Yesterday afternoon saw the return of Manfred Honeck to the podium of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in Davies Symphony Hall. He made his SFS debut in May of 2017 with a stunning all-Russian program, the high point of which was SFS premiere performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s suite of eleven settings of the verses of Michelangelo. This was followed by visits in October of 2018 and November of 2019, after which COVID-19 put an end to his annual appearances.
Over the course of his visits, Honeck established himself through his highly-focused management of intensity. Yesterday afternoon he brought that management to a new level. The second half of the program was devoted entirely to Franz Schubert’s D. 944 symphony in C major, one of the most familiar offerings in the SFS repertoire. However, Honeck’s approach was far from familiar. He brought accelerated tempos to all four of the movements, treating the entire symphony almost as if it was an extended account of Schubert’s D. 328 “Erlkönig” song. SFS was clearly well-prepared for this new light shining on Schubert’s final symphony, intensely attentive to the conductor’s every gesture.
Breitkopf & Härtel only published the score in 1849, over twenty years after Schubert’s death. One can easily imagine the urgency he brought to completing this score in a spirit not unlike that of the boy in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Erlkönig” poem that is ultimately overtaken by the title character, who is an embodiment of death. Honeck’s interpretation of D. 944, on the other hand, ends not in death but in an almost defiant triumph, as if he had dared the attentive listener to follow the intensity of his rhetoric.
Honeck’s command of such intensity was complemented before the intermission by the “concerto” selection. Pianist Beatrice Rana made her SFS debut in a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 43 “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.” However, she is no stranger to San Francisco, having already made her debut in this city when she performed Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 988 set of 30 (“Goldberg”) variations on an aria theme in a Young Masters Series recital presented by San Francisco Performances in April of 2017.
Bach is, of course, a far cry from Rachmaninoff; and, as was the case after the intermission, Honeck approached the score with an almost fearful intensity. Rana clearly had no problem with that intensity and knew just how to give in return for what she was getting from the conductor. Mind you, there is a broad scope of dispositions that covers the full set of variations on the Paganini theme. Therefore, what was important was how both conductor and soloist appreciated the disposition behind each variation, delivering its denotation with the utmost clarity for the attentive listener. [added 6/3, 5:40 a.m.: After all that intensity, Rana still had the energy to perform an encore. She selected the eleventh, in the key of B major, of the 24 preludes that Alexander Scriabin collected for his Opus 11, following the tradition of one prelude in each of the major and minor keys. Her Allegro assai tempo made it clear that her energy level was will up there with her Rachmaninoff interpretation. Thank you, Joshua Kosman, for aiding my failing memory!]
The only real disappointment on the program came from the “overture.” This was the West Coast premiere of “amazon,” completed in 2021 by Venezuelan composer Gloria Isabel Ramos Triano. Like Rachmaninoff’s Opus 43, this requires a large ensemble; but much of the bulk of the instrumentation resides in the percussion section. This led to no end of imaginative coloration throughout the course of the performance, but the music itself never seemed to sustain any efforts at attentive listening.
One would have thought that the overall listening experience would have concluded at the end of the Schubert symphony. However, ticket holders were informed that, if they showed their tickets at the entrance to Mr. Tipple’s Recording Studio, they would be allowed to enter at half the price of the cover charge. It turned out that the opening act was a quintet that included SFS players Mark Inouye on trumpet and Edward Stephan on drums. (Principal Bass Scott Pingel had been scheduled to perform but could not due to injury. He was replaced by one of his students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Alan Jones.) The other performers were Jason Hainsworth on tenor saxophone and Adam Shulman on piano. The combo calls itself “Contra Banda,” described as the “Unofficial Official” jazz band of the San Francisco Symphony.
My wife and I had our dinner during the opening set, which consisted of four richly-improvised account of my kind of jazz. This meant (of course) opening with Thelonious Monk, represented by “Straight, No Chaser.” This was followed by a Joe Henderson tune, whose title slipped by my attention. The third offering was Gigi Gryce’s “Minority,” which may be most familiar as a track on the Bill Evans album Everybody Digs Bill Evans. The final selection was Lee Morgan’s “Ceora.”
All of these selections made for an engaging “flip side” of the afternoon’s SFS offering. Apparently, these gigs emerged when some of the SFS musicians decided to follow up classical music in the afternoon with jazz in the early evening. Mr. Tipple’s Recording Studio was a convenient short walk from Davies, making it just the right venue. Hopefully, with things getting “back to normal,” there will be more opportunities for the post-SFS gigs next season.
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