Review: Terry & Kong

Lisa Terry, viola da gamba
Joanne Kong, harpsichord
Jan. 30, University of Richmond

by Francis Church
guest reviewer

J.S. Bach’s three sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord are rarely heard together, and even more rarely in their original instrumentation. Usually, one or another is played on cello, the viola da gamba’s modern successor, and piano, and programmed as a warmup for Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy or whomever.

Such was the case some years back when cellist James Wilson and pianist Joanne Kong opened a recital in the University of Richmond’s Camp Concert Hall with the second of these sonatas, in D major.

Such was not the case in this program, in which Kong, at the harpsichord, was joined by Lisa Terry on the viola da gamba. And the twosome essayed all three of these sonatas in one fell swoop without intermission (but with some enlightening commentary thrown in).

The performance was an eye- and ear-opener. With the lighter texture of both of these instruments, the sonatas were like quicksilver instead of gold. The players were perfectly in balance, a difficult task when they are played on modern instruments. Terry negotiated the seven strings of the viola da gamba with remarkable ease and plenty of smiles. Kong, who has given us such harpsichord masterpieces as Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” was the ever faithful collaborator.

While the gamba sonatas may lack the intellectual firepower of the six suites for solo cello, which are more frequently performed, they nonetheless have a charm of their own that make them more accessible to the average audience. Last night’s audience was hardly average; one could detect many early music buffs in the sizeable crowd.

The sonatas, especially the first in G major, and the second, have plenty of musical and intellectual fodder, especially Bach’s signature counterpoint, in each of their four movements. The third, in G minor, is somewhat weaker, more in the form of a concerto in its three movements, as Kong explained. It was indeed a technical tour de force that left one’s tongue and ears wagging.

Especially poignant was the third slow movement of the first sonata, which one observer has noted, depicts Jesus’ ascent to Calvary. One never could quite pluck Bach’s Christian faith from his musical output. Nor, as last night’s recital revealed, could one extract Bach’s joy in music. Kong and Terry exploited both in a delightful hour and a quarter of music-making that seemed far shorter.

Francis Church, retired music critic of The Richmond News Leader, is a cellist and avid chamber music lover and player.

Review: Richmond Symphony

Steven Smith conducting
Jan. 29, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland

The Richmond Symphony has a history with the music of John Adams. George Manahan, the orchestra’s third music director (1987-99), secured his appointment, in part, with a surprisingly well-received reading of Adams’ “Shaker Loops.” The symphony made its debut at Washington’s Kennedy Center in a performance of Adams’ “Harmonium” in 1988. And, in 1995, it was one of the first regional orchestras to take on the composer’s fiendishly challenging Chamber Symphony.

With its current music director, Steven Smith, the ensemble revisited the Adams symphony in a Metro Collection concert over the weekend. Few veterans of the 1995 performance remain on the orchestra’s roster, but they surely remember that first go; they were no doubt gratified to be part of a much more accomplished rendition this time around.

Adams’ Chamber Symphony, introduced in 1992, was inspired by the 1906 work of the same name by Arnold Schoenberg and by the composers who scored the now-classic cartoons of the 1940s, ’50s and early ’60s, notably Carl Stalling, whose frenetic, wildly inventive scores graced the Looney Tunes animations.

The Schoenberg influence can be heard in Adams’ musical textures; the energy level and often wacky instrumental voicings harken back to Stalling. The jazzy rhythmic character of this piece, and others by Adams (among them, “The Chairman Dances,” the symphonic foxtrot the symphony will play in a forthcoming Masterworks program), are a kind of family inheritance – the composer’s father was a clarinetist who played in jazz and swing bands.

Smith led an energetic performance that did full justice to the intricate combinations and exchanges of instrumental voices, cross-rhythms and perilous balances of the Adams score. Concertmaster Diana Cohen paced a quartet of the orchestra’s principal string players in sizzling fiddle figurations. Wind and brass players chirped and crooned, often at breakneck tempos and in odd time signatures. Russell Wilson, playing electronic keyboard, and the symphony’s percussionists made true grooves of Adams’ jazz rhythms.

Smith and the orchestra pulled off another balancing act in Samuel Barber’s “Capricorn” Concerto (1944), in which a string orchestra supports solos and ensemble playing by flute, oboe and trumpet. Rolla Durham reined in his trumpet to complement the projection and tonal qualities of Mary Boodell’s flute and Shawn Welk’s oboe, while the conductor obtained robust yet bright sonorities from the strings. The sunny character of the piece came through, and with more sonic brilliance than might have been expected in the dry acoustic of Randolph-Macon’s Blackwell Auditorium.

The 20th century gave way to the 18th in the program’s second half, highlighted by a lithe and bracing reading of Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D major, the “Haffner,” one of the works with which the composer introduced himself to Vienna. Smith adopted faster tempos, more crisp articulation and less plush string tone than he had in a recent performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 39. The symphony’s strings were in excellent form, pacing an energized and stylish “Haffner.”

