![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
a couple of concerts in the city
Feb. 6th, 2011 10:54 pmWednesday, Marek Janowski conducted the SFS in Beethoven's first two symphonies. And very different from each other they were. His version of the First was pure galant and got down to its roots: it was very Mozartean. Specifically Mozartean, not Haydnesque; it had the curving grace of Mozart. Whereas the Second had all the brusqueness and vehemence of mature Beethoven. It was not light or cheerful. An entirely different animal, but both were excellent.
In between, to complete a Beethoven trifecta, we had his Triple Concerto, which is for cello and violin and piano, usually in that order. Consequently it has three times the twiddle of an average concerto, and stretched out like the Nullarbor Plain.
Sunday, while the rest of the world was watching some football game, I was at the SF Conservatory of Music for what they call the Hot Air Music Festival, an eight-hour marathon (two hours of it double-tracked) of music almost entirely by living composers, some of them well-known among those of us who follow such things, some less so unless you're affiliated with the conservatory which they are. I stayed for about four hours of the music, cut in twain by an early dinner break. The piece I most wanted to hear was cancelled due to performer illness, rats; but I did enjoy one hour of can-banging noise: Steve Reich's Six Pianos, an early work from his "Oh God, just make it stop!" period, so named from what an audience member screamed while running out of the hall from a concert of his back in the day, paired with Worker's Union by the even grottier Louis Andriessen, scored for any number of instruments so long as they're dissonant, and preferably played by performers who aren't very good at those particular instruments. So we had badly-played violins, badly-played trombones, badly-played electric pianos, and, strange to tell, a couple of really good xylophonists, among others, whipping through Andriessen's unison cries.
Much of the rest was more sedate, even a work for guitar trio with the alarming title Screaming From the Skies. And also there was Takemitsu, who may always be relied on to be contemplative, and Arvo Pärt's clarinet and piano piece Spiegel im Spiegel. This was not very well performed, assuming that Pärt is not Andriessen and the wobbly tempo, uncoordinated entrances, and inconsistently breathy clarinet tone were not intended by the composer, but the music - soft triple rhythm in the piano, held notes in the clarinet - was so beautiful it didn't matter. The other piece I most enjoyed was a string quartet by Devin Farney, a recent graduate of the Conservatory. It was jack cheese with jalapenos: a conventional string quartet on the surface - one movement is even a fugue - with unexpected spicy bits, like the chromatic row rudely stuck into the middle of the first movement theme.
In between, to complete a Beethoven trifecta, we had his Triple Concerto, which is for cello and violin and piano, usually in that order. Consequently it has three times the twiddle of an average concerto, and stretched out like the Nullarbor Plain.
Sunday, while the rest of the world was watching some football game, I was at the SF Conservatory of Music for what they call the Hot Air Music Festival, an eight-hour marathon (two hours of it double-tracked) of music almost entirely by living composers, some of them well-known among those of us who follow such things, some less so unless you're affiliated with the conservatory which they are. I stayed for about four hours of the music, cut in twain by an early dinner break. The piece I most wanted to hear was cancelled due to performer illness, rats; but I did enjoy one hour of can-banging noise: Steve Reich's Six Pianos, an early work from his "Oh God, just make it stop!" period, so named from what an audience member screamed while running out of the hall from a concert of his back in the day, paired with Worker's Union by the even grottier Louis Andriessen, scored for any number of instruments so long as they're dissonant, and preferably played by performers who aren't very good at those particular instruments. So we had badly-played violins, badly-played trombones, badly-played electric pianos, and, strange to tell, a couple of really good xylophonists, among others, whipping through Andriessen's unison cries.
Much of the rest was more sedate, even a work for guitar trio with the alarming title Screaming From the Skies. And also there was Takemitsu, who may always be relied on to be contemplative, and Arvo Pärt's clarinet and piano piece Spiegel im Spiegel. This was not very well performed, assuming that Pärt is not Andriessen and the wobbly tempo, uncoordinated entrances, and inconsistently breathy clarinet tone were not intended by the composer, but the music - soft triple rhythm in the piano, held notes in the clarinet - was so beautiful it didn't matter. The other piece I most enjoyed was a string quartet by Devin Farney, a recent graduate of the Conservatory. It was jack cheese with jalapenos: a conventional string quartet on the surface - one movement is even a fugue - with unexpected spicy bits, like the chromatic row rudely stuck into the middle of the first movement theme.
