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.

Tessa Lark’s Shenson Spotlight Recital

Violinist Tessa Lark performing at the Irvine Barclay Theatre (photograph by Sewageboy, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, from Wikimedia Commons)

Last night Davies Symphony Hall saw the beginning of this year’s Shenson Spotlight Series presented by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS). As was acknowledged on this site in January, this set of four recitals was conceived to provide a platform for “Ascendant artists in recital.” The first recitalist of this year was violinist Tessa Lark, who is actually rather well along the way on her “ascendant” path. Indeed, in 2020 she was a GRAMMY nominee for her recording of Michael Torke’s “Sky” violin concerto, which she recorded with the Albany Symphony conducted by David Alan Miller.

Nevertheless, last night was her SFS debut; and the “central core” of her program consisted of solo violin performances. These were flanked on either side by duos with pianist Jeremy Denk. Denk is no stranger to San Francisco; and, according to my records, his last appearance in Davies took place with SFS in October of 2021. The partnership was the result of a last-minute replacement; but the chemistry could not have been better.

That said, I have to confess that, from a personal point of view, the high point of last night came at the middle with Lark’s account of the fourth of Eugène Ysaÿe’s Opus 27 solo violin sonatas, composed in the key of E minor. This was composed for the virtuoso violinist Fritz Kreisler; and, with movement titles such as “Allemande” and “Sarabande,” it reflects on Kreisler’s command of the solo violin sonatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Kreisler had a reputation as a bon vivant, which may have explained why Lark followed Ysaÿe’s sonata with two compositions of her own in that same spirit, “Ysaÿe Shuffle” and “Jig and Pop.”

Kreisler was also represented as a composer in his own right with two compositions, “Chanson Louis XIII and Pavane in the style of Louis Couperin” and “Syncopation.” The latter showed a further reflection on his capacity for high spirits (equaled only by his capacity for massive suppers) with an unabashed ragtime rhetoric. Those spirits were then sustained through the concluding performance of John Corigliano’s duo sonata, which may (or may not) have played a few of its own “quotation games.” However, what impressed me most was that the sonata concluded with cadenzas for both violin and piano.

The program was most traditional at the beginning with the Romanian Folk Dances suite by Béla Bartók. This was originally composed for solo piano, but was arranged for violin-piano duo by Zoltán Székely. He was responsible for cataloging Bartók’s works, which is why this piece is often identified as Sz. 56. I have known this music since my high school days. (The orchestral version has a wonderful clarinet solo in the second movement.) Lark’s account was the perfect “warm-up” for a thoroughly engaging recital.

Quieting the Mind

John Cage (photograph by Rob C. Croes, from the Dutch National Archives, made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication)

One of the most memorable quotations I learned from John Cage was that the purpose of art was “to sober and quiet the mind, so that it is in accord with what happens.” This may be the best antidote for recovering from reading the daily news, which, more often than not, seems to throw the mind into a state of crisis, if not downright panic. Mind you, another one of Cage’s favorite quotes was, “Every day is a beautiful day,” another adage that does not hold up very well against news reports. Nevertheless, in my experiences of watching Cage at work (including hunting for mushrooms), I have come to expect that the words I live by are “We do what we can.” Fortunately, I can hold to those words through my activities on this site!

Guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan Returning to C4NM

Aaron Larget-Caplan and John Cage (screen shot from his YouTube video)

Early next month guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan will return to the Center of New Music (C4NM). He has prepared a solo recital program entitled A Modern American Guitar Celebration. Of particular interest is that he has arranged three works by John Cage. The best known of these will be the last, the solo piano composition “In a Landscape.” He will also perform two works written for his New Lullaby Project by Ken Ueno and Ian Wiese, respectively. In addition, he will present two of the movements from the solo guitar composition Only Winter Certainties by Daniel Felsenfeld. There will also be a premiere performance of music by Douglas Knehans, as well as a selection by Richard Cameron-Wolfe. Finally, Larget-Caplan will play at least one of his own compositions.

This performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 6.  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. Admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members and students. Tickets may be purchased online through an Eventbrite Web page.

Pocket Opera Announces 2025 Season

Next month will begin with a new Pocket Opera season. Here in San Francisco, the performances will again take place in the Gunn Theatre on the lower level of the Legion of Honor Museum. This will be a season of four performances; and a Web page has been created for purchasing full subscriptions as well as those for either three or two productions. All performances will take place on Sunday afternoons as follows:

A scene from the Pocket Opera production of The Marriage of Figaro

1. March 2: The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
2. April 13: There will be more Mozart with a production of his one-act Singspiel, “Bastien und Bastienne” (K. 50), which will be paired with an abbreviated production entitled “A Pocket Magic Flute.”
3. June 22: Tartuffe by Kirke Mechem
4. July 27: La Vie Parisienne by Jacques Offenbach

David Oistrakh on Warner: Nineteenth Century

As I continue to work my way through the 31 CDs classified as Premières, Rarities & Live Performances in the Warner Remastered Edition box set collection of recordings of performances by Russian violinist David Oistrakh, I shall now focus on recordings of chamber music and concertos composed during the nineteenth century. This accounts for six of the CDs, and only one composer merits a “presence” on two of them. That composer is Robert Schumann, and even those recordings are not particularly comprehensive.

One CD presents the first two piano trios, Opus 63 in D minor and Opus 80 in F major, with Oistrakh joined by cellist Sviatoslav Knushevitsky. However, each trio has a different pianist with Lev Oborin in Opus 63 and Alexander Goldenweiser in Opus 80. The recording sessions were four years apart, in 1948 and 1952, respectively; and, since Oistrakh did not die until 1974, I was more than a little disappointed that he neglected to record the last of the trios, Opus 110 in G minor. Instead, he recorded the first (Opus 105) violin sonata with Vladimir Yampolsky; and the remaining selection Is the Opus 17 Fantasie, which was composed for solo piano. This was arranged for violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler, but the recording is an orchestration of this version by Sarah Feigin. I must confess that I much prefer the “original version;” but, apparently, the “powers that be” behind the USSR Symphony Orchestra had ideas of their own about repertoire!

