This afternoon Davies Symphony Hall hosted the second Chamber Series performance presented by members of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS). The high point took place after the intermission with a performance of Johannes Brahms’ Opus 114, his only clarinet trio. The clarinetist was SFS Principal Carey Bell, accompanied by Amos Yang on cello and pianist John Wilson. This was Brahms’ first venture into chamber music for clarinet, and it would be followed by the Opus 113 quintet for clarinet, two violins, viola, and cello and the two Opus 120 sonatas for clarinet and piano. Bell led the trio with a solid command of Brahms’ rhetorical expressiveness, which made the afternoon offering well worth the visit.
Sadly, the first half of the program was not as engaging. It began with a relatively recent (1995) composition for harp and bassoon by harpist Bernard Andrès entitled Chants d’arrière-saison (songs of seasons past). There was much to appreciate in the combined sonorities of the two instruments; but, while each of the seven movements had its own characteristics, the overall listening experiences was not particularly engaging.
Katherine Siochi with her harp (courtesy of SFS)
On the other hand, it was performed with a clarity by harpist Katherine Siochi and Joshua Elmore on bassoon that sustained listener attention. This was decidedly preferable to the following offering, an arrangement by Rudolf Leopold of Richard Strauss’ “Metamorphosen,” performed by pairs of violins, violas, and cellos, along with a double bass. Some readers may recall that this music was programmed by the string performers of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble this past February. Those players captured the transparency of Strauss’ rhetoric while this afternoon’s account was disappointingly muddled.
The good news is that the program saved the best of its offerings for the last!
