Thursday, October 11, 2018

Matthew Linaman to Give Recital at SFCM

Cellist Matthew Linaman (from his Facebook Events Web page)

Next week Matthew Linaman, former student of Jean-Michel Fonteneau at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), past winner of the SFCM Concerto Competition, and co-founder of the Cello Street Quartet, will return to SFCM to present a program of two cello sonatas. His program will begin with César Franck’s A major sonata. Franck composed this sonata for violin and piano, but its has been arranged for a wide variety of instruments for the solo part, including alto saxophone and tuba. The only arrangement sanctioned by Franck himself, however, was the version for cello and piano, created by cellist Jules Delsart; and that is the version that Linaman will be playing. (On a personal note, Delsart’s arrangement was also on the first recital I ever heard given by Yo-Yo Ma!)

The second half of the program will be devoted to Dmitri Shostakovich’s only sonata for cello and piano, his Opus 40 in D minor. Shostakovich composed this sonata in 1934, shortly before his first denunciation by Soviet authorities, who had been provoked by his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Fortunately, Shostakovich completed this sonata before having to sustain the brunt of that denunciation; and it was given its premiere performance by cellist Victor Kubatsky (a close friend of Shostakovich) on December 25, 1934.

Linaman’s recital will take place at 7:30 p.m. next Wednesday, October 17. His accompanist will be pianist Robert Mollicone. Linaman is currently a member of the SFCM Pre-College Faculty, and this recital will be an SFCM Pre-College Faculty Concert. It will be held in the Sol Joseph Recital Hall. SFCM is located at 50 Oak Street, about halfway between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street and a short walk from the Van Ness Muni station. There will be no charge for admission, and neither tickets nor reservations will be required. However, Linaman has created an Eventbrite event page for those wishing to register (at no charge).

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