Room for cello variations

From yesterday's Camerata San Antonio concert, Ken Freudigman and Kristin Roach play 12 Variations on the Magic Flute by Ludwig van Beethoven:

Beethoven Festival: Cello Handel Variations

Enjoy this first night of the Beethoven Festival with Ken Freudigman and Kristin Roach!

Tchaik please!

Over the next few weeks, we'll look at Peter Tchaikovsky as San Antonio prepares for his music with the San Antonio Symphony, Texas Public Radio, Trinity University, Camerata San Antonio and others!

We'll kick off our online coverage with our friend Dick Strawser:

It's often joked that Tchaikovsky wrote three symphonies: No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6. Or, as others put it, he wrote one symphony three times, since they're all Fate-dominated and similar in character and content.

This post is the first in a series about each of these three symphonies: this one, more of a prelude to the set, contains background information about the composer and his historical context at the time he was composing the 4th. You can read about the 5th Symphony here, and about the 6th, here.

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Neither Tchaikovsky nor his 4th Symphony really need much in the way of “explanation” for a concert-goer to be able to enjoy the music. In these “Up-Close & Personal” posts, I’m usually looking for something behind the music, something that was going on in the composer’s life at the time the music was written or maybe about the times it was written in, whether that impact is direct or seemingly indirect. You can always argue that a work of art stands independently of any of the extraneous and technical details involved in its creation, but you can also argue that a work of art is something you can come to time and time again and each time discover something new, something that may make you listen to it in a different way or appreciate it from a slightly different angle, that the more you know about it the more you can appreciate it.
If you’re not familiar with the events of Tchaikovsky’s life at the time he wrote this symphony – his disastrous marriage and the voluminous correspondence with the rather mysterious Nadezhda von Meck – you can read about that in Part 2 of this post. There are some other ideas I’d like to look at, for now.
Tchaikovsky is a Russian composer which, to an American listener, may seem obvious but actually implies a number of often conflicting ideas. It also implies a debate similar to that around Aaron Copland and the “American Sound” – how much of what we identify as the “Russian Sound” is really what we think of as being Tchaikovsky’s sound? What is it that makes Russian music sound Russian? When I asked a famous Soviet-era sociologist this question back in the ‘70s, she thought for a moment and said, “I don’t know – perhaps the long cold winters?”
Culturally, putting it into a glib nutshell, there are at least two Russias. As a political nation, it has been on the edge of Europe and never really a part of the general European culture. As a geographical entity, it straddles both Europe and Asia and much of its ethnic and social back-history is more Asiatic than European. While there are people who had always lived in the area we think of as Russia, much of its history was crystallized first by Scandinavian migrants who set up ancient kingdoms and converted to Christianity, then by Asians ranging from the Tatars and Mongols who conquered them. A long ingrained xenophobia aside, the lack of trade routes to connect them with Western Europe and the lack of a viable marketplace for European goods created little need for contact between these cultures until the 18th Century when one of these rulers – known to us as Peter the Great but not considered “Great” by the Russians themselves – forcibly turned his backward empire toward the West, imposing on them European attitudes and customs after conquering a miserable stretch of swampland where he built a grand city that, within a few generations, created a seemingly artificial world of wealthy aristocrats living in a mirror image of the royal courts of France and Germany while the greater percentage of Russians lived in a peasant culture of extreme poverty. There was little else, then, in between.
A century after Peter the Great built his new imperial capital St. Petersburg, Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. At that time, few if any aristocrats spoke Russian. The language of the court was French, the literature and theater they enjoyed was in French. Much of the architecture of Peter the Great’s brand new city was the result of Italian architects trying to encompass something that looked Russian combined with something they were familiar with. Much of the music the aristocrats listened to was written and performed by Italian-born musicians who began teaching Russian-born musicians how to write and play in a European style. Even in Tchaikovsky’s youth a generation after 1812, there were still no Russian music schools: everybody was an amateur who studied privately with musicians imported either from France or Italy.
The “first” Russian composer (or at least the first one to be recognized as one), Mikhail Glinka, generally referred to as the “father” of Russian music, learned the rudiments of music and composition by way of correspondence with a theory teacher in Berlin, not by studying with a composer first-hand or by attending a school. Another important composer with a national awareness, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, learned not directly from Glinka but essentially by borrowing his notes.
In the mid-19th Century, the Russian musician Anton Rubinstein was one of the greatest pianists of his day, usually placing 2nd to Franz Liszt, but as a composer he was too German for the Russians and too Russian for the Germans. He was too much of a Futurist for the Conservatives and, for the Futurists like Liszt and Wagner, too conservative. As a Jew who’d converted as a child to the Russian Orthodox church, he was also regarded as a Christian by Jews and as a Jew by Christians, therefore, as he put it, “neither fish nor fowl – a pitiful individual.”
In 1862, Rubinstein and his brother Nikolai opened the first music school in Russia – first in St. Petersburg and then another in Moscow – making a point that courses would be taught in Russian, not in French (one grand lady retorted “Music in Russian? That’s a novel idea!”).
Tchaikovsky, who had discovered classical music as a child through a music-box reproduction of some Mozart pieces, wanted to become a musician but lacking any chance of good training ended up going into law. After becoming a law clerk, he decided it was too boring and he joined Rubinstein’s newly opened conservatory as one of its first students. He did well enough upon graduation, grounded in solid European-style training but without much practical experience, he was immediately set up as a teacher in the new Moscow school.
This was all happening around the same time young composers gathering around Mily Balakirev began formulating ideas about creating an authentic Russian musical style. They became known as “The Russian Five” or “The Mighty Handful” and their attitude about what Russian music should be was directly opposed to Rubinstein’s.

