DSO Concludes Season with Hilary Hahn

Hilary Hahn playing her Bach encore (screen shot from yesterday’s live-stream)

Last night the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) concluded its concert season with a YouTube live-stream of the performance led by Jader Bignamini. The concert soloist was violinist Hilary Hahn in a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 219 (fifth) violin concerto, known as the “Turkish.” This was the entirety of the first half of the program; and the intermission was followed by Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 27, his second symphony, composed in the key of E minor. As might be expected, Hahn followed her concerto performance with an encore, the solo Sarabande movement from Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1004 partita for solo violin in D minor.

That performance was definitely the high point of the evening. Hahn’s command of Mozart’s rhetoric could not have been better, and I would not be surprised to learn that her cadenza for the second movement of the concerto was her own. Her command of unaccompanied Bach was just as engaging. All this made for a listening experience to be remembered, in contrast to the lumbering qualities of Rachmaninoff’s symphony, which is best forgotten, even if it is the most performed of his three symphonies!

As a result, the Detroit season did not conclude on the best of notes (so to speak); hopefully, the fall season will return to live-streaming with a more engaging offering.

Shenson Spotlight Disappoints Again

Violinist Njioma Grevious (photograph by Jiyang Chen, courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony)

Apparently, Nathan Amaral’s violin recital this past April was the only satisfying performance in the Shenson Spotlight Series this season, presented by the San Francisco Symphony in Davies Symphony Hall. Readers may recall that the significant adjective that I applied to the January and February performances was “dim.” Most of last night’s violin recital by Njioma Grevious settled back into that same spirit, but at least there was one moment when things picked up a bit. This was “Levee Dance,” the second in a set of short character pieces collected by Clarence Cameron White for his Opus 27. It would not surprise me to learn that she came to know this music through the recording Jascha Heifetz made for RCA Victor, since that is the only source I know for the composition!

The program was structured around three “classical pillars.” It began with the Grave movement from Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1003 sonata for unaccompanied violin in A minor and concluded with Sergei Prokofiev’s Opus 94a violin sonata in D major, originally composed for flute. The “middle pillar” was Johannes Brahms, with the Scherzo movement he contributed to the “F-A-E Sonata.” Sadly, none of these made a lasting impression, as was the case with the most recent work on the program, “Within the drifting contours of the land…,” composed by Electra Perivolaris explicitly for Grevious.

Ultimately, the only really satisfying offering came in the middle of the program. This was the “Theme and Variations” that Olivier Messiaen composed in 1932. He wrote this for the violinist Claire Delbos around the time that he married her! Grevious knew exactly how the deliver the theme in such a way that an attentive listener could appreciate its transformation into the following five variations. That attentiveness surfaced only one more time, which was in the Scherzo movement of the Prokofiev sonata.

Grevious’ accompanist at the piano was Andrew Goodridge, making his first appearance in Davies Symphony Hall. He is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. If he enjoyed his trip to San Francisco, it might be nice to see more of him in more conducive circumstances.

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.

May to Begin with American Bach Finale

Harpsichordists Gabriel Benton and Corey Jamason (courtesy of American Bach)

American Bach’s 37th season will conclude at the beginning of next month with a program entitled Bach’s Harpsichord. Two harpsichordists will contribute to the program, Gabriel Benton and Corey Jamason; but there will be a diversity of approaches to instrumentation. Thus, the program will begin with a solo harpsichord performance of BWV 903, the “Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue,” composed in the key of D minor. This will be followed by BWV 1019, the last of a set of six sonatas for violin and harpsichord in the key of G major. (The third movement of this sonata is a harpsichord solo in E minor.) The remainder of the program will involve strings in the instrumental ensemble for three concertos: BWV 1050 in D major, the fifth of the six “Brandenburg” concertos, BWV 1044 in A minor for flute, violin, and harpsichord, and BWV 1061, the C major concerto for two harpsichords. The instrumental soloists will be Bethanne Walker on flute and three violinists: Tatiana Chulochnikova, Toma Iliev, and YuEun Gemma Kim.

