The Voice and Musicianship of Harpo Marx

Cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)

Harpo Speaks! The Riverside Symphony Concert is the “only official voice recording” of Harpo Marx. Unless I am mistaken, every Marx Brothers movie included an episode in which Harpo gave a solo harp performance; and the closest he ever came to verbal communication amounted to honking a bicycle horn. The concert recorded on this album took place six months prior to his death in 1964.

The vocal side of his performance was the narration for Sergei Prokofiev’s Opus 67, “Peter and the Wolf,” given the subtitle “A Symphonic Tale for Children.” I have lost count of the number of narrators that have contributed to recordings of this composition; but I know that my own first encounter was with Basil Rathbone, who knew just the right way to endow each episode of the story with the right disposition. Nevertheless, since Harpo expressed himself only through mime and music in all of those Marx Brothers movies, this concert album is definitely “one for the books!” He also collaborated with his brother Groucho for their own unique account of the narration.

The program began with a performance of the “Toy Symphony,” which was originally attributed to Joseph Haydn but, according to more recent musicological research, was probably composed by Haydn’s younger brother, Michael. This was followed by a few popular and traditional songs (concluding with Stephen Foster), after which Harpo added one of his own compositions, “Guardian Angels.” Taken as a whole, the album is an engaging one, providing a welcome opportunity to appreciate Harpo’s musicianship.

I get the impression these days that the Marx Brothers are not as appreciated as they were during the second half of the last century. Personally, for the better part of my life, I could not get enough of them! Since I did not even know about Harpo’s Riverside concert when it took place, I have enjoyed making up for lost time in listening to this new album.

Dame Jane Glover Brings Fireworks to Detroit

Dame Jane Glover on the podium at the beginning of last night’s DSO live-stream

The title of the latest live-streamed performance by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) yesterday evening was Baroque Fireworks. The Baroque period provided the “core” of the program, followed by the Classical period represented by Joseph Haydn and preceded by the contemporary repertoire of Stacy Garrop. Dame Jane Glover visited to Detroit to take the DSO podium. The title of the program was a direct reference to George Frideric Handel’s HWV 351, a suite in D major entitled Music for the Royal Fireworks.

This could be taken as an “overture,” with Johann Sebastian Bach intervening between Handel and Haydn. The harpsichord continuo for HWV 351 could be seen on the screen; but it was entirely inaudible, overwhelmed by the instrumental ensemble. Nevertheless, Glover gave the suite a spirited account, made all the more engaging by the camera shots of the contributing instrumentalists.

Those high spirits continued in the transition from Handel to Johann Sebastian Bach. He was represented by BWV 1048 in G major, the third of the six “Brandenburg” concertos. As far as I could see from the screen, this was given a one-to-a-part performance of nine musicians: three violins, three violas, and three cellos. The transparency of this account was delightful, providing the most intimate performance of the evening.

This was followed by Joseph Haydn’s final symphony, Hoboken I:104. This is known as the “London” symphony, which is where Haydn was living when he composed it. According to Haydn’s own diary, the premiere performance was a great success, not only in the response by the audience but also through a generous sum of money that he earned from the performance!

These three works were preceded, at the very beginning of the program, by Stacy Garrop’s “Spectacle of Light.” The program notes described this piece as “Handel-inspired;” but that inspiration did not seem to go very far. Garrop was bold enough to work with generously rich instrumentation; but, sadly, neither the instruments or their groupings in different combinations were ever put to convincing use. Fortunately, Garrop’s tedium did not last very long and was followed by a far more convincing collection of music from earlier centuries.

Brentano String Quartet Focuses on Haydn

Brentano String Quartet members Serena Canin, Misha Amory, Nina Lee, and Mark Steinberg (from the SFP Web page for last night’s performance)

Last night the Brentano String Quartet returned to Herbst Theatre for their eight appearance with San Francisco Performances (SFP). Three of the founding members are still performing, violinists Mark Steinberg and Serena Canin, and violist Misha Amory. Nina Lee took over as cello after Michael Kannen left the ensemble of May of 1998. In other words, these four musicians have been playing as a quartet for over a quarter of a century.

If the membership has staying power, then last night’s program was devoted to a composer with prodigious staying power of his own, Joseph Haydn. Haydn is often credited as the “father of the string quartet.” Given that the number of string quartet in the Hoboken catalog runs to 83, one could stay that he sired an abundant family. (To be fair, however, each of the seven quartets in The Seven Last Words of Christ has its own Hoboken number!)

The span of last night’s program covered the last 40 years of the composer’s life. It began with the earliest selection, the fourth of the six Opus 17 quartets, composed in the key of C minor. The intermission was followed by the last of the quartets, the incomplete Opus 103 in D minor, consisting only of the full composition’s second and third movements. The first half of the program concluded with Opus 54, Number 2, in C major, the second of the first set of “Tost” quartets. The evening concluded with Opus 20, Number 4, in D major from the collection known as the Sun Quartets. This last selection concluded with a Presto scherzando movement abounding with eccentric rhythms to put a bounce in the steps of listeners leaving Herbst.

