The Opera Tattler

Gilbert conducts NY Phil in Berlioz, Bartók, Debussy, & Ravel

* Notes * 
Last night Alan Gilbert and New York Philharmonic (pictured left) played a second performance at San Francisco Symphony. The evening began with a very cheerful Le Corsaire Overture by Berlioz. Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 1 was sober in contrast, and soloist Glenn Dicterow played elegantly, with long lines. Dicterow listened carefully to the rest of the orchestra, not a surprise given that he is the concertmaster. At one point the violinist's sheet music was blown the wrong way, and Gilbert reached over to smooth out the page. showed a predilection for strong contrasts. After intermission we heard Debussy's La Mer, which was energetic. The harps were particularly good. The last piece was Ravel's La Valse. The orchestra seemed to relish the bits that were loud and fast, sounding rather bright and happy. There were two encores, including Emmanuel Chabrier's España and another that only involved the brass.

* Tattling * 
There was scolding before the performance began as photographs are not allowed in Davies. Otherwise, the audience was rather quiet. A young woman in Row W Seat 15 of the orchestra level could not help but point out various instruments and whispered various explanations to the other girl in Seat 13. Fortunately, this only happened on two occasions.

Kronos Quartet: Women's Voices

* Notes *
Kronos Quartet gave two performances under the title Women's Voices in San Francisco this weekend. The program featured four female composers and two female performers. Friday's concert began with the wry "Death to Kosmische" by Nicole Lizée, whose sense of humor came through the piece rather beautifully. Laurie Anderson's quieter Flow, arranged here by Jacob Garchik, made for a nice contrast. Mosaic, an arrangement of Delia Derbyshire's music by Danny Clay with David Harrington, followed. An impressive array of instruments were used in addition to the violins, viola, and cello of a normal string quartet.

The most anticipated work of the evening was the world premiere of Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ 's All Clear, in which the composer also performed. The đàn tranh, đàn bầu, k'ni, and artillery gongs were employed. Vo sang two texts. The audience even struck rocks together at a certain point in the music, as cued by two of the musicians on stage.

The second half of the performance was devoted to Derek Charke's Tundra Songs with special guest vocalist Tanya Tagaq (pictured above, photograph by Nadya Kwandeben), a Inuk throat singer. Tagaq's voice is unbelievable, both ethereal and visceral. Kronos Quartet did a fine job of supporting her, but not being dull in the least.

 * Tattling * 
I happened to be seated in Row O all by myself, but behind a person I happened to recognize as an arts activist from many years past. She whispered a few times to her companion, and I could not help but notice that the two women did not turn off their mobile phones and used them as timekeepers or flashlights when the need arose.

NCCO plays Grieg, Zwilich, Schoenberg, Heidrich

* Notes *
New Century Chamber Orchestra end the 2011-2012 season with a world premiere by Ellen Taafe Zwilich (pictured left). The Berkeley performance last night began with Grieg's Fra Holbergs tid, which was played with much vim. The likeable Zwilich piece, Commedia dell'Arte, followed. Music Director Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg was soloist, and stood surrounded by the orchestra. Salerno-Sonnenberg certainly plays with bravura. NCCO features string players, but the Zwilich employs percussion, which meant slapstick, tambourine, and toy drum in different movements was played by a violist, cellist and violinist respectively.

After intermission came a lusty rendition of Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht and Heidrich's entertaining Happy Birthday Variations. The musicians of NCCO always seem to be having a great time playing together and their joy was infectious.

 * Tattling * 
There much whispering in the second half of the performance, especially from near Row I Seats 107 to 111 on the orchestra level.

Welser-Möst conducts Cleveland in Beethoven, Adès, & Smetana

* Notes * 
Cleveland Orchestra (pictured left at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in 2008, photograph by Roger Mastroianni) played a second concert at San Francisco Symphony on Monday night. The program, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, began with Beethoven's Violin Concerto. The soloist, Nikolaj Znaider, showed a predilection for strong contrasts. One of the cadenzas was filled with choppy, violent double stops. At other points Znaider sounded rather plaintive, and he played with the orchestra, but did not blend in with the rest of the musicians. The horns lacked clarity in their first entrance but otherwise played perfectly well. The second half of the night featured Dances from Powder Her Face by Adès. The pieces were fun to listen to and looked fun to play. The evening ended with the first half of Smetana's Má vlast. The two harps that began Vyšehrad seemed almost scarily together. Vltava flowed, danced, and sparkled. The brass played nicely in Šárka.