The San Francisco performance of this program will take place at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 3. The venue will be St. Mark’s Lutheran Church at 1111 O’Farrell Street, on the southwest corner of Franklin Street. Ticket prices are between $44 and $111; and they may be purchased through a Tix Web page, which provides a diagram showing where remaining seats are available.

AVIE Releases New Cantata Collective Album

A little over a year ago AVIE Records released a new album anticipating the celebration of Easter. The performance was by the Orchestra and Chorus of Cantata Collective joined by four vocal soloists. Tomorrow AVIE will release a new album, which may be taken as a “prequel” to the two compositions on the Easter album. As might be guessed, the composer for all of these works is Johann Sebastian Bach.

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

The new release is a more ambitious undertaking. While the two Easter selections fit on a single CD, the “physical” version will occupy three CDs. These will account for the entirety of Bach’s BWV 244 St Matthew Passion. This is in two parts, the first on the first CD and the second distributed across the other two.

Once again the conductor will be Nicholas McGegan, but there will be a more generous number of vocal soloists. Four of them are assigned “roles” in the narrative: bass-baritone Paul Max Tipton is Jesus, baritone Harrison Hintzsche is Pontius Pilate, and the narration of the Gospel texts is sung by tenor Thomas Cooley as the Evangelist, soprano Sherezade Panthaki is Pilate’s wife. Panthaki and Hintzsche also sing the soprano and bass arias, respectively. The other vocalists are countertenor Reginald Mobley and tenor James Reese.

Because BWV 244 is so much more massive than the contents of the AVIE Easter album, my opportunities to write about the music have been few and far between. My last opportunity came a little more than exactly two years ago. That was when I wrote about the second “volume” in the Warner Classics Remastered Edition of recordings of the conductor Otto Klemperer, given the subtitle Operas & Sacred Works. Klemperer, of course, predated the very idea of “historically informed performance;” and I have to confess that listening to his recording reminded me of spending a long period of time on an uncomfortable church bench! McGegan, on the other hand, has a better sense of “pace;” and, after listening to this new release several times, I have come to enjoy the overall experience, rather than dreading it as an ordeal!

Bernard Labadie Shifts from Mozart to Bach

Conductor Bernard Labadie (photograph by Winnie Au, courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony)

Conductor Bernard Labadie made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony in 2005 and has been making regular visits since then. His most recent visit took place in November of 2024, when he presented a program devoted entirely to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This week he prepared another single-composer program, this time surveying the sacred music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The program began and concluded with two significant choral compositions. The program began with a slightly belated account of BWV 249, the Easter Oratorio. This is one of Bach’s less familiar compositions, and last night’s performance was the first ever given by SFS. (It is also significantly shorter than many of the more familiar major sacred music compositions.) The concluding selection was the BWV 243 setting of the “Magnificat” canticle. Labadie provided this performance with an “overture” in the form of the opening sinfonia for BWV 29, the cantata Wir danken dir, Gott. Unless I am mistaken, this was the first time that Labadie prepared a program of sacred music since April of 2008, when he presented two choral compositions by Joseph Haydn.

Last night saw a solid account of all three of the selections. Labadie charted just the right course through the many diverse dispositions that Bach brought to his sacred music. He devoted equal attention to the instrumentalists, the vocal soloists, and the chorus, all of whom seemed to be perfectly satisfied in following his lead. The soloists were soprano Joélle Harvey, countertenor Hugh Cutting, tenor Andrew Haji, and baritone Joshua Hopkins. It may seem a bit “out of touch” to refer to a performance of sacred music as “refreshing;” but it was that aspect of Labadie’s rhetorical stance that made the listening experience engaging from start to finish. Sacred music can do justice to liturgical passages without being somber about them, and that was precisely how Labadie approached Bach’s music last night.

