Letter V Classical Radio this week

March 31
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Pavel Josef Vejvanovský: Serenada
Virtuosi di Praga/Oldrich Vlcek
(Discover International)

J.S. Bach: Partita No. 2
in D minor, BWV 1004
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
(Avie)

Past Masters:
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1
in D major (“Classical”)
Academy of St. Martin
in the Fields/Neville Marriner (Argo)
(recorded 1973)

Brahms: Quartet in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1
New Orford String Quartet (Bridge)

Martinů: Toccata
e due canzoni
Saint Paul
Chamber Orchestra/
Christopher Hogwood (London)

Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony, Op. 110a
(orchestration of Quartet No. 8 by Rudolf Barshai)
Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Rudolf Barshai (Decca)

Tomaso Antonio Vitali:
Chaconne in G minor
Jessica Lee, violin
Reiko Uchida, piano
(Azica)

Haydn: Symphony No. 102
in B flat major
Les Musiciens du Louvre/Marc Minkowski (Naïve)

Radio special

On Easter weekend substitution duty: Two hours of dance music from central and eastern Europe, from folk roots to classical branches, featuring selections from Collection Uhrovska (1730), a Slovakian treasure trove of dances and airs from Slavic, Hungarian and Roma (gypsy) sources.

March 27
5-7 p.m. EDT
2100-2300 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

traditional: “Präambulum”
(Collection Uhrovska)
Ensemble Caprice (Analekta)

Golijov: “Lullaby and Doina”
Tara Helen O’Connor, flute
Todd Palmer, clarinet
St. Lawrence
String Quartet
Mark Dresser,
double-bass
(EMI Classics)

traditional: “Seremoj és Románca”
Apollo Chamber Ensemble (Navona)

Kodály: “Dances of Galanta”
Budapest Festival Orchestra/
Iván Fischer (Philips)

Bartók:
“Rumanian Folk Dances”
Budapest Festival Orchestra/Iván Fischer (Philips)

traditional: “Visel Som”
(Collection Uhrovska)
Ensemble Caprice (Analekta)

Ligeti: “Concert Românesc”
Berlin Philharmonic/Jonathan Nott (Teldec)

traditional: “Fa nye mama”/cadenza/“Hungaricus 53”
(Collection Uhrovska)
David Greenberg, violin
Ensemble Caprice
(Analekta)

Sarasate: “Zigeunerweisen”
Julia Fischer, violin
Milana Chernyavska, piano (Decca)

traditional:
“Wallachian Lament”
Apollo Chamber Ensemble (Navona)

Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 in D minor
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop (Naxos)

Dvořák: Slavonic Dance, Op. 46, No. 6
Czech Philharmonic/Charles Mackerras (Supraphon)

Letter V Classical Radio this week

Music for Holy Week: works by Thomas Tallis, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn and Arvo Pärt, and the transcendent Eighth Symphony of Anton Bruckner, long performed in the Easter season in central Europe.

March 24
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1600-1900 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Haydn: Symphony No. 49 in F minor (“La Passione”)
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra/
Gottfried von der Goltz
(Harmonia Mundi)

Arvo Pärt: Stabat Mater
RIAS Chamber Choir
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra/Kristjan Järvi (Sony Classical)

Thomas Tallis: “The Lamentations of Jeremiah”
The Hilliard Enemble (ECM)

J.S. Bach: Cantata,
“Christ lag in
Todesbanden,” BWV 4
Ruth Holton, soprano
Sytse Buwalda, alto
Nico van der Meel, tenor
Bas Ramselaar, bass
Holland Boys Choir
Netherlands Bach Collegium/
Pieter Jan Leusink
(Brilliant Classics)

Bruckner: Symphony
No. 8 in C minor
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Georg Solti
(Decca)

Horszowski Trio reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of the Horszowski Trio, performing Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Fauré in a Rennolds Chamber Concerts program at Virginia Commonwealth University:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_c80d2be9-26e1-5a1a-ba78-2847c503ce58.html

Reviews: organ recitals

Bruce Stevens
March 14, University of Richmond

Bruce Stevens, who has been playing the Beckerath organ in the University of Richmond’s Cannon Memorial Chapel since his student days, and now, as organ instructor at the university, performs on the instrument regularly, played to its strengths and his own in a recital of German baroque and romantic repertory.

