Lindberg’s Latest Album Coming Next Week

The end of next week will see the release of the latest Ondine album of compositions by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. As in some (but not all) of the past recordings, these will be performed by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted, for this album, by Nicholas Collon. As of this writing, Amazon.com has created a Web page for processing pre-orders prior to the release on Friday; but the only purchase option is MP3 download. The good news is that the download also includes two PDF files. One of these is the full 24-page booklet. The other is probably a four-page summary, which includes information about previous Lindberg albums.

My interest in Lindberg goes back well over a decade. According to my archives, my earliest account of his music took place in June of 2008, when Sakari Oramo conducted the San Francisco Symphony in a performance of “Seht die Sonne” (see the sun). However, my interest in Lindberg predates my writing activities. I remember when he visited the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in May of 2011 for a trio performance with cellist Anssi Karttunen and violinist Jennifer Koh. After the intermission, Lindberg came out on stage with Karttunen to announce the celebration of the Finnish equivalent to the Fourth of July, after which they launched into a raucous account of the Finnish national anthem. (One of my Silicon Valley colleagues was Finnish. He came up for the concert and dutifully stood during the anthem performance.)

Cover of the album being discussed

The new album is devoted almost entirely to the viola concerto that Lindberg completed earlier this year. It may be worth reproducing the track listing for this music:

1. 1st movement
2. 2nd movement
3. Trio
4. Quasi Una Cadenza
5. Interlude
6. Cadenza
7. 3rd movement

Since there are no breaks in the performance, the conventional semantics of “movement” are pretty much abandoned. There is an overall flow; and, if there are any “punctuation marks,” they have less to do with overall architecture and more to do with the injection of motifs from past sources. The most prominent of those sources is Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 81a, his 26th piano sonata, composed in the key of E-flat major and given the title (by the composer) “Les Adieux.” Whether or not the concerto, in its entirety, is based on a “rhetoric of farewell” is left to the individual listener to decide. The album then concludes with two shorter tracks of works composed in 2020: “Absence” and “Serenades.”

Over the years I have come to appreciate that “making sense” of Lindberg’s music is a process that evolves over the course of multiple listenings. The good news is that the process tends to “spill over” from one Lindberg composition to another. This is worth noting because there will be at least two performances of Lindberg works over the course of the coming season.

The bad news is that we shall have to wait for both of them until spring of next year. The first of these will be performed by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players as part of their penultimate program in April. That will be the orchestrated (2002) version of “Jubilee,” which was composed for the Ensemble InterContemporain chamber ensemble. Then, towards the end of the following month, the San Francisco Symphony will give its first performances of “Chorale” with Esa-Pekka Salonen on the podium. Writing as one that has consistently believed there there is no such thing as too much Lindberg, I have to confess that I am more than a little impatient!

Perhaps another Lindberg album will be released between now and April.

O1C Announces a Second Concert for October

Readers may recall that, earlier this month, this site reported that New Arts Collaboration pianist Ting Luo would be returning on October 4 to the Old First Presbyterian Church for her next performance to be presented by Old First Concerts (O1C). It turns out that O1C has planned only two programs for that month. It therefore seems timely to account for the second offering, which will take place during the following weekend.

“Mosaic” of Ives Collective performers (clockwise from upper left): Hrabba Atladottir, Keisuke Nakagoshi, Stephen Harrison, and Susan Freier (from the O1C event page for this performance)

That performance will see the return of the Ives Collective, an ad hoc chamber ensemble, which was formed by Co-Artistic Directors Susan Freier and Stephen Harrison after their Ives Quartet disbanded. Harrison still plays cello, but Freier alternates between viola and violin as necessary. For this concert the other Ives Collective performers will be Hrabba Atladottir on violin and pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi.

For the October program, Harrison will be featured in a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 117, his second cello sonata, composed in the key of G minor. At that time the composer was frail and in ill health, but he would not die for another two years. This sonata will be framed by two piano quartets separated by a little over fifty years, not to mention two world wars. Indeed, the more recent selection was completed during World War II. This is Bohuslav Martinů’s only piano quartet, which he completed in 1942, not long after he left Europe for New York. The program will conclude with the second of Antonín Dvořák’s two piano quartets, his Opus 87 in E-flat major.

This performance will take place on Sunday, October 13, beginning at 4 p.m. As in the past, it will be “hybrid,” allowing both live streaming and seating in Old First at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southeast corner of Van Ness Avenue. General admission tickets will be sold for $30, with reduced rates for seniors, students, and children age twelve and under. The event page, which includes information about all ticket prices and hyperlinks for purchases, including live stream viewing, provides additional information about both the works on the program and the contributing performers.

Back to the Movies with Prutsman and Telegraph

Last night pianist Stephen Prutsman returned to Old First Presbyterian Church to present another program of “live” musical accompaniment which he composed for the screening of a silent Buster Keaton film. As was the case for last year’s A Night at the Cinema program for the San Francisco International Piano Festival (SFIPF), Prutsman was joined by the members of the Telegraph Quartet, violinists Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violist Pei-Ling Lin, and cellist Jeremiah Shaw, for the penultimate program in this year’s SFIPF. Last year’s Keaton film was College, which, sadly, was one of Keaton’s weaker undertakings. This year Prutsman prepared a score for Sherlock Jr., which had a more engaging narrative, not to mention a plethora of eye-popping episodes.

Mind you, this “incidental music” for a film was incidental unto an extreme. One might almost describe the music as embellished sound effects. Nevertheless, the embellishments never sold the music short, providing Prutsman and Telegraph with a finely-crafted score that deserved all the expressive interpretation that the performers could muster. Still, the eyes were so overwhelmed by the subtle eccentricities of Keaton’s creation and execution that it was nigh unto impossible to give the music much attention. To put a twist on an old joke, if you can teach a pig to sing, the pig will probably be more interesting than the song itself!

Joseph Maile, Pei-Ling Lin, Stephen Prutsman, Jeremiah Shaw, and Eric Chin playing Schumann’s piano quintet at Old First Presbyterian Church (screen shot from the YouTube video of this performance)

Fortunately, music was the focus of attention for the first half of the program. This was devoted entirely to Robert Schumann’s Opus 44 piano quintet in E-flat major. Those familiar with Telegraph know that the two violinists alternate in occupying first chair; and, for this performance, Maile served as leader. As an ensemble, the quartet’s chemistry with Prutsman could not have been better.

Schumann was, of course, himself a pianist; so Prutsman had more than enough to keep him occupied. However, what has always appealed to me in this quintet is the rich diversity of thematic content and the culmination of that content in the concluding Finale movement. It is how that diversity is shared across all five performers that established Opus 44 as a high point in the chamber music repertoire, and it is always a joy when the status of the music itself is equalled by the capabilities of the performers.

