CT LIVE: So easy

CTLIVE: So easy... from John Clare on Vimeo.

Let's have some fun & make this viral!

birthday boy

Happy 73! Dad with homemade sugarfree choclate cake.

Tomorrow we'll go out to see Inglorious Basterds.

inspiration

for making ribs...Dan Welcher modeling the baby back ribs last week that he cooked!

flintstones

Meet the flintstones...my impersonation cooking two racks of ribs for dad's birthday!

Mad Men of Music 2

Continuing our Mad Men thread, the folks @ Sterling Cooper would have taken clients, wives and girlfriends over on the new Lincoln Center (where the NY Phil played at in 1962) and heard some remarkable music. [Many of the new pieces were commissioned for the opening of Lincoln Center!]
So without further ado, here are the ten concerts that the folks at Sterling Cooper would have gone to see and hear.

09/23/1962 SUN 9:00PM Philharmonic Hall

INAUGURAL CONCERT IN PHILHARMONIC HALL

Bernstein, Leonard

Farrell, Eileen Soprano
Verrett, Shirley Mezzo-Soprano
Vickers, Jon TenorBell, Donald Bass-baritone
Schola Cantorum of NY
Juilliard Chorus
Addison, Adele Soprano
Amara, Lucine Soprano
Chookasian, Lili Mezzo-Soprano
Tourel, Jennie Mezzo-Soprano
Bressler, Charles Tenor
Tucker, Richard Tenor
Flagello, Ezio Bass-baritone

London, George Bass-baritone

Columbus Boychoir

The Star Spangled Banner
Beethoven / Missa solemnis in D major, Op. 123 / Gloria
Copland (seen left) / Connotations WORLD PREMIERE

Intermission
Vaughan Williams / Serenade to Music
Mahler / Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major / Hymn: Veni, creator spiritus

10/18/1962 THU 8:30PM Philharmonic Hall
Bernstein, Leonard

Montealegre, Felicia (Lenny's wife) Speaker
Weaver, Fritz Narrator
Addison, Adele Soprano
Babikian, Virginia Soprano
Kleinman, Marlena Mezzo-Soprano
Simon, Joanna Mezzo-Soprano (seen right)
Choral Art Society

Honegger (70th bday)/ Rugby (Mouvement Symphonique No. 2)

Honegger / Pastorale d'été
Honegger / Pacific 231 (Symphonic Movement No. 1)
Intermission
Debussy (100th bday)/ Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien


11/29/1962 THU 8:30PM Philharmonic Hall
Barbirolli, John
Bachauer, Gina Piano (left)

Milhaud / Overture Philharmonique WORLD PREMIERE
Delius / Intermezzo from Fennimore and Gerda
Beethoven / Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
Intermission
Brahms / Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73

12/13/1962 THU 8:30PM Philharmonic HallMaazel, Lorin

Ferras, Christian Violin (right)
Mendelssohn / Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 107, Reformation
Berg / Violin Concerto

Intermission
Beethoven / Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

Jan 17, 18, 19, 1963
Bernstein, Leonard
Lhevinne, Rosina Piano
Juilliard String Quartet
Mennin / Concertato, Moby Dick

Chopin / Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 11
Intermission
Martinu / Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra
Ravel / La Valse

Apr 04, 05, 06, 07, 1963
Schippers, Thomas
Arroyo, Martina Soprano (left)

Britten / Variations for String Orchestra on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10
Barber / Andromache's Farewell, for Soprano and Orchestra WORLD PREMIERE: (COMMISSIONED BY THE NYP IN CELEBRATION OF ITS OPENING SEASON IN LINCOLN CENTER)
Intermission

Sibelius / Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43

Apr 11, 12, 13, 14, 1963Schippers, Thomas, Conductor & Organ
Meyer, Jeffrey Boy Soprano
Walter Baker Chorus
Little Church Around the Corner Boys' Choir
St. Paul's Boys' Choir

Wagner / Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg: Prelude
Mozart / Symphony No. 38 in D major, K.504, Prague
Intermission

Poulenc (seen right)/ Concerto in G minor for Organ, Strings and Timpani

Poulenc / Sept répons des ténèbres WORLD PREMIERE (COMMISSIONED BY THE NYP
IN CELEBRATION OF ITS OPENING SEASON IN
LINCOLN CENTER)

Apr 25, 26, 27, 28, 1963Hindemith, Paul
Heiller, Anton Organ

Weber / Euryanthe Overture
Hindemith / Concerto for Organ WORLD PREMIERE (COMMISSIONED BY THE NYP IN
CELEBRATION OF ITS OPENING SEASON IN LINCOLN CENTER)
Intermission
Reger / Variations and Fugue on a Merry Theme of Johann Adolph Hiller, Op.
100

May 16, 17, 18, 19, 1963
Bernstein, Leonard
Stern, Isaac Violin

Mozart / Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K.550
Mozart / Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K.219, Turkish
Intermission
Henze / Symphony No. 5 WORLD PREMIERE (COMMISSIONED BY THE NYP IN
CELEBRATION OF ITS OPENING SEASON IN LINCOLN CENTER)Debussy / Ibéria