Stevens has spent years performing and recording the sonatas of Josef Rheinberger, the Liechtenstein-born composer whose organ works reflect the evolution of the classically inflected German romantic style as heard, largely in other media, from Mendelssohn to Brahms and (especially) Max Bruch.

In this recital, Stevens previewed the next installment of his recorded cycle, playing Rheinberger’s Sonata No. 13 in E flat major, Op. 161, dating from 1889. The piece shows a flowing, songful character through three movements, concluding somewhat more cerebrally, if not much less lyrically, in a fugue – rather like a serenade that ultimately develops second thoughts.

The organist’s fluent, orchestrally scaled reading of the Rheinberger made a persuasive case for the piece; but in the context of this program, it came across as mellowing-out music, following as it did one of the Johann Sebastian Bach’s most monumental and intense organ works, the Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 546.

This is the kind of music the Beckerath was built to voice, and Stevens exploited that voice in a sharply focused reading whose power never lapsed into stridency.

He worked his way (and the audience’s) up to big Bach, opening the recital with works by two of the composers who most strongly influenced the young Bach – Dietrich Buxtehude’s Praeludium in F sharp minor and Georg Böhm’s Chorale Partita on “Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu und wend” (“Lord Jesus Christ, turn to us”) – followed by Bach’s Trio Sonata in G major, BWV 530.

All three sound decorously playful when heard alongside BWV 546 (as most any music would); Böhm’s partita projects the same tone and spirit as the colorful, quasi-rustic suites of Georg Philipp Telemann. Stevens’ performances were idiomatic and spirited.

* * *

Stephen Hamilton
March 11, St. James’s Episcopal Church

An entirely different spirit pervaded Stephen Hamilton’s performance on the Fisk organ of St. James’s Episcopal Church, devoted to “La Chemin de la Croix” (“The Stations of the Cross”)
by Marcel Dupré.

This massive cycle of 14 pieces, vividly illustrating the end of Jesus’ life, from condemnation through scourging and crucifixion to entombment, is cast as a musical “commentary” on Paul Claudel’s poem of the same name, and is customarily performed with readings of Claudel’s verses preceding each section.

In this recital, readers Harrison Clark, Hilary Streever and Julie Wade delivered the texts in French, with translations printed in a program book that also featured reproductions of expressionist paintings on the Stations of the Cross produced in the early 1960s by the British artist David O’Connell.

Hamilton, minister of music emeritus of New York’s Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity and a long-active touring recitalist, makes a specialty of the Dupré; he has played the piece more than 40 times across the country.

This performance of the cycle emphasized tonal color and fervid expression over technical finesse, confronting the listener with jolting sound images and dramatic pronouncements. It was a singular, more-than-musical experience.

Letter V Classical Radio this week

Something very special in the second hour – a contemporary work that transcends new-music fashions and -isms and truly transports the listener: the Cello Concerto No. 2 (“Presence”) by the Latvian composer Peteris Vasks, played by Sol Gabetta, the cellist for whom it was written.

We’ll also remember the British composer Peter Maxwell Davies, who died this week, with his recording of one of his best-known works, “An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise.”

March 17
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EDT
1400-1700 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Mozart: “Cosí fan tutte” Overture
Concerto Köln/René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi)

Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F major
Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Kent Nagano (Analekta)

Past Masters:
Ravel: “Valses nobles
et sentimentales”
Maurice Ravel, piano
(Pieran)
(1913 piano roll)

Vaughan Williams:
“Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”
New Queen’s Hall Orchestra/
Barry Wordsworth (Argo)

Peteris Vasks:
Cello Concerto No. 2 (“Presence”)
Sol Gabetta, cello
Amsterdam Sinfonietta/
Candida Thompson
(Sony Classical)

Barber: String Quartet,
Op. 11 – Adagio
Emerson String Quartet (Deutsche Grammophon)

J.S. Bach: “English Suite” No. 2 in A minor, BWV 807
Christophe Rousset, harpsichord (Naïve)

Rodrigo: “Concierto
de Aranjuez”
Miloš Karadaglić, guitar
London Philharmonic/
Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Deutsche Grammophon)

Peter Maxwell Davies:
“An Orkney Wedding,
with Sunrise”
George MacIlwham, bagpipes
Scottish Chamber Orchestra/
Peter Maxwell Davies (Unicorn-Kanchana)

Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016)

Peter Maxwell Davies, the British composer most widely known for “An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise” (the best-known orchestral work employing bagpipes) and the harrowing “Eight Songs for a Mad King,” has died at 81.