SFP: Plans for September and October

I seem to have been more than a little remiss in previewing the different series that will be offered by San Francisco Performances (SFP) beginning next month. Consequently, it is more timely for me to account for coming performances on a month-by-month basis. Since I have already written about the 45th Season Gala, which will take place on Friday, October 4, and since this is preceded by only one performance at the end of September, I shall deal with that one concert and the remaining October events in this article. Curiously, all of those performances will take place on a Saturday evening, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The specific dates are as follows:

September 28, Presidio Theatre: The program will begin with a special performance to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Quintette du Hot Club de France. It was at this venue that violinist Stéphane Grappelli and guitarist Django Reinhardt launched their own pioneering approach to jazz. The Hot Club of San Francisco was formed as an homage to the Hot Club repertoire; and, appropriately enough, it is also a quintet. The “role” of Grappelli will be taken by violinist Evan Price, while Paul Mehling will serve as lead guitar. The quintet also has two rhythm guitarists, Jordan Samuels and Nelson Hutchison; and they are joined by Dexter Williams on bass.

Unless I am mistaken, this will be the first time that SFP will present a performance at the Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center. This is located at 99 Moraga Avenue, in the southwest corner of the Presidio. Ticket prices are $60 and $45; and, because this is the first of three concerts in the Presidio Series, tickets for the entire series are available for $120 and $165. Web pages are available for purchase of both the entire series and the September performance.

Sean Shibe and Karim Sulayman (from the Web page for purchasing tickets)

October 12, Presidio Theatre: The second Presidio Series will be a duo performance of tenor Karim Sulayman and guitarist Sean Shibe. They describe their program as a “modern musical traversal of the Silk Road ranging from the Middle Ages to the present.” The full scope of the program can be found on the SFP event page. Note that the traditional sources will be both Sephardic and Arab Andalusian. The one major work to be performed in its entirety will be Benjamin Britten’s Songs from the Chinese cycle of setting of six poems, which Arthur Waley translated into English from the original Chinese. Since it was written for tenor Peter Pears and guitarist Julian Bream, it conforms perfectly to the skills of the two musicians. Single ticket prices will again be $60 and $45, and they will be available through the program’s event page.

October 26, Herbst Theatre: This will be the first program in the Chamber Series, one of the few series to be given a preview earlier this summer. As an alternative to following that hyperlink, I shall simply repeat the description: The performers will be the members of the Esmé Quartet, violinists Wonhee Bae and Yuna Ha, violist Dimitri Murrath, and cellist Ye-Eun Heo. The program will be framed by two “late” quartets from the Classical period. It will begin with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 575 in D major, the first in his Opus 18 collection of three quartets (not to be confused with the six Opus 18 quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven), often known as the “Prussian” quartets. The conclusion will be Franz Schubert’s final quartet, his D. 887 in G major. These two “bookends” will serve as “monuments” overlooking the first string quartet composed by György Ligeti.

Also previously reported is that the entrance to Herbst is the main entrance to the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, located on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. The venue is excellent for public transportation, since that corner has Muni bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel. Single ticket prices will be $70 for premium seating in the Orchestra, the Side Boxes, and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $60 for the center rear of the Dress Circle and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $50 for the remainder of the Dress Circle and the Balcony, and they will be available through the program’s event page. In addition, because this is the first Chamber Series concert, tickets are the entire series are available for $275, $235, and $195. Subscriptions may be purchased online in advance through an SFP Web page. 

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra Honors Thad Jones

It has been a very long time since I last wrote about the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Indeed, this is my second undertaking, the first dating back to my Examiner.com days when, in September of 2014, I wrote about their album Over Time: Music of Bob Brookmeyer. The group was originally called the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, and it gave regular Monday night concerts at the Village Vanguard on the edge of Greenwich Village in New York. (Because of the scheduling, it was also sometimes called the Monday Night Orchestra.) After Lewis died in 1990, the name changed to Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.

Under that name, the group has released a variety of albums, most of which highlight musicians that led groups at the Vanguard. It should therefore be no surprise that one of the earliest albums, released in 1999, was Thad Jones Legacy. Those who know their jazz history know that Jones was a trumpeter and the “middle brother” of three major jazz musicians in the twentieth century. His older brother was the pianist Hank Jones, and his younger brother was drummer Elvin Jones.

Thad Jones on the cover of the album released to celebrate the centennial of his birth

Thad Jones was born on March 28, 1923. It therefore seemed appropriate that the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra would celebrate the centennial of his birth with a new album. That album, Centennial: The Music of Thad Jones, was released today; and it is now available for digital download through an Amazon.com Web page. My own awareness of Jones’ work dates back to those good old days when I was collecting Mosaic box sets. One of these was The Complete Blue Note/UA/Roulette Recordings of Thad Jones; and it was a relatively modest collection of three CDs, with the “lion’s share” of the tracks devoted to Jones originals. Ironically, none of those pieces showed up on the Centennial album; but nine of the twelve tracks are Jones compositions.

Sadly, I have to take Amazon to task for their handling of this release. Through my “press privileges,” I learned that the album included an eight-page booklet with an informative essay by Shaun Brody and a track listing that accounts for the composers and soloists performing on each of the twelve selections. Those, like myself, that refuse to treat jazz as “sit-back-and-listen” music are likely to be frustrated by Amazon’s negligence. Perhaps Amazon decided that not enough of their customers would be interested in this album to make a difference. Mind you, they may be right; but to me it feels as if yet another nail is being driven into the coffin of twentieth-century jazz. 

SFS: 2024–25 Chamber Music in Davies

As was the case last season, the musicians of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) will present a series of six chamber music recitals in Davies Symphony Hall. The programs have been prepared for each of these performances; and each has its own Web page, which includes the selections for that particular date. As in the past, seating is limited in the interest of proximity to the performers. The Web page for purchasing a full subscription for $240 allows selection of the preferred area in Davies. All performances begin at 2 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon. The programs for each of the dates are as follows:

September 29: There will be four selections, each from a different century. Taken in reverse chronological order (which will not be the order of performance), the most contemporary offering will be “Café Damas,” a trio for violin, viola, and bass by Kinan Azmeh. The twentieth-century selection will also be a trio, this time for flute, clarinet, and piano, composed by Florent Schmitt. The nineteenth-century composer will be Robert Schumann, represented by his Opus 47 piano quartet in E-flat major. The earliest work on the program will be the K. 452 quintet for piano and winds by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

November 10: This program will be devoted to a variety of imaginative arrangements. The only work to be performed as the composer wrote it will be the “Introduction and Allegro,” which Maurice Ravel scored for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet. The program will begin with a string trio arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 988, best known as the “Goldberg Variations.” (Whether or not all 30 variations will be played has not been specified.) Similarly, there will be a viola quartet performance of selections from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker (an early whiff of Christmas); but the selections themselves have not yet been identified. The remaining work on the program will be “Till Eulenspiegel einmal anders!” (Till Eulenspiegel once again), in which composer Franz Hasenöhrl rethinks Richard Strauss’ tone poem, “Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks.”

