by Jane Salemson During the week of January 25th, when Pinkas Zuckerman and Amanda Forsyth are performing the Brahms Double concerto for Violin and Cello with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, I thought it would be interesting to tell about a concert on Oct. 29. 2014 in Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, UK. It is an excerpt from my book "Britcellist Abroad". The concert was by the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra with Pinchas Zukerman conductor, and soloist in the Bruch Violin Concerto. His wife, Amanda Forsyth is the principal cellist. Other works performed were the Brio: Toccata and Fantasy for Orchestra by John Estacio, the Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams, and Beethoven's Symphony #7. The concert was to commemorate the 600,000 Canadian soldiers who came to help England in the First World War, almost a hundred years to the day. The soldiers made a big impact in Salisbury, as they were based on Salisbury Plain, just outside the city. Here is a brief description of the Canadian Army coming to England. The Canadian Division, consisting of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and the Newfoundland Regiment, were taken by the fleet of 33 Atlantic liners assembled in Gaspé Basin off the coast of Quebec province for a rendezvous with their Royal Navy warship escorts. On 3 October, 1914, the transport ships steamed ahead out of Gaspé Bay in three lines led by the Royal Navy warships. Making its way up the St. Lawrence seaway the convoy passed through the gateway of Canada, the Gulf of St. Lawrence. As it passed the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland, the sealing-ship SS Florizel, with the Newfoundland Regiment aboard, joined the fleet. As the army set sail for Europe it was the first time that such a large contingent of troops had ever crossed the Atlantic. The voyage was uneventful and long. The fleet entered Plymouth Sound off the south coast of England on the evening of 14 October 1914. Censorship about the arrival of the Canadian Armada had been so strictly controlled that the fleet was completely unexpected by the local people of Plymouth and Devonport. However, word quickly got around that the Canadian transports had arrived and the townspeople flocked to the waterfront to cheer. When the Canadian troops disembarked they marched through the streets to a warm welcome. However, they endured a long miserable winter training in the mud and drizzle of Salisbury Plain. There they spent four dismal winter months in the mud, cold and rain. On the sodden fields, in the fog and mud of the battalion lines, in the dripping tents and crowded, reeking huts. Morale was low and sickness was common. But once the rains stopped and training could begin properly, the men of Canada gave promise of the great spirit they possessed. They displayed a spirit of endurance, courage, and willingness that proclaimed them to the world as troops of the finest quality. In the spring of 1915, they were deemed ready for the front line and were razor-keen. Nothing, they believed, could be worse than the Salisbury Plain. In the years that lay ahead, they were to find out just how tragically wrong that assessment was. Although I had been to the cathedral many times in the summer and early autumn, when walking to the concert, I was totally blown away by the beauty of the cathedral and its surrounding close. From the busy street leading to the cathedral there is a centuries-old stone archway. Walking through it takes you into a different world. The Close between the arch and the wall surrounding the edge of the lawns around the cathedral footprint, is a large green lawn circled by beautiful houses from the 15th -18th centuries, several of which have appeared on Masterpiece Theatre. Mompesson House was one such place in movie history. Scenes from the 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility were filmed there. Other famous houses include former UK Prime Minister Edward Heath’s house, Arundells, built in the 13th century. Next door is the “Wardrobe”, the Rifles Museum, and further down the road which circles the cathedral, is the Salisbury Museum and the Bishop's House. Since the clocks moved back last Sunday, with lighting only on the walkways surrounding the cathedral, it gets very dark even before Evensong. It had been drizzling for a while, making the area around the cathedral very misty. The view of the yellow sandstone cathedral with the mist swirling all around and up to the spire, which is engulfed by it at the top, is breathtaking, making a perfect backdrop for Halloween and a great photo. http://nac-cna.ca/en/event/9067
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Cellist and Ethnomusicologist Jonathan Kramer of NC State has recently published, with colleague Alison Arnold, an interactive e-textbook in World Music/Music Appreciation, What in the World Is Music?
