The full title of last night’s Great Performers Series event, presented by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), was Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler’s House. He was joined by a septet called the Klezmer Conservatory Band, along with five other musicians and music director and arranger Hankus Netsky, who also served as interlocutor for the occasion. In that setting, Perlman was one of many; and, while he provided several engaging solo riffs, he seemed to be content with the background for the most part.
That made the program title a bit misleading. Worse was that, in his capacity as host, Netsky cranked his annoying knob up to eleven. He seemed more interested in getting the audience to dance in the aisles (he succeeded … with a vengeance) than in letting both the players and the music speak for themselves. Writing as one that has relished every moment of any performance by the Veretski Pass klezmer trio (which presented a streamed performance for SFS during the pandemic), I must confess that my impression of any instant from last night’s performance was one of extreme agony. (To be fair, given the overall audience reception, my opinion of an extreme minority!)
To paraphrase an old Borscht Belt joke: Itzhak Perlman played klezmer last night; klezmer lost!
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