SFS Principal Harp Katherine Siochi, who will perform in two chamber music programs (from the Web page gallery of SFS musicians)

January 26: Only one wind instrument will contribute to this program. Oboist Russ de Luna will be featured in a quintet by Arnold Bax. He will perform with the quartet of violinists Dan Carlson and Florin Parvulescu, violist Leonid Plashinov-Johnson, and cellist Davis You. Harpist Katherine Siochi will be featured in Camille Saint-Saëns’ Opus 124 “Fantasie” for violin and harp. Pianist Marc Shapiro will contribute to a 1929 composition by Benjamin Britten scored for violin, viola, and piano. Entitled simply “Two Pieces,” this work was not performed until 2003. The program will conclude with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Opus 10 clarinet quintet featuring clarinetist Yuhsin Galaxy Su. The quartet for this performance will consist of violinists Polina Sedukh and Olivia Chen, Katarzyna Bryla on viola, and cellist Sébastien Gingras.

March 16: Siochi will return with her harp, this time to perform a duo for harp and percussion composed by her brother Jeremiah Siochi (who is also a harpist). She will be joined by SFS Principal Percussion Jacob Nissly. The remainder of the program will account for opposite ends of the nineteenth century. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Franz Schubert’s D. 887 string quartet in G major, which was not published until after his death. The “late Schubert” will be complemented by “early Mahler,” the A minor piano quartet, which was first performed in Gustav Mahler’s mid-teens.

April 27: Back in December of 2019, there was a Chamber Music Series program that featured the “Gran Duo Concertante” by Giovanni Bottesini, who was promoted as “the Paganini of the Double Bass.” Bass players Charles Chandler, Bowen Ha, Orion Miller, and Daniel G. Smith will “double down” on that duo with a performance of “Passione Amorosa,” which Bottesini composed for four basses. Bottesini was not shy about high spirits, and his quartet will be complemented by the raucous rhetoric encountered in Paul Schoenfield’s “Café Music.” One can probably expect the same spirits in Bohuslav Martinů’s H 374 nonet for wind quintet, string trio, and bass, one of his last compositions. The program will conclude with an early work by Sergei Prokofiev, his first string quartet.

June 15: The SFS season will conclude with the last of the Chamber Music recitals. High spirits will continue with a performance of music by Aleksey Igudesman, known to many as half of the comedy-musical duo Igudesman & Joo. His contribution to the program will be his Latin Suite, scored for two violas. That suite will be coupled with a cello quartet by Anton Arensky. The program will begin with Caroline Shaw’s “Entr’acte” and conclude with Johannes Brahms Opus 67 in B-flat major, the last of his three string quartets.

As usual, doors will open at 1 p.m. Davies Symphony Hall is located at 201 Van Ness Avenue and fills an entire city block. The other boundaries are Grove Street (north), Hayes Street (south), and Franklin Street (west). The main entrance (which is also the entrance to the Box Office) is on Grove Street, roughly halfway down the block. Single ticket prices for all performances will be $50.

SFO Opens 102nd Season at End of Next Week

The climax of the masked ball in Verdi’s opera (photograph by Yasuko Kageyama, taken during a performance of this production at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma during the 2015–16 season)

As is usually the case, San Francisco Opera (SFO) is “first out of the gate” to launch the new concert season. This will be the company’s 102nd season, and it will begin with a festive opening weekend. The opera will be Giuseppe Verdi’s three-act Un ballo in maschera (a masked ball). The title is based on the event at which King Gustav III of Sweden was fatally shot. This was a controversial narrative, which eventually led to shifting the venue to colonial Boston. However, SFO will present the opera as Verdi’s librettist, Antonio Somma, initially conceived it.

The role of the King will be sung by tenor Michael Fabiano. The narrative has him in a romance with Amelia (Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian), who is married to Renato (Mongolian baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat, making his SFO debut). The other major role is that of the King’s page Oscar, who will be sung by coloratura soprano and Merola alumna Mei Gui Zhang; this will be her debut performance in that role, having already sung the role of Eurydice in Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice with SFO in the fall of 2022. Music Director Eun Sun Kim will conduct; and the program will be staged by Leo Muscato, who will be making his SFO debut.

This opera will be given seven performances. Opening night will take place on Friday, September 6; and the performance will begin at 8 p.m. Five performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. on September 11, 18, 21, 24, and 27, and the 2 p.m. performance will take place on September 15. Ticket prices range from $28 to $426; and, depending on location, there is a facility fee of either $2 or $3 per ticket. All tickets may be purchased in the outer lobby of the War Memorial Opera House at 301 Van Ness Avenue or by calling the Box Office at 415-864-3330. Box Office hours are 10 a.m.–5 p.m. on Monday and 10 a.m.– 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday. There is also a Web page with hyperlinks for purchasing tickets for all seven of the performances. Readers should be aware that there is a high demand for tickets for this production. As of this writing, that Web page identifies those dates with either limited or best availability. In addition, there will be a livestream beginning at 2 p.m. on September 15. The charge will be $27.50, and it may be purchased through a separate Web page.

The opening night performance will be followed by the annual Opera Ball. Proceeds benefit education programs, which reach thousands of students in K-12 classrooms, as well as afterschool programs. A Web page has been created with all necessary information for those interested in attending. There will also be a special Cocktail Celebration at 6 p.m. on opening night for BRAVO! Club, the community of young professionals that happen to be opera lovers. Those attending will be entitled to discounted tickets for seats in the Dress Circle and Orchestra. Further information is available through the above hyperlink.

Kim will also conduct the free annual concert showcase San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park. The SFO orchestra will star vocalists, who will be performing during the fall season. Golden Gate Park is, of course, a vast expanse; and the venue for the concert will be the bandshell in Robin Williams Meadow. The performances will begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday, September 8.

Giulio Tampalini Transcribes Isaac Albéniz

For the fourth of the eight videos in the Midweek Melodies series of performances released by OMNI on-Location, as curated by the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts, guitarist Giulio Tampalini turned to music by Isaac Albéniz. Many readers probably know by now that Albéniz was a virtuoso pianist. Over the course of my writing, I have encountered two collections of his complete works for piano, both requiring nine CDs. Many of those pieces have been arranged for guitar.

Giulio Tampalini playing in one of the recesses in the Church of Santa Giulia surrounded by the artwork (from the fourth Midweek Melodies video)

Today’s selection was Albéniz’ Opus 202, “Mallorca.” No arranger was cited, and it would not surprise me to learn that Tampalini prepared his performance directly from the original piano score. Once again, the performance was captured on video at the Church of Santa Giulia, which is part of the Monastic complex of San Salvatore-Santa Giulia in the Italian city of Brescia. Last week I observed that “the interior of that space is a feast of artwork, thus engaging the eyes while the ears are occupied  with Tampalini’s performance.” Tampalini played “Mallorca” in a different area of the church. This was just as rich in artwork as was last week’s video; and, as can be seen above, the physical setting suggested that it may have been used for some form of service for a limited number of parishioners.

Marina Albero Trio Returning to Chez Hanny

Pianist Marina Albero in a Live Studio Sessions performance for KNXX Public Radio (from the YouTube video of the concert)

According to my records, the Marina Albero Trio made its last visit to Chez Hanny in November of last year. On that occasion pianist Albero performed with Giulio Xavier Cetto on bass and drummer Xavier Lecouturier. At the beginning of next month, she will return to Hanny’s house; and Cetto will join her, playing acoustic (upright) bass. This time, however,  her drummer will be Michael Mitchell, who will have just completed his tenure at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, where he coached the Giant Steps program, a big band of middle school students performing during the school year.

