The year's best

Tradition (or, as Arturo Toscanini would have it, bad habit) decrees that critics wrap up each year with a list of best performances. And who am I to defy tradition (or bad habit, for that matter)?

Among performances that I heard – an important qualifier: I didn’t hear them all – over the past year in Richmond, these
(in chronological, not qualitative, order) were the most memorable:

* The Shanghai Quartet with pianist Yuja Wang, Feb. 15 at the University of Richmond. Our town has had good fortune in following Wang, who turns 24 in February, on her rapid ascent. On this visit (her third since 2007), the pianist joined the Shanghai in fluent, large-scale readings of piano quintets by Dvořák and Franck.

* The Biava Quartet, Feb. 26 at the Ellen Glasgow House. In a rare "house concert," staged by James Wilson’s Richmond Festival of Music in the parlor of this 19th-century residence, the Biava carried its audience deep into the innards of works by Haydn, Brahms and Ginastera. Nothing like a chamber to bring out the best in chamber music.

* The Richmond Symphony, Steven Smith conducting, in Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, Feb. 27-28 at the Carpenter Theatre. Among the very best performances of the year, and probably the most resonant, as they made the sale in Smith’s bid to become the orchestra’s fifth music director. The conductor has since shown himself gifted in a lot of Russian repertory, but this reading of Shostakovich had special weight and soul.

* The Virginia Opera, Joseph Walsh conducting, in Mozart’s "Don Giovanni," March 5 and 7 at the Carpenter Theatre. A triumphant homecoming for baritone Matthew Worth (University of Richmond, class of 2000) as the lecherous star of Mozart’s darkest opera.

* Pianist Jeremy Denk,
March 21 at the University of Richmond. Denk made a pretty convincing case for a highly pianistic treatment of Bach’s "Goldberg Variations," but an even better – and more surprising – case for playing Charles Ives’ Sonata No. 1 with high-romantic grand-piano tone production and rhetorical flourish. You don't get many reminders that Ives was a contemporary of Rachmaninoff and Busoni.

* The Jupiter Quartet, March 28 at Virginia Commonwealth University. These performances of Beethoven, Dvořák and Bartók showed the Jupiter to be one of the most high-powered yet stylistically attentive among the younger generation of American string quartets.

* The Richmond Symphony, Steven Smith conducting, with violinist Gil Shaham, April 24 at the Carpenter Theatre. Shaham sparkled, as expected, in showpieces of Pablo de Sarasate; but the musical peak of this program came as Smith led the symphony in stylish, vividly colorful readings of Ravel and Debussy.

* The Virginia Opera, Peter Mark conducting, in The Gershwins’ "Porgy and Bess," April 30 and May 1-2 at the Carpenter Theatre. Some found this scenically austere, highly choreographed production a startling departure from the usual, romanticized treatment; but its gritty evocations of street life and the Gullah culture of coastal South Carolina gave the show extra impact and a ring of authenticity.

* Tenor Tracey Welborn and oboist Gustav Highstein, Aug. 8 at Bon Air Presbyterian Church. In this opening concert of the Richmond Chamber Players’ Interlude 2010 series, Welborn and Highstein performed Ralph Vaughan Williams’ "Ten Blake Songs" (1957) with extraordinary sensitivity to both the verses of William Blake and the composer’s pastoral-impressionist style, here reduced to its essence.

* eighth blackbird, with mezzo-soprano Katherine Calcamuggio, Sept. 15 at the University of Richmond. This program, called "Powerful," was highlighted by a performance of "Mr. Tambourine Man," John Corigliano’s decidedly un-Dylanesque but highly evocative song cycle on lyrics of Bob Dylan. The ’birds also reprised Frederic Rzewski’s "Coming Together," a stark memoir of the 1971 riot at New York’s Attica Prison, and reveled in the shimmering colors of John Luther Adams’ "The Light Within."

* Pianists Alexander Paley and Pei-Wen Chen, Sept. 24 at First English Lutheran Church. Paley’s fall festival in Richmond is a showcase of rarely heard music for solo and four-hands piano, and this year’s opening program featured four rewarding discoveries: The four-hands version of Tchaikovsky’s "Capriccio Italien" and the composer’s Suite No. 2 in C major, and the solo "Sonata tragica" and "Sonata reminisczena" of Nikolai Medtner.

* The Richmond Symphony, Steven Smith conducting, with pianist Dmitri Shteinberg, Oct. 16-17 at the Carpenter Theatre. The VCU-based Shteinberg usefully applied Chopinesque tone and phrasing to Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto, making real music of a piece that’s all too often an exercise in noise and speed, while Smith and the orchestra brought out the energy and color of Stravinsky’s "Firebird" Suite.

* The Richmond Symphony, Steven Smith conducting, Nov. 5 at The Steward School, Nov. 7 at Randolph-Macon College. This was Smith's smartest and most stylistically diverse selection of music to date, a program that ranged from the classical (Haydn’s Symphony No. 82, known as "The Bear") to the post-modern (Michael Torke’s "Lucent Variations"), with Brahms and Copland in between, effectively showcasing the variety and scope of the chamber-orchestra repertory.

* Violinist Robert McDuffie and The Venice Baroque Orchestra, Nov. 15 at the University of Richmond. This "Seasons Project" program presented Vivaldi’s "The Four Seasons" alongside Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 2 ("The American Four Seasons"). The colorful and moody concerto proved to be Glass in cinematic mode, which sits better with those who can’t stand Glass in relentlessly minimalist mode; the Vivaldi chestnut was flavorfully roasted in a performance of high energy and vivid atmospheric effects.

Billy Taylor (1921-2010)

Billy Taylor, the jazz pianist, bandleader and educator who was instrumental in raising the stature of this American art form to parity with that of European classical music, has died at the age of 89.