"What in the World is Music? is an undergraduate, interactive e-textbook that incorporates more than 300 video and audio links to music from around the world. The text investigates the nature and meaning of music as a universal human practice, while providing students with strong points of connection to the ways it affects their own lives. Merging the study of Western music tradition along with the ethnomusicological approach to non-Western music, and with a range of examples from both, What in the World is Music? explores how humans organize and experience sound, and the contexts in which music takes place." http://www.routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/9781138790254/ http://www.tandf.net/books/details/9781315764306/ http://www.amazon.com/What-World-Music-Enhanced-E-Book/dp/1138790257 January 21st, 2016 7:30pm Person Recital Hall, UNC-CH Guest artist Timothy Holley (North Carolina Central University) presents a recital of solo cello music. Free and open to the public. The opening work, "Abraham's Sons: In Memoriam Trayvon Martin (2013) by James Lee III was performed most recently in November 2015 at NCCU for Ms. Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin who came to speak as a guest of the NCCU Office of Student Affairs "Rock The Mike" speaker series in November. A new companion work of Lee's, "Mother's Lament: So Many Names Unknown, So Many Lost Sons" (2015) for soprano, boychoir, men's chorus and orchestra also extends Lee’s aesthetic commentary, while further expanding the scope of suffering and mourning originally inferred by the title of the elegiac solo piece. Tania Leon's Four Pieces for Solo Cello (1981) are hidden gems among her compositional output, much of which has been composed for the Dance Theater of Harlem. The work's opening movement is a miniature tour de force of rhythm, melody and expressive gesture. The expressive inner sanctum of the set is to be found in the second piece, a plaintive song dedicated to her father. These pieces were her first completed work following his death. The third piece (titled “Montuno”) captures the infectiousness of Afro-Cuban rhythm, all the while attempting to transfigure the cello (and cellist!!) into a "metamusical performer" through the use of traditional and nontraditional sound effects (pizzicato, glissando, tapping and knocking on the instrument, playing extreme highest pitches available, bowing between the bridge and tailpiece, stomping the floor!!) in all of maybe 40 seconds!! The final piece forms a balanced “bookend” to the first, but is more expansive in gesture--starting, obsessing and ending on the same recurring low pitch, C#2 (quite low on the piano keyboard!!). Playing this piece dares me to refer the reader to that famous quote of the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham regarding orchestral music: "There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn’t give a damn what goes on in between”. In discussing and preparing this work I must dare to differ with Beecham and say that what happens in between the beginning and ending is VERY important"!! However, the needed sense of “deadpan acrobatics and ice-water vanity” demanded of the performer cannot be assigned an excessive degree of worry, neither in the practice room, studio, rehearsal or performances!! Just GO FOR IT!! The remainder of the program’s first half is devoted to Trevor Weston's work Shapeshifter: The Angry Bluesman (2011)--which delves into the worlds of techno music, blues melody, its expressive "gesture", and the potential rhythmic drive which energizes all of them. One of the most fascinating aspects of the work is its "volatility of atmosphere": multiple shifts of rhythm, melody, tempo and expressive gesture dominate this work's twelve minutes’ duration. While a "spirit of the blues" is easy to catch throughout this work, the listener will not be afforded the "luxury of quoted familiarity" in it, which is so expected and even yearned for within our blues-based popular music. (There’s just too much volatility!!) The remainder of the program, the Sonata for Cello (2012) of Adolphus Hailstork is an imposing work that opens with a gesture of "homage" to the first suite for solo cello of Johann Sebastian Bach. Following that polite "opening nod", this work seems to go places that Bach didn't have the time or cultural resources to travel 295 years ago!! The influence of the gigue from Bach pervades the entire movement, yet the presence of blues melody strangely working in tandem with the dance produces a unique musical result and aesthetic effect. The second movement is best described as "a slow tempo blues song in rondo form", but playing and hearing it can also resemble a road trip across Pennsylvania on Interstate 