by Daniel Hathaway
TODAY’S AGENDA:
First, an update: the No Exit concert announced for this evening at Praxis Fiber Workshop has been cancelled due to COVID concerns.
Otherwise on Saturday, Cleveland Orchestra Holiday Concerts will begin at 2:30 and 7:30 pm at Severance Music Center. 2:30 Oberlin events include the Oberlin Chamber Singers in Fairchild Chapel and the Verona Quartet in Kulas Recital Hall. Cleveland Opera Theater will take its Amahl production to Old Stone Church on Public Square at 7, and at the same hour, Local 4 of the Musicians Union will present “Classic, New, Borrowed & Blue II” at SPACES, and Summit Choral Society will sing by candlelight at St. Bernard’s Church in Akron.
On Sunday, you can catch repeat performances of Holiday Concerts by The Cleveland Orchestra at 2:30 and 7:30, and Cleveland Opera Theater’s Amahl at 3 in Rocky River. Also at 3, Oberlin faculty organist Mark Edwards will play Baroque Christmas from 17th and 18th century Germany, Italy, and France on the new Paul Fritts organ in First Lutheran, Lorain, and at 4, Arts Renaissance Tremont will host Burning River Brass (pictured) at St. Wendelin Church. The Oberlin Musical Union — the second oldest choral organization in the U.S. — will end the weekend with a collage of masterworks at 7:30 in Finney Chapel.
Details in our Concert Listings.
NEWS BRIEFS:
Oberlin Conservatory has named the winners of its inaugural Peter Takács Beethoven Prize in Piano competition, held on December 4 and 5 in Finney Chapel. They include second-year pianist Ho Ting (Kelvin) Tang, (first prize and an award of $5,000), fourth-year student Leo Choi (second prize and $1,000), and third-year student Guoanni (Annie) Qin (third prize and $500). Read the story by Erich Burnett here.
INTERESTING READS:
Did you know that in mid-career Charles Dickens wrote four other Christmas books besides A Christmas Carol? Click here to read a story in The Guardian about the others, including Cricket on the Hearth, now being promoted by London’s Dickens Museum in conjunction with a first-time display of John Leech’s sketches for the book. “It’s quite a lovely, homely romance story, that was also extremely popular. It’s quite fairytale-like,” said curator Emily Smith.
While acknowledging the popularity of A Christmas Carol due to the originality of its plot, Dickens’ great-great-great granddaughter and author Lucinda Hawksley said, “the others are also definitely worth reading – and they were written by Dickens to be celebrated in the same way…to be read with your family over the Christmas period, around the fire, and probably to be read out loud.”
Now that’s a lovely way to celebrate that doesn’t involve staring at a screen. But failing a family reading, the next best thing might be to hear the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral reading Cricket in front of his fire with a pot of tea nearby and the decanal cat at his feet. Click here.
CHRISTMAS JAZZ FOR YOU:
Tri-C JazzFest has curated a playlist of 50 tracks that can enhance three hours and fourteen minutes worth of your holiday activities this Christmas. Among other jazz legends, the mix includes performances by Charlie Parker, Diana Krall, Ella Fitzgerald, Vince Guaraldi, and Take 6. Access Christmas Jazz to Keep you Warm here.
THIS WEEKEND’S ALMANAC:
We could raise a glass to several events in classical music history this weekend, but since it’s a busy time of year, let’s stick to one first performance that suggested itself through the Oberlin Musical Union’s playlist for its Sunday evening concert of excerpts from choral masterworks.
Although commissioned by Serge Koussevitsky for the Boston Symphony, Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms received its first performance in Belgium by the Société Philharmonique de Bruxelles on December 13, 1930, followed by the American premiere a week later on December 19 by the BSO and the chorus of the Cecilia Society (prepared by Arthur Fiedler!) Koussevitzky had an orchestral work in mind, but Stravinsky had long been contemplating a work for chorus and orchestra. The piece is remarkable for the predominance of wind instruments — the only strings are cellos and basses.
Stravinsky was on the podium for a recording made in Paris with the Orchestre des Concerts Straram and the Alexis Vlassov Choir in February, 1931 (listen here), but there are a number of other recordings with different takes on the striking piece. Here’s one led by Riccardo Muti, obviously recorded in Italy but with no mention of who the performing forces are (La Scala?).