* Tattling * 
There was light, excited talking during the Adès.

Welser-Möst conducts Cleveland in Mendelssohn, Saariaho, & Shostakovich

* Notes * 
Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst (pictured left, photograph by Roger Mastroianni), played the first of a two night residency at San Francisco Symphony yesterday. The performance started with Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, Scottish. The quiet parts were restrained and tasteful, the louder parts appropriately ponderous. The musicians played rather smoothly. After the intermission came the more interesting pieces, beginning with Saariaho's Orion, which Cleveland Orchestra commissioned a decade ago. The first movement, with the title "Memento mori," was a bit like a spectral, somewhat demented music box. The second movement ("Winter Sky") was more subdued, and the final one ("Hunter") spiraled in a dizzying fashion. The concert ended with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 6. The Largo was mysterious, the sound from the orchestra tense and together. The Allegro was bright, and the Presto exhilarating.

* Tattling * 
The audience was fairly quiet for most of the evening. A metallic noise in the Orchestra Level, near Row A Seats 6 and 8 was heard during the last movement of the Mendelssohn. An elderly couple in Row G Seats 111 and 112 spoke during the Shostakovich.

Dawn Harms conducts Symphony Parnassus

* Notes *
The amateur musicians of Symphony Parnassus barely all fit on the stage of San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Concert Hall yesterday afternoon. The performance began with Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. The playing was not entirely clear but was quite hearty. Before the Der Rosenkavalier Suite and excerpts from that opera, conductor Dawn Harms announced that Frederica von Stade would not being singing, due to a medical emergency in the family. Soprano Melody Moore (Marschallin) had gamely offered to sing von Stade's part in "Ist ein Traum / Spür' nur dich" with Nadine Sierra (Sophie). Both have lovely voices, and Moore did pretty well with Octavian. Concertmaster Robin Mayforth and the rest of the orchestra sounded robust and flowed nicely.

There was much to sort out before Clarice Assad's "SCATTERED," a concerto for scat singing, piano, and orchestra. A piano had to be brought on stage, as did an extensive drum set. The microphone set up for Assad was not operational, so another was used. Unfortunately this new one did not fit in the given stand, and someone had to simply hold it for Assad, since her hands were not free for most of the first movement. The piece did have a lot of appeal, Assad's playing and singing were strong, as was Keita Ogawa's percussion. The orchestra played with spirit.

The second half of the program consisted of Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2 (1930), known as quite appropriately as "Romantic." The playing was very pretty. Harms accidently threw her baton in between the violas and celli at one point in the second movement, but recovered quickly. Despite not going as expected, the performance was endearing.

* Tattling *
The audience was occasionally restless, and there was light talking at certain moments.

A Celebration of Bay Area Music at UUSF

* Notes *
Clarinetist Brenden Guy presented a genial afternoon of Bay Area music at First Unitarian Universalist Church in San Francisco on Sunday. The performance began with David Conte's rather lyrical Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1978), played by Guy and pianist Miles Graber. Valinor Winds played Nicholas Pavkovic's Eight Figments (2010), whose movements all sounded just as they were named. John Adams' China Gates were introduced and played by pianist Sarah Cahill, who brought the original score, but only used it toward the end of the piece. Before intermission came Joseph Stillwell's Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano (2012). Guy, violinist Kevin Rogers, cellist Erin Wang, and pianist Aaron Pike played the piece with exuberance.

The second half of the program started with Aaron Pike's Child's Play (2011), played by Rogers, Guy, and Pike. This seemed like fun to perform. Barnaby Palmer conducted Rogers, cellist Michelle Kwon, flutist Sasha Launer, Guy, and Graber in Dan Becker's Chaos Theory-inspired S.T.I.C. (1995). This was followed by Rogers playing Nigun - No. 2 from Baal Shem Suite by Bloch, accompanied by Graber. The piece was startling in contrast with the other more recent music, but was performed beautifully. The concert ended with Conte's Sextet (1999, arranged 2011), which the composer introduced. He explained that he initially had wanted Palmer to conduct this as well, as there are 100 meter changes in this 8 minute piece. However, Conte found that the way the musicians listened to one another made a maestro unnecessary.