The program also featured a rare sampling of music by Jean-Phillippe Rameau, the greatest French composer of the high baroque, in a suite of three dances from the operas “Platée” and “Les fêtes d’Hébé” arranged by the 19th-century conductor Felix Mottl. Mottl was almost faithful to Rameau’s style – he couldn’t resist adding some romanticized harmonizations to low string parts; and Smith and the orchestra brought more baroque style and sensibility than the arranger could have conceived.

'Cellopaloosa 4' at VCU

Joel Krosnick, cellist of the Juilliard String Quartet, will be the featured guest of Cellopaloosa 4, an instructional event for cellists, on Feb. 12 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Singleton Arts Center, Park Avenue at Harrison Street in Richmond’s Fan District.

The day-long event, beginning with registration at 8 a.m., will include group "cello choir” sessions led by Jason and Dana McComb, a masterclass for young cellists led by Krosnick and a lecture-demonstration by Krosnick on “The Language of Contemporary Music.” The concluding event will be a cello choir concert at 5:30 p.m.

For information on registering for Cellopaloosa, call the VCU Music Department at (804) 828-1166 or visit http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/study/strings/events/cellopaloosa/cellopaloosa4.html

Review: 'Ben Seni Variations'

Doug Richards, composer & conductor
Jan. 24, Virginia Commonwealth University

Doug Richards, the long-tenured jazz composer and bandleader based at Virginia Commonwealth University, has mined some unexpected sources in recent compositions. In 2008, Richards introduced “Expansions on ‘A Maré Encheu,’ ” a reworking of a Brazilian folk song for orchestra and children’s chorus. Last year, he premiered “Ben Seni Variations,” a modern jazz concerto grosso based on a Turkish folk song.

The premiere took place in Ankara, the Turkish capital, in celebration of the country’s first university jazz studies program, at Hacettepe University State Conservatory; the program is directed by VCU alumnus Emre Kartari.

Now, the “Ben Seni Variations” has received its U.S. premiere before a full house at VCU’s Singleton Arts Center, with the VCU Symphony Orchestra and Montreal-based Ensemble Appassionata accompanying nine soloists: Ara Topouzian, playing the kanun, a Turkish lap harp similar to a dulcimer; trumpeter-fluegelhorn player John D’earth; saxophonist Skip Gailes; pianist Bob Hallahan; guitarist Adam Larabee; vibraphonist Jon Metzger; bassist Victor Dvorkin; and drummers Howard Curtis and Emre Kartari.

“Ben Seni,” conducted by Richards, shared the program with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”), in which the VCU Symphony and Ensemble Appassionata were conducted by Daniel Myssyk.

Before Richards’ variations were played, Ayça Gunduz Kartari (drummer Kartari’s wife) sang the original tune, “Beni Seni Sevdigimi Dunyalara Bildirdim,” a plaintive or yearning romance whose modal harmonies and complex rhythms struck Richards as fertile material for extended orchestral treatment.

The variations, which run about half an hour, are elaborately orchestrated – the stage of Vlahcevic Concert Hall has rarely been so packed with musicians – and sometimes rather densely so. Much of the scoring for orchestral winds and strings was barely audible in a performance dominated by amplified, high-energy soloists. (“Beni Seni”was being recorded at the concert; the microphones presumably picked up a lot that listeners’ ears missed.)

What I could hear of the orchestration had a rather cinematic quality, with both vivid and subtle coloristic effects, and more than a few nods toward Stravinsky in its treatments of harmony and rhythm. Among the solos, Topouzian’s kanun sounded idiomatically Middle Eastern, while the other featured instruments gravitated toward “straight-ahead” modern jazz style. The most striking set of variations comes fairly late in the piece, in a lengthy exchange among the vibraphonist and two drummers.

The soloists, most of whom were reprising the parts they played in the premiere in Turkey, include several musicians who’ve long worked with Richards as students and teaching/performing colleagues. It sounds as though the composer crafted the parts played by D’earth, Gailes, Hallahan, Larabee, Dvorkin and Curtis with their personalities and musical strengths very much in mind.

Whether the piece “travels” into the hands of other solo players as well as it travels geographically and stylistically remains to be heard.

UR organ's golden anniversary

The University of Richmond will mark the 50th anniversary of the Rudolf von Beckerath organ in Cannon Memorial Chapel with a recital by UR’s faculty organist, Bruce Stevens, and two alumni, Michael Simpson and Thom Robertson, at
7:30 p.m. Feb. 10.

The program includes works by Buxtehude, Bach, Franck, Reger, Schumann, Rheinberger, Bruhns and others.

Admission is free. For more information, call the UR Music Department at (804) 289-8277.

Review: Ensemble Appassionata

Daniel Myssyk conducting
with Richard Raymond, piano
Jan. 21, Virginia Commonwealth University

Daniel Myssyk, known in these parts as conductor of the VCU Symphony Orchestra, is known in his native Canada as co-founder and music director of Ensemble Appassionata, a string orchestra based in Montreal. Later this week, Myssyk will lead his two orchestras and guests in the U.S. premiere of the “Ben Seni Variations” by VCU’s Doug Richards.

Over the weekend, Ensemble Appassionata and pianist Richard Raymond performed in the university’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts series.

