Choices for March 14, 2025

Many readers probably know by now that this coming weekend will be a busy one; and hard choices may have to be made for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. As of this writing, the following weekend will not be as hectic. Nevertheless, there will be two events on Friday evening (March 14), both beginning at 7:30 p.m. These are decidedly contrasting, but both definitely deserve consideration. The venues for those events are as follows:

Herbst Theatre: This will be the fifth visit of the Pavel Haas Quartet to San Francisco Performances. The members of the ensemble are violinists Veronika Jarůšková and Marek Zwiebel, Šimon Truszka on viola, and cellist Peter Jarůšek. Their program will consist of quartets by two major nineteenth-century composers. The program will begin with Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 61 quartet in C major. The intermission will be followed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Opus 30 (third) quartet in E-flat major.

Tickets are on sale for $85 for premium seating in the Orchestra, the Side Boxes, and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $75 for the center rear of the Dress Circle and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $65 for the remainder of the Dress Circle and the Balcony in Herbst Theatre, which is located at 401 Van Ness Avenue. They may be purchased online through an SFP Web page. They may also be placed by calling the SFP box office at 415-677-0325, which is open for receiving calls between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Further information is available by calling 415-392-2545.

The Bucket List Trio of Andy Meyerson, Mark Applebaum, and Travis Andrews (from the Eventbrite Web page for their coming performance)

Roar Shack: Bucket List is a trio formed by The Living Earth Show duo of guitarist Travis Andrews and drummer Andy Meyerson performing with pianist (and Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Stanford University) Mark Applebaum, who will serve as leader. This will be their world premiere performance. Their repertoire combines the traditions of new complexity, experimental electronic music, ensemble game pieces, minimalism, funk, and jazz, with theatric and video elements.

Admission to this event will be by donation. The Eventbrite Web page allows for “Pay What You Can” purchase with a recommended rate between $1 and $100. The venue is located in SoMa at 34 Seventh Street. The entry is through a secret side door on Odd Fellows Way, which is called Stevenson Street on the other side of Seventh. The performance will last for one hour, followed by a one-hour “Postshow hang.”

Solo Replaces Duo to Compensate for Illness

Pianist Vikingur Ólafsson (photograph by Markus Jans, courtesy of San Francisco Symphony)

Last night Davies Symphony Hall had been scheduled to present a “dynamic duo” recital by pianists Yuja Wang and Vikingur Ólafsson as part of the San Francisco Symphony Great Performers Series. Sadly, Wang was indisposed, leaving Ólafsson to prepare and deliver a solo performance at the last minute. His program consisted entirely of a single composition by Johann Sebastian Bach, the BWV 988 set of “Goldberg” variations. Some readers may recall that Deutsche Grammophon released an album of Ólafsson playing this major keyboard work in October of 2023, and his technique last night was as solid as it had been on his recording.

Sadly, solid technique tended to prevail over expressive interpretation. Those acquainted with Ólafsson’s recording know that he never shies away from rapid tempi. Last night came across as if he was primarily interested dialing the overall pace of the performance up to eleven. As a result, many of those cherished moments of intricacy in Bach’s counterpoint came across as little more than a blur. This may have been an impressive display of technique, but it certainly did not do the composer any favors!

Nevertheless, when it turned out that a duo recital had to transform into a solo, Ólafsson was prepared to take charge of the entire evening. Presenting BWV 988 solved the problem of coming up with a more diverse program at the last minute. Ironically, this was a “second time around” encounter for those of us that had listened to this music this past Tuesday night in Herbst Theatre; but I always enjoy opportunities to compare different interpretations of a single major keyboard composition. When the comparison involves two different generations of performers, it is all the more interesting!

Midori to Return to SFP with West Coast Premiere

Violinist Midori (from the SFP event page, photograph by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders)

In a little over a week’s time, violinist Midori will return to San Francisco to present her latest recital program for San Francisco Performances (SFP). Her accompanist for this concert will be pianist Özgür Aydin. The program will conclude with the West Coast Premiere performance of “Resonances in Sprit,” which was composed for her by the young Che Buford, who is also a violinist.

All of the preceding works on the program will be by familiar composers from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The program will begin with Johannes Brahms’ Opus 78, the first of his three violin sonatas (not counting the collaborative “F-A-E Sonata”) in the key of G major. This will be followed by Francis Poulenc’s only violin sonata (FP 119), which he composed in memory of the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. The remaining two works on the program will both be by Maurice Ravel. “Tzigane” was originally composed for violin and piano (but with the option of a luthéal attachment to evoke the sonorities of a cimbalom). “Kaddish,” on the other hand, was originally the first of the Two Hebrew Songs, setting an Aramaic text for the vocalist; but it was subsequently arranged for violin and piano by Lucien Garban.

As is usually the case for SFP events, this program will be performed in Herbst Theatre, beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 11. The entrance to Herbst Theatre 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. Ticket prices are $85 (premium Orchestra and front and center Dress Circle), $75 (remainder of Orchestra, all Side Boxes, and center rear Dress Circle), and $65 (remaining Dress Circle and Balcony). They may be purchased through an SFP secure Web page.

Verve Releases Another “Unearthed” Ella Album

Ella Fitzgerald with her band (photograph by ©Tom Copi, courtesy of Verve Records)

Those that have followed this site for some time may recall my delight in writing about the album Ella: The Lost Berlin Tapes, a “live” recording of a performance given by vocalist Ella Fitzgerald at the Berlin Sportpalast on March 25, 1962, performing only with the trio of Paul Smith on piano, Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass, and Stan Levey on drums. This album was released by Verve in the summer of 2019; and it is still available through an Amazon.com Web page in both vinyl and CD formats. For those that share my enthusiasm for the Fitzgerald discography, I am happy to report the recent release of a new Verve album, this one entitled The Moment of Truth: Ella at the Coliseum.

Since I am a resident of San Francisco, the venue for this recording is much closer than Berlin; and it captures a much earlier period in Fitzgerald’s career. It was recorded on June 30, 1967 (around the time that I earned my Bachelor’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) at the Oakland Coliseum. She is accompanied, for the most part, by members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, including such well-known performers as trumpeters Mercer Ellington and Cootie Williams, Chuck Connors on trombone, and reed players Paul Gonsalves and Johnny Hodges. However, there are also trio performances by pianist Jimmy Jones, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and drummer Sam Woodyard.

Two of the tracks are first-time recordings for Fitzgerald: “Alfie” and “Music To Watch Girls By.” Both of these are familiar to my generation and would have shown up as “regulars” (by other performers) in broadcasts from the campus radio station (where I spent my recreational time). On the other hand, the title track (which is also the first track) was a “first contact” experience for me, as were a few of the other tracks.

