The Second Summer Concert Program in Davies

Conductor Nicolas Ellis (from the Web page for last night’s performance)

Yesterday evening Davies Symphony Hall saw the second Summer Classics program performed by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) as part of the Summer with Symphony concert series. The title of the program was A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Both my wife and I have fond memories of the Davies concert that presented all of the music that Felix Mendelssohn had composed for William Shakespeare’s play interleaved with a semi-staged performance of all of the texts associated with that music.

Sadly, this approach to Mendelssohn and Shakespeare did not take place last night. Instead, Midsummer was reduced to the three most familiar movements from the full score, the overture, the nocturne, and (of course) the “Wedding March.” This began the second half of the program, and Shakespeare prevailed with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Fantasy-Overture,” “Romeo and Juliet.” The first half of the program was framed by opera, beginning with the “Forest Murmurs” episode from the second act of Richard Wagner’s Siegfried and concluding with the “Carmen Fantasy” by Franz Waxman. This was originally composed for the movie Humoresque and was subsequently arranged for violin and symphony orchestra by violinist Jascha Heifetz. These two operatic offerings framed the performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending.” Violinist Geneva Lewis was the soloist in both this selection and the “Carmen Fantasy.”

Nicolas Ellis made his debut as conductor. Sadly, things got off to a shaky start with the forest more mushy than murmuring. Fortunately, Ellis managed to get his mojo working before Lewis took the stage. Their shared chemistry for “The Lark Ascending” could not have been more engaging, and their shared take on Georges Bizet’s opera could not have been more dazzling. Following the intermission, Ellis’ command of the podium was just as satisfying. Even if I have lost count of the number of times I have listened to Tchaikovsky’s take on Shakespeare, there was a freshness in Ellis’ interpretation that kept my attention from beginning to end.

SFS: A “Summer Classic” in Mid-July

Geneva Lewis, violinist for the selections by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Franz Waxman (from the event page for her performance)

“Serious” music tends to take a back seat in Davies Symphony Hall during the summer months. However, in a few week’s time the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) will present a program in its Summer Classics series given the title A Midsummer Night’s Dream. That title will refer to the music the Felix Mendelssohn composed for a performance of the play by William Shakespeare of that title. This will begin the second half of the program, and it will be followed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet,” which he called a “Fantasy-Overture.” The program will begin with the instrumental “Forest Murmurs” excerpt from Richard Wagner’s opera Siegfried, arranged for concert performance by Hermann Zumpe. This will be followed by Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending.” The program will then return to opera with Franz Waxman’s “Carmen Fantasy,” edited for violin and orchestra by Jascha Heifetz. The soloist will be Geneva Lewis, and the conductor will be Nicolas Ellis.

The San Francisco performance of this program will take place in Davies Symphony Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 17. As usual, a Web page has been created for purchasing tickets online, showing availability and prices for the different seating areas. Tickets may also be acquired at the Box Office, which is at the entrance to Davies on the south side of Grove Street, between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street.

Gardner Returns to SFS with English Offerings

Conductor Edward Gardner (photograph by Benjamin Ealovega, courtesy of SFS)

Conductor Edward Gardner made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in March of 2018. I described that program as “Anglo-American,” since he coupled instrumental excerpts from Michael Tippett’s opera The Midsummer Marriage with George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Last night Gardner returned to Davies Symphony Hall, this time with a stronger emphasis on the “Anglo” side.

He began the program with the overture from incidental music that Ralph Vaughan William had composed for a performance of Aristophanes’ play The Wasps in 1909. The final selection was composed less than a decade later, Gustav Holst’s Opus 32 suite, The Planets. The concerto soloist was violinist Randall Goosby, who departed from British traditions with a performance of Max Bruch’s Opus 26 (first) violin concerto. He then selected an American encore, “Louisiana Blues Strut: A Cakewalk,” composed for solo violin by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. Bruch was thus the “outlier” in another Anglo-American offering.

Mind you, there was nothing “secondary” about Goosby’s approach to the concerto. This has become a warhorse for both violinists and those seeking out violin performances. Nevertheless, Goosby gave a throughly engaging account, bringing freshness to the familiar; and his chemistry with Gardner’s leadership could not have been better. Of course his encore was the same one he had performed when he made his SFS debut with Esa-Pekka Salonen in September of 2022, but I enjoyed the music as much as I did on “first contact.”

Both of the British selections were products of richly imaginative approaches to instrumentation. It is therefore significant that Gardner consistently maintained a solid command of instrumental balance, which was probably the key asset in his chemistry with the ensemble. Holst’s suite is particularly challenging when it comes to endowing each of the movements of the seven planets with its own distinctive approach to tempo. This brings the necessary sense of flow to Opus 32, without which the attentive listener is besieged by little more than “one thing after another.” Similarly, at the more “microscopic” level, Gardner knew exactly how to make each phrase count, endowing each planet with its own identity, as well as the Aristophanic identity of Vaughan Williams’ overture.

