera options around the state. Here are all the nearby theaters that I've found; let me know if you find others!

* Live in HD (the original Saturday afternoon broadcasts):

   - Barboursville (Huntington Mall)
    - Morgantown
    - Nitro
    - Borderland locations: Ashland, KY; Germantown, MD;
       Pittsburgh, PA; Charlottesville, Roanoke, and Staunton, VA

* “Encore” Presentations (Wednesday evening rebroadcasts)
   
    - Barboursville (Huntington Mall)
    - Bridgeport
    - Borderland locations: Ashland, KY; Germantown, MD;
       Pittsburgh, PA; Lynchburg, VA

At these theaters, you can see the rest of this season, including Rossini’s Le Comte d’Ory (which looks to wonderfully fun), Strauss’s Capriccio, Verdi’s Il Trovatore (anvils! And Dmitri!), and Wagner’s Die Walküre.

The Met has also recently announced the next season of operas at the movies. Check out the 2011-2012 season on their site.

As always, lots of potential goodness – I’m most looking forward to Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Glass’s Satyagraha, and Willy Decker’s stylish production of La Traviata (starring Natalie Dessay). And while I have yet to warm up to French opera, Yannick Nézet-Séguin is conducting Faust, and I’ll check it out, since his super-lively Carmen caught my attention.

Recently, we received a recording of choral music by Canadian composers performed by the ensemble musica intima. The album is called "Into Light," and it is beautiful throughout.

You can listen to musica intima sing Imant Raminsh’s Ave verum corpus in this video:

musica intima has traveled from its home base of Vancouver to Toronto this weekend, because this album has been nominated for two Juno Awards, including best classical album of the year (choral or vocal performance).

Yesterday, I had the chance to speak with baritone Peter Alexander, who has been part of the twelve-member vocal ensemble since 2006. During our conversation, it was clear how much he and the rest of the group love and respect the music that they sing, and especially how important this album is to them.

Along the way, we also talked about how the ensemble works – the singers manage the group as well as singing in it – their rehearsal and coaching process, and the music on this album, as well about Alexander's musical background and how he balances the different requirements of singing opera and choral music. Check it out:

Pardon some of the extra noise – when I spoke to Peter he was at the airport. He managed to find a corner that mostly quiet, until a bunch of service vehicles showed up!

Composer and pianist Evan Mack has lived in Lewisburg and Charleston. Now he lives in upstate New York, but he’s maintained his ties to West Virginia. His in-laws live here, and he’s part of musical collaborations in the state.

This weekend, the Charleston Ballet will perform a world premiere of the ballet Pinocchio, with music by Evan Mack and choreographed by Kim Pauley. 

In an interview, Mack spoke about how his perspective on the Pinocchio story has changed after becoming a father, the challenges and rewards of writing music for a new ballet, and the idea of creating a “springtime Nutcracker” to engage young dancers the other half of the year.

You can hear a feature on the ballet, including some of the music, Friday morning on West Virginia Public Radio's West Virginia Morning. 

Evan Mack is also the composer of the opera Angel of the Amazon, which will be performed in New York this May; he has chronicled some of the opera producing experience in a series of guest blog posts here last year titled “From Idea to Opera.” 

Related Links:

* The Charleston Ballet
* Evan Mack
* Evan Mack: Pianist and Composer (May 2009 interview)

* From Idea to Opera, on Classically Speaking:
  - Part One, From Idea to Opera
  - Part Two, Building the Story
  - Part Three, Character Studies
  - Part Four, Off the Page, Onto the Stage
  - Part Five, New York Recital
  - Part Six, “Angel” in California

Regarding opportunity, a friend of mine once told me, “If a door doesn’t open, then keep pounding.” Pianist Simone Dinnerstein might just agree with that.

Dinnerstein herself raised the money (“borrowing from family and friends”) to record Bach’s Goldberg Variations which was subsequently released in 2007 on Telarc. The record skyrocketed to No. 1 on the US Billboard Classical Chart in its first week of sales and was named to many "Best of 2007" lists including those of The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker.

