San Francisco Symphony Tour

From Juliet Williams in Edinburgh

The visit of the San Francisco Symphony under their principal chief conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas, was one of the highlights of both this year's Edinburgh Festival and the BBC Proms. It has been a very enjoyable opportunity for British audiences to see this distinctive orchestra perform live, and a welcome return visit for a conductor who has been pivotal in recent London concert-going years. The Edinburgh performances were thoroughly enjoyable and the classical repertoire featuring Yuja Wang as soloist sold out, but – perhaps with a more familiar venue, or more time to acclimatise – the London performances had the slight edge in all the works repeated there.

Beginning the tour in Scotland, the opening performance in Edinburgh (Thurs 27^th August) showcased a work commissioned for the orchestra's centenary in 2012, John Adams' Absolute Jest. This work pays homage to Beethoven and in particular the late quartets, which are heavily quoted. However it creates a very new musical experience by having a string quartet – here the  - St Lawrence Quartet – performing with full symphony orchestra. No one player is a soloist in the conventional concerto sense, nor even in the way that the solo parts of a double concerto are distributed; the quartet is collectively one but many-layered voice, which passes the melodic lead between the orchestra and itself as well as between its players. Hence the work looks forward as well as back; it creates a new musical experience in its form; it is modern in its sound world and it pays homage to one of classical music's most important figures. It is a very fitting piece for the orchestra's centenary. San Francisco Symphony have also recorded this piece.

This orchestra is to my mind heard at its best in minimalist works. It has a glistening, shimmery sound which is uplifting to the listener, hopeful and expansive. Whilst the Adams commission brought this out more than any other work on the programme, it was also brought to the fore in the expansive later sections of the second movement in Tchaikovsky's Fifth, which was performed to close the second Edinburgh concert and was a surprise highlight of the tour.

The Adams commission was given context by the performance also of  Beethoven's own work: in Edinburgh, his fourth Piano Concerto in which Yuja Wang was the flamboyant soloist and in London the Eroica symphony too. Ms Wang was very popular with the Edinburgh audience, the Usher Hall was filled to capacity and she received rapturous applause. She joined the San Francisco Symphony again in London on August 31st, this time to give a very enjoyable account of Bartok's Second Piano Concerto.

Perhaps the highlight of the entire visit though was the performance of  Mahler – of whom Michael Tilson Thomas is a noted interpreter – his first ('Titan') symphony forming the second half of the first Edinburgh concert and being repeated on Sun 30^th August at the Proms, when it was also broadcast live on Radio Three.

The first of the London performances included Boston-based pianist Jeremy Denk playing more of what he has described as 'bad boy pianism', the idiosyncratic Henry Cowell concerto. Denk described Cowell as the 'San Francisco-born wildboy of the keyboard' and his piece as, 'a violation of the piano'. Cowell is to be BBC Radio Three's 'Composer of the Week' soon, which should illuminate further his unusual life and work for those who would like to find out more about him. Bartok's influence is clear in this concerto, which therefore was put in context by performance of Bartok's own work the following evening, much as with the Adams commission and the Beethoven works. The piano part also at times evokes Rudzewski's writing for that instrument.

No American programme would be complete without Ives, and his ‘Decoration Day’ from 'New England Holidays' opened the second evening in both venues whilst 'The Alcotts' from 'Concord' was Jeremy Denk's encore. The first of the two concerts was opened by a particularly enjoyable account of Schoenberg's  Theme and Variations (Op 43b) – possibly the best live performance I've ever heard of this particular piece.

San Francisco Symphony Michael Tilson Thomas Mahler 1

From Juliet Williams in Edinburgh

The visit of the San Francisco Symphony under their principal chief conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas, was one of the highlights of this year's Edinburgh Festival and part of a programming strand featuring American music and musicians.