This was the ensemble’s eighth SFP appearance. According to my records, it was the first since January of 2023, when they presented a “performance project” entitled Dido Reimagined, joined by soprano Dawn Upshaw accounting for Dido. I may not have been able to account for all of their visits to SFP; but I am almost certain that I was there for a healthy share of them, always consistently satisfied. I am also impressed that they have maintained their current membership since May of 1998, when founding cellist Michael Kannen had to leave for pressing family matters. Having thoroughly enjoyed a full evening of Haydn, I look forward to the next program they prepare!

OFS: From the “Supernatural” to the “Mercurial”

Some readers may recall that the first One Found Sound (OFS) concert to take place this year was held of February 7 with the title Supernatural. The next concert will take place in about two and a half weeks with another stimulating title: Mercurial. This adjective is inspired by the god Mercury in the pantheon of Greek mythology. He is associated with both brilliant energy and unexpected twists, attributions to be found in the two symphonies that will conclude each half of the program.

Thomas Hardy’s 1791 portrait of Joseph Haydn (from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

The first of these will be Hoboken I:59, Joseph Haydn’s 59th (“Fire”) symphony composed in the key of A major. The program will then conclude with Haydn’s former pupil, the Opus 60 (fourth) symphony in B-flat major composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Each of these “classical” composers will be preceded by a contemporary one. Carlos Simon will begin the program with “Fate Now Conquers.” The second half of the program will begin with “When Cherry Blossoms Burned” by Aidan De Guzman, winner of the OFS 2025 Emerging Composer Award.

This concert will begin at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 11. The venue will be familiar to those who have attended past OFS concerts, Heron Arts, which is in SoMa, located at 7 Heron Street off of 8th Street on the block between Folsom Street and Harrison Street. All tickets are being sold for $30. They may be purchased online through a Ticket Tailor event page.

Manfred Honeck Augments Performance of K. 626

Last night in Davies Symphony Hall, Manfred Honeck returned to the podium of the San Francisco Symphony, where he had made his debut in May of 2017. The second half of the program was devoted to a somewhat augmented approach to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 626 Requiem, described in the program book as “presented in the context of a funeral liturgy.” The “augmentation” included other Mozart compositions along with Gregorian chant and readings of texts delivered by Adrian Roberts.

Mozart’s autograph of the K. 618 motet (from  the Wikimedia Commons Web page, public domain)

All the chant performances took place off-stage, sung by the members of St. Dominic’s Schola Cantorum under the directorship of Simon Berry. Of far greater significance was the full force of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus directed by Jenny Wong. They were joined by four vocal soloists: Ying Fang (soprano), Sasha Cooke (mezzo), David Portillo (tenor), and Stephano Park (bass). Nevertheless, it was the choral work that consistently rose above both soloists and instrumentalists to seize listener attention. In that context the high point of the entire evening came with the a cappella delivery of the K. 618 motet “Ave verum corpus.”

I suspect that I was not the only one to come away with the feeling that this performances as “all over the map.” Nevertheless, I was impressed by Honeck’s strong command of a wide dynamic range. Indeed, I found the “what’s next” context of dynamic levels to be the primary factor in my own attentive listening. Still, I hope that my next encounter K. 626 will be free of interjections!

The first half of the program accounted for two other First Viennese School composers, one on “either side” of Mozart. The program began with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 62 concert overture “Coriolan.” This introduced me to Honeck’s command of dynamics that continued to impress me throughout the program. The music was familiar, but it was definitely a sit-up-and-take-notice experience.

The same could be said of Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken I/93 symphony in D major. Once again, dynamic range ruled over the entire performance. However, this was another Haydn “surprise” symphony, with the interruption of what can only be called a “bassoon fart” in the second movement! Honeck seemed to enjoy leading this symphony, and I could certainly see why!

SFCO Beginning 2nd Half of Season Next Month

The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (SFCO) concluded the first half of its season at the very end of last year. The title of that program was The Revolutionary Artist, and it would be fair to wonder if that “revolution” involved a departure from the usual holiday spirit of that time of the year. In any event I would say that the next concert, which will be performed at the end of next month, may be even more revolutionary, beginning with the program’s cryptic title Seeing Double!

Jory Vinikour at the harpsichord

The fact is that the closest the program gets to the concept of “double” is the concerto for harpsichord and orchestra (a “duo of sorts”) by Philip Glass, which happens to be the second of the three works on the program! The harpsichordist will be Jory Vinikour; and, as usual, the ensemble will be led by Jory Fankuchen. The evening will begin with the world premiere performance of Jens Ibsen’s “Scene Symphony.” The program will conclude with the most familiar composer of the evening, Joseph Haydn. The selection will be the Hoboken I/49 symphony, given the title “La Passione.” Perhaps the “passionate” rhetoric of this symphony can be viewed as the more “revolutionary” side of Haydn’s approaches to composition.

As many readers probably know by now, the San Francisco performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 27. The venue will be the Taube Atrium Theater, which is located on the fourth (top) floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue. As always, there is no charge for admission; and all that is required is an RSVP, which is conveniently achieved on a concert-by-concert basis through the Eventbrite Web page for this performance.

