Late yesterday afternoon I watched the latest livestream from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM). The program consisted of two compositions by Composition Chair David Conte, one on either side of an intermission. The first half was a preview of his latest undertaking, a two-act opera with a libretto by Nicholas Giardini adapting the narrative of Charles Dickens’ novella, A Christmas Carol. The second was a suite based on music drawn from the first act of a projected two-act ballet setting Edgar Allan Poe’s tale, “The Masque of the Red Death.”
The performance of excerpts from A Christmas Carol with Brian Thorsett and Samuel Kidd singing the roles of Ebenezer Scrooge and Bob Cratchit, respectively
The opera excerpts began with the “Choral Prelude,” sung by the Nebula Consort prepared by Eric Choate. This was followed by three episodes, the first being the argument about Christmas between Ebenezer Scrooge (tenor Brian Thorsett) and Bob Cratchit (baritone Samuel Kidd). The second presented Scrooge’s confrontation with the ghost of Jacob Marley (bass Matt Boehler). Finally, Thorsett gave a solo performance of “Scrooge’s Credo.” The Dickens’ source has become so familiar that all of the vocal work was easily followed, even if it was not staged.
The suite was performed by the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony. In fact, it was one of the selections of the program they had performed the previous evening (Saturday, December 6), on which Conte’s suite was coupled by another suite by Claude Debussy (Petite Suite), with the entire program framed by familiar selections by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (the “Romeo and Juliet” Overture-Fantasy and excerpts from the Nutcracker ballet). The title of the Saturday program was Celebrating David Conte’s 70th birthday, and the occasion was the debut of Robert Mollicone as the new music director. Yesterday’s performance was basically a “replay” of the Conte selection.
The good news is that both of yesterday’s performances were engaging. However, that engagement was strong enough to overcome one of the worst livestream offerings from SFCM I have encountered. I should have been prepared for this, given my last livestream encounter this past September. On that occasion I wrote the following:
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.
Last night the vocalists managed to prevail, thanks to a thorough command of diction (not to mention listener familiarity with the narrative); but much of the instrumental content took it on the chin. A composer of Conte’s stature deserves better.
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