Eugène Ysaÿe with his violin (photograph from the George Grantham Bain Collection at the Library of Congress, public domain)

Each of the remaining four CDs is devoted to a single composer. On “order of appearance” in the box set, these are Edvard Grieg, Karol Szymanowski, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Eugène Ysaÿe. Greig receives a more thorough account than Schumann with a CD of all three of the violin sonatas. On the other hand I would have preferred recordings of all six of the Ysaÿe solo violin sonatas, rather than the assortment of selections, which also include piano and orchestral accompaniment. Similarly, I would have appreciated a more thorough account of Szymanowski selections. The Tchaikovsky Opus 35 concerto was, of course, inevitable; but the remaining shorter selections on the CD struck me as a hodgepodge of encore pieces.

The Bleeding Edge: 2/17/2025

All but three of this week’s events have already been accounted for through previous articles. Two of those events are performances at The Lab which will be taking place this coming Thursday and Saturday. The other is the next three performances of New Voices IV at Audium, which, as usual, will be taking place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. That leaves three remaining events, all of which will also take place at familiar venues as follows:

Tuesday, February 18, Make-Out Room, 7 p.m.: Once again, Jazz at the Make-Out Room will consist of three sets, each consisting roughly of 45 minutes in duration. The first two of those sets will be solo performances, beginning with percussionist Moe Staiano, followed by organist Doug Katelus, whose set will begin at 7:45 p.m. The final set, which will begin at 8:30 p.m., will be a quartet performance by Newcomer Can’t Swim. Violist Emma O’Mara will hold the front line while also providing vocals. Rhythm will be provided by Matias E.A. on guitar, bassist EyeVee Woods, and Sam Lefebvre on drums. 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, February 21, Medicine for Nightmares, 7 p.m.: In addition to hosting the weekly Other Dimensions in Sound series, reed player David Boyce will also perform.  He is a member of the Red Fast Triple Luck quartet, whose other members are another reed player, Francis Wong, PC Munoz on percussion, and bassist Chris Trinidad. 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.

Photograph from the Bird & Beckett Web site for the announcement of the Swerve Control performance

Friday, February 21, Bird & Beckett Books and Records, 8:30 p.m.: Swerve Control is a quartet, all of whose members are composers. Trumpeter Darren Johnston holds the front line, while rhythm is provided by guitarist Kai Lyons, Rob Ewing on electric bass, and drummer Dillon Vado. 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. This performance will probably be live-streamed through hyperlinks to Facebook and YouTube on the Bird & Beckett Web page while the show is in progress.

Chamber Music San Francisco: Califax

Yesterday afternoon in Herbst Theatre, Chamber Music San Francisco began its 2025 season with the first of the ten programs to be performed in San Francisco. The season was the last one to be planned by Daniel Levenstein, who has passed the torch of Executive Director to Jeanette Wong. Wong provided some engaging remarks, but Levenstein's spirit clearly permeated the atmosphere.

Calefax musicians Jelte Althuis, Raaf Hekkema, Bart de Kater, Oliver Boekhoorn, and Alban Wesly (photograph by Sarah Wijzenbeek, from the Press Web page on the Calefax Web site)

The performers that Wong introduced were the members of the Calefax quintet. All of them played wind instruments; but this was not the standard wind quintet of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn. Instead, there was both a clarinet (Bart de Kater) and bass clarinet (Jelte Althuis), along with oboe (Oliver Boekhoorn), saxophone (Raaf Hekkema), and bassoon (Alban Wesly). The absence of flute and horn makes for a narrower spectrum of timbres. Personally, I came away feeling that the overall texture was far more muddled than that of the “standard” quintet. Sadly, much of the program involved transcriptions of meticulously conceived counterpoint by composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Domenico Scarlatti, all of which got lost in that muddle. For that matter, the capacity for arrangement could not even cope with the piano music of Claude Debussy, whose original conception of his Estampes suite was far richer in both coloration and rhetoric than anything Calefax could muster.

It has been quite some time since I have had to do all it took to resist squirming my way through two hours with no redeeming virtues, and I hope that the members of Calefax all belong to orchestras that are more likely to help them earn their livings.}

duo B. Interprets Graphic Notation

Lisa Mezzacappa and Jason Levis (photograph by Emily Olman, courtesy of Mezzacappa)

This past Friday saw the release of Luminous Axis, an album of drums-and-bass performances by the duo B. ensemble, whose members are Lisa Mezzacappa on acoustic bass and drummer Jason Levis. The best site for the album is the Bandcamp Web page, which supports the purchase of the compact disc as well as a hyperlink for streaming and download. The title of the album is the title of a graphically-notated score by Wadada Leo Smith, and Smith was kind enough to share that score with Mezzacappa and Levis. He did not provide them with any guidelines as to how the graphics were to be interpreted!

As a result, it is highly unlikely that the tracks on this newly-released album would bear any resemblance to a recording (if one exists) of Smith interpreting his own score. All that really matters is that each of the eight tracks on the album explores a different approach to dialog between the two instruments. In all probability, Smith’s dialog was a spontaneous one, meaning that any “live” performance of the score would hardly (if at all) resemble the interpretation that was captured for this new album.

That said, each of the eight tracks on the album is likely to stand up to repeated attentive listening. Levis commands a solid interpretation of polyrhythms, solid enough, most likely, to stand up to spontaneous performance. Mezzacappa’s bass technique is equally rich, running a full gamut across extended melodic lines and a diversity of bowing techniques and percussive effects, often involving pizzicato. Most importantly, however, is that, in all likelihood, both performers gave enough cognitive attention to the score itself to build up the necessary chops for in-the-moment improvisation.

The album, of course, can only capture a single span of those moments. Whether or not listening to it would prepare for experiencing the music in performance will be left as an exercise for those fortunate enough to encounter a “concert performance” by the duo! From a more personal point of view, my background as a mathematician allows me to approach this album for its “high information content.” I would not be surprised if, over the course of several listenings, each encounter might lead to its own unique interpretation. Such is the “brave new world” in which the interpretation of a graphic score is left, for the most part, to the performers themselves!

Timeless Jazz Quartet Coming to Cadillac

Larry O’Leno at the piano (from his Facebook Web page)

This coming Friday will see the next Concerts at the Cadillac offering. The performance will be by The Timeless Jazz Quartet, which is led by vocalist Larry O’Leno from the piano. Saxophonist Don Neely holds the “front line,” with rhythm provided by Jess Saxton on bass and drummer Greg Cotelli. The title of the program will be Music of the Roaring Twenties, which accounts for why the quartet calls itself “timeless!”

As usual, this show will begin at 1 p.m. on Friday, February 21. The Cadillac Hotel is located at 380 Eddy Street, on the northeast corner of Leavenworth Street. The lobby features the Patricia Walkup Memorial Piano, which will be O’Leno’s instrument. It is a meticulously restored 1884 Model D Steinway concert grand, whose original soundboard is still intact. All Concerts at the Cadillac events are presented without charge. The purpose of the series is to provide high-quality music to the residents of the hotel and the Tenderloin District; but all are invited to visit the venue that calls itself “The House of Welcome Since 1907.”

Steven Isserlis Returns to SFP

Stephen Isserlis with his instrument (photograph by Satoshi Aoyagi, courtesy of SFP)

Cellist Steven Isserlis is no stranger to San Francisco. Over the course of my writing, I have accounted for performances his has given for not only San Francisco Performances (SFP) but also the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Music San Francisco. Last night I returned to Herbst Theatre to attend his most recent SFP appearance, accompanied at the piano, as in the past, by Connie Shih. The program was framed by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century compositions, Ludwig van Beethoven and Edvard Grieg, respectively. However, the intermission was flanked by two decidedly distinctive twentieth-century compositions, Bohuslav Martinů’s H. 277 (first) sonata for cello and piano and three collected pieces for the same duo by Nadia Boulanger.

For my part, that “core” made for a delightful journey of discovery. Like many, I have been aware of Boulanger for her reputation as a pedagogue, rather than a composer. However, there was nothing pedagogical about the short pieces that Isserlis played. The first two of them revealed a thoroughly engaging lyricism, while the last, given the tempo marking “Vite et nerveusement rythmé” was downright fun. (Isserlis is at his most enjoyable when he takes on compositions with the “fun” attribute.)

Martinů began his career as a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic. However, his desire to become a composer took him to Paris; and his need to escape Adolf Hitler took him to New York. American life was good to him, and he eventually became a citizen. He also found teaching positions at the Mannes College of Music, Princeton University, and the Berkshire Music School (during Tanglewood summers). The sonata that Isserlis played was composed in Paris in 1939, but its aggressive rhetoric reflects  what was happening during Hitler’s occupation of Czechoslovakia. Such approaches to composition are often dismissed as “agitprop,” but Martinů found just the right way to express his dispositions.

Where the sonatas are concerned, it would be fair to say that those familiar with Grieg but not with the sonata would have felt right at home with his tropes. There was no mistaking the rhetoric, but the sonata still had an originality of its own. Most important is that the overall disposition was one of affability. This tends to be Isserlis’ “sweet spot” in his repertoire selections, and it made for an engaging farewell to the audience as the final selection.

At the other end of the time-line, so to speak, beginning with the second of the Opus 5 Beethoven sonatas was definitely the right way to seize attention. One consistently needs to be reminded that the younger Beethoven had no trouble relishing playful rhetoric; and, even though the key was G minor, the play could not have been more engaging. Nevertheless, I must confess to a personal bias for listening to music like this played on instruments appropriate for the period. That said, however, Isserlis still delivered a convincing account of the composer’s light tough and high spirits.

Taken as a whole, the program was very much a journey worth taking. The encore was a brief “Romance” by Camille Saint-Saëns. This made for a somewhat more “optimistic” disposition than had emerged from Grieg’s minor-key rhetoric, so it served the overall program well. It is always good to leave the audience with positive spirits!

Omni to Present Pablo Garibay on New Video

Guitarist Pablo Garibay

Tomorrow the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts will release its latest video of classical guitar performances. The performer will be Pablo Garibay, who visited here this past October when he gave a solo recital for the second program in the 2024/2025 Dynamite Guitars season. The program he presented was (for me a least) an engaging journey of discovery.

That journey will continue with the release of the new video. It will consist of a single selection, the “Berceuse para soñar despierto” (lullaby for daydreaming), which was composed by Rodrigo Nefthalí. This is a self-directed video, which was created earlier this month. The recording was made in Morelia in the Michoacán state in Mexico. Garibay’s instrument was made in Belgium by Walter Verreydt.

This video will be made available for viewing at 9 a.m. tomorrow, February 16; and its YouTube Web page has already been created.

Gerry Mulligan and Thelonious Monk Remastered

Cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of Concord Music)

A few days ago Concord Music released a remastered monaural recording of an album of Gerry Mulligan and Thelonious Monk that probably deserves to be called “classic.” The title of the album was simply Mulligan Meets Monk, and Amazon.com has created a Web page for downloading all six of the tracks. Some may find that skimpy; but, where Monk improvisations are concerned, just about every minute is an adventure in discovery! Mind you, the relationship between Mulligan and Monk is clearly a cordial one; and each of them has his own approach to improvising. However, from my own personal point of view, Monk is the primary reason for listening to this album!

To be fair, however, my interest in Monk has always been enthusiastic. This goes all the way back to my student days, when a visit to Manhattan almost aways meant going by the Village Vanguard to listen to Monk perform, usually in trio sets. As a result, when the fifteen-CD Complete Riverside Recordings box set was released, I wasted no time in adding it to my collection. I therefore have to confess that this is my preferred release, since it includes three alternate takes for “I Mean You” and two each for “Straight, No Chaser” and “Decidedly” (Mulligan’s “transmogrification” of Charlie Shavers’ “Undecided”). If I am going to get my head around the inventive approaches of both Mulligan and Monk, I need as much background as I can muster!

That said, most readers will probably be content with the remastered versions of the album’s six tracks. Opportunities to listen to a major composer perform his/her own work are few, even in current times. Even those that prefer the classical genre are likely to find engaging performance tropes on this reissue.

