SFS: Final 2025–26 Chamber Music Program

Yesterday afternoon Davies Symphony Hall saw the final chamber music recital the concert season performed by members of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS). As usual, the program was an engagingly diverse one with music from the current century in the first half and selections from the twentieth in the second. It may also be interesting to note that the first half concluded with the newest work on the program, and the program ended with the oldest.

Cover of the first edition of the opera score that may have influenced Fauré (from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Indeed, that “final gesture” was the only selection that was familiar to me. That is because the EMI complete-works collection of the chamber music of  Gabriel Fauré has been in my collection for longer than I can remember! The music itself portended some finality of its own, since Fauré composed his Opus 120 piano trio in D minor in 1923, the year before the year of his death. That said, there is nothing moribund about the music itself, which was clearly evident in the performance given by Samantha Cho at the piano performing with violinist Florin Parvulescu and Amos Yang on cello. Indeed, Fauré began the final movement with a “punch line” quoting the “climax phrase” from “Vesti la giubba,” the aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci.”

The other twentieth-century work on the program was composed over half a century later, Joan Tower’s “Petroushskates.” Ironically, this music had previously surfaced in the 53rd season of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, when it was performed on April 21, 2024. Sadly, I was unable to attend that program; so yesterday afternoon was my “first contact.” Most memorable was the cello pizzicato performance by Amos Yang accompanying the saucy clarinet work by Yuhsin Galaxy Su. (Those familiar with the music of Igor Stravinsky know that his music for the “Petrushka” ballet had some saucy clarinet work.)

The most recent work on the program was composed by Sarn Oliver, a member of the SFS First Violin section. The full title of his offering was “CAT (Contemporary Artful Sonorities) String Quartet.” This was a four-movement composition inspired by the cats in Oliver’s house. He led the quartet with violinist Mariko Smiley, Leonid Plashinov-Johnson on viola, and cellist Davis You. They were joined by soprano Jesslyn Thomas delivering the text from (in Oliver’s program note) “cat-themed poetry by Emily Dickinson, Edward Lear and T.S. Eliot.” Unfortunately, Thomas had serious diction problems, which pretty much undermined all of those sources. (I was able to make out “Macavity” from Eliot’s Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and the Lear phrase about “a ring at the end of his nose” from “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.”)

Clarity was much more solid in the opening selection. “Taheke” is the Māori word for “waterfall” and the title of a three-movement composition by Gareth Farr. Each movement depicts a different waterfall in New Zealand, the second being on the grounds of the composer’s home. The music is a duo for flute (Blair Francis Paponiu) and harp (Katherine Siochi); and the clarity of their interplay could not have been better. They provided the perfect overture for the high spirits of Oliver’s composition.

Let the summer season begin!

Tiffany Poon’s Third CMSF Recital in Herbst

Tiffany Poon on the cover of her Nature album (from the Amazon.com Web page)

Yesterday afternoon pianist Tiffany Poon returned to Herbst Theatre for her third appearance as a Chamber Music San Francisco (CMSF) recitalist. Some readers may recall my disappointment with her last performance two years ago, which I described as “a very long program that offered absolutely nothing to satisfy any seriously attentive listener.” The second half of the new program was devoted to the recent release of her Nature album, while the first half was dominated by Frédéric Chopin’s Opus 35 sonata in B-flat minor, his second sonata given the title “Funeral March.”

This was definitely an improvement over her last visit, when she performed the full cycle of Chopin’s Opus 28, his set of 24 preludes in all major and minor keys. Over the course of the four movements of Opus 35, she delivered a firm grasp on intensity without devolving into banging. The second half of the program accounted for about half of the tracks on the Nature album. These were presented in roughly chronological order.

She began in the Baroque period with one of the keyboard compositions by François Couperin, “Les fauvétes plaintive” (the mournful warblers), coupled with a similar setting by Jean-Philippe Rameau, “Les tendres plaintes” (tender complaints) from the RCT 3 suite in D major in the Pièces de Clavecin collection. The program then leapt forward about a little less than two centuries with selections by Gabriel Fauré, Camille Saint-Saëns, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and Lili Boulanger.

Fauré’s first barcarolle, Opus 26 in A minor, was impeded by a heavy damper pedal. This was particularly frustrating, since the theme was carried by the left hand. Saint-Saëns was represented by “Le cygne” (the swan), the best-known movement from The Carnival of the Animals, arranged for solo piano by Lucien Garban. This was followed by Debussy’s first “Arabesque” composition, with a middle section that was overly rushed. Poon found herself on sounder ground with Maurice Ravel, beginning with “Jeux d’eau” and followed by the second and third of the Miroirs compositions. Boulanger’s “D’un jardin clair” concluded the program, followed by an encore performance of Franz Liszt’s “Liebestraum No. 3” in A-flat major.

Taken as a whole, that seriously attentive listener did not have to contend with “absolutely nothing.” Nevertheless, the performance, taken as a whole, was an uneven one. Poon clearly wanted her audience to appreciate Boulanger; and, as far as I am concerned, she succeeded. Similarly, her approach to playing Rameau with a contemporary instrument could not have been more engaging; and, as was already observed, Ravel was a high point in her program. Taken as a whole, the program may have been uneven; but the assets were still worthy of attentive listening.