80!! Formal structure and travel descriptions cast aside, the digressive section melody is given an interesting directive in the score: "call and response". This directive is a reference to what is called the tradition of "lining" or "raising a hymn", which comes from the black sacred and folk music tradition. Notwithstanding its repetitive formal structure, this melody is the most transcendent facet of this movement. The final movement reprises thematic material from the previous two movements, engaging the melodies in what might sound like the dialogue, disagreement and dissolution of argument...among children!! Odd as the opening “argument” may sound, it gives way quite fittingly to music that sounds of children's play song!! In this manner, the Bachian gigue and blues dance aesthetics of the opening movement are “prayed over” in the call and response of the middle movement road trip, and then both “join hands” with the play songs of children in the final movement. Program notes provided by Dr. Timothy Holley. RECITAL REVIEW http://cvnc.org/article.cfm?articleId=7789 PRINT Share Facebook Twitter Google+ Email Cellist Timothy Holley Meets the Challenge and Challenges Us By Ken Hoover. January 21, 2016 - Chapel Hill, NC: A good crowd was assembled in Person Hall on the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus to hear guest cellist Dr. Timothy W. Holley in recital. Holley is a graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College and the University of Michigan. He performed with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra for twelve years and was also affiliated with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra during that time. An Associate professor, he has been an assistant and now Associate, professor of music at North Carolina Central University since 1996. He has been a member of the Mallarmé Chamber Players and has performed with the Ciompi Quartet of Duke University and the North Carolina Symphony. His opening selection was "Abraham’s Sons: In Memoriam Trayvon Martin" composed in 2013 by African-American composer James Lee III (b. 1975). The piece opens in the lower register of the cello with what can only be described as an awful cry of pain and sadness after which the instrument explores this theme from double-stop lower register to top. After a trill and a pizzicato passage, the cello seems to cry out in protest, gaining in intensity. A shattering climax leads to calmer and quieter music as though some acceptance were at work in the process. This is music that speaks its own language. I only hope I have not read too much into it. Holley’s performance was intense, technically impressive and artistically relevant. Next on the program was Four Pieces for Solo Cello by Tania León. Born 1943 in Havana, Cuba, she traces in her heritage the blood of Frenchmen, Spaniards, Chinese, Africans, and Cubans. She is highly regarded and has earned awards as a composer, conductor and organizer. In 2000, she was named the Tow Distinguished Professor at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, where she has taught since 1985. The first of the four pieces, marked “Allegro,” opens with the bow attacking the strings, establishing a chromatic theme that dominates the movement. With impressive gymnastic demands, interspersed with lyrical asides, it moved to a comfortable ending. The second piece, “Lento Doloroso, sempre cantabile” (“to my father”) began and ended with a whistling harmonic on the cello – a reference to the love of the composer’s father in playing a flute. With skips of wide intervals, it communicated a lyrical sense of affection, playfulness and strength. The third piece was labeled, simply, “Montuno.” The word means, literally, “Come from the mountain,” and is used in a variety of references in Cuban music. This piece was a rhythmic tour de force with foot stomping and various other percussive techniques and pizzicato playing. It was a delight – especially the playful ending. The finale of the four pieces, marked “Vivo,” was just that – full of life and energy with considerable technical challenges pushing the soloist to the limits. Holley was up to the challenge, at times seeming to almost become one with his instrument. The final piece before intermission was Shapeshifter: The Angry Bluesman composed in 2012 byTrevor Weston, composer and chairman of the music department at Drew University. While the title of this piece could mislead one to interpret the music simplistically, it was anything but simple. Equipped with a jaunty derby, Holley launched into a distorted blues riff, a semiquaver slash with foot stomping, bridge slapping, demanding pizzicato. How could the blues get lost in such anger? After a congenial intermission, Holley performed