SFCS to Pair Ola Gjeilo with Vaughan Williams

Poster design for the program being announced (from a City Box Office Web page)

Some readers may recall that, a little less than two years ago, the San Francisco Choral Society (SFCS) introduced the Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo to its audience. Artistic Director Robert Geary conducted the world premiere of Brontë, a choral work in eight movements scored for four-part (SATB) chorus, strings, and piano, setting excerpts from poems by Emily Brontë. Next month SFCS will revisit this composition for another performance, coupling it with an earlier work, by about a decade, that Gjeilo composed. The title of that work is “The Lake Isle,” which will conclude the next SFCS program; and, for that performance, SFCS will be accompanied by the California Chamber Symphony, joined by Maxwell Gibbs on guitar and pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi. The program will begin with “Dona nobis pacem,” a cantata in six continuous movements composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams. This will also involve accompaniment by the California Chamber Symphony, along with vocal solos by soprano Michele Kennedy and baritone Kenneth Goodson.

This program will be given two performances at 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 15, and 4 p.m. on Sunday, November 16. The venue will be Trinity+St. Peter's Episcopal Church, which is located at 1620 Gough Street, between Bush Street and Pine Street. Tickets may be purchase through City Box Office using the above hyperlinks. Ticket prices range from $40 to $60. The Sunday performance will be available for livestream at a charge of $40 up until 1 PM. A separate Web page has been created for this option, limited to one ticket per email address.

Stasevska Returns: More Sibelius and a Premiere

Conductor Dalia Stasevska (from her Web site)

Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska made her debut with the San Francisco Symphony almost exactly two years ago, at the end of April of 2023. Her program emphasized Finnish composer Jean Sibelius with Joshua Bell as soloist in a performance of the violin concerto (Opus 47 in D minor), followed by the second symphony (Opus 43 in D major) for the second half of the program. Last night she returned to Davies Symphony Hall, concluding her program with another Sibelius symphony, Opus 82, the fifth in E-flat major. The first half of the program presented the world premiere of “Before we fall,” composed for cello and orchestra by Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir with Johannes Moser as soloist. The program began with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis,” composed for three string ensembles, a large one on stage, a smaller one in one of the Terrace areas, and a string quartet.

“Before we fall” was the most disappointing of the selections. The program book included two extended quotations from Thorvaldsdottir. Sadly, these said more about the music than the music could say about itself. Mind you, there were many impressive demands on Moser’s cello skills, and he handled them all confidently and adeptly. Nevertheless, there was little to mine from the engagement between soloist and ensemble; and, as is often the case in such situations, the entire affair outstayed its welcome long before the halfway mark of the overall 25-minute duration.

Once again, the listening experience was far more satisfying through the previous century than with the recent past. The Vaughan Williams and Sibelius selections were composed within five years of each other (1910 and 1915, respectively). They could not have been more different; but, under Stasevska’s attentive control, they made for thoroughly engaging “bookends.”

Her conducting skills could not have been better in balancing the three ensembles in the Tallis fantasia. Where Sibelius was concerned, it was a matter of pace and phrasing. There is almost a sense of stream-of-consciousness meandering that pervades the three movements and the final coda feels almost as if it had been deliberately conceived to provoke. One wonders just how this music should be interpreted, but Stasevska seems to have found the path to delivering an account that let the music speak for itself.

To be fair, however, Sibelius composed this symphony in 1915. He revised it one year later, and revised it again in 1919. (When the Sibelius Edition of recordings was released, it included both the 1915 and 1919 versions.) Stasevska opted for the original one from 1915. Personally, I appreciated her making that choice!

SFS to Present Thorvaldsdottir World Premiere

Conductor Dalia Stasevska (photograph by Veikko Kähkönen, from an SF Classical Voice article from January 22, 2024)

Next month will see the last of the three San Francisco Symphony (SFS) concerts of the season to feature a “Snapshot” visiting artist. That artist will be conductor Dalia Stasevska; and the program she has prepared will feature the world premiere performance of “Before we fall,” a cello concerto by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, composed on an SFS commission. The soloist for this performance will be cellist Johannes Moser.

The entire program will follow the usual overture-concerto-symphony format (at least somewhat in a manner of speaking). The “overture” preceding the concerto will be Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. This was scored for double string orchestra with string quartet, allowing for many inventive textures in the overall sonority. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Jean Sibelius’ Opus 82 (fifth) symphony in E-flat major, perhaps best known for its enigmatic conclusion. (Some readers may recall that Stasevska made her SFS debut almost exactly a year ago with an all-Sibelius program.)

