Avi Avital’s Delightful Return to Herbst Theatre

Brooklyn Rider Members Nicholas Cords, Colin Jacobsen, Michael Nicolas, and Johnny Gandelsman with Avi Avital (from the San Francisco Performances event page)

Last night in Herbst Theatre mandolinist Avi Avital made his debut as a San Francisco Performances artist. However, this was not his first appearance in Herbst. He had previously appeared in March of 2010, when he was the guest soloist with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. He fulfilled that same role last night, performing as guest artist in a program prepared by the Brooklyn Rider string quartet of violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords, and cellist Michael Nicolas.

If this article has accorded Avital “top billing,” it is because his were the most satisfying contributions to last night’s program. His solo performance of a prelude composed by Giovanni Sollima reinforced his reputation for expressive performances of a diverse repertoire, both in concert and in his catalog of recordings. He then contributed to two world premiere performances, Osvaldo Golijov’s “Arum der Fayer” and Jacobsen’s recently completed “Time and Again,” conceived as a “biographical memory” of Brooklyn Rider activities.

Sadly, “Time and Again” won the award for most tedious composition on the program. It amounted to an exploration of a brief motif that had become a “signature” of Brooklyn Rider technique. Unfortunately, Jacobsen had exhausted the potential of exploring that motif even before the performance had hit the halfway mark in its duration.

Indeed, that underlying premise of having little to say and saying it over an extended duration seems to have become a bit of a trademark for Brooklyn Rider. Last night’s program was brief enough to be performed without intermission; but, with few exceptions, the interpretation of the selections on the program emerged as little more than an extended slog. Even the original inventiveness of Clarice Assad’s “Obrigado” could not hold its own during last nights presentation; and the abundant humor of Caroline Shaw’s “Entr’acte,” matching Joseph Haydn joke-for-joke, was a mere shadow of the splendid interpretation of this music presented by the New Esterházy Quartet as an “overture” to a concert (in Herbst) by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale in October of 2019.

The best part of the program turned out to be the opening selection, which was the only work on the program by a deceased composer. Luigi Boccherini was represented by “Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid” (night music of the streets of Madrid). This was originally composed as a string quintet, but last night’s quintet served the interpretation of the score quite well.

Sadly, no program notes were provided for a highly programmatic composition; and the title listed in the program was misleading: “La Musica Notturna Ritratta di Madrid.” The final movement is given the title “Ritirata” (as spelled on the Wikipedia page), depicting the changing of the guard for the night watch. However, the program began with the performance of all seven movements of the composition; and the imagery of each of the movements was engagingly depicted through the quintet’s interpretations of the score.

Once the guard had retreated, the dark cloud of tedium descended over the remaining quintet performances.