Broken Hearts on Valentine’s Day

The members of the Shoreline Piano Trio: Katie Youn, Mengua Lin, and Sui-mi Shin (from the Old First Concerts Web page for this performance)

Last night at the Old First Presbyterian Church, Valentine’s Day was celebrated with a program entitled Explorations of Love and Art. This was the latest Old First Concerts performance; and it was presented by the Shoreline Piano Trio, whose members are violinist Sui-mi Shin, cellist Katie Youn, and pianist Menghua Lin. This was the latest endeavor to prepare a program of chamber music whose composers were all women. With the exception of Maria Theresia von Paradis, these were, in “order of appearance,” Caroline Shaw, Jessie Montgomery, Amy Beach, Jennifer Higdon, and Clara Schumann.

This made for a promising program. Then the musicians began to play. On the positive side, each of them was well trained in negotiating intricate passages. However, if they could get the rhythms right, neither the violinist nor the cellist could adjust her respective pitches to conform to the constraints of the equal-tempered scale on the piano. The result was three seemingly skilled musicians who could not come together as a trio.

This was one of those occasions when the live stream was decidedly an advantage, meaning that my squirming and cringing would not disturb anyone in the audience.

Old First Concerts: March, 2025

As is the case this month, Old First Concerts will again present four events next month. These events will remain “hybrid,” allowing both live streaming and seating in the Old First Presbyterian Church at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue. Each of the event pages (which include hyperlinks for streaming) provides specific price information. The following dates and times provide hyperlinks to those event pages as follows:

Saturday, March 1, 8 p.m.: The Pro Arte Quartet has an impressive history, having been founded by conservatory students in Brussels in 1912. Its current members are violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia, Sally Chisholm on viola, and cellist Parry Karp. The program they have prepared will feature female composers from both the twentieth and nineteenth centuries (in that order). The program will conclude with the H. 277 string quartet in E-flat major by Fanny Mendelssohn. This will be preceded by a quartet composed about three-quarters of a century later by Germaine Tailleferre. The program will begin with the second string quartet composed in 2011 by Denys Lytvynenko, who is currently the cellist of the Phoenix String Quartet, as well as the principal cellist for the Lviv Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra.

Sunday, March 2, 4 p.m.: As was announced at the end of last year this will be the second performance by the Sixth Station Trio.

 

George Brooks and Utsav Lal (from their Old First event page)

Sunday, March 9, 4 p.m.: Saxophonist George Brooks will give a duo performance with Utsav Lal, who is known as the “Raga Pianist.” They formed their partnership to craft new music that draws from the profound traditions of Indian classical music and American jazz, seamlessly infused with the aesthetics of contemporary minimalism. Program details will be announced by the performers.

Sunday, March 16, 4 p.m.: The final program of the month (at least as of this writing) will be the annual Junior Bach Festival. The Junior Bach Festival Association has been presenting these concerts at Old First for over a decade. The ages of the performers usually range from eight to eighteen; and, as of this writing, the program has not yet been finalized. [added 2/20, 1:15 p.m.:

 Sunday, March 30, 4 p.m.: Soprano Naama Liany will present a program entitled Daydream. Originally planned for this month, the program will present surreal and dreamlike works. These will include song cycles by Leonard Bernstein (I Hate Music), Federico Mompou (Combat del somni), and Francis Poulenc (Banalités). The program will begin with Samuel Barber’s “Despite and Still” and will also include “The Piano Blue” by Albena Petrovic.]

Yuja Wang and Salonen both Return to SFS

Photograph of Claude Debussy from the studio of Nadar (from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Last night pianist Yuja Wang made her annual return visit to the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), performing two piano concertos under the baton of Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen. The intermission was preceded by Maurice Ravel’s 1930 concerto in the key of D major composed to be played by the left hand alone. It was then followed by the Opus 45 (first) piano concerto composed by Einojuhani Rautavaara, which was receiving its first SFS performance. The “bookends” for the program were the three compositions by Claude Debussy collected under the title Images pour orchestre. Two of these, “Gigues” and “Rondes printemps” began the program, which concluded with the three-movement “Ibéria.” Collectively, these served to provide a sort of “European travelogue” making visits to (in order of appearance) England, France, and Spain.

I have been following Wang’s work for pretty much as long as I have been following SFS after my return to the United States from Singapore in 1995. She was a powerhouse when I first encountered her, and she still is. The two concertos she performed last night provided an ample account of her capacity for both intricate fingerwork and intense expressiveness. Her disposition always seems to be cheerful; but, when she sits down on the piano bench, her attention is focused entirely on the music, not only the notes but also what they signify. Her approach to the Rautavaara concerto made it clear that she is always up for exploring new approaches to that expressiveness, while her account of the Ravel brought freshness to a familiar score.

When I studied orchestration in my student days, I cultivated a particular interest in Images. There were so many things to learn from Debussy’s techniques for deploying instrumental resources, and I was struck by his capacity to deploy those techniques to express three different “musical nationalities.” These were composed over a period of roughly four years, beginning with the only multi-movement composition. When they were published as a set, “Ibéria,” with its multiple movements, was the “central” work, preceded by “Gigues” (the British nationality) and followed by “Rondes de printemps” (French, of course).

Last night’s performance did not follow this order. Salonen began the program with “Gigues” and “Rondes de printemps” performed without interruption, saving “Ibéria” for the “grand finale” of the evening. This provided the “framework” for Wang’s performances, which included a Philip Glass encore, [updated 2/14, 5:50 p.m.: the sixth of the twenty Etudes for Piano compositions, this one in the first volume,] following the Rautavaara concerto. (She followed this with a tango, [updated 2/14 5:55 p.m.: the second of the “Danzon” compositions by Arturo Marquez.]) The Debussy selections provided the framework for approaching the evening as a journey with Wang making a thoroughly engaging “guest appearance” along the course of that journey!

Renaud Capuçon Honors Richard Strauss

Cover of the album being discussed

At the end of last month, Deutsche Grammophon released a three-CD collection of compositions by Richard Strauss featuring performances by violinist Renaud Capuçon. This makes for a generous collection of symphonic music and chamber music, with a particularly engaging diversity in the latter category, The former will probably be known best for the recording of the Opus 40 tone poem “Ein Heldenleben,” performed on this album by the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester conducted by Seiji Ozawa. However, far more intriguing was the opening selection in the collection, the Opus 8 violin concerto in D minor with the Vienna Symphony conducted by Petr Popelka.