For those that do not already know, the venue for these events is Frank Hanny’s house at 1300 Silver Avenue, with the performance taking place in the downstairs rumpus room. Those planning to attend should think about having cash for a donation of $25. All of that money will go to the musicians. There will be two sets separated by a potluck break. As a result, all who plan to attend are encouraged to bring food and/or drink to share. Seating is first come, first served; and the doors will open at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 8. Reservations are preferred by sending electronic mail to jazz@chezhanny.com. Masks are optional, but attendees should be vaccinated. Vaccination will be based on the honor system. Finally, volunteer efforts for cleaning up after the show are always appreciated.

Rose Mallett Reflects on Dreams

Rose Mallett on the cover of her Dreams Realized album

My press release describes Rose Mallett as a “veteran jazz and soul singer;” but her latest album, Dreams Realized, was my first encounter with her work. It now has an Amazon.com Web page for an MP3 download of its eleven tracks. I must confess that I am more than a little puzzled by the title; but Mallett herself was responsible for the track entitled “Building Dreams.”

That said, I have to confess that I have never really associated the “classic” track on the album, “My Funny Valentine,” with dreams. To the contrary, I have always taken the words as an affectionate grasp of reality, rather than dreams. Indeed, that “grasp of reality” overshadows the three familiar show tunes on the album, not only “My Funny Valentine” from Babes in Arms, composed by Richard Rogers for lyrics by Lorenz Hart, but also “Feeling Good,” the joint effort of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, and “Send in the Clowns,” from Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. Even more to the point was the folktale that unfolds in Oscar Brown’s “The Snake,” which delivers reality at its harshest.

What struck me about Mallett’s performances was that, regardless of whether the narratives were dreams or harsh realities, she always knew how to adjust her delivery to the “message.” Yes, there are times when her stylization departs from “message.” This is most evident in Stevie Wonder’s “Creepin’.” For that matter, I never really warmed up to Barbara Streisand, making it a bit difficult for me to listen to the Yentl selection, “The Way He Makes Me Feel,” without cringing!

Dreams Realized may not be my favorite vocal album, but it still has tracks that are likely to draw me back to it in the future.

The Bleeding Edge: 8/26/2024

The last week of the month will be another quiet one. The final performance of the month at the Center for New Music, the HARJO release party, was already announced in the venue’s monthly calendar article. It will be flanked on either side by “usual suspects” performances, one for each of the last two days of the month. Specifics are as follows:

Friday, August 30, Medicine for Nightmares, 7 p.m.:  Once again reed player David Boyce will not only host his semi-regular Friday evening series entitled Other Dimensions in Sound but also be one of the performers. As sometimes in the past, he will serve as half of a duo, this time performing with saxophonist Nick Obando. Boyce will play a tenor saxophone to complement Obando’s alto work. As always, the venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. As always, there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh (from his Bird & Beckett event page)

Saturday, August 31, Bird & Beckett Books and Records, 7:30 p.m.: Saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh will lead his trio, whose rhythm players are Stan Poplin on bass and drummer Jason Lewis. As regular readers probably know by now, Bird & Beckett is located at 653 Chenery Street, a short walk from the Glen Park station that serves both BART and Muni. Admission will be the usual $20 cover charge, payable by Venmo or in cash. Teens and students will be admitted for between $5 and $10, and anyone younger allowed late at night will be admitted for free. Given the limited space of the venue, reservations are necessary and can be made by calling 415-586-3733. The phone will be answered during regular store hours, which are between noon and 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Sunday.

SFIPF: A Disappointing Program of Transcriptions

Late yesterday afternoon at Old First Presbyterian Church, the San Francisco International Piano Festival (SFIPF) continued with its second program, a solo recital by Asiya Korepanova entitled Transformations. That title was selected by Korepanova because all seven of the works she played were transcriptions of her own design. This would have been an impressive undertaking had it been successful. Sadly, Korepanova’s overly aggressive keyboard technique tended to undermine any suggestion of expressiveness in either the music itself or its realization through transcription.

Asiya Korepanova playing Chopin at SFIPF (screen shot from the video of the performance)

The program itself was framed by music for cello and piano. Korepanova began by coupling Frédéric Chopin’s Opus 3, a “Polonaise brillante,” with an extended introduction, with Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 24 “Élégie.” At “the other end” the program concluded with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 19 sonata for cello and piano. All three of these offerings were overwhelmed with aggressive technique, which, in the case of Opus 19, obliterated any sense of coherent phrasing.

The “meat for the sandwich” consisted of four songs, each by a different composer of a different nationality. She began with Amy Beach’s setting of Victor Hugo”s “Extase,” the second of her three Opus 21 songs. This was followed by “Liebesode,” the sixth in Alban Berg’s Seven Early Songs collection. She then moved on to César Franck’s “Le mariage des roses,” and concluded with the complete four-song cycle of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Songs and Dances of Death.” These are all selections that deserve more attention in the current vocal repertoire; but, sadly, Korepanova did little, if anything, to make a convincing case for them.

Nevertheless, her audience demanded an encore. They got “Maria,” probably the best known tune from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. She managed to inject just about every well-known Lisztian trope into her arrangement. Perhaps she was thinking of the West Side of Budapest!

Vox Humana SF Announces Second Season

Don Scott Carpenter leading the debut performance of Vox Humana SF

Following up on its debut this past February, Vox Humana SF, the a cappella choir led by its Artistic Director Don Scott Carpenter, has planned two concerts in San Francisco for the coming season. The first of these will be performed only in San Francisco, and the other will “tour” to Belvedere and Healdsburg. City Box Office has created a single Web page for both of these events, which includes specific information about the music to be performed. However, here is a basic summary of what to expect:

Friday, November 8, 7:30 p.m., Grace Cathedral: Sergei Rachmaninoff’s a cappella All-Night Vigil, a setting of the Vespers service, will be performed in its entirety. The will be preceded by two selections by Dmitry Bortniansky, the first Russian to lead the Imperial Chamber Choir when he was appointed in 1796. He composed a series of “concertos” for this ensemble. The program will begin with the eighteenth of these, a setting of Psalm 92 (“It Is Good To Praise the Lord”). He composed seven pieces under the title Kjeruvimskije pjesni (cherubic hymns), the last of which will be performed after the Psalm setting.

Saturday, February 15, 7:30 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: Voyages will be a much more diverse offering. The program will begin with the earliest composition, the “Gloria” setting from the 1597 Sacrae Symphoniae collection by Giovanni Gabrieli. The newest will be “God’s World” by José Daniel Vargas and “Paklalakbay” by Robin Estrada, both of which will receive world premiere performances. Other recent compositions will be by Joan Tower (“Descending”), Jake Heggie (“Stop this Day and Night With Me”), and Jacob Mühlrad (“Ay Li Lu”). The nineteenth century will be represented by Fest- und Gedenksprüche, Johannes Brahms’ Opus 109 cycle of three motets for mixed double choir. This will be complemented by one of Gustav Mahler’s settings of a poem by Friedrich Rückert, “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen’.”

Lara Downes’ Diversity of American Perspectives

Lara Downes on the cover of her new album (from its Amazon.com Web page)

The title of pianist Lara Downes’ latest album is This Land. The Amazon.com Web page includes the following description provided by Pentatone: “a probing, nuanced reflection on the kaleidoscopic diversity of stories and journeys that have converged and collided throughout American history.” Those familiar with Downes’ previous albums will probably know about her interest in that diversity. Indeed, one of the selections, composed by Arturo O’Farrill, has the title “Kaleidoscope,” while Downes herself discusses the nature of the diversity in the album’s final track, which also carries the title “This Land.”

One of the tracks was previous released as a “single” this past February. That was “Rhapsody in Blue Reimagined,” a new arrangement of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” created by Puerto Rican composer Edmar Colón on a commission by Downes. Since this is a recording of Edwin Outwater conducting the SFCM (San Francisco Conservatory of Music) Orchestra with Downes as soloist, I have to confess to at least a bit of personal bias!

Taken as a whole, however, the album is a mixed bag. My own tastes favor the opening track, Benton Overstreet’s “There’ll Be Some Changes Made,” one of the most memorable recordings made by Ethel Waters. On the other hand, Noah Luna’s arrangement of Paul Simon’s “America” never really registered with the impact of the composer’s performance with Art Garfunkel (but then, to be fair, that album figured significantly during my days at the campus radio station of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

This was clearly a very personal album for Downes. It concludes with a ten-minute track of her personal reflections. This account of “afterthoughts” was definitely engaging, but I do not think it had much impact on my reactions to the performances on the preceding nine tracks.

Opera Parallèle Announces 2024–25 Season

Banner for the new OP season (courtesy of OP)

This coming season will mark the fifteenth anniversary of Opera Parallèle (OP) and its reputation for presenting adventurous and groundbreaking contemporary operas. As in the past, there will be three productions, each taking place at a different venue. Furthermore, the venue for the first of those operas will involve a significant departure from the usual. As of this writing, few details have been released. Nevertheless, it seems important to let readers know what the operas are, as well as where and when they will be performed.

The first offering will push the “significant departure” concept to new extremes. The title of the production is Everest: Opera in the Planetarium. It is a major reconception of Everest: An Immersive Experience, which was performed this past February in Z Space. That “experience” will be transformed into an immersive film experience, which will exploit the full 360-degree environment of the Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. In other words the usual concept of a “live” performance will be abandoned in favor of the expressiveness of a broader environment. Performances will take place between November 8 and November 17.

The second program will be the world premiere of The Pigeon Keeper. This was composed by David Hanlon, with a libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann, on an OP commission shared with Opera Omaha, Opera on the Avalon, and the Opera for All Voices Initiative of the Santa Fe Opera. The narrative involves a refugee boy traumatized by circumstances that have left him unable to speak. The title character becomes the agent enabling the child to recover his voice. Performances will take place over the weekend of March 7 to 9 at the Cowell Theatre, which is part of the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture at 2 Marina Boulevard.

Some readers may recall when the San Francisco Opera gave its first performances of Stewart Wallace’s Harvey Milk with a libretto by Michael Korie in 1996. This will be given a completely new production with new music, a tighter cast, and a libretto of two, rather than three, acts. OP had been scheduled to debut this revision, but plans had to be postponed due to the pandemic. As a result, the new version was given its first performance in St. Louis in 2022. Performances will take place at the Blue Shield of California Theater in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts over the course of a week beginning on May 31 and concluding on June 7.

OP has created a season summary Web page. Single tickets will be available through that page. However, as of this writing, they are only on sale for the Everest production. The other two operas have “REGISTER YOUR INTEREST” hyperlinks. Nevertheless, there is also a Premium Subscription Web page, which will be available through City Box Office until October 15.

SFIPF Begins at Old First Presbyterian Church

Gabriel Fauré (photographer unknown, from the Département Musique at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, public domain in the United States, Wikipedia page)

Last night Old First Presbyterian Church provided the venue for the first of four Old First Concerts programs prepared for the seventh annual San Francisco International Piano Festival (SFIPF). The other two will be taking place at Old St. Mary’s Cathedral (Noontime Concerts™) and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Bowes Center. The overall theme of the Festival is French keyboard music, and last night’s program honored the centennial of the death of Gabriel Fauré.

Most of the program was devoted to solo piano music. However, the concluding selection was the Opus 13 sonata for violin and piano with Eric Chin, one of the two violinists in the Telegraph Quartet, performing with Artistic Director Jeffrey LaDeur at the keyboard. I must confess that I first encountered this sonata in The Heifetz Collection anthology, and I have been a sucker for it ever since. Thus, whatever the rest of the program had to offer, I was determined to wait for this last work; and it was definitely worth the wait! Chin and LaDeur had just the right chemistry to capture the full scope of rhetorical turns encountered in this four-movement work, which is probably Fauré’s earliest venture into chamber music.

Prior to the sonata, LaDeur gave a solo account of the Opus 73 set of variations on a theme in C-sharp minor, completed in 1895. As one can see from the opus numbers, this is a significantly more mature composition; and there is no end of imaginative composition emerging as the variations progress. What was important, however, was the LaDeur consistently delivered a clear understanding of the interplay between the “background” of the theme itself and the “foreground” of embellishments in the variations. Where his keyboard repertoire is concerned, this was a high point in Fauré’’s capacity to work with “long form” composition.

The other relatively long work on the program was the Opus 19 “Ballade,” played by Gwendolyn Mok during the first half. Written in the key of F-sharp major, this involves a relatively sophisticated unfolding of a basic ABA form, with a generous share of interleaving thematic elements. This was a major undertaking for Fauré; and he subsequently arranged it for piano and orchestra, possibly to provide a more refined perspective on all of those thematic elements. Sadly, Mok could not account for all of those elements consistently, particularly in the middle section.

She seemed a bit more in her element with the two shorter pieces flanking Opus 19 on either side. The first of these was the nocturne in E-flat major, the first of the three Opus 33 nocturnes. Interestingly, this was followed by Opus 34: the (third) impromptu in A-flat major. The nocturne serves up a rather generous outpouring of notes. Sadly, too many of them in the middle section were clouded up by too much pedal work in Mok’s performance.

Mok’s set was followed by four of the six movements from the Opus 56 Dolly. The title is the nickname of Régina-Hélène Bardac, daughter of vocalist Emma Bardac. (Bardac is probably best known for having affairs with both Fauré and Claude Debussy.) The suite was composed for piano duet, and it was performed last night by Sarah Yuan and Munan Cheng. The music comes easily to the hands (which I know because, several year ago, I played it with one of my neighbors). The selected movements were “Berceuse,” “Mi-a-ou” (which, believe it or not, has nothing to do with cats), “Le jardin de Dolly,” and “Le pas espagnol.” Personally, I could have done with more of Opus 56 and less of Opus 33; but that is just an individual’s preference!

Left Coast Chamber Plans for 2024/25 Season

The 32nd season of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) will be more than a little different from its predecessors. There will be an opening concert in the fall and a concluding concert in the spring. Between these events, however, there will be a Winter Wandering Festival. In San Francisco this will consist of four different programs  over the course of the three-day weekend running from the end of the January to the beginning of February. All of this has been summarized on a single Web page by Artistic Director Matilda Hofman, and that Web page also includes hyperlinks for all the options for purchasing tickets.

By way of disclaimer, it is fair to note that Berkeley will host one additional event at the First Church of Christ, Scientist. This will consist of improvisatory works by Raven Chacon (“Echo Contest”) and Danny Clay (“Nearly”), both of which will be structured around the venue’s spatial qualities. There will be no charge for admission to this performance, and the audience will be limited to twenty members. Those interested in crossing the Bay can account for reservations through a Tix Web page. The four programs that will take place in San Francisco are as follows:

Friday, January 31, 7:30 p.m.: The Festival begins with a program devoted entirely to Franz Schubert’s D. 911 song cycle Winterreise, sung by tenor Kyle Stegall accompanied at the keyboard by Eric Zivian.

Saturday, February 1, 11:30 a.m.: The title of this program is A Dark Matter, which is also the title of a work by Gilad Cohen, which was the 2023 Composition Contest Winner. This will be the final piece on the program; and it will be “reflected” by the opening selection, a new work by Addie Camsuzou, whose title has not yet been announced. Between these two “bookends” there will be three compositions: “Conversations a trois” by Luna Alcalay, Jessie Cox’ “Afronaut,” and “Equinox” by Tōru Takemitsu.

Saturday, February 1, 7:30 p.m.: The Volti vocal ensemble will join LCCE for a program entitled On the Threshold of Dreamland. There will be two world premiere performances. Todd Kitchen’s “Soprasymmetry IV” was commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University. The other new work has not been given a title, but LJ White created it on a joint commission by both Volti and LCCE. Volti will also contribute to selection of folk song arrangements by Benjamin Britten. The other works on the program will be Laurie San Martin’s “Witches” and “Without Words” by Huang Ruo.

Sunday, February 2, 4 p.m.: The conclusion of the Festival will, appropriately enough, present two works written at the end of the lives of their respective composers. The more familiar of these will be Franz Schubert’s D. 956 quintet for strings in C major. It will be preceded by Luigi Nono’s “‘Hay que caminar’ soñando,” scored for two violins.

The venue for all four of these programs will be the Noe Valley Ministry, which is located in Noe Valley (of course) at 1021 Sanchez Street, just south of 23rd Street. The price of a pass for the full Festival will be $120. A full-season subscription will be $180 with a $60 rate for students. The fall and spring concerts will take place at the same venue. Specifics for those two events are as follows:

Saturday, November 2, 7:30 p.m.: The major work on this program will be a performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Opus 21 melodrama “Pierrot lunaire.” There will also be a performance of the 2022 Composition Contest Winner, “Five Haiku,” by Tomàs Peire-Serrate. This will be coupled with Maria Schneider’s Carlos Drummond de Andrade Stories.

Design for the conclusion of the LCCE season (from the Web page for Spring Contrasts)

Monday, June 9, 7:30 p.m.: This program, entitled Spring Contrasts, will showcase the contrasting timbres of violin (Liana Bérubé), clarinet (Jeff Anderle), and piano (Allegra Chapman). The most familiar work to be performed will be Béla Bartók’s “Contrasts,” whose clarinet part was first performed by Benny Goodman (who also commissioned the work). The other works on the program will be “Processional” by Hannah Kendall, Mel Bonis’ Opus 59, “Suite en Trio,” “Unquiet Waters” by Kevin Day, and Roberto Sierra’s “Recordando una melodía olvidada.”

Ban and Maneri Rethink Ethnomusicology

Those familiar with the biography of Béla Bartók know that, in addition to being one of the leading composers of the twentieth century, he also was a pioneer ethnomusicologist. Working with an Edison machine for recording and playing back sounds through the medium of cylinders, he and Zoltán Kodály toured much of eastern Europe to capture performances by a diversity of Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, and Bulgarian cultures. Sadly, the outbreak of World War I terminated these expeditions; but, by that time, they had accumulated a generous body of source material, which would subsequently influence the efforts of both composers. Indeed, after his move to the United States, one of his income sources was a research fellowship from Columbia University for working on collections of folk sources that were in the university’s library.

Mat Maneri and Lucian Ban (photograph by Mircea Albutiu, courtesy of ECM Records)

In the spirit of that aspect of Bartók’s career, one week from today ECM will release an album entitled Transylvanian Dance. It consists of eight tracks of performances by Mat Maneri on viola and pianist Lucian Ban. As many will expect, Amazon.com has already created a Web page for processing pre-orders. As the accompanying booklet states, all of the tracks are “based on songs and dances collected by Béla Bartók in Transylvania.”

Now, to be fair, I should disclose that I have been listening to Bartók’s music since secondary school; and when Hungaroton Classic released its 29-CD Complete Edition, I did not waste any time adding it to my collection. If the Discogs Web page is representative, It would seem that it is now hard to come by copies of this collection on sale. I find this unfortunate because I fear that Transylvanian Dance is a pale approximation to both the flesh and the spirit of Bartók’s efforts and achievement. This is, at best, an album of good intentions. However, while the spirit may be willing, the “flesh” of the performances themselves is likely to come across as weak to any listener familiar with the Bartók repertoire (or, for that matter, ethnomusicology). For my part, I derived far more satisfaction when violinist Alexandra Conunova (who is Moldovan) played all six movement of Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances suite as the encore selection for her Shenson Spotlight Series recital in Davies Symphony Hall at the beginning of this past March.

SFCM Highlights: October, 2024

Following up on yesterday’s preview of the first month of noteworthy events in the new semester at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), a “heads-up” for October is probably in order, particularly since it will mark the return of Chamber Music Tuesday! That will be only one of four promising events. Once again, each event will have its own Performance Calendar Web page attached to the date of the performance. Each Web page will include a hyperlink for making free-of-charge reservations and a hyperlink for live-stream viewing. Further specifics are as follows:

Sunday, October 13, 2 p.m., Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall: There is usually a Baroque Ensemble performance every semester, directed jointly by Corey Jamason and Elisabeth Reed. They coach students from both the Historical Performance and Orchestra programs. The repertoire is taken from the eighteenth century, performed on period instruments without a conductor. Program details have not yet been announced but will be found through the above hyperlink when available.

