by Mike Telin

TODAY ON THE WEB:

Happy Thursday.

At 12:00 pm it’s Lunchtime with The Cleveland Orchestra on WCLV 104.9 Ideastream & on the web. Music Director Franz Welser-Möst leads performances of Sibelius’ Tapiola, Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of Saari as well as Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks.

At 7:00 pm, the Local 4 Music Fund: Tuning in series continues with the Beta Collective — Brad Wagner, soprano sax, tenor sax, bass clarinet, Chris Cole, alto sax, tenor sax, vocoder, Paul Ferguson, trombone, Theron Brown, keyboards, melodica, Aidan Plank, bass, Anthony Taddeo, drums, percussion, and Dan Bruce, guitar. The free event is live streamed from the Bop Stop. Click here at start time.

A half-hour later at 7:30 pm, Cleveland’s French Baroque ensemble Les Délices debuts Women of Genius (photo). The program features Music and poetry of Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Marie de Louvencourt, Mme. Duval, Julie Pinel, Marie-Françoise Certain & Marguerite Louise Couperin.

You can enjoy a pre-concert conversation with art historian and National Gallery of Art curator Eve Straussman-Pflanzer. The topic: female visual artists of the Baroque period and their powerful interpretations of the Judith story, including a focus on paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi and Elisabetta Sirani.

Read our preview here and our review here.  The program will be available on demand through March 29. Click here for tickets and connection details.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Today we celebrate the birth of Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1844 in Tikhvin. Who doesn’t remember the first time they heard Scheherazade?

Other noteworthy births include ragtime composer Frank Losey in 1822 in Rochester, New York, and composer Clara Edwards in 1887 in Blue Earth County, Minnesota.

There was a time when the American music industry focused its attention on the sale of printed music rather than on the sales of recordings. On March 18, 1911, Irving Berlin’s Alexander’s Ragtime Band was copyrighted and quickly sold over one-million copies of sheet music.

And on this day in 1927, legendary composer of musical theater John Kander was born in Kansas City, Missouri.

A classically trained musician, Kander studied at the Oberlin Conservatory and later at Columbia University, where his teachers included Douglas Moore, Jack Beeson, and Otto Luening.

Early in his career he served as rehearsal pianist and then dance arranger for the original productions of Gypsy and Irma la Douce. He composed his first Broadway score, A Family Affair, with lyricists and book writers (and brothers) James and William Goldman.

Kander began his nearly four-decade-long career with lyricist Fred Ebb with the 1965 musical Flora, The Red Menace, starring the young Liza Minnelli. The song-writing duo (photo: Kander on the left) went on to write such classic musicals as Cabaret, Chicago, and Kiss of the Spiderwoman, along with many other shows.

Since the passing of Fred Ebb in 2004, Kander has continued to write musicals with other lyricists. He composed an eloquent art song, The Ballad of Sullivan Ballou, for soprano Renée Fleming.

Some of this information came in an email from music critic Donald Rosenberg, who has a special interest in American musical theater and has written about Kander. “He’s really nice,” Rosenberg wrote. “I interviewed him in Oberlin a bunch of years back when the college did a production of Flora, The Red Menace.”

Summarizing his music, Rosenberg noted that Kander “exemplifies a Broadway composer steeped in classical traditions while also being fully versed in popular musical forms (jazz, Latin, folk) that have long been woven into musical theater. He can be effortlessly hip, as in the vamps that run through many of his scores (think All That Jazz) or lyrical (the waltzing “You” from The Visit is particularly haunting).”

During his prolific career, Kander has amassed numerous awards including three Tonys, two Emmys, and two Grammys. In 1991 he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1991 and along with his long-time collaborator Fred Ebb, was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors award for Lifetime Achievement.

Click here to watch a video interview with Kander produced by the Dramatists Guild Foundation as part of the organization’s Legacy Project.

Happy 94th, Mr. Kander!

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…]