First attracting notice with radical works such as the opera “Taverner” in the 1960s and ’70s, Maxwell Davies went on to compose more mainstream pieces, including symphonies, concertos and string quartets, many reflecting the culture and atmosphere of his adopted home, the Orkney Islands north of Scotland.

He served as Master of the Queen’s Music, Britain’s laureate composer, from 2004 until 2014.

“[T]he characteristic Maxwell Davies ‘sound’ is . . . a tensile, highly dissonant combination of lines, etched in primary colours, with absolutely no harmonic or colouristic padding to ingratiate the listener. At its best, the sound embodies a keen-edged and tragic lucidity, a high seriousness as much ethical as musical,” Ivan Hewett writes in an obituary The Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/14/sir-peter-maxwell-davies-obituary

Keith Emerson (1944-2016)

Keith Emerson, the British keyboard player who was one of the first performers to popularize electronic synthesizers, using them to turn classical works by Mussorgsky, Janáček, Bartók and Ginastera into progressive-rock epics with his trio Emerson, Lake and Palmer, has died at 71.

An obituary by The New York Times’ Ben Ratliff:

http://http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/12/arts/music/keith-emerson-70s-rock-showman-with-a-taste-for-spectacle-dies-at-71.html

George Martin (1926-2016)

George Martin, the courtly, classically trained record producer widely rated as instrumental in creating the sound of The Beatles, especially in the group’s “Revolver”-to-“Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” creative heyday, has died at 90.

Among Martin’s most signal contributions was the addition of a string quartet to Paul McCartney’s voice and guitar in “Yesterday,” an idea that McCartney initially resisted but now acknowledges was “so correct.”

Martin’s productions with The Beatles are “a compact body of work that adds up to less than 10 hours of music but that revolutionized the popular music world,” Allan Kozinn writes in an obituary for The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/arts/music/george-martin-producer-of-the-beatles-dies-at-90.html

Letter V Classical Radio this week

Spring break this week at the University of Richmond, so the show expands to four hours and airs at a special time.

The program samples the recorded legacy of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Austrian cellist, conductor and music scholar, who died on March 5. Harnoncourt
was one of the most consequential classical musicians of our time –
a pivotal figure in the evolution of historically informed performance practice over the past three generations, and
one of the first conductors to apply the insights and sensibilities of the early music movement to the performance of 19th-century music with modern orchestras.

We’ll hear Harnoncourt’s interpretations of baroque, classical and romantic repertory, including some of his pioneering recordings from the 1960s and ’70s with Concentus Musicus Wien, the period-instruments ensemble he founded and led for more than 60 years.

March 10
3-7 p.m. EST
2000-2400 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://www.wdce.org

Haydn: “The Creation” –
“Achieved is the glorious work”
Dorothea Röschmann, soprano
Michael Schade, tenor
Christian Gerhaher, baritone
Arnold Schönberg Choir
Concentus Musicus Wien
(Deutsche Harmonia Mundi)

Beethoven:
Piano Concerto No. 4
in G major
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano
Chamber Orchestra
of Europe (Teldec)

Johann Strauss II: “Die Fledermaus” Overture
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam (Teldec)

Past Masters:
Purcell: Fantasia No. 1
for three viols, Z. 732
Concentus Musicus Wien (Omega)
(recorded 1962)

Past Masters:
J.S. Bach: Suite No. 2
in D minor, BWV 1008
– Prelude
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, baroque cello
(Musical Heritage Society)
(recorded 1965)

Past Masters:
J.S. Bach: Cantata,
“Nun komm, der heiden Heiland,” BWV 62
Peter Jelosits, boy soprano
Paul Esswood, alto
Kurt Equiluz, tenor
Ruud Van der Meer, bass
Tölzer Knabenchor
Concentus Musicus Wien (Teldec)
(recorded 1975)

Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E flat major
Chamber Orchestra
of Europe (Teldec)

Dvořák:
“The Water Goblin”
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam (Teldec)

Schumann: Violin Concerto in D minor
Gidon Kremer, violin
Chamber Orchestra
of Europe (Teldec)

Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D minor
Vienna Philharmonic (RCA Victor)

Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929-2016)

Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the pioneering early music scholar-performer who in mid-career broadened his activities to conduct modern orchestras and opera companies in mainstream classical and romantic repertory, has died at 86.