In other words, while Fitzgerald died in 1996, I find that I am still discovering new aspects of her performances and loving every minute of all of them!

Rojo Fumbles Full-Length Ballet for SFB

Photograph of a scene from the original production of Raymonda at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in 1898 (public domain in the United States)

Last night saw the opening of the third production for the 2025 Repertory season of the San Francisco Ballet. Raymonda was the second full-length ballet of the season, following up on Manon, which began the season. The choreography was by Artistic Director Tamara Rojo, based on a version that she created in January of 2022 for the English National Ballet. “For the record” (as they say), I first encountered this ballet in its entirety when Mikhail Baryshnikov staged it for American Ballet Theatre in 1980.

The original narrative is set in Hungary, where the title character is the fiancé of the crusader knight Jean de Brienne. Wedding preparations are interrupted with the arrival of the Saracen knight Abderakhman. The narrative then wanders into the dream world in which Abderakhman woos Raymonda. This is where different productions vary in what happens next. However, ultimately, Abderakhman is slain by Jean de Brienne by the end of the second act (which may or may not take place in that dream world). The third act is then devoted entirely to Raymonda’s wedding ceremony.

Rojo decided to shift the narrative from a timeless fairy tale to the Crimean War. The extended episode in the dream world is significantly reduced, but the result is a muddled account of who is on which side of the brutal battle in Crimea. The serious balletomane would probably do well to set aside any effort to make sense of the story and just treat the entire program as a series of corps de ballet performances with interjections of solo and duo efforts. In that context the music by Alexander Glazunov provides little more than “background;” but in last night’s performance it was at least given a moderately engaging interpretation in the orchestra pit by conductor Martin West.

This then raises the obvious question from the viewer in the audience: Is it worth the time to muddle through all those episodes strung together by a flimsy excuse for a narrative? The good news is that, for the most part, last night performers were in fine form when it came to executing the choreography they had been taught. The scenery may have been ambiguous, but it certainly did not distract the viewer from the dancers. The only real question is whether or not an entire evening should be spent on a series of well-performed episodes in the context of an overall “concept” that never rose above the level of “muddled.”

SFCM Highlights: March, 2025

Last month saw a modest diversity of highlighted events at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) This month will be downright sparse, with only two events of note, one of which will be given two performances and both taking place during the same week. All three will begin at 7:30 p.m., and the following summaries will provide the necessary hyperlinks for the respective dates:

Tuesday, March 11: This month’s visiting artist for Chamber Music Tuesday will be violist Kim Kashkashian. There will be only two works on the program; and, presumably, she will perform with SFCM students for both of them. The first half of the program will be devoted entirely to Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 45, his second piano quartet composed in the key of G minor. The intermission will be followed by Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 97, his string quintet in E-flat major.

Playbill cover for the 1974 Broadway production of Candide (Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7501091)

Friday, March 14, and Saturday, March 15: The next production to be presented by SFCM Opera began as a Broadway musical inspired by a novella by Voltaire, which composer Leonard Bernstein preferred to call a “comic operetta.” This was Candide, which opened at the Martin Beck Theatre on December 1, 1956, in a production directed by Tyrone Guthrie. The production will be directed by Frederic Wake-Walker, and SFCM Music Director Edwin Outwater will conduct.

SFS: A Disconcerting Evening with Robin Ticciati

Visiting conductor Robin Ticciati (photograph by Benjamin Ealovega, courtesy of SFS)

Conductor Robin Ticciati’s debut with the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in January of 2023 could not have been more memorable. He coupled a solid account of Gustav Mahler’s fourth symphony in G major in the second half of the program with the SFS premiere of the first violin concerto composed by Jörg Widmann in the first. Last night he returned to Davies Symphony Hall, and the performance could not have been more forgettable.

While he could not previously done a better job of managing the wide dynamic range of Mahler’s symphony, last night’s dynamic range was reduced (with only a few exceptions) to loud and louder. This was particularly evident during the second half of the program, which was devoted entirely to Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 27 (second) symphony in E minor. This provided yet another example of the composer’s fondness for triplet passages. However, it also recalled the anecdote of how the music critic Julius Korngold dismissed the efforts of his composer son Erich Wolfgang Korngold with the injunction, “Don’t bathe!” Particularly in the third (Adagio) movement, Ticciati’s interpretation came across as little more than a bubble bath.

The first half of the program was devoted entirely to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 58 (fourth) piano concerto in G major. The soloist was Francesco Piemontesi, and conductor and soloist came across as made for each other. More often than not, Piemontesi’s fingers approached the keyboard as if they were jackhammers; but his approach seemed to complement Ticciati’s rhetorical evocations of “scowling Beethoven.” Those that take music history seriously tend to agree that Opus 58 was one of Beethoven’s finest efforts, but Ticciati’s partnership with Piemontesi reduced all those efforts to little more than trivia.

Hopefully, things will pick up again when Elim Chan returns to the Davies podium in about two weeks.

David Oistrakh Honors Fritz Kreisler

Fritz Kreisler (photographer unknown, available on Wikimedia Commons from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division, public domain)

There remains one CD in the Warner Remastered Edition box set collection of recordings of performances by Russian violinist David Oistrakh that I have not yet taken into account. The title of the album is Kreisler, and it is devoted to both compositions by virtuoso violinist Fritz Kreisler and arrangements, which he probably prepared for encore selections. For those that have followed my “side-by-side” approach to examining these Kreisler recordings, only one of the works by Kreisler himself can also be found among that “generous number of encore selections that were recorded by Jascha Heifetz.” This was the “Sicilienne and Rigaudon in the style of Francœur” (which Kreisler falsely attributed to the early eighteenth-century composer François Francoeur).

Personally, I did not find this a particularly compelling album. However, my years of experience have taught me that recital audiences are more interested in personalities than in the program that has been prepared, and enthusiasm only begins to kick in for the encores. Sadly, no information has been provided other than who the accompanists were and when the tracks were recorded. Furthermore, where those dates were concerned, only five of them accounted specifically for year, month, and day. Just as disappointing were the eight of the fifteen tracks that were annotated as “Recorded live,” which yielded no information about the venues.

To be fair, I do not think that Warner should “take the rap” for this muddle of background information. The fact is that, while Bruno Monsaingeon may had been a well-intentioned curator, he was not necessarily a well-informed one. Mind you, the fault may lie more with Warner than with Monsaingeon, since, in a box set of this size, the producers probably wanted to avoid flooding customers with “too much information.” This is unfortunate, since repertoire can be a significant element in musicological studies; but I doubt that musicology matters very much when Warner is more interested in its revenue stream (which it probably should be)!