As most readers probably already know, this performance will take place in Davies Symphony Hall. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 15, Friday, May 16, and Saturday, May 17. The address is 201 Van Ness Avenue; but it occupies the entire block with Van Ness to the west, Franklin Street to the east, Hayes Street to the south, and Grove Street to the north. The entrance is on the Grove Street side, which is also where tickets may be purchased at the Box Office. Tickets are currently available at prices from $30 in the Terraces to $179 in the Orchestra and Boxes. A Web page has been created for online purchases. Tickets may also be purchased by calling the SFS Box Office at 415-864-6000.

SFS Commissions and Premieres in 2025–26

Playbill for the Vienna Premiere of Don Giovanni in 1788 (from the Wikipedia Web page, public domain)

Like yesterday’s article about debut performances during the 2025–26 season of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), the category of “Commissions and Premieres” involves previously accounted for performance dates. Indeed, with the exception of John Adams’ “Short Ride on a Fast Machine,” all of the “Works by Living Composers” fall into this category. That leaves only three other premiere performances, all by works from past centuries. The composers and their respective selections are as follows:

1. Johann Sebastian Bach: Easter Oratorio (BWV 249)
2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: aria from Don Giovanni (K. 527) sung by Golda Schultz
3. Ralph Vaughan Williams: the overture to the incidental music composed for Aristophanes’ play The Wasps

(On a personal note, I have a particular fondness for the “special effects” at the beginning of the Vaughan Williams overture!)

Music in the Mishkan to Conclude 26th Season

Photograph of Gideon Klein provided by Frank Paganini (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license, from a Wikimedia Commons Web page)

Readers may recall that this year only two programs were planned for the 26th Music in the Mishkan season. Violinist and long-time member Randall Weiss will again be joined by violist Natalia Vershilova, who performed with him in the first program this past February. They will be joined by cellist Matthew Linamen to perform two string trios at the beginning and conclusion of the program. The latter will be familiar to those with a generous knowledge of the works of Ludwig van Beethoven. His Opus 8, given the title “Serenade,” offers a full share of seven movements, the first and last of which are marches. The composer of the opening trio is Gideon Klein, who organized cultural life at the Theresienstadt concentration camp. However, he was deported first to Auschwitz and then to the Fürstengrube labour camp, where he was murdered “under unclear circumstances” (quote from his Wikipedia Web page). Between these two works, mezzo Stephanie Feigenbaum will join Weiss in a performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ song cycle Along the Field.

As usual, the performance will begin at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 27. The venue will be the Sha’ar Zahav synagogue, which is located in the Mission at 290 Dolores Street. Ticket prices are $25 for members and $30 for others. There will be no physical tickets, but a list will be kept at the door. A Web page has been created for payment to register for attendance. Electronic mail will be sent to confirm registration; it will include a Zoom hyperlink for those preferring to watch at home.

Music in the Mishkan Announces 26th Season

Poster design for the Music in the Mishkan season (courtesy of Randall Weiss)

Yesterday morning, violinist Randall Weiss and his colleagues in the chamber music ensemble they call The Bridge Players announced plans for their 26th season entitled Music in the Mishkan. As in the past, these will be Sunday afternoon events, beginning at 4 p.m. There will be two concerts, both of which will be quartet performances. Violist Natalia Vershilova will join Weiss in both of them. The remaining two performers will be different for each of the two dates as follows:

February 23: This program will be framed by two piano quartets, so the other participating musicians will be cellist Victoria Ehrlich and Amy Zanrosso on piano. The quartets will be the only one by Joaquín Turina at the beginning and the Opus 26 (second) quartet in A major by Johannes Brahms at the conclusion. Between these “bookends” there will be a selection from the Songs Without Words piano compositions by Felix Mendelssohn and a solo violin composition by Alex Malinas entitled “Bulgar.”

April 27: Cellist Matthew Linaman will join Weiss and Vershilova for two string trios. The better known of these will be the concluding selection, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 8, which he entitled “Serenade.” (This was his second string trio, composed in the key of D major.) The opening trio is by Gideon Klein. Between these two works, mezzo Stephanie Feigenbaum will join Weiss in a performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ song cycle Along the Field.

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 $25 for members and $30 for others. For those planning to attend both concerts, there is also a “Package Deal;” but the total prices are still the same. All purchases are processed through a single Web page. There will be no physical tickets, but a list will be kept at the door.