Strauss was still a teenager when he composed this concerto, which was completed in 1882. Nevertheless, it is clear from the opening measures that Strauss was already cultivating his proclivity for broad strokes. It would also be fair to say that Strauss was already acquainted with a rich repertoire of embellishing tropes. One gets the impression that he was no stranger to past concertos and knew how to deploy those tropes to throw the genre into a new light, so to speak.

About five years later, Strauss composed his Opus 18 violin sonata; and the first CD in the collection provides an engaging opportunity for “side-by-side” listening to these early efforts. The other early work from that period is the Opus 13 piano quartet in C minor, which Capuçon performs with violist Paul Zientara, Julia Hagen on cello, and pianist Guillaume Bellom. I have to say that, while Strauss never really warmed up to chamber music, I enjoyed the opportunity to listen to these samples (which occasionally reveal what would become more familiar tropes in his orchestral repertoire).

What I find interesting about this anthology, however, is the rise of chamber music towards the end of Strauss’ career. His Opus 85 opera Capriccio, first performed in 1942, begins with a string sextet, which sets just the right mood for a work that was given the subtitle “A Conversation Piece for Music;” and, only a few years later, Strauss composed his “study for 23 solo strings” entitled “Metamorphosen.” Both of these selections provide clear evidence that Strauss’ rhetoric could be intimately understated when he wanted it to be.

I suppose what is most important about this collection is that, where the violin is concerned, there was a lot more to Strauss’ inventiveness than the egocentric preening that one finds in “Heldenleben!”

The Lab: March, 2025

As of this writing, The Lab has prepared six concerts for next month. As was the case for this month, there will be a departure from the usual weekend events with performances on Thursday. Nevertheless, next month will not be quite as busy as this one turned out to be.

As (hopefully) many (most?) readers will know by now, The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street. This is particularly convenient for those using public transportation, since it is a short walk to the corner of 16th Street and Mission Street. Busses stop at that corner for both north-south and east-west travel, and downstairs there is a station for the BART line running under Mission Street. As was the case last month, there will be five performances in March. Doors open half an hour in advance of the performance; and specific information for each event, including a hyperlink to the Web page that provides both background material and hyperlinks for ticket purchases, is as follows:

Saturday, March 1. 8 p.m.: In conjunction with cloaca projects, The Lab will present the next installment in its arcane transmission series. MATERIAL will be a performance by Alex Tatarsky with live music performed by Shane Riley. This program was originally commissioned by the Whitney Museum in New York; and it will include “rant-songs, associative monologs, and possible visits from an unpleasant birthday clown and a cat in heat: unashamed to scream and writhe all day long.”

Saturday, March 15, 8:30 p.m.: The program will present a solo performance by sound artist Chihei Hatakeyama. He works primarily with drone projects involving modular synthesizer and electric guitar. There will be a second set taken by Billy Gomberg; but, as of this writing, no information about his performance has been released.

Thursday, March 20, 8:30 p.m.: British cellist and composer Lucy Railton will be the visiting artist. Her performance will draw upon music from Corner Dancer, an album recently released by Modern Love. She works with a wide variety of resources, including cello and antiquated string instruments, analog and digital synthesizers, drum machines, and voice. Her approaches to performance explore alternate tuning systems, psychoacoustic phenomena, and timbral control. The other set will be taken by Amma Ateria. According to my archives, she has not surfaced on this site since September of 2022, when she contributed to the twentieth anniversary of the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival. She will perform The Entropic Arias: I. Neurogenesis, which was developed while recovering from a concussion.

The Phipps Pt. duo of Jon Leidecker and Lovage Sharrock (from their event page for The Lab)

Friday, March 21, 8:30 p.m.: This program will involve another visit from the United Kingdom. Still House Plants is the trio of Jess Hickie-Kallenbach, Finlay Clark, and David Kennedy, performing on guitar, drums and vocals, respectively. They describe their repertoire as “fractious and sharp music with a melting pop heart.” They will share the program with Phipps Pt., which is the sound project of Lovage Sharrock. Her performance involves “fragile vocals” with guitar accompaniment. In addition, electronic accompaniment will be provided Jon Leidecker (who may be better known to at least some readers as Wobbly).

Saturday, March 22, 8:30 p.m.: The next visit to The Lab will be from Spain. Tarta Relena is a duo of Catalan vocalists, who will be making their San Francisco debut. Their a cappella performance draws upon a repertoire that goes from traditional music to original songs that are related to their geographical area of ​​the Mediterranean. The other set will be a duo performance by Sholeh Asgary and Leila Abdul-Rauf. The latter is a composer and multi-instrumentalist, while the former works with electronics.

Thursday, March 27, 8:30 p.m.: MSHR was founded by Brenna Murphy and Birch Cooper in 2011 in Portland, Oregon. It is an art collective that collaboratively builds and explores sculptural electronic systems. Their performances and installations integrate electrical signals and human presence, weaving dense networks of causality to form audiovisual environments that “babble with life-like current.” They will share the program with Shatter Pattern (previously known as Waxy Tomb). The objective of their performances is to “break down and stretch our sensory expectations of what a human song can be.”

SFJAZZ: March, 2025

This is around the time that I try to inform readers about the schedule at the Joe Henderson Lab of the SFJAZZ Center for the following month. As many readers probably know by now, this is my preferred venue for those that take attentive listening to jazz seriously. The SFJAZZ 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:

Saturday, March 1, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: The month will begin by continuing the Noise Pop festival, which began on February 27. The first performer of the new month will be August Lee Stevens, a masterful young singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist whose work encompasses elements of soul, jazz, and modern folk. Her selection will probably include tracks from her latest EP album, Better Places. Other contributing performers have not yet been announced.

Sunday, March 2, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.: MeloDious is the duo of sisters Micaiah and Memphis Dempsey. Both are vocalists. As instrumentalists, Micaiah plays keyboards; and Memphis is a drummer. Their latest (and possibly debut) album is Is It The Way: Volume 1, which was released July 14, 2023.