Adolphus Hailstork’s 2012 Sonata for Cello. Hailstork was educated at Howard University, Manhattan School of Music and Michigan State University where he earned his Ph.D. in composition. He also studied composition with such luminaries as Vittorio Giannini, David Diamond, and Nadia Boulanger. He is currently a professor of music and composer-in-residence at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. The Sonata was composed for Holley. The first movement, Allegro moderato, develops slowly out of itself, with occasional side episodes. It gradually becomes more rhythmical and ends with a gentle cadence. The Poco adagio middle movement is the longest and most developed of the three movements with some episodes that are quite lyrical allowing the cello to sing out with all its warm and enticing appeal. An episode (perhaps the trio?) sounds almost like a gigue. Then there are changes in mood, from intense extraversion to intimate and personal. The third movement Allegro is dance-like. One hears snippets of children’s songs, simple and playful, drawing us in to a place where children play together with no regard for the differences between them. Holley is a significant musician and must be appreciated for that. Every piece on this recital program pointed to musical excellence, technical precision and personal commitment. His doctoral thesis and perhaps his life calling was/is to bring attention to the music composed by African-Americans for cello. Stereotypes provide the soil in which prejudice grows, and when they are challenged with a broader perspective of those we think are different from us, the prejudices cannot be maintained. Music speaks to us within the deep soul, and when we are willing to hear what it is saying and follow where it is pointing, we become richer in spirit and more human. Thanks to people who write and perform music that makes it so. Performances by Holley of several of these pieces may be found on YouTube. VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT Duke Home Care and Hospice As a musician, Timothy Holley, DMA, has always considered performing for the community to be an act of service. So it isn’t surprising that Tim, an associate professor of music at North Carolina Central University, shares the gift of his cello music each week with patients, families, and staff members at Duke Home Care and Hospice’s Hock Family Pavilion. “Musicians are expected to have the dedication to do three things: perform, practice, and rehearse,” he says.“Playing at the Hock Family Pavilion fits into a fourth category which some people would call ministry.When I play, the music fills the space that it’s occupying just like water fills a container. But unlike water filling a container, the sound of music transforms the space but doesn’t stay there eternally; only the memory of what was played will be there. The music facilitates some unforgettable moments.”Tim, who has dedicated more than 45 years of his life to the cello, shares his gift of music room-to-room at the Hock Family Pavilion. “If it looks like I won’t be disturbing, I’ll sit down and play very quietly,” he says. “I don’t play for too long and I’m very careful not to play anything that’s too intricate or involved.” At the inpatient facility, there is a ritual when a deceased patient is taken out of the building: a bell is rung and all staff members not working directly with a patient or family member line the hallways to pay respect to the deceased. During one such ritual, Tim played the spiritual “Deep River” which was a moving tribute shared by everyone present. Tim says that he opens himself to being profoundly transformed each time he volunteers. “I think that I sometimes get more therapy than the patients,” he says. “As we give, we get much more than we anticipated.” Cello music is just one element of Duke HomeCare and Hospice’s Complementary Therapy Program, which offers non-pharmacological support for patients. “Our focus is on interventions that can be provided by volunteers to bring comfort and to help manage symptoms,” says Carolyn Colsher, DHCH’s Volunteer Supervisor. Pets at Duke brings in teams comprisedof a dog and a handler, also accompanied by a DHCH volunteer, to offer pet therapy. Reiki—a touch therapy—is offered as is hospice massage therapy, which is more gentle traditional massage. Currently, live music is offered at the patient’s bedside by a cellist, a mandolin player, a vocalist, a hammered dulcimer player, and a Native American flutist. In addition, music echoes through the hallways thanks to volunteers who play the piano in the building. “These volunteers bring tremendous comfort byrelaxing and distracting patients,” says Colsher. “Patients are able to enjoy something that was important to