Letter V Classical Radio this week

June 25
11 a.m.-2 p.m. EDT
1500-1800 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Past Masters:
Elgar: “Cockaigne” Overture (“In London Town”)
Royal Philharmonic/Thomas Beecham
(Sony Classical)
(recorded 1954)

George Onslow: Quartet
in C minor, Op. 8, No. 1
Quatuor Ruggieri (Aparte)

Chausson: Poème
Nicola Benedetti, violin
London Symphony Orchestra/Daniel Harding (Deutsche Grammophon)

Ravel: “La Valse”
Shelest Piano Duo (Sorel Classics)

Dvořák: Symphony No. 6 in D major
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop (Naxos)

Bloch: “From Jewish Life”
Sol Gabetta, cello
Amsterdam Sinfonietta
(Sony Classical)

Brahms: “Paganini Variations,” Op. 35
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano (London)

Boccherini: Quintet in D major (“Fandango”)
Le Concert des Nations (AliaVox)

Gunther Schuller (1925-2015)

Gunther Schuller, the composer, conductor and musicologist who coined the term “third stream” to describe his own and others’ hybrids of classical music and jazz, has died at 89.

In an obituary for The New York Times, Allan Kozinn notes that Schuller lived a musical “double life” as a composer, scholar and performer, at one time playing for both the Metropolitan Opera orchestra and in a group led by the jazz trumpeter Miles Davis:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/arts/music/gunther-schuller-composer-who-synthesized-classical-and-jazz-dies-at-89.html

Smith extends symphony tenure

Steven Smith has extended his contract as the Richmond Symphony’s music director for another three years, agreeing to serve through the 2018-19 season, and the orchestra projects running a budget surplus in its current fiscal year.

David Fisk, the symphony’s executive director, announced at the annual meeting of the organization’s board of directors that the orchestra has raised the funds needed to match a $500,000 grant from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation to purchase a “big tent” stage that can be transported and set up for outdoor concerts.

Those funds largely account for a reported six-figure surplus on a $6 million annual budget, the third time in as many years that the symphony has run in the black.

Rebecca J. Horner, a community volunteer, has been elected the new chair of the symphony board, succeeding Philip H. Bennett. Other officers elected at the annual meeting are Richard Smith, vice chair; Elizabeth Cabell Jennings, treasurer; and D. Brennen Keene, secretary. Fisk, George Mahoney, Sarah Knakmuhs and Mark T. Cox IV also will serve on the board’s executive committee.

Ronald Crutcher, incoming president of the University of Richmond and a performing cellist, will join the symphony board. Other new board members are Priscilla Burbank, Steve Girard and Brandon C. Taylor.

Letter V Classical Radio this week

A special guest, Erin R. Freeman, the Richmond Symphony and Virginia Commonwealth University choral director, joins me to discuss her recent appointment as artistic director of Wintergreen Performing Arts and its summer festival, running from July 6 until Aug. 2 at the western Virginia resort community. We’ll sample some of the music Freeman has programmed for this year’s 20th anniversary season, and discuss her plans for future Wintergreen festivals.

June 18
11 a.m.-2 p.m. EDT
1500-1800 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Mozart: “The Marriage of Figaro” Overture
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/
Neville Marriner (EMI Classics)

Mason Bates: Violin Concerto
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
London Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Slatkin (EOne)

Past Masters:
Beethoven: Sonata in C minor, Op. 13 (“Pathétique”)
Radu Lupu, piano (Decca)
(recorded 1970)

Kodály: “Dances of Galánta”
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Neeme Järvi (Chandos)

Schubert: “Gretchen am Spinnrade;” “Nacht und Träume”
(orchestrations by Max Reger)
Camilla Nylund, soprano
Hannover Radio Philharmonic/
Werner Andreas Albert (cpo)

Nielsen: Wind Quintet – finale
Emmanuel Pahud, flute;
Sabine Meyer, clarinet;
Stefan Schweigert, bassoon;
Jonathan Kelly, oboe;
Radek Baborák, French horn (EMI Classics)

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A major (“Italian”) – finale
National Philharmonic/Leopold Stokowski
(Sony Classical)

Debussy: Sonata for flute, viola and harp
Philippe Bernold, flute;
Gérard Caussé, viola;
Isabelle Moretti, harp (Harmonia Mundi France)

Past Masters:
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
Martha Argerich, piano
Berlin Philharmonic/
Claudio Abbado
(Deutsche Grammophon)
(recorded 1967)

John Dowland: Pavana (1622), “Mr. Knight’s Galliard”
Paul O’Dette, lute (Harmonia Mundi USA)

Is flatter better?

