It's been a long concert season...very long.

Summer is right around the corner and it's beautiful outside. You've been going to concerts every weekend for nearly 7 months now...season opening spectaculars, patriotic tributes, that obligatory performance of the Nutcracker, the unfortunate pops concert when Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels played with the orchestra. I know you're tired and that writing a concert review is the last thing you want to be doing right now. I understand.

But the finish line is so close. Don't give up yet!

First up, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra's season is coming to an end, and William R. Wineke is on the case for Channel 3000.

Review: WCO Ends 50th Season In Triumph

Johann Hummel's 1816 "Piano Concerto in A Minor" provided a thrilling end to a brilliant season.

Hummel did that? I'm pretty sure that nothing that Hummel did was "thrilling", but okay.

As always, the performance was enhanced by Norman Gilliland's "Grace Notes" commentary.

Yes, program notes can provide useful historical information and context for works far removed from modern day. What historical gems did Mr. Gilliland uncover about Hummel, an obscure-ish composer largely unknown to those who didn't play trumpet in high school?

Gilliland noted the composer was such a gifted artist that he was invited to live in Mozart when he was seven years old, went on to study with Haydn and Salieri and was a friend of Beethoven.

Who knew that Mozart was such a hospitable guy.

[F]ollowing the intermission, the WCO played Franz Schubert's "Symphony No. 9 in C Major," nicknamed the "Great" symphony, partially because it takes the better part of an hour to perform.

Well, not really. The moniker was meant to distinguish the work from his "Little C Major" Symphony...but you know, whatever.

So, how well did the WCO perform the "Great"?

It's a powerful symphony and was performed very ably by the very able WCO,...

I'm not going to lie, that's a very able description.

...but after the excitement of the Goodyear piece [the Hummel concerto, which is strangely being referenced by the soloist], it seemed almost anti-climactic.

The Hummel concerto made the "Great" Symphony seem anti-climatic?

It has been a very long concert season indeed.

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Down the road in Indiana, Ivy Farguheson, of the Star Press, thinks Orff is a musical genius (and Tchaikovsky too).

REVIEW: "Carmina Burana' was a live masterpiece to behold

Symphonies are meant to perform Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” and luckily the Muncie Symphony Orchestra met with their fate Saturday evening in Emens Auditorium.

Okay, a bit ridiculous, but it's actually a pretty clever opening sentence. Good start, Ivy.

figure orff: "What has C sharp minor got to do with fascism?"

Most musical productions are meant to be listened to in person. Rarely is a live performance worse than a studio-backed recording and Carl Orff’s epic work is no exception.

A clumsily written thought, but point well-taken. On to the review...

That’s not to say there aren’t recordings,...

No, no, you don't need to explain yourself. Live performances better than the recording...we're with you.

Just move on and don't waste time backtracking, or you might get into some convoluted explanation comparing Orff's Carmina Burara to some random recording artist...like, say, Prince. That would be bad.

That’s not to say there aren’t recordings, even live recordings, that transfer the various emotions from the masterpiece on the stage or in a recording studio into your living room with passion. There clearly are.

Great. I was wrong. We made it out the other side unscathed.

But in much the same way seeing Prince...

I thought we had an understanding?

...live in concert can change the way you understand the guitar,...

figure prince: Changing the way I understand the guitar.

...compared to that nice CD in your car, listening to Orff’s music can open your ears to things you’ve never heard before.

Where are you going with this?

That’s why in both cases, with Prince and Orff, you choose the live option over the recording. You want to be in the presence of genius.

We are very liberal with our use of 'genius', aren't we?

And you want to be exhausted when they’re finished gracing you with their presence.

I suppose.

figure exhausted: Just heard Carmina Burana performed live.

Because Prince is great live, CDs should never have been invented? I like your logic.

So, how about the actual concert?

With the help of the Ball State University Chamber Choir, Concert Choir and the University Choral Union, the orchestra began the production with the most popular piece from “Carmina,” “O, Fortuna.”

I think most "productions" of this piece start with that part, seeing that it comes first in the score.

There isn’t an American who has ever seen a television commercial or watched the NBA playoffs during the last 20 years who has not heard the beginning measures of “O, Fortuna.”

Americans do love the arts!


embeddence orff: Wait, they have Orff in Canada, too?

And, sadly, maybe people’s experience with “Carmina” ends there.

Oh. You mean there's more to the piece than just the "O, Fortuna" part?

[snip]

So, the piece embodies the genius of Prince and the popularity of promo music for the NBA playoffs...what conclusions can we draw?

“Carmina Burana” is one of the most powerful musical pieces ever written and listening to it in any fashion will make you wonder why symphonies across the world don’t simply perform this production and maybe Tchaikovsky, another musical genius.

Carmina Burana is awesome and should be performed by every orchestra, "and maybe Tchaikovsky, another musical genius,"too.

This is quite possibly one of the greatest sentences I've ever read.

Listening to this epic live will make you wonder why musical recordings were ever created, period.

That's quite the side effect of attending this concert. Perhaps the surgeon general should slap a warning on this concert: May make you question why musical recordings were ever created.

And make you search for other live symphonic productions in another town near you.

Just a second...did you say that Prince can change the way I understand the guitar?

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It's been a very, very long concert season.

Composer of the Day!

Today's Composer of the Day! is Johann Nepomuk Hummel! (1778-1837)

Hummel studied with Mozart, Clementi, and Albrechtsberger. He was a noted pianist, pedagogue, and composer in his time. He is unjustly neglected today.

He was Austrian, Slovakian, or Hungarian, depending on the date of the map you check. (We mostly call him Austrian.)

While he studied with Mozart, he actually lived with Wolfgang himself for several years! That must have been both influential and a great time. Or so one supposes.

He wrote an influential three-volume tome called A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course on the Art of Pianoforte Playing. Unsurprisingly, it is about playing the piano.

His middle name was Nepomuk, which is kind of awesome. Here is some Hummel for you:

Link to Trumpet Concerto (sorry, embedding was disabled).

He was Kappelmeister in three cities. He was extremely prolific, writing keyboard, chamber, opera, and sacred music. Student of Mozart and contemporary of Beethoven, he is sort of lost in the annals of music history.

You should listen to his music.

Lesser Composer Killed in Train Wreck

But before I tell you who it was, try to guess.

...this second [concerto] he wrote for piano sounds like a cross between Mendelssohn and Chopin, combining lyrical charm with brilliance.

That sounds really cool. I like Mendelssohn. I also like Chopin. A lot. And a combination of the two doesn’t sound all that bad. (By the way, which one lacks “lyrical charm” and which one lacks “brilliance?”)

[Lesser composer A] was a far less inspired composer...

Hearsay, your honor! And...yikes. Don't forget the last nail in the coffin.

Whether [conductor X]—or anyone else, for that matter—can succeed in rescuing the music of [lesser composer A] from obscurity is highly debatable.












Since you continually throw him in front of the bus (read: train), I suppose his music will follow. But he sounds like Chopin and Mendelssohn, right? So how could he be so deserving of such critical scorn? I mean, he was programmed on a concert, which you had the privilege to review, in the 21st century. He must have done something right, in order to stick around for two-hundred years.

Ugh. I have a sneaking suspicion it’s because his name doesn’t rhyme with Beethoven.
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