Born in North Carolina, reared in Washington, educated at Virginia State College (now Virginia State University), Dr. Taylor performed with many of the jazz greats of the mid- and late-20th century, as well as teaching and advising and serving on cultural bodies, among them the National Endowment for the Arts and Washington's Kennedy Center. He was a longtime host of jazz programs on National Public Radio.

An obituary by Peter Keepnews in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/arts/music/30taylor.html?ref=music

Built to last?

The New York Times' Allan Kozinn sounds out performers who specialize in new music, and hears that many or most contemporary works aren't built to last:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/arts/music/29repertory.html?ref=music

As Kozinn observes, this has been true of most compositions in most periods. What's more, audiences have been prone to dote on second-raters: "If the great masterpieces of the canon were determined entirely by the opinions of the musicians and listeners who first played them and heard them, J. C. Bach would be far more beloved than his father, Johann Sebastian. Salieri would be the star and Mozart the footnote, and Hummel would be the great virtuoso of the early 19th century." Today's masterpieces similarly may be misunderstood or underrated by today's musicians and audiences.

Music of the past has been filtered (or, as Kozinn puts it, beta-tested); vast bodies of forgettable music that was introduced alongside the works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Shostakovich has been duly forgotten. The filter is just beginning to separate the worthy from the disposable in music written over the past generation. Even contemporary specialists would be hesitant to predict which works of Elliott Carter or Steve Reich will endure, let alone works of younger fry such as Jennifer Higdon or David Lang. Mason Bates' mating of the orchestra and electronica may be the start of something big, or a passing phenomenon.

Playing and hearing new music works the filter in real time. This is not an experience that much of the traditional classical audience craves, but it can prove more satisfying than the traditionalist expects – if performers bring the same concentration and passion to the new work that they do to the established masterworks.

Younger musicians, and some established ones (Kozinn cites violinists Hilary Hahn and Christian Tetzlaff), are devoting more time to new and unfamiliar works, often delighting audiences on these treks into uncharted terrain. Brilliant technique and insightful musicianship can make a believer out of a listener regardless of the music being performed.

New music also has built a stable of virtuosos keen to collaborate with theatrical and visual artists. In these parts, we get regular exposure to the results of such collaborative multimedia ventures in the performances of eighth blackbird. The 'birds and other contemporary ensembles – the Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can, Ethel, Brooklyn Rider – are valued as much for the show they put on as for the music they perform.

That's probably the least new characteristic of new music. Audiences of the past were electrified by virtuosos – Paganini, Liszt, Godowsky, Elman, Heifetz – playing music that we would now rate as mediocre, or even as junk. The Tetzlaffs and Hahns of today may be more discerning in their sampling of the new than the virtuosos of the past were.

Theatricality, multiculturism, instrumentation from and allusions to popular culture, have widened the playing field of new music. Listeners are constantly surprised and often find unexpected sensibilties and moods activated by what they see and hear. Much of new music is a show that appeals to more senses than the aural; it has as much in common with visual art as with any concert music of the past.

Wish list for the arts

Writing for The Huffington Post, Michael Kaiser, president of Washington's Kennedy Center and one of the leading voices cautioning against artistic retrenchment in recessionary times, pens a five-point wish list for arts institutions and the people who run them:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-kaiser/what-i-want-for-christmas_b_798968.html

No. 4, sustaining arts instruction in school curricula, strikes me as the wish that, if fulfilled, offers the greatest rewards, for the arts, the economy and society in the U.S. and other advanced countries. "The majority of economic activity is no longer tied to manufacturing," Kaiser writes. "We need our children to be creative problem solvers if they are to be successful and if our nation is to thrive. The arts are a great and inexpensive way to help children exercise their creative muscles."

Until that message gets through, arts education and the arts in the public sphere are at continued risk of marginalization.

For it to get through, artists need to recruit the right messengers: New-economy corporate leaders whose success depends on building a talent pool of creative problem solvers. When they speak, politicians and educational authorities will listen.

Star crossing

The zebra-striped pedestrian crossing outside the Abbey Road studios in the St. John's Wood district of London, most widely known from the photo on the cover of The Beatles' 1969 album "Abbey Road" and a pilgrims' destination among Beatles fans over the past four decades, has been designated by the British government as a heritage site, to be preserved permanently, Sam Jones reports in The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/dec/22/beatles-abbey-road-listing

Preceding The Beatles on that road and into the studios were many of the leading classical musicians of the early and mid-20th century, among them Edward Elgar, Yehudi Menuhin, Artur Schnabel, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Thomas Beecham. John Barbirolli conducted the first recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fifth Symphony and Glenn Miller led his his last recording sessions, with singer Dinah Shore, at Abbey Road. Others working in the studios range from Noel Coward and Fats Waller to Pink Floyd and Radiohead.

The studio complex, built as a townhouse in the 1830s and converted to a recording venue in 1931, was declared a heritage site earlier in the year.

Exodus from the orchestra?

Eight of the 49 full-time musicians of the Columbus (OH) Symphony, including the concertmaster, are going on leave after the first of the year. Since 2007, the orchestra's players have absorbed a 40 percent pay cut, its full-time roster has been reduced from 60 to its current level, and the season has been pared from 48 to 25 weeks, Jeffrey Sheban reports in The Columbus Dispatch:

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2010/12/19/as-salaries-drop-players-look-elsewhere.html

Orchestral musicians, especially those not working in major ensembles, leave all the time to take up better-paying or more stable jobs, often outside music and the arts. What's happening in Columbus may be unique to that city and its long-troubled orchestra, or it may be a snapshot of a growing trend. More reporting like Sheban's from more places – e.g., Fort Worth, TX, and Charleston, SC, whose orchestra players have taken big pay cuts – would help clarify the situation.