* Tattling *
Because the American Mavericks concert at 2pm last Sunday ran until 4:15pm, it was a challenge for me and Axel Feldheim to run to this concert. We did make it exactly at 4:30pm.

The audience was rather silent. The acoustic this space made the piano sound slightly muddy.

American Mavericks: Monk, Reich, Foss, & Del Tredici

* Notes * 
The American Mavericks Festival at San Francisco Symphony had one last performance yesterday before heading on tour. The chamber music program included pieces by Steve Reich, Meredith Monk (pictured left), Lukas Foss, and David Del Tredici. The afternoon began with Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood (1973), which was played by Jack Van Geem, Raymond Froehlich, David Herbert, Tom Hemphill, and James Lee Wyatt III. These five musicians used claves of varying sizes to hit out various patterns. One person would start and then the others would join in one by one. It seemed simultaneously very simple and very complex, and the effect was meditative and pleasing.

The second piece that followed was newest by nearly forty years, in fact this was the first performance of Monk's Realm Variations (2012). The instrumentalists included Catherine Payne, piccolo; Nadja Tichman, violin; Adam Smyla, viola; Bruce Roberts, horn; Stephen Paulson, bassoon; Steve Sánchez, contrabass clarinet and B-flat clarinet; and Jieyin Wu, harp. Payne was featured, along with the voices of Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble. Monk's alto is distinctive, and was easily picked out from the other five voices. The music has an elemental quality to it, at times serene, and at others rather strident.

After the intermission came Foss' Echoi, which included the talents of Jeremy Denk, piano; Jack Van Geem, percussion; Carey Bell, clarinet; and Peter Wyrick, cello. The music was seemed rather fun to play, and third movement was perhaps most amusing. Denk plays in a showy manner, but it suited the piece just fine.

The final work was Del Tredici's Syzygy, scored for 21 musicians, including a soprano. Michael Tilson Thomas conducted the two contrast-filled songs, settings of poems by James Joyce. Kiera Duffy's voice seemed icy and hard, the amplification made her sound a bit harsh. Nicole Cash's horn playing was rather warm and round.

*Tattling*
There was a lot of talking, and many people were sternly hushed. The woman in front of me in W 19 loudly asked both the people around her if the Reich "was good." Perhaps if she had bothered to listen, she could have formed her own opinion.

Quatuor Ebène at SF Performances

* Notes *
Tonight Quatuor Ebène (pictured left, photograph by Julien Mignot) had a San Francisco debut at Herbst Theatre. The evening started with Mozart's String Quartet in D minor, K. 421, which was played with much personality, and what seemed to be an entirely historically uninformed manner. Somehow the confidence and rapport of the players made the latter irrelevant. Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 in D Major may have been better suited to the style of the ensemble, the playing was lush without being cloying. The third movement Noctturno: Andante was especially delightful.

The second half of the program consisted of Ravel's String Quartet in F Major. It was clear the quartet took the tempo markings to heart. The rhythms in the second movement were quite exhilarating and the changing meters in the last movement came off well. The encore was introduced rather coyly by cellist Raphaël Merlin as a piece by a quartet from Liverpool. The following instrumental version of Lennon and McCartney's "Come Together" was therefore all the more charming.

* Tattling *
The audience was silent and attentive until the encore.

Nott conducts CSO

* Notes * 
Last weekend Jonathan Nott (pictured left, photograph by Thomas Müller) conducted Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program of Schoenberg's Piano Concerto and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. The concert started with the former, the soloist being Pierre-Laurent Aimard, who played with clarity. The orchestra sounded neat and together. Schoenberg's music tends to put pressure on my sinuses, perhaps it is simply tension, and after the piano concerto was over, I sneezed three times in quick succession. Das Lied von der Erde was more engaging, even if we happened to be sitting on the wrong side of the singers. It felt a bit as if we were part of the brass section. Stuart Skelton's voice was not quite expansive enough to be heard that distinctly from the Center Terrace, but his sound is pretty and his diction comprehensible. Michelle DeYoung was perfectly audible, her voice has an interesting metallic quality, and she sang the last part rather well.

