Friday, October 30, 2015
Symphony's Come and Play
Come and Play, the Richmond Symphony’s annual concert with community musicians, this year joined the Virginia Commonwealth University pep band The Peppas, will be staged on Nov. 22 in the Verizon Wireless Arena of VCU’s Siegel Center, Broad and Harrison streets.
Rehearsal will run from 2:30-5 p.m., with the concert at 6 p.m. Admission to the concert is free.
Past Come and Play events have attracted more than 700 musicians, creating the largest orchestra performing in Virginia.
Registration for community musicians is open through Nov. 13. Violin and flute registration is closed as those sections have reached capacity. The registration fee is $10. Parts are available for musicians at all levels.
For more information, call (804) 788-4717.
To register online, go to:
www.richmondsymphony.com
Neighbors
George Frideric Handel lived on Brook Street in London’s Mayfair district in the mid-18th century. Two hundred years later, Jimi Hendrix lived in an adjacent building.
So, what was a Handel museum is now a Handel & Hendrix museum, The New York Times reports:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/28/handel-museum-opens-a-hendrix-half/
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Letter V Classical Radio this week
Oct. 29
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org
J.S. Bach: Lute Suite in E minor, BWV 996
Sharon Isbin, guitar (Erato)
Bloch: Concerto Grosso No. 1
Bienne Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Rösner (Atma Classique)
Vivaldi: Concerto in A minor,
RV 397
Rachel Barton Pine,
viola d’amore
Ars Antigua (Cedille)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor
Emanuel Ax, piano
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra/
Michael Tilson Thomas
(SFS Media)
Past Masters:
Mozart: Symphony
No. 25 in G minor, K. 183
English Chamber Orchestra/
Benjamin Britten
(Decca)
(recorded 1971)
Jan Jirásek: “Missa Propria”
Boni Pueri Boys Choir/Jiři Skopal (Catalyst)
Kodály: “Variations on a Hungarian Folksong”
(“The Peacock”)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Neeme Järvi (Chandos)
Ligeti: “Six Bagatelles”
Jacques Zoon, flute
Douglas Boyd, oboe
Richard Horsford, clarinet
James Somerville, bassoon
Matthew Wilkie, French horn
(Deutsche Grammophon)
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org
J.S. Bach: Lute Suite in E minor, BWV 996
Sharon Isbin, guitar (Erato)
Bloch: Concerto Grosso No. 1
Bienne Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Rösner (Atma Classique)
Vivaldi: Concerto in A minor,
RV 397
Rachel Barton Pine,
viola d’amore
Ars Antigua (Cedille)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor
Emanuel Ax, piano
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra/
Michael Tilson Thomas
(SFS Media)
Past Masters:
Mozart: Symphony
No. 25 in G minor, K. 183
English Chamber Orchestra/
Benjamin Britten
(Decca)
(recorded 1971)
Jan Jirásek: “Missa Propria”
Boni Pueri Boys Choir/Jiři Skopal (Catalyst)
Kodály: “Variations on a Hungarian Folksong”
(“The Peacock”)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Neeme Järvi (Chandos)
Ligeti: “Six Bagatelles”
Jacques Zoon, flute
Douglas Boyd, oboe
Richard Horsford, clarinet
James Somerville, bassoon
Matthew Wilkie, French horn
(Deutsche Grammophon)
'Jump out and try something smaller'
Norman Lebrecht, the British author, critic and sometime “jeremiah” of classical music, discusses the decline of the art form’s historically dominant institutions and advocates smaller, more flexible and portable ensembles and performing formats, in a talk at the Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University in Baltimore:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/76309411
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Juilliard Quartet reviewed
My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of the Juilliard String Quartet’s Oct. 24 performance at Virginia Commonwealth University:
http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_f841bce3-91ce-537a-8014-53eb0589d5ad.html
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Symphony Rush Hour reviewed
My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of the Richmond Symphony’s first Rush Hour concert at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery:
http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_aa97ef17-b5f5-5f64-ae4d-2f24feab9592.html
eighth blackbird, museum piece
In addition to its residencies at the University of Richmond and the University of Chicago, the new-music sextet eighth blackbird also is spending this season as a “living art installation,” using a gallery at
the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago as a studio and rehearsal room, working in public view and sometimes with listener interaction.
The group also will present two regular concerts – if “regular” is an adequate term for eighth blackbird’s unique performance style – as part of the residency.
The Chicago Tribune’s John von Rhein reports on the ensemble’s museum gig:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/vonrhein/ct-ent-1021-classical-blackbirds-20151020-column.html
(via www.artsjournal.com)
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Letter V Classical Radio this week
Oct. 22
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org
Vivaldi: “The Four Seasons” – “Autumn”
Adrian Chandler, violin & director
La Serenissima (Avie)
Ginastera: Harp Concerto
Rachel Masters, harp
City of London Sinfonia/
Richard Hickox (Chandos)
Bryce Dessner:
“Murder Ballades”
eighth blackbird
(Cedille)
André Jolivet:
Trumpet Concerto No. 2
Paul Merkelot, trumpet
Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Kent Nagano (Analekta)
Past Masters:
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major
Vienna Philharmonic/
Pierre Monteux
(Decca)
(recorded 1959)
Respighi:
“Poema Autumnale”
Julia Fischer, violin
Monte Carlo Philharmonic/
Yakov Kreizberg
(Decca)
Nielsen: Symphony No. 3 (“Sinfonia espansiva”)
Danish National Orchestra/Sixten Ehrling (Audiofon)
Saint-Saëns:
“Carnival of the Animals” – “The Swan”
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Kathryn Stott, piano
(Sony Classical)
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org
Vivaldi: “The Four Seasons” – “Autumn”
Adrian Chandler, violin & director
La Serenissima (Avie)
Ginastera: Harp Concerto
Rachel Masters, harp
City of London Sinfonia/
Richard Hickox (Chandos)
Bryce Dessner:
“Murder Ballades”
eighth blackbird
(Cedille)
André Jolivet:
Trumpet Concerto No. 2
Paul Merkelot, trumpet
Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Kent Nagano (Analekta)
Past Masters:
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major
Vienna Philharmonic/
Pierre Monteux
(Decca)
(recorded 1959)
Respighi:
“Poema Autumnale”
Julia Fischer, violin
Monte Carlo Philharmonic/
Yakov Kreizberg
(Decca)
Nielsen: Symphony No. 3 (“Sinfonia espansiva”)
Danish National Orchestra/Sixten Ehrling (Audiofon)
Saint-Saëns:
“Carnival of the Animals” – “The Swan”
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Kathryn Stott, piano
(Sony Classical)
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Richmond Symphony reviewed
My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of the Richmond Symphony’s Oct. 17 Masterworks program and the Oct. 16 launch of the orchestra’s new Casual Fridays series:
http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_bbaaa3ea-24d8-5378-8201-17ad04faf99f.html
Classical struggle for survival
Musicologist Michael Church, writing in The Guardian, examines the threats to classical music – not just the Western/European variety but 14 other art-music styles throughout the world – whose continued existence is threatened by outside (mainly Western) musical influences, cultural commercialism and, in all too many cases, religious fundamentalism:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/oct/16/unrest-classical-music-threat
The sad irony in this: As Church notes, most classical musics were originally religious. (He makes an exception of American jazz – mistakenly, I think, given its close relationship with African-American spirituals and gospel music.) Yet religious fundamentalists are the main threat to musicians in much of the Islamic world.