them, whether that is classical music or the good memories of their beloved pets.” But patients aren’t the only ones who benefit. The music provided by volunteers often starts conversations among visitors or in family groups. The staff members enjoy having a brief shoulder massage or getting to pet a dog. “Staff will tell me that they are so thrilled to work on Monday evening because that’s when Timothy will be performing with his cello,” says Carolyn. Music professors Brent Wissick, cello (UNC) and Andrew Willis, fortepiano (UNCG) will appear in a joint guest faculty recital presenting the complete works for piano and violoncello of Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847). The recital will take place on Friday, 15 January 2016, 8:00 pm in Person Recital Hall. Felix Mendelssohn composed two sonatas for piano and cello (Opp.45, 58, the Variations concertantes op.17, and the Lied ohne Worte, opus 109). The Variations and Op.45 sonata were written in 1829 and 1838 (respectively) for Felix's younger brother Paul--an exceptionally talented amateur cellist who, like his father Abraham would become a banker in adult life. A clearly audible unitas fratrum (“brotherly affection") is most apparent and attractive throughout the first sonata (in B-flat Major) and the Variations, which will occupy the first half of the program. The resonant gamesmanship between instruments will provide ample creative excitement for both performers and the audience!! Mendelssohn’s best known cello works fill the remainder of the program, the Lied ohne Worte (Op.109) and the second sonata (Op.58). The Lied ohne Worte was written for "la violoncelliste parisienne" Lisa Cristiani (1827-1853), who was one of the first female cellists to embark upon a professional concert touring career throughout Europe. She died tragically of cholera in Siberia while on tour tracing the artistic footsteps of her Franco-Belgian countryman Adrien-Francois Servais (1807-1866). The second sonata was written for and premiered by Count Mateusz Vielgorski (1794-1866), one of the “now-hidden giants” of cello and chamber music history. Written in 1843 and 1845, both works share a common key and disposition with the Variations. They each possess an intense degree of Romanticist lyricism balanced and seasoned by the playfulness and sentimentality of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The third movement of the second sonata is most memorable for its use of chorale melody and operatic recitative while maintaining the "wordless song as imperative". Its closing features the cello sounding the twelve strokes of midnight in pizzicato. The D Major Finale is an unrestrained celebration perhaps exceeded only by the Violin Concerto in its "puckish" humor and exuberance. Performance notes provided by Dr. Timothy Holley. Debbie Davis January 16 at 6:36amFull house last night at Brent Stewart Wissick and Andrew Willis' Mendelssohn concert in Person Hall at UNC. I particularly enjoyed hearing the combination of fortepiano (a copy of an 1820 instrument) and the cello with gut strings, played by two such distinguished gentlemen. To my ear, Mendelssohn's music was the musical equivalent of champagne. A wonderful tour-de-force! (And program notes by our North Carolina Cello Society blog boss, Timothy Holley!) Kudos all around! This is an extract from my book "Britcellist Abroad" - an account of my 10-month personal sabbatical to Great Britain, Italy and Budapest. September 2014-July 2015. www.britcellistabroad.weebly.com Jan. 6/7 2015. Cremona. The first leg of the journey was from Florence to Bologna on the highspeed train. Great ride, but unfortunately the outlet on the train for the iPhone charger was not working. This had severe repercussions later. At Bologna I had to change to Fidenza (different from Florence - Firenze, the Italian spelling) on a local commuter train that stopped at many stations. By this time it was dark and the stations' names were not easily visible. As I had no idea how long it took to get to Fidenza, I was on tenterhooks as to when I should get off. I did understand an announcement saying the train was 30 minutes late. The other passengers were mostly Italians, non-English speaking, and oddly enough, didn't seem to know where Fidenza was. Of course by then my trusty iPhone with Google maps was out of power, so I couldn't check it! However a friendly male passenger did have a phone with a maps app and showed me that I was on the right train and going toward Fidenza. A huge relief. We stopped at Parma and Modena and then some smaller stations, with me asking every time "is this Fidenza?" Finally while waiting at the doors, some young people came through, and amongst them was a young woman who spoke English. An angel from heaven! Her