Johann Sebastian Bach “Underappreciated?”

When it comes to reading the latest news, The New York Times has been one of my primary sources pretty much for as long as I have been adding articles to this site. However, when the Times ventures away from “hard news,” I often find myself raising my left eyebrow (as I was originally influenced by Star Trek). This is the way I felt this morning when I encountered the following Times headline: “Is This Bach’s Most Underrated Music?” There is then a “follow-up” sub-headline: “The sprawling organ collection ‘Clavier-Übung III’ is not as widely known as it should be. An excellent new recording could change that.”

I should begin by explaining to (or reminding) readers that my CD collection includes two “complete works” collections of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. I did not waste time in purchasing the Bach 2000 collection (compiled jointly by Das Alte Werk and Teldec) when it was released. Several years later, my wife added the Brilliant Classics Bach Edition, which was given to her by one of her teaching colleagues. Over the years, both of these collections have provided me with many hours of informative listening, thus reinforcing my favorite Leonard Slatkin quote (“You can never conduct enough Haydn or Schubert.”) but applying it to listening to Bach!

English organist James McVinnie on the cover of his Clavier-Übung III album (from the Amazon.com Web page for this album)

In such a context, I would dare to say that anyone that appreciates Bach has no trouble applying that appreciation to the full canon. As a result, I would dare to say that David Allen, the author of the Times article, is not one of those “appreciators!” More likely, he was responding to the new release of a Pentatone recording on which English organist James McVinnie performs the Clavier-Übung III collection in its entirety. My guess is that both Allen and McVinnie are unfamiliar with the old advertising slogan of the Times Sunday edition: “You don’t have to read it all, but it’s good to know it’s all there!”

More relevant, however, is probably my favorite old joke about Mount Fuji. For those that did not encounter it when I wrote about Franz Liszt’s “Faust Symphony” a little over three years ago, the joke goes as follows: “The Japanese believe that there are two kinds of fool in the world. The first applies to anyone that has never climbed Fuji. The second is anyone that has climbed Fuji twice!” Allen may have likened comparing Clavier-Übung III to Mount Fuji, but for me the music provides no end of opportunities for discovery every time I return to it!

A “Live” Account of “Sundays at Ten”

Somewhat ironically, this morning provided me with my first opportunity to view a Sundays at Ten video compiled by Voices of Music (VoM) when it first appeared. These videos are released on YouTube every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. This particular episode consisted of four selections by four different composers; in “order of appearance” these were Henry Purcell, Maddalena Laura Sirmen, George Frideric Handel, and Johann Sebastian Bach. Sirmen was the “wild card” in this “hand,” providing my first encounter with her music, which was limited to the first movement of a violin concerto in B-flat major. Most familiar, on the other hand, was the Bach selection, BWV 1051, the sixth (and last) of the so-called “Brandenburg” concertos.

Kati Kyme, Elizabeth Blumenstock, and Tanya Tomkins performing Bach’s BWV 1051

As one of my undergraduate colleagues pointed out, BWV 1051 was the only concerto in the set whose number was also the number of solo performers. That said, most of the virtuoso solo work was performed by two violas (Kati Kyme and Elizabeth Blumenstock) and cello (Tanya Tomkins). The other soloists were Elisabeth Reed and William Skeen (viol da gamba) and Farley Pearce (violone), with Hanneke van Proosdij providing continuo on cembalo.

BWV 1051 was also the only multi-movement composition to be performed in its entirety. The Handel concerto, HWV 325 in B-flat major, was limited to the opening largo followed by an allegro fugue; and the Sirmen movement was also allegro. Purcell began the program with his Z. 750 pavan, composed in the key of B-flat major. Taken as a whole, the entire set lasted a little over half an hour, just the right amount of brevity for an engaging Sunday morning of music.