In the opening performance, they showcased a work commissioned for the orchestra's centenary in 2012, John Adams' Absolute Jest. This work pays homage to Beethoven and in particular the late quartets, which are heavily quoted. However it creates a very new musical experience by having a string quartet – here the St Lawrence Quartet – performing with full symphony orchestra. No one player is a soloist in the conventional concerto sense, nor even in the way that the solo parts of a double concerto are distributed; the quartet is collectively one but a many-layered voice, which passes the melodic lead between the orchestra and itself as well as between its players. Hence the work looks forward as well as back; it creates a new musical experience in its form; it is modern in its sound world and it pays homage to one of classical music's most important figures. It is a very fitting piece for the orchestra's centenary. San Francisco Symphony have also recorded this piece.

This orchestra is to my mind heard at its best in minimalist works. It has a glistening, shimmery sound which is uplifting to the listener, hopeful and expansive. Whilst the Adams commission brought this out more than any other work on the programme, it was also brought to the fore in the expansive later sections of the second movement in Tchaikovsky's Fifth, which was performed to close the second Edinburgh concert.

The Adams commission was given context by the performance also of Beethoven's own work: here in Edinburgh, his fourth Piano Concerto in which Philadelphia-educated Yuja Wang was the flamboyant soloist; in the two-centre UK tour taken as a whole, the Eroica symphony too (Proms, Mon 31^st August). Ms Wang was very popular with the Edinburgh audience, the Usher Hall was filled to capacity and she received rapturous applause. Her musicianship was further displayed in an excellent Queens Hall recital earlier in the week with Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos. She joins the San Francisco Symphony again in London on August 31st, this time to play Bartok's Second Piano Concerto.

 

Perhaps the highlight of the entire visit, though, was the performance of Mahler Symphony no 1 – of which Michael Tilson Thomas is a noted interpreter – forming the second half of the first Edinburgh concert. It is to be repeated this evening (Sun 30^th August) at the Proms, and is very well worth making the trip to hear. If you can't do that, it's broadcast live on Radio Three. The London performance will also include Boston-based pianist Jeremy Denk playing more of what he has described as 'bad boy pianism', the idiosyncratic Henry Cowell concerto.

No American programme would be complete without Ives, and his ‘Decoration Day’ from 'New England Holidays' opened the second evening. The first of the two concerts was opened by a particularly enjoyable account of Schoenberg's Theme and Variations (Op 43b) – possibly the best live performance I've ever heard of this particular piece.

Kavakos, Yuja Wang Edinburgh Festival

From Juliet Williams in Edinburgh

Edinburgh had the honour today of a return visit from the virtuosic Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos, who so excelled in the Szymanowski second violin concerto in 2013 with the LSO under Gergiev – a truly electrifying performance. Today he played the three Brahms violin sonatas with pianist Yuja Wang in this morning's Queens Hall chamber recital (also broadcast live on BBC Radio Three and available via the iPlayer).

The consecutive playing of the sonatas displayed the progression of the composer's work in this form; the first being at times sunny in mood and at other times wistful; the second anticipating the arrival of a loved one; the third with more dramatic tension and on a larger scale, in four movements not three. All are warm and lyrical  and draw on extracts from the composer's songs. Kavakos is a remarkable performer and it was a delight to have the opportunity to see him live here again. He particularly excelled in the allegro amabile opening movement of the second sonata and in the adagio of the Third.

Ms Wang's talents came more fully to the fore later in the performance and most especially in their encore, the Brahms scherzo in C minor from the F-A-E sonata, where she displayed considerable panache and flare. Her playing was also showcased to advantage in the third, playful movement of the dramatic third sonata which closed the concert. She will join the San Francisco Symphony on Friday in Beethoven's 4^th piano concerto, and I am looking forward to seeing her perform as a soloist. Further reports will follow here. They are also performing together at the Proms on Monday 31^st August, this time in Bartok's 2^ndpiano concerto. Leonidas Kavakos and Yuja Wang have recorded these sonatas  by Brahms together on the Decca label. Today's performance can be heard again on the BBC iPlayer for thirty days.

