by Daniel Hathaway
WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:
The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society always launches its new season with a Showcase Concert, but this time around, there will be no audience present in Silver Hall at the Maltz Performing Arts Center for the Saturday evening event. Register for a free live stream invitation instead.
On Sunday, Apollo’s Fire holds its first online benefit, “Go For Baroque,” link to be supplied with a donation, cellist Simon Housner plays a solo recital on the Sacred Heart Series in Oberlin, guest carillonneur Keiran Cantilena plays a recital on the McGaffin Carillon in University Circle, and pianist Daniel Shapiro opens the Music from the Western Reserve series — as well as launching his season-long expedition through all 32 of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas — with a virtual recital pre-recorded from Christ Church in Hudson. Details in the Concert Listings.
INTERESTING READS FROM ENGLAND:
Bachtrack editor Mark Pullinger reflects on the long-term effects of free, live streamed concerts during the pandemic. Read Free streaming: lifeline or noose? here.
It’s not about music, but still thought-provoking. The Guardian commissioned GPT-3, “OpenAI’s powerful new language generator, to write an essay for us from scratch. The assignment? To convince us robots come in peace.” Read Robot Wrote This Article here.
THIS WEEKEND’S ALMANAC:
On September 12, 1764, French composer and music theorist Jean Philippe Rameau died in Paris at the age of 80. It was only after he turned 50 that he began writing the operas that have been the main source of his place in history. Watch a 2003 video of his Les Boréades performed by Les Arts Florissants at the Opéra National de Paris in 2003, and a concert of suites from his dramatic works played by Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations at Versailles in 2011.
Rameau also wrote solo music for the harpsichord, chamber works, and religious music. In April, 2018, Cleveland’s Les Délices joined Scott Metcalfe and his Boston ensemble Blue Heron in a program at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights that featured several of Rameau’s motets. Here are three selections from In Convertendo: “Laudate nomen Dei,” “Euntes ibant,” and “Tunc repletum est.”
And Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich was born on September 12, 1906 (Old Style dating) in St. Petersburg. The Cleveland Orchestra has played his symphonies many times over the decades, but let’s suggest two historic recordings led by Artur Rodzinski: Symphony No. 1 (undated in this posting), and No. 5 (recorded February 22, 1942 in Severance Hall).
On September 13, 1819, German pianist, composer, and teacher Clara Wieck was born in Leipzig, later to marry Robert Schumann, whose works eclipsed her own. Watch a recent concert by the Dana Piano Trio that featured her own piano trio.
Also born on September 13, but in 1917 in Cleveland, composer Robert Ward was most celebrated for his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1961 opera The Crucible, based on the play by Arthur Miller. In 2011, at the age of 93, Ward journeyed to Sarasota Opera to hear a production of the work, and talked about it in a video interview.
And on September 13, 1977, conductor Leopold Stokowski died at the age of 95 in the English village of Nether Wallop. Watch a BBC4 video documentary of his long career, and enjoy a recording of his own transcriptions of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition played by The Cleveland Orchestra under the late Oliver Knussen.