Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Mitsuko Uchida

Beethoven Birthday Bash on Music from Marlboro

I’m staring at a pile of musical birthday gifts for Claudio Monteverdi, Michael Balfe, Nikolai Tcherepnin, Lars-Erik Larsson, Arthur Berger, and John Lanchbery. That’s an awful lot of wrapping for any classical music host. I hope you’ll be on hand to reap the benefits, as I’ll be jumping out of a cake repeatedly from 4 to 6 p.m. EDT.

Then, at the end of a long day of picking scotch tape off my fingers, there really is only one remedy. On this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” it will be an all-Beethoven affair.

Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B-flat major, Op. 97, known as the “Archduke,” was one of 14 works the composer wrote for his friend and patron Archduke Rudolf of Austria. Rudolf, an amateur pianist, was the youngest child of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II.

Beethoven himself appeared at the keyboard at the work’s premiere in 1814. His encroaching deafness so diminished his former prowess as a performer that he retired from concertizing after a repeat performance a few weeks later. The violinist and composer Louis Spohr summed up the discomfiture and pity felt by those in attendance, by stating, “I am deeply saddened by so hard a fate.”

The music remains unbowed. Today, the “Archduke” Trio is as noble and inspiring as ever.

We’ll hear it performed at the 2006 Marlboro Music Festival by pianist and Marlboro co-artistic director Mitsuko Uchida, violinist Soovin Kim, and cellist David Soyer of the legendary Guarneri Quartet.

Also on the program will be a performance of Beethoven’s “Three Marches for Piano Four Hands,” a remarkable collaboration between an 87 year-old Mieczyslaw Horszowski and an 18 year-old Cecile Licad.

There are plenty of gifted composers, but it’s hard to beat Beethoven. Beethoven takes the cake, on the next “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

Beethoven, ready to celebrate his unbirthday

May 15, 2019
Marlboro Music Festival Spotlight on Exploring Music

It’s an embarrassment of riches for chamber music enthusiasts on this week’s Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin, as the focus will be on the legendary Marlboro Music Festival.

Marlboro Music was established by Rudolf Serkin, Adolf Busch, Marcel Moyse and friends in Marlboro, VT, in 1951. From the start, Marlboro has offered a unique environment for the study and performance of the chamber music repertoire, with ideas and insights passed between veteran and up-and-coming musicians performing side by side in a relaxed atmosphere far removed from the pressures of daily life.

Marlboro has benefited from the indispensible mentorship of such luminaries as Pablo Casals, Felix Galimir, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, and Sándor Végh, among others, who have helped foster then-promising musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Paula Robison, Richard Stoltzman, and all four members of the Guarneri Quartet (well, five, if you count Peter Wiley). The tradition continues, and Marlboro musicians now fill out many of the world’s great chamber music and orchestral ensembles.

Bill McGlaughlin will celebrate this famed chamber music retreat in five installments, this Monday through Friday at 7:00 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

In the meantime, check out all this invaluable interview material with many Marlboro stalwarts, including its current directors, Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss:

https://exploringmusic.wfmt.com/discussion/

Enjoy a Marlboro double-whammy this Wednesday, as I’ll present “Music from Marlboro,” as always, at 6 p.m., followed by Bill’s third installment.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

April 29, 2019
Marlboro Music B-Flat Bliss Mozart Beethoven

With heat index values of 105, there is nothing to be done but be flat – or B flat, as the case may be.

On this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” I’ll make few demands on a sweltering listenership by offering works by Mozart and Beethoven, both in the key of B flat.

Beethoven’s Piano Trio, Op. 97, known as the “Archduke,” was one of 14 works the composer wrote for his friend and patron Archduke Rudolf of Austria. Rudolf, an amateur pianist, was the youngest child of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II.

Beethoven himself appeared at the keyboard at the work’s premiere in 1814. His encroaching deafness so diminished his former prowess as a performer that he retired from concertizing after a repeat performance a few weeks later. The violinist and composer Louis Spohr summed up the discomfort and pity felt by those in attendance, “I am deeply saddened by so hard a fate.”

The music remains unbowed. Today, the “Archduke” Trio is as noble and inspiring as ever.

We’ll hear it performed at the 2006 Marlboro Music Festival by pianist Mitsuko Uchida – Marlboro’s sole artistic director since 2013 (next year she’ll be joined by Jonathan Biss) – violinist Soovin Kim, and cellist David Soyer of the legendary Guarneri Quartet.

