Aweigh in A Major

A composer's thoughts about music and musicians

Addio Argento

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One month ago, on February 20, 2019, we lost master composer Dominick Argento. The affection I felt for the man and the respect I had for his art can’t be neatly summarized, but here is an appreciation adapted from words at a concert of his music at Hill House in...

Remembering Poet Donald Hall

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I had been thinking about Donald Hall, wondering how he was getting on. That usually means: pay attention. Twenty years ago, I wrote a song cycle for soprano and piano based on Hall’s baseball writings. In the Country of Baseball, a title I borrowed from one of Hall's...

Young Man with a Cross

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In two recent and marvelous Schubert Club International Artist Series recitals with harpsichordist Richard Egarr, cellist Steven Isserlis played Bach’s 5th Cello Suite, BWV 1011. That work includes a singular sarabande, shown here in in Anna Magdalena Bach's hand: The...

That Sweet Man, John Clare

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Jeremy Huw Williams and Paula Fan Present Clare Cycle October 30, 2017 6 PM Ultan Recital Hall, University of Minnesota Acclaimed Welsh baritone Jeremy Huw Williams (Welsh National Opera) and pianist Paula Fan (University of Arizona) will present a recital of...

“Estrellita,” Heifetz’s Little Star

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When Augustin Hadelich and Joyce Yang played Manuel Ponce’s “Estrellita” as an encore at a Schubert Club International Artist Series recital in Saint Paul last week, I remembered that the song had also graced Renée Fleming’s IAS recital in October. In that program...

A Thousand Eyes

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BOBBY VEE IS DEAD didn't know he was a Minnesotan, born in Moorhead. According to Chris Riemenschneider’s obituary in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Robert Thomas Velline and his band “were recruited to fill in for Buddy Holly at the Moorhead...