by Stephanie Manning

IN THE NEWS:

This fall’s classical music season is hard to predict — pandemic precautions, combined with questions about diversity and inclusion, will no doubt make a difference in programming and the audience experience. “The status quo will no longer suffice,” writes Anthony Tomassini in The New York Times. Read more here.

Amidst all these challenges, composer Jessie Montgomery (pictured) and her “personal yet widely resonant music” are set to make an impact in concert seasons around the country. A recent article in The New York Times reports the violinist’s compositions are expected to be programmed nearly 400 times this year, including with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and the Minnesota Orchestra. One thing’s for sure — Montgomery’s work “will be difficult to miss in the coming season.”

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Up until 1995, the Cleveland International Piano Competition — which awarded its 2021 prizes one month ago today — was known by a different name. When pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet arrived in Cleveland in 1979, it was to participate in the Casadesus Competition. The French musician (pictured), born on this day in 1961, won Second Prize that year, and has since gone on to international success.

Thibaudet’s visit to Cleveland marked his first time in the United States — and the city left a lasting impression on him. In our 2018 interview, the pianist recounted a memory of telling a local taxi driver that he was a musician. “He almost stopped his cab and he turned around and said, ‘Sir, do you know that in Cleveland we have the best orchestra in the world?’ I said yes, I know.

“It was amazing to have that pride from a taxi driver,” he added. “Usually they talk about the baseball team, but he was so proud of his orchestra. And I’ve never seen that anywhere else.”

Thibaudet is a long-time collaborator with the Cleveland Orchestra — his most recent appearance was in December 2019, when he performed Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Egyptian”) with conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider.

In addition to concert appearances, he also recorded multiple albums with the Orchestra in the 1990s, primarily of works by Rachmaninov. Listen to his performance of the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 2 under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy here.

It was also in the 1990s when the pianist began to branch out into recording film scores. Over the years, he has contributed to movies like Pride and Prejudice (2005), Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011), and Atonement (2007).

The soundtrack to the latter, composed by Dario Marinelli, went on to win an Academy Award for Best Original Score. Listen to the album (pictured), which also features cellist Caroline Dale, on YouTube.

“The good composers of soundtracks, I admire them as much as I do classical composers. I don’t make a difference between them — a composer is a composer,” Thibaudet told the Los Angeles Times in 2012. “The movies are the opera of modern times. Had there been movies back when, Puccini and Wagner would have certainly written film scores.”

 

Jessie Montgomery photo by Jiyang Chen

by Stephanie Manning

IN THE NEWS:

Violinist Jennifer Koh’s new album, Alone Together, is “a snapshot not just of the pandemic, but of the musical community right now,” friend and collaborator Missy Mazzoli said in a recent interview with NPR. Koh (pictured), who graduated from Oberlin, developed the project as a way to bring the musical community together after falling on hard times during the pandemic.

The violinist called the collaborative effort, which has been more than a year in the making, “one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve had.” The album includes 39 pieces from both renowned and emerging composers, all under five minutes long. Listen to the album here, and read the full article from NPR.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

As we celebrate the recent return of the Met Orchestra and Chorus to Lincoln Center, today we look back on the life of Rudolf Bing (pictured below), who died on this day in 1997. The famed general manager of the Metropolitan Opera oversaw the company’s move to Lincoln Center in 1963.

The “dapper and acerbic” Bing never shied away from conflict, even with international opera stars. In 1958, he canceled the contract of soprano Maria Callas over a disagreement, but spent years convincing her to come back. She eventually returned to the Met seven years later in the title role of Tosca, which would mark the end of the 42-year-old soprano’s stage career.

In a review for the performance, New York Times journalist Harold Schonberg described New York City’s excitement over the return of Callas (pictured below):

Hours before the curtain went up, the street outside the opera house looked like one of the circles of Dante’s Inferno. […] The picketers were being jostled by citizens pleading for tickets, at any price. Some bore plaintive signs: ‘A single ticket, please.’

