Adès gets TKO'd by Mendelssohn

This photo by Blizzard Terrak is titled "ax11 All Alone on Walpurgis Night" and is much more interesting that yet another boring image of Felix Mendelssohn, don't you agree?

At the end of the 2008/09 season the MTT and the San Francisco Symphony had a Schubert/Berg festival titled "From Dawn to Twilight." The programming of the individual concerts made little sense to me, but the juxtaposition of the first and second Viennese School heavyweights looked good on paper and the concerts were highly rewarding, especially if one favored Berg in the match-up. Schubert lost every round until the last one, when he handily stomped Berg's Chamber Concerto into the mat with his symphony commonly known as "The Great," which is kind of fitting if you like boxing metaphors, and I obviously do. On paper the match-up of Felix Mendelssohn and Thomas Adès must have made sense to someone, but the real common thread (works inspired by Shakespeare are plentiful and thus seems a bit lame) remained hidden to me even after attending the final program, which heavily favored Mendelssohn by featuring two complete, substantial works of his against excerpts from one by Adès. It was never going to be a fair fight, even if for many, including myself, Adès' music was the main event.

The Suite from A Midsummer Night's Dream (1843) was up first and though lengthy, it was well-played, and featured an especially lovely solo from Nicole Cash. It's also crammed with familiar music, so much so that those of us who don't count ourselves as fans of Felix probably kept saying to the themselves, "Oh yes, that... Oh, that too? ...Oh yes, I forgot about this part..." for a good chunk of the half hour. I would never seek the piece the out, but much of it was pleasing, if not really illuminating, and that pretty much sums up how I felt about Mendelssohn at this point.

What followed this good-natured music was something else entirely, a series of scenes from Adès' The Tempest, which I've neither seen nor heard, having so far missed the Met's transmissions of it, but it's an opera I'm quite keen to experience so I was quite curious this. Unfortunately, at least on a cold hearing and without having any musical context to place the scenes in, I found myself constantly see-sawing between the music and the vocal writing and never really being able to fully absorb either. Some of this may be due to the fantastically bizarre writing Adès has come up with for the character of Ariel, written at an astonishingly high level that makes the Queen of the Night's famous aria from The Magic Flute look easy by comparison. It sounded punishing, but it was fascinating to watch (and hear) soprano Audrey Luna take it on, even if I could hardly understand a word she was singing without consulting the program. Rod Gilfrey as Prospero sounded better than I have ever heard him, and Alek Shrader and Isabel Leonard, in the less-showy parts, were in fine voice, but without a doubt this was a showcase for Luna's extraordinary abilities and Adès' boundary-pushing writing for the voice. This was so much the case the music actually left little impression on me- as soon I turned my attention from the singers to the orchestra, I found myself switching back to the singers within moments. By all accounts I've read, The Tempest is widely regarded as an appealing, rewarding contemporary opera, but this excerpt probably confused rather than sold an audience unfamiliar with its virtues.

The second half of the concert featured Mendelssohn's The First Walpurgis Night, and this was simply a fantastic performance on every level. Guest conductor/referee of the Mendelssohn/Adès  match Pablo Heras-Casado was really connecting with the orchestra here, and superb contributions came from the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Gilfrey, Shrader, and mezzo-soprano Charlotte Hellekant. Interestingly, the material is inspired by Goethe's Faust, so this is the second time in as many months we've seen a musical interpretation of the scene as it was also featured in Boito's opera Mefistofele, recently presented by San Francisco Opera. Musically, Mendelssohn's take on Goethe blows Boito's out of the water because it feels like a cohesive whole, but more to the point, the exuberance of the music and the gusto of the singing overshadowed everything which came before it, leaving me to wonder why I've always been largely indifferent to Mendelssohn, especially when considering how much I appreciated last week's performance of his "Scottish" Symphony. But somehow, I don't think converting listeners to the merits of Mendelssohn was the intent of the festival. Perhaps I'm wrong about that.

What's the frequency, Felix?

Leila Josefowicz

The San Francisco Symphony's Mendelssohn/Adès festival began this week with a knockout performance of... Stravinsky. I'm not sure if that was the result of curious design or nothing more than an unintended consequence of motherhood.  The mother in question is Leila Josefowicz, the superb violinist who during 2009 performed 10 different concertos during a single tour. That's an astounding feat, especially since she had most, if not all of them, committed to memory, including new works by Esa-Pekka Salonen and Adès' own Concentric Paths, which she performed here in San Francisco that year.

So why Josefowicz performed Stravinsky's concerto instead Adès' is a legitimate question, don't you think? I suppose I could act like a real journalist and actually ask someone at the Symphony that question, but sometimes it's more fun to speculate and besides, it's 2:00 AM and if I wait around for an answer this post will never get finished- it will end up like my post about the Rolling Stones concerts back in May, just sitting there in the queue, waiting for me to get back to it one day.

I took a look at Josefowicz's tour schedule and she's not nearly as ambitious as she was in 2009: only three works appear on her calendar for 2013, all of which she has a long history of playing: the concertos by Stravinsky, Salonen and John Adams. Next year she adds Francesconi to the list, but apart from a couple of recitals with a more varied program which include works she been performing for awhile and a single performance of the Berg Chamber Concerto, it' almost all Igor, Esa-Pekka, and John, with a bit of Luca, through June of 2014. So I'm guessing that if you want Leila to show up, you've got to choose among those four guys. And if you'll notice, three of those guys are still alive, and performing the work of one living composer during a festival promoting another living composer is just not comme il faut. But what about Concentric Paths? I for one, would certainly welcome a repeat performance of the work, which I found extremely engaging when it was performed in 2009, and besides, didn't Gil Shaham just recently play the Stravinsky Concerto here? Why, yes- yes he did. So I think Josefowicz said something along the lines of "I have two kids to take care of and this is the rep I'm performing right now. See this toddler?  Do you know what it's like having a toddler and touring?  If I can play one of these four works, I'll come play it with you. Otherwise I'll see you in 2015, because I'm busy."

And I think whoever is in charge of these things said something along the lines of  "You know, having Leila play Stravinsky is better than no Leila at all, and it's certainly better than having her play Adams, Salonen, or Francesconi while Adès is in the house, Okay, it's a deal." And there you have it, although there is the possibility that this whole thing has been planned for a couple of years now, long before her most recent child was conceived, and she's the one who made the call and said "Sorry, but there's been a change of plans..." and a decision was made to accommodate her rather than seeking another soloist.

