by Daniel Hathaway
TODAY’S EVENTS:
Organist Jonathan Moyer devotes his Tuesday Noon Advent Series recital at the Church of the Covenant to music by J.S. Bach: the Six “Schubler” Chorales — all arrangements by the composer of his own cantata movements, plus the little Duetto II that found its way along with three other two-part pieces into the Clavierübung III, and the C-Major Prelude and Fugue, BWV 545. It’s free. (Lunchtime Holiday Carillon concerts resume on Wednesday at 12:15.)
Burning River Brass takes its Holiday program to the Federated Church in Chagrin Falls tonight at 7. Tickets are available online.
Details in our Concert Listings.
NEWS BRIEFS:
Earlier this month, the finals of the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition were held at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. Among the eight semifinalists was Cleveland native Samuel Rosenthal (pictured), who eventually took home second prize in the prestigious contest established in 1979 and named for viola virtuoso William Primrose. He currently studies with Heidi Castleman and Hsin-Yun Huang at the Juilliard School.
The San Francisco Conservatory has announced a new collaborative project with the National Brass Ensemble, whose artistic director is Cleveland Orchestra principal trumpet Michael Sachs. The ensemble, which draws brass and percussion players from major American orchestras, last came together in 2014. Part of the NBE’s Summer Academy for students, scheduled for June 13-20, events will include a live concert on June 20 in Davies Symphony Hall.
Sachs said, “We’ll be performing and recording new works written especially for us by Aaron Jay Kernis, Jonathan Bingham, and Arturo Sandoval, and a new Richard Wagner Ring compilation arrangement.
“In addition to these performed works, this time we will be interacting with a group of brass, percussion, and timpani students especially chosen through auditions to participate in a comprehensive menu of educational events including panel discussions, lectures, intimate masterclass settings, instrument specific subject matter classes, as well as interactive readings of chamber music, music of Giovanni Gabrieli, and standard orchestral repertoire.” Read a press release here.
LIVE AT CMA:
Trinity Cathedral associate organist and Baldwin Wallace faculty member Nicole Keller will bring live concerts back to Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Sunday, January 9 at 2:00 pm with a free recital of music by J.S. Bach, Calvin Hampton, Rayner Brown, Hindemith, Mozart, and Florence Price.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
The Winter Solstice is scheduled for today at 10:58 am in the Northern Hemisphere. Despite a recent run of blazingly sunny days, this moment marks the point when we northerners are tilted as far away from the sun as possible, producing a Tuesday with the shortest daylight and longest night of the year. Just the thing to warm our hearts as the latest episode of the COVID-19 saga unfolds.
Given no alternative, we might as well enjoy our mutual planetary experience today, and as usual, music comes to the rescue.
Click here to listen to the carol commissioned for the 1998 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge. Gile Swayne set his own English text in his Winter Solstice Carol (it alternates with familiar Latin phrases from the Christmas Day antiphon to the Magnificat):
Now, at the dead end of the year,
The nights are long, the days are cold;
We cry for help, but who will hear?
The sky is dumb: our gods are tired and old.
Hodie Christus natus est:
Hodie Salvator apparuit…
Our world spins round its dying star,
Poisoned by folly, fear, and greed;
And in our darkest hour of need
We dream sweet dreams of rescue from afar.
Hodie in terra canunt Angeli,
Laetantur Archangeli…
But now the old year is reborn:
The withered tree springs new and green.
A baby’s laughter greets the dawn:
Today love’s oldest miracle is seen.
Hodie exsultant justi…
Gloria in excelsis Deo,
Alleluia.
Or if you’d like to spend more time contemplating the Solstice, click here to watch Sting’s A Winter’s Night, broadcast live from England’s Durham Cathedral in 2009. The comments are exuberant, and “magical” is the most-used word to describe this 90-minute concert.
Intro (Sting/A Winter’s Night Concert) 00:00 02. The Snow It Melts The Soonest 01:54 03. Gabriel’s Message 05:42 04. Soul Cake 09:15 05. There Is No Rose Of Such Virtue 15:21 06. Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming 20:10 07. Christmas At Sea 24:53 08. Now Winter Comes Slowly 30:42 09. Cold Song 33:54 10. The Burning Babe 38:24 11. Ghost Story 42:34 12. Team Spirit 47:38 13. The Hounds Of Winter 51:40 14. Cherry Tree Carol 58:37 15. Balulalow 01:02:56 16. Bethelehem Down 01:07:08 17. Coventry Carol 01:10:41 18. Lullaby For An Anxious Child 01:14:10 19. I Saw Three Ships 01:20:46 20. You Only Cross My Mind In Winter 01:25:41
