Archives for July 2021

by Daniel Hathaway

WEEKEND EVENTS:

Today at 2:00 pm, the Semifinal rounds of the Cleveland International Piano Competition continue in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art (pictured: Thursday’s duo photo by Gregory Wilson). 

Rafael Skorka (32, Israel) performs Bernstein’s “America” from West Side Story (arr. Kurbatov), Leighton’s Fantasia Contrappuntistica, Op. 24 (“Homage to Bach”) (1956) and Brahms’ Sieben Fantasien, Op. 116.

Martín García García (24, Spain) will play Schubert’s Wanderer-Fantasie in C, D. 760, Liszt’s “Les cloches de Genève (Nocturne)” from Années de Pèlerinage I, S. 160, Étude de Concert, S. 145, No. 2 (“Gnomenreigen”) and Transcendental Etude, S. 139, No. 10. Skorka and García García will then team up for Schubert’s Fantasie in f. Tickets are available online.

The Semifinal rounds continue on Sunday at 2:00 pm in Gartner Auditorium. Byeol Kim (31, South Korea) performs Clara Schumann’s Notturno in F, Op. 6, No. 2, Robert Schumann’s Arabeske in C, Op. 18, Gottschalk’s The Union, Op. 48, Mendelssohn’s Fantasie in f-sharp, Op. 28, Mercury’s Bohemian Rhapsody (arr. Kurbatov) and Jalbert’s Toccata (2001).

Lovre Marušić (28, Croatia) plays Scarlatti’s Sonata in E, K. 380, Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Op. 16 and Mercury’s Bohemian Rhapsody (arr. Kurbatov). Kim and Marušić will conclude with Mozart’s Sonata in D for two pianos. Tickets are available online.

On Sunday at 7:00 pm at Blossom Music Center it’s The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Herbert Blomstedt. Garrick Ohlsson plays Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 and Blomstedt leads the Orchestra in the composer’s Symphony No. 7. Tickets are available online.

At 7:00 pm at Guzzetta Lawn, outside Guzzetta Hall on Buchtel Common, University of Akron, Tucker Jolly leads the 21st Annual TubaSummer. The program features summer favorites performed by tuba, sousaphone, baritone and euphonium players from throughout the region. Lawn chairs and blankets are welcome. The event is free.

Then at 7:30 pm, the Akron Symphony continues its Outside Voices Concert Series at Goodyear Heights Metro Park. Christopher Wilkins leads the ASO Virtuosi in orks by Scott Joplin, Miguel del Águila, W.C. Handy and John Philip Sousa. The concert is free.

THIS WEEKEND’S ALMANAC: 

On July 31, 1886, Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt died in Bayreuth, Germany at the age of 74. The 19th-century classical equivalent of a 20th-century rock star, Liszt’s solo piano performances gave rise to such pan-European fame that the poet Heinrich Heine characterized audience acclaim as “Lisztomania.” The composer ended his career as “the Abbé Liszt” after taking minor orders in the Catholic Church.

Listen to two Cleveland performances that feature his forward-looking piano music. Vladimir Horowitz played Liszt’s B-Minor Sonata at Severance Hall on October 31 of 1976, and third-place winner François Dumont programmed his tone poem, Vallée d’Obermann, for his semi-final round in the 2013 Cleveland International Piano Competition.

There are no special Cleveland connections to celebrate for August 1 but how about a little quiz that references classical music figures who died on the first day of August?

1. English pianist John Ogdon died on August 1 in 1952. Which of these composers did he especially promote? a) Alkan. b) Reinecke. c) Busoni. c) Scriabin.
2. Russian pianist Svyatoslav Richter died of a heart attack on August 1, 1997. True or false: In 1952, Richter was invited to play Franz Liszt in a film based on the life of Tchaikovsky.

Click here for the answers to the quiz.

by Mike Telin

TODAY’S EVENTS:

At 7:00 pm, Semifinal rounds of the Cleveland International Piano Competition continue in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Jiarui Cheng (22, China) will play Scarlatti’s Sonata in b, K. 87, Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-sharp, Op. 60, Rachmaninoff‘s Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42 and Bernstein’s “America” from West Side Story (arr. Kurbatov). Yedam Kim (32, South Korea) will perform Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat, Op. 61, Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 4 in c, Op. 29, and Mercury’s Bohemian Rhapsody (arr. Kurbatov). Chen and Kim will then team up for Mozart’s Sonata in D for two pianos. Tickets are available online. You can attend in person, or watch remotely.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this day in 1970, George Szell, Cleveland Orchestra music director for 24 years, died in Hannah House at University Hospitals — during a Blossom concert conducted by Pierre Boulez.