Either way, it was a damn good decision, because Josefowicz was in excellent form, even if the piece stuck out like Sinead O'Connor at a Miley Cyrus concert. Looking radiant in a yellow silk chiffon dress (I'm kind of guessing about that) with an olive green sash banded around the waist which continued vertically down the front of the dress, her hair pulled up in a fancy twist, she and guest conductor Pablo Heras-Casado (35 years old) made quite a dapper-looking pair at the front of the stage. Sex appeal is one thing, what's even better is when they deliver, and both did, though Heras-Casado's job on this piece was aided by Josefowicz, who constantly turned to orchestra members as it to queue them, or to make sure they were following her. Josefowicz is a physical performer, but not a showy one. Her fingers move along the neck of her instrument with uncanny precision while her body takes on the music's rhythm. You can see her thoughts vividly expressed on her face while she's playing, which makes her one of the most transparent and engaging performers I've seen.

The concert began with two brief pieces from Jean Baptiste Lully, the Overture and Passacaille from his opera Armide (1648). It's been a long time since I've heard the orchestra perform music from the Baroque era and these pieces showcased the particular beauty of which this string section is capable. Building on that, Adès came next with Three Studies from Couperin (2006), an orchestration of pieces originally written for the harpsichord. In the program notes James Keller writes that Adès "recalls Stravinsky's reworking of Pergolesi (and that composer's contemporaries) in Pulcinella, right down to potentially rude thumps from brass and percussion" in Les Tours de Passe-passe (The Sleight of Hand), the second of the three, so perhaps there is a link to the concerto's appearance, but that connection was lost on me, as I found myself constantly drawn to the structure and tone of the three movements. The third, L’Âme-en-peine (The Soul in Distress), was especially effective.

At the intermission GG turned to me and asked "What is the theme of this concert?" I replied that I rightfully didn't know anymore, though the Symphony's website mentions something about Adès and Mendelssohn's "Baroque fascination."

If there's such a fascination evident in Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, Scottish (1842), it was all but buried on this night to the point of being invisible under the warm Romantic glow Heras-Casado elictited from the orchestra. Conducting without a score, Heras-Casado brought the work's folk elements to the fore in a highly robust, precise performance, with especially fine turns by Principals Carey Bell on clarinet and Tim Day on flute.

On Thursday night Adès performed with musicians from the orchestra in a chamber concert featuring two of his works sandwiching one each by Debussey and Ravel. If there were connections Adès wanted to make between his pieces and those of the others they weren't obvious to me, though I was hearing each work for the first time and each had its own delightful distractions. The first piece was Adès' Sonata da Caccia, Opus 11, with Adès on harpsichord, Jonathan Fischer on oboe and Chris Cooper on horn.  James Keller's program notes quote Adès as saying "My ideal day would be staying at home and playing the harpsichord works of Couperin- new inspiration on every page." To each their own, I guess, as my ideal day at home wouldn't involve a harpsichord under any circumstances unless Julianne Moore was sprawled on top of it. However, watching and hearing Adès perform on one, with his combination of Bryan Ferry-like panache and an almost punk rock fervor, certainly engages the listener, especially since his compositions embrace the lower end of the instrument's range in favor of  its tinkly top. If there's a composer who can finally warm me up to the allures of the harpsichord, which until now has always escaped my ears, it's Adès.

Both works by Debussy (Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp) and Ravel (Chansons madécasses) contain strands of their more widely-known string quartets, and like those two pieces, these formed a conversation between them which Adès then joined in with his Piano Quintet. The conversation was moving along quite well as far as I could tell when suddenly cellist Amos Yang stopped it cold by standing up. He muttered something to his fellow musicians, set his cello down on the floor, on walked offstage with his bow in hand. I couldn't make out what any part of what he said, and no explanation was offered to the audience, who sat there waiting to see what would happen next as none of the musicians moved or gave us any indication that we should do anything else. Yang returned about a minute later, whether or not he was holding a different bow I couldn't tell, and they resumed the piece where they left off- or at least that's what seemed to happen. The odd moment distracted me however, and I lost the work's thread. Baritone John Brancy sang Chansons madécasses beautifully, and his rich timbre reminded me of a young Keenlyside.

The Mendelssohn/Adès Festival continues next week with Mendelssohn's Suite from A Midsummer Night's Dream and The First Walpurgis Night and scenes from Adès' The Tempest,. Joining the orchestra for these performances is a highly talented group of singers- Alek Shrader, Audrey Luna, Isabel Leonard, Charlotte Hellekant, Rod Gilfrey, along with the San Francisco Symphony chorus. The theme for this one is obvious. Heras-Casado will be on the podium once again. Tickets are available here.

Emanuel Ax plays Beethoven

Although it was almost 20 years ago I can still remember the precise moment I fell in love with Beethoven. I don't mean when I started to like Beethoven- I mean when his music became something of an obsession with me. At the time I was living in an apartment above the post office in La Honda (pop. 500), working at an Italian restaurant near the Stanford campus, and taking a survey course on Western music appreciation at a community college. The class had progressed through Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart and though I had taken to playing The Four Seasons in my car at a volume level usually reserved for Social Distortion, I hadn't yet experienced that moment where it all made intuitive sense to me. An upcoming assignment was Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, so after checking my Penguin Guide for some recommendations I picked up a copy of Emanuel Ax performing the 3rd and 4th, with Andre Previn conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RCA), at a local store.

It must have been after dinner when I put the CD in the player because I remember it was already dark outside. I was alone, so I turned the volume up pretty high and sat down on the couch. The disc came with no liner notes so I was just sitting there listening to what sounded pretty good Mozart on steroids for about three minutes when orchestra heaved three times and fell silent. What came next I could only relate to as a monster riff. It was like hearing "Smoke On the Water" or "Whole Lotta Love" for the first time. Though the orchestra had just played pretty much the same theme, hearing it coming from the piano was a revelation. The thought "now that's rock and roll" popped into my head, and my obsession began. By the way, I found the rest of the disc to as compelling, and once I heard the 4th Concerto I wondered why we were studying the 3rd, since the 4th was so obviously superior (I still think of it as being one of Beethoven's very finest compositions- certainly it's the best of the piano concertos).

So needless to say I've always had a soft spot for that particular recording, though until this week I had never seen Ax perform in concert. But now here he was, in town to perform the 3rd with the San Francisco Symphony. I had been quietly looking forward to this concert for weeks.

It began with Mahler's Blumine, which received a gorgeous performance less than a year and a half ago but I welcomed the opportunity to hear it again. It offers Principal Trumpet Mark Inoyue an outstanding showcase of which he took complete advantage to show off his formidable skills with a series of elegantly elongated notes that melted into one's ears. Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik was equally impressive.

