My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of the finale of this season’s Richmond Symphony Masterworks series, with the Richmond Symphony Chorus performing in the premiere of Mason Bates’ “Children of Adam, songs of creation,” written by the Richmond-bred composer in celebration of the orchestra’s 60th aniversary:
Letter V Classical Radio May 9
School’s out, and for the summer season the show expands to four hours at a new time. After three samplers of new classical discs, we turn this time to vintage recordings of composers performing their own music.
1-5 p.m. EDT
1700-2100 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://wdce.net
all Past Masters:
Stravinsky: Concerto in E flat major (“Dumbarton Oaks”)
Columbia Symphony Orchestra/Igor Stravinsky
(Sony Classical)
(recorded 1964)
Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57
Dmitri Shostakovich, piano
Beethoven Quartet
(Vanguard Classics)
(recorded 1960)
Britten: Prelude and Fugue, Op. 29, for 18-part string orchestra
English Chamber Orchestra/Benjamin Britten
(Decca)
(recorded 1971)
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major
Sergei Prokofiev, piano
London Symphony Orchestra/Pierro Coppola
(Dutton Laboratories)
(recorded 1932)
Hindemith: “Mathis der Maler” Symphony
Berlin Philharmonic/Paul Hindemith
(Teldec)
(recorded 1934)
Bartók: Rhapsody No. 1, Sz. 86
Joseph Szigeti, violin
Béla Bartók, piano
(Naxos)
(recorded 1940)
William Grant Still: Symphony No. 2 (“Song of a New Race”) –
III: Moderately fast
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra/William Grant Still
(Music & Arts)
(recorded 1940)
Bernstein: Serenade (“after Plato’s Symposium”)
Zino Francescatti, violin
New York Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein
(Sony Classical)
(recorded 1965)
John Adams: Chamber Symphony
London Sinfonietta/John Adams
(Nonesuch)
(recorded 1993)
Richard Strauss: “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”
Berlin Philharmonic/Richard Strauss
(Deutsche Grammophon)
(recorded 1929)
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3 in A minor
Philadelphia Orchestra/Sergei Rachmaninoff
(Dutton Laboratories)
(recorded 1939)
Elgar: “Pomp and Circumstance” March No. 1
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Edward Elgar
(Warner Classics)
(recorded 1932)
Review: Richmond Symphony
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
May 6, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland
With its associate conductor, Chia-Hsuan Lin, at the helm, the Richmond Symphony closed out this season’s Metro Collection series with a program ranging from the baroque to the neo-classical.
The anchors were Johann Sebastian Bach and his youngest son, Johann Christian Bach – kinship notwithstanding, two quite different musical figures.
J.S. Bach was represented by his Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major, BWV 1066, one of the best-known of many baroque suites in the French overture format, a decorous overture followed by sets of dances – in this piece, a courante, forlane and paired gavottes, menuets, bourées and passepieds. J.C. Bach’s Sinfonia in E flat major, Op. 18, No. 2, which served as the overture to his opera “Lucio Silla,” filters dances and airs through sonata form in an early(ish) example of the classical symphony.
Another selection on this program, Sergei Prokofiev’s “Classical” Symphony (No. 1 in D major), harkens back to the format and style of J.C. Bach and his best-known student, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, spicing the old style with modestly modernist harmonic twists.
Lin and the symphony players made this leap across two centuries smoothly, treating the Bach suite to a stylishly ornamented reading but without injecting much in the way of historically informed performance practice. String vibrato was not significantly reduced, and rhythms rarely dotted. The most overtly baroque playing came in trio sections from oboists Shawn Welk and Alexandra von der Embse and bassoonist Thomas Schneider, and in quietly eleborate figures from continuo harpsichordist Daniel Stipe.
J.C. Bach’s three-movement symphony sounded, as it should, like a precursor to the symphonies of Mozart, Joseph Haydn and their late-18th-century contemporaries. The central andante, unusual for its time in being free-standing (rather than segued into the finale) as well as being fairly lengthy, was rendered appropriately as an instrumental aria with oboist Welk as a soulfully lyrical protagonist.
The orchestra, with fuller wind and brass compliments, gave the Prokofiev an animated, at times borderline brash reading, with fine detail from the first violins and exuberant flourishes from wind instruments.
The (relatively) odd piece out in the program was Richard Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll,” a gift for his wife, Cosmia, and their new-born son, and one of the few non-theatrical works produced by the composer in maturity. Lin paced this gentle music ably, with special care given to dynamics and subtle fluctuations in tempo. String tone was not as lush as one usually hears in this piece, partly due to small sections of fiddles, partly because of the rather hard-edged acoustic of Randolph-Macon College’s Blackwell Auditorium.
Richmond Symphony Summer Series
“Stories in Music: the World of Schumann” is the theme of the Richmond Symphony’s 2018 Summer Series, a showcase of solo artists from the orchestra and the music faculties of Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Richmond.