Groupmuse to Host Sixth Station Trio

Sixth Station Trio musicians Anju Goto, Katelyn Tan, and Federico Strand Ramirez performing in Grace Cathedral (from their performance of music by Yu-Ping Chen)

Some readers may be familiar with the Sixth Station Trio through their performances for Old First Concerts. Those readers probably know that all three of the trio members have had experiences with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM). The pianist is Katelyn Tan, who received her Masters degree from SFCM in 2020. That same year, violinist Anju Goto completed his SFCM undergraduate degree. Finally, cellist Federico Strand Ramirez holds both a Bachelor of Music and an Advanced Certificate degree from SFCM.

In a little over two weeks’ time, this trio will present a Groupmuse recital. They have prepared a “three centuries” program. The earliest work on the program will be a piano trio by Joseph Haydn, his 39th (Hoboken XV:25 in G major, sometimes known as the “Gypsy” trio). The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Robert Schumann’s Opus 88, the piano trio given the title Fantasiestücke. The program will begin with the trio’s arrangement of two of the tracks composed by Yu-Peng Chen for the game soundtrack album Genshin Impact – Jade Moon Upon a Sea of Clouds.

This will be a house concert taking place in Parnassus Heights. Specific information is provided once a reservation has been processed. The fee for reservation is $5 and admission, payable at the event itself, will be $25. The performance will begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday, January 24. Further information is available on the Groupmuse Web page for this event. Groupmuse has also created a Web page for the ensemble, which includes three videos of excerpts from past performances.

Modigliani Quartet Returns with More Beethoven

When the Paris-based Modigliani Quartet made its San Francisco Performances (SFP) debut in April of 2023, they focused on the First Viennese School by coupling an early string quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven, the third (in the key of D major) of his six Opus 18 quartets, with Franz Schubert’s D. 810 quartet in D minor, best known for its set of variations on the theme from his D. 531 “Der Tod und das Mädchen” (Death and the maiden) song. Last night they returned to Herbst Theatre for their second SFP recital with another First Viennese School program. This time Beethoven was coupled with his Viennese School predecessor (and teacher), Joseph Haydn; and the ensemble is still led by first violinist Amaury Coeytaux, joined by violinist Loïc Rio, violist Laurent Marfaing, and cellist François Kieffer.

György Kurtág (from Wikimedia Commons)

The two composers were situated on either side of the intermission. Haydn was represented by the second quartet, in F major, in the Opus 77 “Lobkowitz” collection (Hoboken III:82). The intermission was then followed by the last of the three string quartets, in the key of C major, in Beethoven’s Opus 59, composed on a commission by Count Andreas Razumovsky. These two significant “sign-posts” of “the classical style” (with a nod to Charles Rosen) were preceded by music by the one living composer on the program. That composer was György Kurtág, who will turn 100 this coming February 19. The selection was “Homage à Andràs Mihàly: 12 Mikroludien für Streichquartett,” the composer’s Opus 13.

This selection presented Kurtág at his most playful. Only half of the pieces were given specific tempo markings. However, because each was brief (“mikro”), there was little opportunity to establish much of a sense of tempo. One might almost say that the Modigliani players selected this piece to “warm up” audience attention for the compare-and-contrast approach to the coupling of Haydn and Beethoven. Personally, I relish any opportunity to listen to Kurtág’s music, my most recent encounter being baritone Benjamin Appl’s Alpha album Lines of Life, which interleaved Kurtág songs with those of Franz Schubert. Last night Kurtág’s music did not interleave with the First Viennese School, but it certainly knew how to get the audience to sit up and take notice!

The Razumovsky quartet was followed by an encore of more Beethoven. The Modigliani players turned back the clock to Opus 18, playing the second movement (Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato), composed in the key of D minor, from the first of those six quartets in F major. This could not have been a better choice for sending the audience on its way with a feeling of satisfaction!

Berkelium String Quartet Coming to St. Aidan’s

Berkelium String Quartet members Dan Flanagan, Karen Shinozaki Sor, Jacob Hansen-Joseph, and Michael Graham (from the Eventbrite Web page for their coming recital)

The Berkelium String Quartet is a new ensemble formed last year by members of the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, New Century Chamber Orchestra, and Oakland Symphony. It is led by first violinist Dan Flanagan performing with Karen Shinozaki Sor on second violin, violist Jacob Hansen-Joseph, and Michael Graham on cello. They will begin with a program entitled The Bow and the Brush. This will be a mixed-media performance of music with curated paintings projected behind the performers.

Two of the works on the program will be Flanagan’s own compositions reflecting on art: “Tamayo” and “Water Lilies.” These will be preceded by two of the best-known string quartets from the Classical period. The program will begin with Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken III:30 quartet in E-flat major. This is the second of his Opus 33 quartets, best known through its nickname “The Joke,” which manifests itself in the final movement. It will be followed by one of the more serious late quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven, his Opus 127 in E-flat major. Period paintings will be projected during the movements of both of the Haydn and Beethoven quartets.

The performance will be presented by Music on the Hill, taking place at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church. The church is located near the Glen Canyon Park Recreation Center at 101 Gold Mine Drive. It is best approached by taking the 52 bus from the Forest Hill Station on Market Street. Tickets are $25 with a $15 rate for students between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. They may be purchased online through the Eventbrite Web page.