Center for New Music: March, 2025

This will be a relatively busy month at the Center for New Music, with a diversity of performances on either side of the usual monthly pancake event. As most readers probably know by now, the venue is located at 55 Taylor Street, half a block north of the Golden Gate Theater, which is where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. As usual dates below are hyperlinked to an event page through which tickets may be purchased as follows:

Poster for the first concert of next month

Saturday, March 1, 7:30 p.m.: As was already reported on this week’s Bleeding Edge article, the month will begin with Quintet, a performance by the Bridge Music Collective, five students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music: Jessica Folson on violin, Sarah Hooton on viola, Carlos Valdez on bass, T. Colton Potter on oboe, and Caleb Rose on clarinet.

Thursday, March 6, 7:30 p.m.: Also already reported will be the return of guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan with his solo recital program entitled A Modern American Guitar Celebration.

Friday, March 7, 8 p.m.: This will be a duo performance by clarinetist Ben Goldberg and Scott Amendola on percussion. Readers probably know that Amendola has recently been performing duos with keyboardist Will Blades at the Blue Heron Boathouse. The advance material suggests that both will be enhancing their instrumental work with electronics. Repertoire may be spontaneous but will probably reflect the influence of Thelonious Monk on both of them.

Saturday, March 8, noon: This event was incorrectly reported in this week’s Bleeding Edge article. It marks the 25th year of G|O|D|W|A|F|F|L|E|N|O|I|S|E|P|A|N|C|A|K|E|S events, which offer the usual opportunity to enjoy vegan pancakes while listening to “bleeding edge” music. The contributing performers and composers will be Zachary James Watkins, Concious Summary, Temoleh, Zebra Secrets, and Linoleum Dicks.

Sunday, March 23, 7 p.m.: This will be a Birthday Concert to celebrate the tenth year of Aerocade Music and its first year as a non-profit record label. Aerocade Artists Isaac Io Schankler, Nick Norton, Elizabeth Robinson, Alchymie, Gregg Skloff, Chelsea Hollow, and Taylor Chan will perform. Since this will basically be a birthday party, the performances will be preceded by a reception catered by vegan chef Philip Gelb (who also happens to be a musician).

Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen Debuts on AVIE Records

Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen on the cover of his new album

Around the beginning of this month, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen made his solo recital debut on AVIE Records with the release of an album entitled Uncharted. I first became aware of him in the summer of 2016, when he was in the Merola Opera training program. Training concluded with a public performance of opera excepts taking place on the stage of the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. Cohen’s contribution was to sing Orfeo’s aria “Che farò seza Euridice?,” from Christoph Willibald Gluck’s three-act opera Orfeo ed Euridice.

The “world” of Uncharted is a far cry from the world of Gluck. With one exception, the album focuses on the interplay of the creative powers of Robert Schumann, his wife Clara, and their friend and colleague, Johannes Brahms. That one exception is the very first selection on the album, Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Opus 14, a collection of four songs given the title Lieder des Abschieds (songs of farewell). Those familiar with the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century will probably be reminded of “Der Abschied, the title of the final movement of Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (the song of the earth), which was completed in 1907. However, Lieder des Abschieds was composed over ten years later, and I would conjecture that memories of Mahler did not interfere with Korngold’s own capacities for invention.

That said, I found myself more appreciative of Korngold’s “turf” than I was in the selections that spanned the interplay between the Schumanns and Brahms. To be fair, my preference may have had to do with my first encounter with Korngold writing for piano and voice, rather than harnessing a full orchestral ensemble. In that respect, I was as struck by the piano accompaniment by John Churchwell as I was by Cohen’s repertoire selections. Nevertheless, when taken as a whole, Uncharted unfolds as a journey through a diversity of approaches to invention. I suspect that my attention will lead me back to this album whenever I grow weary of all-too-familiar recordings!

Choices for March 7–9, 2025

It has been a while since I have written a “busy weekend” that accounts for Friday, as well as Saturday and Sunday. Nevertheless, where the diversity of performances are concerned, March is definitely going in like a lion. Given the number of choices, readers should make sure that they have a scrolling facility for reading what follows.

Friday, March 7, 1 p.m., Cadillac Hotel: The busy weekend will begin on Friday afternoon with the next Concerts at the Cadillac offering. The performances will be by The Bob Roden Quintet, led by trombonist Roden, who also contributes vocals. The other members are Ron Jackson on alto saxophone with rhythm provided by pianist Larry Walter, Richard Freeman on drums, and bassist Jamie Dowd. For those that do not already know, the Cadillac Hotel is located at 380 Eddy Street, on the northeast corner of Leavenworth Street.

Friday, March 7, and Saturday, March 8, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 9, 3 p.m., Cowell Theatre: As was reported at the end of last week, this will be the world premiere performance of The Pigeon Keeper presented by Opera Parallèle; the venue is located at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture at 2 Marina Boulevard.

Friday, March 7, 7:30 p.m., Herbst Theatre: The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra will be led by the third candidate for its next Music Director, Peter Whelan. The program will be devoted entirely to George Frideric Handel’s HWV 45 music for the masque Alceste. As most readers probably know by now, the venue is at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street.

Friday, March 7, 7:30 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The major (and probably most familiar) work on the next program by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (SFCO) will be Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Opus 48 in C major, given the title “Serenade for Strings.” The program will begin with “A Game of Cat and Mike,” composed on an SFCO co-commission by Evan Price and scored for two mandolin soloists and chamber orchestra. This will be followed (appropriately enough) by Jessie Montgomery’s “Strum.” This is another venue familiar to most readers. The address is 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street.

Calidore Quartet members Estelle Choi, Ryan Meehan, Jeremy Berry, and Jeffrey Meyers (photograph by Marco Borggreve, courtesy of San Francisco Performances)

Saturday, March 8, 7:30 p.m., Herbst Theatre: For those that cannot get enough of “Strum,” it will be performed again at the same time the following evening. This time the instrumentation will be a string quartet. San Francisco Performances will present the Calidore Quartet, whose members are violinists Jeffrey Myers and Ryan Meehan, Jeremy Berry on viola, and cellist Estelle Choi. The “classical” selections will be quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven (Opus 74 in E-flat major, nicknamed “Harp”) and Franz Schubert (D. 703 in C minor). The program will conclude with the third string quartet by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, his Opus 34.