California Bach Society to Survey British Music

1973 design by David Lance Goins used for the California Bach Society poster

Following up on this past October’s survey of Italian Baroque choral music, the full title of the next program to be presented by the California Bach Society will be From Tallis to Tavener: Five Centuries of British Choral Music. The composers to be presented will include Thomas Tallis, Henry Purcell, Benjamin Britten, Imogen Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Herbert Howells, and John Tavener. For those interested in further details, a Web page has been created with background notes for the entire program.

As in the past, the San Francisco performance of this program will take place at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 28. A Web page has been created for all information about ticketing. The basic price for a single ticket is $35; but, as can be expected, there are several alternatives for discounts. Doors will open at 7 p.m.

SFGMC’s Love-Themed Program at Davies

Last night the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (SFGMC) returned to Davies Symphony Hall to perform their third annual concert. A reduced ensemble of San Francisco Symphony performers was joined by pianist Danny Sullivan. The conductor was SFGMC Artistic Director Jacob Stensberg, also serving as Master of Ceremonies to introduce the works on the program, whose title was All We Need Is Love.

I was a bit surprised that the program did not include the selection with the name of the entire performance. However, there was so much rich content being performed that I could not quibble over such a minor factor. That diversity was reflected by the fact that only three of the composers on the program were familiar to me. Curiously, these were the first three selections on the program.

This began with the second movement from David Conte’s “Elegy for Matthew Shepard.” The text by John Stirling Walker reflected on the death of the 21-year old student at the University of Wyoming, who was beaten, tortured, and left to die for his sexual orientation. Text sheets were not included with the program, but the clarity of the vocal delivery could not have been better. (There were also American Sign Language interpreters at the front-right corner of the stage.) This was followed by the oldest work on the program, the cycle by Ralph Vaughan Williams entitled Five Mystical Songs. The last familiar composer was Michael Tilson Thomas (present for the occasion), whose “I’d Like to Learn” was given a choral arrangement by Nicolas Perez. In addition, the first half of the program concluded with the world premiere performance of “The Promise that Tomorrow Holds Today,” composed by Dominick DiOrio setting his own text.

The biggest surprise for me during the second half of the program was the discovery that “My Way,” best known by its 1969 recording by Frank Sinatra, was not an original tune. The music began as a ballad by French composer Jacques Revaux, who later reworked it with Claude François into “Comme d’habitude” (as usual), which made the top of the French pop chart in February of 1968. It was subsequently given an English version by Paul Anka with the title “My Way;” and the rest, as they say, is history. However, SFGMC turned back the clock to deliver a choral version of “Comme d’habitude” in an arrangement by Saunder Choi.

The members of The Lollipop Guild in an urban setting (from an SFGMC Web page)

The second half of the program also featured selections performed by two smaller ensembles of chorus members. The smaller of these was HomoPhonics, which presented “Elastic Heart,” the only work on the program with accompaniment from a beat box. Somewhat larger was The Lollipop Guild with Music Director Paul Saccone, which performed Aled Phillips’ arrangement of “Biblical,” a single recorded by Calum Scott that seems to have been composed by a committee.

The other high point of the second half was a partnership with the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company with semi-staged direction by Rodney Earl Jackson Jr. and choreography by Christine Chung. The music was “I, Too, Sing America,” composed by Othello Jefferson, whose own texts were combined with those of Langston Hughes. This was clearly the most elaborate undertaking of the evening, making the best of the limited space available for performance.

Taken as a whole, the program was an ambitious undertaking; but it was thoroughly engaging from beginning to end.

Discovering Unfamiliar Vaughan Williams

Cover of the album being discusses (courtesy of PIAS)

I have long been more than satisfied with my EMI Classics box set of recordings of Adrian Boult conducting the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams. As a result, I recently overlooked Andrew Manze’s project to record the nine symphonies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. However, his latest album provided me with an opportunity to listen to two Vaughan Williams compositions that I had not previously known to have been recorded. The longer of these is a score for a ballet in nine episodes entitled “Old King Cole.” The other is a setting of traditional dance tunes given the title “The Running Set.”

On the new album these are preceded by the more familiar “Job: A Masque for Dancing.” The CD version of this “Vaughan Williams program” is due for release this coming Friday. Currently, the best site for pre-ordering is provided by Presto Music; and that Web page is currently also available for MP3 and FLAC downloads, which include the accompanying booklet.

To be fair, “Old King Cole” is not, strictly speaking, a choreographed ballet as we know it. It was written for members of the English Folk Dance Society, who danced to the music on June 5, 1923. The narrative basically follows the familiar nursery rhyme. However, I was amused to observe that the “fiddlers three” of the text were presented as three solos, all performed by the same violinist, Thelma Handy. The music is structured in nine episodes, each with a brief text that establishes the narrative. There is more than a bit of wit, particularly in the sixth of these texts: “King is bored and goes to sleep. Queen betrays a lively interest in 2nd Fiddler.” “The Running Set” is a briefer offering (a little over six and one-half minutes). It consists of four episodes, each a setting of a different dance tune.