While the piano was being raised to the stage I tried to eavesdrop on what the two ladies seated next to us were saying to composer Samuel Carl Adams, who sitting alone in front of them, but I couldn't make any of out as I was also paying attention to Margarita's narrative about an upcoming adventure she has planned. I found it intriguing to see Adams here, and wondered if there was one particular piece that drew him to this program.

Ax's performance was everything I had hoped for, and even taking my sentimental bias out the picture, he and the orchestra were marvelous. I noted in a post at the beginning of this year how foolish I had been to choose not to attend many of the concerts featuring the standard rep in recent years, and here was another reminder of how good this orchestra is with the basics. MTT and Ax were in perfect sync with each other, taking the 3rd at a robust tempo in the first movement, amplifying the early heroic tone of the work, noticeably bringing out textures which make it seem hard to fathom this is 200 years old because it sounds so thoroughly contemporary in many aspects. As Ax soloed through the first movement I thought that someone hearing this for the first time in 1804 must have felt the same way people did when they heard Eddie Van Halen's "Eruption" in 1978- "well, no one's done that before," since Beethoven was incorporating new design elements for the piano into a composition for the first time. And even if one isn't susceptible to the pyrotechnics, Ax was still remarkably on target with it, never showy, but very precise and noticeably engaged with his fellow musicians at every moment. They kept it up all the way through, and Ax received one of the most deserved standing ovations I've witnessed in some time. He returned for an encore- Schumann's "Des Abends," which only left me wishing there was more.

The second half of the concert looked quite odd on paper but turned out to be something I would like to see a lot more of in the future. MTT explained he modeled this half of the program based on his experiences at USC attending the salons of Jascha Heifetz, where short pieces would merit the same attention and level of dedicated performance as would normally be found for longer works. Copland's music for the film version of "Our Town" was first, and though the program stated it was about nine minutes long it felt like twenty for some reason, though that's not to say I didn't enjoy it the first half of it before I felt like we were driving around it in circles. Shorter gems from Debussy, Delius, Sibelius, Rachmaninoff and Delibes followed, and it worked quite well. More, please.

As we were leaving the concert I learned Ax was signing CDs in the lobby, so I did something I never do and stood in line to thank him personally. He was quite gracious about it, which only made me like him that much more.

Mahler visits the Gibichung Inn of Catastrophes

Photo from Out West Arts

Last night I went to hear Mahler's 9th Symphony for the third time in roughly two years. Bookended by performances from the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas was an extraordinary, had-to-be-heard-to-be-believed account led by Esa-Pekka Salonen with the London Philharmonia Orchestra last November. Salonen managed to make the entire ninety-odd minute beast compelling from the first movement through the third, and then broke my heart in half with a fourth which left me in tears afterward. MTT and the SFS aren't as nearly devastating with the same material, largely because in their hands the inner movements don't completely reconcile with the [more important] outer two. The second and third have their delights, to be sure, as if the weight of the world sitting upon Mahler's shoulders (and it was, as the piece followed a very dark part of the composer's life) were suddenly tossed off for a night out on the town, but what makes it worth attending a performance is the profundity of the first and the heartbreak of the last movements, both of which are drenched in Wagner's influence.

The first evoked loss and remorse, then angst and resignation before coming to rest at the Gibichung Inn of Catastrophes. It's not so much a journey from darkness to light as it is finally gaining a sense of tenuous security after having surrendered to something unknown and accepting what comes of the choice. The concluding solos by Principal Flute Tim Day and Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik were gorgeous. The climax of the third was a thundering success, and yes, there's a reason I have nothing really to say of interest about the second. The fourth was a master class on how to show off an orchestra, apparently done by performing the fourth movement of Mahler's 9th. It's almost as beautiful as Tristan, and there's no need to hire any singers.

The program repeats nightly through September 21. Get tickets here.

Di Castri's "Lineage" breaks with the past, and Bronfman kills it (again)

Zosha Di Castri

Lineage, by 28-year-old composer Zosha Di Castri, is the first commission to come out of a new partnership between the The San Francisco and New World Symphonies and the music publisher Boosey & Hawkes. In the program notes for its West Coast premiere Di Castri describes it as “a combination of change and consistency, a re-imagining of places and traditions I’ve known only second-hand, the sound of a fictitious culture one dreams up to keep the memories of another generation alive.” It's a disarmingly honest statement about the work, and an accurate one. Intentionally or not, it's also a revealing truth about the music from a new generation of composers now emerging in concert halls- a generation which views (and experiences) 20th Century composers as being of  a distinct era, now past, and notably not their own. These are composers whose living role models aren't Copeland, Stravinsky, Ives, Harrison, etc. Not Messiaen, or even Carter. Their living models are composers like Adams, Glass, Penderecki, Golijov and and Saariaho. I imply no judgement regarding these contemporary composers vs. their predecessors, but bring attention to this only to illustrate a distinctly new era is underway. It is taking place now.

More importantly, these younger composers are coming of age during an era when there is much more than just the Western Art music tradition to draw from, more than just music itself, actually. Technology may prove to be a greater influence on them than Beethoven or Berg ever will be. So is it a surprise that Di Castri's first piece written for a full orchestra has a structure more closely resembling the rapid-fire, montage style of an MTV video or current film than a tone poem or anything resembling sonata form? She wasn't even alive when Michael Jackson's Thriller was released. 

As Lineage unfolded the musicians kept issuing snippet after snippet of arresting, alluring music- little threads that I kept hoping would expand and develop into full themes, but none did- one would just be taken over by another in a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of texture and sounds- some soft and scratchy, some noticeably melodic, but none for maybe more than 20 seconds. A constant tease, especially since many of them sounded so promising. It was a technique resembling sampling- something that has been going on in pop music for the entirety of Di Castri's life, and a form as familiar to someone her age as a triad is to earlier generations. For some listeners that may have proved frustrating, possibly even uninteresting, but for me it was like hearing what the future is going to sound like- and it sounds pretty damn interesting, though it is quite different- at least for those of us raised on a set of musical assumptions that may have been declared obsolete or irrelevant while we weren't paying attention. But the "change and consistency" she mentioned, those "places and traditions I’ve known only second-hand" proved to be true. Nicely done.

Next, Yefim Bronfman strode onstage to perform Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 (speaking of which, what ever what happened to No. 2? Is it ever performed?). I've mentioned before that Bronfman is my personal favorite pianist to hear in concert and he proved why again with this astounding performance. His ability to play with such a substantial difference of force in each hand boggles my mind. During the first movement his left was a constant source of deliberation, almost relentless, while his right always seemed to float gently above the keys, still making each note distinctly heard within and above the orchestra, which was in rock-solid alignment with him. The first movement was so brilliantly played it drew a substantial ovation when it concluded from throughout the house. 