Her follow-up album, The Berlin Concert, also gained the No. 1 spot on the Chart.  

Bach: A Strange Beauty, is her latest release.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Dinnerstein in January of this year.  

Dinnerstein will perform as part of Shenandoah Conservatory Performances on Sunday, March 27.

Details at http://www.conservatoryperforms.org/

Purchase her new CD at Amazon. 

Do you know about the connection between Laurie Anderson and Jules Massenet?  This pair of pieces keeps coming up in conversation recently; I think it started with my friend Anne, who is teaching students at WV State University about postmodernism this semester.

First, listen to this:

 “Ô Souverain, ô juge, ô père" from the opera Le Cid (1885), by Jules Massenet (sung by Placido Domingo)

Then listen for echoes of the aria in this song:

O Superman (1981), by Laurie Anderson.

Bonus tracks:
* Some of my other favorite Laurie Anderson tracks: From the Air and Language is a Virus.

* Actually, you might need to just get the Big Science album.

* Clarification of my bad joke in the post title.

Contralto Anna Larsson will be singing music by Gustav Mahler with the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra this Friday. Earlier this week, she and I spoke over the phone about Mahler’s music and her approach to singing it, with a little digression on vocal range and personality. 

I loved hearing her insights into the music, so I hope you enjoy listening to the interview, which is about 15 minutes long:

Can you hear the students practicing in the background? Perhaps that’s a clarinetist somewhere nearby running through scales? I hope it’s not too distracting; I think it’s an exciting reminder of all the energy that goes into bringing together a musical performance. It also makes me think of Performance Today’s new series about the art of practicing, which you can check out on their website.

Related links:

* Anna Larsson
* Shenandoah Conservatory Performances
* International Gustav Mahler Society

The band Ra Ra Riot is performing on Mountain Stage this weekend, and they have not one, but two string players (ok, guitars are string instruments too, but I mean the kind you’d normally find in an orchestra, bowed strings). Violinist Rebecca Zeller and cellist Alexandra Long are both members of the band.

I’d read that they were “classically trained,” but that phrase is pretty vague and overused, so I was happy to get a chance to speak with violinist Rebecca Zeller.

We talked about the transition from classical violin studies to being in a band. Zeller discusses the things that she had to learn and unlearn, and how she and Long come up with their parts and fit their instruments into the guitar-dominated world of pop-rock music. 

You can also hear a profile of Zeller on West Virginia Morning later this week (I'll post it here once it's online!). Ra Ra Riot will be performing Sunday at the Culture Center in Charleston on Mountain Stage; the show will be on the radio in May.

You can also see her rocking out on the violin in some of the band’s videos:

This one features a confusing amount of cats in addition to the band:

_

"Corrette was a prolific composer, but his work died
before he did." -Boisgelou

While statues may not be put up in honor of critics, a recent artwork was inspired by criticism of an eighteenth-century composer. Artist PJ Zimmerlink heard a story on the radio about a composer of whom it was said "his music died before he did."  He wrote down the phrase, and then later painted a landscape that incorporated the words.

The work was then displayed at the Greensburg Art Club, where it was a very popular part of his exhibit, with many people asking the source of the quotation. Some suggested that it was a description of Kurt Cobain. Zimmerlink knew it wasn't Cobain, but couldn't remember who it was, so he called West Virginia Public Radio to ask: who was that composer that you played a year and a half ago who they say his music died before he did?

We were able to solve the mystery! The composer was Michel Corrette (1707-1795). Tastes changed over the course of the 18th century, but Corrette did not change with the times, prompting this striking turn of phrase in a critique of his work. The story is found in the liner notes of my of my favorite Christmas-albums-that-aren't-too-aggressively-Christmasy: Corette: Symphonies de Noels, Concertos Comiques, performed by Arion.

Thank you very much to PJ Zimmerlink for sharing these photos of his work and his comments below.