Golijov, Edinburgh International Festival -

From Juliet Williams in Edinburgh

This 2011 work for string quartet by citizen of the world Osvaldo Golijov, entitled Quohelet, performed at the Edinburgh Festival by the St Lawrence String Quartet, is inspired by the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. Best known for its third chapter:

“There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.”

 This sense of duality pervades the work: stillness / movement; thought / action; slow / fast. Since the work's premiere, Golijov has switched the order of the quartet's two movements. The work now opens with the reflective slow movement. Just for fun, a Brazilian pop tune is inserted. The pulsing second movement which follows has been compared in the helpful introduction by first violinist Geoff Nuttall to riding a motorcycle. Again there is one track within the music which is characterised by the sense of movement whilst another element is like the mind being elsewhere whilst the body moves. The music comes to a sudden, almost abrupt end, the listener's attention left in suspense …...

Having listened to the movements in both orders (easily done using the BBC website), I think there are actually merits to each, and it is an intriguing experiment. The combination of Jewish themes and a sense of pulsing movement is remniscent at times of Steve Reich, such as Tehilim. There are also echoes of Golijov's earlier work, for Kronos, The Prayers and Dreams of Isaac the Blind.

The Stanford (California) - based St Lawrence String Quartet gave the premiere of this work in 2011, written for them in recognition of their achievement in the performance of an earlier companion piece, Yiddishbbuk, inspired by apocyphal psalms – recorded on EMI in 2002 and nominated for two Grammy awards.

They are also the dedicatees of Absolute Jest, a concerto for string quartet and orchestra  by John Adams to be performed on August 27 with the San Francisco Symphony at Edinburgh's Usher Hall. Their chamber recital included John Adams' first string quartet,and I intend to discuss the two works by Adams together later in the week. 

Although specialists in contemporary repertoire such as this,  in their tour to the Edinburgh Festival they included in the programme Saint Saen's late-written and rigorous First Quartet, and a very lovely account of the slow movement from Haydn's Op20 no1 as an encore. Their excellent performance in such more traditional repertoire showcases their versatility  and span of musical achievement. Their playing is characterised by energy and imagination.

 

Small nation seeks independence - Guglielmo Tell Edinburgh Festival

From Juliet Williams at the Edinburgh International Festival:

Usher Hall, Edinburgh 26th August 2014 sung in Italian by Teatro Regio Torino; conductor Gianandreo Noseda;  Dalibor Jenis, Guglielmo Tell; Angela Meade, Mathilde; John Osborn, Arnoldo; Mirco Palazzi, Gaultiero; Fabrizio Beggi,Melcthal; Marina Bucciarelli, Jemmy. William Tell's son; Anna Maria Chiuri, Edwige, William Tell's wife; Luca Tittoto, Gessler; Mikeldi Atxalandabaso, Ruodi; Luca Casalin, Rodolfo; Paolo Orecchia, Leutoldo

"The choice of this tale, Rossini's last opera, of liberation from oppressive rule by a larger country to the south east for the Edinburgh Festival as Scotland ponders the question of independence is perhaps apposite and has already been noted, for example in the Herald. This performance was also dedicated to the memory of Claudio Abbado, remembered in a moving introductory speech by festival director Jonathan Mills. 

This production had two great stars: Dalibor Jenis  (photo above) in the title role, and the music itself. Jenis excelled both vocally and in his stage presence as the baritone hero. His performance was for me the highlight of the show and was consistently excellent. John Osborn was good in the tricky role of Arnoldo. His lengthy aria opening the fourth and final act of the opera attracted lengthy applause. This is part of a well-performed scene in which the Swiss confederates rouse their strength to prepare for battle despite the capture of their hitherto leader, William Tell. Angela Meade as Mathilde gave a lovely performance in Act Three in her dialogue with Arnoldo as to their divided loyalties given that their love falls across the political divide of their respective countries. She came into her own in this scene, and in the closing scene of this act, where her tenderness towards William's son was clearly apparent. In a generally even cast, amongst the smaller parts Paolo Orecchia stood out as Leutoldo the shepherd. Rossini's energetic and likeable score, opening with the eponymous overture was played and sung with enthusiasm in Italian by Teatro Regio Torino's musicians and chorus. The big sound resounded in the Usher Hall's favourable acoustic in this concert performance, but the nature of the libretto cries out for staging, and it is a shame that touring the fully staged version to Edinburgh was not practical. It is an enjoyable production which whets the appetite to see this work again."