Dick's article continues here: http://dickstrawser.blogspot.com/2011/01/tchaikovskys-4th-symphony-up-close.html

Classical Spotlight: Wright on!

Camerata San Antonio presents “Brahms Clarinet Quintet” in Kerrville tonight, October 14 @ 7:30pm; in Boerne Friday, October 15 @ 7:30pm; and in San Antonio: Sunday, October 17 @ 3:00pm. The program includes Golijov’s Tenebrae; Frank’s Leyendas - An Andean Walkabout; and Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet.
There’s more at http://www.cameratasa.org/

The San Antonio Choral Society begins their season with a concert "Music of the French Cathedral." Aaron Hufty leads music by Faure and Durufle this Friday, 10/15 at 7:30 PM in St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church; and Sunday afternoon 10/17 at 4:00 PM in the First United Methodist Church, Boerne. There’s more info at http://www.sachoralsociety.org/

This Saturday October 16, 2010 at 3:00 pm Round Top Festival Institute presents Roger Wright, concert pianist. His program includes Mozart’s Fantasy, K.475; Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit ; Frederic Rzewski’s Down by the Riverside and Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues; Poulenc’s Waltz, Improvisations in b and C; and Balakirev’s Islamey. Tickets and info at http://www.festivalhill.org/

Voci di Sorelle performs this Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. in a program called Tapestry: A Concert of World Music. Voci di Sorelle opens the season with an eclectic program of music from five continents performed in authentic languages and styles.
It is at the Union Church Building in Kerrville, Texas. Find out more about this concert online: http://www.benissimomusic.org/

Mid Texas Symphony presents “In City and Country” this Sunday, October 17, 2010 at the Civic Center, New Braunfels at 4:00 p.m.. David Mairs, Music Director is joined by Patty Esfandiari, English Horn; and Andrew Gignac, Trumpet in a program including Handel’s Water Music Suite; Smetana’s The Moldau; Copland’s Quiet City and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. Find out more at http://www.mtsymphony.org/

Classical Spotlight: We're Rockin'

And they are Grammy nominated!
This weekend Camerata San Antonio open their season on the heels of last week’s announcement that they are nominated for two Latin Grammys! Founder Ken Freudigman spoke with host John Clare about their 2010-11 season and what you can expect.