* Tattling * 
The audience completely quiet for the Schoenberg, but some talking was heard during the Mahler. A few people on the Orchestra Level were clearly asleep, but one young man near the front was rapt by DeYoung's performance.

Richard Egarr conducts PBO

* Notes *
Harpsichordist Richard Egarr (pictured left, photograph by Marco Borggreve) is currently conducting Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in a program entitled "Masters of the English Baroque." The performance last night in San Francisco started with Händel's Symphony from Saul. The concertmaster and the first oboe played well together in the Larghetto. The oboe solo in the Allegro seemed quite difficult. Egarr addressed the audience a good deal after the opening work, happily claiming Händel as English and introducing the second piece, Locke's Music from The Tempest. We were told the music had a "touch of the Monty Pythons" and was like "Stravinsky gone wrong." The music was rather descriptive, being rather stormy at beginning and end, more lilting in the middle. The dynamics employed were dramatic. Before intermission came Purcell's Suite from The Fairy Queen, which Egarr described as his "favorite bits from the show." The playing was utterly delightful, the dances especially vivid without being overly springy. The oboe duet was charming and remincent of birdsong.

The second half of the program started with Arne's Concerto for Harpsichord No. 5 in G minor. Egarr's playing was deft and it is always interesting to watch a soloist both play and conduct. As the harpsichord was placed perpendicular to the stage for Lawes' Consort Sett in Six Parts No. VII in C major, Egarr admitted the piece was for 6 gambas rather than violins, violas, and celli. The playing was together and clear. We ended with Händel's Concerto Grosso Op. 3, No. 5 in D minor, HWV 316 followed by "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" from Solomon.

* Tattling *
PBO's new executive director, Michael Costa, appeared on stage before the performance to inform us someone's wallet had been found and requested that all electronic devices be silenced. The audience was more or less quiet, only a few murmurs were heard.

Shostakovich's Prologue to Orango

* Notes *
Over the weekend Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted Los Angeles Philharmonic in the world premiere of Shostakovich's Prologue to Orango. The piece was orchestrated by Gerard McBurney, based on surviving piano sketches. There was relatively little singing in the 40 minutes of music, as the 11 parts included an overture and three dances. Some of the singers were difficult to hear. The Entertainer, bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, blended into the sound of the large orchestra. Timur Bekbosunov (Paul Mâche) sang to Salonen, instead of to us. While humorous, this did not serve the music well. Yulia Van Doren was convincing as Susanna, and her vibrato seemed appropriate and controlled. Michael Fabiano sounded sweet and sufficiently loud as the Zoologist. Eugene Brancoveanu gave a committed performance in the title role. Though he sang rather little, it was obvious how beautiful his voice is.

The concepts behind Peter Sellars' staging looked like they had been pulled together in less than five minutes. We were shown images of Occupy Wall Street, a Rhesus monkey with pins in its skull, fighter planes, citrus fruits, and so on and so forth. Members of the chorus (the Los Angeles Master Chorale) were dressed in orange, disregarding the fact that the words orange and orangutan are not related. The fruit (and color) are from Sanskrit via Arabic and the first half of the animal name comes from Malay for "man." There were moments of the production that were interesting, especially when Orango jumps from his pedestal and attacks Susanna, who was seated in the first row of the Orchestra Level. Overall the proceedings were not cohesive, and a concert version of the work would have been less insulting to the intelligence of even this audience.

The second half of the evening was devoted to Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4. Salonen made sharp distinctions between the parts of the piece, but kept the music moving. The differences in tempi and volume were all clear. The orchestra did sound a bit muddy, but there were no egregious errors. The symphony ended gorgeously, melting into silence.

* Tattling * 
The audience in the terrace was appallingly ill-behaved. Of 10 people in our immediate vicinity, 9 spoke during the music. More than one person fell asleep during the second piece. My companion tapped the knee of someone snoring in Row P to wake him up, and the offending person was irate, asking the person with him repeatedly if he had been making noise. After the performance there was rather ridiculous confrontation between awakener and woken.

