SURVIVING BY DINT OF IRONY

SURVIVING BY DINT OF IRONY

BERKELEY—The best lecture-demonstrations on the music and life of Dmitri Shostakovich these Saturday mornings has unfolded by way of the informal visiting San Franciscans of the Alexander String Quartet and the entertaining lecturer Robert Greenberg. These “play-lects” have been profound, funny, insightful, leading you to hear the master’s music through new ears. Shostakovich (1906-75) you recall was under the Soviet yoke all his life. Furthermore, at least till the 1960s, he was derided by the cognoscenti over here as  being…

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THE CAROL THAT RESCUED A FAILING CHRISTMAS

THE CAROL THAT RESCUED A FAILING CHRISTMAS

Can a crisis evoke from us a one-shot pinnacle of creativity? In the case of two Austrian villagers exactly 200 years ago, the answer is an emphatic yes. It was in the small church of Oberndorf, Austria, near Salzburg, readying for the gala Christmas Eve service. The all-important pipe organ broke down, with no chance for repairs being done in time. To compensate for the crisis, the young priest Josef Mohr pulled out his poetic text now known as the…

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PETITE VIRTUOSO, IMMENSE POWER

PETITE VIRTUOSO, IMMENSE POWER

You’ve heard of the barefoot contessa (the old Gardner-Bogart movie; also the more recent cooking show). But are you ready for the barefoot violinista? She’s one of a kind, and hardly your everyday recitalist. Meet the fast-rising Patricia Kopatchinskaja from Moldova (formerly USSR), a petite  artist who looks like a sweet young woman but surprising you, playing with great fire and passion. In her Herbst Theatre recital, she called impromptu inaudibles (sic) from the stage, flip-flopping the opening selections, and inserting…

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THE UNIQUE UPLIFT TO MUSIC OF CHRISTMAS

THE UNIQUE UPLIFT TO MUSIC OF CHRISTMAS

For an uplifting and unusual Christmas program, we go to Chanticleer. As usual. For a look at the roots of Christmas music around the world’s many centuries, it’s Chanticleer. As usual. And this chorus? Never as usual. The uplift of Chanticleer was quite literally visible when the crowd stood as one at the last notes, gave vent to its enthusiasm and demanded an encore, “Carol of the Bells.” Take a dozen professional male singers with admirable articulation who can do,…

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CHRISTMAS BALLET’S GLITZ AND DAZZLE

CHRISTMAS BALLET’S GLITZ AND DAZZLE

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—Others dance steps. She dances a symphony. She has finesse, poise and a keen sense of timing. While others are just going through motions, she gives us her sense of true theater too, with personality to match. This is Erin Yarborough-Powell, who draws your gaze even when tucked away in an ensemble piece. Performing professionally for so many years she’d rarely reveal (best guess: Starting before the Millennium), she is the stunning interpreter at the Smuin Contemporary Ballet,…

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ELECTRONICS ENTERING STRING QUARTET WORLD

ELECTRONICS ENTERING STRING QUARTET WORLD

Vincent Calianno’s world-premiere string quartet was considerably more than four players given its bonus offering: added prerecorded tracks of electronics, voices, and even more string sounds. Entitled “A History of the String Quartet in its Natural Habitat,” this catalogue traces the evolution of both media—chamber music as well as  electronic enhancement—starting stylistically about 1900, going from fully structural to  aleatoric music to the present times. Calianno, 39, offers a lot of subtle solo-instrumental work building up to outbursts in ebb…

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EVERYMAN AS HERO IN OPERA

EVERYMAN AS HERO IN OPERA

The prolific composer Jake Heggie, 57, has amiable music coursing through his veins, resulting in some 300 songs written to date. You may recall Schubert in Vienna, and Brahms in Pörtschach, with so many melodies in the air, all they had to do was write them down. Or so was the claim. And Heggie gets his lyrical inspiration right here in San Francisco. But that make-no-waves facet of his does not transfer readily to composing operas with action, drama, and…

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AT THE SYMPHONY, ANNE FRANK IS ALIVE AND WELL

AT THE SYMPHONY, ANNE FRANK IS ALIVE AND WELL

However much the musical treatment of diarist Anne Frank might lean to positives, the reality of her legacy lies in the subliminal tragedy of her life and fate. Composer Michael Tilson Thomas’ musical readings in the 40-minute “From the Diary of Anne Frank” are eloquently understated. In sound and style, the music director has clearly drunk from the same well as his mentor, the (symphonic)  Leonard Bernstein. The orchestra interspersed phrases around diva Isabel Leonard’s narrations of Frank’s writing excerpts….

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EASTERN PROGRAM, STUNNING VIOLINIST

EASTERN PROGRAM, STUNNING VIOLINIST

An all-Eastern-European program added variety to the S.F. Symphony’s current-season offerings, focusing on suppressed music of the century 1850-1950. The three works could hardly have been less alike. At the center-point stood the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1, with a dazzling performance by violinist Karen Gomyo of Berlin. Despite her stunning evening gown, I couldn’t take my ears off her performance as she  played virtually nonstop 40 minutes in the highly challenging opus from 1948. The  high virtuosity and limited…

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The Elite Mariinsky (Don’t-Call-It-Kirov) Orchestra

The Elite Mariinsky (Don’t-Call-It-Kirov) Orchestra

A sold-out house greeted the most powerful conductor in Russia, Valery Gergiev, with his elite Mariinsky Orchestra from St. Petersburg, a group he has led for 30 years. Several things stood out right away: This is a crack orchestra, with a younger ensemble than expected (only a few gray hairs showing). Unlike so many of our orchestras, they don’t tootle on stage beforehand; they enter together, tune up, and play. And the group had 22 women on stage Oct. 22,…

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