Saturday, March 8, 7:30 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall: This will be a special event entitled SF Musicians for LA: A Benefit for Fire Relief. The contributing ensembles will be the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), the SFS Chorus, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, all conducted by Edwin Outwater. The program will include Sergei Rachmaninoff’s best-known piano concerto, his Opus 18 (second) in C minor. The soloist will be Garrick Ohlsson. The program will begin with “The Promise of Living” from Aaron Copland’s opera The Tender Land. The program will conclude with Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 95 in E minor, his ninth symphony given the subtitle “From the New World.”

Saturday, March 8, 7:30 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The next Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts guitar recital will feature an engaging diversity of arrangements performed by the Mēla Guitar Quartet. However, there will be two “original” works on the program. The first of these is “My Clock is Broken!” by Laura Snowden. This will be followed by the “mini-suite” by Phillip Houghton entitled Opals with movements for black, water, and white opals.

Sunday, March 9, 2 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall: As was reported yesterday, the next performance by the SFS Youth Orchestra will feature works by contemporary composers Gabriela Lena Frank and Arturo Márquez, along with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 385 (“Haffner”) symphony in D major a suite of instrumental music from Richard Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier.

Sunday, March 9, 4 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The last performance of the weekend at St. Mark’s will be the next concert by SF Choral Arts, led by Magen Solomon. The full title of the program is Apple Pie and All That: an American Sampler. The composers on the program will include William Billings, Charles Ives, Kirke Mechem, Alice Parker, Bill Evans, Henry Mollicone, and Duke Ellington. As always, there will also be works by Composer-in-Residence Xingyue Song and Composer-Not-in-Residence Patricia Julien. The guest pianist for this concert will be Dara Phung.

Sunday, March 9, 7:30 p.m., Musicians Union: The monthly SIMM Series concert prepared by Outsound Presents will be entitled ON&ON&ON&. The performers will be pianist Brett Caron, Kyle Bruckmann on reeds, bassist Lisa Mezzacappa, and Jordan Glenn on percussion. The venue is located in SoMa at 116 9th Street.

Fleur Baron’s Recital Debut at Herbst Theatre

Mezzo Fleur Barron (photograph by Victoria Cadisch, courtesy of San Francisco Performances)

Last night San Francisco Performances presented the recital debut of mezzo Fleur Barron in Herbst Theatre. She prepared a program that accounted for sixteen composers and concluded with two Chinese folk songs. She was accompanied at the piano by Kunal Lahiry.

The title of her program was The Power and the Glory. This was an ironic take on works that were selected “to confront the legacies of imperial control,” as described in the opening sentence of the program note by Natasha Loges. This was clearly a program “with a message,” which remained me of a (dated) quip from student days: “If I have a message, I’ll send it through Western Union.”

Nevertheless, there was plenty of “message” in the songs Barron had selected (translated into English in the program book when necessary). Her delivery was consistently solid, but I am afraid I cannot say the same for Lahiry. There were too many selections in which he was either overplaying or undermining. A broader scope of undermining could be found in the “Envy” movement from Kurt Weill’s score for the ballet chanté in seven scenes, “The Seven Deadly Sins,” where no piano arrangement could possibly rise to the level of the ironies of the original instrumentation.

Taken as a whole, this was a program that looked better on paper than it came across in performance. While this may have had more to do with the accompaniment than with Barron’s prodigious and extensive vocal qualities, over the course of performance it is only the “total package” that matters. Barron may have been generously well informed about both the texts she delivered and the music she sang, but she could not rise above the shortcomings of her accompanist.

SFS in March: All the Options in Davies

Events taking place in Davies Symphony Hall next month will include the Great Performers Series, the Youth Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) Orchestral Series Concerts, and the Chamber Series. That will make for a busy month! As in the past, these events will be presented in chronological order to facilitate planning.

Sunday, March 2, 7:30 p.m.: Yuja Wang and Vikingur Ólafsson will present a duo piano recital. The program will include one of the great four-hand favorites, Franz Schubert’s D. 940 fantasia in F minor. They will also perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 45 “Symphonic Dances,” composed for large orchestra but arranged for two pianos by the composer himself. The remainder of the program will be more “adventurous.” It will include Conlon Nancarrow’s sixth “Study,” which he created for hand-punched player piano roll, given an arrangement for pianists by Thomas Adès. The other composers contributing to the program will be John Cage, Luciano Berio, Arvo Pärt, and John Adams.

Sunday, March 9, 2 p.m.: The SFS Youth Orchestra will present works by contemporary composers Gabriela Lena Frank and Arturo Márquez. On the more traditional side, the program will begin with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 385 (“Haffner”) symphony in D major. The program will also include a suite of instrumental music from Richard Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier.

Thursday, March 13, 2 p.m., Friday March 14, and Saturday March 15, 7:30 p.m.:  The first Orchestral Series concert of the month will be conducted by Elim Chan. The entire program will present music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The first half will be devoted to excerpts from his score for the ballet Swan Lake. The second half will consist entirely of his sixth symphony, often known as “Pathétique.”

Sunday, March 16, 2 p.m: The next Chamber Music recital will present compositions from either end of the nineteenth century. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Mozart’s K. 493 piano quartet in E-flat major.. The first half of the program will conclude with coupling Gustav Mahler’s piano quartet in A minor with Dmitri Shostakovich’s set of five pieces for two violins and piano. The program will begin with “Pelagic Poem,” a highly imaginative duo by Jeremiah Siochi, scored for harp and percussion and performed by Katherine Siochi and Jacob Nissly, respectively.

Sunday, March 23, 7:30 p.m.: The Great Performers Series will present the return of the Israel Philharmonic. Appropriately, the program will begin with music by an Israeli composer, Tzvi Avni, represented by his short composition “Prayer.” That spirit of prayer will be followed by Max Bruch’s composition for cello and orchestra that was inspired by the “Kol Nidrei” chant, sung at services for Yom Kippur. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Opus 64 (fifth) symphony in E minor.

Conductor Juraj Valčuha (photograph by Jhane Hoang, courtesy of SFS)

Thursday, March 27, and Saturday, March 29, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 30, 2 p.m.: Juraj Valčuha will return to the SFS podium. His concerto soloist will be Gil Shaham, performing Johannes Brahms’ Opus 77 concerto in D major. Once again, the second half of the program will present a major symphonic offering, this time by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Opus 93 (tenth) symphony in E minor.

Chamber Music San Francisco: BWV 988

Pianist Yunchan Lim (photograph by Lisa Marie Mazzucco, from the Chamber Music San Francisco home page)

Last night in Herbst Theatre, Chamber Music San Francisco presented the second of the ten programs in its 2025 season. This was the first piano recital in the series, performed by Yunchan Lim, recognized as the youngest person ever to win the Van Cliburn Competition. (This was in 2022 when he was eighteen years old.) Last night’s program consisted almost entirely of Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 988 set of variations on an aria theme best known as the “Goldberg Variations.”