Gil Shaham plays Brahms at SFS

* Notes * 
Michael Tilson Thomas is conducting San Francisco Symphony in a program of Wagner and Brahms this week. Yesterday's performance began with the Prelude to Act II of Lohengrin. For some reason, without the rest of the opera, this music struck me as being a bit more absurd than it usually does. The brass sounded clean but the woodwinds bordered on squeaky. The following Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 77 by Brahms with soloist Gil Shaham (pictured above, photograph by Boyd Hagen) was more nuanced, the dynamics were clear. Shaham seemed very happy to be playing with the orchestra, and listened attentively to each section. His own playing is precise but never cold. The woodwinds were lovely, especially William Bennett's solo at the beginning of the Adagio. The Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace was exactly that, filled with an irrepressible joy but never out of control as far as tempo is concerned.

The last piece of the evening was also from Brahms, his Quartet No. 1 in G minor for piano and strings, orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg. The soli from Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik were particularly beautiful. The principal clarinetist also played rather well. The final movement (Rondo alla Zingarese: Presto) was a great deal of fun.

* Tattling * 
There was whispering when Gil Shaham was not playing in the violin concerto, and between movements throughout the performance. The person in O 111 hit me (very lightly) in the head with her scarf as she put it on during the ovation for Shaham. I was also elbowed by the person in N 113 as he checked the time on his mobile after the last piece.

Thomas Cooley and Voices of Music

* Notes * 
Voices of Music opens the 2011-2012 season with delightful concerts that feature tenor Thomas Cooley (pictured left, photograph by Michael Schilhansl) this weekend in the Bay Area. At Saturday's San Francisco performance the small ensemble consisted of only five musicians: Lisa Grodin (violin), Carla Moore (violin), Elizabeth Reed (viola da gamba), David Tayler (archlute), and Hanneke van Proosdij (organ, harpsichord, and recorder). The program began with John Blow's rather apropos "Welcome, welcome, e'vry guest." All the other pieces that followed were from Purcell. Cooley sang "If music be the food of love," "If love's a sweet passion," "Now That the Sun Hath Veiled His Light," "Strike the viol," "See, see my many colour'd fields," "Musick for a while," "Fly, swift, ye hours," "Oh! Fair Cedaria," and "Fairest Isle." This was, of course, interspersed with instrumental music, in this case seven more Purcell pieces. Cooley's voice is bright and pretty. His diction is clear and easily comprehensible. The playing never detracted from his voice, and was precise throughout. The violins were especially lively, even strident when necessary. The encore was "Strike the viol."

* Tattling * 
The audience was silent and no electronic noise was noted. A service dog in the front row would stand up and wag its tail whenever there was applause.

Vivica Genaux at PBO

* Notes * 
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra just completed a run of performances with mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux (pictured left, photograph by Christian Steiner) last weekend in Berkeley. The ensemble, conducted by Nicholas McGegan, started Sunday evening's performance with Johann Friedrich Fasch's Concerto for Two Flutes, Two Oboes, and Two Bassoons in D minor. The orchestra lilted, but aforementioned woodwinds were somewhat squeaky at times. Genaux joined the musicians for three Vivaldi arias: "Cor mio che sei" from Atenaide, "Sin nel placido soggiorno" from La fede tradita, and "Alma oppressa" from La fida ninfa. The playing was clean and spirited. Genaux was obviously listening to the orchestra, and seemed quite genial. Her sound is precise, warm, and clear. Before intermission we heard the charming Concerto in D major, TWV 44:1 "Sinfonia Spirituosa" by Telemann. The playing was light and sweet. Genaux returned to the stage for Porpora's "Or la nube procellosa" from Artaserse and "Oh volesser gli Dei...Dolci, freschi aurette" from Polifemo. These arias, along with the following "Qual guerriero in campo armato" from Broschi's Idaspe, were written for Farinelli. Genaux breathing was audible but not distracting, her breath well supported. The overall effect was altogether lovely. Genaux's encore was "Agitata da due venti" from Vivaldi's Griselda. She explained that "due venti" also means "220," as in the voltage formerly used in Italy. The evening ended with Ramaeu"s Orchestral suite from La Guirlande, which featured the percussionist on bells, drum, triangle, and tambourine.

* Tattling * 
Executive Director of PBO, Peter Pastreich, asked us to turn off our cellular phones before the performance, as they are not period instruments. Perhaps he was inspired by the phone that rang during Jarrousky's concert earlier in the day, which Pastreich also attended. In any case, no electronic noise was noted here.