"It is to be viewed with the text upside down. This piece is about the way I sometimes feel as a object maker, like a dinosaur or just passé. I don't typically make installations or do videos or any of the more avant-garde ways of making art. So perhaps you can see why the quote struck me so. I think most artist worry about this same feeling.

I wrote the text on the paper several weeks before painting the partial landscape. I wasn't immediately sure what if any thing should accompany the text. When I decided upon the landscape it made perfect sense to me because it is a very traditional thing to paint and also I could manipulate it to give a sense of mood.

I think the shape gives the piece a sense of being a relic as well a a certain ephemeral quality. I feel by showing the text inverted you can have your mind focus on the landscape more independently than if the text was right side up. by doing so the mood of the landscape and shape of the piece can strike you more easily than if your gaze was fixed on the quotation. which I believe would be hard to escape since it is such a strong narrative." - PJ Zimmerlink

Pi Pie picture by Paul Smith. Some rights reserved.

Happy Pi Day (3.14)!

I've just heard some fun music for the holiday; check out this story for Morning Edition: “How to Transform the Number Pi into a Song”

It now joins the poem “Poe, E. Near a Raven” by Mike Keith on my (short) list of favorite pi-inspired works.

The cheery little piece in the NPR story is by Michael John Blake. Since I first heard it this morning, his YouTube video "What Pi Sounds Like" has been taken down due to a copyright claim by composer Lars Erikson, who previously had written a Pi Symphony:

Even though they use the same idea of using the digits of Pi to notes in a chromatic major scale, it seems that the results are different enough to legally co-exist. I am not a lawyer, and I suppose a melody is a melody, whether it's based on the digits of a mathematical constant or stumbled upon through random inspiration or other processes, but I really like Blake's piece.

What do you think of the copyright issue? Do you know any other neat artistic interpretations of Pi, in classical music, or elsewhere?  

It seems that musicians have tended more towards Phi, the number at the heart of the golden ratio. Which is cool, and seems to involve fewer copyright issues, but it doesn’t sound as tasty…unless we’re talking about phi-lo (phyllo? I'm not even sure if it's pronounced the same way, and if I have to explain the pun, it’s probably not a very good one). 

Maybe I’ll just stick with pie for food and Phi for music.

Related links: 

* Pi Day
* “How to Transform the Number Pi into a Song” [NPR]
* Celebrating the Pies of March [NPR]
* Pi Symphony
* “Poe, E. Near a Raven” by Mike Keith
* Pi Approximation Day [Dinosaur Comics]

Did you get to the WV Symphony this past weekend? What did you think?

I'd spent all week before the concert giddy for The Carnival of the Animals, and it was wonderful to see it performed on Friday. The musicians, especially pianists Deborah Gross and Vicki Berneking-Cavendish, made light work all those dangerously difficult parts that go into making these light-hearted vignettes work, so the music just sparkled. The Swan was the only movement that didn't really fit with the fuller orchestra used for this performance; it makes more sense as a cello solo. I missed the Ogden Nash poems; it's too bad that the performance rights are too expensive.

Stravinsky's Petrushka was great.  I lost track during the music of where we were in the plot of the ballet, but it didn't matter. I'll just agree with a friend's assessment of: "Holy whoopin' ass orchestration."

And every time I start describing the Debussy Première Rhapsodie for clarinet, I just end up daydreaming, lost in the memory of the sounds of the clarinet and the orchestra, so let's just call that a success. Bravo to clarinetist Bob Turizziani.

I made it just in time for the music, so I missed the pre-concert talk. My friend Steve Allen Adams was there, and he recorded the talk and shared it on the website Kanawha Valley Live. Here's their post (West Virginia Symphony Orchestra Takes You Behind the Music), and you can check out the video below. 

You can also read David Williams's review of the concert in the Charleston Gazette: "W. Va. Symphony Shines in Stravinsky."

If you were there too, you can share your post-concert thoughts by joining the conversation in the comments.

I'll be gone in NYC for a week to learn more about radio and visit my family, but I'll hopefully be able to check back in here from the road. Have fun!