Ted Gioia, writing for The Daily Beast, examines the movement to retune the now-standard pitch, based on 440 Hertz for A on the treble stave, down to 432 Hz. Advocates of the flatter pitch point out that A=440 was imposed on German musicians by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda chief, “as part of a heinous plan to warp the consciousness of the masses,” although, as Gioia notes, U.S. musicians adopted the sharper pitch years before the Nazis came to power:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/06/are-we-all-mistuning-our-instruments-and-can-we-blame-the-nazis.html

Gioia’s article comes with a video offering pitch comparison. Its electronic-keyboard sound samples and weirdly worded captions (A=432 “is logic, pure and rich of arguments”) do not help make its case.

Summer at CenterStage 2015

“Debussy and the French Romantics” will be the theme of the second season of the Summer at CenterStage Recital Series, presented by the Richmond Symphony and the music departments of the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University.

The series runs from July 9 through Aug. 27, with performances at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays in the Gottwald Playhouse of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets.

Musicians from the symphony, UR and VCU will play chamber works by Debussy, Ravel, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Franck, Poulenc and other romantic, modern and contemporary French composers.

Seating in the Gottwald Playhouse is limited. Most of the concerts in last summer’s series played to full or near-full houses.

Subscription tickets are $130 for adults, $96 for children 18 and younger, $40 for college students (valid identification required), with a 10 percent discount on tickets for mini-series of three or more concerts. Single tickets are $20 for adults, $12 for those aged 3-18, $7 for college students. Adult tickets include a voucher for a free beverage.

For more information on the series, call the symphony’s patron services office at (804) 788-1212 or visit www.richmondsymphony.com

Artists and programs for this season’s Summer at CenterStage:

July 9 – James Ferree, French horn; Richard Becker, piano. Fauré: five songs (Sterling Proctor transcriptions); Chabrier: Larghetto; Damase: Berceuse, Op. 19; Koechlin: Sonata, Op. 70 – andante; Satie: “Gnossienne No. 1 (David Jolley arrangement); Debussy: Préludes, Book 1 – “La cathédrale engloutie;” Debussy: “Images,” Book 1 – “Reflets dans l’eau;” Dukas: “Villanelle.”

July 16 – Ellen Cockerham, violin; Maria Yefimova, piano. Debussy: Violin Sonata; Ravel: “Jeux d’eau;” Fauré: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13.

July 23 – Stephen Schmidt, viola; John Walter, piano. Berlioz: “Harold in Italy” – “Harold in the Mountains” (Franz Liszt transcription); Debussy: “Estampes;” Clarke: Viola Sonata.

July 30 – Jason McComb, cello; Joanne Kong, piano. Debussy: Cello Sonata; Fauré: Nocturne, Op. 33, No. 2; Dutilleux: “Trois strophes sur le nom de Sacher;” Franck: Cello Sonata (Delsart transcription).

Aug. 6 – Thomas Schneider, bassoon; Russell Wilson, piano. Bitsch: Concertino; three French tenor arias; Ravel: Sonatine for piano; Debussy: Préludes, Book 2 – “Bruyères;” Dutilleux: “Sarabande et Cortège;” Saint-Saëns: Bassoon Sonata, Op. 168.

Aug. 13 – Jared Davis, clarinet; Daniel Stipe, piano. Debussy: “Première rhapsodie;” Debussy: “Images,” Book 2; Cahuzac: “Cantilène;” Milhaud: Duo concertant, Op. 351; Poulenc: Clarinet Sonata.

Aug. 20 – Susanna Klein, violin; Yin Zheng, piano. Debussy: “Valse romantique;” Boeck: Violin Sonata; Saint-Saëns: Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 75.

Aug. 27 – Jennifer Lawson, flute; David Fisk, piano. Fauré: Fantasie; Dutilleux: Sonatine; Debussy: “L’ilse joyeuse;” Jolivet: “Chant de Linos;” Poulenc: Flute Sonata.

Letter V Classical Radio this week

June 11
11 a.m.-2 p.m. EDT
1500-1800 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Telemann: Concerto in A major (“Die Relinge”)
Musica Antiqua Köln/Reinhard Goebel (DG Archiv)

Stravinsky: Violin Concerto
Hilary Hahn, violin
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Neville Marriner (Sony Classical)

J.S. Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 1
Le Concert des Nations/Jordi Savall (AliaVox)

Holst: “St. Paul’s Suite”
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra/Christopher Hogwood
(Universal Classics)

Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor
Stephen Hough, piano
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/
Sakari Oramo (Hyperion)

Richard Strauss: “Don Juan”
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck (Reference Recordings)

Past Masters:
Tchaikovsky: Symphony
No. 5 in E minor
Boston Symphony Orchestra/Serge Koussevitzky
(BSO Classics)
(recorded 1944)

Liszt: “Hungarian Rhapsody” No. 19 (“Csárdás nobles de K. Ábrányi”)
Leslie Howard, piano (Hyperion)