Meat-and-potato repertory, long the series’ standard diet, has given way to more fibrous fare in several of this season’s Rennolds programs. This was one of them: A liver-and-kale first half of works by Paul Hindemith and the Canadian composer André Prévost, with Chopin’s “Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise brilliante” and Dvořák’s Serenade for strings as post-intermission desserts.

Raymond is one of Canada’s most celebrated pianists, and showed why in his performances of the Chopin and Hindemith’s “The Four Temperaments” (1940), introduced as a ballet score for George Ballanchine, now usually heard in its concert version, a kind of sinfonia concertante for piano and strings.

“The Four Temperaments” is a set of variations of three themes on the ancient concept of “four humors” of human personality: the melancholy, the sanguine, the phlegmatic and the choleric. Hindemith’s treatments of these qualities are, to my ears at least, deceptive and/or confusing. His notion of melancholia strikes me as rather sanguine, and his phlegmatic music sounds jolly and animated. The piece is more easily absorbed as an abstract work in neo-classical style.

Raymond reveled in its often elaborate keyboard figurations and interplay between the piano and string soloists and small ensembles; he was especially effective in the fourth, “choleric” variations’ extended conversation between piano and string quartet and quintet. The pianist also brought out the wry humor of Hindemith’s see-sawing between classical and romantic piano rhetoric. And he proved to be a fluent and sensitive interpreter of Chopin in the andante and polonaise.

Ensemble Appassionata delivered a stylish, if rather mellow, performance of the Dvořák serenade, and a concentrated and energetic reading of Prévost’s Scherzo for strings (1960), an unusually accessible example of 12-tone compositional technique driven by off-center rhythms and sliding string effects.

Daniel Myssyk conducts Ensemble Appassionata, the VCU Symphony and guests in Doug Richards’ “Ben Seni Variations” and Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony at 8 p.m. Jan. 24 in VCU’s Singleton Arts Center, Grove Avenue at Harrison Street. Tickets: $15. Details: (804) 828-6776; http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Review: Garrick Ohlsson

Jan. 18, University of Richmond

Hearing Garrick Ohlsson play Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B minor from the vantage of a fifth-row seat in Camp Concert Hall of the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center was a total immersion in piano sonority – evidently too much so for a number of patrons around me, who moved back from rows near the stage for the second half of Ohlsson’s
all-Liszt program.

The veteran pianist, who turns 64 in April, is a heavy hitter when that’s called for, as it is in parts of the sonata and much else by Liszt. But this composer also was one of piano music’s most inventive, and at times subtlest, creators of tone color, as well as a frequent employer of pregnant silence. Ohlsson consistently displayed his mastery of those qualities in Liszt, at least as impressively as he played the big chords and glittering runs.

Ohlsson’s selection of works for this recital ran the gamut, from the heavily rhetorical to the delicate, from the evocative to the abstract, from the popular to the obscure.

The sonata and “Mephisto Waltz” No. 1, positioned, respectively, as the climaxes of the first and second halves of the program, received ovations, and deserved them for being both stormily virtuosic and deeply musical. Ohlsson devoted as much care and concentration to less familiar selections, such as “The Gardens of the Villa d’Este” from Book 3 of “Années de Pèlerinage” and “Will o’ the Wisp” from the “Transcendental Etudes.”

His placement of Liszt’s transcription of Bach’s Fantasy and Fugue in G minor at the beginning of the program usefully cleansed the stereotypical image of the composer as a bombastic showman, allowing the listener to hear the following sonata as much more than a romantic finger-buster. Placing “Funérailles” from “Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses” in the second half, as a kind of echo of the sonata, was a canny trick: In fact, “Funérailles,” written three years before Liszt began the sonata, was a pre-echo of, perhaps a template for, the great work.

The programming of this recital also was a constant reminder of how aware the composer was of the music of contemporaries such as Chopin and Wagner, and how influential Liszt was, both on his peers (“Tristan und Isolde” owes more than a bit to the Sonata in B minor) and on generations that followed.

Ohlsson’s performance was as instructive as it was masterful.

Virginia Opera 2012-13

Virginia Opera will mount its first productions of Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers” and “A Streetcar Named Desire,” André Previn’s 1998 opera based on the Tennessee Williams drama, in its
2012-13 season.

The lineup also includes a holiday season staging of the operetta “Die Fledermaus” by Johann Strauss II and a spring production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” the latter with the Richmond Symphony conducted by its music director, Steven Smith. The other three productions will employ an orchestra drawn from Hampton Roads’ Virginia Symphony.

Next season’s productions are characterized by Robin Thompson, the company’s artistic advisor, as “designed to build on the momentum of Virginia Opera's rekindled artistic profile.”

* “The Pearl Fishers” will be conducted by Anne Manson, former music director of the Kansas City Symphony and current music director of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, and directed by Tazewell Thompson, both making their Virginia Opera debuts. Starring soprano Georgia Jarman as the priestess Leila, the Bizet opera will be sung in French with English captions. Performances are scheduled for Sept. 29 and Oct. 3, 5 and 7 at the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk; Oct. 12 and 14 at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax; and Oct. 19 and 21 at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage.

