June 18, 2006
Classical Music Agenda
Soon, the Washington heat and humidity will mean that we take a hiatus from classical music. Your Classical Music Agenda will even take a couple weeks off next month when there is just not that much to report. However, for the time being, we have some things to tell you about. Mainly, this is the final week of the Washington Early Music Festival, and there are usually two concerts a day just with that. I will recommend some of the interesting ones.
EARLY MUSIC:
>> Last year, I heard the stupendous German recorder virtuoso Matthias Maute with the REBEL Ensemble at the Library of Congress. Maute is back this summer, in two of the festival's concerts. On Monday (June 19, 8 p.m.) he will play an all-Vivaldi program with Modern Musick and the St. Mark's Chancel Choir at St. Mark's Episcopal Church (3rd and A Sts. SE), on Capitol Hill. The following night (June 20, 8 p.m.), he will play a solo recital (Bach's flute partita, Marais's La Follia, Vivaldi's Spring concerto) on recorder and traverso at the same location. Tickets for either concert: $20 (students, $15).
>> There are noonday concerts in the festival, too. On Wednesday (June 21, 12 noon) the Ensemble Gaudior will perform trio sonatas by Vivaldi and Corelli at St. Mark's Episcopal Church. On Thursday (June 22, 12 noon) a group called Tresorino will perform 17th- and 18th-century Italian solo and duet cantatas. The soprano, Jennifer Ellis, has a gorgeous voice. This is also at St. Mark's. Tickets for the noonday concerts are only $10 (students, $5).
>> One last recommendation, for two unusual vocal groups with funny names. On Wednesday (June 21, 8 p.m.), the Suspicious Cheese Lords will give a program they are calling "Boot"-elicious: The Music of Renaissance Italy. On Thursday (June 22, 8 p.m.), the Countertop Quartet will join with The Baroque Band to perform music of the Venetian Ospedali. Both concerts are at St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill. Tickets: $20 (students, $15).
>> The only free concert in the festival this week is on Sunday (June 25, 6:30 p.m.), with Tempesta di Mare and countertenor Drew Minter. They will give a program of music from the late Renaissance and early Baroque in Italy at the National Gallery of Art, West Building, West Garden Court. No ticket, no reservation required.
WORTH MENTION:
>> To celebrate Sigmund Freud's 150th birthday on Monday (June 19, 7:30 p.m.), the Embassy of Austria (3524 International Ct. NW) is hosting a free recital by baritone Mathias Hausmann and pianist Betty Bullock. They will perform Lieder popular in Freud's Vienna, by Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler, Hugo Wolf, Alexander Zemlinsky, Franz Schreker, Arnold Schönberg, and Franz Lehar. You must RSVP to (202) 895-6776 (e-mail: rsvp@austria.org).
>> On the same evening (June 19, 8 p.m.), the Metropolitan Chorus will give a free outdoor concert called Music Under the Summer Stars. This will happen at the Lubber Run Amphitheater in Arlington. No ticket is required.
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I was thinking about this the other day: If the Suspicious Cheese Lords and the Countertop Quartet were pop ensembles, no one would ever say anything about their names. They just got away from the classical music tradition of naming your groups after (in order of preferability): citiies, composers, performers, personages from Greek and Roman mythology, and terms from Greek or Latin. And frankly, I think we should encourage classical musicians to choose interesting names for their groups. Last time I looked, the peak of Greek civilization was way before I was born. And, as you know, we young people have no sense of history anyway. Probably because we didn't get whupped enough by our daddies. Anyway.
Lindemann, interesting point. Of course, what you prescribe is already happening, isn't it? After all, we have Ethel (a string quartet), eighth blackbird (new music ensemble), the Turtle Island Quartet, the Andalucian Dogs (new music ensemble). However, the hippest classical group of them all, the Kronos Quartet, takes its name from one of the titans of Greek mythology, so let's not think Greek and Latin quite as stodgy as all that.
I remark on the funny name of groups like the Cheese Lords, only because every time that I mention them to someone who doesn't them, bemusement is the inevitable response.
Well - the traslation behind the "Countertop Quartet" is as follows:
The 'Counter' refers to two countertenors within the group. The 'Top' refers to two female singers, one soprano and one mezzo.
It is an unsual sound, and one of the only groups in the world with such a unique setup of voices. One generally finds a Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass setup. In having only upper voices, of Soprano and alto, especially using male altos (countertenors), there is quite a unique blend of sound.
The Concert is Thursday at 8pm, St. Marks on 3rd and A Streets.
Sincerely, Chris Dudley