Both of these selections differ significantly from the “Job” ballet score. This was meant to be performed as a ballet, and Serge Diaghilev was approach to provide it with a suitable choreographer. However, he dismissed the work as “too English and old-fashioned;” and he died after passing that judgement in August of 1929. It was only in September of 1931 that the resident dance company at Sadler’s Wells (which would later become the Royal Ballet) performed choreography by Ninette de Valois. The choreography was revived in 1948, and the ballet’s Wikipedia page gives no further accounts of any other performances.

While Manze’s approach to Vaughan Williams’ “Job” score is definitely compelling, this music has never been near the top of my personal Vaughan Williams list. On the other hand I was decidedly amused by the narrative for “Old King Cole” and found the music for it more than merely appropriate. Since I seldom encounter something new for my “all things Vaughan Williams” list, I expect to revisit this album sooner rather than later!

SFCA to Celebrate Both Sound and Silence

In about a month’s time San Francisco Choral Artists (SFCA) will present the next program in its 2022–2023 season. The title of the program is Sound and (not much) Silence. As can be seen below, its poster design presents a whole rest in the middle of a very active audio waveform:

Once again, the program will include world premiere performances of works by Composer-in-Residence Clark Evans and Composer-Not-in-Residence Caroline Mallonee. The more familiar composers will be (in alphabetical order) Johannes Brahms, William Byrd, Elliott Carter, David Conte, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The repertoire will be equally diverse, including Hebrew psalms, German part songs, Renaissance motets, Ladino lullabies, thoughtful meditations, and a vigorous Zulu song of encouragement.

This program will be performed in San Francisco at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 19. The venue will St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. General admission at the door will be $35 with a $30 rate for seniors and $15 for those under the age of 30. However, SFCA has created a Web page that will enable advance reservation on a pay-what-you-will basis. Online ticket sales will close at 11 p.m. on Saturday, March 18.

The COVID policy for this event (which is, of course, subject to change) is as follows: “Proof of vaccination is not required to attend our concerts. We focus on spacing and masking to keep our audience and singers safe. Patrons are required to wear a well-fitted mask at performances. N95 masks will be available for those who need a mask or a mask upgrade. If you do not feel well, or feel that you are a transmission risk because of an exposure before a performance, please guard your health and the health of others by staying home. Refunds are gladly given in this circumstance.”

SOMM to Release 4th Vaughan Williams Volume

Cover of the latest Vaughan Williams Live album (courtesy of Naxos of America)

This morning I discovered that there will be yet another new Vaughan Williams Live release coming out this Friday. I also discovered that my assertion this past November that the third volume in the series, released by SOMM Records, was premature. The new release this Friday will be the fourth volume. As is usually the case, Amazon.com has created a Web page for processing pre-orders of for this CD.

This new volume should probably be considered in the context of its predecessors. Each of the first three albums presented a single conductor leading all of the tracks. Those conductors were, in “order of appearance,” Malcolm Sargent (Volume 1), Adrian Boult (Volume 2), and Ralph Vaughan Williams himself (Volume 3).

The fourth volume presents two different performances by conductors of two different ensembles. The first two selections are the “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” and the C major concerto for two pianos. They are performed by the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Dmitri Mitropoulos in Carnegie Hall, the first on August 29, 1943, and the second on February 17, 1952. The members of the string quartet that perform the fantasia along with a full string ensemble are not identified by name. Presumably, they are the section leaders for First Violin, Second Violin, Viola, and Cello. (This was the way I heard the work performed by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS). Sadly, that event predated my personal archives; and SFS has yet to set up its own archives on a par with the archives maintained by the San Francisco Opera!) The concerto soloists for Mitropoulos were the duo of Arthur Austin Whittemore and Jack Lowe.

The remainder of the album, the eighth symphony in D minor, was performed at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester on May 15, 1964. The conductor was John Barbirolli. He would subsequently perform the symphony for a stereo recording on June 19, 1956 at the same venue. Mitropoulos would later record the Tallis fantasia for stereo release at the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn on March 3, 1958.

Sadly, the Vaughan William canon does not enjoy the attention it received (and justly deserved) during the twentieth century. Of the three selections on the album, the fantasia is the only one to have surfaced in the Bay Area in recent times. Neither the concerto nor the symphony follow the usual “classical” forms; but, in both cases, I take that to be an asset, rather than a liability. Mind you, having two pianos share the stage with the orchestra seldom occurs. On the more positive side, Wikipedia maintains a “List of classical piano duos” Web page; but that list does not include any dates. So it would take more than a little digging to determine which of those duos are currently active.

