The Return of Frankly Music

Frankly Music contributes to our Milwaukee online experience by streaming its first Fall concert on Tuesday evening. The event will be free.

Guitarist Rene Izquierdo and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra cellists Madeleine Kabat and Peter Thomas will be joining Frank Almond in several works. The live music broadcast will be streamed from a closed performance in the Pfister Hotel ballroom. Conforming to social distance guidelines even further, the sets will be solo or duo performances.

Kabat and Almond will play a Mozart String Duo No. 1 (originally for violin and viola). They will also play a more contemporary work, Erwin Schulhoff’s Duo for Violin and Cello. Schulhoff‘s 20th Century neoclassical style was just taking form when he died in a concentration camp at the age of 48. His music deserves more attention.

Izquierdo, director of the UW-Milwaukee guitar program and an international performer on classical guitar, will offer two sets of Cuban guitar music. The Cuban classical style represents the pinnacle of complex rhythms, a transformation of African beats into Latin dance. Izquierdo’s precision and his Cuban heritage shine with these virtuoso numbers.

Kabat and Thomas continue the Latin theme with two tangos and a samba arranged for cello duo.

Thomas will offer a virtuoso take on Astor Piazzolla‘s Libertango which he has arranged for electric cello. I have seen this performance before. Using live recording loops, Thomas builds the energy of the work, layering the sound in a cacophony of cellos.

Dance returns with a closing number, Bela Bartók‘s Romanian Folk Dances, one of the first classical compositions to tap the authentic folk music traditions of Eastern Europe. The work invites a variety of interpretations from its Romani roots, the lively dance and its flexible adaptation to a variety of instruments.

This casual program among friends offers a mix that should play well on a computer or tablet but I recommend headphones or external connections for the full virtuoso performances.

The listening audience may join the concert at Franklymusic.org or on YouTube Live just before 7:00 p.m., September 22.

Support Frankly Music by following up with a contribution at the FranklyMusic.org site.