San Francisco Symphony Combines Classical with Neo-Classical

By Eman Isadiar

In a rare performance of Mozart's piano concerto No. 23, Michael Tilson Thomas appeared in the twin roles of conductor and soloist (photo courtesy of San Francisco Symphony).

During a break in this winter's extreme weather, San Francisco Symphony music director proved himself a force of nature on the keyboard in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23. This rare appearance by Michael Tilson Thomas in the twin roles of conductor and soloist was framed by two works by Stravinsky – the Octet for winds and music from the ballet Pulcinella – each representing a different side of the composer's stylistic temperament.

Until today, we might have thought it impossible for Michael Tilson Thomas to charm us any more than he already has over his fifteen-year history as the symphony's music director. For a world-renowned conductor to show his instrumental skills, it takes more than courage. It is a meaningful gesture – an expression of trust.

And having done so with the sublime elegance of a Mozart concerto rather than a technically opulent romantic or modern work, M.T.T. made this occasion even more precious.

There is a long list of reasons why many consider Mozart's K. 488 concerto in A major to be his greatest musical achievement. Completed five years before the composer's death, the concerto predates Mozart's decline in health and was written at a time when his creative genius and his career in Vienna were both at their brightest. It was also written in the same year that saw the creation of The Impresario and The Marriage of Figaro, which could explain the concerto's unmistakable operatic quality.

Tilson Thomas displayed a clear sense of reverence in his approach to the concerto, which indicates the piece must hold a special place in his repertoire as a conductor and pianist. Delicate dynamics, lyrical swells and singing effects were prominent throughout the first movement. The very subtle fluctuations in tempo added a moderately romantic touch, and the tastefully held-back cadenza displayed some impressive finger work.

Some fleeting moments of the second movement, however, were intensely laden with emotion. The most powerful of these was marked by Tilson Thomas' sophisticated half-pedaling and use of the sostenuto pedal, which simulated the sonorities of an 18th century fortepiano. In a moment of pure musical enchantment, the faint, pleading voice of Mozart was heard, as if through a tunnel from 220 years away.

Any clouds which may have gathered during the dark despair of the second movement were quickly dispelled in the opening bars of the energetic third, and the more familiar jovial Mozart came bursting through.

Stravinsky's Octet for winds preceded Mozart's concerto on the program, and made a rather suitable complement. The piece dates back to the middle period in the composer's career dominated by a return to older musical idioms, during which Stravinsky explores the same principles of music used and perfected by Mozart, but in a contemporary context.

The three-movement Octet for winds is notoriously difficult in its frequent and sudden tempo changes, which are often managed by a conductor. Stravinsky himself conducted the premiere at the Paris Opera House, and was described by playwright Jean Cocteau as “an astronomer engaged in working out a magnificent instrumental calculation in figures of silver.”

While most chamber groups would have required a conductor to smooth out the rapidly shifting transitions, the elite ensemble of the San Francisco Symphony was able to give a solid performance of the Octet without the need for one. The fast-paced and playful finale was particularly exciting.

The final piece on the program was the music from Stravinsky's ballet Pulcinella commissioned by the fabled Russian ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Stravinsky was specifically tasked with using music attributed to 18th century Italian composer Giovanni Pergolesi, which Diaghilev thought would be the perfect accompaniment to the ballet's Comedia dell'arte setting.

While wrapping the ancient Italian tunes entirely in his own unique style – to the point that any trace of the original composer is all but entirely erased – Stravinsky is deeply marked by this return to Europe's earlier music. Pulcinella is said to be the seminal work that triggered an important period in Stravinsky's style, and subsequently that of other composers of his generation, known as “neo-classicism.”

Apparently, Diaghilev had in mind a lavish ballet production, incorporating orchestral and vocal music as well as making prominent use of the visual arts in the sets, which were to be designed by none other than Pablo Picasso. The choreography and libretto were both done by Diaghilev's protégé Leonide Messine.

Michael Tilson Thomas led the San Francisco Symphony in a stunning performance of Pulcinella with its nine arias, each sung brilliantly by mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, tenor Bruce Sledge and bass Eric Owens.

While both of the Stravinsky pieces were written in close chronological proximity, they represent the two extremes of composer's approach to neo-classicism – the Octet being essentially a modern piece aspiring to classical principles while Pulcinella contains old music guised in 20th century modernism and orchestral color.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

New Season Opens for Symphony and Opera

By Eman Isadiar

Much like the turning of the leaves or the migration of the pelicans, there is a certain September week that signals the yearly progression of life in San Francisco. Yet it marks more than the mere passage of time. It is a moment of civic pride, of joyful celebration, and of being dressed to the nines for two extravagant opening nights.