The second movement, the tone of which to me has always alternated between an acknowledgement of winter's melancholy and a paean to the potential found in every spring, and the dancing propulsion of the third, found Bronfman steadfastly refusing to linger over any of it, refusing to milk a single note, a common practice with lesser pianists which so often turns this masterpiece into romantic gloop. This was true of his approach to the first movement as well, but became more obvious here with their briefer lengths and less luxuriant orchestral parts, which MTT led with a surprisingly taut, muscular sound. Once again, Fima killed it. In fact, this may have been the best performance of his I've attended so far.

After the intermission the orchestra played Prokofiev's Third Symphony, a relative rarity, and I can understand why. It utilizes elements from the composer's opera The Fiery Angel, which I'm unfamiliar with but now am rather keen to at hear if not see, because musically this thing is an assault on the ears led by the most overpowering brass section I have ever heard in my life. It was initially frightening, as befits the opera's story, but in the end it felt wearisome, all but obliterating the afterglow of Bronfman's gorgeous performance. There was one superb moment where Mark Inouye and another trumpet player, breaking apart from the phalanx of brass, delivered a brief passage played so softly the sudden contrast was stunning. But the bombast of the whole largely eclipsed these few fine moments scattered throughout the piece, despite fine playing from the entire orchestra, especially the strings, which sound better than ever.

Opening night at the Symphony, 2013

What's going on here? Marcher and Margarita. Photo by Stephen Lam (SF Chronicle)

I've lived in the Tenderloin for a little over eight years. Eleven years ago I lived on the top of Nob Hill, in a small one-bedroom apartment with a great eastern view of the Financial District and the Bay Bridge. Then I became engaged to a woman from Little Rock, Arkansas so I gave up that apartment and together we rented another, larger one on the opposite side of the hill which had Golden Gate views out of every window including the bathroom. I was told the apartment was once the home of a famous billionaire's ex-wife.

The girl from Little Rock and I parted instead of married, and since it was my decision to do so it was I who had to leave the rooms with the views. I ended up doing something I swore I would never do, which was to move south of California Street, and I took an incredibly fantastic apartment on Geary Street with an oval bedroom, huge windows facing west and south, a lovely and whimsical backyard, and a neighbor who had a baby grand in his apartment from which he filled the air with impeccably nuanced interpretations of Chopin and Rachmaninoff. It was the greatest apartment I had ever lived in, even though it was on the outer edge of the 'Loin.

Then I met the woman from New Orleans, and rolled even further south into an apartment on O'Farrell half the size of my previous place, but with a stunning, 180-degree view of the south side of the City, the tawdry grit of Ellis Street eleven floors beneath me, and the myriad happy sounds of the Tenderloin drifting up to the windows 24 hours a day. The moral of this story is if you like where you live, don't date Southern women, no matter how charming they are- it only leads to an inevitable downward roll into the Tenderloin, and if you're lucky, rehab.

Living in the 'Loin, I always feel extremely conspicuous when I step outside my building into the street wearing a tux. The only upside is that it makes it very easy for a cab to spot me from two blocks away and soon I was in one heading to Margarita's place- which is only slightly more than a mile away but at times feels like twenty. I arrived at 7:00 and she was almost ready. Fifteen minutes later another cab took us to Davies Symphony Hall and soon we were in the Green Room, nibbling at slices of lox and trying to figure out who was who among the packed, buzzing crowd. Many of the faces I recognized, but an equal amount were new to me. Along one wall sat two young people with large plastic badges stating "PRESS" strung over their necks busily typing into laptops without ever looking up. I wondered what they were writing and for whom, but not enough to ask them. I guess the badges were to let others know not to ask them for more champagne, because I didn't see any of the people I know who are actually "press" wearing badges of any kind, except for a small few who chose to display their status by opting not to dress properly for the occasion.

We exited the Green Room to watch the fashion parade taking place in the main lobby. Margarita has an astute eye, and as we discussed the clothes and their wearers, she filled me in on their designers, fabrics, and prices, and I offered what I knew regarding identities, backstories, and dirt. The crowd was noticeably younger this year, and among this group the women made a valiant effort to match the glamour of their elders, some succeeding with unconventional choices which yielded stunning results, others not so much.

I also noticed 3 of my neighbors among the throng, which means that - gasp! - other people from the TL had somehow managed to crash this party, which also means not everyone who attends the opening night gala for the SF Symphony (or the SF Ballet or SF Opera, for that matter) lives in Sea Cliff or Pacific Heights. How did this happen?

I note this only because I was reading the generally class-consciously resentful/nasty/ignorant comments on SFGate that make it seem like these events are only for the very rich and powerful. While it's certainly true that these evenings are designed for and cater to that audience, that's not a bad thing- an incredible amount of money is raised from these folks which in turn supports these organizations, and in this country, the financial support of the rich is a necessity. Without it, these institutions would cease to exist. So stop carping and next year get yourself a relatively inexpensive ticket (they are available), which would cost you much less than a good seat at a 49er's game, and go enjoy the party. And believe me, it is a great party- the drinks are free, the food is good, people are out to have a good time and the entertainment is top notch- before, during, and after the concert. You will have a good time and you can choose to just ignore the fact that the mayor, the Speaker of the House, and the Yahoo woman are there in the room with you- just like they're ignoring your presence. Everybody wins!

After the obligatory singing of our national anthem, the Symphony launched into George Antheil's Jazz Symphony. I've never heard the thing before, which has heavy doses of Stravinsky and American big band thrown together into a big, messy stew, but it came off as something of a hot mess. Whether or not this was by Antheil's design or the orchestra's execution I can't rightly say, but it did give Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye a glorious opportunity to get seriously down and greasy with a mute, and Robin Sutherland also had some fine solos on the piano. Gershwin's An American in Paris mines similar territory with greater effect and substantially more coherence, and the orchestra was more persuasive with it as the finale, but both choices seemed to be programmed more as vehicles to accompany a celebration than for making a case about the importance of the intersection of classical and jazz.