Another Disappointing Encounter with Hewitt

2017 photograph of Angela Hewitt in Toronto (photograph by Mykola Swarnyk, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

Once again Chamber Music San Francisco (CMSF) scheduled pianist Angela Hewitt for a solo recital. Those that have followed this site for some time probably know my track record with her past performances. As in the past, I continue to be more than merely satisfied with the precision of her keyboard technique. However, also in the past, she never seems to add expression to that precision.

This season’s program accounted for a broad span of approaches to keyboard music extending from the eighteenth century to the early twentieth. Each half of the program began with a composer from the Baroque period. The opening selection was Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 829 keyboard partita (the fifth in a set of six), composed in the key of G major. The second half began with five relatively short pieces by François Couperin, all taken from the “Sixiême Ordre” in his second Livre de Piéces de clavecin. In the first half of the program, Bach’s partita was coupled with Robert Schumann’s Opus 22, his second piano sonata in G minor. The program concluded with music that nodded to the preceding performance, Maurice Ravel’s suite Le tombeau de Couperin.

As in the past, I found myself impressed with Hewitt’s attention to getting every note in its proper place; but there was little awareness of music emerging from those notes. Thus, there was no sense of dance forms in the music that Bach composed for so many of his keyboard works. Where Couperin was concerned, Hewitt spent too much time leaning on the damper pedal, which particularly muddled one of his most engaging pieces, “Les Baricades Mistérieuses.”

In reviewing the scribbles in my program book, I see that “blur” showed up in my annotations for the selections by Schumann and Ravel. Neither of those composers deserved that description in performance, and Hewitt’s account of Schumann’s scherzo movement was downright incoherent. Where Le tombeau de Couperin is concerned, Hewitt’s only virtue was providing information about how each of the movements was dedicated to the composer’s friends and relatives that died during World War I.

For her encore selection Hewitt shifted from Ravel to Claude Debussy, but her account of “Clair de lune” was no more convincing than any of the preceding selections on the program.

David Russell Returns to SFP After 14 Visits

David Russell with his guitar (courtesy of SFP)

Guitarist David Russell has been bringing solo guitar recitals to San Francisco Performances (SFP) since March of 1993. Most, if not all, of these events have been presented in association with the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts, which annually prepares a more extended recital series focusing primarily on guitars. Last night he returned to San Francisco to perform at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church.

It would be fair to call last night a “past and present” program. The past was represented by Johann Sebastian Bach, Mauro Giuliani, and Isaac Albéniz. The living composers were Stephen Goss and Gabriel Estarellas. Bach and Albéniz were the two composers that were not guitarists, and the five Albéniz selections were all transcriptions by Francisco Tárrega. Sadly, Russell was more than a little casual in introducing his Bach selections, describing them only as “pieces I enjoy.”

The major work on the program was the San Francisco premiere of Goss’ Don Quijote suite, which he had dedicated to Russell. This consisted of six movements, which Russell described as alternating between “how the world sees the Don” and “how the Don sees the world.” The performance included projected images, which seem to reflect on the movement titles but did little to establish any sense of narrative over the course of the performance. There was no end of spirit in the text of author Miguel de Cervantes, but Goss never seemed to capture any of this spirit in his score.

This was followed by six movements from the Estarellas suite entitled Homage to Charles Chaplin. Scott Cmiel provided an informative paragraph for the program book accounting for what those movements were intended to depict. Sadly, however, none of those depictions registered with much impact, resulting in an extended one-thing-after-another performance that just got drearier and drearier.

Somewhat more spirited was a take on the “Irish Washerwoman” theme. The first word of the title was “Dirty,” and the second was muttered beyond recognition. However, the attempt to depict scrubbing made this an engaging encounter. Russell then revisited the “Dulcinea” movement from Goss’ suite; but I am afraid that, by that time, I had had more than enough of that composer’s music!

Dan Tepfer Returning to Noe Valley on March 22

Dan Tepfer (from the Noe Music Web page for his recital this month in Noe Valley)

Some readers may recall that, a little over a week ago, this site announced a solo performance by Dan Tepfer at the Noe Valley Ministry entitled Inventions/Reinventions at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 21. This morning I learned that he will return to that venue the following afternoon. The title of his second program has a similar structure: Goldberg Variations/Variations.

Once again, he will use the music of Johann Sebastian Bach for his own “personal interpretations and spontaneous improvisations.” This time the Bach source will be the BWV 988 set of variations on an aria theme, usually known as the “Goldberg Variations.” Most likely he will provide “improvisational responses” to the “call” of both the theme and variations composed by Bach.

As of this writing, all reserved seats have been sold. However, general admission seating is still available for $45 for adults and $15 for students. A Web page is available for purchasing these tickets online. For those that do not already know, the Noe Valley Ministry is located at 1021 Sanchez Street in Noe Valley.

Violinist Perlman Returns to Davies to Lead SFS

Itzhak Perlman with his violin (from the SFS Web page for last night’s program)

Last night violinist Itzhak Perlman returned to Davies Symphony Hall for the third consecutive season. However, while he may well have been the most popular recitalist in the last two Great Performers Series seasons, last night he assumed the podium of the San Francisco Symphony. In his role as conductor, he led the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in performances of Johannes Brahms’ Opus 80 “Academic Festival Overture” before the intermission and Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 88 (eighth) symphony in G major in the second half of the program. On the other hand, he began the evening with Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1041 violin concerto in A minor, conducting while playing the solo violin part. In other words, a modest offering of music from the early eighteenth century gave way to a major journey through the late nineteenth.

The Brahms-Dvořák connection is an interesting one. The latter was an early success in Prague but did not receive broader attention until winning a prize at the Austrian State Competition, where Brahms was one of the members of the jury. It was through that “Brahms connection” that Fritz Simrock became Dvořák’s publisher. It was therefore interesting to see that the Brahms and Dvořák selections were composed at both ends of the same decade. The overture was composed in 1880 and the symphony in 1889.

Both works were given thoroughly engaging accounts under Perlman’s baton. His chemistry with the ensemble could not have been better. The same can be said for the beginning of the program, where he doubled as both soloist and leader. The selection was Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1041, his first violin concerto composed in the key of A minor. This was performed with a reduced string ensemble, taking a “historically appropriate” approach. The instruments were, of course, more “contemporary;” but the way in which they were deployed under Perlman’s leadership made for an engaging account, regardless of any historical issues!

As always, the audience gave Perlman a generous reception for his return to San Francisco; and, given the overall quality of the full evening’s performance, they had every right to do so!

Bach-Archiv Leipzig Authenticates 2 New Works

The 75th anniversary of the Leipzig Bach Archive was celebrated with the addition of two recently authenticated keyboard works. That means that two entries have been added to the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (Bach works catalog). Both of these are chaconnes, the first in the key of D minor (BWV 1178) and the second in the key of G minor (BWV 1179).

Benjamin Alard at the harpsichord recording music for his The Couperin Family album

This amounts to less than fifteen minutes of new music, so it is unlikely that there will be a major overhaul of any of the current “complete works” collections. However, harmonia mundi will release two digital tracks this coming Friday. These will be performances by Benjamin Alard on two different instruments. He recorded BWV 1178 with a two-manual harpsichord made by Émile Jobin in 2017, using Antoine Vater’s instrument, made in Paris in 1732, as his model. BWV 1179, on the other hand, is performed on “assembled clavichords;” and, to be perfectly honest, I am not quite sure what that means!

As of this writing, I have not found a Web page that is taking advance orders for this new release. Given the brevity of the content, availability will probably be limited to downloads. Release is currently scheduled for this coming Friday, March 6.

International Guitar Night at Herbst Theatre

Alexander Misko with his guitar (courtesy of the Omni Foundation)

Last night in Herbst Theatre, the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts presented its 45th annual International Guitar Night program. Readers familiar with this offering probably already know that four musicians give solo performances, after which they all come together on the stage to give an “all hands on deck” performance. The performers for this year’s program were, in order of appearance, Thu Le (Vietnam), Lucas Imbiriba (Brazil), Taimane (Hawaii), and Alexander Misko (Russia).

