by Mike Telin

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

March 11 is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to celebrating birthdays. There’s composer Henry Cowell (Menlo Park, California) in 1897, accordionist and orchestra leader Lawrence Welk (Strasburg, North Dakota) in 1903, composer Xavier Montsalvatge (Girona, Spain) in 1912, composer and bandleader Mercer Ellington (Washington D.C.) in 1919, and vocalist and conductor Bobby McFerrin (New York, N.Y.) in 1950.

But wait, there’s one more. Today we celebrate the birth of Astor Piazzolla in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1921.

Piazzolla spent most of his early life in New York City, first in Greenwich Village and later in Little Italy. At home, he listened to recordings of tango as well as jazz and classical music. After his father bought him a bandoneon at a local pawn shop, the young Piazzolla began playing the instrument at the age of eight.

He composed his fist tango, La Catinga in 1932 and soon after began studying music with Hungarian pianist Bela Wilda, herself a student of Rachmaninoff. Wilda also encouraged him to play Bach on the bandoneon.

After returning to Mar del Plata with his family in 1936, he soon moved to Buenos Aires and was asked to join the orchestra of bandoneonist Aníbal Troilo. By 1941 Piazzolla was earning enough money to pay for music lessons and on the advice of Arthur Rubinstein — who was living in Buenos Aires at the time — he began his studies with Alberto Ginastera.

Piazzolla formed his first “Orquesta Típica” in 1946, giving him the opportunity to experiment with his own musical ideas. However, by 1950 he had disbanded the group and contemplated giving up tango and the bandoneon for good in favor of studying the music of Bartók and Stravinsky, and orchestration. Then, in 1953, his classical composition Buenos Aires Symphony in Three Movements won a grant which allowed him to study with Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau. It was Boulanger who encouraged Piazzolla to continue his career in tango.

While in Paris, he heard jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, which inspired him to create his own octet, and in 1955 the Octeto Buenos Aires was born. The ensemble included two bandoneons (Piazzolla and Leopoldo Federico), two violins (Enrique Mario Francini and Hugo Baralis), double bass (Juan Vasallo), cello (José Bragato), piano (Atilio Stampone), and electric guitar (Horacio Malvicino), and with that ensemble, tango was forever changed.

Nuevo tango is defined by the inclusion of elements of jazz, including improvisation, extended harmonies, dissonance, and the use of counterpoint and passacaglia technique.

Although this “new tango” garnered praise in Europe and North America, in Argentina Piazzolla became a controversial figure. I can attest that I have encountered many people in Buenos Aires who, upon the mention of his name, still refer to him as “the man who killed tango.”

A creative genius, Piazzolla was a complicated man, who played a complicated instrument, created a complicated musical form, and had a complicated relationship with tango traditionalists.

Click here to watch Mike Dibb’s film Astor Piazzolla in Portrait — Tango Maestro. The documentary includes interviews with the man himself, his family and performers who have been drawn to his music — cellist Yo-Yo Ma, jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton, the Kronos Quartet, the Paris-based Gotan Project, the Tango Pasión dance company, pianist Joanna MacGregor, and accordeonist James Crabb.

If listening to a historic performance is more to your liking, click here to watch the Piazzolla Quintet — Astor Piazzolla (bandoneon), Pablo Ziegler (piano), Héctor Console (bass), Fernando Suarez Páz (violin), and Oscar Lopez Ruiz (guitar) —  play an amazing set at the 1984 Montreal Jazz Festival. This is a personal favorite.

And click here to listen to cellist Mstislav Rostropovich play Le Grand Tango.

TODAY ON THE WEB:

At 12:00 pm today, it’s  Lunchtime with The Cleveland Orchestra. Franz Welser-Möst leads performances of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dance No. 2, Wagner’s Overture from Rienzi, the Rondo from Mozart’s Flute Concerto (Joshua Smith), and the Finale from Brahms’ Violin Concerto (Julia Fischer). WCLV 104.9 Ideastream and  on the web.

There’s more Cleveland Orchestra at 7:00 pm with the debut of “In Focus Episode 6.” Franz Welser-Möst conducts Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite for Strings and  Percussion. You can view it on the Orchestra’s Adella streaming service.

Also at 7:00 pm, the Local 4 Music Fund presents the next installment of the Tuning In series. The Athena String Quartet — Leah Goor-Burtnett and Rachel Englander, violins, Laura Shuster, viola, and Julie Myers-King, cello — perform  Dvořák’s Quartet No. 12 (‘American’), Haydn’s Quartet Op. 64 No. 5 in D (‘Lark’) and Puccini’s I Crisantemi. The concert will be streamed live from Pilgrim UCC. Click here at start time. (Free, but donations to support musicians are welcome.)