Jennifer Koh Surveys Three French Composers

Jennifer Koh (photograph by Juergen Frank, from Wikimedia Commons Web page, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license)

Last night violinist Jennifer Koh returned to Herbst Theatre to give her fourteenth recital performance for San Francisco Performances. Accompanied at the piano by Thomas Sauer, her program was structured around three French composers from roughly a century ago. She began with the least familiar of those composers, Lili Boulanger, who lived only a quarter century but left a significant repertoire of music from the early twentieth century. The repertoire of the other two composers, Maurice Ravel and Gabriel Fauré (in “order of appearance” on the program) consisted of violin sonatas more familiar to chamber music lovers. Each half of the program also included a more recent composition. Tania León’s “Para Violin y Piano” was situated between Boulanger and Ravel, while Kaija Saariaho’s “Tocar” began the second half of the program.

As has been the case in my many previous recital encounters with Koh, her command of the repertoire was unquestionably solid. Nevertheless, as is often frequently the case, there were offerings that overstayed their welcome. I first became aware of León when I was living in Connecticut in 1981; and I have tried to follow her work since then, even as I moved from one coast to the other. That included keeping up with an album of her orchestral music released this past July. Nevertheless, last night’s selection went on longer than even sympathetic attention could sustain. To be fair, however, I felt the same way about the final movement of Ravel’s second violin sonata in G major, which concluded the first half of the program!

Far more interesting (for me at least) was my encounter with a performance of Kaija Saariaho’s “Tocar.” I became familiar with this piece when I made it a point to start collecting recordings of that composer’s music, during the first decade of the current century. Koh’s performance triggered fond memories of when I first came to know “Tocar” through that collection. The contrast with the Fauré sonata that followed it made the second half of the program the high point of the evening for me.

It is always good (if not healthy) to leave a recital with a sense of satisfaction!

SFP: Remainder of February, 2026

Having written about San Francisco Performances (SFP) events during the first half of February exactly one week ago, it is now time to account for the last two performances that will take place towards the end of that month. These will take place on the last two Fridays. As usual, both programs will begin at 7:30 p.m.; and each will be a different sub-genre of chamber music. Specific dates are as follows:

Jennifer Koh with her violin (photograph by Juergen Frank, from her SFP Web page)

February 20: Unless I am mistaken, violinist Jennifer Koh has not visited San Francisco since the SFP performance of Summer Music Sessions 2021, when she was part of a trio with Jay Campbell on cello and pianist Timo Andres. She will return next month for a violin recital performed with piano accompaniment provided by Thomas Sauer. She has structured her program around two violin sonatas by French composers. She will conclude the first half of the program with Maurice Ravel’s M. 77 second sonata in G major, and the second half will conclude with Gabriel Fauré’s first sonata, his Opus 13 in A major. Each of these sonatas will be preceded by a shorter work by a contemporary composer. Tania Léon’s “Para Violin y Piano” will precede Ravel, and the second half of the program will begin with Kaija Saariaho’s “Tocar.” The program will begin with a selection of compositions by Lili Boulanger.

February 27: The entire program will be the West Coast premiere performance of note to a friend by David Lang. Vocalist Theo Bleckman will be accompanied by the Attacca Quartet, whose members are violinists Amy Schroeder and Domenic Salerni, Nathan Schram on viola, and cellist Andrew Yee. The texts of the “note” are taken from works by the Japanese novelist Ryunosuke Akutagawa, who is probably best known as the author of Rashomon.

Music in the Mishkan Announces 27th Season

Poster design for the Music in the Mishkan season (from last year’s announcement of the 26th season)

Violinist Randall Weiss recently announced plans for the 27th season of Music in the Mishkan. He is a long-time member of The Bridge Players. The season will consist of only two performances, which will be performed by the same piano quartet. The pianist will be Amy Zanrosso, and Weiss will be joined by violist Natalia Vershilova and Victoria Ehrlich on cello. Both concerts will be Sunday afternoon events, beginning at 4 p.m. Dates and program selections will be as follows:

February 15: In 1999 Lera Auerbach composed three cycles of 24 preludes accounting for all major and minor keys. According to my records, the chronological order of these cycles accounts for piano, cello, and violin, the last two being duo performances with piano accompaniment. For the first Mishkan performance, Weiss will perform selections from the violin cycle and Ehrlich will do the same drawing upon the cello cycle. These selections will be preceded by a violin sonata in D minor composed by Leon Reinach, who was murdered in the Holocaust. The remainder of the program will offer more familiar selections: Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 120 piano trio in D minor and Robert Schumann’s Opus 47 piano quartet in E-flat major.

April 12: The second program will feature the world premiere of a piano trio by Alex Malinas. It will begin with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 478 piano quartet in G minor. The second half of the program will be devoted to Camille Saint-Saëns’ Opus 41 piano quartet in B-flat major.

As in the past, these performances will take place at the Sha’ar Zahav synagogue. It is located in the Mission at 290 Dolores Street. Ticket prices are $30 for members and $35 for others. All purchases are processed through a single Web page. There will be no physical tickets, but a list will be kept at the door.