This made for a more than generous share of music. Indeed, after the round of the five performances, I thought the program would be concluded. However, it turned out that it was only an intermission break, after which there would be a “second round.” I must confess, however, that, at the conclusion of that “first round,” my head was already saturated with both the diversity of the offerings and the dexterity of the performers!

That said, there were definitely particular events that stood out in memory long enough for me to account for them this morning. Imbiriba began with “Canción del Mariachi,” which gained popularity through Antonio Banderas and the movie Desperado. He then joined the “Bohemian Rhapsody” club with his own take on the “Mama I just killed a man” ballad segment, followed by a take on Cat Stevens involving a plethora of percussion effects.

Taimane then picked up the baton from Imbiriba to begin her set with a piece she called “Led Zeppelin Meets Beethoven.” (She performed barefoot, also providing choreography.) She then launched into a suite (of sorts) beginning with flamenco, moving on to thematic excerpts from Georges Bizet’s Carmen, and wrapping up with a nod to the fugue in Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 565 D minor coupling of a toccata and fugue.

That was about the time that I began to feel the first tinges of saturation. However, Misko had not yet begun his set. His instrument had been augmented with an abundance of electronics, and he referred to it as his “Frankenstein guitar.” He played a piece he called “Intergalactic March,” and the plethora of his gear yielded sounds that almost invoked a full symphony orchestra.

Fortunately, the following “all hands” performance allowed for a sigh of relief with the Brazilian choro song “Tico-Tico no Fubá.” Each guitarist had a personal take on the familiar tune, and the spirits could not have been higher. Readers may now understand why, after all of that abundance, there was little left in me to return for that “second round!”

Next PBO Program to Include Spirituals

Banner for the Web page being discussed

The title of the next program to be presented by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra is Pearls of Sorrow. As was observed when the season was first announced this past July, it may be the first time that American spirituals will be included on the program. That program will be structured into five episodes, each of which interjects one or more spirituals to “rub shoulders” with works by composers from the Baroque period. Those composers will include both Johann Sebastian Bach and Johann Christoph Bach as well as many others, including Pietro Locatelli, Heinrich Schütz, and Dieterich Buxtehude. The vocalist will be countertenor Reginald Mobley, and Christine Brandes will conduct. The titles of the episodes will be as follows:

1. Trauma
2. Sorrow
3. Pain
4. All My Trials
5. Finding

To borrow a text from Eugene O’Neill, one may describe the overall program as “a long day’s journey into night.”

As usual, this performance will take place in Herbst Theater, located at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 13. Ticket prices range from $40 to $125. They may be purchased through a City Box Office Web page, which includes a diagram showing where seats are still available.

Next CBS Program to Explore Aspects of Loss

The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame (painting by Georges de La Tour on the Web page for the concert being announced)

The full title of the next program to be presented by the California Bach Society is On Leaving: Music for Parting and Passage. If the overall theme reflects on loss, longing, and transcendence, the plan is that the music will offer comfort, harmony, and hope. Yuko Tanaka will be the organist, there will be one vocalist, tenor Corey Head, and three instrumental soloists: Stacy Pelinka on flute, David Morris playing Baroque cello, and Farley Pearce on violone.

The program will begin with Max Reger’s setting of the poem by Matthias Claudius whose first line is "Der Mensch lebt und bestehet nur eine kleine Zeit" (Man liveth and endureth but a short time). This is the first of the eight motets in his Opus 138 collection, inspired by the motets of Johann Sebastian Bach. This will be followed by the motet for four unaccompanied voices “Ecce quomodo moritur justus” (see how the just dies), composed by Jacob Handl (Jacobus Gallus) for his Opus Musicum II collection. The first half of the program will then conclude with a motet that is by Bach, the BWV 229 “Komm, Jesu, komm” (come, Jesus, come).