The latest installment of the Cleveland Pops Orchestra’s Conversations with Carl is now available. Carl’s guest is “Mr. Cavalier,” Austin Carr. Austin shares his personal story with Carl, from his father’s instilling in him the importance of education and his admiration of Dave Bing and Kevin Johnson, former NBA players who followed careers in politics as mayors of Detroit and Sacramento respectively. Click here to watch.

IN THE NEWS: 

Piano Cleveland has announced the line-up for its upcoming Listening Series.

Session 1  — I Love a Piano (and You Will Too). Hosted by Marshall Griffith — Wednesday, May 5.

Session 2 — Listening to Music (without Feeling Lost). Hosted By Caroline Oltmanns — Wednesday, May 12.

Session 3 — What Makes It Great (and Not Just Good)? Hosted by Yaron Kohlberg, — Wednesday, May 19.

Click here for further information.

by Mike Telin

Welcome to Thursday the 4th of March.

Winter — Shivering, frozen mid the frosty snow in biting, stinging winds;
running to and fro to stamp one’s icy feet, teeth chattering in the bitter chill.

Spring — Led by the festive sound of rustic bagpipes, nymphs and shepherds lightly dance beneath the brilliant canopy of spring. — Attributed to Antonio Vivaldi

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

As we begin the gradual shift from winter into spring, we celebrate the birth of the composer whose name is synonymous with all four seasons. On this day in 1678 Antonio Vivaldi made his world debut in Venice, Italy.

Vivaldi’s page on London’s Classic FM highlights many fun facts about the composer, who was nicknamed il Prete Rosso, (“The Red Priest”). Here are a few to ponder.

• Vivaldi was baptized immediately after he was born, in his own home. This could have been due to his ill health, or the earthquake that shook Venice on the day of his birth.
• Vivaldi suffered from what he called ‘strettezza di petto’ (tightness of the chest) throughout his life — this severe asthma inhibited his speech, and even made him weak and dizzy when he spoke.
• Despite the fact Vivaldi wrote around 800 different works, his music was rarely played after his death in 1741, when his manuscripts were locked away or even attributed to other composers because he was deemed to be out of favor.
• Alongside his religious duties, the composer spent 37 years of his life as a composer, teacher, and conductor at the Pio Ospedale della Pietà asylum for orphaned girls.
• Vivaldi wrote fragments of poetry on the manuscript for his The Four Seasons, and no one’s sure who authored them.
• The Four Seasons may well be his most famous piece, but Vivaldi wrote more than 500 other concertos for other instruments including mandolin, cello, flute, viola d’amore, recorder, and lute. Around 230 of these are for violin — he was, after all, a violinist, like his father.

A fun fact that was not included is that Vivaldi wrote 39 Bassoon Concertos. Click here to listen to Klaus Thunemann perform the Concerto in g, RV 495 with I Musici.

On this same date 256 years later, composer Mario Davidovsky was born in Argentina (that’s 1934 in case you don’t want to do the math).

The young Davidovsky began studying the violin at age seven and began composing at thirteen. After studying composition and theory at the University of Buenos Aires, in 1958 he went on to study with Aaron Copland and Milton Babbitt at what is now known as the Tanglewood Music Center. That experience was transformative for Davidovsky —  because of Babbitt he became interested in electroacoustic music and it was Copland who encouraged him to move to the United States. In 1960 he relocated to New York.

Davidovsky’s best known compositions are his Synchronisms, which incorporate acoustic instruments and electroacoustic sounds. From 1981 until 1993 he taught at Columbia University as well as serving as director of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. In 1994 he was appointed to the music faculty at Harvard.

His many recognitions include The American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Academy Award, a Pulitzer Prize, the Aaron Copland-Tanglewood Award, the Naumburg Award, and the Peggy Guggenheim Award. In 1982 he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

In his New York Times obituary, composer and Davidovsky student Eric Chasalow remembered his mentor as being among the first “to make electronics nuanced the way a violin is,” adding, “He tried to make the electronic an extension of the organic.”

In the same article, guitarist and New Focus Recordings founder Dan Lippel said that “[Davidovsky] wrestled with this idea that he didn’t want to be someone who contributed to the dissolution of the human being onstage,” adding that “He was a real humanist.”

Click here to listen to violinist David Bowlin play Synchronisms No. 9.