Born to a family of Austrian aristocrats – his mother was a Habsburg descendant – Harnoncourt was a cellist who played in the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera and Vienna Symphony Orchestra in the 1950s and ’60s. He founded the period-instruments orchestra Concentus Musicus Wien in 1953, with his wife, Alice, serving as concertmaster, and continued leading the ensemble until his retirement last December.

Harnoncourt also had long-standing relationships with the Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Berlin Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

His discography – some 500 recordings in all – ranged from the cantatas and large-scale choral works of Bach and operas of Monteverdi and Mozart to the symphonies of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Dvořák and Bruckner, the waltzes of the Strauss family, even to the Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess” (a favorite of his youth).

In one of his scholarly works, “Music as Speech,” Harnoncourt emphasized the influence of spoken language on music. He asserted that the distinctive Viennese dialect of German deeply informed the tonal and rhythmic language of composers active in the city. This belief led to interpretive decisions that some critics considered eccentric.

“At the moment when language reaches a profundity surpassing that of any concrete message, it is immediately linked to song, because with the help of song anything over and above pure information can be conveyed more clearly,” Harnoncourt told me in a 2003 interview for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

“The main thing for me is not the technical use of historical information – this just leads to a technical result – but the use of historical information [to understand] the content, the point of the music. The more I understand about the sounds and surroundings of historical instruments, the less I need the instruments themselves. The instruments are just a tool.”

An obituary by The New York Times’ James R. Oestreich:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/07/arts/music/nikolaus-harnoncourt-conductor-and-early-music-specialist-dies-at-86.html

An obituary by Barry Millington for The Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/06/nikolaus-harnoncourt-obituary

A 1985 essay by Joel Cohen, longtime director of the Boston Camerata, on the role that Harnoncourt played in the modern renaissance of early music, reprinted on Norman Lebrecht’s Slipped Disc blog:

http://slippedisc.com/2016/03/harnoncourts-place-in-the-history-of-early-music/

Richmond Symphony reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of the Richmond Symphony’s Masterworks program of Shostakovich, Beethoven and Mussorgsky, with pianist Orli Shaham and the Richmond Symphony Chorus:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_19e21697-4ef0-5ba4-ae8c-73068cbbbe0a.html

A honking musicological issue

George Gershwin famously incorporated four taxi horns into “An American in Paris.” The horns, which the composer selected in Paris and brought home to New York for the premiere, are identified in the composer’s manuscript score as
“A,” “B,” “C” and “D.”

Are those pitch notations, or just Gershwin’s version of
1-2-3-4?

The New York Times’
Michael Cooper explores this musicological issue, which is not as trivial as it may seem at first honk. Gershwin’s taxi horns, as heard in the Victor recording of “An American in Paris” made shortly after the first performance, are pitched A flat, B flat, high D and low A, producing tone colors and dissonances that are markedly different from the
A, B, C, D tuning heard in today’s performances:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/theater/have-we-been-playing-gershwin-wrong-for-70-years.html

Michael Strunsky, a nephew of Ira Gershwin, tells Cooper that the original taxi horns have been lost.

Time out

The Washington Post’s Anne Midgette writes about classical musicians who’ve decided to take sabbaticals from performance, often at the peaks of their careers.

Pianist Piotr Anderszewski, the latest to temporarily leave the stage, said in an interview with the website Humans of New York that becoming “a 200-concert-per-year performing machine . . . requires too much efficiency. And the efficiency burns you out.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2016/03/02/give-me-a-break-classical-musicians-are-stepping-away/

It surely doesn’t help that many prominent performers play the same music night after night. Check out the website of the pianist, violinist or chamber group of your choice, and you typically find these artists spending months alternating among two or three concertos or half a dozen chamber works parceled into a couple of programs. 

Letter V Classical Radio this week

A sampler of new and recent classical recordings, covering an extraordinarily wide range of music, from standards by Beethoven and Bruch to genre-crossing contemporary works by Mason Bates and Laura Karpman.

