90: The Ice Lady Cometh

Hannigan goes north, Jerusalem plays on

Name That Tune

This week’s Name That Tune is a Maestro Will special. No hint — just figure it out!

As always, your goal is to provide as much accurate analysis as possible. First try to get the nationality, year, and genre, then make educated guesses about the composer and — if possible— the piece. If you know the piece immediately, send us an email at toneprose@substack.com instead of commenting so the rest of us can have fun guessing. 

Last Week’s Results
Tone Prose 89
Ravel, Introduction et allegro

After a slight débâcle in last week’s post, I (Will) am happy to say that there were many correct identifications and guesses for this NTT. Listeners Jeremy and Michael emailed in with the correct piece. Listeners Laurie and Eric guessed Ravel, with Debussy, Poulenc, and Delius rounding out the buckets.

Alas, I was sure I knew what it was... but I was sure it was Debussy! That’s a real black mark on my musical memory, especially since just a few years ago, this became a hot item for lockdown-era video offerings (as witnessed by the above link.) The piece is scored for a septet of flute, clarinet, harp, two violins, viola, and cello, so it was perfect for socially distanced performances.

Think you can stump your fellow Listeners? Go ahead and try!

Head to our Google Form to upload a 30-second clip of an unidentified piece of classical music for us to try to identify.

NEWS!

Barbara Hannigan, the multi-hyphenate virtuosa who can sing Ligeti, conduct Haydn, and do both, seemingly while standing on her head, has been appointed music director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Per the CBC:

This is Hannigan's first appointment as chief conductor of an orchestra. During her tenure, she will work with the ISO for a minimum of six subscription weeks per season in addition to touring and recording. As the ISO's artistic director, she will also contribute significantly to the musical programming of the orchestra's concert seasons.

Hannigan, who is also an accomplished soprano, is known especially for her performances of avant-garde music during which she often sings and conducts. 

In addition to this new role, Hannigan will continue her tenure as principal guest conductor with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, a position she has held since 2019. She is also associate artist with the London Symphony Orchestra, première artiste invitée with l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, and will begin as principal guest conductor with l'Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne in the 2024-25 concert season.

Unfinished

Following up on last week’s edition, it turns out that the Concertgebouw changed their tune and allowed the Jerusalem Quartet’s concert to go forward. Per the New York Times:

Simon Reinink, general manager of the Concertgebouw, said in an interview that the hall had reversed course after securing commitments from the police.

“Now we have enough confidence to go ahead with it,” he said. “It has everything to do with security. We were forced to crack the dilemma of security on the one hand and freedom on the other.”

Reinink defended the hall’s handling of the situation, saying that the cancellation “had nothing to do with antisemitism.”

“We fight and we fought like hell to keep these concerts,” he added.

The Jerusalem Quartet said in a statement that it had been “moved to tears by the outpouring of support worldwide from musicians of all profiles, from internationally famous names to anonymous amateurs.”

According to De Telegraaf, the concert went forward without any interruptions, and attendees couldn’t hear any noise from the peaceful protests that transpired outside the hall.

Tone Praise

Alfred Schnittke, Piano Sonata No. 3

I (Will) decided a few days ago to post this piece as this week’s Tone Praise since I think we all can benefit from some bleak, austere, depressing late Schnittke every once in a while. But now the selection seems all the more pertinent as a soundtrack for poor young Joseph who’s nursing his first ever case of Covid. 

Send him your love and enjoy some blistering dissonances.

Tone Prose is a co-production of William White, Joseph Vaz, and the Listeners (i.e. you.)