On September 9, music director Michael Tilson Thomas inaugurated San Francisco Symphony’s 98th season at Davies Symphony Hall–and his own 15th anniversary at the podium–with works by Liszt, Ravel and Rodgers, and Prokofiev’s monumental Third Piano Concerto with keyboard legend Lang Lang.

Across the street at the War Memorial Opera House, Nicola Luisotti led a cast of stars in Verdi’s Il Trovatore on September 11–this time not as the favored returning guest conductor from Italy, but as San Francisco Opera’s newest music director.

The Public Goes Ga-Ga for Lang Lang

Maestro Tilson Thomas opened the symphony’s program with a series of three waltzes, each boldly different from the rest in style and character.

Mephisto Waltz No. 1 by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt is a fleshed-out symphonic version of his better-known work for the piano. The title is apparently derived from the character of Mephistopheles, who is an incarnation of the devil in the legend of Faust.

Far from the title’s reference to the underworld, the waltz expresses man’s rather innocent longing for youth and vitality in a perpetual struggle with moral issues. This, the orchestra communicated in a thrilling performance with bursts of supersonic tempos and stunning technical brilliance.

Then came La valse – simply, “The Waltz” – by French composer Maurice Ravel. The work was originally conceived for dance, but was made into a stand-alone concert piece after a dispute between composer and choreographer.

Being exceptionally gifted at orchestration, Ravel creates sensual tonal textures that, while being uniquely his own, are also an unmistakable musical salute to the great master of the Viennese waltz, Johann Strauss.

If Liszt’s waltz speaks of valiant youth and vigor, Ravel’s speaks of princes, fairy-tale castles and chivalry.

The third and final waltz on the program – taken from the Broadway musical Carousel by American composer Richard Rodgers – speaks simply of tender affection.

One might find the harmonies of the opening bars by Rodgers surprisingly sophisticated for a Broadway production. A brief detour into polytonality hinted at the composer’s interest in the emerging musical trends of his time on both sides of the Pond, which made this piece a particularly intriguing specimen for the waltz sample three-pack.

The evening’s principal attraction, however, followed intermission, with Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto played by one of the most popular performers of our time, Lang Lang.

Pianist Lang Lang shines in San Francisco Symphony’s opening night concert on September 9, 2009 (photo courtesy of San Francisco Symphony).

Despite being billed primarily as a Chinese sensation, Lang was a student of Graffman at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute, and could be equally considered a product of American training. At 27, he has played the great concert halls of the world many times over, and already demonstrates the rare sensitivity and skill of a veteran of the stage.

After years of polarized reviews, Lang Lang’s flawless execution has now aged into soulful art, right before our very eyes.

It was not the technical demands of Prokofiev’s concerto, but rather its unexpected romanticism that revealed the breadth of Lang’s interpretive canvas.

After endless applause and four returns to the stage, Lang Lang finally relented to an encore – Chopin’s Etude in A-flat, Op. 25, known as the “Aeolian Harp.”

If you think you’ve heard this piece before, think again!

To breathe new life into the single most commonly played Chopin Etude for over 160 years – now, THAT takes more than anything taught in a music school; American or Chinese.

So, who deserves credit for producing the world phenomenon that is Lang Lang? China and the U.S. may well have to fight this one out, too, along with the trade deficit and carbon emissions.

'Il Trovatore' Marks New Beginning for San Francisco Opera

Since San Francisco Opera’s public announcement of its new music director exactly two years and eight months ago, the enigmatic Nicola Luisotti has been the talk of the town as the man next in line to bear the mantle of his illustrious predecessors, the English Sir John Pritchard and the Scottish Donald Runnicles.

Nicola Luisotti conducts his first production as San Francisco Opera’s new music director (photo by Terrence McCarthy).

It is also a compliment to our city and to our opera that a European conductor of Luisotti’s stature should dismiss multiple offers, no doubt, from highly prestigious opera companies on the continent in favor of San Francisco.

Rivers of ink have flowed in Luisotti’s mention since he conducted last year’s production of La Bohème, and was featured as a guest conductor of the San Francisco Symphony in March. Naturally, this year’s season-opener with Verdi’s Il Trovatore was laden with excitement with perhaps a dash of skepticism.

Moments into the music, one could faintly hear a qualitative change in the orchestra’s sound. Whether a result of the new chemistry between conductor and orchestra, a side-effect of the slightly raised pit, or simply a musical placebo effect caused by the massive publicity in advance of Luisotti’s arrival – it is hard to know for sure.

