For the past two weeks Davies Symphony Hall has seen familiar guest conductor Charles Dutoit take charge of the San Francisco Symphony in concerts sharing an internationally flavored repertoire that also featured luscious helpings of music and arrangements by composer Maurice Ravel. The "postcards" theme of the programming included only one large selection that could be called markedly un-Gallic, but the guest soloist in the very English-sounding Cello Concerto by Sir Edward Elgar was French artist Gautier Capucon.
Last week's program was publicized as The Rhythms and Romance of Spain , though there was only one Spanish composer on the bill. Manuel de Falla's moody Nights in the Gardens of Spain proved suitably hushed and mysterious, with piano solos by Javier Perianes illuminating a dark, hothouse atmosphere. It is a reflective score, and Perianes made the most of his moments amidst Dutoit's rather stiff control of the richly textured orchestra.
The night began with a very precise and luxuriantly played Alborada del gracioso by Ravel. It proved an exciting overture for a satisfying and well-planned program. The second half was given to a concert performance of Ravel's subtly sexy one-act comic opera L'Heure espagnole (The Spanish Hour ).
American lyric mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard is of Argentinean ancestry on her mother's side, and her Latin good looks made her persuasively Hispanic (and charmingly seductive) in the central role of the would-be naughty wife Concepcion. She also sings with a lovely tone and suitably saucy French accent. Try as she might, her character is thwarted in her attempts at flirtation and adultery as the slim but amusing plot unfolds.
Married to the rather dim but ultimately successful clockmaker Torquemada (an endearing enactment by tenor Jean-Paul Fouchecourt) and awaiting a tryst with tenor John Mark Ainsley as the gushing poet Gonzalve, Concepcion tries repeatedly to get handsome muleteer Ramiro out of her husband's shop and out of the way. He's just waiting for a watch repair. Another suitor arrives to complicate matters further as the banker Don Inigo Gomez (a very funny turn by baritone David Wilson-Johnson) pitches Concepcion some woo and ends up hiding inside a large grandfather clock.
Baritone Jean-Luc Ballestra started slow and built intensity as the shy but well-built muleteer. When he and Concepcion ultimately realize their mutual attraction, they and librettist Franc-Nohain and the sweetly sensuous music of Ravel all share a very Gallic wink with the audience. After all, this is a Frenchman's view of sunny Spain. Dutoit gave careful attention to Ravel's delicious orchestral detail, and all of the believably idiomatic singers made a happy meal of the swift wink-and-a-smile diversion.
The week before, Dutoit got things moving with Russian-in-New York Igor Stravinsky's Jeu de cartes (The Card Game, Ballet in Three Deals). The composer himself led the SFO's first and only previous performances. The 23-minute score is a brisk example of Stravinsky's neoclassical writing, and based on recordings of other ballets conducted by the composer, Dutoit's no-nonsense approach seemed in keeping with his intentions. The orchestra was certainly drilled to perfection, but we had sort of hoped for a little more humor and swing.
We definitely got more emotion out of the following item on the program. Elgar's big and nobly beautiful Cello Concerto also clocks in at less than half an hour, but it seems much longer and far more expressive. The maestro surrounded soloist Capucon with a deeply sympathetic orchestral backdrop. The young virtuoso offered a dry-eyed and pensive performance that didn't shrink from bravura, but never strayed into sentimentality. This was not the first time I have appreciated Capucon's clean and fresh approach to repertory classics. His interpretations of the Dvorak and Schumann concertos stand convincingly strong next to his equally brilliant ventures into more modern scores.
The big Ravel orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition closed the concert. It has been another international jog with the famously-former (it wasn't a happy split) artistic director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for 25 years and current Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. Gautier Capucon is also becoming a regular here, and we are glad to welcome them both back again.