Another person Bing clashed with was Cleveland Orchestra conductor George Szell, who left the Met in 1954 after an argument over his contract. Someone commented afterwards that Szell was his own worst enemy, to which Bing famously replied: “Not while I’m alive.”

Despite Bing’s tenuous relationships with some well-known figures, he was also renowned for integrating the Met’s artist roster and nurturing the careers of singers such as Leontyne Price, who became one of the first African American singers to perform for the company in a leading role. In 1950, while facing some backlash over announcing he would hire singers regardless of race, Bing wrote to a disgruntled subscriber: “I am afraid I cannot agree with you that as a matter of principle, Negro singers should be excluded. This is not what America and her allies have been fighting for.”

 

Jennifer Koh photo by Juergen Frank

by Stephanie Manning

EVENTS TODAY:

The Chamber Round of the Cleveland International Piano Competition continues tonight at 7:00 pm with Session 2. Finalists Lovre Marušić & Martín García García will both perform Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in g, Op. 57 with the Escher String Quartet. Tickets available online both for the in-person concert (in the Gartner Auditorium of the Cleveland Museum of Art) and the live stream.

Also at 7:00 pm is an online concert from the Cleveland Composers Guild. Small chamber music groups made up of wind players, string players, pianists, and a vocalist from the Guild will present works by Ty Alan Emerson, Larry Baker, Karen Grieblin, William Rayer, Dolores White, & Maxwell Lowery. Click here to view. Freewill offering accepted online.

Tonight at 8:00 pm, catch a radio broadcast from Apollo’s Fire on 104.9 WCLV. The program, Virtuosity: Fireworks from J.S. Bach, includes the Brandenburg Concerto no. 3, the Violin Concerto in d Minor with Alan Choo, and “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen” featuring acclaimed soprano Amanda Forsythe and virtuoso trumpeter Steven Marquardt.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this day in 1782, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart married his wife Constanze, née Weber (pictured). One of four daughters, all of them singers, Weber was a musician in her own right and would later go on to inspire some of Mozart’s most renowned compositions.

Intelligent and musically trained, Weber made a great match for Mozart. The composer wrote the soprano solos in his Mass in c minor for her, and she sang them in the premiere of the unfinished work. Additionally, her love for Baroque counterpoint influenced many of her husband’s works in that style.

“My dear Constanze is really the cause of this fugue’s coming into the world,” Mozart wrote to his sister Nannerl, attached to a copy of his Fantasy and Fugue, K. 394. “She scolded me roundly for not recording some of my compositions in this most artistically beautiful of all musical forms and never ceased to entreat me until I wrote down a fugue for her.”

When Mozart died in 1791, his 29-year-old widow stepped up to save herself and their two children from financial ruin. Proving herself to be a shrewd businesswoman, Weber paid off Mozart’s debts and became quite wealthy by obtaining a pension from the emperor, organizing memorial concerts, and publishing many of her husband’s works.

Mozart’s connection to the Weber family extended beyond his wife. Years before falling in love with Constanze Weber, he became smitten with (and was rejected by) older daughter Aloysia Weber, who later became a renowned singer and performed in multiple Mozart operas. The eldest daughter of the family, Josepha Weber, became Mozart’s first Queen of the Night.

When it came to his marriage to Constanze Weber, Mozart was hesitant to tell his father, who often disapproved of his romantic affairs. Eventually, however, Mozart wrote him a letter announcing his intentions.

“But who’s the girl I love? Well, don’t blow your top. ‘Surely not one of the Webers?’ Yes, actually, one of the Webers. Not Josepha, not Sophie… Constanze!”

by Stephanie Manning

IN THE NEWS:

Starting August 6, the Bard Music Festival — on the campus of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York — will present “Nadia Boulanger and Her World,” a two-week exploration of the composer and pedagogue’s life and legacy. The most renowned composition teacher of the 20th century, Boulanger was also a talented composer and conductor. In addition to her music, the twelve concerts of the Festival will also feature the music of her precursors, contemporaries and students as well as works by her sister Lili. Read more in the New York Times here.

SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT:

The Rocky River Chamber Music Society has announced its 63rd season, which will begin in October. The lineup includes the Auryn String Quartet, Russian pianist Arsentiy Kharitonov, Oberlin Clarinet Professor Richard Hawkins and Faculty Friends, Bob Sneider and Friends from the Eastman School of Music, and the Grigoryan Brothers Guitar Duo. All concerts are free and will take place both in person at the West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church (health conditions permitting) and online. Learn more here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Today marks one year since pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher died in Baltimore, Maryland, at the age of 92. A child prodigy, Fleisher performed at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 16.

But it was the Cleveland Orchestra with which the pianist formed the strongest relationship. Fleisher became known for his outstanding recordings with the Orchestra and George Szell from the 1950s and 60s — particularly the concertos of Beethoven and Brahms. Listen to his recording of Beethoven’s five piano concertos here.

Focal dystonia in his right hand created a major setback for the pianist in the 1960s, but Fleisher persevered, turning to one-handed works like Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand. His career path expanded into conducting and teaching, and he eventually made a triumphant return to two-handed playing in the 1990s.

Fleischer returned to Cleveland time and time again, resulting in the longest relationship of any visiting artist with the Orchestra. In 2013, he took to the podium for a performance of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture and Beethoven’s second and third piano concertos. His student Jonathan Biss stepped in to replace Mitsuko Uchida, a testament to Fleisher’s teaching legacy.

In our interview before that concert, Biss (pictured below left, with Fleisher) said of his former teacher: “He really has earned his legend. Not through any razzle dazzle or publicity, but just because he is so inarguably great.”

Photo by Roger Mastroianni

by Stephanie Manning

IN THE NEWS:

The Sphinx Organization has announced pianist Michelle Cann, violinist Randall Goosby, and soprano Karen Slack as the recipients of the 2022 Sphinx Medals of Excellence. These three acclaimed musicians will receive a career grant of $50,000. Cann, who recently performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, said that “With this award, I hope to inspire and motivate new generations of musicians by celebrating and advancing works by great Black composers.” Read more here.

EVENTS TODAY:

The Kent Blossom Music Festival concludes tonight at 7:30 pm with members of The Cleveland Orchestra, who will present an evening of chamber music in Ludwig Recital Hall. The first half of the concert will feature Joela Jones (accordion), Yun-Ting Lee (violin), and Richard Weiss (cello) in arrangements of works by Handel, Puccini, Seiber, Morricone, and Piazzolla. In the second half, an eight-piece wind ensemble will perform Mozart’s Serenade in c, K. 388. Click here for tickets & here for link to the free live stream.

INTERESTING READS:

Ever wonder why “moon” and “book” don’t rhyme? Or why we say “unhappy,” but not “unsad”? Check out these two articles on the oddities of the English language from Literary Hub and Aeon.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

July 28 marks the death of a titan of Baroque music: Johann Sebastian Bach, who died in Leipzig, Germany in 1750.

A prolific composer, Bach left behind more than a thousand surviving works, many of them staples in both modern and historical performances. As his eyesight declined in the late 1740s, the composer put the finishing touches on one of his most famous pieces — one he had started working on decades earlier.

In 1724, Bach wrote the first piece that would later become a part of the Mass in b minor, but he didn’t complete the work until the last few years of his life. Though parts of it were performed in Bach’s lifetime, it was not until 1859 — more than a century after his death — that the complete work was first performed in Leipzig. Enjoy this Grammy-winning recording by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra here.

Sir Georg Solti conducted that performance in 1990, but since 2010, the Chicago Symphony has been led by Riccardo Muti (pictured), who turns 80 today. Before his current appointment with Chicago, the acclaimed Italian conductor was music director at La Scala and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Muti is a specialist in the music of Verdi. ​​“Each of Verdi’s operas expresses human nature in such a profound way that we often recognize ourselves in Verdi’s characters,” he said in an interview. “That’s why Verdi will always be of the moment, and he will never become old-fashioned.” Listen to him conduct the CSO in Act 2, Scene 2 of Aida on YouTube.