Attacca Quartet Begins its Own SFP Series

Attacca Quartet members (clockwise from upper left) Amy Schroeder, Nathan Schram, Andrew Yee, and  Domenic Salerni (photograph by David Goddard, courtesy of SFP)

Some readers may recall that, this past June, San Francisco Performances announced that this current season would have a new three-concert series devoted entirely to performances by the Attacca Quartet. The series was given the title Contemporary Chamber, with the “mission” that each of the three programs would include at least one contemporary offering. That series began last night, and the contemporary composer was David Lang, represented by his two-movement “daisy.” That was complemented, after the intermission, by a series of nocturnes that began with Frédéric Chopin and concluded with Radiohead. Sadly, the program provided no specifics for that journey.

That may have been just as well. While the arrangement of Chopin was engagingly effective, none of the following nocturnal selections came even close to the Polish composer’s demanding standards. The listening experience reminded me of Winston Churchill’s famous definition of history: “One damned thing after another!” When coupled with Lang’s contribution, the entire core of the program came across as disappointing.

The good news is that the rest of the program was framed by two composers, both of whom had a prodigious command of the talent for creating music for string quartet. Joseph Haydn has been called the “Father of the String Quartet;” and his command of that genre yielded 83 compositions (the last being incomplete), all accounted for in Volume III of the Hoboken catalog. Last night’s selection was Hoboken III:48, the fifth in the collection of the six Prussian Quartets (Opus 50). This began the program, which concluded with the fourth of Béla Bartók’s six string quartets. Bartók may not have been as prodigious as Haydn, but he definitely had his own prodigious techniques of invention!

Both of these compositions were given solid and thoroughly engaging accounts by the four Attacca performers: violinists Amy Schroeder and Domenic Salerni, Nathan Schram on viola, and cellist Andrew Yee. My only quibble was the too-smooth transition from Radiohead to Bartók. This undermined the intensity of Bartók’s opening gesture, but my guess is that there were enough members of the audience that were already familiar with that gesture! For my part, expectation was already beginning to mount while Attacca galumphed its way through that muddled sequence of nocturnes!

Nevertheless, Attacca’s approaches to both Haydn and Bartók were so well informed in technique and so expressive in execution that any shortcomings in the overall program could be easily overlooked!

SFP: Attacca Series to Begin Tomorrow Night

Attacca Quartet members Amy Schroeder, Domenic Salerni, Andrew Yee, and Nathan Schram (photograph by David Goddard, courtesy of SFP)

For those that recall the announcement of the full San Francisco Performances (SFP) series by the Attacca Quartet, this will serve simply as a reminder! Those familiar with past recitals by this group probably already know that its members are violinists Amy Schroeder and Domenic Salerni, Nathan Schram on viola, and cellist Andrew Yee. The title of the full series is Contemporary Chamber, and the remaining two programs will take place next year on February 27 and April 12.

Tomorrow’s program will focus on two composers, both of whom were prolific in the string quartet genre. As might be guessed, the earlier of these is Joseph Haydn, who will be represented by his Hoboken III:48 quartet in F major, the fifth of the six quartets in his Opus 50 “Prussian” collection. At the other end, the program will conclude with what is probably the most adventurous of the string quartets to be composed by Béla Bartók, his fourth string quartet. The intermission will be preceded by David Lang’s “daisy” in the quartet’s own arrangement of the original score.

This performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 11 (tomorrow). 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. Ticket prices are $65 for premium seating in the Orchestra and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $55 for the Side Boxes, the center rear of the Dress Circle, and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $45 for the remainder of the Dress Circle and the Balcony. Tickets may be purchased in advance online through an SFP event page.

Joseph Haydn’s Final Oratorio

The catalogue of the musical compositions by Joseph Haydn compiled by Anthony van Hoboken contains over 750 entires. Ironically, that puts him in “second place” where the First Viennese School is concerned when one finds that, in Otto Erich Deutsch’s thematic catalog of the music of Franz Schubert, the final entry (which is only a fragment) had the catalog number D. 998. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the Hoboken catalog is structured into 32 different categories, which is almost certainly more diverse than any attempt at creating categories for the Deutsch catalog!

The Hoboken entries are two-fold. There is a category, designated by a Roman numeral, followed by an Arabic numeral, the two separated by a colon. The latter is sometimes prefixed by letters denoting the key of the composition. For example, Hoboken XIIa:Es11 is a Requiem setting (of doubtful origin) in E-flat major.

The shortest of the categories is XXI, which consists of only three oratorios. The best known of these is Hoboken XXI:2, The Creation, composed in 1798. The earliest is XXI:1, Il ritorno di Tobia (the return of Tobias), based on one of the books in the Apocrypha, composed in 1775, and subsequently revised twice (with the composer’s consent) in 1784 and 1806. The last entry, XXI:3 is The Seasons, setting a four-part poem of the same title by James Thomson. These poems were translated into German by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who had also prepared the German text for The Creation.

Cover of the album for the new release of The Seasons (from the Amazon.com Web page for the album)

While there are a generous abundance of recordings of The Creation, this Friday will see a release of The Seasons, which tends to be better known for its name than for its performances. This will be a two-CD album produced by Alia Vox. Jordi Savall conducts the Le Concert des Nations instrumental ensemble with the chorus of La Capella Nacional de Catalunya. As was the case in The Creation, there are three vocal soloists, soprano Lina Johnson, tenor Tilman Lichdi, and baritone Matthias Winckhler. As most readers will expect, Amazon.com has already created a Web page for processing pre-orders.