Thursday, March 6, and Friday, March 7, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: “Dynamic Miss” Faye Carol will present a program entitled Voice and Drums. The drummer behind her vocal work will be Dennis Chambers. They will also be joined by Joe Warner on piano and bassist Essiet Essiet.

Saturday, March 8, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 9, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.: This will be a Dance Floor Show with music provided by saxophonist Howard Wiley, who is currently the SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director. His “core band” is a quartet, whose other members are organist LJ Holoman, Clark Sims on bass, and drummer Dante “Taz” Roberson. There will also be guest appearances by pianist Nona Brown, whose vocal work has deep roots in gospel music, and pianist Kev Choice.

Thursday, March 13, and Friday, March 14, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: Paolo Angeli’s Web page describes him as a “Sardinian Guitar Innovator.” His approach to innovation includes an eighteen-string instrument, which serves as a “hybrid” of guitar, cello, and drums. (In fact, the overall theme for this week is Innovations, and it will involve three different programs.) As an ethnomusicologist, he commands a deep knowledge of Sardinian music. His performance involves bows, strikes, hammers, plucks, and strums on his instrument, while he controls motorized propellers through foot control. Sources for his original compositions include flamenco, jazz, Baroque, post-rock, and “new music.”

Saturday, March 15, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: The second “innovator” of the week will be South African pianist Bokani Dyer. He will lead a trio, which will probably be based on his Neo Native album. The other South African performers on that album are bassist Romy Brauteseth and Sphelelo Mazibuko on drums.

Sunday, March 16, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.: House of Waters is the duo of hammered dulcimer player Max ZT and Moto Fukushima on bass. Their sources include African, Indian, and Middle Eastern traditions, combined with modern jazz improvisation and intricate rhythmic structures. They released a self-titled album in 2016, which received critical acclaim for its originality and emotional depth; and the duo continues to push the boundaries of contemporary instrumental music, offering listeners a rich tapestry of sounds that is both innovative and deeply rooted in diverse musical traditions.

Friday, March 21, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: Sundra Manning is an organist born in Oakland. This will be a return visit to SFJAZZ; and she has prepared an evening of original compositions and the works of one of her influences, organ great Shirley Scott. Her program promises to be a soulful blend of bebop, blues, and gospel. She will supplement her keyboard performance with vocal work. Any additional performers have yet to be announced.

Saturday, March 22, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 23, 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.: Tammy Hall, who plays both piano and organ works extensively with the SFJAZZ Education Department is a Lead Teaching Artist. For this concerto she will focus on piano. She will be leading a trio, and any additional performers have not yet been announced.

Friday, March 28, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: The month will conclude with a series of Trumpet Week programs. Rachel Therrien plays both trumpet and flugelhorn. She is a French-Canadian from Montreal, but she has immersed herself in Cuban music. Her latest album, Mi Hogar (my home), showcases an expansive array of Latin jazz masters based in New York.

Multi-instrumentalist Gunhild Carling (from the SFJAZZ Web page for her performance)

Sunday, March 30, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.: Known (at least by her SFJAZZ Web page) as “Sweden’s Queen Of Swing,” Gunhild Carling is actually a prodigious multi-instrumentalist (as can be seen from the above photograph). We may thus assume that her Trumpet Week performance may not be limited to the trumpet! She is also a vocalist; but, as of this writing, there is no information of other musicians that may be joining her.

Warner’s “David Oistrakh Quartet” CDs

Three of the 31 CDs classified as Premières, Rarities & Live Performances in the Warner Remastered Edition box set collection of recordings of performances by Russian violinist David Oistrakh have been given the subtitle David Oistrakh Quartet. By all rights, this subtitle should be given scare quotes, since there does not appear to be any reference to a “David Oistrakh Quartet” during Oistrakh’s lifetime. Rather, that name was given to a quartet whose members are violinists Andrey Baranov and Rodion Petrov, Fedor Belugin on viola, and cellist Alexey Zhilin in 2012.

In the Warner collection, Oistrakh leads a quartet whose other member are Piotr Bondarenko on second violin, violist Mikhail Terian, and Sviatoslav Knushevitsky on cello. The CDs themselves account for only three string quartets performed in their entirety, two recorded in 1952 and one in 1950. The third CD, on the other hand, presents two clarinet quintets recorded in 1950 with clarinetist Vladimir Sorokin. This is a “two centuries” album, coupling Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 581 quintet with Johannes Brahms’ Opus 115 quintet in B minor. (K. 581 is sometimes known as the “Stadler” quintet, since it was composed for the clarinetist Anton Stadler.)

Brahms can also be found on the first CD with the first of his Opus 51 quartets in C minor. This is coupled with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Opus 11 (also a first) quartet in D major. These recordings definitely cast the quartet players in a favorable light, which they also enjoy on the clarinet quintet album. The second CD, on the other hand, accounts for only one quartet in its entirety, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 74, often known as the “Harp” for its extended pizzicato passages. It is coupled with two single-movement excerpts. The first of these is the second movement from Franz Schubert’s D. 810 quartet, consisting of variations of the theme of Schubert’s D. 531 song, “Der Tod und das Mädchen” (Death and the maiden). The other is the second Canzonetta movement from Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 12 (first) quartet in E-flat major, which used to be (and may still be) an encore favorite.

Pianist Lev Oborin (photograph taken in January of 1927, from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

It may (or may not) be worth noting that Oistrakh’s Wikipedia page says  almost nothing about his performance of chamber music. There is a passing citation about teaching. However, where performance is concerned, there is only reference to a trio that Oistrakh performed with Knushevitsky and pianist Lev Oborin, previously cited on this site as accompanist for a Mozart sonata. My guess is that Oistrakh enjoyed the chamber music repertoire; but there were “powers that be” that limited his opportunities to account for that repertoire on recordings.

California Bach Society to Survey British Music

1973 design by David Lance Goins used for the California Bach Society poster

Following up on this past October’s survey of Italian Baroque choral music, the full title of the next program to be presented by the California Bach Society will be From Tallis to Tavener: Five Centuries of British Choral Music. The composers to be presented will include Thomas Tallis, Henry Purcell, Benjamin Britten, Imogen Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Herbert Howells, and John Tavener. For those interested in further details, a Web page has been created with background notes for the entire program.

