by Jarrett Hoffman
SALONERA SEASON 2:
In the language of the television industry — not a strange comparison considering the pandemic-era broadcasts of classical music organizations — there is reason to celebrate, because Les Délices has picked up SalonEra for a second season.
From September to April, Les Délices will release twelve episodes that, in trademark form, will bring together conversation, performance, and a diverse slate of emerging and established musicians.
Among the eclectic themes and repertoire set to be covered: “insights from living composers who take cues from their Baroque Era forebears, an homage to 17th-cent. Mexican nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a deep-dive into the technological shifts of the turn of the 16th century, and much more.” Read the press release here.
TONIGHT IN PERSON & ONLINE:
The Cleveland International Piano Competition kicks off at 7pm with its free Opening Ceremony hosted by Yaron Kohlberg and Zsolt Bognár, allowing you to meet the 26 contestants and hear a performance by 2016 First Prize winner Nikita Mndoyants.
And the Verona Quartet and pianist Scott Cuellar will have the honor of giving Oberlin’s first in-person concert in nearly 16 months. Their 7:30 program in Stull Recital Hall — which will also be streamed — includes music by Puccini, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Ernst Krenek, and Grażyna Bacewicz.
Links and details in our Concert Listings.
TODAY’S ALMANAC, WITH SHERLOCK HOLMES:
On this day last year, we honored several noted classical musicians who were born or died on July 7th in history, including Gustav Mahler, Giovanni Bottesini, Gian-Carlo Menotti, and Leo Sowerby.
This time around, we’ll step into another artistic discipline for a moment, as a gateway into film and television music. The starting point is British writer (and physician) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who died on July 7, 1930, and who is best known for dreaming up the character of that detective known for his wonderfully ridiculous abilities of logic and deduction.
Sherlock Holmes inspired a large output from Conan Doyle — 4 novels and 56 short stories — and still much more from the hands of other creative people ever since, spanning several media. In fact, the Guinness World Records announced in 2012 that Holmes had achieved — yes — a world record, having been depicted in film and television 254 times (besting Shakespeare’s Hamlet by 48).
That also means an astounding amount of music inspired by the prickly yet delightful character of Holmes and his adventures that never fail to sink their teeth into you, derailing whatever else you might have planned to do with your day.
On that note, the aptly named publication Den of Geek has done the world a favor by rounding up a long list of YouTube videos with music from the many, many Sherlock films and TV shows.
Some highlights? The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes (1970) has to be included, thanks to its unique scoring by Miklós Rózsa, that great composer of both film and concert music. The extended violin solo a couple of minutes in is a particular treat — and is of course fitting for the Stradivarius-playing detective.
Patrick Gowers is responsible for the excellent theme to the TV series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (starring the celebrated Jeremy Brett), which ran from the mid-‘80s to mid-‘90s. Gowers captures a keen sense of intrigue that now feels very Holmes, and that has inspired the music of some of the more contemporary screen adaptations, including the spectacular BBC series Sherlock (2010-2017).
In the theme to that recent show — its earworm of a main melody coming in at the 1:49 mark — composers David Arnold and Michael Price hone in not only on mystery, but also on the humorous flavor of Holmes’ (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Watson’s (Martin Freeman) gallivanting adventures around modern-day London in this take on the story.
Finally, who doesn’t like some good, fun camp? Check out 1959’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, where composer James Bernard embraces horror in a way that should make you smile.