* “Die Fledermaus,” sung in English with captions, will be conducted by Gary Thor Wedow and directed by Dorothy Danner. Starring roles will be filled by baritone Philip Cutlip, as Eisenstein, and soprano Christina Pier, as Rosalinde. Performance dates are Nov. 10, 14, 16 and 18 in Norfolk; Nov. 23 and 25 in Richmond; and Nov. 30 and Dec. 2 in Fairfax.

* “A Streetcar Named Desire,” conducted by Ari Pelto and directed by Sam Helfrich. Kelly Cae Hogan, the soprano last heard by Virginia Opera patrons as Brünnhilde in the company’s 2011 production of Wagner’s “The Valkyrie,” will portray Blanche DuBois. “Streetcar,” sung in English with captions, will be staged on Feb. 16, 20, 22 and 24 in Norfolk; March 1 and 3 in Fairfax; and March 8 and 10 in Richmond.

* “The Marriage of Figaro,” directed by Lillian Groag, will star the Richmond-born baritone Matthew Burns in the title role. Sung in Italian with English captions, the production’s dates are April 6, 10, 12 and 14 in Norfolk; April 19 and 21 in Fairfax; and April 26 and 28 in Richmond.

For information on season subscription packages, Norfolk and Richmond patrons may call the Virginia Opera box office at (866) 673-7282. For information on Fairfax subscriptions, available April 12 and thereafter, call the GMU Center for the Arts box office at (703) 993-2787.

More information may be found at the Virginia Opera website, http://www.vaopera.org/

Gustav Leonhardt (1928-2012)

Gustav Leonhardt, the Dutch harpsichordist, organist and conductor who was one of the pioneering figures in the early music movement, has died at the age of 83. An obituary in The Telegraph (UK):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9021331/Gustav-Leonhardt.html

Emerson plays VCU in May

The Emerson String Quartet will perform in Virginia Commonwealth University’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts series on May 5 in place of violinist Leila Josefowicz, who canceled her VCU date for “personal reasons.”

The Emerson, long rated among the leading U.S. chamber ensembles, last performed in Richmond in 1996. The program for its Rennolds concert, 8 p.m. May 5 in VCU’s Singleton Arts Center, has not been announced.

Tickets already issued for Josefowicz will be honored for the Emerson date. Single tickets are $32.

For more information, call the VCU Music Department box office at (804) 828-6776, or visit http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/rennolds.html#violin

Review: Richmond Symphony

Steven Smith conducting
Jan. 14, Richmond CenterStage

One of the hardest things a symphony orchestra can do is play very quietly while maintaining balance, tonal quality, expression and projection. In that sense, the Richmond Symphony faces one of its biggest challenges of the season in accompanying classical guitarist Jason Vieaux in Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez.”

This most familiar of guitar concertos requires not just an accomplished guitarist, which Vieaux certainly is, but also extraordinary sensitivity on the part of the conductor and orchestra, lest they overwhelm the soloist. The challenge is compounded when orchestral forces are substantial enough to project into a space as large as Richmond CenterStage’s Carpenter Theatre. Even when guitar sound is amplified, as it is in this weekend’s performances, maintaining balance between soloist and orchestra is very tricky indeed.

In the first of a pair of concerts, conducting an ensemble with a nearly full-sized complement of 36 strings, Steven Smith obtained rich and colorful sound from the orchestra, but without overbalancing Vieaux. The guitarist produced comparably robust tone and consistently fine expressive touches, notably in his extended duet with English horn player Shawn Welk in the concerto’s sublime slow movement. Amplification of the guitar sounded quite natural. Altogether, it was a jewel of a performance.

The Rodrigo is the centerpiece of an unusual program for the Masterworks series, which commonly is devoted to large-scale symphonic works. Of the four works on this bill, only one, Astor Piazzolla’s “Tangazo,” is scored for a big orchestra. The balance of the program, the Rodrigo concerto, William Bolcom’s “Commedia for (almost) 18th-Century Orchestra” and Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 in E flat major, K. 543, are works ordinarily played by a chamber orchestra, as they have been played previously by the symphony, usually in small halls.

Bolcom’s “Commedia,” a sometimes startlingly comic send-up of classical-period style and orchestration (also, less obviously, an homage to Charles Ives and several other modernist musical icons), is raucous enough to fill a room the size of this hall, especially when the piece’s concertante string trio is placed in the balcony, as it is for these performances.

The Mozart symphony is made room-filling with a beefier reading than this composer’s orchestral music usually gets these days. Smith’s interpretation is not quite a throwback to pre-historically informed “big-band” Mozart, but it is more broadly paced and richer in string tone, especially bass strings, than usual. This symphony is a good choice for this kind of treatment, because its orchestration features no oboes and only one flute; its wind choir has a warm, mellow quality that goes well with full-bodied string sound.

