SFCM Baroque Ensemble: Disappointing Video

This afternoon I decided to view another live video stream from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM). The offering was the performance by the SFCM Baroque Ensemble, an all-string chamber orchestra of students led by Corey Jamason, one of the Directors of the Historical Performance Department. As had been the case on opening night, the performance took place in the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall. On that occasion I observed that “those responsible for the streaming technology were sadly ill-equipped.”

This time the streaming experience was even less equipped. As a result, the video did not begin until the middle of the first (Adagio) movement of the Antonio Vivaldi concerto known as “Madrigalesco,” which was the second work on the program. Taken as a whole, the listening and viewing experience was so inferior to the high quality of Chamber Music Tuesday programs, streamed from the Barbro Osher Recital Hall, that I have to wonder whether no one took streaming from the Concert Hall seriously.

Corey Jamason leading the SFCM Baroque Ensemble from the harpsichord (screen shot from the video of the SFCM concert being discussed)

The good news is that, when the technology finally did kick in, it was limited to a single camera in a fixed position. This is good news because that position captured the entire string ensemble with a good shot of Jamason leading from his harpsichord keyboard. The duration of the stream was about 50 minutes, offering accounts of ensemble compositions by Vivaldi, Christoph Graupner, Tomaso Albinoni, and Georg Philipp Telemann.

By way of context, I should probably confess that, prior to the COVID pandemic, I tried to attend as many performances as I could during the summer festival presentations by American Bach Soloists (ABS). Looking back on those occasions, I felt that the summer students being coached by ABS personnel always managed to bring a stimulating diversity of styles to the programs they prepared. Sadly, this afternoon uniformity tended to loom over diversity. Any one of the selections performed was engaging unto itself, but the entire 50-minute experience came across as too much of a good thing.

Perhaps the Historical Performance Department still needs some time to “come up to the speed” that made pre-pandemic early music listening experiences so stimulating.