by Daniel Hathaway
OUTSIDE THIS WEEKEND:
The weather is trending autumnal, but plenty of sun will shine on two Sunday al fresco events. Tuesday Musical notes that places are still available for its 1:00 and 3:00 pm performances by the Black Squirrel Winds at Akron’s Historic Barder House, and listeners will have all of University Circle at their disposal to enjoy a 4pm guest carillon concert by Patrick Macoska from the McGaffin Tower.
If indoors is your preference, Apollo’s Fire tells us that there are still a few seats available for its 3pm Baroque Bistro at the Music Box Supper Club (just drinks, no food), and at 4pm, baritone Michael Kelly and guitarist David Leisner will perform Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin in Leisner’s arrangement at Akron’s Holy Trinity Lutheran Church while Kevork Mourad creates live images. (You can attend the free event in person — health protocols in effect — or watch a live stream).
And if you missed Friday evening’s live stream from Trinity Cathedral, the video is available for on-demand viewing here. Donations to a COVID-19 relief fund for musicians are welcome.
THIS WEEKEND’S ALMANAC:
On September 19, 1972, French pianist Robert Casadesus died in Paris. Known especially for his interpretations of Mozart’s concertos, he recorded a number of them with George Szell and The Cleveland Orchestra (sometimes credited as “The Columbia Symphony” for contractual reasons). Listen here to nos. 21 and 24 in recordings remastered in 2018. Beginning in 1975 and for its first ten seasons, the Cleveland International Piano Competition was known as the Casadesus Competition.
In 1957, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius died in Jarvenpaa on September 20 at the age of 91, having composed most of the symphonies and tone poems that made him famous by the mid-1920s. The Cleveland Orchestra has played his works under all of its music directors, but we’ll feature restored live performances of his violin concerto with Christian Ferras in 1965, and of his Second Symphony in Tokyo in 1970, both led by George Szell — the Tokyo performance shortly before he died of cancer.
And French organist and composer Henri Mulet died on September 20, 1967 in Draguignan. Having served at the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur on Montmartre and a number of Parisian churches, in 1935, he burned his manuscripts and moved to Provence where he was organist of Draguignan Cathedral and lived in seclusion in a convent. His organ works are exemplars of the French Romantic style. Click here to watch the flamboyant Diane Bish perform his Carillon Sortie, and here to watch a performance of his Toccata: Tu es Petra from Byzantine Sketches — inspired by the architecture of Sacré-Coeur — played by English organist Gillian Weir.
Posting of this weekend’s Diary was delayed by a day-long internet outage on Spectrum.