by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
9:00 am & 2:00 pm — Cooper International Piano Competition. Semifinals: Day 1, Sessions 4 & 5. Contestants perform 40-minute recitals. Warner Concert Hall, Oberlin Conservatory. Announcement of the six who will advance to Tuesday’s Concerto Rounds follows at 6 pm.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Conductor Roger Norrington, 91
In an obituary published by The Guardian on Saturday, Tom Service writes, “Norrington (pictured) remains still the maverick presence that classical music needs. His mission wasn’t only to make us hear the repertoire we thought we knew through the prism of the techniques and playing styles of its time, rather than the ossifications of later traditions. He was also an irresistible firebrand in performance, whose energy wasn’t only about inspiring his performers to get closer to the music they were playing, it was also an invitation to his audiences that their listening should be involved too.” Andrew Clements recommends five essential Norrington recordings here.
Cleveland Chamber Choir has announced the four programs for its 11th season, including two performances at Trinity Cathedral, where the professional choir is in residence. Details here.
Les Délices has released details of its 2025-2026 season, “Metamorphosis.” Read a press release here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
by Jarrett Hoffman
One virtuoso and two inventions arrive on the shores of our almanac today.
Violinist Isaac Stern was born on this date in 1920 in Kremenets, Poland (now Ukraine), though he didn’t stay there long — his family moved to San Francisco when he was only 14 months old. After making his public debut at age 15 as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Stern went on to achieve great success in just about every way you can measure.
Onstage, he was a national and international presence, performing frequently in Israel, and making groundbreaking tours of China and the Soviet Union.
In the studio, he recorded a long list of famous concertos and contemporary music, in addition to dubbing the violin playing of actors in many films, including Fiddler on the Roof (1971).
His trophy case was certainly not lacking, from his Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by George H.W. Bush, to his six Grammys — four as a concerto soloist and two as a chamber musician.
Institutional legacy? After helping to save Carnegie Hall from demolition in the ‘60s, then serving as its first president, his name lives on through the venue’s main hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium.
Perhaps most important: how he nurtured the next generation of musicians, mentoring such violinists as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, and Midori, and offering guidance to pianist Emanuel Ax and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
On that note, listen to Stern, Ax, and Ma join forces in Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 in e, the first movement here. And in the solo realm, click here to enjoy his live performance of the Sibelius Concerto with André Prévin and the London Symphony in 1971. (One great comment on that YouTube video: “Isaac is like a ‘little bull’ — very powerful, doesn’t hold back.”)
Now for the two inventions. Financed in part by Charles Ives, a two-manual, quarter-tone piano was patented by Hans Barth on July 21, 1931. And Johann Maelzel, who developed the metronome, died on this date in 1838. One of those machines is more commonly used than the other (imagine if that were reversed?)
Barth was a noted keyboardist and composer. It’s too bad that recordings of his pieces — such as the Concerto for Quarter Tone Piano and Strings — are difficult to track down. But as a worthy consolation, here are Ives’ Three Quarter-Tone Pieces (above: a few measures from the score to No. 1), played by Alexei Lubimov and Pierre-Laurent Aimard on two pianos, one tuned a quarter-tone lower than the other.
Ives originally conceived of the first and third pieces for a single performer with a two-manual instrument such as Barth’s. In fact, Barth gave just such a performance of No. 3 at Carnegie Hall in 1930. Perhaps satisfied at having proved his mettle — and who can blame him — he opted to join with another player for the premieres of Nos. 1 and 3.
