Claude Debussy in 1908
I sometimes get the nagging feeling, listening to piano trios, that there’s something missing. Something in the middle of the texture, perhaps? An emollient voice tempering the soloistic onslaught? Or am I simply a viola player envious because of my instrument’s absence from such a popular chamber music genre?
If the viola has suffered from being overshadowed by the violin and cello, Claude Debussy is one composer who helped it find an identity elsewhere. His Sonata for flute, viola and harp, completed in the autumn of 1915, may not have been the first time these instruments made a threesome together – there is a 1905 Terzettino by Théodore Dubois, the director of the Paris Conservatoire who warned students off attending the premiere of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. And Arnold Bax almost certainly wrote his Elegiac Trio of 1916 at around the same time, unaware of Debussy’s Sonata, which the composer himself only got to hear in December 1916. Bu
Wagner’s
Die Walküre. Conductor: Adam Fischer, director: Sven-Eric Bechtolf. With Christopher Ventris, Ain Anger, Waltraud Meier, Linda Watson, and Tomasz Konieczny. Production from January 2016. Register for free and view here.
1 pm ET: Copland House presents
Underscored: Jalbert’s
Crossings. Vermont-born composer Pierre Jalbert was inspired by the migration of people voyaging into new and unfamiliar places and traces Jalbert’s own French-Canadian-American ancestry.
Crossings is built around a folk song from Quebec,
Quand j’ai parti du Canada (When I Left Canada), which is deconstructed, reinterpreted, reassembled, and reordered in inventive and unexpected ways. The program features a complete performance of the work, preceded by an introductory conversation with the composer, and followed by a live Q&A with viewers. Register and view here.
1 pm ET: Wiener Staatsoper presents
Giselle. Conductor: Valery Ovsyanikov, choreography: Elena Tschernischova after Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa. With Nina Poláková, Masayu Kimoto, Rebecca Horner, Andrey Kaydanovskiy, Alice Firenze, Leonardo Basílio, and Soloists and Corps de ballet des Wiener Staatsballetts. Production from September 2017. Register for free and view here.
2:30 pm ET: Philharmonie de Paris presents Casadesus conducts Debussy, Ravel, Schumann & Beethoven. Jean-Claude Casadesus conducts the Orchestre du Conservatoire de Paris in a Franco-German program of Debussy’s
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, Ravel’s
Pavane pour une infante défunte Schumann’s Piano Concerto with soloist David Kadouch, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1. View here. LIVE
Composer Libby Larsen reflects on NATS community in advance of her birthday concert
posted on 3:59 PM, December 28, 2020
Larsen previews her upcoming milestone celebration
The Schubert Club and composer Libby Larsen are throwing a musical fête at noon CT on January 7 in celebration of her birthday. The online concert is free and features an hour of Larsen’s music. For details, visit The Schubert Club.
We caught up with Larsen as she talks about her connections with NATS over the years, as well as a few tips for aspiring musicians.
First off, tell us all about your upcoming celebratory birthday concert! What’s this about wolves?!