However, these paled compared to singer Audra McDonald's appearances during both halves. Conveying sex appeal and elegance in equal measure in a fantastic dress, McDonald, launching her own national tour with this performance, has a voice better-suited to Broadway than the opera house, and her first set of songs were all by Leonard Bernstein, including a gorgeous version of "Somewhere" from West Side Story and a completely delightful version of "A Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man" from Wonderful Town. As good as she was here, she was even better in the second half with "The Music That Makes Me Dance" from Funny Girl and had the entire house singing along with her on "I Could Have Danced All Night" which somehow she made fun rather than schmaltzy. Her banter with Michael Tilson Thomas was natural and easy- they seemed like two old friends having a good time together, especially when MTT tried to mislead her about the composer of one of the songs.

The after-party is always my favorite part of this event and this year was the best, most fun-filled version of it I've attended so far. In the tent next to the hall The Cheeseballs were tearing it up, with everyone dancing pretty much from get-go (they need to work on those vocals for Daft Punk's "Get Lucky), and a DJ performing in between sets. There were tables of delicious food (coldcuts, crab cocktails, and chocolates) scattered along the walls, short lines for drinks, and plenty of room to dance or just sit and watch women approach Willie Brown and have their photo taken with him. Both he and his date seemed to take it all in with good humor.

The DJ in the tent set up on Grove Street was none other than composer/electronica artist/DJ Mason Bates, who was accompanied by a guy (I didn't get his name) on an electric 5 string double bass. Bates' set was alluring, and drew Margarita's attention, and it was only after listening for awhile and then approaching the table we were surprised to discover it was the composer. We ended up talking with him a bit and he was extremely gracious. His music will be paired with Beethoven's in two separate programs this season. I was leaning toward attending the one featuring Alternative Energy, which he performed here with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra when they came to town during the Centennial Season, but after hearing that Liquid Interface, which hasn't been heard here before, is (I'm paraphrasing here) like a waterfall, I'm inclined to want to hear that perhaps as much if not slightly more than the return of the tremendously successful Alternative Energy.

We left around midnight. The party was still going, but we had jobs to be at in the morning. It was easily the best night out I've had in a long time.

San Francisco Symphony 2013-14: a dozen picks

Christian Tetzlaff. Photo by Giorgia Bertazzi.

Choosing twelve concerts from the San Francisco Symphony's 2013-14 season seemed harder than usual this year, but I feel as if I've been saying that for awhile now and and maybe I have. MTT's tenure has settled into a comfortable groove, but not a complacent one. The coming season has an enticing mix of classic and contemporary composers, some of the world's most sought after guest conductors and soloists, and great single evening programs featuring YoYo Ma (already sold out), Yuja Wang in recital, Dmitiri Hvorostovsky,  Liza Minnelli, Burt Bacharach, a film night series including Hitchcock's Vertigo and Psycho,  Chaplin's City Lights, and Disney's Fantasia accompanied live by the orchestra. If you want to get dressed for an occasion, the opening night gala featuring Audra McDonald promises to be a memorable evening and the post-concert party is always seriously fabulous. There are also a number of programs featuring the orchestra's principals as featured soloists. In some cities this would be done to save some money- in San Francisco they do it showcase the talent. These musicians are some of the finest in the world.

Here are my twelve:

Yefim Bronfman performs Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1, the world premiere of Zosha Di Castri's Lineage, and Prokofiev's Third Symphony. MTT conducts. Sept. 11-14

Apart from that unicorn which travels under the name Martha Argerich, there's no living pianist I'd rather hear than Bronfman. I'm not thrilled about the Tchaik 1, which is a safe bet two years in a row now for Fima's appearance with the orchestra, but whatever. What really enticed me to this one is Di Castri's new work, the first in a "New Voices Series" of commissions by the SFS. The Prokofiev 3rd is also pretty crazy. 

Pablo Heras-Casado, Thomas Adès, and Leila Josefowicz.  Oct 3-6

Casado is among the small handful of conductors I wouldn't mind seeing on the podium when the time arrives. He returns this year with an exceptional two weeks of concerts featuring the works of Thomas Adès and Felix Mendelssohn. There are three different programs during Heras-Casado and Adès' visit, including one evening of chamber music featuring Adès also performing, which should be fantastic (he's a fascinating pianist). See all of three if you have the time and means, but if you can only choose one, go with this one featuring Leila Josefowicz on the program with the Stravinsky Violin Concerto. She's one of the most talented, intense musicians on the scene. I admit to having an infatuation with her, but I'm not the only one. See why for yourself. Also on the program are Lully's Overture and Passacaille from Armide, Adès' Three Studies from Couperin, and Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, Scottish.

Edwin Outwater and Simon Trpčeski.  Oct 24-26
October features an inordinate amount of great evenings at Davies, but the return of former Resident Conductor Outwater and the presence of the versatile and compelling pianist Trpčeski in an evening of Eastern European music puts this one on the list. On the program: Ligeti's Concert Românesc; Prokofiev's Concerto No. 3; Dvořák’s Legends for Orchestra, Nos. 2, 6, and 10 and Lutoslowski's Concerto for Orchestra. Go for the Ligeti and Trpčeski. Stay for the Lutoslowski.

Semyon Bychkov conducts Britten's War Requiem. Nov. 27 & 30

Take a break from the seriousness of your holidays and revel in this light fare before everything becomes all-Christmas, all-the-time. I'm one of the few dissenters when it comes to the common wisdom of how great Bychkov is, but even I can't resist this important part of the Britten Centennial, a monumental work not to be missed. Hopefully Christine Brewer will be in fine voice- her last appearance here was a bit shaky. Tenor James Gilchrist, baritone Roderick Williams, the SFS Chorus, and the Pacific Boychoir are all on hand to make this soar.

Beethoven and Bates.  Jan 8-11

Mason Bates (composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony, DJ, and handsome local guy) had three (three!) works programmed with Beethoven classics this season, but a late change has now made it two. The audacity! One has been heard here before- Alternative Energy was performed by Bates and the CSO during their Centennial Season visit. Liquid Interface will get its local premiere. It's tempting to recommend the concerts featuring the new work, especially if you've heard the other, but I'm going with the return of Alternative Energy. Not only is it a great piece, but the rest of the program features the better Beethoven selections- Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik soloing in Romances for Violin and Orchestra as well the Seventh Symphony. 

MTT conducts Mahler's Third, featuring Sasha Cooke. Feb. 27, Mar. 1 & 2

No, we haven't heard enough Mahler, and we certainly haven't heard enough from Cooke, who was sensational as Mary Magdalene this past summer across the street in the War Memorial Opera House.

I don't have any of the remaining subscription concerts in March on my list, but take a look at the Symphony's calendar for what's going that month- there is a lot worth getting a ticket for, including  the St. Petersburg Phil led by Temirkanov (performing the 2nd Rachmaninoff Symphony), Yuja and the Dude, Liza with a Z, Evgeny Kissin, Natalie Dessay and Julia Fischer. It's the most ridiculously packed month of them all.