This is incredible. Enjoy.

The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra just announced their 2011-2012 concert season. The season features some great big orchestral works (Tchaikovsky Symphony 4, Mahler Symphony No. 1, Dvorak's New World, Beethoven Symphony 5, Strauss's Ein Heldenleben, Respighi's Roman Festivals).

The coolest, most unexpected thing: a percussion concerto! Percussionist Lisa Pegher will be playing Joseph Schwantner's Concerto for Percussion. There are three piano concertos (Gershwin Concerto in F with Katie Mahan, Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 3 with Jon Kimura Parker, and a Mozart concerto with Domenico Codispoti). Cellist Julie Albers will be playing concertos by Schumann and Shostakovich. All sorts of good stuff.

We'll have a story on the radio Friday morning, which will have more details and in a much organized fashion! Until I get that together, since I recorded the season announcement event this afternoon, you can listen to the whole thing (about 17 minutes) right here: 

Related links:

* Carnival!
* West Virginia Symphony Orchestra

In films both tragic and comic, Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto seems to be the music of choice for cheating hearts.

Brief Encounter (1945)

This weekend, the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra is playing one of my favorite pieces: The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.

Cellists (and people looking for pretty wedding music) love it because of “The Swan”:

But my favorite movement currently is “Aquarium.”

I was listening to “Aquarium” recently when brainstorming fishy music in the wake of the Bruckner/Arby’s nonsense, and I discovered that it did inspire a film scoring moment – in Disney’s Beauty in the Beast. Listen (and compare the two):

(What's your favorite part of this musical menagerie?)

Saint-Saëns wrote The Carnival of the Animals in 1886. The previous year he’d composed a little confection called “The Wedding-Cake.” Afraid of being labeled a composer of light music, he suppressed Carnival of the Animals, and it wasn’t published until after he died. Poor sad, stuffy Saint-Saëns! He wrote plenty of other serious stuff, and what’s so bad about light music, anyway?

If you want to really embrace all that is light and silly, check out the poems that Ogden Nash wrote in 1949 to go with the music. I may not agree with Nash’s thoughts on women’s fashion, but his poems are so much fun.

Camille Saint-Saëns
Was wracked with pains,
When people addressed him,
As Saint-Saens.
He held the human race to blame,
Because it could not pronounce his name,
So, he turned with metronome and fife,
To glorify other kinds of life,
Be quiet please - for here begins
His salute to feathers, fur and fins.

Read the rest of Ogden Nash's The Carnival of the Animals here.

My favorite recording has Leonard Bernstein conducting and narrating. I’ve also recently been enjoying these videos with Sir Roger Moore reading Nash’s poems before each movement.

Whoosh! The lion has roared, and March is here with a lot of really nice concerts throughout the state (and some nearby neighbors, including Shenandoah, Virginia). Hope favorable winds blow some great music your way (or you to the music, either way). Let me know if I'm missing anything from the calendar. You can also leave a comment or send an email if you want to share your thoughts after attending any of these shows. Enjoy!

March 1: Marshall University Young People’s Concert

March 1: Laureate Wind Quintet (WVU)

March 2: Emil Yap Chua, piano (WVU Guest Artist Recital)

March 2: Met Opera HD Encore: Adams’s Nixon in China (Barboursville; Germantown, MD; Pittsburgh, PA; and others)

March 2: Shenandoah Conservatory Choir

March 3: Marshall University New Music Festival Concert

March 3: WV Symphony Orchestra “Classic Expressions” (Fairmont State University)

March 4: WV Symphony Orchestra “Classic Expressions”

March 4: Marshall University New Music Festival Concerts

March 5: WV Symphony Orchestra “Classic Expressions”

March 5: Marshall University Festival of Trumpets

March 6: Marshall University Opera Workshop

March 6: WVU Flute Choir

March 7: US Fleet Forces Band (WVU)

March 8: Tuesdays with Fran, Baroque Favorites, with Leah Trent, harp (Carnegie Hall, Lewisburg)