And on July 28, 1951, the film with the most songs of any Disney feature was released — Alice in Wonderland. Though now regarded as a classic, the film was initially met with a lackluster reception, leading Decca Records to decide against releasing a soundtrack album.

Five years later, the newly formed Disneyland Records and producer Tutti Camarata set out to record a new, non-soundtrack version of the score. Camarata, who arranged and conducted the music, assembled an orchestra and chorus to create this recording (pictured), which was released in 1957. The 13-song album stars child actress Darlene Gillespie, who gives a wonderful performance as Alice. Learn more about that story here, and listen to the album on Spotify.

by Stephanie Manning

INTERESTING READS:

In light of recent attacks against the Asian American community, prominent Asian classical musicians are speaking out in two recent articles in the New York Times.

In “A Violinist on How to Empower Asian Musicians,” Jennifer Koh (pictured) calls on the classical music industry to do better when it comes to artists of Asian descent. The renowned soloist, who graduated from Oberlin, details her experience as an Asian American woman in classical music, writing: “It is highly misleading to say that Asian Americans are overrepresented in what remains an overwhelmingly white and male field.” Read the full article here.

And in “Asian Composers Reflect on Careers in Western Classical Music,” Tan Dun, Du Yun, Bright Sheng, Unsuk Chin, and Huang Ruo discuss both their shared experiences and individual stories from their time in the Western classical world. Two of the five artists, Du Yun and Huang Ruo, are also graduates of Oberlin Conservatory. Read these powerful interviews here.

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

On this day in 1882, Richard Wagner‘s opera Parsifal premiered in Bayreuth, Germany. The German composer’s last completed opera, Parsifal (or Parzifal, as it was originally spelled) is based on an epic poem from the 13th century that tells the story of the knight Parzifal and his search for the Holy Grail.

This was the first work Wagner composed specifically for the acoustic of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, which had opened seven years earlier. This year, in partnership with Deutsche Grammophon, the Bayreuth Festival will stream its 2016 performance of Parsifal online for free on August 10. Learn more here.

One of the many orchestral conductors to record the music from Parsifal was Serge Koussevitzky (pictured), who was born on this date in 1874. Listen to his Boston Symphony Orchestra recording of the “Prelude” from Act I and “Good Friday Spell” from Act III here.

These recordings were made during the Russian-American conductor’s final years with the Orchestra, which he led from 1924 to 1949. His tenure was an exciting time of change, as the conductor commissioned works from major composers such as Stravinsky (Symphony of Psalms), Hindemith, Barber, and Copland.

Before his conducting career, however, Koussevitzky was a double-bassist who performed as principal bass at the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra. He also gave solo recitals around Europe, and his repertoire included his own double bass concerto, composed in 1902. Listen to a performance by Luis Cabrera Martin and the Netherlands Philharmonic here.

Born in Berkeley, CA on this date in 1921, oboist John de Lancie (pictured) is well-known for his 30-year tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra. However, his path to get there was not without detours — while serving as principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony, he was drafted into the army during World War II.

While in Germany, de Lancie repeatedly visited Richard Strauss in the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and suggested the composer write an oboe concerto. Strauss initially refused, but published one soon after, which is widely regarded as one of the best solo oboe works of the 20th century. The autograph of the score bears the inscription “Oboe Concerto – 1945 – suggested by an American soldier.” Read more about that story here. 

After returning to America, de Lancie joined Philadelphia as second oboe and succeeded Marcel Tabuteau — his former teacher — as principal when Tabuteau retired. He remained in that position for 23 years, from 1954 to 1977, before passing off the seat to his student Richard Woodhams — extending the Tabuteau oboe lineage into the next generation.