RESOUNDING NEW-AND-OLD PIANO CONCERTO
Composer Mason Bates, 44, keeps astounding us with his versatility. Long seen as the unlikely East Bay DJ getting a classical Ph.D. at Cal, he then created a biopera about Steve Jobs and produced orchestral scores integrating live players with electronic sounds getting wide attention. And now he has launched his high-impact Piano Concerto—a boisterous and varied message stating that he is still very much out there. with yet more surprises up his sleeve.
Bates’ new 29-minute Piano Concerto sets off with historic finesse and moves on to jazzy exuberance, with the impact of “Hey, this is really fun to play!” Bristling with vitality, the piece de resistance regrettably drew one of the smallest crowds of the season at Davies Hall, with rows of empty seats at the June 3 evening performance. Dragging down the attendance was the audacious overly bold programming lacking the customary final work offering familiar music via an established popular classic.
The three-movement opus took over the S.F. Symphony boldly, propelled by the bigger-than-life solo part in three movements. The spasmodic opening segment was assertive, melodious and at times dance-like, inspired by Renaissance and Baroque elements more evident in concept than execution. Far more accessible was its peaceful slow movement, a languid reverie for piano inspired by romanticism in its gorgeous harmonics. It was fetchingly beautiful, capped by a retrospective cadenza.
The finale is a flat-out dance party, with jazzy inflections, recalling the great era of the touring “big bands” of mid-20th century, rousing in its crescendos. The demanding piano sounded like improvisations of an intensely energetic jazz stylist. If it reminds you of movie scores, it’s part of the nostalgia peppering this accessible work full of unbridled outbreaks and piano riffs. The dominant four-note theme takes one into syncopation and robust pair-ups of brass with drums.
But all that said is neglecting the huge central role of piano virtuoso Daniil Trifanov. To fully embrace this awe-inspiring Grammy-winning virtuoso, you need to forget that he was Russian-born and -trained. His solo work is creative and dazzling, and his collaboration with Bates is hand-in-glove, suggesting an athlete racing along the edge of a cliff and never falling or faltering. The spontaneity in his interpretation is stunning and presumably to the taste of the composer (at least, THIS composer).
The German guest conductor Ruth Reinhardt led the bold program. She led off with a Finnish experimental work, “Of Footprints and Light” by Lotta Wennȁkoski. This is more a collection of unusual ear-opening orchestral sound effects than any thematic continuity. There are enticing wood blocks, and bows skidding over violin strings, glints of woodwinds and a surprise thunderclap. But 12 minutes seems a bit long for this drawerful of sonic novelties, though it overtly sought to recall music of the late Ida Moberg..
Reinhardt, a conductor on the way up and still without a meaningful music directorship, came into her own on a little-noted Schubert Symphony No. 5—-one of the early symphonies largely ignored compared to Nos. 6-9.
She threw herself into that piece with gusto, though it lacks Schubert’s full maturity (The brass writing, coming on like a flotilla of invincible battleships, calls out for a measure of subtlety.) Playing a later familiar Schubert symphony might have averted all the empty seats at Davies.
WOMEN TO THE FOREFRONT—Reinhardt was the fourth SFS woman guest conductor since May 1. When the final tally is made, this 111th SFS Orchestral Series season will have had a record number of ladies on the podium: six, out of 16 total.
MUSIC NOTES—Composer Bates gave an articulate overview of his new work in mid-concert….One hopes that his SFS contract included transportation reimbursement to and from his place of work, right across the street at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music!
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY with podium guest Ruth Reinhardt, in works of Bates, Wennȁkoski, Schubert. Through June 5, Davies Hall, S.F. For SFS info: (415) 864-6000, or go online: www.sfsymphony.org.
