Recent San Francisco Symphony concerts at Davies Symphony Hall have been varied and highly contrasted, each offering interesting selections along with proven favorites. Differences in presentation hinted at the exciting course Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas is charting for the Orchestra, his fans, regular attendees, and life-sustaining new (read younger) listeners.
SoundBox, the Symphony's nightclub venue, has stimulated fresh interest in all sorts of experimental and traditional music, but it is small and hard to get tickets. The buzz has been constant. Nothing is more likely to generate curiosity than limited availability and a long queue, but there has also been a genuine sense of discovery and delight about the place, and the atmosphere is hip, relaxed and enthusiastic.
If Fearless Leader can't get everyone into SoundBox, he will just have to bring SoundBox to the big stage, and last week he managed to bring some of the fun to a larger crowd with a highly engaging concert that featured some of the smaller venue's eye-catching attractions. We have seen the trend for several years of presenting concerts in enhanced mixed-media formats at DSH. Semi-staged productions have enjoyed a notable success rate, so why not amp things up with light-shows and visuals for other concerts? Kronos Quartet had the idea years ago, and the surprise won them acclaim. Their prodigious talent secured an audience, and no one would accuse them of pandering.
A new generation of concertgoers has missed the opportunity for familiarity with the core repertoire. We can only blame their penny-pinching and shortsighted elders for that. Technology has also made shorter, more segmented musical fare the norm. A little visual stimulus during longer works is entertaining, but also helps with appreciation and understanding. With visualization conceived by MTT and evocative projections designed by video artist Clyde Scott and lighting design by Luke Kritzeck, the recent concerts featuring maverick composer John Cage's brief but resonant dance score The Seasons (1947) were beautifully realized.
Too bad all the pretty window-dressing wasn't used through the rest of the evening, SoundBox style. This is not to say the North American premiere of composer Robin Holloway's Europa & the Bull did not enjoy a fine performance and presentation. SFS Principal Tuba Jeffrey Anderson played the solo role and made good on his promise as Holloway's muse when the work was first co-commissioned by the SFS and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society.
The score is accessible enough without lighting effects, but they wouldn't have hurt. The piece is persuasive enough to stand on its own, without the lengthy program synopsis. The title tells it all, and Holloway's old friend and colleague MTT, along with Anderson's wonderful resonance, made a big success of a relatively small work. The composer was in attendance, and his beaming face expressed his gratitude to the performers and audience.
The evening ended with a good if underwhelming rendition of Bartok's masterpiece Concerto for Orchestra (1943). The moody, richly textured music might have benefitted from lights and screens, but the audience didn't seem to need the extras, and the ovation was sincere.
The prior week offered a more conventional experience, but the inclusion of two modern, albeit tonal and Late Romantic works added spice to the menu. Guest conductor Juraj Valcuha opened with Franz Schreker's Chamber Symphony (1916), and the glistening score was instantly seductive. Valcuha seemed a bit rigid for the hothouse salon atmosphere, and he let interest sag a bit.
It was a great set-up, anyway, for the appearance of well-loved guest violinist Gil Shaham and his heartfelt reading of Samuel Barber's gorgeous Violin Concerto, Opus 14 (1940). The music is lyrical and exquisitely melodic for the first two movements, but turns brilliant and technically challenging during the final Presto in moto perpetuo. Shaham's eagerness added urgency to his playing, never losing the passionate thread of the narrative.
The night ended with Valcuha's pleasing interpretation of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. It was hardly earthshaking, but the SFS musicians gamely followed the guest leader. MTT and Herbert Blomstedt before him have shown what they can really do.