Bridge Releases Album of Cellist Louise Dubin

Cover of the album being discussed (from its Bandcamp Web page)

The beginning of this month saw the release by Bridge Records of the album Passages, a diversity of selections performed by cellist Louise Dubin, joined by another cellist, Julia Bruskin, and pianist Spencer Meyer. The subtitle of the album is “French Cello Works;” and it continues her interest in the music of Auguste Franchomme, which had previously been recorded on the Delos album The Franchomme Project, on which she also performed with Bruskin. The other composers represented on the album are (in order of appearance) Charles Koechlin, Gabriel Fauré, Frédéric Chopin (piano music arranged for cello and piano by Franchomme), Francis Poulenc (arranged by Maurice Gendron), Philippe Hersant, and Claude Debussy.

Most listeners will probably find this album a journey of discovery. Dubin saved the most familiar for the last, Debussy’s only sonata for cello and piano. Some readers may also recognize Franchomme’s name from when cellist Camille Thomas played his arrangements of Chopin for a San Francisco Performances recital in April of 2024. Dubin’s album includes another such arrangement, this time of the seventh the twelve études collected in Opus 25.

While it would be fair to say that Dubin is not shy about diversity, I found that both the selections for this new album and how they were ordered began to feel like “one thing after another” after the first few tracks. This is not to say that her technique lacks expressiveness. Nevertheless, after listening to the album several times, I found that my attention began to drift somewhere around the middle of the fourteen tracks. Perhaps if I sat in the audience for one of Dubin’s recitals, I would have come away with more positive impressions.

Ian Scarfe to Return to Monument with Acrobatics

Poster design for the performance being discussed, with photographs of Kendra Grittani, Ian Scarfe, and Ainsley Fleming-Wood (from the Groupmuse event page)

The title of the next program that pianist Ian Scarfe has prepared for Monument SF is Suspended Harmony. This will have nothing to do with music theory. Rather, aerial dancer Ainsley Fleming-Wood will perform above the heads of Scarfe and cellist Kendra Grittani. With the exception of Scarfe’s solo performance of preludes and nocturnes by Frédéric Chopin, all of the composers on the program will be French.

The composer to receive the most attention will be Claude Debussy, whose sonata for cello and piano will conclude the program. Debussy will also begin the program with two movements from his L. 75 Suite bergamasque, the opening “Prélude” and the most familiar “Clair de lune.” These will be separated by the first of the two L. 66 compositions, given the title Two Arabesques. The second half of the program will have three selections by Gabriel Fauré: the Opus 16 “Berceuse,” originally scored for piano and violin, “Après un rêve,” the first of the three Opus 7 songs, and the one other work composed for cello and piano, the Opus 24 “Élégie.” The first half of the program will conclude with selections from two of Erik Satie’s three-piece sets, Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies.

Many readers probably know by now that the Monument event space is located in SoMa at 140 9th Street. This performance will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 19. As in the past, ticketing is being managed by Groupmuse, which has created a Web page for reservations.

Ian Scarfe to Return to Century Club

Recently, I have been trying to do my best to keep up with concerts by pianist Ian Scarfe at Monument SF. This past June he used the venue as a platform for the San Francisco performance of music from the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival. Later this month, he will return to another venue where I have seen him in action, the Century Club of California.

Cellist Kendra Grittani, who will be giving her first performance with pianist Ian Scarfe this coming September 19

This will be a program entitled Harmonies, Sonorities, and Birdsong. Scarfe will be joined by cellist Kendra Grittani for a “grand finale” performance of Claude Debussy’s (only) sonata for cello and piano. The second half of the program will begin with three compositions by Debussy’s predecessor in France, Gabriel Fauré, only one of which was composed for cello and piano, the Opus 24 “Élégie.” The second half will begin with the Opus 17 “Berceuse,” which was originally composed for violin and piano, followed by the first of the three Opus 7 songs, “Après un rêve.”

The first half of the program will open with two solo piano compositions by Edvard Grieg, the keyboard version of the “Morning” music, originally composed as music for a performance of Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt. This will be followed by “Småfugl” (little bird), the fourth of the six pieces in Opus 43, the third of the books given the title Lyric Pieces. More birds will appear in the performance of Franz Liszt’s S. 175/1, “St. Francis of Assisi's sermon to the birds,” the first of the two pieces in his Deux Légendes collection. There will then be a final avian appearance in Amy Beach’s Opus 92, “A Hermit Thrush at Eve.” The first half of the program will conclude with the nocturne in G-flat major composed by Ottorino Respighi.

The Century Club is located at 1355 Franklin Street, between Post Street and Sutter Street. However, all arrangements must be made through a Groupmuse Web page. Ticket prices begin at $25, with $5 to hold a reservation. The performance will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 21; and doors will open at 1:30 p.m. Drinks will be provided (both with and without alcohol). However, the club itself is not wheelchair accessible.