March 9: James Flowers, saxophone (WVU Guest Artist Recital)

March 9: Fairmont State University Wind Ensemble

March 10: WVU Opera Scenes

March 11: Wheeling Symphony Orchestra Pops “Music of the Beatles” with Classical Mystery Tour

March 11: Chris Chreviston, saxophone (WVU Guest Artist Recital)

March 11: WVU African Music Ensemble

March 11: Fairmont State University Collegiate Singers Chamber Choir

March 11: WVU Opera Scenes

March 11: Vienna Boys Choir (Carnegie Hall Lewisburg)

March 12: Huntington Symphony and Marshall University Choruses “Carmina Burana”

March 12: Ohio Valley Symphony with Margaret Carlson “Broadway!”

March 12: Marshall University Sonatina Festival

March 12: WVU Opera Scenes

March 12: Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra (Shepherd University Friends of Music)

March 12: Shepherd University Trombone Day

March 13: Jack Gibbons plays Gershwin (WVU Steinway Fundraiser Event) (interview)

March 13, 3pm: WV Youth Symphony Chamber Ensembles (Charleston)

March 15: WVU Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band Concert

March 16: Erich Thomas, baritone; Robert Thieme, piano (WVU Guest/Faculty Artist Recital)

March 16: Sarasvati Trio (Kanawha Forum)

March 16: Met Opera HD Encore: Gluck’s Iphéghenie en Tauride (Barboursville; Germantown, MD; Pittsburgh, PA; and others)

March 17: WVU Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Concert

March 18: WV Symphony Pops “The Music of Abba” with Arrival

March 18: WVU New Music Concert

March 18: Anna Larsson, contralto, with the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra

March 19: WV Symphony Family Concert “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”

March 19: Marshall University Day of Percussion

March 19: Met Opera Live in HD: Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (Barboursville; Morgantown; Germantown, MD; Pittsburgh, PA; Charlottesville, VA; and others)

March 19: WV Symphony Pops “The Music of Abba” with Arrival

March 19: Shenandoah Singers

March 20: Jack Gibbons Plays Chopin (Davis & Elkins)

March 20: Eddie Daniels, clarinet (Shenandoah Conservatory)

March 23: Lindsey Goodman, flute; Rob Frankenberry, piano (Kanawha Forum)

March 24: WV Symphony Orchestra Tour (Huntington)

March 25: WV Symphony Orchestra Tour (Morgantown)

March 26: WV Symphony Orchestra Tour (Flatwoods)

March 27: Shepherd University Faculty Brass

March 27: Simone Dinnerstein, piano (Shenandoah Conservatory)

March 29-30: WV Symphony Young People’s Concerts “Peter and the Wolf”

March 29-30: Glenville State College Percussion Ensemble School Shows

March 30: Marshall University Guitar Ensemble

March 30: Christian Smith, piano (Kanawha Forum)

March 31: Glenville State College Percussion Ensemble

March 31: Shenandoah Conservatory Student Composers

Something missing? Let me know!

I attended this Live in HD Met performance Saturday with friends and was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t know this opera composed by Gluck in the 1700s, but found much to recommend it.

To begin with, the small cast was led by mezzo Susan Graham, Plácido Domingo in a baritone role and tenor Paul Groves, who came up through the ranks at the Met. After studying at Juilliard, he ‘graduated’ to the Met’s Young Artists Development Program.

We were momentarily anxious when a gentleman came out to do a curtain speech. That generally means someone isn’t singing that performance. However, he only said that both Susan and Plácido were suffering from colds but were singing through them. Whew!

There were no on-stage coughs, only beautiful melodic lines.

The sets were sparse but effective. Lighting effects were really well done. There were few minor roles. Male, female and mixed choruses were employed and there was a dancing chorus. The story is based on Greek mythology.

The opera is in four acts, but very short – about 2 ½ hours. They took only one intermission. The music is very lyrical and elegantly clean. Very Mozartian. And the recits are accompanied by orchestra, not just harpsichord.

In short, it’s a perfect opera for university and college music departments to perform!

Of course, you have to have a good mezzo; she is the lead. And how often does that happen? The mezzo is usually relegated to a supporting or even pants role

The encore is Wednesday, March 16 at 6:30 pm if you missed it.

The backstage host is Natalie Dessay, lead soprano in the next HD live production, Lucia di Lammermoor which airs at the same theaters Saturday, March 19 at 1 pm.

If you listen to classical music on WV Public Radio or read Mona’s Classically Speaking blogs, I’m sure she’ll offer tickets the week before – so stay tuned! Check us out on our website or catch us on Facebook.

Today, I fell in love with Johannes Brahms's Piano Trio No. 1. It's so beautiful that I will even forgive it for not having a viola part.

(In the library here, I've been listening to Isaac Stern, Pablo Casals, and Dame Myra Hess, but this trio in the video above also seems to have a rather good idea of what they're about. As I write this post, they are stealing my heart).

And for those who like to travel from the sublime to the ridiculous...don't forget to feed your family Raisin Brahms.  :P

-

Hat tip to my friend and music theorist extraordinaire Bill Guerin who pointed out that Arby’s is using Anton Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony in a commercial for their fish sandwich:

Bruckner and I have had a complicated relationship over the years, but I’m pretty sure that he deserves better. Bruckner isn't fast food; he's crockpot-slow; he's a buy-the-dried-beans-instead-of-the-canned-and-soak-them-overnight kind of composer.

And as I think about it, I’m sure there are probably better, fishier classics for this commercial. Do you have any suggestions?

I’ll start with an easy answer: something from The Pearl Fishers by Georges Bizet.

Now, your turn. Post your suggestions in the comments.

Oh, and here’s the Bruckner, sans fish.  

(Bruckner Symphony cover redesign thanks to composer Jonn Sokol)

Mark O’Connor is in Wheeling this week. He’s performing his American Seasons with the Wheeling Symphony on Friday (the concert also includes two by Beethoven: the Sixth Symphony “Pastorale” and the Coriolan Overture).

Wheeling Symphony Music Director Maestro André Raphel spoke with me before the season started for a few minutes about looking forward to this concert and the festival: 

On Wednesday, O’Connor and Raphel presented a lecture concert about folk music and nature. Today Mark O’Connor is speaking at several schools in the area. Tonight there will be a lecture called “The Music of Nature: Soundscape Recordings as Art Forms.” Tomorrow, there is the concert, as well as a pre-concert talk and reception. You can find event details on the Wheeling Symphony website.

Related links:

* Mark O’Connor

    * Violin or Fiddle? O’Connor and Cooper Discuss
      * Symphonic Appalachia: Interview with Mark O’Connor

* Wheeling Symphony

    * Wheeling Symphony 2010-11 Season
      * Opening Night in Wheeling

Lucy Mauro and Donald George recently released the first of their two planned albums featuring music of American composer Margaret Ruthven Lang (1867-1972).  The album, on Delos, is called Love is Everywhere: Selected Songs of Margaret Ruthven Lang, Volume 1.

You may have heard about this album on the radio, but I just realized that I hadn’t posted about it here on the blog. Check out the story from the radio that was on WV Morning on Valentine’s Day: “Love is Everywhere in Overlooked Songs”

Lots of interesting anecdotes and reflections on the music couldn’t make it into the radio story, due to time limitations. You can hear them here online in the extended interviews with tenor Donald George and pianist Lucy Mauro:

-

Related links/previous posts:

* “Love is Everywhere” in Overlooked Songs
* Donald George Sings Margaret Lang at WVU
* Love and Laughter
* Love is Everywhere: Selected  Songs of Margaret Ruthven Lang, Volume 1
* DuoDrama (Donald George and Lucy Mauro)

With Lincoln’s birthday tomorrow, Washington’s later this month, and Nixon in China by John Adams at the Metropolitan Opera now (and at the movies this Saturday!), presidents and music have been on my mind.

Today’s program features music with connections to presidents, through inaugurations, favorite performers and composers, and music inspired by various presidents and their office. 

Not much time to write before I’m on the radio, but here are some links to read and hear more (and tune into WV Public Radio from 11am to 3pm for today’s president-inspired classical music program.)

After an Inauguration, The Stars Come Out to Play (Smithsonian Magazine)

Leonard Bernstein’s Counter-Inaugural

Sing Out, Mr. President: Npr Music Premieres New Presidential Songs (Deceptive Cadence)

I’m sure there are many more connections and details that I haven’t yet found (including the program for the NSO concert that Copland conducted for Carter’s inauguration). Let me know in the comments any presidential music connections that you find.

Looking for a cool adventure with a lot of great music? It’s time to head to Pittsburgh. They’re having a Tchaikovsky festival from February 2 through 12 . The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is then bringing an all-Tchaikovsky concert to Morgantown on February 13, but if you want to get beyond the concert hall, Pittsburgh is the place to be.

They're presenting a conference, movies, lectures, cylinder recordings, masterclasses, chamber music, song recitals, and orchestra concerts – it’s a cool opportunity to explore Tchaikovsky's music and life, whether you can make just an event or two, or want to spend days immersed in all things Tchaikovsky. 

You can start here by listening to interviews with several of festival participants.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck discusses the concert in Morgantown and the festival in Pittsburgh:

Dr. Richard Kogan, a psychiatrist and musician, presents about “Tchaikovsky: Music and Melancholy.” Listen to Kogan discuss these connections and his approach to combining psychiatry and music:

Conductor Gianandrea Noseda speaks the music he's conducting at the festival and his approach to Tchaikovsky:

For more about the festival, visit the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Tchaikovsky Festival website. Check back here next week, when I’ll also have an interview with Festival Curator Joseph Horowitz to share with you here on Classically Speaking. 

Cedille Records is a non-profit classical record label based in Chicago. The label started as James Ginsburg recording solo piano music during his breaks from law school, and over twenty one years, it has grown to an organization that records orchestras and operas, as well as solo and chamber music recordings.

Cedille is now an integral part of Chicago’s classical music scene and a source for quite a few of my favorite classical recordings.

Their catalog includes performances by West Virginia native Larry Combs (of the Chicago Symphony and the Chicago Chamber Musicians).Other recordings that have been featured here on the blog include Trio Settecento and Rachel Barton Pine and the Warner-Nuzova Duo’s recording of Russian cello music.

Cedille Records founder and president Jim Ginsburg spoke with me about the label and its history and the connections that have made in Chicago and throughout the world. We also spoke about discovering and listening to music. Both when we spoke last August and as I’ve listened to the interview as I prepare to post it here, I’m caught up in his knowledge about the music and his enthusiasm for discovering and presenting music, while making connection to art, literature, history, and his community. 

This is a long interview that is worth listening to for the whole 37 minutes. You can stream it on the site here, or download it to hear as a podcast. 

You can explore more about Cedille on their website and read about the ongoing festival inspired by Shostakovich at The Soviet Arts Experience, and you can check out previous posts on Classically Speaking that have connections to Cedille:

* A German Bouquet: Trio Settecento
* Larry Combs named to WV Music Hall of Fame
* Russian Cello and Chopin Essentials

-

-

Feb. 1: Andrew Kohn, double bass (WVU Faculty Artist Recital)

Feb. 2: Robert Trent, guitar (Marshall University Guest Artist Recital)

Feb. 2-3; 5-6: Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (WVU Opera Theater)

Feb. 4-6, 11-13: Leonard Bernstein’s Candide (Shepherd University)

Feb. 6: “Three Con Men” Pipesounds Concert  (Forrest Burdette United Methodist Church, Hurricane)

Feb. 6: Montclaire String Quartet "Romance"

Feb. 8: WVU Jazz Band

Feb. 11: WVU Wind Symphony

Feb. 10: Bret Hoag guitar masterclass (Marshall University)

Feb. 11: Bret Hoag, guitar (Marshall University Guest Artist Recital)

Feb. 11: Shenandoah Conservatory Wind Ensemble

Feb. 11-12: WV Symphony; Rich Ridenour, piano “Piano Pops”

Feb. 12: Met Opera Live in HD: John Adam’s Nixon in China (Barboursville; Morgantown; Germantown, MD; Ashland, KY; Charlottesville, VA; Pittsburgh, PA; and many other locations).

Feb. 12: Rich Ridenour, piano masterclass

Feb. 12: “Blast Off!” with the WVSO

Feb. 12: Huntington Symphony “A Winter’s Delight”

Feb. 13: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at WVU

Feb. 13: West Virginia Horn Trio (Fairmont Chamber Music Society)

Feb. 13: Peter Frankl, piano (Shenandoah Conservatory)

Feb. 14: WVU Chamber Winds

Feb. 17: The Music of Nature: Soundscape Recordings as Art Forms, a lecture by Lang Elliot (Oglebay Schrader Environmental Center)

Feb. 17: Ju Young Lee, pipe organ (WVU Recital)

Feb. 18: Wheeling Symphony; Mark O’Connor, violin “Seasons of an American Life”

Feb. 18: Shepherd University Wind Ensemble

Feb. 18: WVU New Music Concert

Feb. 19: Dieter Hennings, guitar (Fairmont State University)

Feb. 19: Songs of a Wayfarer (Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra)

Feb. 20: WVU Choir

Feb. 20: Christopher Barrick, saxophone (West Liberty University Faculty Artist Recital)

Feb. 21: Jim Walker, flute (WVU Guest Artist Recital and Masterclass)

Feb. 22: Brian Plitnik and Keith Jackson, trombones (WVU Joint Faculty Artist Recital)

Feb. 23: Marshall University Faculty Brass Ensemble

Feb. 24: WVU Orchestra

Feb. 25: Voces 8 (Shepherd University Friends of Music)

Feb. 25: Glenville State College Brass and Woodwind Ensembles Concert

Feb. 26: WVU New Music Concert

Feb 26:  Met Opera Live in HD: Gluck's Iphégenie en Tauride (Barboursville; Morgantown; Germantown, MD; Ashland, KY; Charlottesville, VA; Pittsburgh, PA; and many other locations).

Feb. 27: River Cities Symphony Bach Choral Concert (Marietta, OH)

Feb. 27: Audubon Quartet with Michael Stepniak, viola (Shenadoah Conservatory)

Milton Babbitt -- a rookie's obituary (Tim Rutherford-Johnson, The Rambler)

Milton Babbitt, a Composer Who Gloried in Complexity, Dies at 94 (Alan Kozinn, The New York Times)

Portrait of a Serial Composer, documentary by Robert Hilferty and Laura Karpman (NPR's Deceptive Cadence)

"Who Cares if You Listen?" (aka "The Composer as Specialist") High Fidelity (Feb. 1958)

-

- - - - - 

John Barry (1933-2011) (Adam Sweeting, The Guardian)

John Barry talks about his early memories working in cinema (BBC)

-

_

This weekend, the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra will play two compositions by Douglas Lilburn, a twentieth-century composer from New Zealand. Lilburn’s orchestral music is expressive and melodic. It has the impassioned yearning, the sense of bittersweet sadness paired with sweeping optimism that characterizes much of my favorite orchestral music. And yet, I’ve only just discovered Lilburn’s music because of the upcoming WV Symphony concert.  

WV Symphony Artistic Director and conductor Maestro Grant Cooper studied with Lilburn in New Zealand.  He attributes the sense of space in the music partially to the New Zealand landscape, and the expression of yearning to Lilburn and New Zealand’s role as outsiders in the European classical music mainstream.

Cooper is an advocate for Lilburn’s music, and he’s performed and conducted his music with different ensembles over the years. In our interview, Cooper gave a compelling description of Lilburn and New Zealand’s struggle for recognition and search for identity within the world of classical music. Listen to our discussion of Lilburn and his music: