The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: Concert Review
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* Notes * Trio Mediæval had a concert last Sunday at Herbst Theatre. The singing certainly had a hypnotic quality, and the singers’ voices sounded perfectly beautiful together. Some of the percussion from Birger Mistereggen was silly, though I very much liked the use of hand chimes. * Tattling * The audience was well-behaved. There was…
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* Notes * Michael Tilson Thomas conducted San Francisco Symphony in a program of Haydn, Barber, and Beethoven last week. The Haydn was Symphony No. 60 in C major, Il distratto, which was sprightly and perfectly cute. This made for a nice contrast with Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, which is a bit moodier.…
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* Notes * Last Thursday William Eddins conducted the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra in a program that included three short pieces written between the years 1910-1921 by French composers, an American premiere of contemporary music, and Martinů's first symphony. The evening began with the frilly Valse des dépêches by Germaine Tailleferre. The piece sounded suitable for an…
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* Notes * Michael Tilson Thomas conducted Knussen's Symphony No. 3 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 last night at San Francisco Symphony. Though Tilson Thomas gave a helpful exposition of the former piece before he began, the work did not improve for me after a second hearing. I still found it rather metallic in sound,…
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* Notes * The Wordless Music Series had a sold-out San Francisco debut at Herbst Theatre last night. The concert featured the very solid Magik*Magik Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Shwartz. The evening began with John Adams' Shaker Loops (1978) for string septet, that is, three violins, one viola, two celli, and one bass. The piece is characterized by…
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* Notes * This year's Merola Opera Program ended twelve weeks of training with a Grand Finale last night at the War Memorial Opera House. The performance was staged simply, using a set that included a couple of steps to a rickety parquet floor and a pair of stage right doors. The costumes were standard…
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* Notes * A friend of mine, harpsichordist and organist Vince Ho, is having a concert series at St. Alban’s over in Albany, CA. The latest installment was yesterday’s “Cantatas, Songs, and Arias from the Time of the English Restoration and the Glorious Revolution.” The music performed was from the time of Charles Stuart‘s exile…
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* Notes * Alessandro Striggio's Missa sopra "Ecco sì beato giorno" in cinque corri divisa had its American premiere this evening at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley. The evening began with His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts playing three pieces from 1618 by Giovanni Battista Grillo (c.1565?-1622): Canzon Quarta, Canzon in Ecco, and Sonata Prima.…
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* Notes * Michael Tilson Thomas and San Francisco Symphony end a 3-week long Brahms Festival tonight. The chorus was in fine form during Friday's performance, the singers were very much together, in tune, and their German diction was fairly clear. The first half of the performance included Geistliches Lied, Opus 30 and Gesänge für…
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* Notes * Last Tuesday the French Quatuor Ebène played at the Kleiner Saal of the Konzerthaus Berlin. The performance started with a bracing rendition of Haydn's "Rider," String Quartet in G Minor, Opus 74. The Allegro started off rather stridently, the pace was good, fast but not over the top. In the Largo assai,…
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