ON THE WEB:

At 12:00 pm it’s Lunchtime with The Cleveland Orchestra on WCLV 104.9 Ideastream and on the web. Franz Welser-Möst leads performances of Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances Suite No. 3, Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat with Richard King as soloist, and Sibelius’ The Swan of Tuonela.

At 4:00 pm there’s a master class with Metropolitan Opera soloist and Musical America’s 2019 Vocalist of the Year, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, presented by Youngstown State University’s Cliffe College of Creative Arts & Communication and  the Donald P. Pipino Performing Arts Series. Online only. Click here at start time. (Free)

Tune in a 5:00 pm for The Violin Channel’s Vanguard Concerts featuring the Dover Quartet. The playlist includes Beethoven’s Quartet No. 16 in F, Op. 135 and “Lento” from Dvořák’s Quartet No. 12 in F, (“American”). Click here at start time. (Free.)

FYI:

Registration for The Music Settlement’s 2021 Summer Camps is now open. Click here for more information and to enroll.

Audition applications for the 2021-22 Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra are available. The deadline is March 26, 2021. Click here for further information.

by Mike Telin

Welcome to Thursday the 25th of February.

ON THE WEB TODAY:

Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can play weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.
— Charles Mingus

At 7:00 pm The Cleveland Orchestra debuts its In Focus Bonus Episode 2 featuring cellist Alicia Weilerstein in performances of J.S. Bach’s Six Solo Cello Suites, recorded live at Severance Hall in January, 2021. The concert is available to current subscribers and donors at no additional charge, or for Adella Premium subscribers on the Adella digital streaming app and adella live.

I think that the artists who don’t get involved in preaching messages probably are happier — but you see, I have to live with Nina, and that is very difficult. 
— Nina Simone

A half-hour later at 7:30 pm, Oberlin Black History Month: A Celebration of Black Artistry continues on Stage Left with a pre-recorded program hosted by associate professor of horn Jeff Scott. The evening features three of his own compositions as well as works by Ulysses Kay and Duke Ellington. The concert is free. Click here at start time.

Click here to read our interview with Scott where he talks about why it was important for him and his Imani Winds colleague, Mark Dover, to make an arrangement of Abel Meeropol’s classic Strange Fruit, a song made famous by Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. He also talks about his admiration for Simone as an artist and as an outspoken critic of social injustices.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On February 25 in 1890, English pianist Dame Myra Hess was born in South Hampstead, London. She made her professional debut in 1907 playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham. Hess toured extensively throughout Britain, the Netherlands, and France and made her U.S. debut in New York City in 1922.

The pianist may be most remembered for her performances during The Blitz of World War II. During that time Hess organized nearly 2,000 lunchtime concerts in Trafalgar Square’s National Gallery. The concerts were held every Monday and Friday for six-and-a-half years. And every performer was paid five guineas for their services. In 1941 King George VI made Hess a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

In addition to an active performing career, Hess was a dedicated teacher. One of her students was Clive Lythgoe, the long-time Dean of Faculty at Cleveland’s Music School Settlement.

Hess’s legacy lives on at the Chicago Cultural Center with its Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts. The free lunchtime series is produced by Chicago’s International Music Foundation and broadcast live on WFMT and streamed on WFMT.com.

Click here to listen to an interview with Hess, and here for a performance of Chopin’s Waltz No. 1 in E flat Op. 18.

We also celebrate the birth of American composer and installation artist Maryanne Amacher, who entered this world in 1938 in Kane, Pennsylvania. [Read more…]

by Mike Telin

Welcome to Thursday the 18th of February.

Thursday, or “Thor’s day,” gets its English name after the hammer-wielding Norse god of thunder, strength and protection. The Roman god Jupiter, as well as being the king of gods, was the god of the sky and thunder. “Thursday” comes from Old English “Þūnresdæg.” (Livescience.com)

Today’s events of note begin at noon on WCLV 104.9 Ideastream with “Lunchtime with The Cleveland Orchestra.” Franz Welser-Möst conducts music by Brahms, Bruckner, and Debussy.