Pianist Shai Wosner (from the event page for his visit to Chamber Music Tuesday)

Tuesday, October 15, 7:30 p.m., Barbro Osher Recital Hall: Chamber Music Tuesday programs usually feature a visiting artist, who works with SFCM students as part of a residence. The visitor for October will be pianist Shai Wosner, who is planning also to work with Pre-College students. He will probably contribute to the entire program, which will begin with Eleanor Alberga’s “No-Man’s-Land Lullaby,” composed in 1996 for violin and piano. The remainder of the program will consist of “bookends” for the nineteenth century with “the usual suspects” as composers. The earlier work will be the second of the two Opus 70 piano trios by Ludwig van Beethoven, composed in the key of E-flat major. The other end of the century will be represented by Johannes Brahms’ Opus 60 piano quartet in C minor. It is probably worth noting that an entire book has been written about this composition: Expressive Forms in Brahms’s Instrumental Music: Structure and Meaning in this Werther Quartet by Peter H. Smith. (I have to say that I have never let the influence of Werther, who, as William Makepeace Thackeray put it, “blew his silly brains out,” influence my listening to Brahms’ music!)

Friday, October 25, 7:30 p.m., Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall: The SFCM Wind Ensemble will be conducted by Brad Hogarth. Trombonist Austin Talbot will be featured in a performance of the trombone concerto by Henri Tomasi, which was the winner of the SFCM concerto competition. There will also be a world premiere performance of a new arrangement of “Cover the Walls,” composed by Ursula Kwong-Brown. The program will begin with a suite by Frank Johnson, who conducted military bands during the first half of the nineteen century. Hogarth prepared his own arrangement for this performance. The concluding selection will be the fourth symphony by David Maslanka.

Thursday, October 31, 7:30 p.m., Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall: The month will conclude with “the first annual TAC-O-WEEN SpecTACular!” For those that do not already know, the abbreviation stands for “Technology and Applied Composition.” This provides “an exclusive course of study that gives students a direct path into the worlds of film scoring, video game sound design, and other rewarding musical avenues.” Faculty members will provide the music; and the event will also include a spooky costume contest, which, presumably, will be open to faculty, students, and members of the audience.

Other Minds Records to Release SFCMP Album

Composer Brian Baumbusch (photograph by Melati Citrawireja, courtesy of Other Minds)

The good news is that tomorrow Other Minds will release a new album of performances by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Bandcamp has already created a Web page for the album and is currently processing pre-orders for impatient listeners. The ensemble performs a twelve-movement suite composed by Brian Baumbusch entitled Polytempo Music.

Baumbusch cites the interlocking rhythms of Indonesian gamelan music as his primary influence, along with Conlon Nancarrow’s experimentation with hand-punched player piano rolls. By way of full disclaimer, I should confess that this is a domain that occupied my interest as a graduate student. My EUTERPE software allowed me to program six polyphonic voices, each with its own rhythm. “Variations on a Theme of Steve Reich” allowed me to take the prevailing interest in repetitive structures and “warp” it by shifting the tempo for each of the different voices. I have a vague (possibly distorted) memory of Reich having visited the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I demonstrated my software to him. He was, of course, more interested in composing for performing musicians; but he appreciated that the software could adjust the ear to complex polyrhythms.

Unfortunately, Baumbusch is nowhere near Reich’s league. For that matter, on the basis of my exposure to Indonesian music when I was living and working Singapore, his perception of gamelan is not much better. Thus, while each of the twelve movements explores its own approach to the superposition of contrasting rhythms, there is little to draw attention to either an individual movement or the entire cycle, let alone sustain it. Those interested in the technique will probably draw far more satisfaction from available recordings of both Nancarrow and Reich.

Giulio Tampalini Turns to Frank Martin

This morning saw the release of the third of the eight videos in the Midweek Melodies series of performances by guitarist Giulio Tampalini released by OMNI on-Location, as curated by the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts. The composers for the first two videos were, respectively, Joaquín Rodrigo and Johann Sebastian Bach. Today Tampalini returned to the twentieth century with the Swiss composer Frank Martin. He selected the first movement “Prélude” from the 1933 collection entitled Quatre pièces brèves. Clocking in at about two and one-half minutes, the work was definitely true to the collection’s title!

While I was aware of Martin during my student days, my opportunities to listen to the works by this composer since I made my shift from writing about software to writing about music have been decidedly sparse. However, in that context, I was pleased to see his appearance on the latest album released by the Neave Trio this past July. That was a three-movement suite of popular Irish tunes, suggesting that Martin was inclined to brevity. Nevertheless, the guitar selection was decidedly more meditative.

Giulio Tampalini playing for the surrounding artwork in the Church of Santa Giulia (from the third Midweek Melodies video)

Mind you, the setting in which it was performed could not have been better for meditation. This was the Church of Santa Giulia, which is part of the Monastic complex of San Salvatore-Santa Giulia in the Italian city of Brescia. As one can see from the above screen shot, the interior of that space is a feast of artwork, thus engaging the eyes while the ears are occupied  with Tampalini’s performance. Martin’s brief composition may not have encouraged reflection on this visual experience, but the combination of the two made for an engaging encounter.

SFCM Highlights: September, 2024

Yesterday marked the first electronic mail announcement I received from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) for the coming season. This included a month-by-month account of highlighted events for the fall semester. As in the past, I shall similarly deal with these with separate articles for each month. September will be marked by two such events, which are highly contrasting. As was the case last season, each event will have its own Performance Calendar Web page attached to the date of the performance. Each Web page will include a hyperlink for making free-of-charge reservations and a hyperlink for live-stream viewing. Further specifics are as follows:

A side-by-side RJAM performance (from the SFCM event page)

Thursday, September 26, 7:30 p.m., Barbro Osher Recital Hall: This performance will feature students from the Roots, Jazz and American Music (RJAM) program playing side-by-side with members of the RJAM faculty. It will be presented in partnership with SFJAZZ. As a result, the performers include four members of the SFJAZZ Collective: Warren Wolf (vibraphone), David Sanchez (tenor saxophone), Edward Simon (piano), and Matt Brewer (guitar). Other contributing professionals will include trumpeter Marcus Printup (a new member of the SFCM faculty), Matt Wilson on drums, and pianist Helen Sung, with others to be later announced. For those that do not already know, the venue is located on the eleventh (top) floor of the SFCM Bowes Center at 200 Van Ness Avenue, two blocks north of the public transportation stops at Market Street.

Saturday, September 28, 7:30 p.m., Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall: Edwin Outwater will lead the SFCM Orchestra in its first performance of the new academic year. In a bit of a nod to the Thursday offering, the program will include a performance of John Coltrane’s “Alabama” in an orchestral arrangement by Carlos Simon. This will open the second half of the program, which will be followed by Igor Stravinsky’s 1947 version of his score for the ballet “Petrushka.” The first half of the program will be devoted entirely to Richard Strauss. It will begin with his “Don Juan” tone poem. This will be followed by the orchestra version of the four songs collected as Opus 27: “Ruhe, meine Seele!,” “Cäcilie,” “Heimliche Aufforderung,” and “Morgen!” The vocalist will be soprano Alissa Gortesky.” The entrance to the Concert Hall is on the ground floor of the 50 Oak Street building, which is an even shorter walk from the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Market Street.

