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YEAR'S HIGHLIGHTS
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TOPS IN SYMPHONY
Berlin Philharmonic, By George Thomson, 11/24-25/03
It was not merely the Berlin Philharmonic's reputation as one of the world's pre-eminent ensembles, nor the fact that said ensemble has not visited the Bay Area since 1956, that drew capacity crowds to Davies Hall last Monday and Tuesday evening. A good part of
the excitement surrounding this long overdue visit centered around the orchestra's new Music Director, Sir Simon Rattle . . . The extent to which Rattle is the right answer was plain to see for two nights running, in a pair of brilliant concerts that bore his unmistakable stamp.
Rostropovich, Isserlis, SF Symphony, By John Lutterman, 2/13/03
Thursday night's performance of the San Francisco Symphony offered a rare
opportunity to hear two of the most talented cellists of the past
half-century, Mstislav Rostropovich and Steven Isserlis, in collaboration.
Rostropovich has figured as a giant on the world stage since he was first
allowed to tour outside the Soviet Union in the early sixties . . . He has probably done more than any other cellist to define the "modern" style of cello playing, popularizing the use of
high-tension steel strings . . . He is an accomplished pianist and
studied composition with Shostakovich and Prokofiev, both of whom composed
concertos and sonatas for him. Indeed, a huge portion of the most popular
twentieth-century repertoire was written for Rostropovich, including two of
the works in last week's program.
The Flying Dutchman, SF Symphony, By Robert Commanday, 6/11/03
The by-now conventional idea that it takes a $3 million production and a lot of hokey and provocative staging to make a big impact with an old opera took a major hit in Davies Symphony Hall last Wednesday. Actually, while the San Francisco Symphony did spend a bundle of targeted grant money on its version of Wagner's Flying Dutchman, it was nowhere near what opera companies lay out. Worth every penny were the top flight cast of six, insurance (a back-up or cover cast that hasn't been needed), a production that cunningly fitted out Davies Hall's orchestra terrace level with sails, deck lights, little stages for the actions and elaborate light bridges, and the imaginative stage director, Peter McClintock.
TOPS IN OPERA
Parsifal, Seattle Opera, By Janos Gereben, 8/2/03
If that other famous guileless fool, Candide, happened by Saturday evening at the premiere of this city's first Parsifal, he would have surely declared the rebuilt Opera House the best of all possible new halls, and the opera the best of all possible US regional Wagner productions.
Top credit for the light, bright, comfortable, colorful, striking Marion Oliver McCaw Hall goes to the bravest and wisest foolish general director of them all, Speight Jenkins. He gambled — and won — on an outlandish idea of a new, spectacular, musically excellent production of Parsifal and, more importantly, he went counter to the new universal arts policy of penny-pinching.
The Barber of Seville, SF Opera, By Olivia Stapp, 10/7/03
Rossini's The Barber of Seville has filled opera houses with laughter
for close to two hundred years, and Tuesday's opening night at the San Francisco War Memorial House was no exception. The production was highly innovative and featured an exuberant cast of capable singers. However, the star of the evening was a dazzling Malibu-modern style two-story house that rotated to reveal either an exterior with required balcony or an interior featuring many rooms that were filled with simultaneous activity.
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, SF Opera, By Michelle Dulak, 11/10/03
She poisons her father-in-law, strangles her husband with some help from her new lover, and finally drowns her latest rival in love before killing herself. A tough sell as a heroine, perhaps. Especially as the plot itself has some conspicuous holes (as in "Why is the entire village celebrating this woman's marriage to her second husband when they don't yet know that the first husband is dead?") But in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, in the San Francisco Opera's newly-imported Stuttgartian production, music, direction, and singer meet, and the murderess steps forth as tragic victim.