March 3
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EST
1500-1800 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Beethoven: “Egmont” Overture
Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Kent Nagano (Analekta)

Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor
Jack Liebeck, violin
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins (Hyperion)

Poulenc: Sonata
for oboe and piano
Katherine Needleman, oboe
Jennifer Lin, piano
(Genuin Classics)

Vivaldi: Concerto in F major, Op. 10, No. 1
(“La Tempesta di Mare”)
Jeremias Schwarzer, recorder
Holland Baroque
(Channel Classics)

Mason Bates:
“Alternative Energy”
Mason Bates, electronica
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra/
Michael Tilson Thomas
(SFS Media)

Brahms: Intermezzo in B minor, Op. 119, No. 1
Brett Dean: “Engelsflügel 1”
Brahms: Intermezzo in E minor, Op. 119, No. 2
Brett Dean: “Hafenkneipenmusik”
Brahms: Intermezzo in C major, Op. 119, No. 3
Brett Dean: “Engelsflügel 2”
Brahms: Rhapsodie in E flat major, Op. 119, No. 4
Orli Shaham, piano
(Canary Classics)

Edward MacDowell:
“Woodland Sketches,” Op. 51 –
“To a Wild Rose”
(arrangement by Chris Marshall)
Claire Jones, harp
English Chamber Orchestra/Stuart Morley
(Silva Classics)

Albéniz: “Iberia” – “Almería”
Hélène Grimaud, piano (Deutsche Grammophon)

Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 2 in C major
Andrew Wan, violin
Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Kent Nagano (Analekta)

Laura Karpman: “Ask Your Mama” – “Gospel Cha-Cha”
Angela Brown, Janai Brugger, Medusa,
Taura Stinson & Monét Owens, vocalists
The Roots, percussion
San Francisco Ballet Orchestra/George Manahan (Avie)

March 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: The VCU Symphony, Daniel Myssyk conducting, is joined by Caleb Paxton, winner of the orchestra’s Concerto Competition, for William Walton’s Viola Concerto, on a program also featuring Sibelius’ First Symphony, March 3 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Singleton Arts Center. . . . Orli Shaham plays Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Steven Smith and the Richmond Symphony, in concerts also featuring Mussorgsky’s “St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain” (the choral version of “Night on Bald Mountain”) with the Richmond Symphony Chorus and Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony, March 5-6 at the Carpenter Theatre of Dominion Arts Center (formerly Richmond CenterStage). . . . Eight organists, the Greater Richmond Children’s Choir and flutist Christine Ertell celebrate the 331st anniversary of the birth of J.S. Bach in the annual “Bach Marathon” presented by the Richmond chapter of the American Guild of Organists, March 6 at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Bon Air. . . . Jennifer Kloetzel, cellist of the acclaimed Cypress String Quartet, joins Peter Wilson and the Richmond Philharmonic in Elgar’s Cello Concerto, on a program also featuring music of Shostakovich and Korngold, March 13 at Deep Run High School in Glen Allen. . . . Organist Bruce Stevens plays works by J.S. Bach, Buxtehude, Böhm and Rheinberger, March 14 at Cannon Memorial Chapel, University of Richmond. . . . Lawrence Brownlee, the acclaimed bel canto tenor, performs in recital on March 19 at UR’s Modlin Arts Center. . . . The Horszowski Trio – pianist Reiko Aizawa, violinist Jesse Mills and cellist Raman Ramakrishnan – play Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Fauré in a Rennolds Chamber Concert program on March 19 at VCU’s Singleton Center. . . . Pianists Yin Zheng and Laurens Patzlaff and percussionists Justin Alexander and Jim Jacobson play Bartók’s rarely performed Sonata for two pianos and percussion, March 26 at VCU’s Singleton Center.

* Noteworthy elsewhere: eighth blackbird, the new-music sextet in residence at the University of Richmond, introduces David T. Little’s “Ghostlight” and plays works by David Lang, Bryce Dessner and Ted Hearne, March 7 at the Kennedy Center in Washington. . . . Harpsichordist Andreas Staier samples works of the early baroque from France and Germany, March 9 at the Library of Congress in Washington. . . . Jean-Yves Thibaudet plays Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra, on a program also featuring the premiere of “Opera without Words” by Tobias Picker and Brahms’ Third Symphony, March 10-12 at the Kennedy Center.
. . . Organist Cameron Carpenter joins JoAnn Falletta and the Virginia Symphony for Poulenc’s Organ Concerto and Saint-Saëns’ “Organ” Symphony, March 12-14 at venues in Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Newport News. . . . Kent Nagano conducts the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, with pianist Daniil Trifonov, in a program of Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Debussy, March 14 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Joshua Bell leads the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in works by Mendelssohn and plays Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4, March 17 at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville and March 18 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs of DC. . . . Yuri Temirkanov returns to conduct the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in a program of Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky with pianist Denis Matsuev, March 17 at Strathmore. . . . Minnesota Orchestra maestro Osmo Vänskä guest-conducts the National Symphony, with pianist Nicolai Lugansky, in a program of Brahms and Beethoven, March 17-19 at the Kennedy Center. . . . The Oratorio Society of Virginia leads a community sing-in performance of the Fauré Requiem, March 19 at First Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville. . . . James Galway and his wife and flute-duet partner, Jeanne Galway, perform on March 20 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Quatuor Ébène, the celebrated French string quartet, plays Haydn, Debussy and Beethoven, March 22 in Old Cabell Hall of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. . . . Pianist Emanuel Ax plays an all-Beethoven program, March 24 at the Virginia Tech Arts Center in Blacksburg.