Camerata San Antonio plays Beethoven and Dvorak
Kerrville: Thursday, September 16 @ 7:30pm
Boerne: Friday, September 17 @ 7:30pm
San Antonio: Sunday, September 19 @ 3:00pm
Find out more at http://www.cameratasa.org/


They’re not in Kansas anymore!
The 70s rock band Kansas performs a benefit with the UTSA Orchestra this Friday at 8 p.m. in Trinity University's Laurie Auditorium. Kansas drummer Phil Ehart spoke with Clare about the concert and how they came about, and what you can expect with an orchestra and rock band!
There's more at http://music.utsa.edu/




They blend as one
The Cooperleaf quintet consists of Ruth Moreland, Soprano/Artistic Director; Amy Phipps, Soprano; Laura Grindle, Alto; Andrew DeVoogd, Tenor; and Steve Wegner, Baritone. Moreland talked with Clare about the group’s repertoire and rehearsals, and what they’ll be up to over the next season singing in art galleries!

Saturday, September 18, 2010 7:30 p.m.
Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church
15415 Red Robin Road, San Antonio, Texas 78255
Donations at the Door
For more information contact Edmund Murray, Music Series Director 210-695-2944
http://copperleafquintet.benissimomusic.org/

We’re an American Band
The Heart of Texas Concert Band will open its 2010-2011 season at 3:00 P.M. on Sunday, September 19 with a program of light concert favorites. Conductor Mark Rogers stopped by the KPAC studio to share more about the program Sunday afternoon with John Clare…the two discussed Rogers & Hart, Leroy Anderson and the music of Arthur Sullivan.

Sunday, September 19, 2010
3:00 P.M.
Claudia Taylor Johnson High School
23203 Bulverde Rd.
San Antonio, Texas 78259
Find out more at http://heartoftexasband.sa-arts.net/

New Notes for Olmos
The Olmos Ensemble plays music by the Composers Alliance of San Antonio this next week. Four world premieres take place and all of the pieces are relatively new! To tell more about her “Flamethrower” quartet, S. Beth May spoke to John Clare about the work.

September 21st and 22nd, 2010 at 7:30pm
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio
and
Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at the University of Texas at San Antonio Recital Hall
Complete program and notes are at http://www.composersalliancesa.org/

Listen to the interviews online here at http://www.tpr.org/programs/classicalspotlight.html

Classical Spotlight: Interviews of Destiny

We have a busy weekend of great classical music to shine the spotlight on this week!
Tomorrow night Christopher Guzman plays a piano recital with music by Beethoven, Ravel and Frederic Rzewski, at the Musical Arts Center San Antonio at 7:00pm in the Recital Hall, free and open to the public. Find more info here.

Tomorrow night also marks the start of the San Antonio Symphony’s music director search. The first candidate is Christoph Campestrini (seen left with host John Clare) from Vienna, Austria. He’ll conduct Mahler’s Fifth Symphony and Brahms’ Song of Destiny tomorrow and Saturday night with the San Antonio Symphony, San Antonio Mastersingers at the Majestic Theater. You can also see more of the interview with Campestrini. Tickets and information is available here. We’ll have all 11 music director candidates for the San Antonio Symphony Music Director Search!

The Texas Bach Choir, led by Daniel Long (right) rescheduled their season opener because of Hurricane Ike, they’ll perform Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and Woodland Baptist Church. On the program is Leopold Mozart, Guiseppe Torelli, and their namesake, Johann Sebastian Bach. Saturday night at 5pm at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and Sunday afternoon at 3 at Woodland Baptist Church with discounts for TPR members. Find out more on their website.
Sunday afternoon the Alamo Chapter of the AGO, American Guild of Organists present a Spectacular in celebration of “The International Year of the Organ” at Coker United Methodist Church. The concert starts at 3pm and is free and open to the public.
Also Sunday afternoon at 3pm is the Camerata Recital of flutist Tal Perkes (left). He’ll play a French recital of Leclair, Couperin, Rameau, Gaubert and Dutilleux. This Camerata San Antonio concert takes place this Sunday afternoon at 3pm in Travis Park United Methodist Church. More info and tickets are available here.

