by Jarrett Hoffman
HALLOWEEN…CONTINUED
If you still have your carved pumpkin sitting out — even as it begins to rot out — maybe you’re not quite ready to let go of All Hallows’ Eve. (Understandably, as the calendar now gets more stressful with Election Day and holidays that potentially bring family gatherings.) With the help of Northeast Ohio’s classical music organizations, here are a few suggestions to hold onto the Halloween spirit.
Les Délices gives us two options. First, today is the last call for their season-opening video production “Bewitched.” (Read our preview and review, and get tickets here.) Second, their SalonEra series continues tonight at 7:30 pm with a “Schubertiade” themed around the supernatural, including Schubert’s Die Erlkönig. More info here.
Spooky adjectives get tossed around a lot during this season, but if there’s a piece of music that’s truly spine-tingling, it’s Die Erlkönig. So here’s another rendition: a duo arrangement featuring Akron Symphony musicians Dianna Joiner (violin) and Patrick Miller (viola) as part of the “ASO at Home” series. Watch on Facebook.
Here’s a true Halloween classic, courtesy of Cleveland Orchestra principal keyboardist Joela Jones: J.S. Bach’s Toccata in d from BWV 565. Watch here — and if you get a kick out of her costume, take a look at these priceless pictures of other Cleveland Orchestra musicians from over the years, including the “mighty morphin” horn section up above.
Looking for something that relates more to the scariness of real life? Apollo’s Fire has extended the run of its “Music for Troubled Times” production, which reflects on the plague of London in 1665 and the outbreaks of cholera and dysentery at the end of the American Civil War. Read our review here, and get tickets here.
BIG NEWS FROM THE BOP STOP:
The Bop Stop is one of twenty of the country’s small venues that were recently selected to receive a grant from the Live Music Society. Pete Muller, the founder and board chairman of that new philanthropic organization, said in a statement:
There are small venues around the country that create soul-filling experiences for their audiences, staff, and for the local and touring musicians that play there. These clubs are a precious and important part of our nation’s music ecosystem, and our goal is to help them continue to be excellent at what they do.
Read more in the Variety article here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Let’s start with two birthday anniversaries on this date in the 18th century: Austrian violinist and important Classical Era composer Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf in 1739, and Russian diplomat and famous Beethoven patron Andrey Razumovsky in 1752. Jumping to the 20th century, American composer and Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Moravec entered the world on this day in 1957.
Here’s one listening recommendation that connects to the area, and that fits into our nostalgia for two days ago: the strange, eerie, and perhaps even frightening first movement of Beethoven’s second “Razumovsky” Quartet. It’s played by the Miró Quartet (founded at Oberlin Conservatory in 1995) as part of their complete survey of that composer’s string quartets, released last year. Listen here on Spotify. (And read our review of the recording here.)