To put all my cards on the table (so to speak), I have encountered Il ritorno di Tobia only once, when I worked my way through all 151 CDs in the Brilliant Classics Haydn Edition. Where The Creation is concerned, on the other hand, I have been familiar with the music ever since my high school days, when I played first clarinet in a community orchestra. On the other hand, I last wrote about The Seasons when it was included in the Karl Böhm: The Operas box set released by Deutsche Grammophon, where it was the only Haydn composition in the collection. That was in April of 2018, and my memories of that occasion have pretty much faded!

To be fair, Savall’s instrumental ensemble consists entirely of period instruments. This affords far more transparency than Böhm’s account with the Vienna Symphony! Nevertheless, where one can easily follow the narrative of The Creation, The Seasons has a tendency to come across as “one thing after another!” On the basis of what I found on the Wikipedia page for this composition, I have a feeling that, were his spirit to hover over me as I write this, Haydn would sympathize, if not agree!

Fond Recollections of the Guarneri Quartet

The latest “anthology” to be released by Sony Classics is a highly personal one. When I was working at a research laboratory in Ridgefield, Connecticut, I chose to live to the south in Stamford for easy access for the commuter rail line into Grand Central Station in Manhattan. I left my job in Santa Barbara, California, with a voracious appetite for classical music performances; and I could not have found a better way to satisfy that appetite. (That move also led to my meeting my wife-to-be!)

I particularly enjoyed opportunities for listening to chamber music, and the Guarneri Quartet offered much to satisfy my appetite. I was therefore delighted to learn that Sony Masterworks just released their latest box set: Guarneri Quartet: The Complete Recordings 1965–2005. This ensemble was led by violinist Arnold Steinhardt with John Dalley on second violin, violist Michael Tree, and David Soyer on cello. Their repertoire was a broad one, and I feel as if I only scratched the surface of it in my opportunities to listen to them in recital.

Now I can take a deeper dive into a repertoire which spanned from the First Viennese School to much of the last century. As usual, I plan to write about the new anthology through a series of articles, and each of the four First Viennese School composers will be approached separately. Sadly, the first of these, Joseph Haydn, is represented by only three CDs.

Original album cover for the Haydn Opus 77 quartets (from the Amazon.com Web page for that album)

The Hoboken catalog lists 83 string quartets, the last of which is incomplete. However, the first CD accounts for the last two completed works (81 and 82), published as Opus 77 and known as the Lobkowitz Quartets, composed in 1799. There is a freshness to the Guarneri approach to both of these quartets, which reminds listeners that, even late in life, Haydn’s capacity for invention was as fresh as ever. The second CD couples quartets from two distinctively different periods. The earlier quartet (34) is the fourth of the so-called “Sun” quartets, composed in the key of D major. This is coupled with Hoboken III:74, the last of the second set (Opus 74) of the “Apponyi” quartets. The final CD is a complete performance of The Seven Last Words of Christ (Hoboken III:50–56), conceived as music for meditation during the Lenten period.

Readers that have followed this site for some time probably know my advocacy of Leonard Slatkin’s precept: “You can never conduct enough Haydn or Schubert.” The Guarneri players may not have shared his enthusiasm, but they definitely knew how to capture Haydn’s spirit. Thus, while there are a total of 49 CDs in this new release, I suspect that it will be likely that I tend to gravitate back to the modest number of quartets honoring that spirit.

CMSF: Leonkoro String Quartet Debuts in Herbst

Leonkoro Quartet members Jonathan Schwarz, Amelie Wallner, Mayu Konoe, and Lukas Schwarz (from their Web site)

Yesterday afternoon in Herbst Theatre, Chamber Music San Francisco presented the Bay Area debut of the Leonkoro Quartet. The group was founded in Berlin in 2019. The “outer voices” are performed by two brothers, Jonathan Schwarz on first violin and cellist Lukas. The second violinist is Amelie Wallner with Mayu Konoe on viola. They are on a tour of North America, which took them to the West Coast yesterday. Only the cellist was seated for the recital, while the other musicians performed standing.

The quartet prepared a “three centuries” program with the twentieth century at the “core.” This was Alban Berg’s six-movement “Lyric Suite,” which explored the twelve-tone technique developed by his teacher, Arnold Schoenberg. The music was dedicated to Alexander von Zemlinsky, probably with the latter’s “Lyric Symphony” in mind. This “core” was “framed” by the eighteenth century (Joseph Haydn) at the beginning and the nineteenth (Felix Mendelssohn) at the end.

George Perle claimed that the “Lyric Suite” had a “secret dedication” for a passionate (and probably erotic) “secret programme.” Whether or not this is the case, Berg was a stickler for elaborate structural details. The suite is in six movements. The odd-numbered movements keep getting faster, and the even-numbered ones keep getting slower. As a result, the fresh “gioviale” spirit of the opening ultimately descends into a despondent “desolato.” However, the alternation of these dispositions makes the overall listening experience a pretty wild ride. Yesterday afternoon’s performance could not have delivered a more solid account of that wild ride, making it the high point of the entire program.