Lots of chances coming up. Wonderful Guillaume Tell at Munich a few weeks back with Bryan Hymel hitting C after C after C and  Michael Volle as Tell. Pity about the dull production. Antonio Pappano is another William Tell specialist (wonderful Prom and CD). He's bringing Guillaume to The Royal Opera House London in July 2015. John Osborn and Gerald Finley.

Edinburgh International Festival : Commonwealth Strings

From Juliet Williams in Edinburgh

Edinburgh Festival Chamber series looks forward and back

Elgar: Introduction and Allegro for Strings Op.47 Peter Sculthorpe: Sonata for Strings No.3 Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis Gareth Farr: Relict Furies for mezzo-soprano and double string orchestra Tippett: Concerto for Double String Orchestra Scottish Ensemble Commonwealth Strings Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano

The morning concert series in Edinburgh's Queens Hall usually features distinguished chamber musicians in small groups. Yesterday's performance saw a larger ensemble take to the stage, showcasing the talents of an international group of young Commonwealth players in an Antipodean-influenced programme. In between good accounts of Elgar and Vaughan Williams, they commemorated significant Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe who died earlier this month – his work was also performed by the Kronos Quartet here last week. The well-known Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis was taken at a very slow tempo, creating a new insight into this frequently performed piece, making it almost reminiscent at times of Arvo Part.

After the interval a new commission from young New Zealand composer Gareth Farr followed. Taking the theme of the centenary of the First World War his work looks at the anger and pain that those who survive, those who are widowed and those whose loved ones return permanently injured are left with. Mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly was the soloist with large forces, also required in Michael Tippett's Concerto for Double String Orchestra which closed the programme. Whilst commemorating the Great War and the loss of a major influence, this event also looked forward to the talent and creativity of the young and outward to the talent in other parts of the Commonwealth as well as the traditions of our own country. Listening via the BBC iPlayer has the additional bonus of Kiri Te Kanewa's account of Songs of the Auvergene (extract) in the interval. 

Those of us who can't make it to Edinburgh  can hear no fewer than 15 EIF concerts on BBC Radio 3.  All chamber - opera, theatre and big orchestral works aren't included, but there have been some real treasures among the chamber concerts.  Bostridge/Adès, Anna Prohaska's Songs of war,  and Stéphane Degout yesterday. Most remarkable of all,  The Hebrides Ensemble  with a truly brilliant extended Stravinsky A Soldier's Tale. Graham F Valentine (pictured above) created a brilliant narration  which followed the metre of the music, yet was full of wisecracks and word plays, some so uniquely Scottish I coiuldn't get them. This narration was a work of art,, not mere "filller". I hope  someone's recorded it so it won't be lost. Would that we could hear more of Valentine in London.

I listened to the Commonwealth Strings concert too, quite pleased with Peter Sculthorpe's Sonata for Strings no 3.  Landscape music which evokes the vast open horizons of the outback. Sculthorpe reproduces exactly in sound, the way  flocks of Rodsellas and other types of parrot  suddenly take off from the trees in which they perch, screaming in unison. Often there will be a few thousand birds together. An amazing sight which you have to have experience to believe.  I's be very wary, however, of ascribing "Aboriginal" colours  to Sculthorpe's work.  Given what happened to the indigenous people of Australaia, plundering their heritage is a kind of cultural rape.