San Francisco Classical Voice

LISTENERS' BOX

May 9, 2006

Responses to Recent Issues

In response to: "Music News" (5/2/06)

Thanks for covering the farewell activities of Jeffrey Kahane in Santa Rosa. Commanday always does it well.

— Terry McNeill, Concerts Grand

Bob, loved your analysis. As usual you are fantastic!

— Widgie Hastings

I too was "sitting close and above the piano" last Sunday evening for Mr. Andsnes' recital. If you ask me, one of the real highlights lay not in the second half of Mussorgsky, but rather in the "third half" — the chain of three delightful encores. Did you happen to catch the name of the composer for the second of the encores? All I could hear from behind the stage was Canzion y danza and that he was Spanish. I would greatly appreciate any clues as to who the composer was. For me, this was a true gem of the concert!

As for the rest of the program, I agree that Andsnes plays crisply and cleanly. Yet, I could not help digging out Richter's 1958 Sofia recital when I got home, which really captures the Great Gate. Andsnes doctored the finale so much that the Gate was either only half built or already in ruins at the last note.

My friend sitting next to me also suggested that Andsnes did not have the depth to play Beethoven's later sonatas, and that only the old greats could produce the sorrow embedded within the later Beethoven. He suggested Schnabel's old recordings, the first to record the complete sonatas and concerti.

— Kieran O'Connor

[Janos Gereben Responds: Thank you for your note. The three encores were, in order, Canzion y danza No. 1, by Mompou; Valse impromptu, by Liszt; and Liebesträume No. 3 in A-Flat Major, also by Liszt.]

In response to: "Left Cold" (4/25/06)

I am writing in support of Russell's article. I am a high school student at the generally liberal and open-minded San Francisco School of the Arts. One of the pastimes that I enjoy is dragging friends and potential friends to concerts (as an arts school, people are generally willing to give their friends a chance to show them something new). As a young composer, many of the concerts I take my friends to are modern music concerts. Now, before I go on, let me say that I fully believe in the worth of the modernist style and I will continue to attend these concerts well into the foreseeable future. I think, however, that many of my friends are put off, not so much by the "blandness" of the music or their dislike of the style, but of the similarity between these pieces (they feel that much modernist music sounds alike). While I do not necessarily agree, I do feel that they have hit upon something that is an issue (for me, at least) in the world of modern music.

I certainly understand that most of the modern music ensembles in the area do program a variety of music, but I agree with Russell that there is a predominantly modernist backdrop, and when there is not, the concerts tend to be marathons, celebrating the music of one composer or one school of thought. I recently started my own modern music ensemble (Formerly Known as Classical) and I tried to program a variety of music, a sampling of many different styles and many different influences to sell to the younger generation that I market toward. This way, even if one piece was disliked, well, it was over in several minutes and the next piece is different.

I certainly do not dislike the modernist style, but this is a time in which the entire future of classical music is in question. There is so much out in the world, so many viable styles, so much interest in underdogs and unknowns, so much more acceptance of the world on its own terms than ever before that I think that we should be exposing people, and the younger generation in particular, to as much as possible. Perhaps the entire younger generation will grow to appreciate modernist music as they age; perhaps they all will hate this music with a fiery passion until they die. But the larger issue is that even within their programming variety, there is a way that modern music ensembles become stale and dull (at least to the ears of the generation with the shortest attention span ever).

Should not we be making concerts as easily attended as possible, and bring out a variety of all music within each and every concert? It is becoming more and more difficult for me to bring my friends to concerts as programmers seem to have a theme that they follow. Within concerts there is lots of unity, and it is interesting, but only to the previously interested. What about a sampling of many different styles? Or unity that is incredibly broad (like the American Mavericks festival of the San Francisco Symphony in 2000)? Maybe I am the only one (and I think not), but I like a little Boulez with my Riley, and a little Carter with my Andriessen, and Henze with my Britten. (If you want more modern, a little Adès with my Putts.)

— Matthew Cmiel, artistic director of Formerly Known as Classical, composer, and guitarist