Six casual concerts will be staged at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays from July 12 to Aug. 16 in the Gottwald Playhouse of Dominion Energy Center, Sixth and Grace streets in downtown Richmond.
Works by Robert Schumann and his wife, Clara Wieck Schumann, will be performed alongside pieces by their contemporaries – Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bruch, Ferdinand David, Niels W. Gade, Josef Rheinberger – and by modern composers influenced by Schumann’s romantic style.
Subscriptions to all six concerts are are $100 for adults, $60 for children and college students; for three or more concerts, $18 per concert for adults, $11 per concert for children and students. Single tickets, going on sale on June 14, are $20 for adults, $12 for children and students. (In past seasons, most concerts have sold out well in advance.)
For more information, call the symphony patron services office at (804) 788-1212 or visit http://www.richmondsymphony.com/ticketing/2017-18-season-subscriptions/summer-recital-series-subscription/
Symphony Summer Series artists and programs:
July 12
Jason McComb, cello
Joanne Kong, piano
Schumann: “Fünf Stücke im Volkston,” Op. 102 – I: Mit Humor; II: Langsam
Bloch: “From Jewish Life” – Prayer
Ernst Bacon: “A Life”
Schumann: Fantasie in C major, Op. 17 – III: Langsam getragen; durchweg leise zu halten
Schumann: “Fünf Stücke im Volkston,” Op. 102 – V: Stark und markirt
July 19
HooJoo Uh, viola
Magdalena Adamek, piano
Schumann: “Märchenbilder,” Op. 113
Bruch: Romance, Op. 85
Clara Wieck Schumann: “Soirées musicales,” Op. 6 – Notturna
Brahms: Viola Sonata in E flat mahjor, Op. 120, No. 2
July 26
Ellen Cickerham Riccio, violin
David Fisk, piano
Brahms: Sonatensatz in C minor, Op. posth.
Clara Wieck Schumann: “Three Romances,” Op. 22
Schumann: “Fantasiestücke,” Op. 12 (selections)
Schumann: Sonata in D minor, Op. 121, No. 2
Aug. 2
Daisuke Yamamoto, violin
Yin Zheng, piano
Emmanuel Feldman, cello
Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor, WoO 2
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 49
Aug. 9
James Ferree, French horn
Russell Wilson, piano
Schumann: Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70
Schumann: “Faschingsschwank aus Wien,” Op. 26
Josef Rheinberger: Horn Sonata in E flat major, Op. 178
Aug. 16
David Lemelin, clarinet
Richard Becker, piano
Nielsen: “Fantasy Piece”
Schumann: “Nordic Song (Homage to Niels Gade)”
Gade: “Fantasy Piece”
Schumann: “Kreisleriana,” Op. 16 – Fantasies 1-2
Schumann: “3 Fantasiestücke,” Op. 73
Ferdinand David: “Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Franz Schubert”
May 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 Richmond Symphony concludes its chamber orchestra seasons with works by J.C. and J.S. Bach, Wagner and Prokofiev, excerpted in a Rush Hour casual concert, led by Steven Smith, May 4 at Hardywood Craft Brewery, and played in full at a Metro Collection concert, with Chia-Hsuan Lin, the orchestra’s associate conductor, May 6 at Randolph-Macon College and Ashland. (Lin also conducts the program on May 2 at Sweet Briar College in Amherst.) . . . “Children of Adam,” the first choral-orchestral work by Richmond-bred Mason Bates, one of this country’s most prominent contemporary composers, will be introduced by Smith, the symphony and Richmond Symphony Chorus in a Casual Fridays program on May 11 and the season’s Masterworks finale, also featuring works by Debussy, Honegger and Tobias Picker, May 12 at the Carpenter Theatre of Dominion Energy Center. . . . Organist Jennifer McPherson performs on May 11 in the finale of this season’s concert series at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. . . . Peter Wilson conducts the Richmond Philharmonic in an all-American program of works by Bernstein, Barber and John Knowles Paine, as well as the Tuba Concerto (“Collusion”) of Rob Teehan, with Patrick Sheridan as the soloist, May 13 at the Henrico High School Center for the Arts. . . . The Central Virginia Masterworks Chorale performs Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms” and Dan Forrest’s “Jubilate Deo,” May 18 at Grace Baptist Church in Richmond, May 20 at Duncan Memorial United Methodist Church in Ashland. . . . Gustav Highstein conducts the Jefferson Baroque ensemble with harpsichordist Daniel Stipe in a Capitol Opera Richmond production of Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas,” starring Gabrielle Maes, Tracey Welborn and Anne O’Byrne, May 31 at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church (with five more performances through June 9).