Western classical religious music is also threatened, less overtly and violently, by the “happy clappy” strains of church music, largely emanating from fundamentalist and evangelical sources.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Music's innies and outies
Like belly buttons, listeners tend to be either innies or outies, depending on their age.
That is suggested in a new study by psychologists Jenny Groarke and Michael Hogan of the National University of Ireland in Galway. They find that for younger people listening to music is a social experience, a way of bonding with friends and loved ones or staking a claim to membership in a peer group, while for older listeners listening is an inner, spiritual experience.
For the study, published in the journal Psychology of Music (subscription required for access online), Groarke and Hogan surveyed two small groups of volunteers between 18 and 30 years old and two groups aged 60 to 85. (Middle-aged listeners were not surveyed.)
There is, of course, some overlap between innie and outie listeners – mainly among those who listen to reduce stress or enhance their mood.
Such “emotional regulation,” however, “may be a secondary outcome of music listening,” writes Tom Jacobs of Pacific Standard. “While some younger participants did refer to music’s ability to provide them with a private ‘personal space,’ the bulk of the responses suggest older people are more interested in music as an intense, inner experience, while younger ones view it as a way of escaping bad moods and connecting with friends.”
Jacobs’ report on the study:
http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/music-is-a-potent-source-of-meaning
(via www.artsjournal.com)
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Letter V Classical Radio this week
Oct. 15
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org
Haydn: Quartet in C major, Op. 33, No. 3 (“The Bird”)
Alban Berg Quartet (Warner Classics)
Alexander Reinagle: Sonata No. 2 in E major
Sylvia Glickman, piano (Orion)
Joseph Woelfl: “Grand Duo”
in D minor
Guillaume Sutre, violin
Steven Vanhauwaert, piano (Sonarti)
Sidney Lanier: “Wind Song”
Paula Robison, flute (Arabesque)
Past Masters:
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C minor
New York Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein
(Sony Classical)
(recorded 1960)
Mahler: Piano Quartet
in A minor
Wu Han, piano
Daniel Hope, violin
Paul Neubauer, viola
David Finckel, cello (Deutsche Grammophon)
Esa-Pekka Salonen: “Nyx”
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Esa-Pekka Salonen (Deutsche Grammophon)
Debussy: “La Mer”
Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle (EMI Classics)
Michael Torke: “Bright Blue Music”
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/David Zinman (Argo)
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org
Haydn: Quartet in C major, Op. 33, No. 3 (“The Bird”)
Alban Berg Quartet (Warner Classics)
Alexander Reinagle: Sonata No. 2 in E major
Sylvia Glickman, piano (Orion)
Joseph Woelfl: “Grand Duo”
in D minor
Guillaume Sutre, violin
Steven Vanhauwaert, piano (Sonarti)
Sidney Lanier: “Wind Song”
Paula Robison, flute (Arabesque)
Past Masters:
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C minor
New York Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein
(Sony Classical)
(recorded 1960)
Mahler: Piano Quartet
in A minor
Wu Han, piano
Daniel Hope, violin
Paul Neubauer, viola
David Finckel, cello (Deutsche Grammophon)
Esa-Pekka Salonen: “Nyx”
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Esa-Pekka Salonen (Deutsche Grammophon)
Debussy: “La Mer”
Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle (EMI Classics)
Michael Torke: “Bright Blue Music”
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/David Zinman (Argo)
Monday, October 12, 2015
Kindling the 'Inextinguishable'
From time to time, I need to work my way through a preoccupation with a piece of music before reviewing a performance of it. To be fair to the performers, I should curb unreasonably high expectations – or at least state those expectations up front.
If, in the process, I can introduce the piece to listeners who don’t know it, or better acquaint those who do, all the better.
This is one of those times.
The music is the Symphony No. 4 (“Inextinguishable”) of the Danish composer Carl Nielsen, which the Richmond Symphony will play on Oct. 16 in the debut of its new Casual Fridays series of talks followed by performances, and on Oct. 17 in the next program of the orchestra’s Masterworks series.
I rate the Nielsen Fourth as the greatest symphony composed in the past 100 years. That’s a minority view – although the minority is not as minuscule as you might imagine.
If not the greatest modern symphony, Nielsen 4 is certainly one of the noblest in sentiment – its motto: “Music is like life, and like life, inextinguishable” – and one of the most explosive in content, punctuated by outbursts from the brass and wailing passages from woodwinds and strings, culminating in a duel between two sets of timpani that sounds alarmingly like an artillery barrage.
Nielsen was “deeply moved by the vast spectacle of life in all its forms, its incessant fight for existence, and, above all, its unmistakably purposive evolution: he was impressed, too, but its extraordinary capacity for surviving, in some form, almost any catastrophe,” Robert Simpson writes in “Carl Nielsen: Symphonist.”
While Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony is supremely uneasy listening, it is supremely uplifting at the end, when a yearning chorale that has struggled throughout the piece to make itself heard finally prevails. This triumphantly soulful climax has few parallels in the symphonic canon.
The “Inextinguishable” was composed in 1914-16, the years of the bloodiest battles of World War I. Denmark was neutral, and Nielsen was nowhere near the front lines; but no composer from the warring countries came as close to distilling into a piece of music the crushing anxiety, the shock and terror of battle, the dim, sweet memories of times before the horror, the desperate clinging to hope, experienced by combatants and civilians during this murderous, seemingly endless conflict.