San Francisco has enjoyed many opportunities to experience performances of this major contribution to music history. Over the course of my writing, I have been fortunate enough to attend some of those events, which is why I can say, with some degree of certainty, that last night was the most disappointing of those experiences. Lim may have gotten all the notes properly under his fingers, but there was no sense of character in his delivery of the music.

Each variation in this collection has its own personality; and the overall “journey” is structured by a series of canons of increasing interval size, from unison to the ninth. The final variation then wraps things up with a multi-themed quodlibet. Sadly, for Lim, both the variations and the progression of canons came across as little more than “one thing after another.” Mind you, he had a solid command of all the notes; but he never seemed to grasp the expressive role contributed by each of those notes and the roles they play in the overall architecture.

The program began with “…round and velvety-smooth blend…,” composed by Hanurij Lee on a commission by Lim. The music was structured as two contrasting movements, but the overall rhetoric did little to characterize the contrast. Like the performance that would follow, this came across as little more than a “one note after the other" experience. Taken as a whole, this was an evening of prodigious technique; but any sense of expressive music never seemed to emerge from that technical infrastructure.

San Francisco Philharmonic: East European Music

Poster design for the event being discussed (from the Groupmuse Web page for the event)

I have to confess that keeping up with the San Francisco Philharmonic, led by its Founder and Music Director Jessica Bejarano, tends to be a “sometime thing.” My best source is Groupmuse, but I am never quite sure whether or not I have been keeping up with things. On the basis of the home page, it would appear that the concerts for the “2024–25 season” are all taking place this year on March 1 and April 26.

There is now a Groupmuse Web page for the first of these programs, and it provides a useful account. Only two works will be performed, but both of them are ambitious. The first half of the program will be devoted entirely to Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 104, his cello concerto in B minor. The soloist will be Amos Yang, Assistant Principal Cello with the San Francisco Symphony. This will be followed by Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition suite. This was originally composed for solo piano; but, as its Wikipedia page shows, it has been subjected to a more than generous number of orchestral arrangements. The Philharmonic information does not identify which of these versions will be performed, but the arranger that has received by far the most attention has been Maurice Ravel.

This concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 1. As stated above, Groupmuse has created a Web page for this Groupmuse Night Out event. Tickets are being sold for $20 with a $10 rate for Supermusers. As of this writing, 33 of the 70 tickets are still available.

New Tamura Album Finally Available on Amazon

Cover of the album being discussed

I first learned that Not Two Records would release a new album of a trio led by Japanese jazz trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, performing with his wife, pianist Satoko Fujii, and drummer Ramón López, at the end of this past November. Since that time, I have been frustrated by two months of Google searches, none of which could turn up a Web site from which this album, entitled Yama Kawa Umi, could be purchased. I am now happy to report that the album is available for purchase through an Amazon.com Web page, but only as a compact disc.

This is my second article about Tamura this year. Almost exactly a month ago, I wrote about What happened there?, his duo album with guitarist Keiji Haino. The last time I wrote about one of his performances with Fujii was in September of 2024, when she released her quartet album Dog Days of Summer. I follow both of them closely, because every new release turns out to be yet another journey of discovery.

The title of this new album consists of the three Japanese nouns for mountain, river, and ocean. It will probably not take much effort on the part of an attentive listener to appreciate the extent to which each of the eight tracks on this new album reflects on natural forces. Indeed, most of the titles of the tracks guide the listener along those lines, although the liner notes do not provide any guidance to why the eighth track is entitled “Bolognaise.” Perhaps the intention was to reflect a viscosity thicker than that of water! (The advance material I received says of this track only that it “modulates through contrasting grooves that form the foundation for energetic playing from all.” Any relationship to pasta is left to the imagination of the reader!)

To return to the more serious, I was particularly moved by the stillness of the fourth track on the album, entitled “One Day Later.” There is clearly a semantic infrastructure for this title, but I have no idea what it is! Nevertheless, I am content to listen for the unfolding of soft dynamics and the subtleties of López’ brush work. The release of this album may have been delayed; but, for me at least, the wait was worth the time!

The Bleeding Edge: 2/24/2025

Because the month will end this weekend, there are only two events that have already been accounted for through previous articles. One of these is the next three performances of New Voices IV at Audium, which, as usual, will be taking place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The other is the last concert of the month to take place at The Lab, which will be on Thursday. This leaves four new events, two of which will take place at the Center for New Music. Specifics are as follows:

Friday, February 28, Medicine for Nightmares, 7 p.m: This will be the weekly Other Dimensions in Sound program curated by reed player David Boyce. Specifics for this week have not yet been announced. As most readers probably know by now, 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.

Friday, February 28, Bird & Beckett Books and Records, 8:30 p.m.: Tales End will be a quartet performance by Rova saxophonist Larry Ochs, Darren Johnston on trumpet, cellist Ben Davis, and Lisa Mezzacappa on bass. For those that do not already know, the venue is located in Glen Park at 653 Chenery Street, a short walk from the Glen Park station that serves both BART and Muni. 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.

 

Poster for this month’s pancake event

Saturday, March 1, Center for New Music, noon: This will be the latest monthly installment of G|O|D|W|A|F|F|L|E|N|O|I|S|E|P|A|N|C|A|K|E|S, which is now in its 25th year. This offers the usual opportunity to enjoy vegan pancakes while listening to “bleeding edge” music. As usual, general admission will be $10 with a $6 rate for members and students. Music programming is scheduled to conclude by 2 p.m. The contributing performers and composers will be Zachary James Watkins, Concious Summary, Temoleh, Zebra Secrets, and Linoleum Dicks.

Saturday, March 1, Center for New Music, 7:30 p.m.: The Bridge Music Collective was formed by five students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music: Jessica Folson on violin, Sarah Hooton on viola, Carlos Valdez on bass, T. Colton Potter on oboe, and Caleb Rose on clarinet. They made their debut with Old First Concerts in August of 2023 at the Old First Presbyterian Church. They launched a Call for Scores initiative late in 2024, which resulted in a portfolio of pieces, all of durations between four and ten minutes. Those pieces will be performed in a program simply entitled Quintet. For this program general admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for members and students.

David Oistrakh on Warner: Mostly Eastern Europe

As I gradually work my way to the conclusion in writing about the Warner Remastered Edition box set collection of recordings of performances by Russian violinist David Oistrakh, I shall now focus on the “national” CDs, most of which involve music from Eastern Europe with a single Italy & Spain CD serving as an “outlier.” I find this latter CD to be particularly interesting, since the “Italy” portion covers the transition from the seventeenth century to the eighteenth, with composers Giovanni Battista Vitali, Antonio Vivaldi, Giuseppe Tartini, and Pietro Antonio Locatelli, while “Spain” runs from the end to the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth. The contrast between these two countries could not be stronger, but curator Bruno Monsaingeon seems to have decided that they would make good “bedfellows.” (Those that have been following my articles for this collection will probably already know about my “issues” with Monsaingeon.)

Three of the CDs in this collection involve Russian composers, with Sergei Prokofiev receiving the most attention. Nevertheless, I was a bit disappointed that he was represented by only the first (opus 19 in D major) of his two violin concertos. All the other Prokofiev selections were arrangements by Grigoriy Mikhailovich Fichtenholz (five episodes from the Cinderella ballet), Vadim Borisovsky (pieces from the Romeo and Juliet ballet), and Jascha Heifetz (the march from the opera The Love for Three Oranges). The only other familiar concerto represented is Alexander Glazunov’s Opus 82 in A minor, and the only other major composition is Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Opus 35 symphonic suite Scheherazade, in which the violin serves as the “voice” of Scheherazade telling her stories. However, there are two decidedly less familiar concertante offerings from the twentieth century by Otar Taktakishvili and Nikolai Rakov, neither of which make for much of a lasting impression.

Composer Bohuslav Martinů working on his second symphony (probably) in 1942 (photographer unknown, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Czech Republic license)

There is also a “Czechoslovakia” CD, which is, for the most part, a grab-bag of excerpts. Nevertheless, I was glad to see that an entire sonata by Bohuslav Martinů (his third, H. 303)  was included. His catalog of chamber music is particularly generous, and I find it more than a little unfortunately that Oistrakh did not give him more attention. The remaining CD is an “Eastern Europe” grab-bag. It includes arrangements of selections from Johannes Brahms’ WoO 1 Hungarian Dances collection by both Joseph Joachim and Fritz Kreisler. Unless I am mistaken, the most recent composition on this CD that is the “Moldavian Rhapsody” by Mieczysław Weinberg, the third of the four orchestral works collected in his Opus 47. However, Oistrakh’s performance is given piano accompaniment by Frida Bauer.

When I wrote my last article about this collection a little less than a week ago, I accused one of the CDs as having a “hodgepodge of encore pieces.” This Eastern European collection struck me as even more than a hodgepodge, even if it included five full-length concertos, one of which (the first concerto in E minor by Nikolai Rakov) definitely provided a journey of discovery. Fortunately, only one CD remains to complete the entire journey; and it should not be long before I provide my account of it!

American Bach Continues Season with Handel

Statue of Acis embraced by Galatea (from the American Bach program book)

Yesterday afternoon at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, American Bach resumed its 36th season with a full-length performance of Handel’s HWV 49 opera Acis and Galatea. The title roles were sung by tenor James Reese and soprano Nola Richardson, respectively. Galatea is a sea nymph that has fallen in love in Acis. However, she is loved by the giant Polyphemus (sung by baritone Douglas Ray Williams), who, towards the end of the second act, murders Acis. Nevertheless, Galatea has divine powers, which she used to transform Acis into a fountain. (In the immortal words of Anna Russell, “I’m not making this up, you know!”)

The narrative may demand extreme suspension of disbelief, but Handel’s music is consistently engaging. All three vocalists delivered solid and confident accounts without letting either the overall narrative or the words themselves interfere with an engaging delivery. Mind you, the overall performance was a bit on the long side; but it had to contend with the many convoluted twists and turns in the libretto. The instrumental side was consistently well-balanced under the baton of Artistic Director Jeffrey Thomas, with recorder performances by Stephen Hammer and Kathryn Montoya that brightened up the instrumental textures. This may not have been “Handel’s finest hour;” but the performance was a consistently enjoyable one, making for an afternoon well spent.

Chez Hanny to Begin March with Another Trio

The trio of Denny Berthiaume, Chuck Bennett, and Curt Moore

As was the case this month, next month at Chez Hanny will begin with a trio. This time the combo will be led by pianist Danny Berthiaume, who has brought this trio to Chez Hanny in the past. Rhythm will be provided by Chuck Bennett on bass and drummer Curt Moore. All three of them have roots in major twentieth-century jazz figures, such as vocalist and pianist Diane Schuur, trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, and Count Basie.

As always, Chez Hanny is located at 1300 Silver Avenue; and the performance takes place in the downstairs rumpus room. It will begin at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 2. Admission will be $25, payable by check or cash. Because Jazz Chez Hanny is now a 501(c)(3) public charity, tax-deductible donations will also be accepted.

There will be two sets separated by a potluck break. As a result, all who plan to attend should bring food and/or drink to share. Seating is first come, first served, meaning that reservations are strongly recommended. They may be placed through an electronic mail address: jazz@chezhanny.com. Mail messages received after noon on the day of a performance are unlikely to be seen until after the show is over, and cancellations should be given at least 24 hours advance notice. Finally, volunteer efforts for cleaning up after the show and moving furniture to accommodate both players and listeners are always appreciated.

Sharon Isbin’s “West Meets East” Program

Those of my generation are likely to remember the release of the album West Meets East in January of 1967. This documented a truly unique (for its time) duo performance by violinist Yehudi Menuhin and the Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, who had become an icon for such pop groups as the Beatles. Deciding whether or not guitarist Sharon Isbin took this album as a point of departure for last night’s program in Herbst Theater, produced jointly by San Francisco Performances (SFP) and the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts, will be left as an exercise for the reader!

Cover of the Live in Aspen album showing Amjad Ali Khan and Sharon Isbin in the foreground with Khan’s sons, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, standing behind them (from the Amazon.com Web page for the album)

The title of the program was Strings for Peace, which was previously the title of a Zoho album, released in 2020, on which Isbin performed four duos for guitar and sarod composed for her by sarod master Amjad Ali Khan. However, the program itself provided a track-by-track account of a subsequent 2024 Zoho release entitled Live in Aspen. It began with Isbin’s solo performance of Francisco Tárrega’s “Capricho árabe,” after which all remaining works were by Khan. The duo performances for sarod and guitar were arranged by Kyle Paul. Khan shared the selections on the program with his two sons, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash; and tabla percussion was provided by Amit Kavthekar. Kahn himself performed only after the intermission, allowing his sons to give duo performances with Isbin during the first half of the evening. Kahn’s performance was solo, preceding an “all hands” account of the final track on the Live in Aspen album, “Romancing Earth.”