To the best of my knowledge, I know the eighth symphony only through recordings. Unless I am mistaken, my only encounter with any symphony performance took place in April of 2011, when Osmo Vänskä prepared a program for SFS that included his second symphony, given the title “A London Symphony.” Mind you, thanks to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, I have encountered two performances of the Vaughan William tuba concerto; but the accompaniment for both of them was a piano, rather than the orchestra resources specified in the score.

On the other hand an Amazon.com search for “Vaughan Williams symphony” will turn up a rather impressive number of conductors. Most (if not all) of these recordings were made in the United Kingdom. Could it be that American conductors are reluctant to program Vaughan Williams symphonies due to “creeping jingoism?” Enquiring minds want to know!

BBC Legends 3: Two Dark Fourth Symphonies

The penultimate CD in the latest BBC Legends release consists of two fourth symphonies from the early twentieth century. They were performed in the Royal Albert Hall by the BBC Symphony Orchestra led by Malcolm Sargent. The first of these, Ralph Vaughan William’s fourth symphony in F minor, first performed on April 10, 1935, was recorded on August 16, 1963. The second was Jean Sibelius’ Opus 63, recorded on September 2, 1965. This is a much earlier composition, given its debut on April 3, 1911. Taken together, these could have made for a concert program unto itself; but it would probably be too grim for most audiences. For those that recall my observations about Dmitri Shostakovich’s Opus 65 (eighth) symphony in C minor (the fourteenth album in the collection), this is another “Force be with you” recording!

I have to say that, however pessimistic the rhetoric may be, both of these symphonies offer much to engage the attention of the serious listener. I am pretty sure that I have only heard the Sibelius in concert, and that was a San Francisco Symphony performance conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. I later found a DVD of him conducting the same composition with the Boston Symphony Orchestra when he was much younger. Clearly, this is music that he has relished (since “enjoyed” does not seem appropriate) over the course of his entire career.

On the other hand I have been somewhat disappointed that Vaughan Williams does not receive much attention here in San Francisco. This reminds me of the old joke about the monorail being “an idea of the future that time has passed.” There is richly extensive diversity in the Vaughan Williams catalog, and I continue to treasure the box set of Adrian Boult conducting all nine symphonies for EMI. (These were recorded in sessions with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Philharmonia Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra.) More recently, readers may recall that I have been following the Vaughan Williams Live series released by SOMM Recordings, the fourth volume of which is currently scheduled for release at the beginning of next month.

The recordings for this BBC Legends collection are now over half a century old, and their release on this CD does a great service to music that does not deserve to be forgotten.

SFCA Announces Annual Christmas Concert

About three weeks ago, this site announced the annual Christmas concert to be presented by the San Francisco Bach Choir led by Artistic Director Magen Solomon. Those performances are taking place here in San Francisco this weekend. A week from tomorrow, Solomon will lead her other choral ensemble, San Francisco Choral Artists (SFCA), in a program entitled Christmas Postcards.

The logo for the “international” Christmas program to be presented by SFCA (from the Web page for the SFCA season)

Those familiar with this ensemble know that it provides support for a Composer-in-Residence (now Samuel C. Nedel) and a Composer-Not-in-Residence (Caroline Mallonee). This program will present world premiere performances of their latest efforts, along with two additional world premieres. There will also be a selection by Henry Mollicone, which will serve as a memorial tribute. The more traditional composers on the program will include Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and Ralph Vaughan Williams. There will also be seasonal music from countries including Peru, Kenya, Latvia, Australia, and Korea.

This program will be performed in San Francisco at 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 11. The venue will St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. General admission at the door will be $35 with a $30 rate for seniors and $15 for those under the age of 30. However, SFCA has created a Web page that will enable advance reservation on a pay-what-you-will basis.

The COVID policy for this event (which is, of course, subject to change) is as follows: “Proof of vaccination is not required to attend our concerts. We focus on spacing and masking to keep our audience and singers safe. Patrons are required to wear a well-fitted mask at performances. N95 masks will be available for those who need a mask or a mask upgrade. If you do not feel well, or feel that you are a transmission risk because of an exposure before a performance, please guard your health and the health of others by staying home. Refunds are gladly given in this circumstance.”