Whatever the case, this is definitely a positive change.

The opera itself is a tragic tale of love, cruelty and murder, set to music by the master of Italian opera Giuseppe Verdi based on the work of Spanish playwright Antonio Gutierrez.

Sometime in fifteenth century Spain, Count Di Luna is convinced that his young son is ill from witchcraft, and orders a certain gypsy woman burnt at the stake in order to break the evil spell. The gypsy’s daughter named Azucena – herself the mother of a young boy – kidnaps the count’s son in a desperate attempt to trade his life for that of her mother, but arrives too late.

As the flames devour Azucena’s mother, she throws the count’s abducted son into the fire in a fit a vengeful wrath, only to realize in chilling horror, that she has instead burned her own son alive by mistake.

Azucena raises the count’s son as her dead boy Manrico, who grows into a handsome troubadour – trovatore in Italian – and whose sweet melodies capture the heart of a certain Leonora.

The count’s second son becomes the new Count Di Luna after his father’s death, and also falls in love with Leonora. Being a powerful and wealthy man – not to mention lethally jealous – the count manages to capture Manrico, whom he intends to kill over the woman they both love.

Leonora vows marriage to the count in exchange for Manrico’s life, but soon commits suicide to get out of the bargain. This enrages the count, so he hangs Manrico, upon which Azucena reveals to the count that he has killed, not a rival, but his own long-lost brother.

The story ends in a perfect example of operatic justice when the count pays the price for the long-ago death of a gypsy woman, and has to live out his days knowing he has killed his own flesh and blood, eerily sharing Azucena’s fate.

Verdi’s Il Trovatore opened San Francisco Opera’s 87th season on September 11, 2009 (photo by Robert Kusel).

American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was ravishing as Leonora. Her perfectly controlled high notes in the aria “D’amor sull’ali rosee” (“On the Rosey Wings of Love”) of Act 4 – where Leonora sings of her concern for Manrico while pacing outside the prison – drew the evening’s loudest cheers.

Singing the troubadour’s part was Italian tenor Marco Berti, who did a fine job carrying the added burden of – not only being the leading tenor – but being a leading tenor who happens to be a singer in the story itself.

Berti’s aria “Ah, sì ben mio” (“Ah, My Beloved”), was one of the opera’s highlights, in which Manrico longs for death knowing that Leonora has agreed to marry the count.

Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who appears frequently in important roles with the San Francisco Opera, sang the part of Count di Luna with command and authority. First-timer mezzo soprano Stephanie Blythe, made a lasting impression in the complicated and disturbing character of Azucena.

Under chorus director Ian Robertson’s leadership, the band of gypsies, nuns, and ordinary fifteenth century Spaniards played a crucial part in the opera’s success.

Each scene was treated as though a delicately balanced painting, where the interplay of shadow and light filled open spaces, creating a kind of picture book to accompany the story.

David McVicar and Walter Sutcliffe co-directed the production with the finest of sets, costumes and choreography at their disposal.

Clearly, San Francisco Opera is charting its own artistic course through the rough waters of the world’s worst economic crisis ever. In contrast, this opening night was nothing but smooth sailing all around.

Of course, with Captain Luisotti now at the helm, San Francisco Opera may as well be the QE2.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

San Francisco Symphony Presents Famed Argentine Pianist

By Eman Isadiar

Martha Argerich appears with the San Francisco Symphony in Ravel's Piano Concerto in G (Photo courtesy of San Francisco Symphony)

If traffic was especially congested in downtown San Francisco on the evenings of March 5 through 7, a small woman from Buenos Aires may have had something to do with it. Contrary to her physique, pianist Martha Argerich is among the greatest musical giants of the century, which explains the masses who poured in to see her perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with the San Francisco Symphony in three sold-out shows.

They may have come for Argerich, but they also stumbled upon an unexpected musical jewel: the Requiem by Romanian composer György Ligeti. The program opened with a late Renaissance choral work titled In eccelsiis by Giovanni Gabrieli, and closed with an early romantic tone poem called Lament and Triumph by Franz Liszt.

Only in his second year directing the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Swedish-born Ragnar Bohlin has clearly hit the ground running. Being four centuries apart and infinitely different in style, each of the program’s two choral works had its own set of technical challenges.

For example, how does one perform in a modern concert hall such an ancient piece as Gabrieli’s In eccelsiis, which was meant to be sung in a church setting?

Perhaps for another choral director, such a dilemma would never even exist, as the rear chorus box at Davies Hall and the stage are the two obvious places for the singers. But Bohlin chose to break up the chorus into three groups of roughly 30 each standing on stage and along the length of the aisles on either side of the audience. This created a multi-dimensional flow of sound similar to the acoustics of a cathedral—at least for those seated in the orchestra-level section.

The instrumental accompaniment in Gabrieli’s music leaves room for different orchestrations, which in this performance was distributed among six brass instruments and an organ. Being primarily an instrument for ancient music, one would have expected the harpsichord in the center of the stage to be used in this piece. Ironically, the harpsichord was for the ultramodern music to follow.

The soloists, namely mezzo-soprano Lisa Scarborough, tenors Thomas Busse and Joel Jay Baluyot, and baritone Steven Rogino each sang their brief parts with impressive skill. Thomas Busse, who had the shortest solo of all, was particularly striking for his virtual absence of a vibrato, which is stylistically consistent with vocal music of pre-classical times.

Then came the evening’s most stunning surprise: Ligeti’s Requiem.

San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas has repeatedly proven his gift for communicating very abstract and complex musical insights in a language that engages the simple laity and the aficionado alike.

An especially lengthy introduction from the stage, however, can be disconcerting as it usually signals a highly dissonant piece with irregular rhythms or other features not easily understood or appreciated by the average patron.

Perhaps such was the expectation as the audience braced for the Requiem after the conductor used the words “avant-garde” and “experimental” in his remarks. But the guarded, cautious listening soon gave way to a sense of interested intrigue, followed by thoughtful reflection.

Dissonant indeed was the opening Introitus, but not of the type the unrefined listener might find absurd or intolerable. It was a very familiar dissonance, like the hum of insects or the distant sound of an oncoming train—only laden with profound sorrow.

The first movement seemed to end in notated rests, as Tilson Thomas continued to conduct after the last notes had dissipated.

Ligeti’s music was filled with tone clusters—basically groups of neighboring notes played or sung simultaneously. This is especially difficult for the human voice as there is a very strong tendency for multiple voices to shrink into unison when singing in close harmonic proximity, or to expand into an octave when singing in sevenths. But never did the singers’ pitch slide discernibly in either direction, which, again is owed to the remarkable work of chorus director Ragnar Bohlin.

The third movement, De die judicii sequentia, was the most powerful, evoking deep, primal emotions ranging from utter anguish to absolute horror, particularly in the tutti passages. This is where the soloists, mezzo-soprano Annika Hudak and soprano Hannah Holgersson—both also from Ragnar Bohlin's native Sweden—displayed their stunning technique with laser-like accuracy in very uncomfortable harmonies or at the very limit of their ranges.

Another fascinating aspect of the music was the unusual way in which the instruments doubled the voices, making it difficult to tell where one ended and the other began. Also, the extremely low notes for both the voice and the tuba hinted at the chanting of Tibetan monks. In some instances, the notes were so low that they may well have been on the very edge of the human hearing spectrum.

The final movement titled Lacrimosa is where the harpsichord was finally put to use by the symphony’s keyboardist Robin Sutherland. This movement was intensely emotional and brought to mind the deep scars Ligeti must have sustained, having lost his entire family to the Holocaust.

Once again, congratulations to Maestro Tilson Thomas for his constant efforts to instill and cultivate a taste for modern art music in the public. Clearly, it takes not only a certain measure of boldness, but also a dash of faith in the audience’s openness to new musical experiences.

Of course, having a headliner such as Martha Argerich on the program probably made the task a little easier.

Those unfamiliar with Ravel’s Concerto in G will immediately note the composer’s reference to American music, particularly in the first and third movements. Could Gershwin—more than 20 years his junior—have influenced Ravel from across the Atlantic? That is unclear, but it is known that Ravel had taken a keen interest in jazz, which had already reached European shores by that time.

Aside from the Gershwinesque motifs, the concerto also bears signature traits of French impressionistic music, of which Ravel was himself a founder. These include frequent use of the pentatonic mode, parallel harmonies, and a whole-tone glissando of the harp.

Martha Argerich delivered a breathtaking performance, with perfectly shaped phrases and precisely controlled dynamics. She maneuvred her part with great agility from the foreground to the background and vice-versa, weaving through the many layers of music like a sort of musical chameleon. This was reciprocated by Michael Tilson Thomas’ very attentive conducting.

The Adagio movement contains perhaps Ravel’s most sublime music. Argerich produced the purest possible sound by delicately fluttering the damper pedal on the Hamburg Steinway in the most intimate passages. On a number of occasions, it seemed as though her fingers gyrated on the keys as if to create a vibrato similar to a string instrument.

