Gershwin++ from Thibaudet and Feinstein

Michael Feinstein at his club Feinstein's/54 Below in 2017 (photograph by Lepestate taken on June 8, 2017, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license)

Last night was one of those rare occasions when the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) performs in Davies Symphony Hall for a Great Performers Series program. The “great performers” were two pianists with highly different backgrounds. Jean-Yves Thibaudet first performed with SFS in 1994 and has been a frequent visitor to Davies since then. Michael Feinstein, on the other hand, has a nightclub at the Nikko Hotel called (what else?) Feinstein’s at the Nikko. He also often adds vocals to his piano work.

The title of last night’s program was Two Pianos: Who Could Ask for Anything More? Those recognizing the question as words from a song were probably not surprised that the second half of that program was devoted entirely to George Gershwin, who also occupied a generous portion of the first half. The other composers contributing to that portion were (in order of appearance), Richard Rogers, Leslie Bricusse, George Gershwin, Vincent Youmans, and Leonard Bernstein.

Both Thibaudet and Feinstein were well enough established in their reputations to deliver performances in which the music mattered more than the musicians. Their approaches to repertoire may have been different; but their delivery was consistently solid, whether it involved an arrangement of one of Gershwin’s piano preludes or an instrumental account of an affectionate standard, such as “The Man I Love.” Most importantly, while the program was more than abundant over the course of the entire evening, there was never the slightest feeling that things might be going on for a bit too long.

I must confess that, more often than not, I tend to shy away from the “pops” approach to many of the best selections of popular music from the twentieth century. Too many orchestral arrangements tend to overwhelm the spirit of music that required little more than a combo for backup. That said, Keith Lockhart’s approach to leading the SFS ensemble captured the spirit behind the many tunes that Thibaudet and Feinstein had selected.

In spite of the diversity of composers in the first half, last night’s program was very much a tribute to Gershwin and his legacy. Feinstein has been committed to keeping the flame of that legacy burning, and last night it was clear that Thibaudet was just as eager to keep that commitment. My guess is that anyone from my generation in the audience relished every moment; and, on the basis of audience response, there is some hope that at least one more generation will be willing to carry the torch.