Noteworthy elsewhere: The Virginia Arts Festival presents six morning coffee concerts and evening performances by pianist André-Micel Schub, the Miami and Dover string quartets and others from May 1 to 15 at venues in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Williamsburg and Virginia Beach; a program of Mozart concertos for one, two and three pianos with Schub, pianist Dominic Cheli and pianist-conductor Arthur Fagen joining the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, May at 11 at Virginia Beach’s Sandler Arts Center; “Bernstein on Broadway,” featuring the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with guest stars Brooke Shields, Ross Lekites and Mikaela Bennett, May 12 at Sandler Arts Center; and twin duo-pianists Christine and Michelle Naughton playing works by Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, Lutoslawski and others, May 16 at Hixon Theater in Norfolk. . . . More celebrations of the Leonard Bernstein centenary: The Roanoke Symphony playing favorite works alongside Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, May 5 at Berglund Performing Arts Theatre; Washington National Opera in “Candide,” opening May 5 with eight more performances through May 26 at Washington’s Kennedy Center; “Leonard Bernstein’s America,” featuring a cast of singers in selections from “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” “Trouble in Tahiti” and “A Quiet Place,” May 18 at the Library of Congress in Washington; and “Celebrating Bernstein at 100,” a Washington National Opera gala starring Patti Lupone, Titus Burgess and Nathan Gunn, May 20 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Isabelle Faust, the celebrated German violinist, performs in an all-Bach program with Canada’s Les Violons du Roy, May 3 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Highlighting the Kennedy Center’s Artes de Cuba Festival on May 10, the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, joined by pianist Ulises Hernández and guitarist Ali Arango, playing works by Leo Brouwer and other Cuban composers. . . . Star pianist Evgeny Kissin plays Beethoven and Rachmaninoff, May 16 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Two more stars (and longtime friends and collaborators), violinist Itzhak Perlman and violinist-violist Pinchas Zukerman, joined by pianist Rohan da Silva, play works by Bach, Mozart, Wieniawski, Bartók and Moszkowski, May 23 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Pianist Kirill Gerstein joins Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F major, on a program with Stravinsky’s “Firebird” Suite and Schumann’s Second Symphony, May 31 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs of DC.
May 1 (10:30 a.m.)
Miller Studio, Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Arts Festival:
Miami String Quartet
André-Michel Schub, piano
Mozart: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K. 478
Smetana: Quartet No. 1 in E minor (“From My Life”)
$20
(757) 282-2822
http://vafest.org
May 1 (2 p.m.)
Chesapeake Conference Center, 700 Conference Center Drive
May 2 (2 p.m.)
Virginia Beach Convention Center, 1000 19th St.
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Robert Shoup conducting
“Afternoon Encores”
John Stafford Smith & Francis Scott Key: “The Star Spangled Banner”
Rossini: “William Tell” Overture
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor – I: Allegro con brio
Bernstein-Mason: “West Side Story” (selections)
Rous (arr.): “Aura Lee”
Willson-Hayman: “The Music Man” (selections)
Williams (arr.): “Hooray for Hollywood”
Copland: “Rodeo” – Hoedown
patriotic sing-along
Sousa: “Washington Post” March
$25
(757) 892-6366
http://virginiasymphony.org
May 1 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Digitalis Computer Music Festival:
artists TBA
program TBA
free
(434) 924-3052
http://music.virginia.edu/events
May 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Hixon Theater, Barr Education Center, 440 Bank St., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Miami String Quartet
André-Michel Schub, piano
Debra Wendells Cross, flute
Mozart: Flute Quartet No. 1 in D major, K. 285
Erwin Schulhoff: “Five Pieces for String Quartet”
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44
$26.25-$35
(757) 282-2822
http://vafest.org
May 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Memorial Chapel, Sweet Briar College, Amherst
Richmond Symphony
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
J.C. Bach: Sinfonia in B flat major, Op. 18, No. 2 (“Lucio Silla” Overture)
Wagner: “Siegfried Idyll”
J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major, BWV 1066
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D major (“Classical”)
$10
(434) 381-6120
http://www.richmondsymphony.com
May 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Opera Lafayette
Ryan Brown conducting
Rosa Lamoureaux, soprano
Anna Reinhold, mezzo-soprano
Aaron Sheehan, tenor
Victor Sicard, baritone
“Visitors to Versailles”
Lully: “Acis et Galatée” (excerpts)
Grétry: “Richard, Coeur de Lion” (excerpts)
$25-$115
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 2 (7:30 p.m.)
May 4 (7:30 p.m.)
May 7 (7 p.m.)
May 11 (7:30 p.m.)
May 13 (2 p.m.)
May 17 (7:30 p.m.)
May 19 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Maurizio Benini conducting
Rossini: “The Barber of Seville”
Allegra De Vita (Rosina)
Arnold Livingston Geis (Count Almaviva)
Christopher Kenney (Figaro)
Alexandria Shiner (Berta)
Paolo Bordogna (Dr. Bartolo)
Timothy J. Bruno (Don Basilio)
Peter Kazaris, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$45-$150
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 3 (7 p.m.)