At 7:00 pm, the Local 4 Music Fund “Tuning In” series features George Pope, flute, Lisa Whitfield, viola, and Emily Laurence, harp, in a live-streamed performance from Pilgrim UCC. The playlist includes works by Arnold Bax, Joseph Boulogne (le Chevalier de Saint-Georges), Valerie Coleman, William Ferris, Claude Debussy, and Sydney Guillaume. (Free)

A half-hour later at 7:30 pm, Les Délices debuts “Games & Grounds.” The imaginative program includes Lully’s Chaconne from Phaëton, Marais’ Folies d’Espagne, Rebel’s Caprice and Caractères de la danse as well as musical versions of Aesop’s Fables in English translations by Larry Rosenwald. The ensemble is Debra Nagy, Baroque oboe, Julie Andrijeski, violin, Rebecca Reed, viola da gamba, Elena Mullins, dancer and soprano, and Jason McStoots, tenor. Read our preview here. (Tickets required)

Also at 7:30, Oberlin Stage Left streams a Black History Month Faculty Concert, hosted by Katherine Jolly. Performers include flutist Alexa Still, bassoonist Drew Pattison, pianist James Howsmon, organist Christa Rakich, and violists Peter Slowik and Kirsten Docter, as well as recent alums Troy Stevenson and Marlea Simpson, violas. The music is by Valerie Coleman, Allison Loggins-Hull, Maurice Arnold, Edmond Dédé, and William Grant Still. (Free)

See our Concert Listings for details.

In the latest edition of Conversations with Carl, Cleveland Pops director Carl Topilow catches up with baritone Michael Preacely. Click here to view on demand.

In other news, on Wednesday, March 3 at 5:30 pm, the Akron Black Artist Guild will hold a virtual event. Black artists and creatives are invited to join a discussion that includes questions such as: “What are our priorities? What do we need to achieve them? And how do we activate as a collective?” Click here to register.

The group is also seeking input and data. Black artists in Greater Akron are encouraged to submit responses to a short survey that will be used to inform plans for networking, advocacy, education, and collaboration for the Guild. Click here for more information.

We begin today’s Almanac by celebrating the birth of Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos in Athens in 1896.

The young Dimitri exhibited musical talents at an early age and by his early teens hosted Saturday afternoon concerts at his home.

He studied at the Athens Conservatory as well as in Brussels and Berlin, where his teachers included Ferruccio Busoni. During the early to mid ‘20s he assisted Erich Kleiber at the Berlin State Opera.

The conductor made his U.S. debut with the Boston Symphony in 1936, and from 1937 to 1949 he was principal conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (now the Minnesota Orchestra). In 1949 he became co-conductor — with Leopold Stokowski — of the New York Philharmonic and in 1951 was named the Orchestra’s music director.

In addition to making numerous recordings for Columbia Records, Mitropoulos and the Philharmonic sought out new audiences by making appearances on television and giving performances at the Roxy Theatre.

During his tenure, he expanded the Philharmonic’s repertoire by commissioning new works and championing the symphonies of Mahler. Upon his departure in 1958, he was succeeded by his protégé, Leonard Bernstein. Click here to listen to Mitropoulos conduct the New York Philharmonic in a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. [Read more…]

by Mike Telin  

If you’re in need of a respite from life’s daily grind, there’re plenty of concerts to take in today. At 12:00 noon it’s Lunchtime with The Cleveland Orchestra on WCLV 104.9 Ideastream. The playlist includes the “Largo” from Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. You can also listen on the web.

At 7:00 pm, Local 4 Music Fund’s “Tuning In” series features Hammond B-3 virtuoso Eddie Baccus in a live streamed performance from the BOP STOP. Baccus will be joined by trombonist Chris Anderson, and percussionist Elijah Gilmore. The event is free, but donations are welcome. Click here at start time.

At the same time, The Cleveland Orchestra will debut In Focus Bonus Episode 1, featuring pianist Mitsuko Uchida. The concert is available to current subscribers and donors at no additional charge, or for Adella Premium subscribers on the Adella digital streaming app and Adella Live.

At 7:30 pm Oberlin Stage left presents a Black History Month Faculty Concert live streamed from Warner Concert Hall. The free event features violinists Sibbi Bernhardsson and David Bowlin and pianists Haewon Song and Robert Shannon William, performing works by William Grant Still and Jeff Scott. Watch here.

If you’re in the mood for opera, also at 7:30 pm, the MET Opera Nightly Streams presents Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, starring Aprile Millo, Carolyn Blackwell, Florence Quivar, Luciano Pavarotti, and Leo Nucci, conducted by James Levine.  Click here at start time.

And Cleveland Pops has recently released the latest episode of Conversations with Carl. Lieutenant Colonel Dwayne Milburn (ret.) reflects on how not seeing people who looked like him holding high profile orchestra positions helped shape his career. Click here to view.

It’s hard to believe that not long ago people were predicting the end of the recording industry. And while much about that industry has changed, there is certainly no shortage of new releases.

