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, and even Greek marble statuary, to put on your butter plate while the musical chateaubriand is being served.
I guess it worked. But how did they know that my attention span is only about 0.1 seconds??
The formally clad sold-out opening-night crowd got into the jocular spirit of the moment by trooping down and up the aisles during Ravel and Mahler, drink in hand—a no-no on any other night. And, if you wanted something ribald, how about that robust up-thrusting theme on the horns in Strauss’ tone poem “Don Juan,” literature’s most notorious lover? Tone-painting was never more candid.
The two rappers (Kev Choice, Anthony Veneziale) carried out their 200 words-a-minute delivery of mumbo-jumbo text with gusto, adding an elegant coloratura soprano from Mozart’s “Magic Flute” to sing a “Queen of the Night” excerpt for comic effect in the high notes. All to a jazzy background score by Anders Hillborg. The rappers’ fans were in full flower, with many waving to the music overhead, and later giving them a standing ovation.
Oh, the symphonic part? Glad you asked. Besides the Strauss, Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and orchestra delivered Mahler’s “Songs of a Wayfarer,” with British baritone Simon Keenlyside singing the German texts. This was an autobiographic effort by the young Mahler, hopelessly in love with a fetching damsel. Keenlyside was brilliant in rendering the passionate “Ich Hab’ ein Gluehend Messer” (I Have a Burning Knife), conveying its passion perhaps as intently as what Mahler felt personally.
His meaty tones were less effective in the three lyrical songs, the best-known one being “This Morning I Walked across the Field,” liberally quoted in the First Symphony—one of many song transitions into Mahler symphonies. The funeral march in the final song “My Love’s Blue Eyes” reflects Mahler’s dour mood over a lost love.
Extra credits for the SFS to print out the lingual texts in the program. Extra SFS demerits for dimming the lights, leaving it all impossible to read.
The all-too-brief concert (71 minutes) ended with a rousing Ravel “Bolero” featuring the music world’s longest crescendo, powered by Salonen’s furious beat.
All the Beautiful People then trooped out, perhaps unsettled by the 71-minute gap in the partying which, at least this one night a year, is paramount. The classics return to the forefront in another week.
MUSIC NOTES—A half century back the French conductor Paul Paray was in town, telling of Ravel himself conducting the work in the 1930s, declaring to his snare-drum player (paraphrased): You and I lead this performance; it’s essential that you maintain an unwavering tempo from start to finish.
Of the two new orchestra principals, harpist Katherine Siochi made her debut, significant in the Mahler. Flutist Yubeen Kim is not expected till January.
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY gala concert opener Sept. 22 in Davies Symphony Hall, S.F., Esa-Pekka Salonen Music Director. For SFS info: Call (415) 864-6000, or www.sfsymphony.org.
