Archives for December 2021

by Daniel Hathaway

TODAY’S AGENDA:

The Tuesday Noon Advent Series continues at the Church of the Covenant with a program of “Marian Music” performed by harpist Anna O’Connell and organist Jonathan Moyer. The program introduces the new Flentrop chapel organ.

The Cavani Quartet brings its “Beyond Beethoven” project to Mandel Concert Hall at Severance tonight at 7:30, sharing the stage with 90 students and teachers and unveiling new works by Josh Henderson and Kamari Dodson-Poindexter as well as playing LvB’s Opus 59, No. 3 Quartet. Educator Dr. Ronald Crutcher, himself a cellist, emcees the gala event.

And at 7:30 pm, Oberlin clarinet professor Richard Hawkins (pictured) and the Verona Quartet discuss Brahms’ B-minor Clarinet Quartet before performing the work. You can watch the performance online around 8:10.

Casting a wider net, the Harvard University Choir will present its 112th annual Christmas Carol Service tonight at 8 in Memorial Church in Cambridge. Predating by eight years the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols devised by Eric Milner-White for King’s College Cambridge on Christmas Eve, 1918, Harvard’s version includes only three readings and a lot more music, this year with an emphasis on American works. Download the program and join the live stream here. The organist’s name will ring bells for Clevelanders — it’s David von Behren, a CIM graduate and student of Todd Wilson, who served as organ scholar at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights.

NEWS BRIEFS:

Tuesday Musical will hold its 66th annual Scholarship Competition in-person on Saturday, March 19 in the University of Akron’s Guzzetta Hall. More than $32,000 is available to award to Ohio music majors. Details here. Applications will be accepted online from January 1-31.

WEIRD BUT FUN?:

Does Jeffrey Arlo Brown at Van Magazine have too much time on his hands? He’s put himself in the position of a first-time listener to Schubert’s songs and has ranked all of them — more than 600 — from worst (“Yikes!”) to best (“The Transcendent”). Enter that rabbit hole here. If that was amusing, he’s done the same here for Domenico Scarlatti’s 500+ keyboard sonatas. Brown writes, “I’ll make no claim to have heard each work in monkish concentration, and I make no guarantees for the correctness of my observations. But, at least partially thanks to the social wasteland caused by the coronavirus, I really did hear the entirety of every single one. Now you don’t have to.”

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Let’s remember some first performance anniversaries today: Puccini’s Il Trittico (comprising Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi) at New York’s Metropolitan Opera on this date in 1918, Alban Berg’s Wozzeck in Berlin in 1925 after a whopping 137 rehearsals, and Samuel Barber’s String Quartet, Op. 11 in Rome by the Pro Arte Quartet in 1936.

Click here to enjoy a 2011 Royal Opera House production of Puccini’s madcap comedy, Gianni Schicchi, with Antonio Pappano in the pit and the family from hell onstage.

The quality’s not terrific, but click here to hear what may be the only surviving recording of Wozzeck led by Eric Kleiber, who conducted its premiere. It dates from Covent Garden in 1953.

And it’s interesting to hear a much-appropriated piece in its original form and context. Click here to listen to the Barber Quartet performed by the Curtis Quartet in 1938. The slow movement has become the famous Adagio for Strings, but some think it’s more intense played by a quartet. Do you agree?

by Jarrett Hoffman

HAPPENING TODAY:

Eric Charnofsky’s weekly radio broadcast “Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music” continues at 2:00 with music by Domenico Cimarosa, Lukas Foss, John J. Becker, Arthur Sullivan, Louis-Claude Daquin, and Eric Coates. Find program details in our Concert Listings, and tune in online here.

And at 7:30 pm, soprano Grace Srinivasan and harpsichordist Patrick Merrill join Les Délices in the latest SalonEra virtual program, “Connoisseur’s Christmas.” As the title suggests, expect to leave aside mainstream Christmas fare. Instead, the name of the game is hidden treasures — music by Philipp Friedrich Böddecker, Giovanni Battista Bassani, and Heinrich Biber, whose “Nativity” Sonata, as performed by violinist Shelby Yamin, will offer a purely instrumental interpretation of the Christmas Story. See the full program and register here.