May 4 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Mark Elder conducting
Richard Strauss: Serenade, Op. 7, for 13 wind instruments
Haydn: Symphony No. 80 in D minor
Richard Strauss: “Ein Heldenleben”
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Les Violons du Roy
Bernard Labadie conducting
J.S. Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, BWV 1041
Isabelle Faust, violin
J.S. Bach: Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043, for two violins
Isabelle Faust & Pascal Giguère, violins
J.S. Bach: Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major, BWV 1042
Isabelle Faust, violin
J.S. Bach-Labadie & Mulroney: “The Art of Fugue,” BWV 1080 – Contrapunctus XIV
J.S. Bach-Labadie: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582
J.S. Bach-Labadie: 3 Leipzig chorales, BWV 651, 660, 655
$45
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 4 (6:30 p.m.)
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Overbrook Road at Ownby Lane, Richmond
Richmond Symphony Rush Hour
Steven Smith conducting & speaking
excerpts of works by J.C. and J.S. Bach, Wagner, Prokofiev
$15 (seating limited)
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com
May 5 (4 p.m.)
Grace & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 8 N. Laurel St., Richmond
Buck Dietz, vocalist
Hope Armstrong Erb, piano
Cheryl E. Grant directing
“An Afternoon of Cabaret”
American popular songs TBA
free
(804) 359-5628
http://ghtc.org
May 5 (7:30 p.m.)
Berglund Performing Arts Theatre, Orange Avenue at Williamson Road, Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony Orchestra
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Bernstein: “Candide” Overture
Bernstein: “On the Waterfront” Suite
Bernstein: “Symphonic Dances from ‘West Side Story’ ”
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor
$29-$53
(540) 343-9127
http://rso.com
May 5 (7 p.m.)
May 9 (7:30 p.m.)
May 12 (7 p.m.)
May 14 (7 p.m.)
May 18 (7:30 p.m.)
May 20 (noon)
May 22 (7:30 p.m.)
May 24 (7:30 p.m.)
May 26 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Nicole Paiement conducting
Bernstein: “Candide”
Alek Shrader (Candide)
Emily Pogorelc (Cunegonde)
Denyce Graves (The Old Lady)
Wynn Harmon (Pangloss/Voltaire)
Francesca Zambello, stage director
in English, English captions
$45-$275
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 5 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Marjorie Merryman: “Windhover Fantasy”
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor
Colin Sorgi, violin
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major (“Pastoral”)
$28-$88
(301) 581-5100
http://www.strathmore.org
May 6 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland
Richmond Symphony
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
J.C. Bach: Sinfonia in B flat major, Op. 18, No. 2 (“Lucio Silla” Overture)
Wagner: “Siegfried Idyll”
J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major, BWV 1066
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D major (“Classical”)
$22
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com
May 6 (3 p.m.)
Black Music Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Grove Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
RVA Street Singers
VCU Women’s Choir
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events
May 8 (10:30 a.m.)
Williamsburg Winery, 5800 Wessex Hundred
Virginia Arts Festival:
André-Michel Schub & Dominic Cheli, pianos
Sherie Lake Aguirre, oboe
Michael Byerly, clarinet
Laura Leisring, bassoon
Kimberly Gilman, horn
Mozart: Sonata in B flat major, K. 358, for two pianos
Mozart: Quartet in E flat major, K. 452, for piano and winds
Liszt: “Réminiscences de Don Juan (after Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’)”
$20 (waiting list)
(757) 282-2822
http://vafest.org
May 9 (1 p.m.)
St. Bede Catholic Church, 3686 Ironbound Road, Williamsburg
Carina Sturdy, organ
works TBA by Nicolaus Bruhns, J.S. Bach, Saint-Saëns, Widor, Jeanne Demessieux
free
(757) 229-3631
http://www.bedeva.org/concerts
May 10 (7 p.m.)
May 11 (11:30 a.m.)
May 12 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Mark Elder conducting
George Butterworth: “A Shropshire Lad”
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 3 (“A Pastoral Symphony”)
Ravel: “Ma mère l’oye” (“Mother Goose”) Suite
Ravel: “Daphnis et Chloé” Suite No. 2
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Artes de Cuba:
Havana Lyceum Orchestra
José Antonio Méndez Padrón conducting
Leo Brouwer: “Bocetos para Piano”
Ulises Hernández, piano
Leo Brouwer: “Concierto Elegíaco”
Ali Arango, guitar
works TBA by Gisela Hernández, Carlos Fariñas, Guido López-Gavilán, Moises Simon, Jenny Peña
$19-$35
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 11 (6:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth and Grace streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony Casual Fridays
Steven Smith conducting & speaking
Mason Bates speaking
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Mason Bates: “Children of Adam” (premiere)
$15-$50
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com
May 11 (7:30 p.m.)
Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Laurel Street at Floyd Avenue, Richmond
Jennifer McPherson, organ
Tournemire-Duruflé: “Improvisation sur le ‘Te Deum’ ”
Alain: “Le jardin suspendu”
Vierne: “24 Pièces de fantasie,” Op. 55 – “Cathédrales”
Guilain: “Suite du Second Ton”
Duruflé: Suite pour orgue, Op. 5 – Sicilienne
Duriflé: “Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain,” Op. 7
free
(804) 359-5651
http://richmondcathedral.org/music
May 11 (8 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Arts Festival:
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Arthur Fagen conducting
Mozart: Concerto in F major, K. 242 (“Lodron”), for three pianos
André-Michel Schub, Arthur Fagen & Dominic Cheli, pianos
Mozart: Concerto in E flat major, K. 365, for two pianos
André-Michel Schub & Dominic Cheli, pianos
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K. 595
André-Michel Schub, piano
$26.25-$100
(757) 282-2822
http://vafest.org
May 11 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, East Capitol Street at First Street NE, Washington
Quartetto di Cremona
Puccini: “Crisantemi” (“Chrysanthemums”)
Verdi: Quartet in E minor
Beethoven: Quartet in A minor, Op. 132
free; tickets required via http://www.eventbrite.com
(202) 707-5502
http://www.loc.gov/concerts
May 12 (8 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth and Grace streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Honegger: “Pacific 231”
Mason Bates: “Children of Adam” (premiere)
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Tobias Picker: “Old and Lost Rivers”
Debussy: “La Mer”
$10-$80
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com
May 12 (8 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Arts Festival:
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Virginia Symphony Chorus
Rob Fisher conducting
Brooke Shields, Ross Lekites & Mikaela Bennett, guest stars
“Bernstein on Broadway”
Bernstein: “West Side Story” (selections)
Bernstein: “Candide” (selections)
Bernstein: “On the Town” (selections)
Bernstein: “Wonderful Town” (selections)
$26.25-$75
(757) 282-2822 (Virginia Arts Festival box office)
http://vafest.org
May 12 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
Christopher Zimmerman conducting
Danielle Talamantes, soprano
Carl Tanner, tenor
Fairfax Choral Society
Music & Arts Chorus
“A Night at the Opera”
arias, ensembles TBA by Verdi, Puccini, Bernstein
$39-$65
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://www.fairfaxsymphony.org
May 13 (4 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, Henrico High School, 302 Azalea Ave., Richmond
Richmond Philharmonic
Peter Wilson conducting
John Knowles Paine: “Poseidon and Amphitrite: an Ocean Fantasy”
Bernstein: “Symphonic Dances from ‘West Side Story’ ”
Barber: Adagio for strings
Rob Teehan: Tuba Concerto (“Collusion”)
Patrick Sheridan, tuba
$8 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 673-4700
http://www.richmondphilharmonic.org
May 13 (5 p.m.)
Grace Episcopal Church, 303 S. Main St., Kilmarnock
May 20 (5 p.m.)
Walnut Hills Baptist Church, 1014 Janestown Road, Williamsburg
Cantori Vocal Ensemble
“Songs of the People”
American, British folk songs TBA
$20
(804) 435-1285 (Kilmarnock)
(757) 220-5900 (Williamsburg)
http://cantoriwilliamsburg.org
May 13 (4 p.m.)
First Presbyterian Church, 300 36th St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Arts Festival:
Duo MusArt Barcelona
(Maria Teresa Sierra, piano & Raúl Prieto Ramírez, organ)
program TBA
$25
(757) 282-2822
http://vafest.org
May 14 (8 p.m.)
Hixon Theater, Barr Education Center, 440 Bank St., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Dover String Quartet
Haydn: Quartet in F minor, Op. 20, No. 5
Borodin: Quartet No. 2 in D major
Mendelssohn: Quartet in F minor, Op. 80
$26.25-$35
(757) 282-2822
http://vafest.org
May 15 (10:30 a.m.)
St. John’s Episcopal Church, 424 Washington St., Portsmouth
Virginia Arts Festival:
Dover String Quartet
Beverly Kane Baker, viola
Mozart: Quartet in D minor, K. 421
Mozart: Quintet in G minor, K. 516
$20
(757) 282-2822
http://vafest.org
May 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Hixon Theater, Barr Education Center, 440 Bank St., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Christine & Michelle Naughton, pianos
Mozart: Sonata in D major, K.381
Schubert: Duo in A minor, D. 947 (“Lebensstürme”)
William Bolcom: “Recuerdos”
J.S. Bach-Kurtág: “Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir”
J.S. Bach-Kurtág: “Gottes zeit ist der allerbeste Zeit”
Debussy: “En blanc et noir”
Chopin: Rondo in C major, Op. 73
Lutoslawski: “Variations on a Theme by Paganini”
$26.25-$35
(757) 282-2822
http://vafest.org
May 16 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Evgeny Kissin, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in B flat major, Op. 106 (“Hammerklavier”)
Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 3, No. 2
Rachmaninoff: preludes, Op. 23, Nos. 1-7
Rachmaninoff: preludes, Op. 32, Nos. 5, 10, 12, 13
$45-$125
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
http://washingtonperformingarts.org
May 17 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Boulevard, Norfolk
May 18 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Virginia Symphony Pops
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
Rique Franks, vocals
Kathryn Rose, vocals
Katalin Kiss, vocals
Ian Jutsun, vocals
Bob McAlpine, guitar
Steve Lucas, bass
Kevin Adamson, piano
Jeff Christmas, drums
“The Music of Journey”
$25-$100
(757) 892-6366
http://virginiasymphony.org
May 17 (7 p.m.)