Piazzolla, the modern master of the Argentine tango, wrote a number of orchestral concert pieces as well as smaller-scaled music made for nightclubs and dance halls. “Tangazo,” peppered with colorful and playful touches and atmospheric effects, sounds like music in search of a movie, and is given an appropriately big-screen, Technicolor reading from Smith and the orchestra.

The program repeats at 3 p.m. Jan. 15 at Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $18-$73. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

A most unwelcome distraction

New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert stops the orchestra in the midst of the finale of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony when a marimba-toned cell phone goes off, The New York Times’ Daniel J. Wakin reports:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/new-york-philharmonic-interrupted-by-chimes-mahler-never-intended/?ref=music

Shades of the night in March 2009 when a cell phone chirped, not once but twice, as the Richmond Symphony played Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question,” a profoundly quiet piece at least as easily damaged by extraneous noise as the “dying away” at the end of the Mahler Ninth. Conductor Dorian Wilson and the orchestra played on as if nothing had happened.

That’s the usual response, Gilbert tells Wakin. Remarkably, this seems to be the first time in the New York Philharmonic’s history that a conductor has stopped a performance because of disruption in the audience. It ought to be standard practice, with the offender frog-marched out of the hall.

UPDATE: Wakin tracks down the culprit, a longtime philharmonic patron, who says, “I apologize to the whole audience” . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/nyregion/ringing-finally-stopped-but-concertgoers-alarm-persists.html?hp

Alexis Weissenberg (1929-2012)

Alexis Weissenberg, the Bulgarian-born pianist famed for his formidable technique and speedy tempos, has died at the age of 82. An obituary by Margalit Fox in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/arts/music/alexis-weissenberg-pianist-of-fire-and-ice-dies-at-82.html?ref=obituaries 

Review: Chamber Music Society

Jan. 6, First Unitarian Universalist Church

Mary Boodell, the Richmond Symphony’s principal flutist and a regular participant in the programs of the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia, is one of the most versatile and venturesome musicians in town.

Playing for a society program in October, she reveled in the exotically modernistic flute techniques permeating the “Four Pre-Incan Sketches” of Gabriela Lena Frank. In the opening concert of the society’s “Winter Baroque” mini-series, Boodell, playing the old-style traverso flute, made impeccably stylish work of Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto in G minor, known as “Il Cardellino.”

Boodell joined baroque violinists Krista Bennion Feeney, Fiona Hughes and David McCormick, violist Theresa Salomon, cellist James Wilson, harpsichordist Carsten Schmidt and lutenist David Walker, playing theorbo, the long-necked bass lute, in “Red Priest,” a program presenting three works of Vivaldi alongside pieces by three of his contemporaries, Arcangelo Corelli, Francesco Geminiani and Pietro Locatelli.

Italians of the late 17th and early 18th centuries created the violin as we now know it and the first examples of virtuoso music for the instrument; so, naturally, this program centered on violins. Feeney and Hughes were featured soloists, respectively, in Locatelli’s “Introduzione Teatrale” and the “Winter” Concerto from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” and were duo partners in Vivaldi’s Trio Sonata, Op. 1, No. 12 (“La Folia”). Hughes and McCormick took on Corelli’s brief Trio Sonata in G major, known as “Ciacona.” Feeney and Boodell were concertante soloists in Geminiani’s Concerto Grosso in D major, Op. 2, No. 4.

Virtuosity was not confined to these high-register voices. Some of the evening’s most impressive fiddling came from Wilson, the society’s artistic director, in the fast-and-furious continuo cello figurations underlying much of the program’s uptempo music. Harpsichordist Schmidt contributed similar animation and extroversion, and lutenist Walker both texture and color, to the rhythm and bass lines of the selections.

Although gut-strung fiddles such as these do not project as powerfully as modern, metal-strung stringed instruments, and are trickier to tune and more prone to mishaps (such as the string that snapped on Hughes’ instrument, luckily while she was playing a supporting role in the Vivaldi Flute Concerto, rather than one of the pieces in which she was showcased), their tone and color is less homogenized than those of modern strings; so this small ensemble produced a more varied tonal palette and more vivid sound effects and atmospherics than a modern orchestra might in this music.

The Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia’s “Winter Baroque” continues with “Chaconne,” a free lecture-recital at noon Jan. 7 in the Gellman Room of the Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets; and “Agony and Ecstasy,” a program featuring the “Mystery” sonatas of Heinrich Biber, at 4 p.m. Jan. 8 at First Unitarian, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon. Tickets: $25. Details: (804) 519-2098; http://www.cmscva.org/

Symphony commemorates 1812

The Richmond Symphony will mark the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 with a special concert at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 11 at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets.

The program, conducted by Steven Smith, coincides with the opening day of the 2012 session of the Virginia General Assembly. The orchestra will play works written around or about 1812, including Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” which musically chronicles Napoleon’s invasion and retreat from Russia in the same year as the war between the United States and Great Britain.

Admission to the hour-long concert is free, but tickets are required. They may be ordered by calling the symphony’s patron services desk at (804) 788-1212 or e-mailing patronservices@richmondsymphony.com

WCVE (88.9 FM) and its affiliates will broadcast the concert shortly after 8 p.m. Jan. 11, following Gov. Bob McDonnell’s State of the Commonwealth address to the General Assembly.

Classics vs. moderns

In what they call “a striking challenge to conventional wisdom,” a team of researchers led by Claudia Fritz of the University of Paris report that a group of violinists, given six fiddles to play – two by Stradivarius, one by Guarneri and three by modern makers – couldn’t tell by sound which were classic instruments and which were modern, The Guardian’s Ian Sample reports:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jan/02/how-many-notes-violinist-stradivarius

“[T]he report of this test leaves too many questions unanswered,” writes cellist Steven Isserlis, also for The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/jan/03/stradivarius-v-modern-violins-study

From now on

You’ll have noticed the sparsity of postings here through the summer and fall. I’ve been suffering from assorted and stubborn maladies. The big ones are in large part consequences of my having sat hunched over keyboards (typewriter, then computer) for more than 40 years. To keep these ailments at bay, I need to spend less time at the computer.

While I’ll continue to produce Letter V, I’ll do so as I had planned to in the first place: Providing a comprehensive calendar of classical events in Virginia and the Washington area on the first of each month, and selectively posting news items and reviews of performances.

Selectivity got lost in the shuffle. Other local media weren’t covering a lot of noteworthy events, old habits kicked in, and pretty soon I was reviewing most of the ticketed classical performances in the Richmond area, spending three or four nights a week going to concerts and coming home to spend another couple of hours at the keyboard.

Mind and body were signaling me to ease up, I tuned out the signals, and I’ve been paying for it.

I seem to be over the worst of it now. (One doctor told me I am “approaching normality.” Hmm.) To avoid relapses, I’m going to attend and review fewer performances. I’ll be absent from some events that many readers would consider major, and will cover events that some might consider marginal or offbeat. When local presenters cluster events into a few days, as they seem to be doing with greater frequency each season, I’ll almost certainly skip some.

Regrets in advance to those whose performances I miss. I’ve learned the hard way that there are limits, and to respect those limits.

January calendar

Classical performances in and around Richmond, with selected events elsewhere in Virginia and the Washington area. Program information, provided by presenters, is updated as details become available. Adult single-ticket prices are listed; senior, student/youth, group and other discounts may be offered.

SCOUTING REPORT

* In and around Richmond: The Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia presents cellist James Wilson and friends – including four baroque violinists – in “Winter Baroque” programs of Vivaldi, Biber, Telemann, Corelli and others, Jan. 6 and 8 at First Unitarian Universalist Church, plus a free noontime program, “Chaconne,” Jan. 7 in the Gellman Room of the Richmond Public Library. . . . Classical guitarist Jason Vieaux joins Steven Smith and the Richmond Symphony for Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” Jan. 14-15 at Richmond CenterStage, while three of the orchestra’s principals are featured in a Metro Collection program of Mozart, Rameau, Barber and John Adams, Jan. 29 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. . . . The Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra celebrates its 50th anniversary, Jan. 28 at Richmond CenterStage. . . . Pianist Garrick Ohlsson visits for an all-Liszt program, Jan. 18 at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center. . . . Lyric Opera Virginia returns for its second production, of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “The King and I,” Jan. 20 and 22 at Richmond’s Landmark Theater (with earlier performances at the Sandler Arts Center in Virginia Beach, and later dates at the Ferguson Arts Center in Newport News). . . . Montreal’s Ensemble Appassionata, with pianist Richard Raymond, perform in a Rennolds Chamber Concerts program, Jan. 21 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Singleton Arts Center. The ensemble, conducted by Daniel Myssyk, sticks around for a side-by-side date with the VCU Symphony Orchestra, also led by Myssyk, playing Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony and the U.S. premiere of the “Ben Seni Variations” by VCU’s Doug Richards, Jan. 24 at the Singleton Center.

* Violinists hither and yon: Leila Josefowicz joins Hannu Lintu and the National Symphony in Steven Mackey’s “Beautiful Passing,” Jan. 12-14 at Washington’s Kennedy Center. . . . Pinchas Zukerman conducts London’s Royal Philharmonic, and plays the Beethoven Violin Concerto, Jan. 13 at the Ferguson Center in Newport News. . . . Gil Shaham joins JoAnn Falletta and the Virginia Symphony for Barber’s Violin Concerto, Jan. 20-22 at three Hampton Roads venues. . . . Joshua Bell gives a recital of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Ravel, Ysaÿe and Gershwin, Jan. 23 at the Kennedy Center.


Jan. 6 (7:30 p.m.)
First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon, Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Krista Bennion Feeney, Theresa Salomon, Fiona Hughes & David McCormick, baroque violins
James Wilson, baroque cello
Mary Boodell, traverse flute
David Walker, lute
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord
“Red Priest”
Vivaldi: “Winter” from “The Four Seasons”
works TBA by Corelli, Locatelli
$25
(804) 519-2098
http://www.cmscva.org/

Jan. 6 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 8 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Lyric Opera Virginia
Joseph Walsh conducting
Rodgers & Hammerstein: “The King and I”
Kevin Gray (The King)
Lisa Vroman (Anna)
Diane Phelan (Tuptim)
Nathaniel Hackman (Lun Tha)
Aundi Marie Moore (Lady Thiang)
Benjamin Branigan (Louis Leonowens)
Greg Ganakas, stage director
in English
SOLD OUT
(757) 385-2787
http://www.lyricoperavirginia.org/

Jan. 7 (noon)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Krista Bennion Feeney, Theresa Salomon, Fiona Hughes & David McCormick, baroque violins
James Wilson, baroque cello
Mary Boodell, traverse flute
David Walker, lute
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord
“Chaconne”
works TBA by Purcell, Vivaldi, Corelli, Leclair
free
(804) 519-2098
http://www.cmscva.org/

Jan. 7 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Orion Weiss, piano
works by Bach, Dutilleux, Liszt, Schumann
$38
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/

Jan. 8 (4 p.m.)
First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon, Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Krista Bennion Feeney, Theresa Salomon, Fiona Hughes & David McCormick, baroque violins
James Wilson, baroque cello
Mary Boodell, traverse flute
David Walker, lute
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord
“Agony and Ecstasy”
Fux: Overture in D minor 
Biber: Sonata in D minor (“Annunciation”)
Biber: Sonata in F major
Telemann: “Paris” Quartet No. 2
Biber: Passacaglia in G minor
Biber: Sonata in G major (“Resurrection”)
Pachelbel: Canon in D major
Telemann: Concerto in A major from "Tafelmusik" Book 1
$25
(804) 519-2098
http://www.cmscva.org/

Jan. 8 (4 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Second Sunday South of the James:
members & guests TBA
program TBA
donation requested
(804) 272-7514

Jan. 11 (3:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
War of 1812 Commemorative Concert
Tchaikovsky: “1812 Overture”
other works TBA
free; tickets required
(804) 788-1212
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

Jan. 12 (7 p.m.)
Jan. 13 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 14 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Hannu Lintu conducting
Debussy: Preludes
Steven Mackey: “Beautiful Passing”
Leila Josefowicz, violin
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

Jan. 13 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Royal Philharmonic
Pinchas Zukerman conducting
Beethoven: “Egmont” Overture
Beethoven: Violin Concerto
Pinchas Zukerman, violin
Elgar: “Enigma Variations”
$39-$69
(877) 840-0457
http://www.fergusoncenter.cnu.edu/

Jan. 14 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 15 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Piazzolla: “Tangazo”
Rodrigo: “Concierto de Aranjuez”
Jason Vieaux, classical guitar
William Bolcom: “Commedia, for (almost) 18th-Century Orchestra”
Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E flat major, K. 543
$18-$73
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

Jan. 14 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Jan. 15 (3 p.m.)
Hylton Arts Center, George Mason University, Manassas
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
Christopher Zimmerman conducting
Glazunov: “Chant du Ménéstrel”
Haydn: Cello Concerto in C major
Sergey Antonov, cello
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 (“The Year 1905”)
$25-$55
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://www.fairfaxsymphony.org/

Jan. 15 (7 p.m.)
Second Calvary Baptist Church, 2940 Corprew Ave., Norfolk
Virginia Symphony
Benjamin Rous conducting
“Songs for a Dreamer, a Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
Adolphus Hailstork: “Fanfare on ‘Amazing Grace’ ”
Duke Ellington: Martin Luther King section of “Three Black Kings”
Stephanie Sanders, saxophone
George Walker: Suite for violin and orchestra (2nd movement)
Brendan Elliott, violin
Moses Hogan: “His Light Still Shines”
Norfolk State University Jazz Ensemble
free
(757) 213-1421
http://www.virginiasymphony.org/

Jan. 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 8 N. Laurel St., Richmond
Greater Richmond Children’s Choir
Grace and Holy Trinity Adult Choir
Ebenezer Baptist Sanctuary Choir
“Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration of Unity Concert”
program TBA
free
(804) 359-5628
www.grcchoir.org

Jan. 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Bach-Liszt: Fantasy and Fugue in G minor
Liszt: “Jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este”
Liszt: Sonata in B minor
$40
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/

Jan. 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Weiss-Kaplan-Newman Trio
Beethoven: Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70, No. 1 (“Ghost”)
Newman: “Juxt-Opposition”
Higdon: Piano Trio
Schubert: Piano Trio in B flat major, D. 898
$32
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

Jan. 19 (7 p.m.)
Jan. 20 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 21 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
James Gaffigan conducting
Mozart: Divertimento in D major, K. 136
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor
Ingrid Fliter, piano
Glanert: “Fluss ohne Ufer”
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 (“Jupiter”)
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

Jan. 20 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 22 (2:30 p.m.)
Landmark Theater, Main and Laurel streets, Richmond
Lyric Opera Virginia
Joseph Walsh conducting
Rodgers & Hammerstein: “The King and I”
Kevin Gray (The King)
Lisa Vroman (Anna)
Diane Phelan (Tuptim)
Nathaniel Hackman (Lun Tha)
Aundi Marie Moore (Lady Thiang)
Benjamin Branigan (Louis Leonowens)
Greg Ganakas, stage director
in English
$20-$85
(757) 446-6666
http://www.lyricoperavirginia.org/

