A CONDUCTOR CARRIED AWAY

A CONDUCTOR CARRIED AWAY

There he was in a full-body resonant thrill, something never witnessed in some 10,000 concerts I’ve attended. His whole body trembled ecstatically as he raised his vehemently shaking fists on high during the ocean-swell ovations for the Mahler Fifth just concluded. No, not a seizure. Just an energized attack of great classical music. With his departure a bit more than two years away, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, 73, realizes that each time may be his last leading that composition…

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COOL COPLAND, HOT UZBEK PIANIST

COOL COPLAND, HOT UZBEK PIANIST

Tastes change; once vying with Hanson’s “Romantic” as the most popular American symphony of all, Aaron Copland’s Third showed  off its longterm merit and great appeal in the S.F. Symphony’s recording performance this week at Davies Hall. The Copland is neoclassicism at its best, with recurrent themes, a wide range of sonic colors, and contrasts of deft soft spots with stirring power that was arguably reflecting America, its growth and its optimism. I also detect the hustle and bustle of…

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YOUNG VIOLINIST TEACHING PRICELESS LESSONS

YOUNG VIOLINIST TEACHING PRICELESS LESSONS

Many a violin recital with the usual touring-artist repertoire has all the excitement of hopping the 5:33 commute train to Burlingame. Then there’s the one by Simone Porter, 21, a gentle, delicate woman from Seattle with a bow arm as powerful as on a cricket bowler. And with a great love for works of conflagrations and narrations. Her program at the Conservatory was bristling with power and passion as she focused on music of narrative, flamboyance and dissent. Oh, my—I…

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A BLOODY BALLET HORROR STORY

A BLOODY BALLET HORROR STORY

Horror stories are rare in ballet, and “Frankenstein” (2016)  is one of the effective ones, in the vein of the old revenge plays ending with homicides and corpses all over the stage. I counted six who die by the final curtain, but I may have missed one or two. The work links posh gentility with lurid assaults. Thank London’s Royal Ballet for launching this work, adapted from Mary Shelley’s trail-blazing novel of two centuries ago—-very appropriate for marking, if not exactly…

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RESURRECTING FORGOTTEN OLD NEW-WORLD WORKS

RESURRECTING FORGOTTEN OLD NEW-WORLD WORKS

Chanticleer took chances with its latest program of New-World sacred music in Latin and Spanish called “Saints Alive,” leaving local audiences alternately bewildered and inspired. Its collection of forgotten works from the 16th to the 18th century  is immensely valuable, introducing composers like Salazar, Aruajo, Flores, Sumaya and good old “Anonymous” to our own early-music world, which has been far more European-focused. Appropriately enough, the current sites for these concerts are local missions and churches, including Fremont’s Mission San Jose,…

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WRITING THE WRONGS ON A CHORAL LEVEL – And Averting the Coral Riffs’ Dying Off

WRITING THE WRONGS ON A CHORAL LEVEL – And Averting the Coral Riffs’ Dying Off

BURLINGBRAE, CA—The ambitious vocalists of the community’s Soporific Singers launched a double-barreled program at the Main Hall as unique as it was enriching, at least for the ensemble’s well-publicized financial ills. The choral iconography was artfully enmeshed in post-renaissance harmonic convergence, avoiding the pitfalls of insipid incipits. The repertory included Henry Howell’s “Our Magnum Opus” and Lauritz’ “Savior of Industry, “ commissioned by a recent White House grant. They were tastefully conducted by Marika Dunn and I.M. Neerlee Undunn, who…

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GLASS TREADING ON OLD GLASS

GLASS TREADING ON OLD GLASS

Philip Glass has a unique hold on a huge, diverse audience, and he is one of only three or so living American composers with an instantly recognizable style. When the composer-synthesist played this week before a near-sold-out Davies Hall crowd, he got an instant standing ovation at the end. During the preceding nonstop 90 minutes, hypnotic and repetitious though his music be, I only saw one patron in more than 40 around me dozing off. Glass may just be the…

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LIGHTS, IBSEN, ACTION AT S.F. BALLET

LIGHTS, IBSEN, ACTION AT S.F. BALLET

Every time that “Ibsen’s House” is brought out at the ballet, which is not nearly often enough, it’s a stunner of a modern dance drama. Created a decade ago by Val Caniparoli, it features five couples playing out the tensions in a male-dominated society when the wife too yearns for a role, for latitude, even for freedom. It’s a social revolution that leaves you riveted with its electricity, even if you’re unfamiliar with Henrik Ibsen’s century-old plays like “Ghosts,” “A…

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THE DEATH OF THE STORY-BALLET TRADITION?

THE DEATH OF THE STORY-BALLET TRADITION?

The modern-day move away from the great tradition of story ballets continues. In the S,F, Ballet program (No. 2) that opened Feb. 13, the inviting options to go the story route, even in an American classic, were crushed in favor of modern-day abstractions. Abstract ballets are indeed appealing—but do they embody the only story worth telling in ballets created today? “The Chairman Dances—Quartet for Two,” based on John Adams music actually written for an opera, veered off into another direction,…

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IMMORTAL SEAFARER, DOOMED TO ETERNITY AT SEA

IMMORTAL SEAFARER, DOOMED TO ETERNITY AT SEA

SAN JOSE—Bounce up out of that easy chair and catch a rare “The Flying Dutchman,” for which Opera San Jose imported singers from as far away as Berlin. You might need a seat belt, because these are big-league (and big volume) Wagnerian voices, in a small 1,200-seat theater (about a quarter the size of NYC’s Met)—a rare treat for listeners, one that few companies can afford. In his fantasy operas Richard Wagner had the knack of creating bigger-than-life characters in…

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