The hour will open with a delightful work by Mozart – his Sonata in B-flat for Bassoon and Cello, K. 292. The 1975 performance will feature bassoonist Alexander Heller and a 19 year-old cellist named Yo-Yo Ma.

The performances are unfailingly at pitch, even when we’re all flat. Join me for music in B flat on this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

August 29, 2018
Jonathan Biss to Lead Marlboro Music

In foreign lands, cries of “Bis!” at the end of a concert signify an audience’s desire to hear more. It is a happy coincidence, then, that at the Marlboro Music School and Festival, Biss happens to be the surname of its incoming co-artistic director.

Earlier this week, it was announced that the pianist Jonathan Biss will join Mitsuko Uchida as co-director of the celebrated chamber music retreat, which is situated in Vermont’s Green Mountains. Uchida has served in a leadership capacity at Marlboro for over 20 years. For the past five of these, she has been the festival’s sole artistic director. Prior to that, she was assisted in the festival’s direction by Richard Goode (1994-2013) and Andras Schiff (1994-1999).

Biss first attended the Marlboro Music Festival in 1997. He was invited to return as a senior artist in 2006 – in classic Marlboro fashion, giving back to new generations of young musicians the kind of mentorship and comradery he himself experienced there.

Biss, who is on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, is acclaimed not only as a performer and recording artist, but also as a teacher and a writer, wholly comfortable exploring unique opportunities of the digital age, offering online lectures and publishing a bestselling eBook, “Beethoven’s Shadow.”

We’ll celebrate Biss’ appointment on this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” with a performance of Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat major, D. 898. Biss will be joined by violinist David Bowlin and cellist Marcy Rosen, from the 2008 Marlboro Music Festival.

Then we’ll hear Marlboro legends, soprano Benita Valente, clarinetist Harold Wright, and pianist Rudolf Serkin, in Schubert’s “The Shepherd on the Rock.” The three set down a classic recording of the work in 1960; we’ll hear a live performance, captured at Marlboro nine years later.

The Marlboro Music School and Festival was co-founded in 1951 by Serkin, Adolf Busch, and Marcel Moyse. Serkin served as Marlboro’s first artistic director until his death in 1991.

Today happens to be the anniversary of Busch’s birth. Tune in this afternoon, between 4 and 6 p.m., prior to today’s “Music from Marlboro” broadcast, for a little bonus, in the form of one of Busch’s own compositions.

“Music from Marlboro” begins at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

PHOTO: Uchida (left), with Marlboro’s incoming co-artistic director

August 8, 2018
Czech Music from Marlboro Festival Schulhoff & Dvořák

In a spirit of unusual generosity, I’ll be picking up the Czech for this week’s “Music from Marlboro.”

That’s right, it’s an all-Czech hour.

We’ll begin with music by Erwin Schulhoff, who was encouraged as a young man by Antonin Dvořák. A Jew, a communist, and a nose-thumbing Dadaist, Schulhoff must have been regarded as a triple threat by the Nazis. Who else but Schulhoff would set “The Communist Manifesto” to music? His promising career was cut short when he was arrested while fleeing to the Soviet Union. He died of tuberculosis in a concentration camp in 1942.

We’ll hear Schulhoff’s cheeky “Divertissement for Wind Trio” from 1928. The 2002 performance will feature oboist Ariana Ghez, clarinetist Charles Neidich, and bassoonist Shinyee Na.

Then kick back and enjoy Dvořák’s beloved Piano Quintet in A Major. Composed in 1887, Dvořák’s amply melodic and affirmatively gorgeous Quintet is the perfect antidote to any of your day’s cares. The 2008 performance will feature Marlboro Artistic Director Mitsuko Uchida as pianist, with Benjamin Beilman and David Bowlin, violins; Maiya Papach, viola; and Judith Serkin, cello.

Only three weekends left to attend this year’s Marlboro Music Festival in Marlboro, VT. On Sunday at 2:30 p.m., Uchida will perform Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat, K. 493, on a program that will also include works by Schumann and Marlboro Resident Composer, Pulitzer Prize winner Shulamit Ran.

Ran’s music will also feature on Saturday’s program, at 8 p.m., which will also include works by Beethoven and Alexander Zemlinsky. For more information or to plan your visit, look online at marlboromusic.org.

Then join me this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT for an all-Czech hour, on the next “Music from Marlboro,” on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

July 25, 2018

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS