A Symphonic Spring That May Never be Topped

Jeff Dunn on January 2, 2012

San Francisco Symphony’s centennial celebration at Davies Symphony Hall continues to be a mecca of music this coming winter and spring, as top guest orchestras ply their wares and the hometowners present a wide range of attractive programs. Not to be outdone, other Bay Area orchestras have put together intriguing concerts, as well. The result is an upcoming feast for the ear. If you can’t afford to “occupy” Davies Hall and the other symphonic venues around the region, check out the highlights of the season below. And keep a diary for your grandchildren — it may be a while before we have it so symphonically sweet again.

A main attraction of the S.F. Symphony celebrations, besides the Barbary Coast and Beyond program, May 10–12, that resurrects old-timey Bay Area concert music from 1850 to 1911, is the return of the American Mavericks concerts, three of which will be presented in March, along with two additional chamber concerts.


Brass Blockbuster

Herbert Blomstedt

For those of us who exult in the thunder and shine of massed brass, Anton Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony is nirvana. Its last movement, modeled after Beethoven’s Ninth but with trumpets to tubas as its chorus, is a must-hear for the orchestral power-hungry. Moreover, it features a gigantic fugue and a thrilling harmonic key twist borrowed from the “Wanderer” theme in Wagner’s opera Siegfried. S.F. Symphony’s Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt, expert in this repertoire, devotes the entire concert to Bruckner’s monument, a testament to the lofty aims of the 19th-century empire builders.

Feb. 8 and 10, 8 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, S.F., $15–$140, (415) 864-6000.

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Rule-Breaker Festival

American Mavericks

The S.F. Symphony’s maverick-composer concept is about as slippery as a greased dogie, for it includes mainstream as well as outlier voices in music. More often than not, this means composers who were writing music that didn’t follow the “rules” of the time, but who are now recognized as fully worthy of our attention. You can download a free 82-page book about this concept that was put together after the 2001 festival.

The first and third concerts include the fine composers but dubious mavericks (in the free-range sense) Aaron Copland, John Adams, and Mason Bates, along with the more avant-garde (for their time) Lou Harrison, Charles Ives, Morton Feldman, and Edgard Varèse. For the purest maverickism, attend the second concert honoring four rule-breakers and featuring top-notch artists.

If ever there was a maverick composer, in my view, it was Lukas Foss, who owned a prodigious talent while writing music that was so all-over-the-map that it was sure to offend someone. The Symphony will have a fun time performing his Phorion (Greek for stolen goods). Written in 1967 at the breakout of postmodernism, the piece subjects the notes of Bach’s Violin Partita in E Major to chance operations among strings, guitar, harpsichord, and organ. Or, as Foss put it, “torrents of Baroque sixteenth notes being washed ashore by ocean waves.”

Also on the program are Henry Cowell’s piano concerto; Carl Ruggles’ wake-up call for the ears, Sun Treader; and songs from the maverick who inspired herds of others, John Cage. If you choose this concert, you’ll be in clover.

March 10 and 14, 8 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, S.F., $35–$145, (415) 864-6000.

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Finnish Heat and Hilary Hahn Fireworks

Osmo Vanska

One of the best concerts of the season will be heard in May. In the program’s first part, the innovative conductor Osmo Vänskä will need a gymful of body motion to conduct Kalevi Aho’s Minea, which has been mesmerizing audiences since it premiered two years ago. After that, Hilary Hahn, the lady with the best tone in the business, will conquer Sergei Prokofiev’s spiky Violin Concerto No. 1, whose second movement sounds like “scrape city” in lesser hands. Be sure to listen for the ingenious instrumental effects, and enjoy the “too Romantic” sounds that critics badmouthed at its 1923 premiere.

Minea’s name is a truncation and letter-drop of Minneapolis, the home of the symphony Vänskä directs, which commissioned the music. Both Vänskä and composer Aho hail from Finland, another place known for its severe winters, but this piece is wayabove zero in temperature. It’s more like a summer Sahara dust storm of a concerto for orchestra, full of oboe arabesques and relentless drumbeats — an 18-minute crescendo and accelerando. It’s not to be missed: You can see a preview with the Lahti Symphony or listen to a podcast of the music on the Internet.

And the frosting? Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony. Hear what the mid-20th century’s greatest symphonist came up with not long after he achieved worldwide fame with his Fifth. The work is unusual, and intriguingly problematic.

May 24 and 27, 2 p.m., and May 25 and 26, 8 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, $15–$140, (415) 864-6000.

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New Symphony From a Master of Melody

Lowell Liebermann

Lowell Liebermann stands out among contemporary composers for his emphasis on melody as a chief ingredient in his works. “My music is always melodically based,” he says. “A good tune is important.” If you don’t believe any modern composer can write one anymore, listen to the gorgeous tune that opens his piccolo concerto.

Liebermann’s Symphony No. 3 arrives for its first West Coast performance, coming in January at the Marin Symphony. Critics have compared the composer’s piano concertos with Rachmaninov’s and have recognized his “haunting melodies,” so the new symphony will undoubtedly have something to sing along with, though perhaps it will be on the sad side. While the composer says his symphony “not a downer of a piece,” he remarks that it is “fueled by equal parts of anger and depression” regarding world events.

Definitely worth a look/hear. Especially since it will be joined on the program by Grade-A-Certified works of melody, Elgar’s Cello Concerto and Dvořák’s New World Symphony.

Jan. 29, 3 p.m., and Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m., $29–$70, Marin Center for the Performing Arts, San Rafael, (415) 499-6800. (Note: Ticketmaster handles Marin Symphony’s online ticketing. Therefore, the fees for ordering by mail or phone direct from the Symphony box office are much less, at $3 per ticket.)

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The Mighty Cleveland Orchestra Visits S.F.

Cleveland Orchestra

The 100th anniversary season of the San Francisco Symphony brings many blessings, not least the visits of a number of world-class orchestras. The Cleveland Orchestra has been defended as the best of all by many, off and on throughout my lifetime, and it comes to town in April. Its music director, Franz Welser-Möst, will be conducting his orchestra here for the first time since 2005. (He has yet to guest conduct the San Francisco Symphony, despite his talent agency’s bio for him stating that he has conducted “all the major U.S. orchestras.”) This will provide an opportunity to see how his skills, formerly controversial, have matured over the interval. His reputation has grown considerably since he was appointed director of the Vienna State Opera in 2010.

The program will include Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, with Nikolaj Znaider as soloist; excerpts from Bedřich Smetana’s set of nationalistic symphonic poems, Ma Vlast; and the Overture, Waltz, and Finale from Thomas Adès’ highly satirical opera, Powder Her Face. There is plenty of drama in this program for Welser-Möst’s operatic experience to shine.

April 15, 7 p.m., and April 16, 8 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, $15–$110, (415) 864-6000.

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Berkeley Symphony and the S.F. Girls Chorus in Big Premiere

Composer Gabriela Lena Frank has developed a fine reputation with several highly regarded works, including one that was nominated for a Grammy Award this year. She serves as Berkeley Symphony’s artistic advisor. In April, the Berkeley Symphony will premiere the first installment of a work based on poetry by one of Music Director Joana Carneiro’s countrymen: the celebrated poet José Tolentino de Mendonça. It’s a big piece, and will involve soprano Jessica Rivera and the incredible San Francisco Girls Chorus.

But Frank’s premiere isn’t the only reason to attend. Bartók’s spooky Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta will be performed, along with his friend Zoltán Kodály’s sweepingly melodic and energized Dances of Galánta.

April 26, 8 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, $20–$60, (510) 841-2800.

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NCCO Plays the Latest From Zwilich

New Century Chamber Orchestra

The New Century Chamber Orchestra is one of the great Bay Area institutions, especially under the dynamic helm of its music director since 2008, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. Its most attractive program of the season will be presented in May, featuring Edvard Grieg’s ever-popular Holberg Suite and Arnold Schoenberg’s early and powerful homage to Wagner and redemption, Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured night).

Yet what should be most fascinating on the docket is a new commission by the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for music, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Her work often displays her genial nature, so expect her contribution to the NCCO’s repertoire, titled Commedia Dell’Arte to be a lively and congenial experience.

May 10, 8 p.m., First Congregational Church, Berkeley; May 11, 8 p.m., First United Methodist Church, Palo Alto; May 12, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; May 13, 5 p.m., Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, Hoytt Theater, San Rafael, $29-–$49, (415) 357-1111.

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OEBS: A Little Jazz, Voodoo, and Showmanship

Fans of the Oakland East Bay Symphony should be on pins and needles for its upcoming May concert. Music Director Michael Morgan is bringing into town the Haitian-American composer, violinist, showman, and educator Daniel Bernard Roumain to perform his eclectic Voodoo Concerto. Listen to excerpts of it and see if you can keep your feet from tapping. Joining Roumain will be Taylor Eigsti, playing the premiere of a new work for jazz piano and orchestra, and local jazz vocalist Paula West.

May 18, 8 p.m., Paramount Theatre, Oakland, $20–$70, (800) 745-3000.

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