Jan. 20 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Jan. 21 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 Brambleton Ave., Norfolk
Jan. 22 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Copland: “Appalachian Spring”
Barber: Violin Concerto
Gil Shaham, violin
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”)
$20-$87
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org/

Jan. 21 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Ensemble Appassionata
Daniel Myssyk conducting
Hindemith: “The Four Temperaments”
Chopin: “Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise brilliante”
Richard Raymond, piano
André Prévost: Scherzo for strings
Dvořák: Serenade for strings
$32
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Jan. 21 (8 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony Pops
Erin R. Freeman conducting
Patti Austin, guest star
“For Ella,” songs of Ella Fitzgerald
$18-$76
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

Jan. 22 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Kennedy Center Chamber Players
Bruch: “Eight Pieces,” Op. 83, for clarinet, viola and piano (Nos. 2, 5, 6, 7)
Prokoviev: Sonata in D major, Op. 94 (bassoon-piano arr.)
Beethoven: Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 97 (“Archduke”)
$35
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

Jan. 23 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Joshua Bell, violin
Sam Haywood, piano
Mendelssohn: Sonata in F major
Brahms: Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108
Ravel: Sonata
Ysaÿe: Sonata in D minor for solo violin, Op. 27, No. 3 (“Ballade”)
Gershwin: three preludes
$45-$115
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/

Jan. 24 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphony Orchestra
Ensemble Appassionata
Daniel Myssyk conducting
Doug Richards: “Ben Seni Variations” (U.S. premiere)
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”)
$15
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Jan. 26 (7 p.m.)
Jan. 28 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 29 (3 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Jörg Widmann: “Armonica”Christa Schönfeldinger, glass harmonica
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622Jörg Widmann, clarinet
Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C major (“Great”)$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

Jan. 26 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vocal Arts DC:
Lydia Teuscher, soprano
Graham Johnson, piano
program TBA$45
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

Jan. 27 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 29 (2:30 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Lyric Opera Virginia
Joseph Walsh conducting
Rodgers & Hammerstein: “The King and I”Kevin Gray (The King)
Lisa Vroman (Anna)
Diane Phelan (Tuptim)
Nathaniel Hackman (Lun Tha)
Aundi Marie Moore (Lady Thiang)
Benjamin Branigan (Louis Leonowens)
Greg Ganakas, stage director
in English
$20-$85
(757) 594-8752
http://www.lyricoperavirginia.org/

Jan. 27 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa Chamber Music Festival:
Rivanna String Quartet
works by Beethoven, Britten, Dvořák
$20
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html

Jan. 28 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Maria Yefimova, piano
works by Chopin, Liszt, Scriabin, Debussy, Rachmaninoff
free
(804) 646-7223
http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/

Jan. 28 (7 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra
Youth Concert Orchestra
Camerata Strings
String Sinfonietta
alumni soloists TBA
Steven Smith & Erin R. Freeman conducting
Youth Orchestra Program 50th anniversary concert
program TBA
pre-concert reception at 5:30 p.m. at University of Richmond downtown building, Seventh and Broad streets
$10-$30; $75 with reception
(804) 788-1212
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

Jan. 28 (8 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Steven Jarvi conducting
Philip Glass: “Orphée”
Matthew Worth (Orphée)
Sara Jakubiak (Eurydice)
Heather Buck (La Princesse)
Jeffrey Lentz (Heuterbise)
Christopher Temporelli (Judge)
Matthew Burns (Poet)
Martha Wryk (Aglaonice)
Jonathan Blalock (Cégeste)
Oliver Neal Medina (Le Commissaire)
Drew Duncan (Reporter)
Patrick O’Halloran (Glazier)
Michael O’Halloran (Policeman)
Sam Helfrich, stage director
in French, English captions
$25-$114
(866) 673-7282
http://www.vaopera.org/

Jan. 28 (2 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Paolo Pandolfo, viola da gamba
works by J.S. Bach, Carl Friedrich Abe
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html

Jan. 29 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
John Adams: Chamber Symphony
Barber: “Capricorn” Concerto
Mary Boodell, flute
Shawn Welk, oboe
Rolla Durham, trumpet
Rameau: ballet suite TBA
Mozart: Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385 (“Haffner”)
$20
(804) 788-1212
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

Jan. 29 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Guitar Series:
Richmond Guitar Quartet
program TBA
$15
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Jan. 29 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Ruta Smedina-Starke, piano
program TBA
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Jan. 29 (3:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa Chamber Music Festival:
Nathan Dishman, trombone
Susan Fritts, French horn
program TBA
$20
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html

Jan. 29 (7 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Jeffrey Siegel, piano
“Keyboard Conversations: Russian Rapture: Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky”
$19-$38
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://cfa.gmu.edu/calendar/month/2012/1/

Jan. 30 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Lisa Terry, viola da gamba
Joanne Kong, harpsichord
J.S. Bach: three gamba sonatas
free
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/