The Kanneh-Mason Duo in Davies Last Night

Sheku Kanneh-Mason (photograph by Ollie Ali, courtesy of SFS)

Last night saw the final Great Performers Series recital to be presented by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) this season in Davies Symphony Hall. The recitalist was cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who made his SFS Orchestra Series debut almost exactly a year ago, when he was the soloist in a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Opus 107, the first of his two cello concertos. For his SFS Great Performers debut, he was accompanied at the piano by his sister Isata.

The first half of the program presented two cello sonatas separated by a little less than a century. The program began with Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 45, his first cello sonata in B-flat major. This was coupled with another “first cello sonata,” Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 109 in D minor. The remaining sonata concluded the second half of the program, Francis Poulenc’s only sonata for cello and piano. This was composed in 1948; and, since the Mendelssohn sonata was composed in 1838, the program offered roughly a century of sonatas. These were complemented by the one recent work on the program, “Tor Mordôn,” composed by Natalie Klouda in 2024.

As expected, this was a radical shift from the rhetorical stances of the sonata selections. I have noticed that many recent compositions tend to establish their identities through unique sonorities, as well as thematic material. The second movement of “Tor Mordôn” involved a fair amount of snap pizzicato work, which was definitely consistent with the “Con fuoco” tempo marking. Nevertheless, when taken as a whole, the music did little to seize attention, reminding me of my composition teacher, who always criticized his pupils for “noodling.”

Sadly, the more traditional offerings did not fare much better. Both of the sonatas preceding the intermission came across as long-winded. Mind you, Mendelssohn tended to revel in outbursts of enthusiasm. One could sense that through the different perspectives of his sonata’s three movements, but each of them went on for longer than even attentive patience could endure. Ironically, the enthusiasm that Poulenc brought to his sonata came across as little more than an outpouring of notes.

Neither of the two encores was announced. The first sounded like an arrangement of one of the orchestral works by Manuel de Falla. The other sounded like more Mendelssohn. Neither left me with an urge to learn more about them.

Guarneri Quartet: its 19th Century Comfort Zone

The above claim that the nineteenth century was the “comfort zone” of the Guarneri Quartet can be affirmed by the fact that the composers from that century account for the “lion’s share” of the 49 CDs in the Sony Masterworks box set, Guarneri Quartet: The Complete Recordings 1965–2005 (not including the previously reported releases of works by Franz Schubert). As might be guessed, primary attention goes to what may be called the “Schumann-Brahms axis,” given that some of the multiple-CD albums in the collection are devoted to “side-by-side” recordings of music by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Brahms first met Robert and Clara Schumann in October of 1853, and he would maintain a relationship with Clara after Robert’s death. (Clara, in turn, would perform Brahms’ music in her recitals.)

Those “side-by-side” albums account for all of the quartets by both of the composers, as well as the album of the three Brahms piano quartets coupled with Schumann’s Opus 44 piano quintet. Many readers probably already know that Arnold Schoenberg was so taken with the first of these quartets, Opus 25 in G minor, that he orchestrated the score, hoping that the music would receive more attention. (That attention would benefit from George Balanchine decision to choreograph the Schoenberg version.) The pianist for these compositions is none other than Artur Rubinstein, who also joined the Guarneri in their recording of Brahms’ Opus 34 quintet in F minor. As far as the string quartets are concerned, it may will be the case that I have not encountered any of them since the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan celebrated the sesquicentenary of the birth of Johannes Brahms (born in 1833) with a marathon series of concerts covering all of his chamber music for piano and strings.

Photograph of Dvořák with his friends and family in New York (1893 photograph by unknown photographer, public domain, from Wikimedia Commons)

Antonín Dvořák receives just as much attention as Brahms in the Guarneri repertoire. Nevertheless, the account of string quartets is relatively sparse, perhaps under the assumption that only Opus 96 in F major, known as the “American” quartet, tended to draw audience enthusiasm. On the other hand, Rubinstein again appears as “guest artist for both the Opus 81 piano quintet in A major and the Opus 87 piano quartet in E-flat major. On the other hand, I have confess a fondness for the Opus 74 terzetto, which I came to know and love through another choreographer of Dvořák’s music, Antony Tudor. His use of Opus 74 near the beginning of Leaves are Fading was responsible for getting me hooked on future encounters with Dvořák’s chamber music for strings.

As might be guessed, the collection includes Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 20 octet in E-flat major, which was recorded during the Marlboro Music Festival. The Guarneri also recorded an early Mendelssohn quartet, Opus 13 in A minor, coupled with Edvard Grieg’s Opus 27 quartet in G minor. The only other composer to receive more than one CD is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. His Opus 11 quartet is D major is coupled with Giuseppe Verdi’s E minor quartet. The other album is devoted entirely to the Opus 70 “Souvenir de Florence” sextet, which includes violist Boris Kroyt and Mischa Schneider on cello.

There is one more Rubinstein album. He joins the ensemble in performing Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 15 piano quartet in C minor. This early work in the Fauré canon is coupled with one of the latest, his Opus 121 string quartet. Finally, the quartet accounts for the latter end of the nineteenth century with an album that couples two “second quartets.” These are the D major quartet by Alexander Borodin and the Opus 15 (second) quartet by Ernst von Dohnányi, composed in the key of D-flat major.

