Vaughan Williams tonight at 7 p.m. in Westfield, NJ. Sounding as good here as I could have ever hoped.
Tag: New Jersey
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Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 5 in NJ!
What a lovely surprise! I just got an email yesterday from the New Jersey Festival Orchestra announcing its 2023-24 season, and what should be on the very first set of concerts, but Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5! My favorite Vaughan Williams symphony! (Also on the program, another Fifth Symphony by some guy named Beethoven.) Needless to say, I purchased my ticket immediately. There will be two performances, at St. Helen’s Church in Westfield (on Friday, October 6, at 7 pm) and Drew University Concert Hall in Madison (on Sunday, October 8, at 3 pm). David Wroe will conduct.
Vaughan Williams’ radiant Fifth Symphony was an unexpected beacon of hope composed during the darkest days of World War II (1938-1943). Some of the musical ideas were carried over from his work on the long-gestating opera “The Pilgrim’s Progress.”
The symphony is dedicated to another one of my all-time favorites, Jean Sibelius. When Sibelius heard the work in Stockholm, conducted by Malcolm Sargent, he wrote, “This symphony is a marvelous work… the dedication made me feel proud and grateful… I wonder if Dr. Williams has any idea of the pleasure he has given me?”
It’s interesting that Vaughan Williams, a self-professed agnostic (whose stance softened from a youthful atheism), often proved to be such a spiritual composer. Those in the audience at the symphony’s premiere, with the 70-year-old RVW conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra, emerged from Royal Albert Hall fortified and prepared to face whatever challenges the future might throw their way.
I can’t wait to luxuriate in this masterpiece, which I have only heard in person twice over my decades of concert-going – with André Previn and the Curtis Orchestra in Philadelphia in 1995 and Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra at the Bard Music Festival in 2011. It was performed by the Chicago Symphony last season, but to fly to Chicago for a concert, for me, would have been an extravagance.
Interestingly, a couple of quick Google searches reveal performances of the Fifth this season with the Baltimore and Utah Symphonies. Perhaps others? As always, I ask that you keep your antennae up, and if you learn of any Vaughan Williams performances, especially within a three-hour radius of Princeton, please let me know!
Thank you, New Jersey Festival Orchestra!
For the complete NJFO season, look here:
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Ernest Schelling: Jersey Boy and Granados’ Fate
You might say that Ernest Schelling was a Jersey boy who made good. He also happened to be responsible, in part, for the death of Enrique Granados.
Schelling, a celebrated pianist who for a period of three years became the exclusive pupil of Ignacy Paderewski, was born in Belvidere, NJ on this date in 1876.
A child prodigy, he made his debut at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music at the age of 4. At 7, he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory. Among the other notable musicians he worked with were Hans Huber, Moritz Moszkowski, and Theodor Leschetizky. Leschetizky was the pupil of Carl Czerny, who of course studied with Beethoven.
As a conductor, Schelling became music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which he led from 1935 to 1937. Well before Bernstein, he conducted the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts, beginning in 1924. They were such a success, he took them on tour, with stops in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, London, and Rotterdam.
Schelling gave the U.S. premiere of Granados’ piano cycle “Goyescas.” In fact it was he who encouraged the composer to craft the music into an opera. Granados liked the idea, and “Goyescas” was given its first performance at the Metropolitan Opera in 1916.
It created such a sensation that Woodrow Wilson – former president of Princeton University and former governor of New Jersey – invited the composer to the White House, an offer Granados could hardly refuse. Granados postponed his homeward journey. A few weeks later, he was drowned in the English Channel, after his ship, the S.S. Sussex, was torpedoed by a German submarine.
Thanks a lot, Ernest Schelling – and by the way, happy birthday.
Schelling plays Liszt’s Sonata in B minor:
Willem Mengelberg conducts Schelling’s “A Victory Ball:”
A selection from Schelling’s “Suite Fantastique:”
PHOTO: Shipboard with Ernest Schelling and friend
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Raritan River Music Fest Returns to NJ & PA
Attention, music-loving Jerseyites and Eastern Pennsylvanians!
The robins and catbirds are scarcely settled-in, and already the first of the warm-weather music festivals is upon us!
For the 33rd consecutive year, Raritan River Music will beat the summer crush, in presenting a winning combination of spring, music, and historic venues in Raritan and Warren Counties. Internationally-renowned soloists and ensembles will venture in to scenic West-Central Jersey to present a wide range of musical programs in a variety of genres.
The first of the concerts will take place this Friday at 7:30 pm at Stanton Reformed Church in Stanton. The Bergamot Quartet will perform works by living composers, with a special emphasis on women (including Pulitzer Prize-winner Tania Leon), in dialogue with music by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. The program will also include selections by Paul Wiancko, Suzanne Farrin, and Ledah Finck, from their album “In the Brink.”
On Saturday, May 14, at 4 pm, outdoors under cover at Blue Army Shrine in Asbury (NOT to be confused with Asbury Park), fiddler Eileen Ivers will return with her all-star band, The unIVERSal Roots (on Irish fiddle, guitar, Irish accordion, whistles, trumpet, bass, and percussion, with vocals) to share music from her new album, “Scatter the Light.”
On Saturday, May 21, at 7:30 pm, at Greenwich Presbyterian Church in Stewartsville, Raritan River Music founders (and Warren County residents) Michael Newman and Laura Oltman, a.k.a. the Newman and Oltman Guitar Duo – for 35 years ensemble in residence at the Mannes School of Music – will be joined by leading Mannes faculty. They’ll perform a new Raritan River Music commission from esteemed Cuban master Leo Brouwer, entitled “Through the Looking Glass.”
Also on the program will be Brazilian composer Clarice Assad’s “Dusty Grooves” and Yenne Lee’s arrangement of her YouTube sensation (with 19 million views) “Autumn Leaves.” In addition, Hannah Murphy and Phil Goldenberg will play selections from their groundbreaking project “Changing the Canon,” featuring nine eminent Black American composers, here represented by Mason Byrnes and Thomas Flippin.
The festival will conclude on Saturday, May 28, at 7:30 pm at Prallsville Mills in Stockton, with the improvisatory ensemble 9 Horses, a group that blurs the line between “folk art” and “fine art,” playing selections from their critically-acclaimed albums, on mandolins (acoustic and electric), violins, Hardanger d’amore, and bass.
This year’s festival may also be accessed via online streaming. If you attend in-person, please bring proof of vaccination status. Also, exercise common sense in terms of maintaining appropriate face coverings at the venues, so you don’t get or spread the bug!
For more information and directions, visit raritanrivermusic.org.
COUNTER-CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: The Bergamot Quartet, Eileen Ivers & the unIVERSal Roots, the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo, and 9 Horses
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Raritan River Music Festival Returns in May
All systems are “go” for this year’s Raritan River Music Festival. The festival will proceed with its 32nd season, this year offering the options of outdoor, under-cover seating or live, at-home streaming.
Concerts will take place at Blue Army Shrine in Asbury (NOT to be confused with Asbury Park), nestled in the rolling hills of West-Central New Jersey.
Performers will include the Poorwill Lane Duo (May 8), harpist Bridget Kibbey (May 15), duoJalal (May 22), and the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo (May 29).
The programs will begin, rain or shine, at 4 pm. Protective face masks will be worn and social distancing is assured.
Take a step a toward normalcy by enjoying live outdoor concerts in the month of May, courtesy of the Raritan River Music Festival. For details, visit raritanrivermusic.org.
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