LOCAL NEWS:

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced the return of its Family Concert Series, and tickets are on sale as of today. Programming begins on March 13 with “The Listener,” bringing with it the return of the Magic Circle Mime Co., and continues on May 7 with “The Chevalier,” which tells the story of Joseph Bologne and features Sphinx Organization violinist Brendon Elliott as well as four onstage actors.

INTERESTING READS:

Last month in our Diary, we shared news of the intriguing new opera . . .(Iphigenia), born out of a collaboration between two jazz icons from different generations in Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding.

Reviewing a recent performance at the Kennedy Center, Michael Andor Brodeur writes in The Washington Post that this is not a piece “concerned with fluffing my seat cushion, welcoming me back, celebrating the performing arts in general and making constant reference to something called ‘normal.’ . . . (Iphigenia) was good old-fashioned, avant-garde, what-the-hell-is-happening-right-now opera with a question mark. It methodically perplexed, frustrated, amused, entranced, challenged and delighted me.”

TODAY’S ALMANAC: “Vronsky & Babin Sittin’ in a Tree”

Having been born in Moscow on this date in 1908, and having spent 35 years living in the U.S. before his death in 1972, it was actually Berlin that provided the most pivotal event in the life of pianist and composer Victor Babin. For it was there that he met a fellow talented pianist by the name of Vitya Vronsky.

As the children’s song goes, first comes love being classmates in the piano studio of Artur Schnabel at the Hochschule fur Musik, then comes marriage forming one of the great piano duos of the century, then comes — well, love and marriage. (Not that it matters, but they did not in fact have any children, whether inside or outside of any carriages.)

If there were another line in the song, to really add to the romance, it would describe their time as colleagues at an institution — Babin spent about a decade as director of the Cleveland Institute of Music beginning in 1961, with Vronsky serving on the faculty, and it is said that they played a large part in raising the school’s profile. To point out other local connections, Babin received the Cleveland Arts Prize in Music in 1966, and among the actions he took at CIM was establishing a relationship between that school and Case Western Reserve University — where he also became an adjunct professor in 1969.

Alexander Borodin’s “Polovetsian Dances,” originally from his opera Prince Igor, provide an example not only of Vronsky & Babin’s keyboard partnership, but also of Babin’s skill at transcription. In his pen, and in the hands of these players, there are several instances in which the piece takes on a beautiful intimacy that’s unique to this version, recorded by the duo in 1956.

Among Babin’s most famous works as a composer is his Concerto No. 2 for Two Pianos, premiered by himself and his wife with The Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell in 1957 at Severance Hall, in a concert that marked the duo’s Cleveland debut. Listen here to a recording by the piano duo Genova & Dimitrov with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony under Yordan Kamdzhalov.

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by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

ON SATURDAY, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo sticks around after his recital last night for an 11:30 am master class at CSU, violinist Francesca de Pasquale and pianist Reiko Uchida play an Oberlin faculty/guest recital at 4:30 pm followed by a 7:30 pm Oberlin TIMARA recital by Aaron Dilloway and Stephan Haluska, and at 8, No Exit takes its “Music from The Collective” program to the Bop Stop.

Saturday’s Holiday Concerts include a 2:30 matinee and a 7:30 evening concert by The Cleveland Orchestra, 7 pm concerts by Cleveland Chamber Choir at Old Stone Church and by Singers Companye at the Church of the Western Reserve and a 7:30 pm Cleveland Philharmonic program featuring Cleveland Orchestra cellist Charles Bernard at Westlake PAC, and Apollo’s Fire takes Messiah to First Baptist Church at 8.

ON SUNDAY, Holiday Concerts by The Cleveland Orchestra start at 2:30 and 7:30, Apollo’s Fire finishes its run of Handel’s Messiah in Bay Village and the Cleveland Philharmonic repeats its Saturday program at CSU, both at 3. Close behind, the Suburban Symphony features Klezmer fiddler Steven Greenman at 3:30 in Beachwood, and at 4, Cleveland Chamber Choir reprises Saturday’s program at Christ Church in Hudson. The busy day ends with Oberlin’s annual Messiah Sing-Along (pictured) in Finney Chapel at 7, led by Peter Slowik.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Here’s a trio of  “firsts” in classical music history to memorialize this weekend.

On December 11, 1918, Russian conductor Nikolai Sokoloff led the debut concert of the Cleveland Orchestra in Grays Armory. The program, a benefit for St. Ann’s Church, included Liszt’s Les Préludes, Victor Herbert’s American Fantasy, Bizet’s Carmen Suite, excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, and Liadov’s Enchanted Lake.

The Grays, whose third building on Bolivar was completed in 1893, deserve a bit of historical background. Founded in 1837 as The Cleveland City Guards, the organization dated from the era when the constitutional militias referenced in the Second Amendment were foundering due to neglect from state politicians.

The private military company’s purpose was both to assist local law enforcement and to defend the city should Canada’s Rebellions of 1837 cross the border and instigate a new war with the United Kingdom. After serving in the Civil and Spanish American wars, and with the reorganization of the U.S. Military, the Grays were subsumed into the Ohio National Guard, and their participation in military operations ended with World War I.

The Armory subsequently became a center for Cleveland social and cultural events — like early concerts by the Cleveland Orchestra. In the summer of 1970, a Wurlitzer cinema organ from the Warner Theater in Erie, PA was reinstalled in the armory, and concerts have been scheduled from time to time by the Western Reserve Theatre Organ Society. (Watch a brief clip here.)

Jumping ahead, December 11, 1950 saw the debut of Paul Hindemith’s Clarinet Concerto by Benny Goodman with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Two years later, some 70,000 viewers in more than 30 theaters witnessed the first Pay-TV presentation of an opera (Richard Tucker in Carmen).

To dig a little deeper, take a 2-½ minute video tour of Grays Armory here, watch a performance of the Hindemith Clarinet Concerto by Adrián Hernández Altelarrea and the Brussels Symphony here, and update your calendars here for the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD Series for 2021-2022.

by Daniel Hathaway

TODAY’S AGENDA:

First, the Holiday Concerts: The Akron Symphony’s Home for the Holidays starts at 7:30 pm in E.J. Thomas Hall, and at the same hour, Nic McGegan leads Apollo’s Fire in Handel’s Messiah at St. Paul’s in Cleveland Heights, the Baldwin-Wallace Men’s Chorus sings at St. Sebastian in Akron, The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus perform at Severance Music Center, and pianist & vocalist Jim Brickman joins the Youngstown Symphony at Powers Auditorium.

Meanwhile, at 7:30 pm, Oberlin’s Fridays@Finney welcomes guest conductor and alum Robert Spano and piano professor Peter Takác for an all-Beethoven concert with the Oberlin Orchestra, and No Exit performs music from The Collective in Ludwig Recital Hall at Kent State University. And if you had planned to hear countertenor Anthony Roth Costanza and pianist Bryan Wagorn (pictured) in recital on the Cleveland Art Song Festival’s Winter Mini-festival  tonight at 8, head over to Drinko Hall at Cleveland State University, where the event has been moved.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Today’s honors list tilts toward Francophones, including the birth anniversaries of composers César Franck (1822 in Liége — he was actually a Belgian by birth) and Olivier Messiaen (1908 in Avignon).

Franck’s parents vied with Mozart’s in supplying their offspring with a rich choice of baptismal names. In Franck’s case, César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert, and in Mozart’s, Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus. Imagine what their mothers yelled out to call them in for tongue-lashings!

We’ll ignore Franck’s organ music — he wrote a lot of it — and note that his only Symphony received a rare performance by The Cleveland Orchestra on last month. Brooding and dark when not triumphant, the piece seems only to inspire strong emotional responses both plus and minus. If you missed it, click here to watch a performance by Kurt Mazur and the New York Philharmonic.

One of Franck’s most-performed chamber works is the Violin Sonata. I have two Cleveland performances to recommend: one from a CIM faculty recital by Ivan Ženaty and Antonio Pompa-Baldi in 2018, and another from a ChamberFest Cleveland concert by rising stars Nathan Meltzer and Evren Ozel.