May 19 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda conducting
J.S. Bach-Berio: Contrapunctus XIX
Berg: Violin Concerto (“In Memory of an Angel”)
James Ehnes, violin
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 18 (5 p.m.)
Southside Community Center, 6255 Old Warwick Road, Richmond
Southside Big Tent Community Festival – United by Music:
Richmond Symphony
conductor TBA
Bio Ritmo
program TBA
free
(804) 788-4717
http://www.richmondsymphony.com
May 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Grace Baptist Church, 4200 Dover Road, Richmond
May 20 (3 p.m.)
Duncan Memorial United Methodist Church, 201 Henry St., Ashland
Central Virginia Masterworks Chorale
Ryan Tibbetts directing
Daniel Stipe, organ
Bernstein: “Chichester Psalms”
Dan Forrest: “Jubilate Deo”
$10 in advance, $15 at door
(800) 838-3006
http://cvamc.org
May 18 (9 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda conducting & speaking
James Ehnes, violin & speaking
organist & harpsichordist TBA
“DECLASSIFIED: Bach and Beyond”
J.S. Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
J.S. Bach-Berio: Contrapunctus XIX
J.S. Bach: Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 – Chaconne
J.S. Bach-Respighi: Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532
Berg: Violin Concerto (“In Memory of an Angel”) – II: Adagio
Marcello-J.S. Bach: Oboe Concerto in D minor – II: Adagio (harpsichord solo)
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor – IV: Allegro energico e passionato
$25-$39
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 18 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, East Capitol Street at First Street NE, Washington
Julia Bullock & Amy Owens, sopranos
Amanda Lynn Bottoms, mezzo-soprano
Joshua Blue, tenor
Adrian Rosas, bass-baritone
Michael Barrett, music director
“Leonard Bernstein’s America”
Bernstein: “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” (excerpts)
Bernstein: “Trouble in Tahiti” (excerpts)
Bernstein: “A Quiet Place” (excerpts)
free; tickets required via http://www.eventbrite.com
(202) 707-5502
http://www.loc.gov/concerts
May 19 (3 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Choral Arts Society of Washington & orchestra
Antony Walker directing
Rossini: Stabat Mater
Sarah Coburn, soprano
Olivia Vote, mezzo-soprano
Jack Swanson, tenor
David Leigh, bass
$15-$69
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 19 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Mario Venzago conducting
Liszt: “Les Préludes”
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, K. 482
Kit Armstrong, piano
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major
$35-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
http://www.strathmore.org
May 20 (4 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth and Graces streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra Program:
String Sinfonietta
Christie-Jo Adams & Matthew Wilson conducting
Robert Longfield: “Black Diamond”
Chris Thomas: “Gap of Dunloe”
Aaron Zeng, violin
Alan Lee Silva: “Luminescence”
John Williams-Robert Longfield: “Star Wars: the Force Awakens”
Soon Hee Newbold: “Storm”
Camerata Strings
Rebecca Jilcott conducting
Mozart-Robert Lipton: “The Magic Flute” – “Queen of the Night’s Aria”
Victoria Duell & William Wang, violins
Brian Balmages: “Dreaming”
Raquel Anongos, violin
Brian Balmages: “”Rhythm Dances”
Youth Concert Orchestra
Christopher Moseley conducting
Saint-Saëns: “Suite Algérienne” – “Marche militaire Française”
Robert Sheldon: “Appalachian Morning”
Abigail Crafton, trumpet
Edward Zhang, clarinet
Lloyd Conley: “Vignettes for Strings”
Richard Meyer: “Ear-Igami”
Brian Balmages: “On Top of the World”
Elizabeth Crafton, French horn
Katy Stenner, viola
free
(804) 788-4717
http://www.richmondsymphony.com
May 20 (7 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth and Graces streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
Saint-Saëns: “Samson et Delila” – Bacchanale
Grieg: “Norwegian Dances” – II: Allegretto tranquillo e grazioso
Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor – III: Molto moderato e maestoso
Matthew Robinson, violin
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”) –
I. Adagio – allegro molto
IV: Allegro con fuoco
free
(804) 788-4717
http://www.richmondsymphony.com
May 20 (6 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera Orchestra & Chorus
John DeMain conducting
“Celebrating Bernstein at 100” (WNO Opera Gala Concert)
Patti Lupone, Titus Burgess, Nathan Gunn, Julie Gunn, Isabel Leonard, Kathryn Lewek, Jamie Bernstein, guest stars
members of Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Program
works TBA by Bernstein
$49-$250
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 21 (8 p.m.)
May 22 (8 p.m.)