As in the past, the San Francisco performance of this program will take place at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 28. A Web page has been created for all information about ticketing. The basic price for a single ticket is $35; but, as can be expected, there are several alternatives for discounts. Doors will open at 7 p.m.

The Bleeding Edge: 2/10/2025

This will be a particularly busy week on the Bleeding Edge, possibly the busiest I have encountered in some time, if not ever. Five of the events have been previously documented, including one venue with two performances. All of them involve “usual suspects” locations as follows:

• Center for New Music: The latest installment in The Opus Project (Opus 7) on Saturday, February 15, at 7:30 p.m.
• The Lab: Harmonie Universelle on Saturday, February 15, at 8 p.m., and the two-set evening shared by John McCowen and the oakland reductionists orchestra on Sunday, February 16, at 8:30 p.m.
• Bird & Beckett Books and Records: The quartet performance led by saxophonist Idris Ackamoor on Sunday, February 16, at 7:30 p.m.
• Outsound Presents: The two-set evening shared by guitarist Caleb Cobourn and the duo of drummer Andrew K. Lau and guitarist Jill Rogers on Sunday, February 16, at 7:30 p.m.

With one exception, the remaining events will also take place at familiar venues as follows:

Thursday, February 13, Friday, February 14, and Saturday, February 15, Audium, 8 p.m.: This venue will make its 176 loudspeakers available to three emerging composers. This will be the fourth installment in a series entitled New Voices. Qué Pena was composed as a cycle of vignettes by Briana Marela, scored for the Buchla Music Easel synthesizer, live vocal performance, and spoken text. Phillip Laurent will perform on both pipe organ and synthesizer to present his composition “Remote Viewing.” He will be joined by three other musicians: Zekarias Thompson on alto saxophone, cellist Benjamin Rodgers, and Herb Diamant alternating among flute, soprano saxophone, and bassoon. The final selection will be the multimedia, multi-sensory solo performance by Shanti Lalita entitled “Sense/less.”

Audium is located at 1616 Bush Street. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m. Admission will be between $20 and $30.

Thursday, February 13, Gray Area Art And Technology, 8 p.m.: THIRST is a diversified piece of music performed in conjunction with the projection of a motion picture. The video was created by Werktank. The music is electronic, conceived and performed by Franck Vigroux to create an “electrified Neo-dystopian audio atmosphere.” The venue is located in the Mission at 2665 Mission Street, and doors will open at 7 p.m.

Thursday, February 13, Peacock Lounge, 8 p.m.: This will be the usual three-hour show consisting of four sets. The Elliott Levin Ensemble is led by Levin, who is based in Philadelphia and plays tenor saxophone and flute. He will be joined by Kash Killian, who plays cello for the Sun Ra Arkestra. This will be a quartet set, filled out by Tom Rollison on guitar and drummer Jordan Glenn. SO AR will be a performance by Shanna Sordahl on cello and electronics and Robert Lopez on “all manner of sonic percussion.” TanukiSpiderCat is a performance by Colleen Twitty involving cello and modular synthesizer, along with feline tooth, claw, and meows. This will be followed by Chlorine Aroma, a solo set by K. Francis Messer on noise percussion.

The Peacock Lounge is located in the Lower Haight at 552 Haight Street. Doors will open at 7:45 p.m. to enable the first set to begin at 8 p.m. sharp. Admission will be between $5 and $15, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Friday, February 14, Medicine for Nightmares, 7 p.m.: This week’s Other Dimensions in Sound program will present an electro-acoustic trio. Saxophonist Raffi Garabedian will perform with a fellow saxophonist, Marcus Stephens, and they will be joined by poetic vocalist Jean Carla Rodea.  As always, the venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. There is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Photograph of the entrance to The Knockout (from its Google Maps photograph)

Sunday, February 16, The Knockout, 6 p.m.: This will be an evening of free improvisations over the course of three hours. Little information has been provided other than the fact that the sets will be taken by Anything!, Ryan Ebough, Solo Organ, and Housewife. Admission will be $13. The venue is located  in Bernal Heights at 3223 Mission Street, one block south of Cesar Chavez Street.

Pianist Seong-Jin Cho’s Ravel Journey

Pianist Seong-Jin Cho (photograph by Harald Hoffmann, courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony)

Last night in Davies Symphony Hall the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) continued its Great Performers Series with a solo recital by Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho. He made his SFS debut in January of last year, performing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 37 (third) piano concerto in C minor under the baton of Dalia Stasevska. He had previously appeared in the Great Performers Series in November of 2016, when he performed Frédéric Chopin’s Opus 11 (first) piano concerto in E minor with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk. (This was his first visit to Davies.) On a personal level, I have also encountered him twice in Herbst Theatre, first as a Chamber Music San Francisco recitalist in March of 2017, followed by his San Francisco Performances debut in October of 2018.

For his return to Davies, Cho prepared a program surveying the complete works for solo piano composed by Maurice Ravel. These were given a chronological account beginning with the 1893 (“on or about,” according to the program book) “Sérénade grotesque,” and concluding with the 1917 suite Le Tombeau de Couperin. This was a major undertaking of a generous number of physically demanding compositions, and it was no surprise that Cho took advantage of two intermissions for taking breaks. Those familiar with the Decca 14-CD Complete Edition of Ravel’s music may have noticed that Cho’s recital did not include “La Parade.” This was intended as a ballet score but never progressed beyond a piano sketch of two waltzes, two marches, and a mazurka; but it has been published as piano music by Ravel!

I tend to be skeptical of “anthology” performances, particular when the entire anthology is crammed into a single program! Nevertheless, I have had a long and enjoyable relationship with the Ravel canon, so it was hard for me to pass up on last night’s offering. Sadly, I came away disappointed that too many of the selections had suffered from a failure to capture the spirit of the music within the plethora of notes that Ravel had committed to his pages.

Indeed, during the performance of one of the most familiar selections, “Alborada del gracioso,” it seemed as if Cho had lost track of the relationship between themes and accompaniment. This is one of the movements from the Miroirs suite, which was subsequently orchestrated and usually better known in that version. That suite also includes “Une barque sur l’ocean,” whose orchestral version is a case study in instrumental sonorities. The piano version can only suggest those sonorities, but pianists better than Cho have shown how compelling the original version can be. (Could that be because those pianists that I have encountered are French?)

