Search Results for: close encounters

by Jarrett Hoffman

TODAY’S ALMANAC:

Louis Spohr (1784) and Herbert von Karajan (1908) might be the biggest birthdays to celebrate today. But another historical figure — French instrument maker Sébastien Érard, born on this date in 1752 in Strasbourg — offers up the possibility of a tantalizing tangent, and who can say no to that?

First, the background, which is interesting in itself: Érard is famous for making several important innovations for the harp and the piano. Those included a double escapement mechanism allowing for faster repetition of notes on the piano, and a double-action pedal harp which made it easier to change keys. In the first year following that popular advancement — a mechanism still used by modern harp manufacturers — he reportedly made £25,000 (in one conversion, over two million dollars by today’s standards).

A few other interesting tidbits: Érard was the first instrument maker in Paris to fit pedals on the piano, and not just the usual pedals we have today. His instruments (like others in Europe) had several, including a bassoon pedal, which brought leather into contact with the strings to create a buzzing sound. Finally, among the musicians who owned Érard pianos were Beethoven, Chopin, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Verdi, Ravel, and Liszt — who was for a time sponsored by Érard.

Now, onto that tasty tangent: the name Érard pops up in a very charming audio play, Elena’s Dream, in which the character of Elena travels back in time, meeting harpsichords — talking harpsichords — from various eras.

In the late 18th century, she encounters the eccentric Thomas Taskin (named after another instrument maker, Pascal Taskin). But moving into the 19th century, she finds that her harpsichord-friend Taskin has been left for dead, tossed into a storage closet at the Paris Conservatory. Harpsichords have been set aside for the new “88-keyed monster” (Thomas Taskin’s words), the piano.

That is, until 1892, when the closet door opens, and Taskin finds himself carried to a stage, cleaned, repaired, and set side by side with a grand piano — Érard. Bickering and name-calling ensue, back and forth between the two proud personalities.

A large audience arrives, and the keyboardist Louis Diémer steps onstage, explaining his “passion for historic instruments” before giving the world premiere of something rare: a “modern” piece for harpsichord, Francis Thomé’s Rigodon (recorded here by Elaine Funaro, like all the harpsichord pieces in the play).

Then Diémer switches over to the piano for Ravel’s Jeux d’eau (recorded by Randall Love). Taskin and Érard earn each other’s admiration and respect — and even get a little flirty in Eric Love’s hilarious writing and voice acting.

Listen to the whole play here (scroll to the very bottom), or watch a video reading of the children’s book which the play evolved into, The Harpsichord Diaries, which adds in beautiful illustrations (Andrea Love) and haiku (Funaro). You can also learn more about both of these projects in a story from Early Music America focusing on the talented family trio of Funaro, Eric, and Andrea.

TODAY ON THE WEB:

Several virtual options across the globe today: a Holy Week Festival from St. John’s Smith Square and Tenebrae, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion from Tokyo via Virtual Circle, 92nd St. Y’s celebration of Mimouna, and CMS Lincoln Center’s exploration of Pablo Casals. See our Concert Listings for details.

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:

The second streamed event in Music From the Western Reserve’s season features Cleveland Orchestra Principal Horn Nathaniel Silberschlag and fourteen of his friends. Read a preview of the Sunday broadcast here.

Also during these two days: No Exit sponsors a concert by Boston’s Transient Canvas, Oberlin Stage Left continues its pre-recorded large ensemble performances, the Kent State Orchestra goes digital for its first outing, and Heights Arts moves its “‘Not Too Close’ Encounters 20th Anniversary Birthday Concert” into the great outdoors. Consult our Concert Listings for times and connection details.

INTERESTING NEWS, READS, AND VIDEO INTERVIEWS:

The New York Times will run an article by David Allen about The Cleveland Orchestra’s new recording initiatives in its Sunday print edition (online readers may already have perused it here).

The only musician named in the most recent round of McArthur Fellowships is three-time Grammy-winning jazz singer Cecile McLorin Salvant, already the recipient of a Doris Artist Duke Award. Read the Musical America article here.

Another Musical America recommendation is a One on One video conversation with Detroit Symphony President and CEO Anne Parsons. She talks about “how the DSO has been adapting to the pandemic, from streaming its archives in the spring, to live outdoor concerts in the summer, to the current concerts on the stage of an empty Orchestra Hall, conducted by new Music Director Jader Bignamini.” Watch on demand here.

THIS WEEKEND’S ALMANAC:

Italian opera composer Giuseppi Verdi was born either on October 9 or 10 of 1813 in Parma. Remember both the composer and the prisoners at the Nazi concentration camp in Theresienstadt, who were compelled by their captors to perform Verdi’s Requiem sixteen times in 1944 before being sent to Auschwitz. CityMusic Cleveland sponsored a special Yom ha-Sho’ah performance at the Maltz Performing Arts Center on May 2, 2019 led by James Gaffigan.

Russian-Southern Ural composer Lera Auerbach was born on October 10, 1973 in Chelyabinsk. Auerbach played a solo recital on CIM’s Mixon Masters Series in September, 2013, and Kellen Degnan and April Sun played her 24 Preludes for violoncello and piano in Mixon Hall at CIM in November, 2017 (watch here). And just before the pandemic hit, the Jasper String Quartet played her Frozen Dreams on the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival in March, 2020.

We remembered the death of Canadian-American composer R. Nathaniel Dett in the October 2 Diary. He was born on October 11, 1882 in Drummondville, Ontario.

Austrian symphonist Anton Bruckner died in Vienna on October 11, 1896 at the age of 72. Watch a video of George Szell leading Bruckner’s 3rd Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic in June, 1963 (Bruckner starts at 49:30), and watch a Cleveland Orchestra promotional video for the 5-DVD boxed set of recordings of Nos. 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 recorded live at Severance Hall, the Wiener Musikverein, and St. Florian’s Abbey between 2006 and 2012 with Franz Welser-Möst at the helm.

And for something lighter, mark the birth of the late Italian film composer Ennio Morricone on October 11, 1928 (or it might have been October 10) with this April, 2019 Trinity Cathedral Brownbag Concert performance of “Gabriel’s Oboe” from The Mission. Stephanie Cohn is the soloist.