The second half of the program will begin with “Na Ishod” (on leaving) by the Ukrainian composer Galina Grigorjeva. This five-movement composition was inspired by Orthodox chant, complementing the German and Latin selections in the first half of the program. However, the program will conclude by going “back to Bach” with the performance of another one of his motets, “Jesu, meine Freude” (Jesus, my joy) BWV 227.

The San Francisco performance of this program will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 27. The venue will be St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, which is located 1111 O’Farrell Street. Individual tickets are available for general admission at $40 with discounted rates for seniors and students. Tickets may also be purchased an advance until midnight of February 26 through a Web page, in which case general admission will be only $35.

Voices of Music Presents a Valentines’ “Rerun”

This afternoon the Voices of Music Sunday Mornings at Ten program presented a rerun of a program entitled Love is in the Air Valentine Special, which was performed three years ago. This turned out to be a marathon of 33 selections from video recordings of past performances, resulting in an overall duration of about three hours. Regardless of what one may think about Valentine’s Day, this was the perfect way to stay indoors and avoid the rainy afternoon!

The entire performance was structured as a YouTube playlist. One simply had to go to the home page for the entire program and click the “Play all” button. YouTube would then automatically advance through the 33 Web sites in the order found on the home page.

Since YouTube has done it for me, I shall not provide readers with a blow-by-blow account of all 33 of the compositions. Rather, I shall call attention to some of my more memorable personal moments. One of these was the surprise that only one of the selections was by Johann Sebastian Bach. Soprano Laura Heimes sang the first aria in the BWV 213 cantata Laßst uns sorgten, laßst uns wachen (let us take care, let us watch over). (“For the record,” as they say, this aria was a revision of one of the arias in the BWV 248 Christmas Oratorio.)

Soprano Anna Dennis preparing to sing “Fairest Isle” (screen shot from the Voices of Music video)

There were also back-to-back performances of two settings of texts by William Shakespeare. Soprano Anna Davis sang “Take, O take those lips away;” and her performance was followed by one of “It was a lover and his lass,” composed by Thomas Morley and sung by Jennifer Ellis Campani. Towards the end of the program, Shakespeare reappears with two compositions by Anthony Holborne, “The Fairie Round” and “Hearts-Ease.” These were flanked on either side by soprano Anna Dennis singing “Fairest Isle” from Henry Purcell’s Z. 628 “semi-opera,” King Arthur.

Bear in mind, however, I am just accounting for my favorites. To be fair, each of the 33 videos is a gem unto itself. There may be some questions about any connection to Valentine’s Day. Nevertheless, all of the selections were irresistible; and that is really all that matters!

Lively Bach Arranged for Two Guitars

Duo Aratik guitarists Jure Cerkovnik and Aljaž Cvirn providing a stimulating arrangement of Bach keyboard music (from a YouTube video released by the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts)

There have been no shortage of arrangements for guitar of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Over the course of his career, Andrés Segovia added a generous number of Bach compositions to his catalog, the most impressive probably being the final Ciaconna movement from the BWV 1004 partita, originally composed for solo violin. This morning saw the release of the latest Omni on-Location video, a duo performance presented by two Slovenian guitarists who call themselves Duo Aratik: Jure Cerkovnik and Aljaž Cvirn.

The selection was another final movement: this time the Gigue that concludes BWV 816, the fifth of the six “French” suites, composed in the key of G major. This tends to be given a lively keyboard interpretation, and the Duo Aratik guitarists had no trouble rising to the same tempo. The camera tended to keep up with the give-and-take of the melodic phrases; but, for the most part, it kept both guitarists in the frame. What was most important, however, was the way in which the duo captured the composer’s approach to a theme known best for its liveliness.

SFP PIVOT Festival: the Final Program

Choreography and dancer Myles Thatcher (photograph courtesy of the artist, from the SFP Web page for last night’s program)

Last night in the Taube Atrium Theatre, San Francisco Performances (SFP) concluded its annual PIVOT Festival. Curator Andy Meyerson gave a solo percussion performance accompanying choreography by dancer Myles Thatcher. The title of the program was Parallel Play, reflecting the selections as a series of “parallel pairs.”

Those “parallels” involved the coupling of sound and movement. The program began with the now historic coupling of John Cage with choreographer Merce Cunningham. This was followed by Robin Dekkers performing a synthesis of ballet and modern dance to the sounds of Glenn Kotche. The first half of the program concluded with music by Nicole Lizée for choreography by Rex Wheeler. The second half began with “A Noticeable Pause,” Dani Rowe’s choreography set to Danny Clay’s “Still Cycles.” “Portrait” seems to have been a joint project setting movement by Babatunji to the music of Raven Chacon. Thatcher then concluded the program with his interpretation of the Chaconne movement from Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1004 partita for solo violin, arranged for marimba performance by Meyerson and Jack Van Geem.

Taken as a whole, the program served up a rich panoply of music almost entirely from the current century. (The only exceptions were the “bookends” of the program: Cage and Bach!) The Bach arrangement made for a throughly engaging conclusion with unique marimba sonorities that still did justice to the music’s Baroque “roots.” While I found Thatcher’s performances to be somewhat variable, I was still drawn to his interpretation of Cunningham’s “Solo.” Perhaps this just cast too long a shadow over the choreography that would follow!

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Plans for SFP PIVOT Festival

Some readers may recall that one of the highlights planned for the 2025–2026 season of San Francisco Performances (SFP) is the annual PIVOT Festival. This will be the Festival’s eleventh performance, suggesting that its adventurous offerings have staying power! The curator for this season will be Andy Meyerson, who will probably be known to many readers as the percussionist of The Living Earth Show, playing with his partner, guitarist Travis Andrews. The Festival will present three performances, all taking place in the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. The first two will be in Herbst Theatre on the ground floor followed by last on the top floor in the Taube Atrium Theatre. Specifics for each of the programs are as follows:

Vocalist Tanner Porter with musicians Travis Andrews and Andy Meyerson (from the Web page for the first PIVOT Festival performance)

Friday, January 30, 7:30 p.m.: Legacies will survey works by two generations of composers in the Sleeping Giant collective. The first generation will be represented by Timo Andres, Christopher Cerrone, Jacob Cooper, Ted Hearne, Robert Honstein, and Andrew Norman. Both Meyerson and Andrews are protégés of those founders, along with vocalist Tanner Porter, who will join them in presenting this offering.

Saturday, January 31, 7:30 p.m.: The Satellite program will be divided across three diverse bands with both Meyerson and Andrews performing in all of them. The first of these is the Bucket List trio, whose third member is composer and percussionist Mark Applebaum. The second is Koollooꓘ, which some readers may recognize as the title of a one-act performance that will be taking place at The Roar Shack at the end of this month at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28. Meyerson and Andrews will be joined by dance artist Babatunji and composer and instrument designer Dennis Aman.

Sunday, February 1, 7 p.m.: For the final program, Parallel Play, Meyerson will collaborate with San Francisco Ballet soloist and choreographer Myles Thatcher. Thatcher will perform “Child of Tree,” choreographed by Merce Cunningham for music composed by John Cage. This will be followed by “The Filthy 15,” composed by Nicole Lizée for choreography by Rex Wheeler (aka Lady Camden). There will also be a world premiere of Thatcher’s choreography set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach.

A Web page has been created for purchasing tickets for the entire series with options for the different areas in Herbst Theatre. The hyperlinks attached to the individual dates above can be used for purchasing single tickets. Tickets can also be purchased by calling 415-392-2545. In addition, single tickets will be available for purchase at the door with a 50% discount for student rush tickets and 20% off for seniors.