Last night I livestreamed the first performance of the season of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) Orchestra led by Edwin Outwater. As usual, the concert took place in the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall. Sadly, the audio delivery could not have been weaker, meaning that I had to crank up the audio on my screen to the maximum level. Even then, there were passages that just did not come across, particularly in the quieter moments in the concluding selection, the “Concerto for Orchestra” by Witold Lutosławski.
The “core” of the program consisted of two familiar works by Claude Debussy. The intermission was preceded by “Ibéria,” the second of the three compositions collected in Images pour orchestre. Following the intermission, student conductor Chih-Yao Chang took the podium to lead the ensemble in “Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune.” His performance was disciplined, and his engagement with the orchestra could not have been better. However, neither of the Debussy selections rose above the level of a dutiful account.
2010 photograph of David Conte (from his Wikipedia Web page)
Most disappointing was the opening selection of David Conte’s “Sinfonietta for Classical Orchestra.” This got the program off to an energetic start. However, it was clear that the video team was not really acquainted with the music. As a result, the account tended to reduce the overall experience as one of busy-work, where video direction informed by previous experience with the music (and, perhaps, a copy of the score) could have given the entire program the benefit of an energetic start.
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