In his book, The Cleveland Orchestra Story “Second to None,” Donald Rosenberg recounted the evening.

That night at Blossom, the musicians were applying their efforts to Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1, with Mischa Dichther as soloist and Boulez on the podium, when the phone rang backstage. Szell had just died at 9:50 p.m., of complications from a heart attack he had suffered the previous month. News of Szell’s deteriorating health had spread throughout the day, but the orchestra wouldn’t learn of his death until after the concert. 

Rosenberg continues — The Plain Dealer saluted him in an editorial the next day: “Few men did more to enhance Cleveland’s reputation than did the late Groege Szell. To many people around the world he and the Cleveland Orchestra symbolized the city . . . . Szell will be best remembered for what he leaves behind — the Cleveland Orchestra. Seldom has a richer legacy been left to a city.”    

It is in the spirit of legacy that I share some of my favorite Szell recordings. I’m sure many of you have your own list, so spend some time listening. And if possible, share them with a young person who may not have had the opportunity to hear the Orchestra under the direction of the late maestro.

Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra 

Janáček: Sinfonietta

Dvořák: Symphony No. 7

Mahler:  Symphony No 4 (Judith Raskin, soprano)

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4  (Leon Fleisher)

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24 ( Robert Casadesus)

Dvořák: Slavonic Dances Op. 72 No. 2 

Beethoven: Symphony No. 4

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (Choral)

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Gary Graffman)

by Mike Telin

TODAY’S EVENTS:

At 6:30 pm, the Canton Symphony Woodwind Quintet will present “Summer Serenade” at Tam O’Shanter Park, Hills & Dales Rd. NW, Canton. The event is free but reservations are required. Click  here to RSVP.

At 7:00 pm Semifinal rounds of the Cleveland International Piano Competition get underway in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Ling Ye (23, China) performs Mozart’s Sonata No. 13 in B-flat, K. 333, Richard Strauss’ “Ramble on Love” from Der Rosenkavalier (arr. Grainger), and Bartók’s Sonata, Sz. 80, and Themes from Mission Impossible (arr. Kurbatov). Honggi Kim (29, South Korea) Plays Schifrin’s Themes from Mission Impossible (arr. Kurbatov) and Chopin’s Twelve Etudes, Op. 25. Ye and Kim (pictured) will join forces for Schubert’s Fantasie in f. Tickets available online. You can attend in person, or watch remotely.

IN THE NEWS:

Tuesday Musical has announced its 2021-22 season which will feature VOCES8 (Oct. 19),  Naughton Piano Duo (Nov. 16), The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass (Dec. 7), Violinist Joshua Bell and soprano Larisa Martinez (Feb. 8), Harlem Quartet with pianist Aldo López-Gavilán (March 1), and Nu Deco Ensemble (May 4). Click here for details.

Following the successful debut of its early music variety show, SalonEra, Les Délices has announced details for the twelve episode 2021-22 season line-up. Read the press release here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

July 29 saw the passing of composer Robert Schumann in 1856, but we’ll begin by remembering British conductor Sir John Barbirolli, who died on this day in 1970.

Born into a musical family in London, Barbirolli began his professional life as a cellist. As a young freelancer, he played in the Queen’s Hall Orchestra and in the pit of the Beecham and Carl Rosa opera companies. Never turning down a gig, Barbirolli played with orchestras in theatres, cinemas, hotels, and dance-halls.

His first conducting experience occurred during WWI while he was serving as a lance-corporal in the Suffolk Regiment. In a 1969 Gramophone interview Barbirolli told Alan Blyth:

…. In our battalion of the Suffolks we had a number of professional musicians. So we formed an orchestra and played in the equivalent of the NAAFI [Navy, Army, and Air Force Institutes] during our spare time. I was the principal cello and we were conducted by the bandmaster, one Lieutenant Bonham. The other boys knew that I was longing to conduct and one day when Bonham fell ill with flu, they thought “old Barby” – as I was known – should have a go. It was really rather romantic — I was scrubbing the floor in the Officers’ Mess when they came and invited me to take over. We did the Light Cavalry overture and Coleridge-Taylor’s Petite Suite de Concert but I can’t say I recall the rest of the programme.