Promenade / May 31, Jun 01, 02, 1963
Kostelanetz, Andre

Sills, Beverly Soprano (left)
VIENNA NIGHT
Mozart / Le Nozze di Figaro Overture

Mozart / Symphony No. 24 in B-flat major, K.173dA
Mozart / Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, K.384 / Martern aller Arten
Mozart / Exsultate, jubilate, K.158a (K.165) / Alleluja (Allegro)
Strauss / Straussiana
Strauss / Fruhlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring), Op. 410
Strauss / Perpetuum mobile, Op. 257

Strauss / Pizzicato Polka
Strauss / Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, Op. 214
Strauss / An der schönen, blauen Donau (On the Beautiful Blue Danube), Op.
314
Intermission
Strauss / Der Rosenkavalier/ Waltzes
Korngold / Die tote Stadt / Marietta's Lied
Lehár / The Land of Smiles / Yours is My
Heart Alone
Strauss / Die Fledermaus / Klänge der Heimat (Csárdás)

Lehár / The Merry Widow: Suite

With the ROBERT HERGET DANCERS:
BETTY LOW, NIRA PAAZ, TAD TADLOCK, TOM MIXON, EDWARD VERSO

Ten concerts that Mad Men would have caught with new music in New York City...I also imagine since the Philharmonic was starting to play @ Lincoln Center, they would have had dessert & a drink afterwards on the upper west side.
Season 3 Mad Men concerts still to come!

Just 'nother mornin'

Enjoying the morning in Bastrop

Philippe plays Debussy

Enjoy this tidbit from last year's IKIF...

Lucasfilm on tour

Pretty impressive: http://www.starwarsinconcert.com/

Mad Men of Music - Season One

Mad Men begins in the early 1960s at the “Sterling Cooper advertising agency” on New York City's Madison Avenue. The show centers on Don Draper, a high-level advertising creative director, and the people in his life in/out of the office. It also depicts the changing social mores of 1960s America.

So any good ad man like Don, Bertram or Roger would have gone to the New York Philharmonic besides the cool clubs and restaurants we see them on the show.

They would have taken clients, wives and girlfriends over on 57th Street to Carnegie Hall (where the NY Phil played at in 1960) and heard some remarkable music. [Many of the concerts listed here were recorded by the Philharmonic for CBS (now Sony) Masterworks.]

So without further ado, here are the ten concerts that the folks at Sterling Cooper would have gone to see and hear.

Mad Men of Music! Season One

The first concert would have been a no brainer, help out the NYP Musicians' Pension fund with conductor Leonard Bernstein and soloist Issac Stern. The gala was on September 27, 1960 and was quite a program:

Bernstein : Candide Overture

Roy Harris: Symphony No. 3

Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2

Intermission

Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61

Then in October (13-16) the Philharmonic celebrated the 50th birthdays of William

Schuman and Samuel Barber! Bernstein was joined by Aaron Rosand in this program:

Schuman: Symphony No. 3

Barber: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14

Intermission

Schumann: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Rhenish, Op. 97

Also later in October 1960 (20-23) they would have caught a world premiere by Lukas

Foss. Bernstein was joined by Leonard Rose, Lukas Foss and his Improv Chamber Ensemble Ensemble in this program:

Wagner: Siegfried Idyll

Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129

Intermission

Foss: Time Cycle, for Soprano and Orchestra

Mendelssohn: Overture to Ruy Blas, Op. 95

No doubt before the agency staff took time out to have some turkey, they would have been at this concert in November 1960 with Aaron Copland and concertmaster John Corigliano, Sr.:

Gluck: Iphigénie in Aulis Overture

Franchetti : Largo for Strings, in memoriam

Dvorak: Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53

Intermission

Copland: Symphonic Ode

Copland: El Salón México

In December, the weather outside might have been frightful (there were several airline

accidents that winter the area), but the ad men would have warmed up to the Second Viennese School with Hans Rosbaud and pianist Rudolf Firkusny:

Schoenberg: Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16

Webern: Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6

Hindemith: Concerto for Orchestra, Op. 38

Intermission

Brahms: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15

Early in 1961, Duck and Freddy would have recovered from any New Year's festivities and might have taken the gals to hear Morton Gould play one of his own works, conducted by Paul Paray:

Rossini: La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder) Overture

Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43

Intermission

Gould: Dialogues for Piano and String Orchestra

Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust (The Damnation of Faust), Op. 24 / Ballet Des Sylphes / Menuet de Follets (Minuet of the Will-o'-the-Wisps) / Rakoczy March (Hungarian March)

Liszt: Les Préludes

No doubt everyone would have wanted to catch the hot red head soprano Beverly

Sills (gotta see Bubbles!) when she joined Andre Kostalanetz in early February 1961:

Chabrier: España, Rhapsody for Orchestra

Falla: El Sombrero de Tres Picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) / PART II

Granados: Goyescas / Interlude / The Maja and the Nighting

ale, Rosario (aria)

Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Una voce poco fa, Rosina (cavatina)