Taken as a whole, Guarneri seems to have done a good job in embracing the rich breadth of the nineteenth century, providing an engaging diversity in the recordings they released for this period.

Scarfe to Accompany Pole Dancing at Monument

Pole dancers to be accompanied by pianist Ian Scarfe (right) and cellist Kendra Grittani

Next month pianist Ian Scarfe, Director of the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival, will return to Monument SF to present a program that will definitely be “something completely different.” He will be joined by cellist Kendra Grittani, but their performance will be a far cry from the usual chamber music recital. That is because their music will serve as accompaniment for pole dancers. Monument is an ideal venue for such an event, since the space has been used by both dancers and circus artists for training and performance.

Both musicians will give solo performances in addition to their duo work. Grittani will play Jessie Montgomery’s solo cello rhapsody. Scarfe will open the program with a prelude-fugue coupling in F-sharp major by Johann Sebastian Bach. Presumably, this will be from The Well-Tempered Clavier; but the advance material for this show did not identify which book! He will also play a selection of the etudes that Philip Glass composed and published in two volumes, but the specifics have not yet been finalized. The duo performances will include Clara Schumann’s Opus 22, a set of three Romanze, as well as arrangements of works by Gabriel Fauré (his familiar Opus 50 “Pavane”) and Amy Beach (the less familiar Opus 15 “Dreaming”). As of this writing, the pole dancers have not yet been identified.

Many readers probably know by now that the Monument event space is located in SoMa at 140 9th Street. This performance will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 15. As in the past, ticketing is being managed by Groupmuse, which has created a Web page for reservations.

Randall Goosby’s Debut with SFP

Violinist Randall Goosby is no stranger to San Francisco. He performed in Davies Symphony Hall in April of 2022 in the second of the four Spotlight Series recitals that San Francisco Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen launched to feature entirely debut concerts. Goosby’s accompanist was pianist Zhu Wang. Last night he made his first appearance in Herbst Theatre, this time under the auspices of San Francisco Performances; and he was again accompanied by Wang.

The first half of the program presented two sonatas for two decidedly different eras in French history. It began with the last in a set of three violin sonatas by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Joseph Bologne. His Wikipedia page cites him as “the first classical composer of African descent to attain widespread acclaim in European music;” and my encounters with his music have been consistently engaging. Goosby’s selection was in the key of G minor with only two movements, the usual opening Allegro followed by a Rondo gracioso. Most interesting was the composer’s attentiveness to balancing the thematic material between both players, making this an ideal selection to introduce both Goosby and Wang to the audience.

This was followed by the more familiar Opus 13 of Gabriel Fauré, his first violin sonata composed in the key of A major. The Fauré catalog plays a major role in my collection of recordings. Nevertheless, I think this was my first encounter with this sonata in performance; and I could not have been more delighted with the listening experience.

The second half of the program bridged the two ends of the nineteenth century. It began in the final decade with Ernest Chausson’s Opus 25, given simply the title “Poème.” This was originally composed for full orchestra with violin solo and subsequently given the duo arrangement performed last night.

The program concluded with music originally composed for violin and piano, Franz Schubert’s D. 895 in B minor, given the title “Rondeau brillant.” Schubert composed only six duos for violin and piano; and this was the only one to be published (by Artaria) in his lifetime. The overall rhetoric can best be described as “frantically witty,” almost as if it is a reflection of maintaining a sense of humor in a state of desperation. Both Goosby and Wang were clearly intensely focused on performance, allowing the dispositions to arise on their own accord.

Randall Goosby on the cover of the Deluxe Edition of his Roots album (from its Amazon.com Web page)

Goosby turned to Florence Price for his encore. His selection was “Elfentanz,” one of the tracks on the “Deluxe Edition” of his Roots album. This made for a witty conclusion to smooth things off after Schubert. Goosby is definitely a recitalist with an imaginative and engaging approach to creating programs!

Randall Goosby Coming to SFP

Randall Goosby (photograph by Kaupo Kikkas, from the SFP Web page for purchasing tickets)

I have the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) to thank for introducing me to violinist Randall Goosby. When then Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen decided to launch the Spotlight Series in the first half of 2022 as a platform for debut recitals in Davies Symphony Hall, the featured recitalist in the second program was Goosby, performing with pianist Zhu Wang. That event took place on April 13. By that time I had already written about his debut album Roots, so I was well prepared for seeing him “in the flesh.”

He then went on to give a debut performance of Florence Price’s D minor (second) violin concerto early in the SFS season in September. Since that time, my only contact with Goosby took place at the beginning of last month, when he performed that same concerto with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in one of their “live HD webcast” offerings. By way of an encore on that occasion, he performed his own orchestral arrangement of “Adoration,” which Price had originally composed for organ. (This was one of the tracks on Roots.)

All that background should make it clear that I am definitely looking forward to Goosby’s return, which will be the second San Francisco Performances (SFP) recital of next month (the first having been the piano recital that Joyce Yang will bring to Herbst on the first day of the month). Rather than continuing his Price repertoire, he will begin his program over a century earlier with a performance of the third violin sonata by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Joseph Bologne. This was the last of the three sonatas published as his Opus 1a. This will be followed by another sonata, which will probably be familiar to most violinists, Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 13, his first such sonata composed in the key of A major. The second half of the program will begin with Ernest Chausson’s Opus 25 “Poème.” (Chausson was aware of the younger Fauré, and the latter was present at the former’s funeral.) The final selection will be Franz Schubert’s D. 895 rondo for violin and piano composed in the key of B minor. Wang will again be Goosby’s accompanist.