His early conduing gigs included the Guild of Singers and Players Chamber Orchestra which he helped establish in 1924, and was soon invited to lead performances of the British National Opera Company, and made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1928. He would go on to be named Arturo Toscanini’s successor as music director of the New York Philharmonic, serving from 1936 to 1943, when he was asked by the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester — which was in danger of becoming extinct — to become its conductor. Barbirolli jumped at the opportunity to help revive the orchestra. He remained there for the rest of his life.

Click here to listen to a 9144 recording of Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5 with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by John Barbirolli.

Another recording Barbirolli is remembered for is the Elgar Cello Concerto with Jacqueline Du Pre and the London Symphony Orchestra. The album also includes the composer’s Sea Pictures with mezzo-soprano Janet Baker. Click here to listen.

We visit our Daily Diary archives to remember Robert Schumann, who died on this day in 1856 at the age of 46 after spending two years in an asylum in Bonn, having been taken there at his own request after he attempted suicide by throwing himself off a bridge into the Rhine River. [Read more…]

by Stephanie Manning

IN THE NEWS:

The Sphinx Organization has announced pianist Michelle Cann, violinist Randall Goosby, and soprano Karen Slack as the recipients of the 2022 Sphinx Medals of Excellence. These three acclaimed musicians will receive a career grant of $50,000. Cann, who recently performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, said that “With this award, I hope to inspire and motivate new generations of musicians by celebrating and advancing works by great Black composers.” Read more here.

EVENTS TODAY:

The Kent Blossom Music Festival concludes tonight at 7:30 pm with members of The Cleveland Orchestra, who will present an evening of chamber music in Ludwig Recital Hall. The first half of the concert will feature Joela Jones (accordion), Yun-Ting Lee (violin), and Richard Weiss (cello) in arrangements of works by Handel, Puccini, Seiber, Morricone, and Piazzolla. In the second half, an eight-piece wind ensemble will perform Mozart’s Serenade in c, K. 388. Click here for tickets & here for link to the free live stream.

INTERESTING READS:

Ever wonder why “moon” and “book” don’t rhyme? Or why we say “unhappy,” but not “unsad”? Check out these two articles on the oddities of the English language from Literary Hub and Aeon.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

July 28 marks the death of a titan of Baroque music: Johann Sebastian Bach, who died in Leipzig, Germany in 1750.

A prolific composer, Bach left behind more than a thousand surviving works, many of them staples in both modern and historical performances. As his eyesight declined in the late 1740s, the composer put the finishing touches on one of his most famous pieces — one he had started working on decades earlier.

In 1724, Bach wrote the first piece that would later become a part of the Mass in b minor, but he didn’t complete the work until the last few years of his life. Though parts of it were performed in Bach’s lifetime, it was not until 1859 — more than a century after his death — that the complete work was first performed in Leipzig. Enjoy this Grammy-winning recording by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra here.

Sir Georg Solti conducted that performance in 1990, but since 2010, the Chicago Symphony has been led by Riccardo Muti (pictured), who turns 80 today. Before his current appointment with Chicago, the acclaimed Italian conductor was music director at La Scala and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Muti is a specialist in the music of Verdi. ​​“Each of Verdi’s operas expresses human nature in such a profound way that we often recognize ourselves in Verdi’s characters,” he said in an interview. “That’s why Verdi will always be of the moment, and he will never become old-fashioned.” Listen to him conduct the CSO in Act 2, Scene 2 of Aida on YouTube.

And on July 28, 1951, the film with the most songs of any Disney feature was released — Alice in Wonderland. Though now regarded as a classic, the film was initially met with a lackluster reception, leading Decca Records to decide against releasing a soundtrack album.

Five years later, the newly formed Disneyland Records and producer Tutti Camarata set out to record a new, non-soundtrack version of the score. Camarata, who arranged and conducted the music, assembled an orchestra and chorus to create this recording (pictured), which was released in 1957. The 13-song album stars child actress Darlene Gillespie, who gives a wonderful performance as Alice. Learn more about that story here, and listen to the album on Spotify.