I sometimes worry that repertoire serves as a sort of “battle ground” for our abundance of soloists all clamoring for attention. Perhaps that clamoring interfered with Cho’s commitment to focus on the music, which I had appreciated in the past. Sadly, it is unlikely that the clamoring will abate among those determined to survive in the “business of music.”

SFP to Present Recital Debut of Fleur Barron

Mezzo Fleur Barron (from the SFP event page)

Mezzo Fleur Barron will probably not be a stranger to those that partake of performances in the Civic Center. According to my records, her most recent appearance took place in Davies Symphony Hall, when she sang the title role in Kaija Saariaho’s opera Adriana Mater, with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and staged for the limited available space by Peter Sellars. At the end of this month, she will return to San Francisco, this time making her recital debut with San Francisco Performances (SFP), joined by pianist Kunal Lahiry.

She has prepared a program entitled The Power and the Glory. According to the advance material I received from SFP, the program was conceived to “explore the impacts and legacies of colonialism throughout the world, highlighting songs that reflected the attitudes of their times, and may now be appreciated in an entirely new light.” When I read that material, my first impulse was to raise my left eyebrow à la Spock (if anyone still remembers Star Trek)! Nevertheless, I find it hard resist a program in which Carl Maria von Weber will be rubbing shoulders with Gustav Mahler, not to mention Arnold Schoenberg and Kurt Weill, who probably never rubbed shoulders with each other!

This performance will begin, as usual, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 26. Also as usual, the venue will be Herbst Theatre, which is located at 401 Van Ness Avenue, on the southwest corner of McAllister Street and directly across Van Ness from City Hall. SFP has created its own Web page for further information. Prices range between $70 and $50. Those wishing to attend can also call 415-677-0325 to make purchases.

Hamelin Returns to SFP for “Anniversary” Recital

Marc-André Hamelin (photograph by Sim Connety-Clarke, courtesy of SFP)

Last night pianist Marc-André Hamelin returned to Herbst Theatre to contribute to the 45th Season Favorites series presented by San Francisco Performances (SFP). This was his fifteenth visit to SFP. Hamelin has a prodigious command of just about every keyboard style at the piano, and the diversity of those styles was both evident and engaging in the program he prepared. The first half juxtaposed Joseph Haydn with three twentieth-century composers (one of whom is still alive). The second half was also twentieth-century, this time featuring two Russian composers whose births were separated by less than a decade. The earlier of these was Sergei Rachmaninoff, born in 1873; and he was preceded in the program by Nikolai Medtner, who was born in 1880.

Hamelin consistently takes the stage with an engaging personality. However, when he sits down at the keyboard, he is intensely focused on his work. Nevertheless, he opened his program with two composers with reputations for their prankish personalities. He began with Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken XVI/37 sonata in D major, the third of the five Opus 30 compositions. Haydn was known for his engaging approach to expressiveness, and it would be fair to say that Hamelin’s account caught that expressive spirit. However, he also adapted it to his instrument, taking the liberty of a wider dynamic range than any of Haydn’s keyboards could have afforded.

Most importantly, however, Hamelin was not shy in expressing Haydn’s prankishness, making his interpretation a perfect complement to the following offering, Frank Zappa’s “Ruth is Sleeping.” The title referred to Ruth Underwood, the percussionist for The Mothers of Invention from 1968 until 1977. However, that title was even more specific than naming one of Zappa’s “partners in crime.” Apparently, during a long rehearsal that would involve other members of Zappa’s band, she would “curl up underneath the marimba and go to sleep” (in Zappa’s words). My guess is that, if there is a Heaven, Zappa is up there having a good time sharing stories like these with Haydn!

Zappa was followed by the far more serious composer Stefan Wolpe with a performance of the “Passacaglia” movement from his Opus 23, Four Studies on Basic Rows. This music was inspired by Arnold Schoenberg’s approach to treating all twelve pitches of the chromatic scale as equals, exploring different ways in which “rows” of all twelve of the tones could be permuted. I must confess that I could not, for the life of me, suss out what made this composition a passacaglia; and the performance, as a whole, reminded me more of Amadeus than of Schoenberg, with that “too many notes” phrase in the script! The first half of the program then concluded with John Oswald’s “Tip,” which amounted to a plethora of thematic quotations, which were presumably meant to be funny but, due to excessive length, came across as only tedious.

I welcomed the second half of the program because I have had little exposure to Medtner’s music. Hamelin selected two relatively short pieces played without interruption: a set of variations given the title “Improvisation” (Opus 31, Number 1 in B-flat minor) and “Danza festiva” (Opus 38, Number 3). However, Medtner had to give way to Rachmaninoff, represented primarily by his Opus 36 piano sonata in B-flat minor. Sadly, too much of this felt like Hamelin was just banging away at the notes, which had also been his approach to the “warm-up” for the sonata, the E-flat minor “Étude-tableau,” the fifth piece in the Opus 39 collection. Taken has a whole, his performance of Rachmaninoff’s music came off more like an Olympic event than a piano recital.

That disposition continued in Hamelin’s second encore with a particularly aggressive (but unidentified) selection by Sergei Prokofiev. The first encore, on the other hand, was more engaging. “Music Box” was a short piece that Hamelin had composed during his school days. As far as I am concerned, it definitely benefited from an opportunity to see the light again!

Omar Thomas: Griot Tradition Deserves Better

Cover of the album being discussed

Yesterday saw the release of the latest (third) album of the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble. The title of the album is Griot Songs, and it was inspired by the West African griot traditions. The griot is a storyteller, who unfolds his narratives through the poetry and music of songs. Nevertheless, this is a big band album entirely devoid of vocals.

As big band performances go, I tended to enjoy much of the approaches to instrumentation. However, the compositions themselves tended to be on the bland side; and I have to confess that they never trigged any sense of storytelling, whether by a griot or any other storyteller. Even the liner notes seemed to be more about Thomas himself than the stories that his music was supposed to embody. According to those notes, the seven tracks on the album were the result of sixteen years of effort; but I must confess that I was reminded about the old joke about a lioness that could give birth only to a mouse!