Others, notably Dimtri Shostakovich, would mine this dark vein during and after the Second World War. In the First, however, Nielsen and his Fourth Symphony stood alone.
* * *
As I write this, I’m listening to a concert performance of the Nielsen Fourth by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jean Martinon conducting, broadcast in 1966, shortly before they made their still-unsurpassed RCA Victor recording of the work. You can hear the broadcast on YouTube:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7n63zb8BXw
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQPG69x2rIM
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fahv5CpJlnQ
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP1t-XdXf30
Grainy, blowsy monaural sound, patches of radio static, precarious instrumental balances and occasionally rough-and-ready playing notwithstanding, this live performance is even more potent than the subsequent recording.
Martinon’s is one of the three most compelling Nielsen Fourths in my listening experience. The others are a 1960s recording by Igor Markevitch, conducting the Royal Danish Orchestra, reissued on CD by Klassichaus Restorations – http://klassichaus.us/ – and the still-vivid memory of a 1971 concert performance by Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra, Antal Doráti conducting, in the then-new Kennedy Center.
Martinon, Markevitch and Doráti were orchestral composers as well as conductors, and that may figure in their success as interpreters of the Nielsen Fourth. To negotiate the complexities of this music and get to its expressive heart, it must help to have labored in the weeds of composition yourself.
It may bode well for the forthcoming Richmond Symphony performances that conductor Steven Smith is also a composer. This will be Smith’s first go at the “Inextinguishable.” Also the first time for the orchestra’s principal timpanist, Jim Jacobson, who will be dueling with Robert Jenkins, and likely the first Nielsen 4 for most of the rest of the orchestra.
The thrill of discovery, plus the tension of playing an unfamiliar and challenging work, can light the fire that needs to burn in this music – the fire you hear blazing in that Chicago broadcast.
* * *
Not all composer-conductors hit the mark, though. Leonard Bernstein, who led the international revival of Nielsen’s music in the 1960s, recorded an “Inextinguishable” with the New York Philharmonic (Sony Classical) that is riddled with excesses and eccentricities. A generation later, Esa-Pekka Salonen, one of the most celebrated composers of symphonic music at work today, is only dutifully literal in the Nielsen Fourth that he recorded with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Sony Classical).
Other prominent conductors have stumbled, even fallen on their faces, in this piece. Herbert von Karajan’s recording with the Berlin Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon) is harshly martial and soulless; Max Rudolf’s with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (US Decca) and Zubin Mehta’s with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (London/Decca) are inexplicably dull; Yehudi Menuhin’s with the Royal Philharmonic (Virgin Classics) and Simon Rattle’s with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (EMI Classics) are heartfelt but wayward.
Herbert Blomstedt, who twice led recorded cycles of Nielsen’s six symphonies, the second time with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (London/Decca), conducts the Fourth with spirit and virtuosity but, to my ears, without realizing the passionate urgency or the reach for the transcendent that this score cries out for. Osmo Vänskä, with the Royal Scottish Orchestra (Bis), comes closer; Neeme Järvi, with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon), closer still.
The Järvi would be my first choice among digital-era recordings of the “Inextinguishable.”
Among recent recorded Nielsen Fourths, Alan Gilbert’s with the New York Philharmonic (Dacapo) and Sakari Oramo’s with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic (Bis) are faultless in execution and spectacular sonically – both are super-audio releases – but expressively underheated. Gustavo Dudamel’s live recording with the Gothenburg Symphony (Deutsche Grammophon) is more fiery, but, à la Bernstein, prone to romanticized outpouring.
Nielsen is not Tchaikovsky.
Nor is he Sibelius.
* * *
Nielsen is too often paired with Finland’s Jean Sibelius, a fellow Scandinavian and exact contemporary (both born in 1865), in musicians’ and listeners’ perceptions, despite their music being quite dissimilar in character and style. (One might as wrong-headedly relate George Gershwin to Roy Harris because they were both American composers born in 1898.)
Sibelius, early on, became a national hero of a nation-in-waiting. Finland had been ruled by Sweden, then Russia, only achieving independence at the end of World War I. Ethnic and national aspiration underlies much of Sibelius’ work, especially his tone poems; and even in the more introspective, expressively ambivalent works of his mature years, such as the later symphonies, his music has an accent and cadence as distinctive as the Finnish language.
One can hear influences of earlier music in Sibelius’ works – echoes of Tchaikovsky in the Violin Concerto, for example – but it would be very difficult to name a composer from whom he “inherited” his style.
In contrast to remote Finland, Denmark had been a European power from medieval times to the end of the 17th century, and still ruled a substantial empire in Nielsen’s lifetime. Its language and culture are related to those of other Northern European countries. Nielsen, like most Danish musicians, worked from a Germanic template in his formative years – Brahms was a key early influence – and a Germanic kind of compositional discipline continued to inform his music.
As Nielsen developed a uniquely personal style, in the Fourth Symphony and other works from the 1910s, it proved as sharply etched in structure and forthright in expression as that of Beethoven.
Interpreters in search of an attitudinal model for Nielsen’s music should look to Beethoven.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Virginia Opera reviewed
My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of Virginia Opera’s production of Jacques Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld:”
http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_0396815f-4489-59de-ab06-00ed53bad707.html
Friday, October 9, 2015
Page-turner to the rescue
Page-turners, the folks who sit on the pianist’s left and try to stay minimally visible during recitals, occasionally are called upon to do more than turn pages and not get in the pianist’s way.
On very rare occasions, they have to do a lot more.
Here’s a spectacular example of page-turner heroics, from a recent recital in Bremen by violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt, when Anna Reszniak nimbly retrieved and reordered scores that went airborne during an encore, Brahms’ scherzo from the “F.A.E. Sonata:”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TprYVxTDro
“The wonderful Anna Reszniak,” as Vogt hails her in his YouTube posting, is concertmaster of the Nürnberg Symphony Orchestra – and now, no doubt, the page-turner all performers wish they had.
(via www.slippedisc.com)
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Letter V Classical Radio this week
Sampling the fall’s new releases, from cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Alisa Weilerstein, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, tenor Jonas Kaufmann and pianists Alexander Paley, Yuja Wang, Lang Lang and Alessio Bax, plus William Lyons’ adaptation of the medieval English “Alysoun” with his Dufay Collective & Voice and mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirschschlager singing “Songs to the Moon,” Jake Heggie’s settings of poems by Vachel Lindsay.
Oct. 8
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org
Chopin: Scherzo in B flat minor, Op. 31
Lang Lang, piano (Sony Classical)
Bernstein: Serenade
“after Plato’s Symposium”
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
London Symphony Orchestra/Keith Lockhart (eOne)
Elgar: “Salut d’amour”
Delius: Romance for
cello and piano
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Kathryn Stott, piano
(Sony Classical)
Puccini: “Turandot” – “Nessun dorma”
Jonas Kaufmann, tenor
Orchestra dell’Academia Nationale di Santa Cecilia/Antonio Pappano (Sony Classical)
Lyons: “Alysoun”
The Dufay Collective & Voice/William Lyons (Avie)
Rameau: Suite in E major
Alexander Paley, piano
(La Música)
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major
Yuja Wang, piano
Tonhalle Orchestra, Zürich/
Lionel Bringuier
(Deutsche Grammophon)
Jake Heggie:
“Songs to the Moon”
Angelika Kirschschlager, mezzo-soprano
Maurice Lammerts van Bueren, piano (Avie)
Mussorgsky:
“Pictures at an Exhibition”
Alessio Bax, piano
(Signum Classics)
Rachmaninoff: Vocalise
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Inon Barnatan, piano (Decca)
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
The South falls again, musically
A newly published study of music that people dislike indicates growing alienation from genres “that appeal to disproportionately white, rural, Southern audiences,” Tom Jacobs reports in Pacific Standard:
http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/what-the-music-you-hate-says-about-you
The study, by University of Notre Dame sociologists Omar Lizardo and Sara Skiles, published in the journal Poetics (not accessible online), found that 2,250 participants, asked in 2012 about 18 different styles of music, expressed greater dislike of country, bluegrass, folk and religious or gospel music, than that found in a comparable survey conducted in 1993.
“Fairly or not, many Americans associate these genres with racism, religiosity, and a nationalistic mindset. It’s likely that in expressing their distaste for those genres, people outside the South and rural West are symbolically rejecting the belief systems they represent,” Jacobs writes.
The 2012 survey results found less dislike of classical music, opera, jazz, Latin, rap, rock, and heavy metal than in the 1993 survey. Results for show tunes, blues, rhythm and blues and reggae were about the same in the two surveys.
Young respondents with high educational levels “were more likely than their counterparts of 20 years ago to declare their distaste for classical music and jazz, as well as rock ’n’ roll” and were more receptive to rap and hip-hop musics, Jacobs writes. “This suggests they are using rap and hip-hop to differentiate themselves from the older generation of well-to-do Americans.”
(via www.artsjournal.com)
Play it again
Given the linear quality of music – here in one instant, gone in the next – a piece can be very difficult to understand and appreciate in a single hearing.
It’s hard enough in any unfamiliar music. I can remember listening for the first time to some especially meandering work of a tuneful romantic composer, wondering where it was headed, and ultimately unsure as to how it got from beginning to end.
Grasping advanced modern and contemporary music that isn’t traditionally tonal and doesn’t employ conventional forms of structure and expression can be almost impossible in a first hearing. For even the most willing listener, it often strikes the ear as a succession of random sounds.
Musicians typically try to get past this perceptual barrier with explanation, verbally introducing the piece and playing key themes and other samples before giving a complete performance.
There’s a simpler way, and I’m amazed that more performers don’t use it more often: Play the piece twice.
That’s what The Knights did with Anton Webern’s “Three Little Pieces,” Op. 11, for cello and piano in a concert at Dumbartan Oaks in Washington, Stephen Brookes reports for The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/the-knights-charge-into-dumbarton-oaks/2015/10/05/ee9f8148-6b6e-11e5-9bfe-e59f5e244f92_story.html
An instant encore of the Webern pieces – “so perfectly concise that they barely exist,” Brookes observes in his review – added all of 2½ minutes to the program’s length.
Repetition can be harder to accommodate with longer works, but it can reap rewards. My favorite example dates from 1904, when Gustav Mahler conducted the (now-Royal) Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam in his Fourth Symphony, twice in a single concert. The Concertgebouw and its chief conductor, Willem Mengelberg, were soon known as the preeminent exponents of Mahler, and for generations Amsterdam was the music center most receptive to this composer’s music – perhaps because they had been properly introduced.
Most compositions fall between the extremes of Webern’s brevity and Mahler’s length. Still, fitting two performances of a work onto a single program might require omission of one or more other selections. That might rob the program of some musical variety; but it also would give the performers more time to rehearse the unfamiliar piece and give a more convincing performance of it.
Thereby reaping another reward: When musicians play a work (known or unknown) like true believers, with audible concentration, commitment and fluency, they are far more likely to make true believers of listeners.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Symphony's new associate conductor
Chia-Hsuan Lin, assistant conductor of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic since 2014, has been named associate conductor of the Richmond Symphony.
Lin will begin work here in January, as Keitaro Harada reduces his schedule in Richmond. Harada, who recently became associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, will remain on the Richmond Symphony roster until May.
Born in Taiwan, Lin began as a percussionist, performing for seven years with the Taipei Percussion Group, and earned degrees in percussion and conducting from National Taiwan Normal University. She earned a graduate degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and in 2012 began doctoral studies at Northwestern University.
Lin was a semi-finalist in the 2013 Jeunesses Musicales International Conducting Competition in Bucharest, Romania, and the following year was one of three artists chosen for the Emerging Conductor Program, working with the orchestra of the Peninsula Music Festival in Wisconsin.
The 29-year-old conductor also serves as music director of the South Loop Symphony Orchestra in Chicago.
The Richmond Symphony’s associate conductor is primarily responsible for leading programs in the Symphony Pops and LolliPops series, conducting community concerts, directing the orchestra’s Young Performers Program, and substituting as needed for music director Steven Smith and guest conductors on other dates.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Chamber music dates postponed
Because of weather conditions, the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia has postponed a lecture-recital it was to have presented on Oct. 3 at the Richmond Public Library and an Oct. 4 concert at First Unitarian Universalist Church.
New dates will be announced later.
For more information, call (804) 519-2098 or visit www.cmscva.org
Letter V Classical Radio this week
A sampler of the music on tap in the 2015-16 season of the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia, scheduled (weather permitting) to get under way with a lecture-recital on Oct. 3 at the Richmond Public Library and a concert on Oct. 4 at First Unitarian Universalist Church. The CMSCVA season continues with six more programs in December, February and April.
Cellist James Wilson, the society’s founder, artistic director and intrepid musical explorer, joins me in the second hour of the show to discuss this season’s mix of favorite pieces and discoveries.