Intermission

Albéniz: Excerpts for Orchestra, from Iberia / Fête-Dieu à Séville

Marquina: España Cani

Ponce: Estrellita (Little Star)

Lara: Granada

Traditional: La Morena di mi Copla

Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34

Benjamin: Jamaican Rhumba

Traditional: La Bamba de Vera Cruz

Falla: La vida breve, Spanish Dance No. 1

In March 1961, The gals would have been interested in Glenn Gould, and no doubt the guys would have been happy to hear soprano Marni Nixon. Bernstein also had some great new works on the program too:

Boulez: Pli selon pli: Improvisations sur Mallarmé / Une dentelle s'abolit US PREMIERE

Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

Intermission

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58

Thrills were to be had with the April 1961 program that would have made the Sterling Cooper staff give a standing ovation to Lorin Hollander who joined Leonard Bernstein in this program:

Chávez: Sinfonía india (Symphony No. 2)

Khachaturian: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra

Intermission

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major,

Op. 100

Father Gill and Peggy might have been soothed and shocked by the program in mid April (Easter was April 17, these concerts were April 13-16) with soloist Zino Francescatti, guest conductor

Seiji Ozawa and Leonard Bernstein:

Mayuzumi: Bacchanale

Brahms: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, Op. 77

Intermission

Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of

Spring)

Ten concerts that Mad Men would have caught with new music in New York City...I also imagine since the

Philharmonic was playing at Carnegie Hall, they might have stopped at The Russian Tea Room. In 1955, the restaurant was purchased by Sidney Kaye, who, in 1967, left the restaurant to his widow, Faith Stewart-Gordon. No doubt Sterling Cooper Agency had a booth, and were known by name when they came in with a client or date.

Stay tuned for Mad Men of Music, Season Two...and coming up in August 2009, the third Season of Mad Men will have another list of concerts with new music!!!!

In the meantime, enjoy this original and mad composer, Peter Maxwell Davies - and one of the Eight Songs for a Mad King!

Concerts were compiled from the NY Philharmonic website.

From the vault

Discovered film clip from July 2009...

Quoted

From RD: "That was some week we had, huh? I mean that was QUITE a week in Vienna!"

From PE: "Zhan! Your air! Es longer!"

F4NS

Entremont groupies last night @ Mannes, after the recital...it was sold out, and for good reasons - namely the killer program of the Chopin Ballades and Schubert's last sonata.

48-8=40

Two days and eight hours sleep, gah! But well worth the adventures!

Keep an eye out for some cool pics and reports from IKIF 2009, 67 degree misty Manhattan and flights here and there.

Some good news

Today, the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee (“Labor-HHS”) approved the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 appropriations bill that provides funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and other public broadcasting programs.

The legislation approved by the subcommittee this morning provides CPB a $440 million advance appropriation for FY 2012 (a $10 million increase over FY 2011), as well as $36 million for digital conversion and $25 million for the public radio interconnection system for FY 2010. In addition, the bill provides $40 million for grants to public television and radio stations to maintain local programming and services and preserve jobs threatened by declines in non-federal revenue sources during the current economic decline. Finally, the legislation provides $25.4 million in funding for Ready To Learn (RTL). (These numbers should be considered tentative as the Subcommittee has not yet released bill text or report language.)

We realize the Subcommittee had to make many difficult decisions in allocating resources, given the economic situation facing our country. As such, we are grateful to Chairman Obey, Ranking Member Tiahrt and the other members of the Subcommittee for the funding contained in the bill and for acknowledging the vital service public broadcasting provides to the American people. In particular, the Subcommittee’s support for the two-year advance appropriation will afford public broadcasters a measure of certainty in their business planning and serves as an important firewall ensuring editorial independence in programming decisions. Furthermore, we appreciate the Subcommittee’s recognition of the precarious financial situation of the industry by providing $40 million in emergency funding to local stations that are struggling with severe revenue shortfalls as a result of the economic downturn.

The next step for the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill is consideration by the full House Appropriations Committee, tentatively scheduled for July 17th. The Senate Appropriations Committee could begin marking up its version of this legislation as early as July 21st.

Decisions, decisions

Enjoy this question for the ages...

Time well spent

I got to see JoAnn Falletta last weekend in action at the International Festival-Instititute at Round Top. We caught up and did this interview:

JoAnn Falletta 'Outside' the Bachs from John Clare on Vimeo.

Hustle and bustle

Very busy backstage before Sunday morning's concert - sold out! Friends, family and orchestra members mingle in the green room next to the stage...

Friends, new and old

Before the Sunday morning concert, Ulli and Philippe backstage.

Wienen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen

und liebe Philippe Entremont mit Wiener Kammerorchester! It was a full house Saturday and they loved the program of Danielpour, Mozart and Haydn. It was great music making and an exciting premiere!
Seen left is the audience for the afternoon concert, with Composer Richard Danielpour seen in the center.

Apologies to Bach for the title of this post...

Worth a thousand words?

I have been taking lots of pictures to share with you and my folks, and for the production...this one caught my eye, a nice look from the principal cellist of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and a few of his colleagues in the low strings.