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Author: Paul Hertelendy

S.F. SYMPHONY’S SWEET AND SPICY MODERNS WITH THE FAST-PEDALING FIDDLER

S.F. SYMPHONY’S SWEET AND SPICY MODERNS WITH THE FAST-PEDALING FIDDLER

In presenting a rare and bold all-contemporary program, the SF Symphony attracted (in addition to a number of empty seats) a noticeably younger clientele, including a tattooed, T-shirted contingent usually encountered at rock concerts. The “sweet and spicy” program led off with the sharp Nordic spice of a world premiere—–a very bold, adventurous “Convergence” violin concerto by the Swede Jesper Nordin, which proved to be a triple-threat achievement involving at least four technicians to control the piece: In addition to…

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A LIGHTNING OPERA: FLASH AND DASH PRODUCE A HIT

A LIGHTNING OPERA: FLASH AND DASH PRODUCE A HIT

For our computer era we get the ultimate lightning opera, ideal for commuting city toilers in a perennial rush. All 20 scenes are pressed into 80 minutes of fast-flashing scenes, or four minutes an average segment. You’re carried along as if riding the crest of a wave. Packed in are gigabytes of drama about the flawed genius of the handheld, a brainy superman with super weaknesses. If only he’d have taken time to hold hands more often in his abbreviated…

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HETEROGENEOUS, HILARIOUS, WITH HIP-HOP SEASONING IN THE HALLOWED HALL

HETEROGENEOUS, HILARIOUS, WITH HIP-HOP SEASONING IN THE HALLOWED HALL

Instead of performing Haydn or Handel, the symphony gala this time leaned toward heterogeneity and chutzpah. And yes, even hip-hop made a resounding entry into hallowed Davies Symphony Hall. Unorthodox to say the least. Instead of rows of chaste flowers, the S.F. Symphony this time tried to please everybody: Some classics, some wild-and-woolly rappers, myriad colored lights, and a hugely distracting mid-concert light show. Projected on a giant screen above the orchestra, it offered various French impressionist scenes, fashion models,…

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THE FINE LINES OF CLYNE’S SOUNDS

THE FINE LINES OF CLYNE’S SOUNDS

SANTA CRUZ, CA—The shortest was also the most memorable and newest at this year’s Cabrillo Music Festival: The six-minute world-premiere “Wild Geese” by Anna Clyne as the season-finale number by the orchestra. What I admire most about the petite, soft-spoken English composer is her ability to engage the listener again and again—here, at Cabrillo, Aug. 13, heard for the seventh time (and still being streamed). The current radio-play brings her once again to the forefront. Here she leans in part…

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A Tightened Vengeance Opera

A Tightened Vengeance Opera

The current drama of long-simmering vengeance “Il Trovatore” being a riveting experience is merely part of the story. The SF Opera managed to tighten the action greatly by eliminating two of the three intermissions, playing it in just 2.5 hours—a midweek blessing, especially for those heading to their offices in the morn. One of the heroes was the revolving stage—-yes, stage, take a bow—-enabling lightning-fast scene changes merely by a huge wall rotating from side to side, thereby bridging the…

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EARLY MUSIC IN THE AMERICAS, REVIVED

EARLY MUSIC IN THE AMERICAS, REVIVED

BERKELEY, CA—One of the newest and most versatile early-music singing groups locally is Tactus SF, now seven years old, affiliated with the San Francisco Early Music Society. Mention “early music” and you expect to hear polyphonic from Europe. Not so, this time. This 20-member a cappella group put together an entire program of early New-World music, “Cantus Mexicanus,” digging out sacred renaissance choral music of “New Spain,” as it was then called—-music that we almost never get to hear, part…

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UKRAINE, MOZART COMMEMORATIONS

UKRAINE, MOZART COMMEMORATIONS

Ukraine and Mozart, an unlikely coupling indeed, paired to light up Davies Hall Aug. 18 in a gratifying choral-orchestral concert under Robert Geary. Geary’s S.F. Choral Society linked with Ukrainian composer Alexander Shchetynsky, 63, from afar unveiling his Requiem (1991-2004), a serene lyrical outpouring with string orchestra. However somber a work, the composer establishes a mellifluous flow in his work with Latin text, closer to the spirit of Brahms’ Requiem. Among his original touches was the “Lacrimosa,” with choral sound…

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CORNUCOPIA ON THE DISTAFF SIDE

CORNUCOPIA ON THE DISTAFF SIDE

SANTA CRUZ, CA—–For the last Saturday of the 60-year-old Cabrillo Festival featuring five mainline symphonic concerts overall, Music Director Cristian Macelaru focused on a quartet of living women composers, who have formed an ever greater portion of the festival palette in recent years. The festival remains both newsworthy and rather miraculous, limping along with a tired, ancient (and, I’d assert) unsafe sports palace and still attracting near-SRO audiences with nights of contemporary symphonic music, all of it composed in the…

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HOME-STRETCH SPRINT NEEDED

HOME-STRETCH SPRINT NEEDED

SANTA FE, NM—-Dvorak’s “Rusalka,” all about opera’s most famous water nymph, is too striking a fairy-tale drama to dissolve into a meandering finale. The composer with the rich romantic patina clearly had a far finer musical instinct than a theatrical one. At the risk of heresy, I’d propose engaging some current rewriter master (like formerly Rimsky-Korsakov, Ravel or Alfano) to revise and tighten up the dawdling ending of an otherwise sterling opera-tragedy. In other regards, a reprise of this 1901…

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OPERATIC SEAFARERS TURNED LANDLUBBERS

OPERATIC SEAFARERS TURNED LANDLUBBERS

Santa Fe, NM—Did we see the Mother Lode country with its colorful miners living it up, maybe? Or the giant water sluices of Hoover Dam’s power plant? Any guess about site or scenery is possible at “The Flying Dutchman,” an opera that composer Richard Wagner thought he wrote about seafarers. And about a curse, like a majority of the operas the first week of August here. So once again (as in “Rusalka”), the revisionist decorators have struck with their zany…

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