March 1 (8 p.m.)
Recital Hall, Black Music Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Grove Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
American Trombone Quartet
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music

March 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphony
Daniel Myssyk conducting
Walton: Viola Concerto
Caleb Paxton, viola
Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 in E minor
$7 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music

March 3 (7 p.m.)
March 4 (8 p.m.)
March 5 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 (“Classical”)
Bruch: “Scottish Fantasy”
Ray Chen, violin
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

March 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Virginia Tech Arts Center, 190 Alumni Mall, Blacksburg
March 5 (7:30 p.m.)
Berglund Performing Arts Theatre, Orange Avenue at Williamson Road, Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Wagner: “Lohengrin” – Act 3 Prelude
Barber: Violin Concerto
Akemi Takayama, violin
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor
$25-$52
(540) 343-9127
http://rso.com

March 5 (8 p.m.)
March 6 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Arts Center, Sixth and Grace streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Mussorgsky: “St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain”
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor
Orli Shaham, piano
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 6
$10-$78
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com

March 5 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Markus Stenz conducting
J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068
Brahms: “A German Requiem”
Lisette Oropesa, soprano
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
University of Maryland Concert Choir
$35-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
http://www.strathmore.org

March 6 (3 p.m.)
St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 8706 Quaker Lane, Bon Air
Richmond chapter, American Guild of Organists:
Albrecht von Gaudecker, Daniel Stipe, Paula Pugh Romanaux, Cheryl Van Ornam, Tom Bailey, Larry Robinson, Grant Hellmers & Bruce Stevens, organ
Greater Richmond Children’s Choir
Hope Armstrong Erb & Crystal Jonkman directing
Christine Ertell, flute
“Bach Marathon,” celebrating 331st anniversary of J.S. Bach’s birth
program TBA
free
(804) 272-0992
http://richmondago.org/chapter-programs

March 6 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Annapolis Symphony Orchestra
José-Luis Novo conducting
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1
Lynn Harrell, cello
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major
$10-$30
(301) 581-5100
http://www.strathmore.org

March 7 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
eighth blackbird
David Lang: “diet coke”
Ted Hearne: “By-By-Huey”
David Lang: “grind”
David T. Little: “Ghostlight” (premiere)
David Lang: “wed”
Bryce Dessner: “Murder Ballades”
$45
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

March 9 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
Andreas Staier, harpsichord
Froberger: Suite XXX
D’Angelbert: “Pièves de clavecin” Book 1 (excerpts)
Fischer: “Urania” Suite,” “Ariadne Musica” (excerpts)
Louis Couperin: 6 keyboard pieces
Clérambault: “Pièves de clavecin” Book 1 (excerpts)
Muffat: “Apparatus Musico-Organisticus” – Passcaglia
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/concerts

March 10 (7 p.m.)
March 11 (11:30 a.m.)
March 12 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Tobias Picker: “Opera without Words” (premiere)
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major
Brahms: 3 Hungarian dances
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

March 11 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
Talea Ensemble
George Aperghis: “Wild Romance”
Julian Anderson: “Van Gogh/Blue”
Anthony Cheung: “Synchronicities”
Brian Ferneyhough: “Contracolpi” (premiere)
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/concerts

March 12 (8 p.m.)
Wilder Arts Center, Virginia State University, 700 Park Ave., Norfolk
March 13 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
March 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Poulenc: Organ Concerto
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C minor (“Organ”)
Cameron Carpenter, organ
$25-$110
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org