Nevertheless, the Leonkoro approaches to both Haydn and Mendelssohn were solid and consistently satisfying. The former was the fifth in his Opus 50 collection (Hoboken III/48), composed in the key of F major and given the title “The Dream,” which refers to the serenity of the second movement. The program then concluded with the second of the three Opus 44 Mendelssohn quartets. The E minor rhetoric of this quartet complemented the major key at the beginning of the program. The composer seemed to be particularly attentive to the viola in this particular quartet, and Konoe could not have done better justice to that attention.

The encore selection was Giacomo Puccini’s “Crisantemi” (chrysanthemums). This is a relatively early work, which is basically a lament in the key of C-sharp minor. He composed it relatively early in his career. Nevertheless, I find that its capacity for melancholy rhetoric delivers a profound impact that rises above the many overwrought qualities found in the composer’s tragic operas. The Leonkoro players knew exactly how to capture that rhetoric, making for a thoroughly engaging conclusion to their first visit to San Francisco.

Horszowski Trio to Return to Noe Music

Horszowski Trio members Jesse Mills, Rieko Aizawa, and Ole Akahoshi (from the ThunderTix Web page for purchasing tickets)

The founding members of the Horszowski Trio were the husband-and-wife duo Jesse Mills on violin and Rieko Aizawa on piano joined by cellist Raman Ramakrishnan. They last visited Noe Music in 2019, giving a sold-out performance. Since that time cellist Ole Akahoshi replaced Ramakrishnan, and the three of them will return to the Noe Valley Ministry and the end of next week. They have prepared a program that promises to be an engaging interplay of old and new.

The program will begin with the oldest selection, the Hoboken XV/12 piano trio in E minor by Joseph Haydn. The most recent offering will begin the second half of the program. This will be William Bolcom’s “Introduction and Rondo - ‘Haydn Go Seek,’” the piano trio he completed in 2008. The second selections for both halves will be particularly engaging. The Haydn trio will be followed by Arnold Schoenberg’s Opus 19, a set of six “Little Pieces” for solo piano. Aizawa has arranged these pieces for piano trio. Finally, the program will conclude on the most familiar ground Antonín Dvořák's Opus 81 piano quintet. They will be joined by Owen Dalby playing second violin and violist Meena Bhasin.

As usual, the performance will take place at 4 p.m. on a Sunday, March 16. The venue will be the Noe Valley Ministry, located at 1021 Sanchez Street, between 23rd Street and Elizabeth Street. Open seating tickets may be purchased with prices of $45 for general admission and $15 for students. As in the past, there will be a limited number of reserved seats in the first few rows, which will be sold for $60. (Each price also has a modest handling fee.) All available tickets may be purchased through a single Web page.

Hamelin Returns to SFP for “Anniversary” Recital

Marc-André Hamelin (photograph by Sim Connety-Clarke, courtesy of SFP)

Last night pianist Marc-André Hamelin returned to Herbst Theatre to contribute to the 45th Season Favorites series presented by San Francisco Performances (SFP). This was his fifteenth visit to SFP. Hamelin has a prodigious command of just about every keyboard style at the piano, and the diversity of those styles was both evident and engaging in the program he prepared. The first half juxtaposed Joseph Haydn with three twentieth-century composers (one of whom is still alive). The second half was also twentieth-century, this time featuring two Russian composers whose births were separated by less than a decade. The earlier of these was Sergei Rachmaninoff, born in 1873; and he was preceded in the program by Nikolai Medtner, who was born in 1880.

Hamelin consistently takes the stage with an engaging personality. However, when he sits down at the keyboard, he is intensely focused on his work. Nevertheless, he opened his program with two composers with reputations for their prankish personalities. He began with Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken XVI/37 sonata in D major, the third of the five Opus 30 compositions. Haydn was known for his engaging approach to expressiveness, and it would be fair to say that Hamelin’s account caught that expressive spirit. However, he also adapted it to his instrument, taking the liberty of a wider dynamic range than any of Haydn’s keyboards could have afforded.

Most importantly, however, Hamelin was not shy in expressing Haydn’s prankishness, making his interpretation a perfect complement to the following offering, Frank Zappa’s “Ruth is Sleeping.” The title referred to Ruth Underwood, the percussionist for The Mothers of Invention from 1968 until 1977. However, that title was even more specific than naming one of Zappa’s “partners in crime.” Apparently, during a long rehearsal that would involve other members of Zappa’s band, she would “curl up underneath the marimba and go to sleep” (in Zappa’s words). My guess is that, if there is a Heaven, Zappa is up there having a good time sharing stories like these with Haydn!

Zappa was followed by the far more serious composer Stefan Wolpe with a performance of the “Passacaglia” movement from his Opus 23, Four Studies on Basic Rows. This music was inspired by Arnold Schoenberg’s approach to treating all twelve pitches of the chromatic scale as equals, exploring different ways in which “rows” of all twelve of the tones could be permuted. I must confess that I could not, for the life of me, suss out what made this composition a passacaglia; and the performance, as a whole, reminded me more of Amadeus than of Schoenberg, with that “too many notes” phrase in the script! The first half of the program then concluded with John Oswald’s “Tip,” which amounted to a plethora of thematic quotations, which were presumably meant to be funny but, due to excessive length, came across as only tedious.