This program will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 3. Ticket prices are $70 (premium Orchestra and front and center Dress Circle), $60 (remainder of Orchestra, all Side Boxes, and center rear Dress Circle), and $50 (remaining Dress Circle and Balcony). As always, they may be purchased through an SFP secure Web page. The venue will be Herbst Theatre, whose entrance is the main entrance to the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, located on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. The venue is excellent for public transportation, since that corner has Muni bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel.

Bruno Monteiro’s Franco-Belgian Discoveries

Cover of album being discussed (courtesy of ET'ETERA)

Readers may recall that, this past spring, violinist Bruno Monteiro released his 20th Century and Forward album of his duo performances with pianist João Paulo Santos. The “forward” composer was Ivan Moody, who had died this past January. This Friday will see the release of this duo’s second album of the year. The Franco-Belgian Album turns back the close to the late nineteenth century, presenting compositions by Henri Vieuxtemps, César Franck, Gabriel Fauré, and Camille Saint-Saëns. In then concludes with an arrangement composed by Eugéne Ysaÿe, reworking a Saint-Saëns piano étude (Opus 52, Number 6) into a violin-piano duo. As of this writing, the best site for pre-orders is an imusic Web page, which is based in Denmark but deals in United States currency!

The major work on the program is the four-movement “grand sonata” by Vieuxtemps. I must confess that my knowledge of this composer is very limited. The fact that I know anything about him at all can be attributed to Jascha Heifetz and Gidon Kremer. I have to confess that Monteiro’s account of that sonata was not particularly convincing, which left me wondering if even he was convinced.

The remaining selection on the album were also not particularly familiar to me through either recital encounters or recordings. However, I came away with the impression what both violinist and accompanist were on more familiar ground for these selections. Indeed, since most of my knowledge of Franck comes from his orchestral and organ music, I found myself particularly drawn to his duo tracks on the album.

As always, my thoughts are reflections of personal tastes; and I just hope that any of those that sail under my flag will be willing to skip over the opening four tracks if they are put off by Vieuxtemps, since there are more than enough gems in the remaining selections!

Thoroughly Engaging Fauré from SFS Chorus

The organ by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll at La Madeleine, which would have been used when Fauré’s Opus 48 was first performed (photographer identified as “Mbzt,” from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license)

Unless I am mistaken, last night was the first opportunity this season to listen to the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) Chorus, prepared by Director Jenny Wong, perform in Davies Symphony Hall. The second half of the program was devoted entirely to Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 48 setting of the Requiem Mass text. This is an almost entirely choral performance with only one solo opportunity for soprano (Liv Redpath) and a few more for bass-baritone (Michael Sumuel). The conductor was Kazuki Yamada, making his SFS debut.

Fauré’s setting is not a complete one. Most evident is the absence of the Dies irae sequence. This is consistent with the observation on this composition’s Wikipedia page: “Its focus is on eternal rest and consolation.” The Dies irae text offers neither of those! Nevertheless, the work was first performed for a funeral Mass that took place in the Parisian church La Madeleine in 1888. The music has an almost understated quality, which seems to suggest that Fauré did not wish to intrude on the liturgical setting.

In last night’s more secular conditions, however, one could appreciate Fauré’s efforts strictly for their musical virtues. Most of the score involves what amounts to a discreet understatement of the text’s reflections on death. While I have not examined the score in detail, I suspect that the dynamics that rise above mezzo-piano are few and far between. In addition, many of the instrumental passages involve a transparency that contrasts with the homophonic settings for the full chorus. While I have several recordings of this music, last night may well have been my first encounter with it in performance; and, as the work advanced from one movement to the next, I found myself more and more wrapped up in the many meticulous details in the score.

The concerto portion of the program was also French. Ravel’s G major piano concerto was composed not too long after the Fauré selection. The soloist was Hélène Grimaud, who is no stranger to that repertoire. However, even if she knows that concerto like the back of her hand, she brought an engaging freshness to last night’s performance. Ravel, of course, paid as much attention to instrumentation as he did to the solo work; and his concerto has one of the most abundant panoplies of sonorities that can be found in the piano concerto repertoire. Ravel clearly prioritized the interplay of soloist and ensemble, and Yamada could not have done a better job in bringing that interplay to audience attention.

For the “overture” of the program, Yamada chose to give the United States premiere of a recent (2021) composition by Japanese composer Dai Fujikura entitled “Entwine.” The music itself certainly lived up to its name. One could easily appreciate how the thematic material wound its way through different instrumental lines. This was very much a study in the diversity of sonorities, which managed to establish and sustain its attention for its limited (eight minutes) duration.

One the whole, Yamada prepared much to sustain attention for his debut, leaving me hoping that he will pay SFS another visit in the not-too-distant future.

