Reviews

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Review

Spelunking in Music’s Caves

Be'eri Moalem - February 11, 2010
Schumann’s Piano Trio, Op. 110 in G minor, has thousands of notes, if not tens of thousands. The same goes for Chopin’s Piano Trio, Op. 8 in G minor, and Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87.
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Review

Music For Art’s Sake

Jules Langert - February 11, 2010
Earplay’s 25th season of concerts began Monday with a program at Herbst Theatre featuring works by composers who have a Bay Area connection, past or present. The opening selection was Mexican-born Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez’ provocatively titled and of course, Henry the Horse (2006), a collection of four short, attractive pieces scored for clarinets, violin, and piano duet.
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Review

Midori Does It All, and Well

Jeff Dunn - February 8, 2010
Violinist Midori proved Saturday in Herbst Theatre, under the auspices of San Francisco Performances, that a healthy musical diet can consist almost solely of works written in the 1990s.
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Review

Concord Out of Discord

David Bratman - February 7, 2010
The San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas paid a mammoth tribute to two American composers, Charles Ives and Henry Brant, last week.
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Review

Subtly Strategic Programming

Michelle Dulak Thomson - February 2, 2010
There is a rough protocol for establishing a name as a newish chamber ensemble. It involves, among other things, programming carefully so as to interest the people whose opinions might make your name, while not frightening the horses.
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Review

Dance of the Blessed Violinist

Steve Osborn - February 1, 2010
After all the passion of Mozart’s Requiem and the fire of Brahms’ violin concerto, the signature moment of Sunday’s Marin Symphony concert arrived during the encore, Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits. Violin soloist Vadim Gluzman played the brief interlude to perfection, barely raising his volume above a whisper, the better to demonstrate his absolute command of dynamics and phrasing.
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Review

Rare Treat From Ma and Ax

John Lutterman - February 1, 2010
Last Tuesday’s performance by Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax at Davies Symphony Hall was designed to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of two of the most iconic Romantic era musicians, Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann. Piano works are the foundation of both composers’ oeuvre, but
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Review

Gluzman and the Three Bs

Steven Winn - February 1, 2010

Brimming with earnest and tender melodies by a 20th-century version of the Three B’s — Bernstein, Bloch, and Barber — this BIS recording showcases the abundant gifts of violinist Vadim Gluzman.

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Review

Operatic Heaven From Hell

Jason Victor Serinus - January 31, 2010

Ensemble Parallèle sold itself short by emphasizing that their two performances of Alban Berg’s nightmarish early-20th-century opera, Wozzeck, would fill the breach left since San Francisco Opera last performed the work in November, 1999. Heard and seen in the relative intimacy of Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the West Coast premiere of John Rea’s 21-musician chamber reorchestration needed no apologia. Ensemble Parallèle’s oft-devastating, 90-minute multimedia wow of a production was whole and complete unto itself.

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Review

Effervescent “Pulcinella”

Georgia Rowe - January 30, 2010
It’s been a decade since the San Francisco Symphony presented an entire festival devoted to the music of Igor Stravinsky, but music lovers with fond memories of the two-week extravaganza in June 1999 had to be somewhat assuaged by the orchestra’s program last week at Davies Symphony Hall.