Pianist Christopher O’Riley (with host John Clare right) and Cellist Carter Brey play next Monday night Sonatas by Richard Strauss, Francis Poulenc and Frederic Chopin. It starts at 7:30pm at Travis Park United Methodist Church. Tickets are available here. Watch the entire interview with O'Riley and Clare here.
Next week we’ll invite you to become a member of KPAC and KTXI, and hear from the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio and the Olmos Ensemble.

Classical Spotlight: Tip Top

This week we'll have great interviews and classical music with musicians on Classical Spotlight, Thursday afternoon at 2pm with host John Clare.

We start with Thomas Steigerwald (left), a 15 year old pianist from Uvalde, who is going to play on From the Top this Saturday. Thomas won first place in the San Marcos Young Pianist State Competition this year and first in the Texas Music Teacher’s Association State Piano Competition in 2007. Hear him live on From the Top (Saturday mornings at 10am on KPAC and KTXI) with Christopher O'Riley. It is Saturday, September 13th at 7pm in Trinity University's Laurie Auditorium. Tickets are $27, $22 for TPR Members, $17 students and $12 children 12 and under. Get them at 224-9600 or ticketmaster.

Here's a video of Thomas playing Balakirev's Islamey in the KPAC Studios:

Next we'll hear from Ken Freudigman (right) with Camerata San Antonio. Their program, Romantic Beginnings, takes place in Kerrville September 11 at 7:30pm, in Boerne September 12 at 7:30pm and in San Antonio September 14 at 3:00 pm. They'll play Chopin's Polonaise Brillante in C Major, Op. 3; Krasa's Three Movements for String Trio; Turina's Scene Andalouse for Viola, Piano & String Quartet; and Brahms' String Quintet in G Major, Op. 111.

Next the Texas Bach Choir led by Daniel Long performs Saturday, September 13, at 5:00 pm at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 3:00 pm at Woodland Baptist Church. They'll have Quantz's Flute Concerto in a minor with Lee Lattimore (seen left), Baroque Flute; Johann Michael Bach's Sacred Concerto, “Herr, der König freuet sich”; Schutz's “So fahr ich hin”; Johann Sebastian Bach's Cantata BWV 82a - “Ich habe genug”; Harpsichord Concerto in g minor; and Cantata BWV 45 – “Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist”. John speaks with Lattimore about the discovery of this Flute Concerto.

The Olmos Ensemble plays Tuesday evening at 7:30 PM, on September 16th at First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio. The program includes Joseph Canteloube's Trio; Philippe Gaubert's Fantasie; Shulamit Ran's East Wind; Joseph Schwantner's Black Anemones; Maurice Ravel's Jeux D’eaux; and Jean Francaix's Quintet for winds. Oboist Mark Ackerman (right) discusses the program called Autumn Winds.
Finally, Jessica Mathaes (left), concertmaster of the Austin Symphony talks about her program at St. Edward’s University in Austin at 2pm Sunday, September 14th and Saturday September 27th at 7:30pm at the First Presbyterian Church in Austin. On the program is Brahms' Sonata #1; Beethoven's Sonata #9, Kreutzer; and Kathryn Mishell's Elegy. There's more at Jessica Mathaes.com.

Hear the show and archives on the TPR website, http://www.tpr.org/programs/classicalspotlight.html

Next week we'll learn more about the Symphony of the Hills and the opening of the Austin Symphony with violinist Leila Josefowicz and a world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis.