Younis Raza – Page 53 – Repeat Performances

October 5, 2009

San Francisco Contemporary Music Players at Herbst

A view from the top—contemporary mainstays Morton Feldman is a musician’s musician. By this I do not mean that he is concerned with a theoretical approach, or that he references great works of the past. Rather, he is the opposite: he is so “in the moment” with his sound, and his process is so direct, that those steeped in form are thunderstruck by his immediacy. Performing one of his works, each slow, full note engenders the next, so the performer becomes part of the...

Categories: music

September 26, 2009

Free Chamber Music Day in San Francisco

Fifteen local chamber ensembles served up half-hour samples on Saturday, Sept 26 at SF’s Old First Church. In back-to-back performances from 12:30 to 8:30 p.m. we were treated to a variety of works, from Mozart to jazz. Sponsoring presenters introduced each group, exposing Bay Area venues along with the crème of local ensembles. I heard nine of the fifteen groups and those five hours fairly flew by, perhaps due to the magic of eclecticism and bite-sized programs. Distilling each...

Categories: music

September 20, 2009

Susan Graham in Mahler Festival with SF Symphony

Michael Tilson Thomas has been described as a true Mahlerian. Over the course of his long Gustave Mahler recording project, which began in 2001 and garnered four Grammy awards, he led the SF Symphony through comprehensive and definitive performances. The fruits of those years were evident Sunday afternoon in the first of three programs of their current Mahler festival. Conducting without score, MTT was incisive and inflected and his orchestra was tight on his every gesture. Mahler is...

Categories: music

September 7, 2009

HD Opera at Lincoln Center Plaza

Staving off summer’s end Late August in New York City was not as muggy or unrelenting as most, but the streets still bustled at night with those seeking relief. At 11 p.m. the playgrounds of the Chelsea Housing Project were filled not with furtive transactions and hoodied scouts, but with the soft creak of swings and the higher pitches of children, murmuring in deference to the night. In a social experiment fitting the season and demographics, the Metropolitan Opera...

Categories: opera

August 16, 2009

Highlights from the Cabrillo Festival

Soccer and Genocide Santa Cruz’ Cabrillo Festival, held the first two weeks in August for the last 47 years, is an opportunity to revel in pioneering orchestral works. Their outstanding opening, Azul, was reviewed in the Aug. 19 Piedmont Post. The following day there were three thoughtful treatments. Spices, Perfumes, Toxins! (2006) by Avner Dorman explored a potpourri of middle-eastern and Indian rhythms and colors and flaunted the percussion...

Categories: music

August 7, 2009

Cabrillo goes for the Gold

Santa Cruz’ Cabrillo Festival, the Eminence Gris of Contemporary Music, opened Friday, August 7 under the baton of Marin Alsop. Musicians arrived from all over the country to serve...

Categories: music