Reviews

Georgia Rowe - April 13, 2009

This is the time of year when San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, for better or worse, yields the podium to a series of guest conductors. Later this month, and in the first part of May, Oliver Knussen, Yan Pascal Tortelier, and Bernard Labadie will take up the baton; this past weekend it was Stéphane Denève’s turn.

Dan Leeson - April 13, 2009

For its 2008-2009 season finale on Saturday, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, under Benjamin Simon’s effective direction, presented an eclectic program with a theme of “Bach to Bach” — meaning, of course, that the concert would both begin and end with a Bach composition, though the finale was a very different kind of Bach.

Jeff Dunn - April 9, 2009

Noisy music with imaginary animals from both sides of the program threatened to cage the central Mozart concerto at Tuesday's Marin Symphony concert. But the songbird in the Mozart wound up soaring above the surrounding beasts, thanks to fine playing by principals Dan Levitan on harp and Monica Daniel-Barker on flute.

Jonathan Russell - April 8, 2009
The Bay Area is fortunate to have a number of ensembles dedicated to new music, each with its own slightly different approach. The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble’s spin is to frequently include a couple of old works on their programs alongside the newer ones. When you think about it, this really is a unique approach.
Anna Carol Dudley - April 7, 2009
Kurt Weill and several of his cabaret contemporaries from the “Roaring Twenties” in Berlin roared into the Martin Meyer Sanctuary at Temple Emanu-El Sunday afternoon.
David Bratman - April 7, 2009

Many string quartet concerts are programmed as miniature histories of the medium. Few, though, can have had a chronological spread so wide as the St. Lawrence String Quartet’s Stanford Lively Arts concert at Dinkelspiel Auditorium on Sunday.

Jason Victor Serinus - April 6, 2009
There are moments when a musical performance is so carefully conceived or so sublimely delivered that all you can do is surrender to the beauty of it and express gratitude for being alive.
Jeff Dunn - April 6, 2009
Ekta means "unity" in several South Asian languages, or, as more spiritually defined in composer Brent Heisinger's album by that name, "oneness." "Eclecta," however, might have been a better title for the wide mixture of styles and influences reflected in Heisinger's music on this CD.
Jeff Dunn - April 6, 2009

"We're part of a bigger thing," declared British composer Thomas Adès in a surprise visit to the stage of Davies Symphony Hall on Friday night. His 2005 violin concerto Concentric Paths, painstakingly and passionately interpreted by soloist Leila Josefowicz and San Francisco Symphony Associate Conductor James Gaffigan, proved just that.

Joseph Sargent - April 6, 2009

An unmistakable allure surrounds concerts that bring long-neglected music into the new light of day. Aside from the sheer novelty of presenting repertory otherwise seldom available in concert or on recordings, these efforts can prove highly memorable for the listener, who comes away with a distinct feeling of having experienced something special.