One that caught my eye, and ears, is composer George Lewis’ The Recombinant Trilogy. Released on New Focus Recordings last Friday, the album includes three works for solo instrument and electronics performed by flutist Claire Chase, cellist Seth Parker Woods, and bassoonist Dana Jessen. The digital album Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Remember the days when pretty much the only way to purchase a recording was to go to a record store, and the only way to listen to it was on a turntable?

This brings us to today’s Almanac. On February 11, 1847 the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Alva Edison, was born in Milan, Ohio. Of course, Edison is responsible for inventing many things that make our lives more pleasant, including the incandescent light bulb, the motion picture camera, and the fluoroscope, as well as improving the telegraph and telephone. Click here for a list of his 1,093 patents.

Of all his inventions, Edison’s favorite was the phonograph, which came about from his work on the telegraph and the telephone when, in 1877, he discovered a way to record sound on tinfoil-coated cylinders. He set the invention aside for ten years, and when he returned to work on his phonograph, he began using wax cylinders.

And what were the first words Edison recorded on his new machine? Click here to listen to him recite “Mary had a little lamb” (recorded in 1927 for the 50th anniversary of his invention).  Upon hearing his voice Edison said “I was never so taken aback in my life — I was always afraid of things that worked the first time.”

Edison believed the phonograph would eventually be used for letter writing and dictation, phonographic books for blind people, a family record — recording family members in their own voices — music boxes and toys, clocks that announce the time, and a connection with the telephone so communications could be recorded. Click here to visit the informative entries about Edison on the Library of Congress website.

Always striving to improve on things, Edison was once asked to give his opinion on the role that physics and mechanical instruments will play in the future. “A great deal — an enormous part,” the inventor responded. “The present instruments of the orchestra are very crude. Take the violin for instance. Don’t tell me that even the best violin cannot be improved. One of the worst things in all music in the E string on the violin.” Click here to read the interview titled New Aspects on the Art of Music.

So happy 174th Mr. Edison! Without you, nothing I’ve written about in this article would be possible.

I leave you with an inspiring quote by Thomas Edison. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

by Mike Telin

EVENTS CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH:

Tonight at 7:30 pm Oberlin Conservatory debuts their series To Be Young, Gifted, and Black with an overview hosted by Chris Jenkins (left), the Conservatory’s associate dean for academic support and liaison to the Office of Equity, Diversity, on Oberlin Stage Left. Read  our preview of the series here.

[Editors’ note: the concert from Castle of Our Skins has been postponed to February 18 at 7:00 pm.] At 7:30 pm The Celebrity Series of Boston’s Castle Of Our Skins, a collective of artists dedicated to advancing Black artistry through music, remembers Dr. King’s legacy and his complicated life. The program includes music by Daniel Bernard Roumain and George Walker. Click here at start time.

And conductor Carl Topilow caught up with Cleveland Pops favorite, vocalist Capathia Jenkins. Their discussion touches on the early stages of her career, the many influences of African American vocalists, such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, and stories of some memorable performances. Click here to watch.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this day in 1912 celebrated conductor Erich Leinsdorf entered the world in Vienna. His long association with The Cleveland Orchestra included a brief tenure as Music Director from 1943 to 1946. Click here to listen to a January 12, 1984 Severance Hall performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

February 4, 2001 saw the death of Romanian born, Greek-French composer and architect Iannis Xenakis in Paris. A musical experimentalist, his 1953-54  Metastaseis for orchestra, includes an independent part for every musician. As an author, his theoretical writings include  Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition, and as an architect, he designed the  Philips Pavilion at Expo 58 in Brussels.

Xenakis was responsible for significant works for percussion including Psappha (1975), Persephassa (1969), and Pléïades (1979), the later two having been premiered by the venerable ensemble Les Percussions de Strasbourg. Click here to listen to a recording of Pléïades performed by that ensemble and here to listen to an interview with the composer. In 2011, as part of their North American tour, (I happened to have been the tour manager) Les Percussions de Strasbourg performed Persephassa and Pléïades at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. Read the New York Times review here. 

On personal note, I remember when Xenakis came to Oberlin for a residency in November of 1981. As a member of the Contemporary Music Ensemble, I had the privilege of working with the composer, who introduced me to the concept of “playing ugly.” I cannot remember the title of the piece, but I do remember it having a wicked bassoon part that spent a good deal of time in the instrument’s highest register. I was frustrated — and so was he.

Finally during a rehearsal break Xenakis came to me and asked “Why are you trying to make it sound beautiful? It’s supposed to be ugly.” That advice pretty much solved the problem. It was during that same residency that the Oberlin Percussion Group gave the U.S. premiere of Pléïades — and my fascination with music for percussion ensemble and my love for contemporary music was born.