Ravel’s energetic finale requires phenomenal physical prowess and stamina, both of which were found abundantly in Argerich’s musical reserves. Her flawless playing offers irrefutable proof that Rachmaninoff-sized hands are not a pre-requisite for perfect and absolute mastery of the piano.

The audience’s persistent standing ovation was rewarded with a surprising and very appropriate encore: Ravel’s “Fairy Garden” from Mother Goose, a four-hand piece featuring Argerich in the primo and Tilson Thomas in the secondo parts. This piece also exemplifies Ravel at his most elegant, with echoes of his other piano solo compositions such as Le Tombeau de Couperin or Pavane pour une infante défunte.

Seeing the maestro at the piano was a foretaste of next season, which will feature Michael Tilson Thomas as the soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 scheduled for January 2010.

The evening concluded with Liszt’s orchestral work called Lament and Triumph inspired by the writings of Italian poet Tasso. Michael Tilson Thomas gave his fans a subtle hint of his other musical interests by drawing a parallel between Liszt’s tone poem and rock music, naming Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the music of Led Zeppelin. This reference definitely piqued the audience’s interest.

In Lament and Triumph, Liszt establishes the free romantic format of the orchestral “tone poem” versus the highly structured “symphony” of the classical period. Later generations of composers followed in Liszt’s footsteps by composing similar orchestral works, most notably among them Wagner, Strauss and Mahler.

Michael Tilson Thomas demonstrated yet again his facility for this repertoire in a rich and sensitive interpretation of Liszt’s tone poem. In fact, many consider Tilson Thomas a kind of artistic heir to the great romantics through his mentor Leonard Bernstein. He continues to be an ardent champion of the music of Mahler, which—not surprisingly—figures prominently in next season’s program and an eagerly-anticipated CD release.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.

More Mahler on the Menu at San Francisco Symphony

By Eman Isadiar

Conductor and music director Michael Tilson Thomas unveils San Francisco Symphony's 2009-2010 season. (Photo courtesy of San Francisco Symphony)

SAN FRANCISCO—Music director Michael Tilson Thomas announced the 98th season of the San Francisco Symphony at a press conference held on March 2. Following a prepared presentation, board president John Goldman and executive director Brent Assink expressed optimism about the minimal impact of the current economic climate on the symphony’s direction and goals leading to the centennial season and beyond.

The 2009-2010 season will open on September 9 with pianist Lang Lang, followed by a three-week festival exploring the music of Gustav Mahler and others with artistic ties to the composer. Segments of the festival will be filmed for future episodes of the symphony’s signature educational series Keeping Score. Selected Mahler works will also be performed on tour in New York and in Lucerne, Switzerland, while SFS Media plans to release a new album with Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand recorded live at Davies Hall in November 2008.

Other important season highlights include new Keeping Score episodes featuring music by Berlioz, Shostakovich and Ives to be broadcast on KQED in the fall, new residency projects with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and composer George Benjamin, and a star-studded roster of guest artists from violinist Itzhak Perlman to baritone Thomas Hampson. San Francisco Symphony will also host performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Gewandhaus Orchestra and Mariinsky Orchestra.

No Artistic Budget Cuts

Executive director Brent Assink announced that the symphony has sealed a new four-year collective bargaining agreement with the musicians, extending well past the symphony's 100th anniversary. He also added that the accompanying digital media agreement will enable the symphony to cultivate its audience base through technology.

With regard to economic conditions Board president John Goldman emphasized that, while the symphony’s endowment has been deeply impacted by the present crisis, the symphony’s board of governors is committed to maintaining the organization’s unsurpassed artistic excellence. He pointed out that, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2008, the board has taken significant measures to reduce the symphony’s administrative costs, and will continue to find new ways to weather the current economy. He insisted that none of these efforts will include a reduction to the artistic budget in any way, shape or form.

When asked if touring presented a significant drain on resources, Goldman replied that national and international concert tours are a great way to uphold the symphony’s image as a world-class orchestra. He added that the board is diligent to ensure that touring frequency and costs are sustainable over the long term.

Tilson Thomas the Pianist

Ending the conference on a musical note, Michael Tilson Thomas said that he has felt a new surge of inspiration to practice the piano. He added that he plans to appear as the soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in January 2010, which he jokingly hoped would not be a “suicide performance.”

Tilson Thomas also spoke about his rediscovery of Schubert through the composer’s vast repertoire of four-hand piano music. He added that he often gets so absorbed in the music that he attempts to simultaneously play both parts alone.

For additional information about the San Francisco Symphony, visit sfsymphony.org or call (415) 864-6000.

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Eman Isadiar teaches piano at the Peninsula Conservatory and writes about music in the San Francisco Bay Area.