Two Czech Piano Quartets from Ives Collective

Hrabba Atladottir, Keisuke Nakagoshi, Susan Freier, and Stephen Harrison performing yesterday afternoon at Old First Church (screen shot from the YouTube video of the event)

The Ives Collective, formed in 2015 by Co-Artistic Directors Susan Freier (violin and viola) and Stephen Harrison (cello), has been making frequent visits to Old First Concerts over the years, exploring different facets of repertoire by engaging different instrumentalists. Yesterday afternoon’s performance was structured with two piano quartets as “bookends,” both by Czech composers. The instrumentalists joining them for this occasion were violinist Hrabba Atladottir and Keisuke Nakagoshi on piano.

The program began with Bohuslav Martinů’s only piano quartet. This was one of the first pieces he composed after his emigration to the United States in 1941. Some readers may have noticed a certain bias towards Martinů in my articles. I first became aware of him in a summer music camp I attended after graduating high school, and I tend to jump at any opportunity to listen to his music. As a result, I found this opening selection particularly satisfying; and one may even appreciate the composer’s sigh of relief at having escaped European hostilities.

The other “bookend” was by the more familiar Antonín Dvořák, his Opus 87, which was the second of the two piano quartets he composed. Since I am a sucker for Dvořák’s chamber music, I welcome any opportunity for another serving. The Ives performers definitely gave the music the attention it deserved, bringing the overall “Czech venture” to a thoroughly engaging conclusion.

Between these two selections, Harrison and Nakagoshi performed Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 117 (second) cello sonata in G minor. This amounted to an acknowledgement that this year was the centennial of Fauré’s death. As one can tell from the opus number, this was one of Fauré’s final compositions. However, I would suggest that any sense of “finality” lies only in the mind of the moribund listener. Indeed, the final movement makes it clear that there was still no shortage of high spirits in Fauré’s rhetoric.

Once again, the Ives Collective delivered a performance that was as imaginative as it was engaging.

Old First Concerts: A Disappointing Piano Duo

N Blanco y Negro Piano Duo pianists Mirta Gómez and Sahily Cánovas doing their obligatory tour of San Francisco (from their Old First Concerts Web page)

Last night’s Old First Concerts program presented the N Blanco y Negro Piano Duo. This was a four-hands-one-keyboard group; and the pianists, Mirta Gómez and Sahily Cánovas, alternated taking left and right sides. The duo was founded in 2017 and gave its first recital in Miami. Both of them are of Cuban descent, but their training took them far beyond Cuba. Gomez graduated from the Juilliard School, while Cánovas graduated from the conservatories in both Kiev and Odessa.

Some readers probably know by now that I have had considerable experience with the four-hand repertoire. Much of that experience was due to weekly sessions with a neighbor in Opera Plaza, where I live. As a result, I have to make the disclaimer that I was familiar with the “nuts and bolts” of the first half of last night’s program, four-hand compositions by Antonín Dvořák, Franz Schubert, and Gabriel Fauré.

The greatest disappointment was the Schubert D. 940, his F minor fantasia, well-known to anyone that has explored the four-had repertoire. (I have lost count of the number of people with whom I have played this!) Sadly, Gómez and Cánovas fumbled the finale, which, as far as I am concerned, is perfectly conducive to amateurs. Similarly, there were major phrasing problems in their approach to the Fauré selection his Opus 56 Dolly suite.

The second half of the program was more diverse and less familiar. On the final selection, “La Bella Cubana” by José White Lafitte, they were joined by violinist Jennifer Redondas. The encores that followed were unannounced. However, the second half of the program was no more convincing than the first. Sadly, this was a program that promised much and delivered little.

SFIPF Partners with LIEDER ALIVE! for Finale

Yesterday afternoon Old First Presbyterian Church hosted the final program in this year’s the seventh annual San Francisco International Piano Festival (SFIPF). Artistic Director Jeffrey LaDeur performed in all of the selections on the program, which included accompanying mezzo Kindra Scharich in Gabriel Fauré’s song cycle La bonne chanson, two duo performances with pianist Gwendolyn Mok (one for four hands on one keyboard and the other for two pianos), and two solos at the beginning of the program. The offering was presented in collaboration with LIEDER ALIVE!, whose Liederabend Series has provided a generous platform for both Scharich and LaDeur.

Their SFIPF offering was a cycle of nine poems by Paul Verlaine. (I must confess that I seem to have lost track of two of them during the performance.) What is particularly impressive about the source of these poems is a rich diversity of imagery, and Scharich’s delivery seemed to reflect the significance of the images being evoked. These are texts in which evocation takes precedence over signification, and Fauré had a knack for “evocative rhetoric” in many of his compositions. This was the central selection on the program, and it was very much a “keystone” for the “arch” of the overall program.

Jeffrey LaDeur playing Fauré at yesterday’s final SFIPF recital (screen shot from the YouTube video of this performance)

Appropriately enough, the vocal work was preceded by a solo Fauré piano selection, his Opus 63 (sixth) nocturne in D-flat major. LaDeur delivered a solid command of the interleaving polyphonic lines. One could call the piece a “fabric of connotations,” which prepared the listener for the semantic subtleties that would unfold over the course of La bonne chanson.