I welcomed the second half of the program because I have had little exposure to Medtner’s music. Hamelin selected two relatively short pieces played without interruption: a set of variations given the title “Improvisation” (Opus 31, Number 1 in B-flat minor) and “Danza festiva” (Opus 38, Number 3). However, Medtner had to give way to Rachmaninoff, represented primarily by his Opus 36 piano sonata in B-flat minor. Sadly, too much of this felt like Hamelin was just banging away at the notes, which had also been his approach to the “warm-up” for the sonata, the E-flat minor “Étude-tableau,” the fifth piece in the Opus 39 collection. Taken has a whole, his performance of Rachmaninoff’s music came off more like an Olympic event than a piano recital.

That disposition continued in Hamelin’s second encore with a particularly aggressive (but unidentified) selection by Sergei Prokofiev. The first encore, on the other hand, was more engaging. “Music Box” was a short piece that Hamelin had composed during his school days. As far as I am concerned, it definitely benefited from an opportunity to see the light again!

Hamelin will be Next SFP “Anniversary” Artist

Marc-André Hamelin at the keyboard (photograph by Sim Connety-Clarke, courtesy of SFP)

The 45th Season Favorites subscription series presented by San Francisco Performances (SFP) will continue at the beginning of next month. Readers may recall that there are four programs in this series, two of which will be solo recitals. Next month will see the first of those recitals, performed by pianist Marc-André Hamelin, who made his SFP debut in December of 2003. This will be his fifteenth appearance, the last having been in July of 2021, which was structured around very early and very late compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven.

There will be no Beethoven in next month’s program. However, Hamelin will begin with music by Beethoven’s teacher, Joseph Haydn. He will play the Hoboken XVI/37 sonata in D major, the third of the five Opus 30 compositions. Haydn will then get to rub shoulders with three far more recent composers, each with his own unique approach to making music: Frank Zappa, Stefan Wolpe, and John Oswald.

The second half will be shared by two major Russian composers of the twentieth century. The first of these will be Nikolai Medtner, represented by the first of his Opus 31 compositions, an improvisation in B-flat minor, followed by the third of the Opus 38 pieces, given the title “Danza festiva.” The program will then conclude with two works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, the fifth of the nine Opus 39 études, given the collective title Études-Tableaux. This one is in E-flat minor with the tempo “Appassionato.” Hamelin will then conclude the program with a complete account of Rachmaninoff’s second piano sonata, his Opus 36 in the 1931 version.

This performance will begin on Saturday, February 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Herbst Theatre, located at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Ticket prices are $85 (premium Orchestra and front and center Dress Circle), $75 (remainder of Orchestra, all Side Boxes, and center rear Dress Circle), and $65 (remaining Dress Circle and Balcony); and they may be purchased through an SFP secure Web page. Single tickets may also be purchased by calling 415-392-2545.

Voices of Music at the Conservatory

Last night Voices of Music brought its latest program to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The full title of the program amounted to a summary of its content: Early Classical music from London, Paris & Vienna: J.C. Bach, Joseph Bologne & Haydn. As might be guessed, the second half of the program was devoted entirely to Joseph Haydn with two concertos: the Hoboken VIIa/1 violin concerto in C major and the Hoboken VIIb/1 cello concerto, also in C major. The soloists were Augusta McKay Lodge and Eva Lymenstull, respectively.

Compared to other genres, the catalog of Haydn concertos is relatively modest. It accounts for only four violin concertos, one of which is lost. There are only two completed cello concertos, the other three in the catalog being (in order of appearance) lost, attributed to another composer, and sketched. However, if Haydn’s interest in the genre was not particularly enthusiastic, last night’s soloists on period instruments, violinist Augusta McKay Lodge and Eva Lymenstull on cello, gave accounts of the music that were more than merely satisfying.

Lodge was impressive in rising to the technical demands of the violin concerto, even if there were a few potholes along the road of intonation. However, it was Lymenstull’s solo work that emerged as the high point of the evening. Also, it was nice to appreciate how, during solo passages, the number of concertante players tended to be somewhat reduced. For the most part, my awareness of Haydn concertos has been limited to my collection of recordings; so, as a result, I found this portion of the program to be a particularly engaging journey of discovery.

Portrait of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges by Mather Brown and William Ward (from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

London and Paris were represented by the first two composers on the program: Johann Christian Bach and the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Joseph Bologne. Both of these composers tend to be better known for their history than for their music. Bach was the youngest son of Johann Sebastian; and, as can be inferred from the title of last night’s program, he made his fortune in London, where he was composer to the King’s Theatre. Bologne, on the other hand, was born in Guadeloupe, the son of a white plantation owner and a Creole slave. The above portrait suggests that his talent for fencing tended to overshadow his efforts as either a violinist or a composer!

The Bach selection was a three-movement symphony in G minor, the sixth in his Opus 6 collection. The Chevalier, on the other hand, was represented by one of this violin concertos, the second in his Opus 8 collection. The soloist was Shelby Yamin, whose command of pitch was somewhat less certain than that of the other two soloists of the evening. Nevertheless, the performance could still be enjoyed as a journey of discovery of one of the more colorful figures in eighteenth-century music history.

Unless I am mistaken, this was my first encounter with Voices of Music in the Conservatory Concert Hall. This space may not have been as intimate as some of their other venues, but it served them well. As far as I was concerned, acoustics matter more than distance; and I certainly enjoyed the clarity of those acoustics. I would be happy to see them make a return visit there.

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra: MainStage 2

Jory Fankuchen conducting the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (from an SFCO Web page)

Last night the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (SFCO), led by its Principal Conductor Jory Fankuchen, presented the second program in its MainStage Concerts series in the Taube Atrium Theatre on the top floor of the Veterans Building in the Civic Center. The title of the event was Celebration and Hope, which seemed appropriate for the season but had little, if anything, to do with the music being performed. Nevertheless, the program that had been prepared was both diverse and engaging.

The second half of the program was devoted entirely to Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken I/103 (“Drumroll”) symphony in E-flat major. The first half broke with the “usual drill” by beginning with the concerto. Mind you, the music itself was somewhat of a departure from convention, since it was Grażyna Bacewicz’ “Concerto for String Orchestra.” As a result, the very idea of an “overture” was rejected; and the “concerto spirit” continued with two shorter selections for violin and orchestra by Camille Saint-Saëns. These were presented in reverse chronological order, beginning with the Opus 83 “Havanaise” in E major, followed by the Opus 28 “Introduction et rondo capriccioso” in the key of A minor. Both of these selections involved solo violin performances by Debut Artist Hiro Yoshimura. The evening concluded with an encore, which had been selected through a straw poll of the audience. This was the second (“Air”) movement from Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1068 (third) orchestra suite in D major.

Following the retirement of Music Director Benjamin Simon on January 1, 2023, Fankuchen gave his first performance with SFCO the following May, following up on fifteen years of playing both violin and viola. That was my first encounter with his conducting efforts, and I could not have been more satisfied. That satisfaction sustained through last night’s performance.

I first encountered Bacewicz when I was building up my online writing chops. At that time I found myself accounting for a generous number of recordings of her music. However, by the time of my departure from Examiner.com, I realized that I had added little to the generous number of articles I had previously written. She only “returned to my radar” this past May, when the San Francisco Symphony performed her “Overture” under the baton of Gemma New. I quickly warmed up to the SFCO performance, finding this latest encounter to be a particularly refreshing one. Both Saint-Saëns selections, on the other hand, were “war horses;” but Yoshimura’s command of them definitely seized and maintained my attention. Haydn was, of course, in high spirits; and Fankuchen was never shy in letting those spirits take flight. The Bach encore, on the other hand, served as an affectionate bidding of adieu to the audience.

Two more programs remain in the MainStage series; and, with any luck, I shall be able to work at least one of them into my schedule for next year!

DSO: New Season, New Mahler

The “composition hut” in Carinthia where Mahler worked on his fifth symphony (photograph by OboeCrack, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

According to my records, the Live from Orchestra Hall video series presented by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) concluded last season with a program consisting only of Gustav Mahler’s ninth symphony, led by Music Director Jader Bignamini. Early yesterday evening, my wife and I had our first opportunity of the new season to return to Orchestra Hall through cyberspace. Once again, Mahler was the focus of the program, which was devoted almost entirely to his fifth symphony in C-sharp minor. This was the second half of the program, whose first half was a much shorter symphony, Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken I/100 in G major, often known as the “Military” symphony.

As was the case with his ninth symphony, the fifth is a product of richly diverse instrumentation. For the most part, the video work could not have provided better guidance in allowing the viewer to trace how an extended theme would peregrinate from one set of instruments to another (often with a plethora of opportunities, even if they were brief, to pay attention to individual performers). Thus, while the camera work gave a generous account of how Bignamini led his ensemble, the “heart of the matter” could be found in the diversity of instrumentation. In that respect, the attentive listener was probably better informed of the full scope of that diversity by following the video work than by enjoying a seat in Orchestra Hall.

Beyond the instrumentation, however, there is also the symmetry of structure. The symphony is in five movements grouped into three parts. The “middle part” is the third and longest movement. (Indeed, it may be one of the longest movements in the overall symphonic repertoire, even if Mahler himself composed longer ones!) The first part consists of two movements, both with funereal rhetoric, even if only the first of the movements is explicitly denoted as a funeral march. The final part begins with the shortest movements, the Adagietto, which serves as a “calm before the final storm.” That “final storm” is a rondo form, which begins playfully enough and just keeps building up in intensity. It is no wonder that listeners come away from a performance feeling as if they have just left a wild ride!

Hoboken I/100 is one of Haydn’s last and better-known symphonies. The title reflects on the second movement being structured as a parade march. Indeed, the last time I encountered this music was with the San Francisco Symphony in Davies Symphony. On that occasion, the brass and percussion players did parade across the front of the stage. The DSO performance was more straightforward, but it was still clear that Haydn approached his “military” rhetoric with a twinkle in his eye!

Unless I am mistaken, this was not the first time I encountered a coupling of Haydn and Mozart. I find those occasions to be particularly satisfying. Both of them had a keen knowledge of the breadth of instruments at their command. For the most part, neither of them shied away from intense attention to structure on both the short and the long scale. Ironically, the Mahler biographies I have encountered have little (if anything) to say about Haydn. (His name never shows up on Mahler’s Wikipedia page.)

In any event I now find myself looking forward to which Mahler symphony Bignamini will choose for his next undertaking, and it will not surprise me if he couples it with another Haydn symphony!