Blomstedt and Carey Bell. April 3-6
Both of the programs on Blomstedt's annual visit are worth attending, and if you've never heard the orchestra under their Conductor Laureate you really shouldn't miss this. Blomstedt's visits are uniquely special. I'm choosing this one because it showcases Bell, who is probably the most talented clarinet player in the world. On the program are Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto and  Schubert's Symphony in C, aka The Great.

James Conlon conducts, with Jean-Yves Thibaudet.  April 24-26
Few conductors impress me as much as Conlon does. His knowledge, enthusiasm, energy and talent seemingly have no end. Thibaudet impressed me greatly in his last appearance, so this one should be quite good, especially since the program features Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No.1, Tchaikovsky's 6th, Pathetique, and a rarity championed by Conlon- the scherzo from Erwin Schulhoff's Fifth Symphony. Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye is also prominently featured in these concerts.

Ton Koopman's Bach. May 1-4
Nobody is better with Baroque repertoire than Koopman, and he returns for two programs. This one features both J.S. and C.P.E. Bach, with solo slots for Principal Cellist Peter Wyrick and Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye. Also on hand is soprano Carolyn Sampson. From Johann is Orchestra Suite No. 4 and the cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen. From his son Carl there's the Cello Concerto No. 3 and the Symphony in G major. 

MTT and Christian Tetzlaff.  May 14-17.
The return of the Shredder. A profile in The New Yorker last year (08/27/12) told the rest of the world what those who've seen him perform already knew- there is no one else quite like the violinist Christian Tetzlaff. He'll be performing Bartok's 2nd Violin Concerto on his modern, inglorious fiddle. Sibelius' Lemminkäinen's Return and the Brahms 4th are also on the program. If Tetzlaff performs in the first half of the concert as expected, expect noticeable attrition after the intermission- the main even will have happened. Tetzlaff will also be performing the Bach Sonatas and Partitas in a solo recital on Sunday May 11th in what will be one of the most anticipated recitals of the year. Do not miss this.

Yuja Wang plays the Rach IV.  May 22-25.
Tchaikovsky's The Tempest and Debussy's Images will also be played during these evenings, but will anyone actually remember that afterwards? Probably not. MTT conducts, and there's a special chemistry between these two which only seems kind of weird when one reads those words. In person, it's electric.

Britten's Peter Grimes.  June 26-29
The second half of June is devoted to the Benjamin Britten Centennial with four different programs, all of which are of interest. However, if you only can attend one, choose this. Closing the season with a semi-staged opera is becoming a SFS tradition (and a very welcome one) and Britten's masterpiece will undoubtedly be given special consideration. The cast is excellent, including local favorites Elza van den Heever, John Relyea, Eugene Brancoveanu along with Ann Murray, Stuart Skeleton, Alan Opie, and Nancy Maultsby. 

Tickets are on sale now for all single concert programs and special events,  along with subscriptions and design-your-own series options, which feature a discount. You can order online, call the box office at (415) 864-6000, or visit Davies Symphony Hall in person at the Grove Street entrance between Van Ness and Franklin (2 blocks from the Civic Center BART exit). If you want to push your luck, last minute rush tickets  go on sale when available the day of the concert. The price is $20 (limit of 2) and you can see if there are any available by calling (415) 505-5577. The information is available until 6:00 PM the day of the concert, 6 PM Friday for weekend performances. When they come up they are often quite good seats. If you've never been to the Symphony before and are concerned about what to wear, dressing up is great but you really can attend in whatever you want. Just don't be an idiot by wearing shorts or a tux (unless it's opening night). The best sound is in the 2nd tier, the best view is from the Loge (which has the roomiest seats). There is a coat-check off the Grove Street entrance- use it if you bring a large coat with you to the performance. No one wants to be bothered with your coat hanging off your seat into their lap. Don't talk while the musicians are playing- they can hear you and it annoys the piss out of the rest of us. Whatever you have to say can wait until the music is over. Really. You'll know it's over when the conductor lowers his hands. Then you can clap if you feel like it, but wait until they're finished, unless you really, really can't contain yourself. Don't be the first person to clap. Just don't. Shouts of approval are acceptable, but yelling "Bravo" will make you look like a yokel. Yelling "Bravi!" will make you look like an ass. The bar on the 2nd tier doesn't serve hard liquor. You have 7 minutes to get to your seat once the first bell rings- plenty of time- don't rush. The bathrooms on the Van Ness side of the building are less crowded. Men, if you see a line in that bathroom, don't assume there isn't a place available- for some reason men just like to line up for no good reason in that bathroom. I have no idea why, but they do. Just peek around the corner and see if there's a vacancy. Chances are there is one. Don't leave your program under your bare hand in your lap- when you try to move it you'll make a distracting sound trying to unstick it from your skin. Read the program notes online before the concert, not during the concert.They are always available, and usually quite informative. The Symphony is a very good place to go by yourself in the hope of meeting another single person with whom you can eventually enjoy sex. There are many attractive single people there by themselves. Chat one up. If their date is actually in the bathroom, so what? At least you tried. If that happens to you, walk away, go to another level of the hall and seek out someone else. If you're looking for a classy place to go after the show with a person you've just met, go to Absinthe, not Sugar. Do not try to take an upskirt of Yuja Wang. However, if you disregard this warning and manage to get away with it, would you please send me a copy? 

Placido Domingo returns to Davies in January

Placid Domingo will perform with the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas in Davies Symphony Hall on January 6 at 8:00 PM. The program will consist of music by Beethoven, Tallis, and the guest of honor, Gordon Getty, to celebrate Getty's 80th birthday. Tickets ($75-$345)are onsale now at sfsymphony.org, or call(415) 864-6000. Get 'em while you can- this is certain to sell out very quickly.

Get out and about

The amazing Bernadette Peters

Sometimes summer can be a bit slow in these parts but there’s actually an awful lot going on this month. Now that San Francisco Opera’s summer season is over the Merola program takes over for the next couple of months with a production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia this Thursday night and Saturday afternoon, followed by Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in early August as well as concerts both indoors and out, all culminating in the Merola Grand Finale which takes place in the War Memorial Opera House. Check their site for dates and event descriptions- Merola never disappoints in delivering an abundance of talent while identifying the next generation of opera stars. 