Kimball Theatre, Merchants Square, Williamsburg
Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra
Janna Hymes conducting
J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major, BWV 1066
Wagner: “Siegfried Idyll”
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 2 in A minor
$48-$58
(757) 229-9857
http://www.williamsburgsymphony.org
May 23 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Itzhak Perlman, violin
Pinchas Zukerman, violin & viola
Rohan da Silva, piano
works TBA by J.S. Bach, Mozart, Wieniawski, Bartók, Moszkowski
$40-$115
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
http://washingtonperformingarts.org
May 25 (8 p.m.)
Regent University Theater, Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Benjamin Rous conducting
Mozart: “Don Giovanni” Overture
Mozart: Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385 (“Haffner”)
Copland: “Appalachian Spring”
Copland: “Rodeo” – Hoedown
$25-$45
(757) 892-6366
http://virginiasymphony.org
May 27 (8 p.m.)
West Lawn, U.S. Capitol, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
conductor TBA
guest stars TBA
National Memorial Day Concert
program TBA
free
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 29 (2 p.m.)
Denbigh Community Center, 15198 Warwick Boulevard, Newport News
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Robert Shoup conducting
“Afternoon Encores”
John Stafford Smith & Francis Scott Key: “The Star Spangled Banner”
Rossini: “William Tell” Overture
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor – I: Allegro con brio
Bernstein-Mason: “West Side Story” (selections)
Rous (arr.): “Aura Lee”
Willson-Hayman: “The Music Man” (selections)
Williams (arr.): “Hooray for Hollywood”
Copland: “Rodeo” – Hoedown
patriotic sing-along
Sousa: “Washington Post” March
$25
(757) 892-6366
http://virginiasymphony.org
May 30 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Emily Daggett Smith, violin
Tanya Gabrielian, piano
program TBA
$40
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 30 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra Pops
Emil de Cou conducting
“Jurassic World,” film screening with live orchestral accompaniment
$29-$119
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 31 (8 p.m.)
St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Forest and Patterson avenues, Richmond
Capitol Opera Richmond
Jefferson Baroque
Gustav Highstein conducting
Daniel Stipe, harpsichord
Purcell: “Dido and Aeneas”
Gabrielle Maes (Dido)
Tracey Welborn (Aeneas)
Anne O’Byrne (Belinda)
Chelsea Burke, stage director
in English
$30
(804) 840-7878
http://www.capitoloperarichmond.com
May 31 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Washington Men’s Camerata
Frank Albinder directing
“The Testament of Freedom: Randall Thompson and His Orbit”
Thompson: “The Testament of Freedom”
works TBA by Copland, Marshall Batholomew, Archibald T. Davison, Samuel Adler, Karl Kohn, others
$40
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org
May 31 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
Stravinsky: “The Firebird” Suite
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F major
Kirill Gerstein, piano
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C major
$35-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
http://www.strathmore.org
Letter V Classical Radio May 2
The third of three programs sampling the season’s new classical recordings, with music by Haydn, Beethoven, Vaughan Williams, Ravel, Gershwin, Stravinsky, Bohuslav Martinů, Dag Wirén and Alfred Schnittke.
noon-3 p.m. EDT
1600-1900 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
http://wdce.net
Stravinsky: “Fireworks”
Lucerne Festival Orchestra/Riccardo Chailly
(Decca)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major
Martha Argerich, piano
Mito Chamber Orchestra/Seiji Ozawa
(Decca)
Schnittke: “Suite in the Old Style”
Francisco Fullana, violin
David Fung, piano
(Orchid Classics)
Haydn: Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI:48
Olivier Cavé, piano
(Alpha)
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 6 in E minor
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/Andrew Manze
(Onyx)
Martinů: “Romance of the Dandelions”
Danish National Vocal Ensemble/Marcus Creed
(OUR Recordings)
Dag Wirén: Serenade, Op. 11, for string orchestra
Iceland Symphony Orchestra/Rumon Gamba
(Chandos)
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major
Denis Kozhukhin, piano
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Kazuki Yamada
(Pentatone)
Gershwin: “An American in Paris”
Buffalo Philharmonic/JoAnn Falletta
(Analekta)
Bernstein: a summation
“[A] composer looking for a way forward” and “an American musician looking for a rooted identity” – Joseph Horowitz, writing for The Weekly Standard, contemplates the outsized yet incomplete legacy of Leonard Bernstein in the centenary of this American musical icon:
https://www.weeklystandard.com/joseph-horowitz/a-wunderkind-at-100
No radio this week
Out sick, back next week.
Rappers rise and fall
Two prominent awards to rap artists spotlight the ups and downs of this chronically controversial contemporary musical genre.
On the upside: The Pulitzer Prize for Music has been awarded to Kendrick Lamar for his album “DAMN,” a first for a rapper and one of the few times the prize has gone to a non-classical musician.