I have to confess that the “West Meets East” concept was far more engaging in the interplay of plucked strings than in had been in the Menuhin-Shankar encounter. Ultimately, that early program was more of a publicity stunt, while Isbin’s recordings and performances made for more convincing accounts of the interplay of contrasting cultures. Nevertheless, in a “live” situation (which cannot be manipulated by amplification gear), I have to confess that, particularly in that final “all hands” session, it was difficult to follow Isbin’s performance amid all of those sarods and the tabla! Nevertheless, this was a particularly engaging offering shared by SFP and Omni. While I was familiar with both of the Zoho albums, there was no substitute for the immediacy of last night’s accounts of all the works on the program.

Arthur Stockel’s New Weber Album for Aparté

Clarinetist Arthur Stockel on the cover of his debut album

This coming Friday, Aparté will release the debut album of French clarinetist Arthur Stockel. He is currently Principal Clarinet for the Orchestre Philhamonique du Luxembourg, and he performs as a soloist with them for recordings of the two clarinet concertos by Carl Maria von Weber, Opus 73 in F minor and Opus 74 in E-flat major. The conductor for these performances is Leo McFall. Between these selections there is a recording of the much earlier (Opus 34) quintet, which he plays with the members of the Hanson Quartet (which also records for Aparté). These musicians are violinists Anton Hanson and Jules Dussap, Gabrielle Lafait on viola, and cellist Simon Dechambre.

By way of disclaimer, I should state that I am not a stranger to Weber’s clarinet repertoire. Back in my secondary school days, I worked on the Opus 26 Concertino; and, thanks to “friends of the family,” I was fortunate enough to perform it at a “salon,” which included several professional musicians. This was the first time I had taken on such a “serious” task; and I was more than a little relieved by the satisfaction of my audience! Nevertheless, undergraduate life at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology left little time for recreation; and I decided that my time would be better spent at the campus radio station, where I presented a program entitled Music of the Twentieth Century.

Having established my context, I can now admit all three of the Weber compositions on this new album were new to me. Nevertheless, there were no end of thematic tropes that readily reminded me of “old times!” Sadly, while Weber was prolific, many know him either for his operas or as the cousin of Constanze, who had married Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As a result, I can probably be forgiven for thinking that some of the thematic passages on this album remind me not only of Weber’s Opus 26 but also of Mozart’s K. 581 clarinet concerto! However, in spite of those “ghosts of familiarity,” I have now come away from listening to Stockel’s new album several times; and this has become one of my choices when I feel a need to raise my spirits!

E4TT’s Latest “Call for Scores” Program

Pianist Dale Tsang, who will perform the program being discussed (from her home page)

Readers that follow performances by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT) probably know about their Call for Scores program to provide new repertoire. Results of the last effort were presented at little over a year ago as part of a program entitled Quest: Music by Women and Nonbinary Composers. The full title of this year’s effort is Call for Scores: Solo Piano, Vol. 2; and, as will probably be guessed, the performance will be a solo recital by E4TT emerita and pianist Dale Tsang. The program will consist of eleven premiere performances of works by the following composers (in alphabetical order): Alexa Canales, Michael Coleman, Albert de la Fuente, Lilyanne Dorilas, George Gianopoulos, Jon Jeffrey Grier, Dorothy Hindman, Ye-Chong Jeon, Evans Kocja, Kian Ravaei, and Judith Shatin.

The venue for this concert will be the Community Music Center, which is located in the Mission at 544 Capp Street. The performance will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 2. Tickets may be purchased through an Eventbrite Web page for $30, $15, and $5. This Web page also includes the option of making arrangements for livestream viewing.

Salonen and SFS in Top Form for Stravinsky

Last night San Francisco Symphony (SFS) Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen returned to Davies Symphony Hall with a performance that left many of us feeling sorry that this would be his final season as the ensemble’s leader. The second half of the program was devoted entirely to Igor Stravinsky’s score for the ballet “The Rite of Spring” (“Le Sacre du printemps”), which, according to my records, he had previously performed almost exactly three years ago. I have been hooked on this music since my secondary school days when it was one of my earliest score purchases. The fact is, however, that there is so much in that score that even the most attentive listener can come back after many past encounters and still find new discoveries.

As was the case during Salonen’s last performance, my eyes were guided by not only memories of previous listening experiences but also his different approaches to leading the full ensemble through the plethora of notes (and comments) that Stravinsky had injected into his score. Since I now know “what happens next” almost entirely by heart, I was free to guide my attention to factors such as how Salonen managed the many erratic rhythms or figuring out which instrumentalists provided some of the most outlandish sonorities. Once again, the performance of this music left me overwhelmed and exhilarated.

Pianist Daniil Trifonov (photograph by Dario Acosta, courtesy of SFS)

This was particularly significant since the first half was so disappointing that I actually toyed with leaving at the intermission! The concerto soloist was Daniil Trifonov performing Sergei Prokofiev’s Opus 16 (second) piano concerto in G minor. I first encountered this concerto rather late in life with several different pianists taking variety of different approaches. Ironically, one of those approaches took me to Trifonov’s Silver Age album, on which he performed the concerto with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev; and the two of them were worth of the epithet “dynamic duo!”

Sadly, that did not apply to Trifonov’s encounter with Salonen last night. It did not take long for the impression to form that Trifonov was using his fingers as sledge hammers. Mind you, Prokofiev was not shy about aggressive rhetoric; but Trifonov cranked that aggression up to eleven! Fortunately, Salonen’s command of the instrumentation provided the attentive listener with at least some compensation for last night’s “keyboard massacre.”

Even more disappointing, however, was the opening selection, “Strange Beasts” by Xavier Muzik. The composer was commissioned by the Emerging Black Composers Project, as well as SFS; and this was its world premiere performance. The music was performed against projections of photographs by the composer of his native Los Angeles (some of which were deliberately displayed upside down). Sadly, there was more of substance to engage the eyes than there was for the ears. The music muddled its way around for about a quarter of an hour, but it felt like forever.

Fortunately (to paraphrase Humphrey Bogart), we’ll always have Stravinsky!

Opera Parallèle to Present World Premiere

Poster design for the production being discussed (courtesy of Opera Parallèle)

Next month will begin with the next program to be presented by Opera Parallèle. The Pigeon Keeper was composed by David Hanlon working with librettist Stephanie Fleischmann. The narrative explores a diversity of personal issues, including otherness, belonging, compassion, and the meaning of family. It was originally commissioned under the “Opera for All Voices Initiative,” managed by the Santa Fe Opera. Opera Parallèle shares the commission for the production itself with Opera Omaha and Opera on the Avalon, which is based in Newfoundland.

