by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
Tonight at 8 pm, ChamberFest Cleveland presents Canadian violinist Kerson Leong in “Phenomenon.” He’ll play solo works by Francisco Tárrega, Alessandro Marcello, Eugène Ysaÿe, Agustín Barrios, and Johann Sebastian Bach. A social hour with CFC artistic directors and musicians begins at 7 in Dunham Tavern.
INTERESTING READ:
Interview with Conductor Ryan Wigglesworth On What The Classical Music World Is Now (The Guardian)
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Composer Richard Strauss was born on June 11 in 1864 in Munich, an anniversary date he shares with Polish composer and pianist Alexander Tansmann (1897 in Lodz), American composer George Frederick McKay (1899 in Harrington, WA) and American opera composer Carlysle Floyd (1926 in Latta, SC). The sole departure was French organist and composer Théodore Dubois in Paris in 1924 at the age of 86.
We all can probably name half a dozen Strauss works without really thinking about it, but here’s a lesser-known but very beautiful piece that deserves more attention. Strauss’ Die Tagezeiten (“Times of Day”) written for the 1928 centenary of Schubert’s death, sets four poems by Joseph Eichendorff for male chorus and orchestra. Follow along with the score in a performance by the Ernst-Senff Choir and the Dresden Philharmonic.
Unless you’re native of the Pacific Northwest, you may not be aware of the music of McKay, who spent most of his prolific career in the Seattle area. Click here to listen to his Suite on 16th Century Hymn Tunes, originally composed in 1946 for organ, then arranged for string orchestra the following year. CIM graduate John McLaughlin Williams conducts the National Radio Orchestra of Ukraine, in the 1962 version for double string orchestra and celesta.
And if you’re a connoisseur of sentimental 19th century French church music, you’ll probably be familiar with Dubois’ Seven Last Words, but possibly unaware (as I was) of numerous other works by this conservative composer. He occupied several important church and educational positions, but was finally nudged into early retirement from the Conservatoire for conniving to derail the careers of progressives like Ravel.
But try out his 1909 Dixtuor (Dectet) for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon, two Violins, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass (1909) as performed by the Orchestre Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth, conducting.