The summer season of the San Francisco Symphony has some serious talent taking the stage of Davies in the next few weeks with Bernadette Peters, Michael Feinstein, & Jessye Norman. The pianist/topic of conversation in some quarters Valentina Lisitsa performs the 3^rd Piano Concerto on an all-Beethoven Program (Jul 18^th), Teddy Abrams conducts a program of classic all-American pieces the following night, and that most epic of classical pop crossovers, Carmina Burana returns July 30^th. 


There are numerous interesting shows taking place in the galleries at 49 Geary over the next month, including this one which looks especially brash or intriguing, depending on your aesthetic leanings. Upstart opera companies/academies are performing at Fort Mason, and the SF Silent Film Festival runs from 07/18-21, which the Symphony is complementing by presenting Cameron Carpenter performing a live accompaniment to Eisenstein’s classic Battleship Potemkin (07/27). If that’s a little too tame-sounding for you, there’s always The Matrix Live with the San Francisco Symphony (07/27). You can get $2 off the price of admission to the Silent Film Festival with the code FILMSFS. 


Also, there's the West Coast premiere of Rob Handel’s A Maze unfolds in Berkeley at Live Oak Theatre from 07/12 thru 08/04. “A dizzying, dazzling, ambitious work, Rob Handel's A MAZE interweaves a teenage girl recreating her identity after eight years held captive in a suburban basement, a pair of rock stars re-inventing themselves after a hit song, and a self-taught artist gaining a cult following for his 15,000-page comic book.” DC Theater scene said "A Maze explores the depths of our own prisons in an arresting portrait of obsession, addiction, and fear of the unknown"- on top of all that, it stars the talented and gorgeous Janis DeLucia among an especially strong cast. Tickets here.

And if that weren't enough, there are still some tickets left for what will likely be the best version of Outside Lands so far.

About last month- another Rite performed

Gil Shaham. Photo by Luke Ratray

The week after the brilliant performance of the Rite of Spring during the Ojai North! Festival the San Francisco Symphony got into to the Stravinsky spirit with a couple of different programs, both of which featured the Rite on all-Stravinsky progams. I chose the one featuring Gil Shaham performing the Violin Concerto, figuring that would just be an additional bonus, and this proved to be true. Shaham has always impressed me and this performance was no exception, maintaining his perfect track record. However, what I’d never noticed before were the similarities between the concerto’s Aria II and the Adagio from Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez . A quick search online didn’t reveal anyone else discussing it, but surely I’m not the first to notice. It’s an odd association to be sure, but the performance from all onstage was beautifully played. The first half began with the somewhat rarely performed Agon, composed for ballet, which loses much of its allure without dancers onstage, as the music isn’t as emblematic of the title as one would hope and only with choreography does it really make sense.

The Rite was superb- Stephen Paulson’s bassoon led the way with a graceful entry, with the rest of the winds following suit. With the abduction, MTT and the orchestra began to double-down on the rhythm and volume, sounding like a propulsive machine driving from one brilliant moment to another, downshifting into the changes of tempo without a hitch. Timpanist David Herbert’s performance was exceptional, and collectively the orchestra turned in what may have been my favorite performance I attended during this season. Of course it was an entirely different performance from the one put on by the Bad Plus the previous week, but it rocked with equal fervor, and the absence of dancers didn't even cross my mind until just now.

About last night- West Side Story

Arriving at my building after midnight, something I rarely do anymore, I entered the lobby and the night watchman said to me, "May I speak with you for a moment?"

"Sure, what about?" I replied.

"Your former girlfriend is in the building- the one who's not supposed to be here," he said, tapping the small list of people who've been banned from entering the 20-story former hotel, "she came in with another resident."

An especially nasty thought crossed my mind. This was so like her. Then I realized what was really going on. "Are you talking about Isabella or Thais?"

"I don't know- the one with the dark hair." That wasn't helpful- they both have dark hair. Most of them have had dark hair, including the insane one who actually moved into the building - a bouquet of black dahlias.

The physical resemblance between the two women is strong- they're the same height, build, both have black hair and striking eyes, though their eyes couldn't be more different. But to a casual observer or acquaintance it's only in talking with them one might get the sense of how different they actually are- one essentially kind, the other needlessly cruel.

The most obvious identifier is their hair- Isabella's is short, giving her a glamourous aura reminiscent of certain Italian film stars of the 50's and early 60's . Thais' hair is long, and as Penelope once said to me she looks "expensive." These marked differences aside, there were numerous times I would be out with one and could see the question on people's faces as they were trying figure out which one was present. That always made me uneasy.

But one of Isabella's best friends also lives in the building, so it wouldn't be at all unusual or unexpected for her to be here and I asked the night watchman if this was whom she had come in with and he affirmed this to be the case. Relieved, I went upstairs, though it always trips me out a little bit when I know Isabella is six floors directly beneath me.

The timing was ironic given that I was returning from my first date with Margarita, a woman I'd recently met, and I was quite pleased with how the evening had gone- it felt like I was finally moving on from the tumult of the past five years, only to arrive home and be told it was on my doorstep once again.

Margarita and I went to hear the San Francisco Symphony perform West Side Story, the final program of the season and one I've been looking forward to ever since I saw its appearance on the schedule. Ending the season with something large and theatrical has become something of an unofficial tradition of the Symphony's and it seems to me MTT keeps upping the ante- next year will be a semi-staged version of Britten's opera Peter Grimes, but this particular program held out special promise given the material and the conductor's relationship with the composer.

The entryway had signs announcing the performance was going to be recorded, and usually these ask the audience to be quiet for that reason. I didn't actually notice if the signs posted last night had that request on them, but the audience applauded after every number and there was much murmuring throughout- I think it just goes with the territory, as the audience had what appeared to be a significant contingent of people who were more likely to attend the theater rather than the concert hall (all in all I think this is a good thing).

The hall was packed, and distracted by Margarita, I ended up misreading our seat numbers, much to the apparent annoyance of Allan Ulrich, but when we did sit down and settle in I was surprised by the battery of percussion on the stage. I had never before thought about how much the percussion actually drives this score, but it does, and on this night at least (see Josh Kosman's review for another take), the percussion section kept the orchestra tightly reigned in when it should it have been driving them hard, which of course was most noticeable during the dance scene, during which the Mambo just didn't gel at all. It made me think back to the recent performance of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, featuring pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin and conducted by David Robertson, which I found wholly lacking the jazz elements vital to making it really succeed, and taking both performances into account I think the orchestra can play, but it doesn't swing. And that's a shame, because Bernstein's music, especially in the first half, really needs a certain swagger to launch it from great into extraordinary.