March 12 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
Luke Frazier conducting
Mary Michael Patterson & Hayley Travers, vocalists
“Some Enchanted Evening: The Music of Rodgers & Hammerstein”
$34-$58
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://cfa.gmu.edu/calendar

March 12 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Markus Stenz conducting
Beethoven: “Leonore” Overture No. 2
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major
Lars Vogt, piano
Beethoven: “Egmont” Overture & incidental music
Kwame Kwei-Armah, narrator
$35-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
http://www.strathmore.org

March 13 (4 p.m.)
Deep Run High School auditorium, 4801 Twin Hickory Road, Glen Allen
Richmond Philharmonic
Peter Wilson conducting
Korngold: “Military March” in B flat major
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor
Jennifer Kloetzel, cello
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
$8 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 673-7400
http://www.richmondphilharmonic.org

March 13 (7 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Jeffrey Siegel, piano & speaker
“Keyboard Conversations: Splendor from Silence”
Beethoven: Sonata in C minor, Op. 111
Smetana: polkas
Fauré: Nocturne in B minor
$24-$40
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://cfa.gmu.edu/calendar

March 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Cannon Memorial Chapel, University of Richmond
Bruce Stevens, organ
Buxtehude: Praeludium in F-sharp Minor
Böhm: Partita, “Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend”
J.S. Bach: Trio Sonata in G Major, BWV 530
J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 546
Rheinberger: Sonata in E-flat Major, op. 161
free
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu

March 14 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Kent Nagano conducting
Debussy: “Jeux”
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
Daniil Trifonov, piano
Stravinsky: “Le sacre du printemps”
$50-$120
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
http://www.washingtonperformingarts.org

March 15 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Colleen Potter Thorburn, harp
Apple Orange Pair, harp & French horn
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music

March 16 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Simon Ghraichy, piano
program TBA
$20-$40
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

March 16 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Paul Jacobs, organ
J.S. Bach: Sinfonia from Cantata BWV 29, “Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir”
J.S. Bach: Trio Sonata No.4 in E minor BWV 528
Brahms: Chorale Prelude, “O, wie selig seid ihr doch”
Brahms: Prelude and Fugue in G minor
Brahms: Chorale Prelude, “Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen”
Reger: “Fantasia and Fugue on B-A-C-H”
Mozart: Andante in F minor K. 616
Julius Reubke: “Sonata on the 94th Psalm”
$15
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

March 17 (8 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Joshua Bell directing
Mendelssohn: “Hebrides” Overture
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K. 218
Joshua Bell, violin
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A major (“Italian”)
$49.50-$250
(434) 979-1333
http://www.theparamount.net

March 17 (7 p.m.)
March 18 (8 p.m.)
March 19 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä conducting
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
Nicolai Lugansky, piano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major (“Pastoral”)
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

March 17 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Yuri Temirkanov conducting
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3
Denis Matsuev, piano
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor
$45-$105
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
http://www.strathmore.org

March 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Women’s Choir
Rebecca Tyree directing
Longwood University Women’s Choir
Pamela McDermott directing
program TBA
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music

March 18 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Joshua Bell directing
Mendelssohn: “Hebrides” Overture
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K. 218
Joshua Bell, violin
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A major (“Italian”)
$55-$175
(301) 581-5100
http://www.strathmore.org

March 19 (11 a.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Arts Center, Sixth and Grace streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony LolliPops
Ankush Kumar Bahl conducting
School of the Richmond Ballet members
Daniel Stipe & Charles Staples, pianos
Saint-Saëns: “Carnival of the Animals”
$12-$17
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com

March 19 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Neal Fitzpatrick, guitar
works TBA by Villa-Lobos, Leo Brouwer, Johann Kaspar Mertz, Fernando Carulli, others
free
(804) 646-7223
http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org

March 19 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Lawrence Brownlee, tenor
pianist TBA
works TBA by Mozart, Liszt, Ginastera, Joseph Marx, Ben Moore; African-American spirituals
$40
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

March 19 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Horszowski Trio
Fauré: Piano Trio in D minor, op. 120
Beethoven: Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70, No.1 (“Ghost”)
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor Op. 49
$34
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music

March 19 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Symphony Pops
George Daugherty conducting
“Bugs Bunny at the Symphony”
$25-$95
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org