And the Oberlin Contemporary Ensemble played Messiaen’s Oiseaux exotiques last week on a Fridays@Finney performance. Ornithology meets theology in this riveting work that won the Cleveland Chamber Symphony an Emmy Award for a performance led by John McLaughlin Williams with pianist Angelin Chang. Listen here.

Continuing with the French theme, on this date in 1854, Hector Berlioz’ only oratorio, l’Enfance du Christ, received its first performance in Paris. A luminous account of the Birth of Christ that confronts anti-Semitic attitudes and ends with a gorgeous unaccompanied chorus, it’s a perfect piece to get to know during this season.

Click here to watch and listen to the “Shepherds’ Farewell” in a performance by Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony with the Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society from 1966 (memorable, not only because I sang in the chorus!) And click here for the charming trio for two flutes and harp with which the Egyptian Jewish family entertain Mary, Joseph, and Jesus when they welcome the Holy Family into their home.

 

by Mike Telin

HAPPENING TODAY:

Tonight it appears that everything is scheduled to begin at 7:30 pm. That said, there are four intriguing concerts on our calendar.  

Guest conductor Nic McGegan leads Apollo’s Fire & Apollo’s Singers, and soloists Erica Schuller, soprano, Daniel Moody, countertenor, Thomas Cooley, tenor and Hadleigh Adams, baritone in Handel’s Messiah at the Federated Church in Chagrin Falls. Performances run through December Sunday, 12. See our Concert Listings page for locations and times. Click here to read a preview article. Tickets available online.

As part of the Cleveland Art Song Festival Winter Mini-Festival: collaborative pianist Bryan Wagorn, will present a master class in Cleveland State University’s Drinko Hall. Participants and repertoire to be announced. The event is free, but registration is required.

It’s opening night for The Cleveland Orchestra Holiday Concerts, with Cleveland Orchestra Chorus under the direction of conductors Brett Mitchell and Lisa Wong at the Mandel Concert Hall at Severance. Vocalist Capathia Jenkins is the special gues. Performances run through December 19. See our Concert Listings page for dates, times, and guest choirs. Click here to read a preview article. Tickets available online.

Rounding out tonight’s calendar is an Oberlin Guest/Alumni Recital featuring Mark Sparks, flute and Robert Spano, piano (pictured) in the Conservatory’s Kulas Recital Hall. The playlist includes Respighi’s Suite No. 1 and  Brahms’ Sonata No. 1 in f, Op. 120, No. 1. The event is Free.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

One year ago Jarrett Hoffman wrote that: Two of the foremost performers of their time were born on this date in history: American violinist Joshua Bell in 1967, and German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in 1915.

Bell turns 54 today — four decades after his orchestral debut at 14 with The Philadelphia Orchestra. In that time he’s won an Avery Fisher Prize, a Grammy for his recording of Nicholas Maw’s Violin Concerto (written for him — listen here), has made his mark in the world of film with his solo playing in The Red Violin (music by John Corigliano), and has stepped in front of an orchestra in a different way: as artistic director of The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, a post he’s held since 2011. He’s also performed incognito at a subway station in Washington, D.C.

On Tuesday, February 8, at 7:30 pm, Bell and soprano Larisa Martinez, will perform in recital as part of the Tuesday Musical series. Together they are coming to Akron as one of the first stops on their first tour as a married couple. Tickets are available online.

Schwarzkopf passed away in her sleep at age 90 in 2006. She was most celebrated for performing Lieder, and in that arena, she helped inaugurate Blossom Music Center — listen here to Strauss’s Four Last Songs performed live by Schwarzkopf, George Szell, and The Cleveland Orchestra in a radio broadcast from the venue’s first season. (Read more about the first season of Blossom here.) Or head to Spotify for those Strauss works in another Schwarzkopf-Szell pairing, this time in a recording with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin.

Complicating Schwarzkopf’s legacy is her involvement with the Nazi Party, including in ways that were far from routine at the time, as Michael H. Kater wrote in The Guardian in the weeks after the soprano’s death.