And it is an extraordinary score. I once read, I think in Sir Denis Forman's delightful book A Night at the Opera, that if you don't like La Boheme you don't like opera, and I think the same can be said for West Side Story and the American musical. Not only is the music superb throughout, but the 1-2-3 punch of three of the greatest songs ever written- "Maria"/"America"/"Tonight" makes me wonder how anyone can't like it. I once had the pleasure of introducing the movie to two little girls, and they ended up playing the "America" scene endlessly. One of my favorite memories is sitting with their mother in my kitchen listening to those two girls nail every part of that song from the living room, squeal with delight, then do it all over again.

Speaking of nailing the song, Cheyenne Jackson's turn as Tony didn't work for me- there were a couple of lower notes he just couldn't nail despite repeated attempts, made all the more apparent by having the singers [unfortunately] amplified (had they gone with opera singers rather than theater singers I wonder if this would have been necessary), and though he looked the part and sang his lines with conviction, there was a lack of passion in his delivery which caused me to notice his limited range and straightforward delivery.  Alexandra Silber's Maria was pleasing to hear, but she also lacked the ability to convey a deep connection with the character. I wonder how much this is due to having the singers perform from behind the orchestra rather than in front of it, which completely undermined last year's performance of Duke Bluebeard's Castle. From a singer's standpoint I can see how challenging it must be to connect with an audience separated by a small army of musicians in front of you, rather than beneath or behind.

Jessica Vosk's smoldering Anita, looking hot in a fitted red dress, looked like she wanted to really bust out during "America" but the song was unfortunately only minimally choreographed, and it was here that I found myself questioning if this work could be a complete success without the dancing, since so much of one's original experience with it is the fantastic work of Jerome Robbins, which was a part of the original design and not a secondary element to the score. For some, West Side Story is as much about the dancing as it is the music and without both it feels incomplete. For the most part the omission wasn't a bad decision, and likely a necessary one- MTT easily made a case for the music on its own merits, but at moments like this it definitely felt like watching Gone With The Wind in black and white.

The best vocal performance of the evening, actually the best moment of the entire concert, one so flawlessly delivered you could feel it resonate in the audience as it unfolded, was Julia Bullock's "Somewhere."  More of her please, at both Davies and across the street.

Refusing to be hobbled by the percussion section, the rest of the orchestra performed well (as was the case with the others singers and members of the chorus as Sharks and Jets) with an exceptional turn from the brass section led by Mark Inouye. MTT's pacing couldn't be faulted for drawing attention to nuances, but they came at the expense of delivering a vibrancy I for one would have appreciated. The audience clearly loved it- the performers received a sustained and exuberant standing ovation. There may be some tickets left for the remaining performances through Tuesday night and I recommend you get one if you can. Overall MTT, the orchestra, and the cast deliver handsomely even if they don't reach the heights one imagines they could and have before with similarly ambitious programs.

We hung around for a while afterwards for the final Davies After Hours event of the season, but spent most of it on the eastern 2nd tier balcony looking at City Hall, beautifully lit in rainbow colors while a steady stream of slow-moving headlights created a river of white light streaming in front of it. I really can't tell you much about what was going on inside. My attention was somewhere else.

Catching up, looking forward... (odds and ends)

Paradise: Love

Though I’ve seen Marc-Andre Hamelin perform a couple of times in the past two years I had yet to be swayed that he was really all that, as so many claim. My opinion changed after hearing him perform with the San Francisco Symphony last month in a terrific concert which featured the pianist soloing in Ravel’s Concerto For the Left Hand as well as Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Hamelin performed with nuanced beauty and a heady authority during the Ravel and if the Rhapsody didn’t quite reach the same heights it was due to conductor David Robertson’s less than wholly convincing control over the jazz elements in the score, which resulted in a performance which sang but didn’t quite swing. The concert also featured a knockout opener of Elliot Carter’s Variations for Orchestra and closed with Ravel’s La Valse. I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again- it’s inexplicable to me that Ravel is not given more respect as a composer- he was as good and often better than any of his contemporaries. During the intermission Lisa Hirsch and I had fun trying to determine the identity of the timpanist, Michael Israelievitch, who was terrific and hopefully is being considered for the seat being vacated by what-his-name.

In the second of three concerts in their inaugural season, Curious Flights celebrated the Britten Centennial with a diverse program featuring the Valinor Winds performing the Movement for Wind Sextet, the Friction Quartet with violist Jason Pyzowski performing the Phantasy in F Minor for String Quintet, tenor Brian Thorsett in a stunningly gorgeous Canticle III¸and best of all, Movements for a Clarinet Concerto- a work cobbled together from an unfinished concerto originally intended for Benny Goodman. This was performed by what was essentially a 50-odd piece pick-up orchestra featuring Curious Flights founder and prime mover Brenden Guy as the soloist, and led by Marin Symphony Music Director Alasdair Neale. Hearing this orchestra one would have never guessed they were organized for this particular concert- they sounded well-rehearsed and played at an exceptional level all around. The next program by Curious Flights, Transatlantic Crossings, will take place on October 18^th and will feature collaborations between contemporary British and Bay Area composers, performed in the concert hall of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Tickets ($15 GA, $10 for students) are available here. Program here.

Last weekend at The Lab in San Francisco’s Mission District, the Other Minds Festival brought Rhys Chatham to town as a warm-up of sorts for the November West Coast premiere of A Secret Rose (100 Guitars). Chatham was one six people playing electric guitars (with all amps seemingly turned up to “11”), and with a phenomenal drummer whose name a didn’t catch and a bassist who provided a booming Geezer Butler-ish bottom, they tore through an enthralling re-working of his Guitar Trio¸ renamed G3 to reflect the additional instruments. It was the most exhilarating 30 minutes of music I’ve heard all year, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store come November 17th. If you’re a local guitar player who wants to take part, contact the Other Minds Festival or apply online here- they are looking for people to participate ranging from talented amateurs to serious pros, and the rehearsal time will be minimal, but it promises to be a maximum pleasure, maybe even the event of the year.

This coming week has the SF Symphony performing lots of Stravinsky, and over at YBCA I'm really intrigued about the screenings of Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy- three films under title Love, Faith, and Hope happening now through June 30th. Check their website for the full schedule, but the films are being screened sequentially so don't wait- Love only has screenings left on 06/15 & 06/16. It's not necessary to see them all, but if it turns out to be your kind of cinema it would be a shame to miss one. Note that the films are deemed provocative and controversial, raunchy and explicit- Seidl had been compared to Fassbinder by none other than John Waters. Works for me. And of course Ojai North is taking place this weekend- last night's performance was, in a word- sensational (more to come on that).