As in the past, the production will be designed and directed by Brian Staufenbiel. The conductor will be Artistic and General Director Nicole Paiement, and Jaco Wong will serve as Assistant Conductor. Vocalists will include soprano Angela Yam, tenor Bernard Holcomb, and baritone Craig Irvin; and the San Francisco Girls Chorus will also perform.

This will be the world premiere of the opera. It will be given three performances at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 7, and Saturday, March 8, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 9. The venue will be the Cowell Theater, which is located at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture at 2 Marina Boulevard. All tickets are being sold by Eventbrite with prices beginning at $46.45, and a Web page has been created with hyperlinks to the Web pages for each of the events.

Aparté to Release New Clarinet Trio Album

Cover of the album being discussed, showing Patrick Messina, Lise Berthaud, and Fabrizio Chiovetta

Having played first clarinet in a community orchestra prior to beginning my freshman year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I have had a soft spot for clarinet chamber music for many decades. Thus, when I learned that Aparté would be releasing a new album of two selections from that repertoire one week from today, I found it almost impossible to resist. The clarinetist on that album is Patrick Messina, performing two trios with violist Lise Berthaud and Fabrizio Chiovetta on piano; and the title of the album is simply Mozart & Bruch.

Most of the album is devoted to Max Bruch’s Opus 83, a set of eight pieces composed for those three instruments. The remaining three tracks present Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 498 trio in E-flat major, given the name “Kegelstatt.” For those unfamiliar with the name, it means “a place where skittles are played,” a predecessor of the contemporary bowling alley. Mind you, the music has nothing to do with a large ball knocking over an array of pins; but biographical evidence suggests that the music was conceived while the composer was playing skittles. Sadly, opportunities for listening to this music in recital tend to be rare; and, according to my archives, the most recent encounter involved one of pianist Ian Scarfe’s chamber music recitals in October of 2017.

The Bruch trio, on the other hand, is likely to be a “journey of discovery” for most listeners. The composer tends to be best known for his concertante music, and his catalog of chamber music is relatively modest. Opus 83 was composed late in his life (1910); and it is his only work in that genre involving an instrument other than piano and strings. Nevertheless, the music displays a keen sense of balance among the three instruments; and the rhetoric is as expressive as his orchestral compositions, such as the works for violin or cello and orchestra. The three musicians on this album capture the spirit of this relatively unfamiliar composition with a journey that is definitely well worth taking.

Jon Irabagon Confronts AI with Jazz

Cover of the album being discussed

Tomorrow will see the release of Server Farm, the latest album from Jon Irabagon, who is both saxophonist and composer. As is often the case, Bandcamp has already created a Web page for pre-ordering both the compact disc and a digital download. For better of worse, this is an “album with a mission.” In the advance material I received, that mission is to explore “the threat and promise of A.I.” (artificial intelligence). Writing about this album requires that I first account for an aspect of my background that I seldom mention on this site.

Let me begin with the fact that I was awarded a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in September of 1971. However, my thesis advisor was Marvin Minsky, who ran the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, which he had founded. For several years I had been interested in applying my knowledge of information technology to music. Since Minsky himself had been a composer in his younger days, he seemed to be a perfect fit for my interests. As a result, I ended up writing a doctoral dissertation entitled A Parallel Processing Model of Musical Structures.

Now, to be fair, I pretty much divorced myself from the Information Technology world about twenty years ago. I have never had any regrets, since I have more fun writing these articles than about worrying to raise funding for technology research and development! Nevertheless, when I encounter a professional musician that wants to apply his skills to “taking on” the assets and liabilities of a sophisticated technology, it is virtually impossible to keep my “spidey sense” from tingling!

Server Farm is clearly the product of an ambitious undertaking. There are only five tracks, but three of them are each roughly a quarter-hour in duration. Irabagon leads on both tenor and sopranino saxophones, augmented by “effects.” He is joined on the front line by violinist (with occasional vocal work) Mazz Swift and Peter Evans alternating between trumpet and flugelhorn. Rhythm includes two guitarists, Miles Okazaki and Wendy Eisenberg, Matt Mitchell alternating among piano, Fender Rhodes, and electronics, two bass players, Michael Formanek (acoustic) and Chris Lightcap (electric), and Dan Weiss on drums. Levy Lorenzo rounds out the ensemble with his laptop, electronics, vibraphone, and kulintang (a collection of suspended gongs).

While I am willing to give Irabagon points for trying, I must confess that, as I worked my way through those five tracks, I kept hearing in my head the voice of my (now deceased) composition professor, who always knew when to accuse even the most promising of students of “noodling.” Granted that there is a fine line between “imaginative invention” and “noodling,” it would be honest for me to say that I am not yet sure which side of the coin comes up. What I can say is that, because I received this content over a month ago, there was a fair amount of time between my “first encounter” and my “return,” timed in accordance with the release date.

In the context of that “first encounter,” I have found it difficult in my return to avoid here-we-go-again feelings. In other words, where my own listening is concerned, “points for trying” is not enough. There may be much to mine in theoretical studies of the relationship between artificial intelligence and making music; but, when theory runs into practice, I am afraid this new album does not make the grade.

Music in the Mishkan Announces 26th Season

Poster design for the Music in the Mishkan season (courtesy of Randall Weiss)

Yesterday morning, violinist Randall Weiss and his colleagues in the chamber music ensemble they call The Bridge Players announced plans for their 26th season entitled Music in the Mishkan. As in the past, these will be Sunday afternoon events, beginning at 4 p.m. There will be two concerts, both of which will be quartet performances. Violist Natalia Vershilova will join Weiss in both of them. The remaining two performers will be different for each of the two dates as follows:

February 23: This program will be framed by two piano quartets, so the other participating musicians will be cellist Victoria Ehrlich and Amy Zanrosso on piano. The quartets will be the only one by Joaquín Turina at the beginning and the Opus 26 (second) quartet in A major by Johannes Brahms at the conclusion. Between these “bookends” there will be a selection from the Songs Without Words piano compositions by Felix Mendelssohn and a solo violin composition by Alex Malinas entitled “Bulgar.”

April 27: Cellist Matthew Linaman will join Weiss and Vershilova for two string trios. The better known of these will be the concluding selection, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 8, which he entitled “Serenade.” (This was his second string trio, composed in the key of D major.) The opening trio is by Gideon Klein. Between these two works, mezzo Stephanie Feigenbaum will join Weiss in a performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ song cycle Along the Field.

As in the past, these performances will take place at the Sha’ar Zahav synagogue. It is located in the Mission at 290 Dolores Street. Ticket prices are $25 for members and $30 for others. For those planning to attend both concerts, there is also a “Package Deal;” but the total prices are still the same. All purchases are processed through a single Web page. There will be no physical tickets, but a list will be kept at the door.