Vaughan Williams Conducts Vaughan Williams

1948 photograph of Ralph Vaughan Williams with his cat, Foxy (courtesy of Naxos of America)

This past Wednesday this site discussed the second volume in a series of albums released by SOMM Recordings under the title Vaughan Williams Live. Taken together, these two volumes account for symphonic compositions by Ralph Vaughan Williams conducted by two of his contemporaries: Malcom Sargent on the first volume and Adrian Boult on the second. This coming Friday will see the release of what I believe will be the third and final volume in the series consisting of recorded performances conducted by Vaughan Williams himself. As is usually the case, Amazon.com has created a Web page for processing pre-orders of the CD release.

Like the first two volumes, this new release is the result of meticulous restoration and remastering by Lani Spahr. That said, it is important to recognize that one cannot restore that which does not exist. The first CD in the set consists of a 1946 Proms performance of the second (“London”) symphony, followed by a 1943 recording of the fifth symphony in D major. Both of these are piecemeal accounts. Those familiar with either or both of these symphonies may relish the opportunity to listen to how Vaughan Williams accounted for the fragments that were captured, but neither of these symphonies provides a “whole cloth” listening experience.

Only the second CD accounts for compositions in their entirety. The first of these is a 1952 recording of the fifth symphony performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This is followed by the 1936 “Dona Nobis Pacem” cantata performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with soloists Renée Flynn (soprano) and Roy Henderson (baritone). One can definitely appreciate the remastering efforts for this CD. Nevertheless, one can go only so far in appreciating the more subtle details behind the performance. Once again, I have to confess that, when it comes to approaching Vaughan Williams with attentive listening, I again prefer to direct my attention to the EMI recordings that Boult made in the decades following the composer’s death.

SOMM Continues RWV 150 Recording Project

Adrian Boult (left) discussing score details with Ralph Vaughan Williams (right) and Ursula Vaughan Williams (center) (courtesy of Naxos of America)

Readers may recall that, near the end of this past July, SOMM Recordings launched a project to release a series of albums in recognition of the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1872, this being the year of the 150th anniversary of that birth. A little over two weeks ago, the second volume in this project was released. The first volume involved Vaughan Williams working with Malcom Sargent in preparing three concerts, two involving the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall and one with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.

The second volume shifts attention to Vaughan Williams working with Adrian Boult. This amounts to an “international” album, since Boult conducted “Job: A Masque for Dancing” with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at their “home” in Symphony Hall. The other two selections on the album return to the BBC Symphony Orchestra, working this time with the ensemble’s Chorus. The more familiar of these is the “Serenade to Music,” which is preceded by “Thanksgiving for Victory.”

“Serenade to Music” is a setting of text from the opening scene of the final act of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. The text itself amounts to a diversion from the play’s plot, shifting attention from “the quality of mercy” to the nature of music and the music of the spheres. Vaughan Williams set this text for sixteen vocal soloists and orchestra. He had sixteen individuals in mind, and their names were also specified in the score pages.

Once the work was given its premiere performance, the composer recognized that assembling sixteen soloists was no easy matter; so he made an arrangement for four soloists, choir, and orchestra. That is the version that Boult conducted for the BBC on September 29, 1946, which is included on this new release. The soloists are soprano Isobel Baillie, contralto Astra Desmond, tenor Beveridge White, and baritone Harold Williams. Given the many shortcomings of both recording technology and the radios available for listening to those recordings, “Serenade for Music” probably fared better in this arranged version that it would have done in the original. Similar difficulties in clarity of text are also encountered in the recording of “Thanksgiving for Victory,” composed to mark the end of World War II in Europe.

There is no doubt that Boult benefitted from working with Vaughan Williams, particularly in preparing performances of “Serenade to Music” (which was originally conducted by Henry Wood) and “Job.” However, about a decade after Vaughan Williams’ death, Boult set about to prepare an extensive series of recordings of the composer’s music, beginning with the full cycle of symphonies but also including both the “Serenade” and “Job.” By that time audio technology had improved significantly, and perhaps the same can be said of the skills set of the EMI recording crew.

In other words, while Boult must have benefitted from working directly with Vaughan Williams, he could draw upon “accumulated wisdom” when he prepared his EMI recordings. One can certainly appreciate that the SOMM recordings reflect, at least to some degree, the “immediate presence” of the composer. Personally, however, my preferences still come down on the “accumulated wisdom” side of the coin!

Mitropoulos in Twentieth-Century Europe

To my surprise, the twentieth century provides the most generous selections of recordings in Sony Classical’s Dimitri Mitropoulos: The Complete RCA and Columbia Album Collection. Indeed, there are so many offerings in this category that I decided it would be worthwhile to separate the European selections from those composed in the United States. Furthermore, the European sector is, itself, highly extensive. However, because Columbia did not take a “historically informed” approach to sorting out the individual selections according to nationality, the categories themselves often overlap on single CDs.

