A Pan-demic Flight of Flute and Bird
One of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s boldest new additions to the S.F. Symphony has been the eight “collaborative partners,” a variety of contemporary solo musicians adding new musical dimensions in more intimate ensembles to the SFS palette.
Among the most virtuosic of these is flutist Claire Chase, heard in a vibrant currently streaming audio-visual program “Sound Box: Metamorphoses.” These curiously magnetic adventures in sound and sight go miles beyond your standard symphonic fare of Haydn, Handel and the 3 B’s.
Chase plays the many fast-flying birdcalls of “Terrestre” by Salonen’s Finnish colleague Kaija Saariaho, sometimes adding verbal snatches to the prestissimo sounds of the flute. Her flute is bobbing, wheeling about, gyrating, showing more movement than a weathervane in a windstorm. This is visceral and uninhibited to the core.
In Marcos Balter’s “Excerpts from Pan,” she is on the verge of insanity, wildly exuding frantic energies, somewhere between madness and fearsome fury. Pan is the mythological god of the wilds. He is also the figure that inspired the real-world Andean pan flute, having a dozen or more tubes (i.e., notes), requiring bobbing about like a robin in spring. Balter’s multi-dimensional work, which takes up more than half of this video, puts soloist Chase through nearly every flute known to man—orchestral flute, piccolo, Andean pan flute, and the lengthened bass flute. This remarkable opus evolves into a theater piece, with the ensemble in a candlelit procession sounding discreet triangles, then playing glass-harmonica effects rubbing crystal glassware, all lit by ritual candles, ending in multi-sensory solemnity that is enthralling.
Adding to the mysticism is the low lighting on a sound stage, with murky projections suggesting an exotic jungle, emanating from designs of Adam Larsen and Yee Un Nam. Ultimately you are brought into a dreamworld, possibly far underwater, energizing multiple senses.
These performances are masterful, bringing together incredibly rapid flute forays and vivid theater, most of it done by virtuoso Chase’s barely moving from a central focal point. The vitality of it, enhanced by mobile cameras, closeups and mirrored images, hits your senses up close while underlining the beauty and impact of yet another stunning SFS collaborating partner.
In the midpoint comes the brief moment of relative meditation, Pauchi Sasaki’s ”Cocoon,” largely a percussion solo by the nimble Jacob Nessly replacing Chase at center stage.
MUSIC NOTES—The Finnish composer and Paris resident Saariaho, 68, will reportedly bring her 2018 opera “Innocence” to the S.F. Opera in some future season. She is best known for her earlier opera “L’amour de loin” (The Distant Love)….Chase is a New York-based instrumentalist who is founder and former artistic director of the International Contemporary Ensemble.
“Sound Box: Metamorphoses,” curated by flutist/performer Claire Chase, with contemporary works of Saariaho, Sasaki, Balter. 46 minutes. Audio-video streamed by the San Francisco Symphony on www.sfsymphony.org. For further info: (415) 864-6000.