OUTSTANDING PIANISTS OF THE YEAR
Arcadi Volodos, By Mack McCray, 2/9/03
To be in Davies Hall Sunday night at the Symphony's Great Performers Series was to taste a bit of what it must have been like to be at a piano recital seventy, eighty years, even a hundred or more years ago. And not just any piano recital, mind you: we would be savoring the thrilling advance notices, the breathless descriptions of friends lucky enough to have already heard the artist, and we would be looking forward to an evening of delightful miniatures, awe-inspiring physical feats, heaven-storming gestures and shattering, heart-breaking emotional power. On Sunday night at Arcadi Volodos' piano recital we got enough of those expectations fulfilled to come away very satisfied. If the sum of the evening's parts did not quite add up to a compelling emotional and artistic experience, it was still an extraordinary evening.
Leif Ove Andsnes, By Mack McCray, 10/9/03
. . . the lights turned out to be celebrating the gala opening of San Francisco Performances' 24th season, which happened to feature a pianist (Leif Ove Andsnes). The recital began well past the 8:30 mark to accommodate the black-tie gala dinner guests, but it transpired that the wait was well worth it. We heard piano playing that will be very difficult to top as this season moves forward.
Evgeny Kissin, By Anatole Leikin, 10/29/03
Billed as a solo recital, Evgeny Kissin's concert last Wednesday at Davies Hall was in fact accompanied by ringing cell phones, falling playbills, squeaking chairs, and compulsive collective coughing in the hall. Kissin was undeterred by the accompaniment. More than that, he proved that he can now be considered part of a small and exclusive group of artists who have attained a supreme level of pianistic craftsmanship.
Emanuel Ax, By Jerry Kuderna, 11/9/03
Pianists don't need critics to tell them that they, or their playing, are “maturing.” This either comes or it doesn't and it is the only thing that makes playing pieces of music over a lifetime interesting. I first heard Emanuel Ax when we were both in high school. He was wonderful then, and he is more wonderful now. His recital at Zellerbach on Sunday showed how much an artist can develop when natural gift and intelligence are in harmony.
BEST IN VOCAL RECITALS
Matthias Goerne, by Stephanie Friedman, 3/8/03
Matthias Goerne, baritone, and Eric Schneider, piano, working in almost
uncanny sympathy, combined their astounding talents in a performance of
Schubert's Winterreise (Winter Journey) at Herbst Theater.
It was, in a word, devastating. What the partnership achieved was not so much a musical
performance as a series of poetic soliloquies by two capacious souls
functioning as a single actor. Their uncommon rendering of poetic and
musical truth harrowed as it seduced, and scarred the soul even as it
filled it to overflowing.
Karita Mattila, by Stephanie Friedman, 3/16/03
At first glance Karita Mattila, in her recital at Zellerbach on Sunday, seemed more like a model, with her Nordic blond hair, wide mouth, and tall, slim stature. Her voice seemed to match her appearance: pure, crystalline, strong . . . She was, in fact, a study in contrast, even contradiction: cool yet ardent; abandoned yet possessing the utmost tastefulness. Without particular warmth in her voice, she sang passionately, giving herself fully to the music, singing at times beyond her own physical limits. She is without doubt an artist and a brilliant recitalist. She is also, it turns out, a hoyden; but above all she is an artist, one of uncommon intelligence and courage.
Susan Graham, by William Wellborn, 4/6/03
It is not often that one can attend a vocal recital where every item on the program is equally captivating, every song is delivered with total conviction, and every note is sung with an alluring beauty of tone. When you combine these attributes with a superb musician and a beautiful woman who possesses a high degree of warmth and personal charm you get Susan Graham — and a first-rate evening of vocal art. The mezzo's recital Sunday night at Davies Hall was quite simply one of the best vocal concerts I have heard in a long time, and surely one of the highlights of this year's season.
MUSIC STORY OF THE YEAR
Walt Disney Concert Hall, By Robert Commanday, 10/28/03
Los Angeles, its music audience and Philharmonic, received and celebrated what they have long needed and deserved, a great concert hall. Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall is a resounding success as an acoustical chamber and as an architectural work of art that gives distinction to the sprawling city's center, raising it to another power as focal and destination point.
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