name is Alessandra, and she is a musicology student at the University of Cremona on her way back there after the holidays! Her English was so good because she had spent 6 months at a language school in Bristol. When I told her I lived near Salisbury she was so excited, having visited the town when in England and absolutely loved it. She was so friendly and helpful. We got off at Fidenza and caught the train to Cremona. So easy with her to guide me. She insisted on ringing for a taxi to take me to the hotel, and wouldn't let me drop her off at her apartment which was just around the corner. She also offered to show me around the town the next morning before her class, so I invited her to have breakfast with me before going sightseeing. The hotel, Duomo Della Musica was just a few feet away from the Duomo Square, and was a perfect choice for me. Small and cosy with lots of posters and music memorabilia, and beautifully etched violin designs on the glass windows. In spite of me showing up after 10pm, the friendly receptionist was very welcoming. The room was warm and comfortable with a good shower, and after a cup of tea, I had a good night's sleep. Early the next morning Alessandra came on her bicycle which had been her mother's bicycle when she was at university, and after coffee and some breakfast we walked through the streets to see the statues of Stradivarius, one in the market square, another one in a little park, and one of Monteverdi. The center of Cremona is not very large and we walked to the Museum of Violin where I said goodbye to Alessandra as she had to go to her University class. What a kind young woman she was, taking her time to show me around. The museum is phenomenal and all string players should have the opportunity to visit it. What a find! There are 7 galleries with different aspects of the violin family. The Cremona Gallery has the Stradivaries, Amatis, del Gesu, quite breathtaking and overwhelming to see so many of them together. I especially liked the feature of being able to scan an icon on selected instruments, and to see and hear the instrument being played. My favorite of course, was a Stradivarius cello. Other instruments were set up with audio links to listen to. There is so much to take in at the Museum, it would take another book to delve into all aspects of it, but here's a taste of it. https://youtu.be/AU9LlcZu94Q. There are many more videos of the Museum on YouTube, so you can get a great idea of the place. Outside it was market day, there were lots of stalls and I bought a pair of warm slippers for England. Just off the main square there are number of violin luthier shops opposite the house where Stradivarius lived with his first wife. There were some beautiful looking instruments in the window display. There wasn’t time to go into the Duomo itself, but I did get to admire the great clock. The Torrazzo is the bell tower of the Cathedral of Cremona, Lombardy, in northern Italy. At 112.7 metres (343 ft 6 in), it is the third tallest brickwork bell tower in the world, the first being the tower of St. Martin's Church in Landshut, Bavaria, and the second at the Church of Our Lady in Bruges, Belgium. However the Torrazzo (completed in 1309) is older than the Landshut tower (completed in 1500) and the Bruges tower (completed in 1465), and it is the oldest brick structure taller than 100 m that is still standing. According to popular tradition, construction on the tower began in 754. In reality, it was built in four phases: a first dating back to the 1230s, up to the third dripstone, a second, between 1250 and 1267, up to the dripstone under the quadriphore, a third around 1284, and the completion of the marble spire in 1309. Its height is announced by a plaque embedded in the wall at the base of the Torrazzo itself, stating 250 arms and 2 ounces, which in the ancient measuring system of the Lombard towns translates to approximately 111 metres. The seven bells are tuned in the scale of A major, and date back to the 18th century. Archaeological excavations made in the 1980s have discovered the presence of underlying structures which are supposed to be the remains of a more ancient churchyard (or a cemetery associated to it), or even previous Roman buildings. After a cappuccino in the Duomo Square, I went back to the hotel to pick up my bags and take a taxi to the station. For years I had wanted to visit Cremona and am so glad I was able to finally do so on this trip to Italy. The journey back to Bologna was easier in the daylight, and the highspeed train to Rome zipped along at 239 km an hour. And this time, the outlet for the phone charger worked. |
AuthorMembers of the North Carolina Cello Society Archives
November 2020
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