Nevertheless, it would be fair to say that the most generous attention is given to the Russian composers, with the French composers taking a healthy second place. Then, as was already observed in my discussion of the Sony Classical anthology of soprano Eileen Farrell, the concert recording of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Mitropoulos in April of 1951 is probably the earliest recording of that opera in its entirety. As I observed in my Farrell article, this may not be an “authoritative” account of the music; but it would not surprise me to learn that any problems would have been due more to the musicians than to the conductor!

This sector of the anthology also presents Mitropoulos’ only opportunity to present music of his own nationality. On an album devoted primarily to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the conductor slipped in four dances composed by his fellow countryman Nikos Skalkottas. This was an album I had purchased in my high school days for the Russian content, but the Skalkottas tracks blew my mind with both intensity and raucous energy. (A few years later it also left me with the impression that the music for Zorba the Greek was downright boring!) I therefore have to stress the fact that, in the track listing in the book that accompanies this Sony release, those four Skalkottas tracks are mislabeled. (I was able to straighten things out thanks to the Melisma Skalkottas recording project, which was launched early in 2020.) The ordering on the Sony CD (which was not the ordering on the vinyl I had purchased) is as follows:

• Hostianos
• Kleftikos
• Peloponnisiakos
• Epirotkos

This may sound like nit-picking; but, given that there seems to be an emerging interest in this composer, his legacy deserves to have his recorded tracks properly labeled!

Farrell is not the only soloist to account for Mitropoulos in an earlier release. The recording of Aram Khachaturian’s Opus 38 piano concerto in D-flat major featured Oscar Levant as the soloist. As a result, it can also be found on the Levant anthology, A Rhapsody in Blue; the extraordinary life of Oscar Levant. The fact is that, while the content of the Mitropoulos anthology is more muddled than one would have wished it to be, there are any number of surprises in the repertoire that Mitropoulos accumulated. For my own listening, the most surprising offerings were the engaging account of Ralph Vaughan Williams fourth symphony in F minor, the album that includes Alexander Scriabin’s last two symphonies, the Opus 54 “Le Poème de l’extase” (the poem of ecstasy) and the Opus 60 “Prométhée, Le Poème du feu” (Prometheus, the poem of fire), and the recording of Francis Poulenc’s D minor concerto for two pianos and orchestra.

At this point I feel that, if I go on much longer, I shall lost the attention of most of my readers! What is most important is the diversity of the repertoire that Mitropoulos cultivated, first in Minnesota and then in New York. My guess is that anyone that decides to browse his anthology will find more surprises than (s)he/they anticipated.

SOMM Launches RWV 150 Recording Project

Cover of the album being discussed showing Malcolm Sargent (right) consulting with Ralph Vaughan Williams during a rehearsal of the composer’s ninth symphony on March 9, 1958 (courtesy of Naxos of America)

Readers may recall that, this past February, SOMM Recordings released an album entitled William Walton: A Centenary Celebration, which had nothing to do with the dates of either Walton’s birth or his death. One week from today SOMM will launch a series or recordings that celebrate a composer’s anniversary. RWV 150 will involve multiple recordings in recognition of the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1872, this being the year of the 150th anniversary of that birth.

Vaughan Williams is yet another composer that wrote nine symphonies. Sadly, he would die four months after the last of those symphonies was given its first performance. It was composed in the key of E minor, which was also the key of his sixth symphony. Taken together, they are the darkest of the Vaughan Williams symphonies; and they fill most of the first RWV 150 CD, which will be released one week from today. Fortunately, the album has an upbeat beginning with the overture composed for a performance of Aristophanes’ play The Wasps. As usual, Amazon.com is processing pre-orders for this new recording.

The recording of the ninth symphony is the most historically significant, since it captured the premiere performance, which took place the the Royal Festival Hall in London on April 2, 1958. On that occasion Malcolm Sargent conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The other two selections on the album were recorded at the Royal Albert Hall. On both of those occasions, Sargent conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The earlier of these was the performance of the Wasps overture on September 12, 1957. The sixth symphony performance was recorded much later, on August 4, 1964.

All of these recordings would not have been suitable for listening were it not for the assiduous efforts of audio restoration engineer Lani Spahr, whose remastering talents figured significantly in the release of historical recordings of the music of Edward Elgar. Spahr is clearly a leading individual in the community of those committed to restoring recordings of historical significance. Many readers probably know by now the extent to which SOMM Recordings has benefitted from his talents and how I have then benefitted from listening to those releases. Vaughan Williams was already beginning to go out of fashion when his ninth symphony received it first performance, and I am looking forward to Spahr’s efforts with SOMM to revive interest in the composer’s achievements.