Kent Sweitzer
Madison Bach Musicians
From the enormous richness of our classical music life, many events of 2017 left lingering memories.
In September, the Madison Symphony Orchestra delivered two unforgettable performances of neglected works: Mendelssohn’s Fifth or “Reformation” Symphony and Berlioz’s viola-symphony Harold in Italy. A truly perfect concert in February combined Barber’s First Essay, pianist Stephen Hough in the Fifth or “Egyptian” Concerto by Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky’s Sixth or “Pathétique” Symphony.
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra offered two uneven but important concerts. In January, we heard the latest of the Bruckner Symphonies that Andrew Sewell has been offering, the Third. The February concert was remarkable for the Brahms Violin Concerto played by the local 16-year-old prodigy, Julian Rhee.
The Middleton Community Orchestra continued to progress: A June concert offered the concertmaster Paran Amirinazari in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2, along with a brave Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5. In October, the MCO performed a rousing rendition of the cruelly neglected Sixth Symphony of Dvorak.
In vocal music, the fourth annual Schubertiade program organized by Bill Lutes and Martha Fischer in January provided a delightful celebration of Schubert’s music. And the Madison Bach Musicians again tackled an Easter season monument with Bach’s St. John Passion in April.
James Gill
Sean Panikkar and Aleks Romano as Carmen.
June’s fifth annual Handel Aria Competition yielded the best crop yet of young singers, who enchanted the audience. The Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, our oldest continuing early music group, celebrated its 20th anniversary in a December concert.
Madison Opera confected a colorful Carmen in November, while the University Opera achieved a notable success with Benjamin Britten’s tricky The Turn of the Screw in March. The Choral Union presented a magnificent Brahms and Mozart in December.
Among many fine presentations by Farley’s Salon Piano Series was the September appearance from the engaging piano duo of Roberto Plano and Paola Del Negro. They played wonderful four-hand works, culminating in the Sonata for Two Pianos by Brahms.
The final version of that Brahms work, the Piano Quintet, served as the climax for the Takács Quartet appearance (with Garrick Ohlsson) at the Union Theater, one of the great concerts of the year on Dec. 3. And in October, the Mosaic Chamber Players brought off the fifth and final concert in their brave series surveying the complete sonatas by Beethoven for piano and stringed instruments.
In their third season of July concerts, the extraordinary Willy Street Chamber Players reached a high point when they played the Brahms Sextet No. 2 with Suzanne Beia of the Pro Arte Quartet. The Pro Arte Quartet itself fought through a challenging year marked by the brief indisposition of cellist Parry Karp after he hurt his fingers in an accident. But he was back in October as the quartet joined with the Wingra Wind Quintet in an irresistible performance of Schubert’s great Octet. The Ancora Quartet played a fine combination of a rare quartet by Saint-Saëns and Beethoven’s Op. 127 in May and capped that with the composer’s eloquent Op. 18, No. 1 in July. MSO maestro John DeMain again joined the Con Vivo! ensemble for a pair of nonets plus Dvorak’s delicious Serenade Op. 44 in May.