Archives for May 2020

by Daniel Hathaway

WEEKEND ALMANAC

There are a number of musical milestones to reflect upon this weekend.

American classical and jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman was born in Chicago on May 30, 1909. Jazz at Lincoln Center gave a full-length family concert on November 17, 2017, “Who is Benny Goodman.” Watch that here, and hear Goodman play Mozart’s concerto and quintet on an unidentified recording here. The clarinetist was a featured performer on the inaugural season of the Blossom Music Festival.

Dutch harpsichordist, organist, teacher, and conductor Gustav Leonhardt was born in Graveland on May 30, 1928. A documentary, Reiziger in Muziek details his career (it’s in Dutch, but there are subtitles that quit part way through. Watch here). There are few videos of the master in action, but here’s an interesting excerpt from J.S. Bach’s Cantata 42 with Leonhardt conducting Musica Antiqua Amsterdam in 1977 with a young Ton Koopman at the harpsichord.

The elaborate documentary film Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach from 1968 cast the slim and patrician Gustav Leonhardt in the role of the famously well-nourished Johann Sebastian Bach.

On one of Leonhardt’s visits to the Cleveland Museum of Art that coincided with the recent installation of a Dutch organ in Trinity Cathedral, I had the privilege of being an audience of one while he improvised for an hour on the 1977 Flentrop organ. Like Bach, Leonhardt may have been even more impressive as an improviser than an interpreter. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

MISSING THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA:

This weekend, Russian-German pianist Igor Levit was scheduled to play Beethoven’s Third Concerto on The Cleveland Orchestra’s final Severance Hall concerts of the season. Instead, the outspoken winner of the Gilmore Award (sometimes dubbed the pianists’ version of the McArthur Awards) will be busy elsewhere. Playing live from Berlin on The Gilmore’s series, on Saturday at 8:00 am, Levit will begin a 20-hour marathon performance of Erik Satie’s Vexations, a theme and two variations which are repeated 840 times. Watch here (probably intermittently!)

The Orchestra’s “On a Personal Note” podcast series continues with yesterday’s release of A Musician’s Journey, Part 1. Assistant Principal Second Violin Emilio Llinás, who has played an astonishing 52 seasons with The Cleveland Orchestra, talks about his journey from Cuba to Cleveland. Listen here.

Today at Noon, WCLV spends its Lunchtime with The Cleveland Orchestra in the company of Bartók, Haydn, and Beethoven, and the weekend’s archive broadcasts on 104.9 Ideastream begin on Saturday at 8:00 pm with a May 2004 concert of Rossini’s Overture to William Tell, Dvořák’s Piano Concerto in g with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 in A. On Sunday at 4:00 pm, it’s the Verdi Requiem from June 2004, with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and soloists Twyla Robinson, soprano, Nancy Maultsby, mezzo-soprano, Piotr Beczala, tenor, and Raymond Aceto, bass. Franz Welser-Möst is on the podium for both weekend rebroadcasts. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

INTERNATIONAL NEWS FROM IDAGIO AND VIENNA:

Idagio, the Berlin-based classical music streaming platform, will offer the first performance in its new Global Concert Hall on May 29 with a recital by Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelson, with performances by such artists as baritone Thomas Hampson, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, soprano Kristine Opolais, and pianist Garrick Ohlsson to follow.

Performances will be ticketed, with 80% of proceeds going directly to the artists. Founder Till Janczukowicz wrote in a press release, “The pandemic has led to an unprecedented increase in the popularity of classical music streaming, but almost all of the digital concerts are offered for free.

“In the near future artists will rely on earning an income online, and audiences want more programmatic variety — both now and whenever the current restrictions are lifted. The internet should provide more than archived broadcasts of old recordings: it’s a medium that offers new opportunities, and we want to use these for classical music. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

A LITTLE OUTDOOR MUSIC:

An article in today’s New York Times about the Peace Tower bells in Ottawa, Ontario reminds us that as we emerge into the great outdoors, some forms of music are tailor-made for al fresco listening. “With Canada’s Parliament eager for the bells to sound during the outbreak — for reasons of morale and to provide a touch of normalcy — Dr. [Andrea] McCrady’s performances have become the only sanctioned musical events for a live audience in Canada’s capital during the shutdown.” Click here to access Dominion carillonneur McCrady’s YouTube playlist.

While non-essential travel to Canada is impossible at the moment, you can enjoy local bells by visiting the McGaffin carillon at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle. On Friday, May 29 from 12:15-12:45 pm. University Circle Carillonneur George Leggiero will play music by J.S. Bach, Corelli, Mozart, and Albert de Klerk on the 47-bell instrument, one of about 200 cast bell carillons in North America. You can even send in requests, and the Friends of the McGaffin Carillon note that picnics are welcome, “your car is also a place to hear the concert, and horn honking is an accepted form of applause at the end of the program.” Concerts happen every Friday through November 22. Read more about the carillon and its carillonneur here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

WEBINAR FOR SINGERS TODAY:

Earlier this month a webinar hosted by The National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Chorus America, Barbershop Harmony Society, and Performing Arts Medical Association (PAMA) addressed the near-term future of singing during the pandemic in terms that caused widespread alarm among soloists, choirs, and vocal teachers. The video of that panel discussion has received 107,344 views to date.

Today at 5:00 pm EDT, NATS and associated organizations will present a followup panel discussion, “Singing: What We Can Do,” moderated by Brian Newhouse of Minnesota Public Radio, and focusing on “examples of how singers and singing ensembles are producing their art now, as physical distancing guidelines continue to be in place. A variety of guests will share promising projects and existing and emerging technologies that keep us connected and singing.” Watch here. [Read more…]

by Daniel Hathaway

CELEBRATING MEMORIAL DAY THIS YEAR:

Parades and mass gatherings normally take place on Memorial Day — originally “Decoration Day,” a tribute to those who fell in the American Civil War that was first established in 1868 and grew into a national holiday assigned by Congress in 1968 to the last Monday in May. At a moment when the nation is opening up at various rates of speed and with different levels of confidence, how to mark the occasion?

One way is getting outside, while observing safety protocols, of course. Relatively balmy temperatures encourage us to emerge into fresh air and open spaces. In Northeast Ohio, Lake Erie beckons, and it’s a great time to remind ourselves of the enormous resources we enjoy by living in the Great Lakes region. Click here to watch a brief Nature Conservancy video, Incredible by Any Measure…The Great Lakes, and here to see a live performance of Part I of Cleveland composer Margaret Brouwer’s oratorio, Voice of the Lake (the other three acts can be found close by).

On the other hand, some rain is in the weekend forecast, so here are suggestions for indoor watching based on anniversaries that fall on these three days.

Charles Ives captured the special qualities of Decoration Day in the middle movement of his Holidays Symphony. Click here to watch an episode in the San Francisco Symphony’s “Keeping Score” series with Michael Tilson Thomas. [Read more…]