March 19 (4 p.m.)
First Presbyterian Church, 500 Park St., Charlottesville
Oratorio Society of Virginia
Michael Slon directing
Jeremy Thompson, organ
Fauré: Requiem (community sing-in performance)
Stanford: Magnificat
Stanford: “Nunc dimittis”
Franz Biebl: “Ave Maria”
choral workshop, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
$10
(434) 295-4385
http://www.oratoriosociety.org

March 20 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Richard Becker & Doris Wylee-Becker, pianos
works TBA by Schumann, Ravel, others
free
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

March 20 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Guitar Alumni:
Andrew McEvoy, Ron Alig, Denver Walker, Nathan Mills, guitars
John Bullard, banjo
Thomas Beekman, mandolin
program TBA
$15
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music

March 20 (4 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
James Galway, flute
Jeanne Galway, flute
Philip Moll, piano
program TBA
$30-$100
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
http://www.washingtonperformingarts.org

March 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Neumann Lecture on Music:
J. Peter Burkholder
“From Improvisation to Symphony: Charles Ives as organist and Composer”
free
(804) 289-8980
http://modlin.richmond.edu

March 21 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
performers TBA
“Birdsong/Bachsong,” in celebration of the anniversary of J.S. Bach’s birth
program TBA
free
(434) 924-3052
http://music.virginia.edu/events

March 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Quatuor Ébène
Haydn: Quartet in C major, Op. 20, No. 2
Debussy: Quartet in G minor
Beethoven: Quartet in C sharp minor, Op. 131
$12-$35
(434) 924-3376
http://www.tecs.org

March 22 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Sharon Robinson, cello
Anna Polonsky, piano
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in F major, Op. 5, No. 1
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 5, No. 2
Beethoven: “Twelve Variations ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’ from Handel’s ‘Judas Maccabaeus’ ”
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in A major, Op. 69
$45
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

March 23 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Connor Stevens, percussion
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music

March 23 (7:30 p.m.)
Virginia Tech Arts Center, 190 Alumni Mall, Blacksburg
Alex Hassan, piano
“Between Salon and Swing: The World of Novelty Piano”
program TBA
free
(540) 231-5100
http://www.artscenter.vt.edu

March 24 (7:30 p.m.)
Virginia Tech Arts Center, 190 Alumni Mall, Blacksburg
Emanuel Ax, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in C minor, Op. 13 (“Pathétique”)
Beethoven: “Six Variations on a Theme in F major,” Op. 34
Beethoven: Sonata in G major, Op. 31, No. 1
Beethoven: Polonaise in C major, Op. 89
Beethoven: Sonata in F minor, Op. 57 (“Appassionata”)
$40-$75
(540) 231-5100
http://www.artscenter.vt.edu

March 26 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Fran Coleman & Margaret Elizabeth Taylor, sopranos
Michelle Huang, piano
“Music of Women Composers”
program TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org

March 26 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Yin Zheng & Laurens Patzlaff, pianos
Justin Alexander & Jim Jacobson, percussion
Bartók: Sonata for two pianos and percussion
free
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music

March 26 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Joseph Moog, piano
Beethoven “Eroica Variations”
Liszt: “Deux Légendes” – “St. Francois d’Assise – La prédication aux oiseaux,” “St. Francois de Paule – Marchant sur les flots”
Tchaikovsky: Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 37a
$48
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
http://www.washingtonperformingarts.org

March 28 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
David Sender, violin
Shelby Sender, piano
Ysaÿe: Ballade
Grieg: Sonata in G Major, Op.13
Jennifer Higdon: “String Poetic”
$15
(434) 924-3376
http://music.virginia.edu/events

March 28 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Pro Musica Hebraica:
Mark Glanville, Mathias Hausmann & Anthony Russell, basses
Alan Mason, piano
“Wandering Stars: Three Generations of European Jewish Song”
works TBA by Zemlinsky, Mahler, Eisler, Korngold, Solomon Sulzer, Eric Zeisl, others
$39
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

March 31 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchrestra
Christian Macelaru conducting
Fauré: Pavane
Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Major
Nikolaj Znaider, violin
Pierre Jalbert: “In Aeternam”
Debussy: “La Mer”
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org

March 31 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Pops
Jack Everly conducting
Christina Bianco, N’Kenge, Kristen Plumley & Mandy Gonzalez, vocalists
“Broadway Divas”
$45-$110
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
http://www.strathmore.org