The Bleeding Edge: 8/20/2024

This week the SFJAZZ Center jumped the queue yesterday with its announcement of its Thelonious Monk Festival, even though that event will not begin until October 10. Since I was fortunate enough to see Monk perform at the Village Vanguard on several occasions during my graduate student days, I can confess to announcing this event with more than a little sympathy! In any event the first “Bleeding Edge” event of the week will not take place until this evening, so I do not think that anything has been lost due to my priorities. The fact is that there are only three events to report for this week, all of which are being announced for the first time. Here are the specifics:

Tuesday, August 20 (today), Make-Out Room, 7 p.m.: This will be the usual monthly Make-Out Room concert of cutting-edge jazz, free improvisation, and creative music. The opening set will be the trio of saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer Nathan Nakadegawa-Lee, cellist Nick Reeves, and saxophonist Ari Brown. The second set will begin at 7:45 p.m. with another trio performance, this time by guitarist Chris Cooper, Matt Chandler on bass, and drummer Jacob Felix Heule. The final set, beginning at 8:30 p.m., with be (you guessed it) yet another trio: percussionists Mark Clifford and Kjell Nordeson with Karl Evangelista on guitar. As usual, the Make-Out Room is located in the Mission at 3225 22nd Street. Doors will open at 6 p.m. There is no cover charge, so donations will be accepted and appreciated.

Friday, August 23, Medicine for Nightmares, 7 p.m.: Reed player David Boyce will continue to host his semi-regular Friday evening series entitled Other Dimensions in Sound. On this occasion he will play reeds and electronics for his half of a duo called Red Fast Luck. His partner in this performance will be percussionist PC Munoz, who has expanded his instrumental repertoire to include broom stick and flying hook rug. Once again, the venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. As always, there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Ambrose Akinmusire on the poster for his contribution to the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival (from his BayImproviser Web page)

Saturday, August 24, Yerba Buena Gardens, 1 p.m.: Jazz trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire will be one of the contributors to this year’s Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, all of whose events take place in the outdoor garden area with no fee for admission. He will present music from his Honey From A Winter’s Stone album, which is a synthesis of hip-hop, chamber jazz, and new music. He will perform with Sam Harris on piano and keyboards and drummer Justin Brown.

Less Familiar French Sacred Music

Cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of A440)

This coming Friday, Alpha will release a new album of French sacred music from the nineteenth century performed by Le Concert Spirituel, whose leader is Hervé Niquet. As is usually the case, Amazon.com has created a Web page, which is processing pre-orders. Most readers are likely to guess that the album will include Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 48 setting of the Requiem text. They will be correct, but the remaining three selections on the album are decidedly less familiar.

The other major work on the album is another Mass setting composed by Charles Gounod in 1890 and given the title Mess dite de Clovis, whose thematic material is based on Gregorian Chant sources. Its IMSLP Web page gives the following alternative title: “Composée pour le XIVe Centenaire du Baptême de Clovis à Reims, 25 Décembre 496.” It was scored for SATB choir and organ and included a “Prélude” for four trumpets, four trombones, and two organs (one full pipe organ and a smaller one for the chorus); but this opening movement is not included on the album. The setting of the Mass text is a straightforward one, and Niquet delivers an expressive interpretation.

This is followed by the “O salutaris hostia” hymn composed by Louis Aubert. Aubert was a child prodigy, who drew attention from his rendition of the solo part in the “Pie Jesu” movement of Fauré’s Requiem setting. He later became Fauré’s composition student at the Conservatoire de Paris. This track was a “first contact” experience for me, as I expect it will be for most (if not all) other listeners. The album concludes with an instrumental postlude, an Adagio movement compsed by André Caplet for violin with organ accompaniment. The organist for the album is François Saint-Yves, and the violinist for this selection is Chouchane Siranossian.

I must confess that, following the opening seven tracks of Fauré, this album was very much a journey of discovery. Each of the three remaining compositions takes its own unique rhetorical stance. Nevertheless, they are all given a relatively subdued account, which very much reflects the mood established at the beginning. One might say that all of the works were conceived as music for reflection, drawing away from any of the more dramatic rhetorics that one often encounters in sacred music.

In consulting my collection, I realized that I have only one other recording of Fauré’s Opus 48. It dates back to 1985 with Michel Plasson conducting and vocal solos by soprano Barbara Hendrix and baritone José van Dam. On that album it was coupled with Fauré’s Opus 11 “Cantique de Jean Racine.” While that conjunction made for its own journey of discovery when I first acquired the album, I have to say that I am more drawn to the diversity on this new release.

SFJAZZ: October, 2024

October will be the month of the Thelonious Monk Festival at the SFJAZZ Center. Most importantly, that will involve a generous share of solo piano performances at the Joe Henderson Lab. However, this will be only the beginning of a series of Henderson concerts for those with adventurous tastes. For those that do not (yet?) know, the Center is located at 201 Franklin Street, on the northwest corner of Fell Street, where the main entrance doors are located. Performance dates, times, and hyperlinks for purchasing tickets are as follows:

Thursday, October 10, and Friday, October 11, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: Monk was often at his best when he played solo, so pianist Sullivan Fortner will present a full-evening solo performance of Monk’s compositions; and that is all that need to be said!

Saturday, October 12, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: Keyboardist Diego Gaeta will “re-imagine” Monk’s works, which is likely to mean that he will integrate the futurism of 1970s jazz fusion with hip-hop, global folk music influences, chamber music, and multiple strains of modern expression.

Sunday, October 13, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.: The other pianist to contribute to the Festival will be Madrid-born Marta Sánchez. She will lead a trio, whose other members will be Chris Tordini on bass and drummer Savannah Harris. She is likely to bring her own adventurous takes to her interpretations of Monk’s music.

Thursday, October 17, and Friday, October 18, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: The theme for the following week will be Saxophones & Winds (a bit on an oxymoron, since the saxophone counts as a member of the wind family). The first saxophonist to perform in the series will be Tod Dickow, who will be honoring the work of the late saxophonist Michael Brecker. He will be joined by trumpeter Randy Brecker. Rhythm will be provided by Charged Particles, led by Jon Krosnick on drums, keyboardist Murray Low, and Aaron Germain on bass.

Saturday, October 19, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: The saxophonist will be Norbert Stachel performing with his wife Karen, who plays a variety of instruments in the flute family. They will perform music from their LehCats project, which combines modern jazz, funk, Afro/Latin, and world fusion. They will be joined by Latin percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo.

Sunday, October 20, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.: The final saxophonist in the series will be Nicole McCabe, who was raised in Marin but is currently based in Los Angeles. She composes her own work, and she will play selections from her latest album, Mosaic. She will lead a quartet, which will include her partner, Logan Kane, on bass, pianist George Colligan, and drummer Mike Mitchell.

The original album cover for Philly Joe Jones’ Blues for Dracula album (from its Amazon.com Web page)

Thursday, October 31, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: Halloween will be celebrated with the next Hotplate concert. Drummer Smith Dobson will lead a quintet with Erik Jekabsen on trumpet and tenor saxophonist Matt Renzi on the front line. He will be joined in the rhythm section by pianist Keith Saunders and Eric Markowitz on bass. The program will be a tribute to two classic albums by drumming legend Philly Joe Jones: Blues for Dracula and Showcase.