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Author: Paul Hertelendy

BERKELEY’S UNIQUE VACANCY IN MUSIC HISTORY

BERKELEY’S UNIQUE VACANCY IN MUSIC HISTORY

There’s a notable changing of the guard on area symphonic podiums. Two of the new figures are Asian-American, perhaps destined to follow the earlier Northern Californian paths of Seiji Ozawa and Kent Nagano. While Francesco Lecce-Chong  starts his tenure at the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Berkeley Symphony hosted guest Ming Luke for its opening concert Oct. 4. Luke stepped in to a vacancy unique in music history, caused by departing Music Director Joana Carneiro missing most of the past two…

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SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN A VINTAGE ITALIAN OPERA

SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN A VINTAGE ITALIAN OPERA

I’ve heard various “shabby little shockers” in opera, but “Tosca” is not one of them. The late (and revered) Berkeley musicologist Joseph Kerman called it that 66 years ago, dismissing one of the most hot-blooded dramas of the early 20th century, powered by a very current theme of sexual harassment. And, as usually happens, the woman is a victim. Yes, Prof. Kerman, that theme is always a shocker, but far more “elegant, monumental” than shabby in this reprise. “Tosca” is…

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STRAVINSKY’S SUPER NOVA, REVIVED

STRAVINSKY’S SUPER NOVA, REVIVED

If ever there was a super nova explosion to radically realign the orderly world of music, it was Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” currently the focal point of the S.F. Symphony’s Stravinsky Festival. Over the past century, it has lost that sting originally setting off what’s called the biggest concert-hall riot in history. But it has lost none of its impact, bringing the audience to its feet, not clubbing nearby patrons as in the Paris world premiere, but this time cheering…

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THE METEOR THAT WAS AND IS STRAVINSKY

THE METEOR THAT WAS AND IS STRAVINSKY

The S.F. Symphony’s Stravinsky Festival spotlights the mercurial composer who flew like a brilliant comet from Russia to Paris to America, launching new musical expression while changing music forever. Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) reminds me of the legendary prince who cut through impenetrable thickets and brambles to reach his prize, revealing a beauty of a different sort. The composer took out the lush undergrowth and cleared the footing, to where the new modern prince could gallop through with puckish delight  and…

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WHIRLWIND ITALIAN OPERA ABOUT BRITISH MONARCH

WHIRLWIND ITALIAN OPERA ABOUT BRITISH MONARCH

What more could any one want in grand opera—abundant arias, duets, cabalettas and scenas, plus choruses, opulence, a melodious score, and three superlative lead voices? Plus political intrigue and intimations of infidelity. In addition, Queen Elizabeth the First (QE1) played as much as a harridan as a hurricane leading the vocal fireworks in a Maria-Callas-like role. This one scores  A+ in these departments. This was Donizetti’s historical opera “Roberto Devereux” (1837) at the S.F. Opera, a work that curiously was…

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PERLMAN AND HIS SIX VIOLINISTS AT SYMPHONY OPENER

PERLMAN AND HIS SIX VIOLINISTS AT SYMPHONY OPENER

The San Francisco Symphony’s two favorite 73-year-olds made music in what the audience regarded more as entertainment than concert. The stars were in conjunction when violinist Itzhak Perlman and his friend, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, collaborated on several works, both classical and movie, in the SFS season-opener gala Sept. 5. Of special interest were a sextet of former Perlman violin students  shouldering some of the performance burden alongside the master, all seven joining in a wild and woolly fiddle-faddle…

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DEBUSSY MARCHED TO A DIFFERENT DRUMMER

DEBUSSY MARCHED TO A DIFFERENT DRUMMER

Illuminating the otherwise underlit transition from summer stuff to the fall concert season, a four-concert splash of Debussy’s chamber music in San Francisco was welcome indeed, lighting up the night with as few as four performers each night, commemorating 100 years since the fascinating innovator’s death. Composer Claude Debussy, as much as any one, had ushered in the era of modern music—plain and simple, he marched to another drummer. He broke with the strict dictates of the Theory of Harmony…

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A DARING FESTIVAL, VEERING TO A TRANQUIL COURSE

A DARING FESTIVAL, VEERING TO A TRANQUIL COURSE

SANTA CRUZ, CA—Is conservative modern programming the new normal  at the cheeky  Cabrillo Festival? The audacious orchestral fest is turning away from its former infusions of rebellion and dissonance. This second season under Music Director Cristian Macelaru is setting sail on a more tranquil course, diverging from the bold tacks dating back to the 20th century, toward more consonant sounds. In addition, there’s a 2018 Cabrillo push toward programs and agendas in the music, whether it’s folk elements, migration, sleeplessness,…

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SLOW CURVES AND SUBTLE SWELLS AT CABRILLO

SLOW CURVES AND SUBTLE SWELLS AT CABRILLO

            SANTA CRUZ, CA—-The Cabrillo Festival tossed out a few curve-balls in one concert, with good old romantic, programmatic sounds reveling in tone painting, all from composers averaging under 40 years of age. After celebrating the avant-garde, why not a little stylistic retrospection for a change?             Among the best of these was “Abstractions” by the English composer turned New Yorker, Anna Clyne, running close to 20 minutes and serving as the grand finale of the Aug. 11 evening. Clyne…

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GETTING IN THE SWIM WITH CABRILLO’S MODERNS

GETTING IN THE SWIM WITH CABRILLO’S MODERNS

SANTA CRUZ, CA—A crazy idea back in the 1960s, starting up a symphonic  music festival studded with living composers not yet household names. But while many arts-center orchestras shy away from music less than a century old, the Cabrillo Festival has thrived on the unlikely formula, filling most of the 900 seats every August for  contemporary fare. The ink of the scores may not have dried complete yet, but they offer the listener discovery—like a bracing swim in the chilly…

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