“It’s so poetic,” jazz violinist Regina Carter, who served on the Pulitzer jury, said of Lamar’s recording. “I felt like if you took his lyrics and put them in a book, it would be great literature,” Carter told David A. Graham in an interview published by The Atlantic:
(via http://www.artsjournal.com)
The prize is overdue recognition “[t]hat rap music is the most significant pop idiom of our time. It’s the sound of 21st century American life — a black art form with a black-and-white-and-everyone-else audience. The music is an implicit conversation about the conjoined legacies of slavery, segregation, police brutality and other hideous injustices that our society doesn’t care to solve. In that sense, rap music is the sound of a broken nation struggling to understand itself,” writes The Washington Post’s Chris Richards:
On the downside (way down): The Echo Award, Germany’s top prize for recorded music, was bestowed upon the rappers Fardid Bang and Felix Martin Andreas Matthias Blume, who performs under the name Kollegah. Their lyrics routinely disparage women and their song “0815” contains the line (translated to English) “my body is better defined than Auschwitz inmates.”
The prize was announced on April 12, Holocaust Day of Remembrance.
In protest, a growing number of previous Echo winners have returned their prizes: The Notos Quartet, pianist Igor Levit, pop musicians Marius Müller-Westernhagen and Kurt Voormann, and conductors Fabio Luisi, Daniel Barenboim, Christian Thielemann, Mariss Jansons, Enoch zu Guttenberg and Andreas Reiner. Christian Höppner, president of the German Cultural Cabinet, has resigned from the Echo Prize Ethics Commission.
“A prize that puts sales above everything, and in a live performance on Holocaust Remembrance Day makes a mockery of the victims of the Third Reich, is a symbol of a form of cynicism which we do not stand for,” reads a statement from Thielemann and the orchestra he directs, the Staatskapelle Dresden.
“[A]nti-Semitism, misogyny, homophobia, and the open contempt of allegedly weaker and more [discriminated upon] minorities are an abuse of freedom that we as a society can never tolerate, and we must stand united against such voices and not encourage them by giving them prizes and legitimising them,” Barenboim wrote in returning his award.
Adding tangible muscle to the widespread denunciations, the Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) has suspended its recording deal with the rappers, Norman Lebrecht reports on his Slipped Disc blog:
http://slippedisc.com/2018/04/thielemann-and-jansons-returns-their-echo-awards/
UPDATE (April 25): As denunciations of the rappers’ prize proliferate – German Chancellor Angela Merkel joining the chorus – Germany’s Music Industry Association (BVMI) has abolished the Echo Awards, the Deutsche Welle broadcast service reports. “The Echo brand is so badly damaged that a complete new beginning is necessary,” BVMI says in a statement. The organization plans a new prize with a new name (and, one hopes, zero tolerance for the intolerable):
http://www.dw.com/en/germany-scraps-echo-music-awards-after-anti-semitism-controversy/a-43528588
Review: Chamber Music Society
April 22, First Unitarian Universalist Church
The Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia closed out its 2017-18 season over the weekend with forays into Latin and Italian repertory, from Verdi and Boccherini to Astor Piazzolla and Gabriela Lena Frank.
Following a sampler of Latin American music on April 21 at the Richmond Public Library, the society’s final ticketed concert featured violinists Grace Park and Karla Donehew Perez, violist Amadi Azikiwe, cellist James Wilson (the society’s artistic director) and guitarist Adam Cockerham in a program of Verdi’s Quartet in E minor, Boccherini’s Quintet in C major (“La Ritirada di Madrid”), G. 453, and “Danzas Españolas” by Enrique Granados.
That reads like a mixed bag, and sounded even more so. Moreover, except for the Granados and the closing “Ritirada” (“Military Retreat”) movement of the Boccherini, the music rarely echoed its country of origin.
Verdi’s quartet, his only significant instrumental work, is quite audibly a bid by this master of Italian opera to make a place for himself in the ranks of composers of “abstract” European classical music – to be as German as the Germans. The quartet’s first movement is as involved an explication of sonata form as anything produced by Beethoven, Schumann or Brahms, and its fugal finale could be an outtake from one of Beethoven’s late quartets. Only in the inner movements do we clearly hear intimations of Verdi’s theatrical melding of lyricism and high drama.
The string players emphasized those Verdian qualities when the music allowed them to, and treated the rest of the work to an assertive and sonically hefty, if occasionally untidy, reading.
The ensemble, joined by guitarist Cockerham, sounded more attuned to Boccherini’s lighter, sunnier sound pallette, with deft interplay between violinists Park and Perez, their percolating brilliance contrasting nicely with richer tones from violist Azikiwe and cellist Wilson. The four fiddlers gave an appropriately Mozartian lilt to the first three movements of the quintet and more rhythmically pointed and sonically spatial treatment, enhanced by the guitar, to the retreat finale, music that Boccherini recycled from his better-known Quintet in C major, G. 324 (“La musica notturna della strade di Madrid”).
Authentically Spanish musical flavor pervades Granados’ “Danzas Españolas,” and Park and Cockerham made the most of its dance rhythms and its abundant atmospherics, the latter quality most pronounced in the central “Andaluza” movement. Their light touch in the concluding fandango, one of the least heavy-handed treatments of this dance in the classical literature, was especially gratifying.
Letter V 