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David Bratman

David Bratman is a librarian who lives with his lawfully wedded soprano and a wall full of symphony recordings.

Articles by this Author

Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
February 12, 2018
Redwood Symphony Takes Flight With Petrushka
BY David Bratman

Soloists are at the fore in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, but the orchestra was at its best in the Stravinsky ballet.

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Chamber Music Review
January 29, 2018
Jasper String Quartet Reimagines Schubert’s Lieder With Tenor Nicholas Phan
BY David Bratman

Adapting the piano accompaniment for string quartet elicited the operatic quality of Schubert’s songs.

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Chamber Music Review
December 12, 2017
Sunday in the Gallery With Cal Arte
BY David Bratman

Pianist Tamami Honma, violinist Julian Brown, and cellist Yong-Zi Ma bring infectious joy to a program of Beethoven and Shostakovich.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
December 5, 2017
Alma Deutscher Makes Her American Debut with Symphony Silicon Valley
BY David Bratman

The remarkable 12-year-old prodigy performs her own violin concerto with aplomb.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
November 21, 2017
How Many Roads: The Redwood Symphony Takes on Bob Dylan
BY David Bratman

New settings of the Nobel winner’s classic songs raise philosophical questions about the relationship of text and music.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
November 14, 2017
The New Century Chamber Orchestra Spans Five Centuries With Style
BY David Bratman

From von Biber’s bombastic Battalia to the subtleties of a recent Andrew Norman piece, the NCCO played everything with grace and beauty.

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Choral Review
November 7, 2017
Mozart’s Requiem Brings Out the Best in the Masterworks Chorale
BY David Bratman

A small piece from composer Frank Ticheli ignites while Ola Gjeilo’s Sacris Solemniis merely soothes.

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Recital Review
October 31, 2017
Anssi Karttunen’s Modernist Cavalcade
BY David Bratman

High modernism is alive and well and cellist Karttunen brought some fine, new examples to Cal Performances.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
October 23, 2017
Conductor Mei-Ann Chen Elicits Impressive Work From Symphony Silicon Valley
BY David Bratman

Soloist Mayuko Kamio stands out in Khachaturian Violin Concerto.

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Chamber Music Review
October 17, 2017
The American Brass Quintet Blows the Roof Off Bing
BY David Bratman

The veteran ensemble champions new and vintage works for the modern brass quintet.

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Chamber Music Review
August 5, 2017
The Great Fritz Kreisler Receives His Due at Menlo Festival
BY David Bratman

In a concert ostensibly about expressionism, the surprise was Kreisler’s 1919 string quartet.

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Chamber Music Review
July 24, 2017
Romantic Passion Bursts Forth in [email protected]’s Violin History
BY David Bratman

Louis Spohr hits a double but Mendelssohn crushes a surprise home run with an early piano quartet.

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Chamber Music Review
July 18, 2017
The Violin Takes Center Stage at [email protected]
BY David Bratman

The “Classical Style” concert focuses on chamber masterworks from Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
June 19, 2017
Joshua Bell Smooths Symphonie Espagnole’s Rough Edges
BY David Bratman

Meanwhile, conductor Vasily Petrenko made a meal of Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony, leading the San Francisco Symphony’s weekend program.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
May 9, 2017
Cellist Inbal Segev Carries Dan Visconti’s Folk-Inspired Tangle-Eye Concerto
BY David Bratman

California Symphony contrasted Visconti’s lyrical concerto with big-boned, dramatic works.

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Chamber Music Review
April 25, 2017
The Dover Quartet Rises to a Challenge
BY David Bratman

The acclaimed young ensemble exhibit technical mastery and nuanced interpretations of Beethoven, Haydn, and Shostakovich.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
February 21, 2017
A Yuja Success With the Santa Cruz Symphony
BY David Bratman

The piano phenom offers fiery renditions of two long, very different concertos.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
February 7, 2017
S.F. Symphony, Chorus, and Soloists Deliver a Magnificent Ninth
BY David Bratman

Herbert Blomstedt guides a taut, inspired reading of Beethoven’s masterpiece.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
October 25, 2016
Symphony Silicon Valley Takes on a Russian Accent
BY David Bratman

Guest artists Edvard Tshivzhel and Nikolai Demidenko help translate works from their compatriots.

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Recital Review
October 4, 2016
Philip Glass and Fellow Pianists Mine Gold in His Etudes
BY David Bratman

In a marathon program, five performers find distinctly different musical expression in the composer’s piano studies.

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