Fauré was preceded by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a solo piano arrangement (presumably by LaDeur himself) of an aria from the opera Castor et Pollux. The aria was “Tristes apprêts” (mournful solemnities). The Wikipedia page for this opera describes it as “one of Rameau’s most famous arias;” but I am not sure how many Rameau arias are familiar to how many listeners! My own acquaintance with Rameau operas dates back to my Examiner.com days, and I have had almost no contact with that repertoire in recent years. However, to the extent that I recall the past, I would say that, for better or worse, LaDeur’s approach to the arrangement he performed was not particularly true to the original source.

The first of LaDeur’s performances with Mok was the most familiar to me. This was Claude Debussy’s collection of six short pieces described as “épigraphes antiques.” These were composed as musical accompaniment for recitations of erotic poems by Pierre Louÿs from his collection Les Chansons de Bilitis. (I used to have a vinyl recording in which those recitations were included in the performance.) The setting was for four hands on a single keyboard, and I was fortunate enough to play this music with a neighbor. As a result, I appreciated (and enjoyed) the opportunity to listen to a more “professional” performance of the music.

Mok and LaDeur then took to individual pianos for the final selection, Florent Schmitt’s Opus 53. These were three pieces he described as “rhapsodies,” each with its own “nationality:” French, Polish, Viennese. I have to confess that this music had little impact on me, due, in some part, to my inability to discern “differences in character” across the three movements. To be fair, however, my encounters with Schmitt’s music have been few and far between. However, there may be reasons for this that Mok and LaDeur were not able to overcome!

O1C Announces a Second Concert for October

Readers may recall that, earlier this month, this site reported that New Arts Collaboration pianist Ting Luo would be returning on October 4 to the Old First Presbyterian Church for her next performance to be presented by Old First Concerts (O1C). It turns out that O1C has planned only two programs for that month. It therefore seems timely to account for the second offering, which will take place during the following weekend.

“Mosaic” of Ives Collective performers (clockwise from upper left): Hrabba Atladottir, Keisuke Nakagoshi, Stephen Harrison, and Susan Freier (from the O1C event page for this performance)

That performance will see the return of the Ives Collective, an ad hoc chamber ensemble, which was formed by Co-Artistic Directors Susan Freier and Stephen Harrison after their Ives Quartet disbanded. Harrison still plays cello, but Freier alternates between viola and violin as necessary. For this concert the other Ives Collective performers will be Hrabba Atladottir on violin and pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi.

For the October program, Harrison will be featured in a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 117, his second cello sonata, composed in the key of G minor. At that time the composer was frail and in ill health, but he would not die for another two years. This sonata will be framed by two piano quartets separated by a little over fifty years, not to mention two world wars. Indeed, the more recent selection was completed during World War II. This is Bohuslav Martinů’s only piano quartet, which he completed in 1942, not long after he left Europe for New York. The program will conclude with the second of Antonín Dvořák’s two piano quartets, his Opus 87 in E-flat major.

This performance will take place on Sunday, October 13, beginning at 4 p.m. As in the past, it will be “hybrid,” allowing both live streaming and seating in Old First at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southeast corner of Van Ness Avenue. General admission tickets will be sold for $30, with reduced rates for seniors, students, and children age twelve and under. The event page, which includes information about all ticket prices and hyperlinks for purchases, including live stream viewing, provides additional information about both the works on the program and the contributing performers.

SFIPF: A Disappointing Program of Transcriptions

Late yesterday afternoon at Old First Presbyterian Church, the San Francisco International Piano Festival (SFIPF) continued with its second program, a solo recital by Asiya Korepanova entitled Transformations. That title was selected by Korepanova because all seven of the works she played were transcriptions of her own design. This would have been an impressive undertaking had it been successful. Sadly, Korepanova’s overly aggressive keyboard technique tended to undermine any suggestion of expressiveness in either the music itself or its realization through transcription.

Asiya Korepanova playing Chopin at SFIPF (screen shot from the video of the performance)

The program itself was framed by music for cello and piano. Korepanova began by coupling Frédéric Chopin’s Opus 3, a “Polonaise brillante,” with an extended introduction, with Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 24 “Élégie.” At “the other end” the program concluded with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 19 sonata for cello and piano. All three of these offerings were overwhelmed with aggressive technique, which, in the case of Opus 19, obliterated any sense of coherent phrasing.

The “meat for the sandwich” consisted of four songs, each by a different composer of a different nationality. She began with Amy Beach’s setting of Victor Hugo”s “Extase,” the second of her three Opus 21 songs. This was followed by “Liebesode,” the sixth in Alban Berg’s Seven Early Songs collection. She then moved on to César Franck’s “Le mariage des roses,” and concluded with the complete four-song cycle of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Songs and Dances of Death.” These are all selections that deserve more attention in the current vocal repertoire; but, sadly, Korepanova did little, if anything, to make a convincing case for them.

Nevertheless, her audience demanded an encore. They got “Maria,” probably the best known tune from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. She managed to inject just about every well-known Lisztian trope into her arrangement. Perhaps she was thinking of the West Side of Budapest!