Oct. 1
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org
Schubert: Quintet in C major, D.956
Janine Jansen & Boris Brovtsyn, violins
Amihai Grosz, viola
Torleif Thedéen & Jens Peter Maintz, cellos
(Decca)
Past Masters:
Corelli: Variations on “La Follia” in G minor, Op. 5, No. 12
Frans Brüggen, recorder
Anner Bylsma, cello
Gustav Leonhardt, harpsichord
(Warner Classics)
(recorded 1967)
Fanny Mendelssohn Henselt: Piano Trio in D minor – Andante espressivo
Stefan Mickisch, piano
Fanny Mendelssohn Quartet members (Troubadisc)
Erwin Schulhoff: Duo for violin and cello – Zingaresca
Gernot Sussmuth, violin
Hans-Jakob Eschenburg, cello (Capriccio)
J.S. Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047
Janos Rolla, violin & director
Maurice André, trumpet
Maxence Larrieu, flute
Bernard Schenkel, oboe
Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (Capitol)
Beethoven: Sonata in
C major, Op. 102, No. 2
Matt Haimovitz, cello
Christopher O’Riley, fortepiano (Pentatone/Oxingale)
George Onslow: Quintet in
C minor, Op. 38 (“Bullet”)
Oxford String Quartet
Merry Peckham, cello (Carlton Classics)
Boccherini: “La Musica nottuna della Strada di Madrid” (excerpt)
Le Concert des Nations members (AliaVox)
October 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.
* In and around Richmond: Virginia Opera brings its production of Jacques Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld” to Richmond CenterStage on Oct. 9 and 11 (after mances on Oct. 3-4 at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax). . . . The Rennolds Chamber Concerts series at Virginia Commonwealth University opens its season with the classical comedy duo Igudesman and Joo in “And Now Mozart,” Oct. 10 at VCU’s Singleton Arts Center. . . . The Richmond Symphony opens its new Casual Classics series of talks and mini-concerts with music director Steven Smith discussing and the orchestra playing Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4 (“Inextinguishable”) on Oct. 16, and presents the Nielsen along with “Point – Line – Point” by Richmond-bred composer Zachary Wadsworth and Philippe Quint playing Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto in an Oct. 17 Masterworks program, both at Richmond CenterStage. . . . The symphony’s Rush Hour series of casual concerts moves to Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, with Keitaro Harada conducting a program of Bartók, Weber and Mozart, featuring clarinetist Jared Davis, on Oct. 22. (The program will be repeated in full on Oct. 25 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland.) . . . Organist Ahreum Han plays works of Bach, Vierne, Reger and others in the season-opener of the American Guild of Organists’ Repertoire Recital Series, Oct. 23 at Westminster Presbyterian Church. . . . The Juilliard String Quartet plays Schubert, Debussy and Elliott Carter, Oct. 24 at VCU’s Singleton Center. . . . The Richmond Symphony Pops season opens with the orchestra providing live accompaniment to F.W. Murnau’s classic silent horror film “Nosferatu,” plus a late showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Oct. 24 at Richmond CenterStage.
* Noteworthy elsewhere: The Roanoke Symphony, David Stewart Wiley conducting, opens its 2015-16 season with an all-Gershwin program, featuring pianist Norman Krieger, Oct. 10 at the Berglund Performing Arts Theatre. . . . Washington plays host to four preeminent pianists this month: Jeremy Denk, playing Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and more, Oct. 11 at the Kennedy Center; András Schiff, playing Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert, Oct. 26 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs of DC; Evgeny Kissin, playing Mozart, Beethoven Brahms, Albéniz and Joaquin Larregla, Oct. 28 at the Kennedy Center; and Lang Lang, joining Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony in Grieg’s Piano Concerto, Oct. 29-31 at the Kennedy Center.
. . . Marin Alsop conducts the Baltimore Symphony and a cast of actors in Edward Berkeley’s staging of Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Oct. 17 at Strathmore. . . . The Czech Republic’s Pavel Haas Quartet plays Martinů, Dvořák and Beethoven, Oct. 20 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and Oct. 23 at the Library of Congress in Washington. . . . Violist David Aaron Carpenter leads the Salomé Chamber Orchestra, with Indian vocalist Ila Paliwal, in a music evoking the four seasons, Oct. 26 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Cellist Zuill Bailey joins JoAnn Falletta and the Virginia Symphony in Michael Daugherty’s “Tales of Hemingway,” on a program also featuring music of Ibert and Elgar, Oct. 29-30 and Nov. 1 at venues in Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach. . . . The stellar male vocal ensemble Chanticleer presents “Over the Moon,” with music by composers ranging from Monteverdi to Mahler to Richmond-bred Mason Bates, Oct. 29 at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville. . . . Cellist Steven Isserlis and fortepianist Robert Levin survey Beethoven sonatas, Oct. 29 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Opera Roanoke opens its 40th anniversary season with Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd,” Oct. 30 at the Jefferson Center. . . . Avant-garde icon Meredith Monk and her vocal ensemble perform on Oct. 30 at the Library of Congress.
Oct. 1 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Novus Percutere
works TBA for percussion duo
free
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/
Oct. 1 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Oct. 3 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Symphony Pops
Benjamin Rous conducting
Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr., guest stars
“Up Up and Away – the Music and Memories”
$25-$95
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org
Oct. 1 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 2 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 3 (1 and 7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Evan Rogister conducting
Bizet: “Carmen”
Clémentine Margaine/Géraldine Chauvet (Carmen)
Bryan Hymel/Rafael Davila (Don José)
Michael Todd Simpson/Aleksey Bogdanov (Escamillo)
Janai Brugger/Jacqueline Echols (Micaëla)
E. Loren Meeker, stage director
in French, English captions
$25-$315
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 1 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 2 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 3 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Donald Runnicles conducting
Mozart: “The Magic Flute” Overture
Richard Strauss: “Four Last Songs”
Olga Peretyatko, soprano
Elgar: Serenade in E minor
Elgar: “Enigma Variations”
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
performers TBA
“Family Weekend Concert”
program TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu
Oct. 2 (8:15 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Off the Cuff
Markus Strenz conducting
Mozart: “Don Giovanni” (scenes)
Morgan Smith (Don Giovanni)
Javier Arrey (Masetto)
Jennifer Black (Donna Elvira)
Timothy Bruno (Commendatore)
Pureum Jo (Zerlina)
Yi Li (Don Ottavio)
Angela Meade (Donna Anna)
Thomas Richards (Leporello)
$20-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Virginia Symphony
conductor TBA
“Symphony under the Stars”
program TBA
free
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org
Oct. 3 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 4 (2 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Virginia Opera
Anne Manson conducting
Offenbach: “Orpheus in the Underworld”
Meredith Lustig (Eurydice)
Javier Abreu (Orpheus)
Daniel Curran (Aristeus/Pluto)
Troy Cook (Jupiter)
Margaret Gawrysiak (Public Opinion)
Brian Mextorf (John Styx)
Kelly Glyptis (Cupid)
Molly Hill (Venus)
Keith Brown (Mars)
Katherine Polit (Diana)
Leah de Gruyl (Juno)
Kyle Tomlin (Mercury)
Bridgid Eversole (Minerva)
Sam Helfrich, stage director
in English, English captions
$48-$98
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.vaopera.org
Oct. 3 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Wagner: “Rienzi” (concert version)
Issachah Savage (Rienzi)
Mary Ann Stewart (Adriano)
Eudora Brown (Irene)
Kevin Thompson (Stefano Colona)
Jason Stearns (Paolo Orsini)
Robert Baker (Baroncelli)
Stephen Bryant (Cecco, Raimondo)
Washington Men’s Camerata
National Philharmonic Chorale
$29-$89
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 4 (7 p.m.)
River Road Presbyterian Church, 8960 River Road, Richmond
Daniel Stipe, organ
works TBA by J.S. Bach, Bloch, Dupré, Langlais
free
(804) 740-7083
www.rrpcusa.org
Oct. 4 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Markus Strenz conducting
Mozart: Symphony No. 1 in E flat major, K. 16
Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E flat major, K. 364/320d
Madeline Adkins, violin
Lisa Steltenpohl, viola
Mozart: “Don Giovanni” (excerpts)
Morgan Smith (Don Giovanni)
Javier Arrey (Masetto)
Jennifer Black (Donna Elvira)
Timothy Bruno (Commendatore)
Pureum Jo (Zerlina)
Yi Li (Don Ottavio)
Angela Meade (Donna Anna)
Thomas Richards (Leporello)
$20-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 5 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Albert Regni, saxophone
Allen Farnham, piano
works by Robert Muczynski, Robert Aldridge, Benedetto Marcello, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Ramon Ricker
free
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/
Oct. 6 (8 p.m.)
Williamsburg Library Theatre, 515 Scotland St.
Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg:
Dover String Quartet
Mozart: Quartet in B flat major, K. 458 (“Hunt”)
Mozart: Quartet in B flat major, K. 589
Dvořák: Quartet in F major, Op. 96 (“American”)
$15
(757) 229-0385
www.chambermusicwilliamsburg.org
Oct. 7 (noon)
St. Bede Catholic Church, 3686 Ironbound Road, Williamsburg
Kristi Engelbrecht, mezzo-soprano
Aaron Renninger, organ
program TBA
free
(757) 229-3631
www.bedeva.org/concerts
Oct. 7 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vijay Iyer, piano
Brentano String Quartet
Iyer: solo set TBA
Mendelssohn: Quartet in E flat major, Op. 12
Iyer: “Time, Place, Action”
$45
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 8 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 9 (11:30 a.m.)
Oct. 10 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Ludovic Morlot conducting
Berlioz: “Les francs-juges” Overture
Rodrigo: “Concierto de Aranjuez”
Miloš Karadaglic, guitar
Ravel: “Pavane pour une infante défunte”
Ravel: “Rapsodie espagnole”
Dukas: “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 8 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Pops
Jack Everly conducting
“Classic FM: Five Decades of Radio Hits”
$20-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 9 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 11 (2:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Virginia Opera
Anne Manson conducting
Offenbach: “Orpheus in the Underworld”
Meredith Lustig (Eurydice)
Javier Abreu (Orpheus)
Daniel Curran (Aristeus/Pluto)
Troy Cook (Jupiter)
Margaret Gawrysiak (Public Opinion)
Brian Mextorf (John Styx)
Kelly Glyptis (Cupid)
Molly Hill (Venus)
Keith Brown (Mars)
Katherine Polit (Diana)
Leah de Gruyl (Juno)
Kyle Tomlin (Mercury)
Bridgid Eversole (Minerva)
Sam Helfrich, stage director
in English, English captions
$19-$109
(866) 673-6782
www.vaopera.org
Oct. 10 (7 p.m.)
Powhatan High School auditorium, 1800 Jude’s Ferry Road
Richmond Symphony
conductor TBA
program TBA
$25-$50; proceeds benefit Powhatan Education Foundation
(804) 788-4717
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 10 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Igudesman & Joo
“And Now Mozart” (comedy sketches)
$34
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/
Oct. 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Berglund Performing Arts Theatre, 710 Williamson Road, Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Gershwin: “An American in Paris”
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F major
Norman Krieger, piano
Gershwin: “Cuban” Overture
Gershwin: “Porgy and Bess” Fantasy
$34-$56
(540) 343-9127
www.rso.com
Oct. 10 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
yarn|wire
Berio: “Linea”
Murail: “Travel Notes”
Mochizuki: “Le monde des ronds et des carrés”
Mincek: “Pendulum VI”
Franszon: “Negotiation of Context B”
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/concerts
Oct. 11 (4 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road
Second Sunday South of the James:
Joanne Kong & Paul Hanson, pianos
works TBA by Liszt
donation requested
(804) 272-7514
www.bonairpc.org
Oct. 11 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Jeremy Denk, piano
J.S. Bach: “English” Suite No. 3 in G minor, BWV 808
Haydn: Fantasia in C minor
Beethoven: Sonata in C sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (“Moonlight”)
Schubert: “Wanderer” Fantasy
other works TBA
$70 (waiting list)
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 11 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra
conductor TBA
vocalists, violinist TBA
works by Sarasate, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, others
$29-$99
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 12 (7:30 p.m.)
Bon Air United Methodist Church, 1645 Buford Road, Richmond
John Craven, organ
program TBA
free
(804) 272-2042
www.bonairumc.org
Oct. 13 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphony
Daniel Myssyk conducting
Stravinsky: “Symphonies of Wind Instruments”
Gabriela Lena Frank: “Illapa”
Tabatha Easley, flute
Vivaldi: Gloria
VCU Women’s Choir
Rebecca Tyree directing
$7 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/
Oct. 13 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Young Concert Artists:
Seiya Ueno, flute
Wendy Chen, piano
J.S. Bach: Sonata in B minor, BWV 1030
Debussy: “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”
Boulez: Sonatine
Richard Strauss: Sonata in E flat major, Op. 18
Bizet-Borne: “Carmen” Fantasy
$35
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 14 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
William Neal, organ
National Symphony Orchestra brass & timpani
Handel: Organ Concerto in B flat major, Op. 4, No. 2
Giovanni Gabrieli: “Canzon duodecimi toni”
Giovanni Gabrieli: “Sonata pian’e forte”
Giovanni Gabrieli: “Canzon à 7”
J.S. Bach: Fantasia in G minor, BWV 572
Handel: “Royal Fireworks Music”
Franck: Choral No. 1 in E major
Widor: Symphony No. 5 – adagio & toccata
$15
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 15 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vocal Arts DC:
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Bradley Moore, piano
works TBA by Schubert, Dvořák, Chausson, Turina; American hymns and spirituals
$50
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 16 (6:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony Casual Classics
Steven Smith, speaker and conductor
Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 (“Inextinguishable”)
$10-$50
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 16 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Young-Hyun Cho, piano
Liszt: Ballade No. 2
Liszt: “Rapsodie espagnole”
works TBA by Haydn, Brahms, Debussy
free
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/
Oct. 16 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Oct. 17 (8 p.m.)
L. Douglas Wilder Arts Center, Norfolk State University, 700 Park Ave.
Oct. 18 (7 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Arnold Bax: “Tintagel”
Respighi: “The Fountains of Rome”
Walton: “Belshazzar’s Feast”
Charles Robert Austin, bass-baritone
Virginia Symphony Chorus
$25-$110
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org
Oct. 16 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Oct. 16 (11:59 p.m.)
UVa Chapel, Charlottesville
TechnoSonics XVI: “Music and Contemplation”
electronic works TBA
introductory program in Old Cabell Hall; 24-hour concert of “slow music” in UVa Chapel
free
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu/events
Oct. 16 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
Atos Trio
Kirchner: Trio (1954)
Hersch: “Carrion Miles to Purgatory” (premiere)
Bloch: “Three Nocturnes”
Beethoven: Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 97 (“Archduke”)
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/concerts
Oct. 17 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Schuyler Slack, cello
Daniel Stipe, piano
“War and Peace”
works TBA by Fauré, Rachmaninoff, Frank Bridge
free
(804) 646-7223
www.richmondpubliclibrary.org
Oct. 17 (8 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Zachary Wadsworth: “Point – Line – Point”
Korngold: Violin Concerto in D major
Philippe Quint, violin
Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 (“Inextinguishable”)
$10-$78
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 17 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Herbert Schuch, piano
Tristan Murail: “Cloches d’adieu, et un sourire . . . in memoriam Olivier Messiaen”
Liszt: “Harmonies poétiques et religieuses” – “Pater Noster,” “Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude”
J.S. Bach-Busoni: Choral Prelude “Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” BWV 639
Messiaen: “Eight Préludes” – “Cloches d’angoisse et larmes d´adieu”
J.S. Bach-Bauer: “Die Seele ruht in Gottes Händen,” from BWV 127
Liszt: “Harmonies poétiques et religieuses” – “Funerailles”
Ravel: “Miroirs” – “La vallée des cloches”
$48
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 17 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
Nicholas Phan, tenor
Myra Huang, piano
Rorem: “O Do Not Love Too Long,” “Early in the Morning,” “Far-Far-Away,” “Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal,” “The Serpent”
Schumann: “Dichterliebe”
Britten: “Winter Words”
Bowles: “Blue Mountain Ballads”
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/concerts
Oct. 17 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
Prokofiev: “Romeo and Juliet” (concert version with actors)
Sebastian Stimman (Romeo)
Christina Sajous (Juliet)
Kelley Curran (Lady Capulet)
Lise Bruneau (Chorus, Tibalt, Lady Montague, Citizen, Servant, Masker, Balthasar, Father John, Watch, Page)
Louis Butelli (Friar Lawrence, Juliet’s Nurse, Lord Montague)
Nehal Joshi (Benvolio, Paris, Prince Escalus)
Brad Koed (Mercutio, Lord Capulet)
Edward Berkeley, stage director
$20-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 18 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Sonia Vlahcevic, piano
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/
Oct. 18 (4 p.m.)
St. Matthias’ Episcopal Church, 11300 W. Huguenot Road, Midlothian
Timothy Seaman, hammered dulcimer, flute, other instrumengts
folk and classical works TBA
donation requested
(804) 272-8588, ext. 103
www.stmatmidlo.com
Oct. 18 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Kennedy Center Chamber Players
Beethoven: String Trio in C minor, Op. 9, No. 3
Brahms: Horn Trio in E flat major, Op. 40
Beethoven: Piano Trio in G major, Op. 1, No. 2
$36
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 19 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
instrumental ensemble
Ted Sperling directing
Capathia Jenkins & Lindsay Mendez, vocalists
“An Evening with the Music of Marvin Hamlisch”
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/concerts
Oct. 20 (7:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Pavel Haas Quartet
Martinů: Quartet No. 3
Dvořák: Quartet in D minor, Op. 34
Beethoven: Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 (“Razumovsky”)
$12-$35
(434) 924-3376
www.tecs.org
Oct. 22 (6:30 p.m.)
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, 2408-10 Ownby Lane, Richmond
Richmond Symphony Rush Hour
Keitaro Harada speaking and conducting
Bartók: Divertimento (excerpts)
Weber: Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in E flat major
Jared Davis, clarinet
Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550 (excerpts)
$15
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 23 (7:30 p.m.)
Westminster Presbyterian Church, 4103 Monument Ave., Richmond
American Guild of Organists Repertoire Recital Series:
Ahreum Han, organ
J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532
Mozart: Andante in F major, K.616
Sigfrid Karg-Elert: “Valse Mignonne,” Op. 142, No.2
Vierne: “Naïdes,” Op. 55, No. 4
Vierne: “Clair de lune,” Op. 53, No. 5
Offenbach-Han: “Orphée aux enfers” Overture
Johannes Matthias Michel: “Organ, Timbrel, and Dance” – “Three jazz organ preludes”
Max Reger: Fantasy on the chorale “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,” Op. 52, No.2
donation requested
(804) 355-6885
www.richmondago.org
Oct. 23 (7:30 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Waynesboro Symphony
Peter Wilson conducting
“Masquerade: an Evening of Global Espionage”
works TBA by Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Shostakovich, others
$30-$75
(434) 979-1333
www.theparamount.net
Oct. 23 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 24 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra Pops
Steven Reineke conducting
Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers, guest stars
$45-$109
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 23 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
Pavel Haas Quartet
Martinů: Quartet No. 3
Dvořák: Quartet in D minor, Op. 34
Beethoven: Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 (“Razumovsky”)
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/concerts
Oct. 24 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Kristi Reynolds, piano
Chopin: Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9
Chopin: Ballade in G minor, Op. 23
Debussy: Arabesque No. 1 in E major
Debussy: “Children’s Corner” Suite
other works TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
www.richmondpubliclibrary.org
Oct. 24 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Juilliard String Quartet
Schubert: “Quartettsatz” in C minor, D. 703
Elliott Carter: Quartet No. 1
Debussy: Quartet in G minor
$34
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/
Oct. 24 (8 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony Pops
Timothy Verville conducting
F.W. Murnau’s silent film “Nosferatu,” with live orchestral accompaniment of excerpts from works by Brahms, Dvořák, Wagner, Barber, Christopher Norby (arranged by Verville)
$10-$78; $10 more for late showing of “Rocky Horror Picture Show”
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 24 (7 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
University Singers
UVa Chamber Singers
Virginia Glee Club
Virginia Women’s Chorus
“Family Weekend Choral Showcase”
program TBA
$10
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu/events
Oct. 24 (9:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Virginia Gentlemen
Family Weekend Concert
program TBA
ticket prices TBA
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu/events
Oct. 24 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
Windsync
Reicha: Wind Quintet in E flat major, Op. 88, No. 2
Mozart-Windsync: Serenade in B flat major (“Gran Partita”) – adagio
Paul Lansky: “The Long and Short of It” (premiere)
Barber: “Summer Music”
Adam Schoenberg: “Winter Music”
Maslanka: Quintet No. 2 – chaconne
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/concerts
Oct. 24 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Joshua Weilerstein conducting
Christopher Rouse: “Prospero’s Rooms”
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
Valentina Lisitsa, piano
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 in A minor (“Scottish”)
$20-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 25 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Bartók: Divertimento
Weber: Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in E flat major
Jared Davis, clarinet
Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
$20
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 25 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
UR Schola Cantorum & Women’s Chorale
Jeffrey Riehl & David Pedersen directing
program TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu
Oct. 25 (3 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony Pops
Benjamin Rous conducting
“Halloween Spooktacular”
$10-$15
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org
Oct. 26 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Elizabeth Roberts, bassoon
John Mayhood, piano
works TBA by Elgar, Dutilleux, Barbara York, others
$15
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu/events
Oct. 26 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
David Aaron Carpenter, viola
Salomé Chamber Orchestra
Ila Paliwal, vocalist
Vivaldi: “The Four Seasons” – “Summer,” “Winter”
trad. Indian: “Diwali,” “Ganesh,” “Pongal,” “Baisakhi”
Piazzolla-Eldor: “Libertango”
Alexey Shor: “Four Seasons of Manhattan”
Piazzolla: “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” – “Verano,” “Primavera”
$45
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 26 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
András Schiff, piano
Haydn: Sonata No. 61 in D major
Beethoven: Sonata in A flat major, Op. 110
Mozart: Sonata in B flat major, K. 570
Schubert: Sonata in A major, D. 959
$45-$85
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 27 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Mun Kyung Kim, piano
Scriabin: “Five Préludes,” Op. 16
Beethoven: Sonata in F minor, Op. 57 (“Appassionata”)
Mussorgsky: “Pictures at an Exhibition”
$40
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 28 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Evgeny Kissin, piano
Mozart: Sonata in C major, K. 330
Beethoven: Sonata in F minor, Op. 57 (“Appassionata”)
Brahms: 3 intermezzos, Op. 117
Albéniz: “Granada,” “Cádiz,” “Córdoba,” “Asturias”
Joaquin Larregla: “Viva Navarra!”
$45-$135
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 29 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Oct. 31 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Ibert: “Ports of Call”
Michael Daugherty: “Tales of Hemingway” for cello and orchestra
Zuill Bailey, cello
Elgar: “Enigma Variations”
$25-$110
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org
Oct. 29 (8 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Chanticleer
“Over the Moon”
works TBA by Monteverdi, Mahler, Elgar, Finzi, Mason Bates, others
$29.50-$39.50
(434) 979-1333
www.theparamount.net
Oct. 29 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Steven Isserlis, cello
Robert Levin, fortepiano
Beethoven: Sonata in F major, Op. 5
Beethoven: Sonata in D major, Op. 102, No. 2
Beethoven: “12 Variations on ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ from Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ ”
Beethoven: Sonata in A major, Op. 69
$60
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 29 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 30 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 31 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Wagner: “Tannhäuser” Overture
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor
Lang Lang, piano
Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 in G major
$20-$99
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 30 (7:30 p.m.)
Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave., Roanoke
Opera Roanoke
Scott Williamson conducting
Stephen Sondheim: “Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
Corey Crider (Sweeney Todd)
Carla Dirlikov (Mrs. Lovett)
in English
$49-$184
(540) 345-2550
www.operaroanoke.org
Oct. 30 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble
Monk: works TBA
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/concerts
Oct. 31 (11 a.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony LolliPops
Keitaro Harada conducting
“Halloween Spooktacular”
$17 (adult), $12 (child)
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 31 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
Pomerium
Alexander Blachly directing
Desprez: “Benedicta es, caelorum regina”
Desprez: “Missa Malheur me bat” – Agnus Dei
Desprez: “Praeter rerum seriem”
Desprez: “Missa L’homme armé” – Gloria, Agnus Dei
Ockegheim: Requiem – Introitus
Palestrina: “Missa sine nomine” – Gloria
Lassus: “Regina coeli”
Lassus: “Ave verum corpus”
Andrea Gabrieli: “O sacrum convivium”
Victoria: “Vexilla regis prodeunt”
Giovanni Gabrieli: “Exultavit cor meum”
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/concerts
Oct. 31 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Victoria Gau conducting
J.S. Bach: Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068
J.S. Bach: Cantata 80 (“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”)
J.S. Bach: Cantata 147 (“Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”)
Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano
Yvette Smith, mezzo-soprano
Matthew Smith, tenor
Kevin Deas, baritone
National Philharmonic Chorale
$29-$89
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org