by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
At noon at the Church of the Covenant, organist Don Verkuijlen will play music by American composer Myron Roberts (1912-2004), who joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1940, where he taught organ and music theory for 34 years and also served as organist of First-Plymouth Congregational Church. Click here for the live stream.
For more performances, visit our Concert Listings.
R.I.P. SIR ANDREW DAVIS:
British conductor Sir Andrew Davis passed away on April 20 at the age of 80 in Chicago, where he was being treated for leukemia.
In an obituary for The Guardian, Barry Millington wrote that Davis “was a familiar presence on the podium, not least through his countless appearances at the BBC Proms in his capacity as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1989-2000).
“On his arrival at the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the more truculent members of the ensemble had to be won over, but they were, by his genial humour and charm, as well as his purely musical talents…Both on and off the podium Davis exuded bonhomie and affability. His concern as a conductor was always to create the conditions that enabled musicians to give of their best.”
Click here to watch Part Two of the Last Night at the Proms in 1992, when Davis gave a speech from the podium [at 1:30], “delivered as a patter song to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘I am the very model of a modern major-general,’ complete with witty rhymes and repartee with the delighted audience.’
Davis, who began his career as organ scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, and served as music director of England’s Glyndebourne Opera, also held conducting posts in North America with the Toronto Symphony and Chicago Lyric Opera.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
According to some sources, “The Bard of Avon,” William Shakespeare, was born on April 23, 1564, and it’s a fact that he died on the same date in 1616. Setting aside the contentious question of whether or not the son of a glove maker from Stratford- Upon-Avon actually authored the plays and poems attributed to him, we’ll honor both his arrival and departure dates with a setting of words from The Merchant of Venice, Act 5, Scene 1. By moonlight, Lorenzo and Jessica are discussing music both earthly and celestial, and Lorenzo comes to the conclusion that
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted.
Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote A Serenade to Music to mark the 50th anniversary of the first concert conducted by Sir Henry Wood, who led the popular “Proms” (Promenade Concerts) for 50 years. The original work featured sixteen soloists chosen by the conductor and the composer, who at times sing as a choir. Members of the London Symphony, the BBC Symphony, and the London Philharmonic joined together for the first performance at the Royal Albert Hall on October 5, 1938 (listen to the first recording here.)
Here, in one album, are three versions of the piece from Vaughan Williams’ pen: for soloists (with the London Philharmonic conducted by Sir Adrian Boult), for chorus and orchestra (with the Royal Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, led by Vernon Handley), and for orchestra alone (with the Northern Sinfonia under Richard Hickox).
And on this date in 1891, Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev was born in Sontzovka, Ekaterinoslav, Ukraine. Many works come to mind to celebrate that occasion, including two of his symphonies recently performed on the same program by The Cleveland Orchestra, but since we’ve just been talking about choral music, it seems like a good time to revisit his music for Sergei Eisenstein’s 1938 film Alexander Nevsky, for which Prokofiev wrote the score and later turned the material into a cantata. The composer was impressed with the director’s approach. As he wrote in broken English at the time,
Eisenstein’s respect for music was so great that he was ready to “hitch” film with visual image forward or backward only not to break the value of musical fragment. Do I need to say that working with such a condition gave me a great satisfaction!
Watch the full movie here and pay particular attention to the “Battle on Ice” scene and the touching mezzo-soprano solo in “The Field of the Dead.” We can recommend two videos of the cantata.
The first features mezzo soprano Ketevan Kemoklidze, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Choir of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, led by Yuri Temirkanov.
The second, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the BBC Symphony, was led by Leonard Slatkin at London’s Barbican Hall in 2000. Mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung will be known to Clevelanders from her appearances with The Cleveland Orchestra.
