Putting a new work between two repertory standards can be risky. But for clarinetist Anthony McGill and the Pacifica Quartet, High Sierra Sonata — by San Francisco Conservatory of Music-trained composer Ben Shirley — was a perfect fit.
And that’s as it should be, since Shirley’s clarinet quintet was commissioned by McGill and the Pacifica.
On Tuesday, Dec. 3, in a one night-only San Francisco Performances recital at Herbst Theatre, High Sierra fell between Antonín Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 12 (“American”) and Johannes Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115.
If the “American” Quartet sounds familiar — as if a melancholy English horn melody might rise from the lower strings — that’s because it was written in 1893, the same year in which Dvořák composed his Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”). But ultimately, this chamber piece sprang from the composer’s existing style rather than the influence of American spirituals (as that famous symphony did).
The Pacifica gave a warm but restrained performance of the Dvořák. The opening movement, marked Allegro ma non troppo (translation: Fast, but not too much), would have made more impact had it been played a bit faster or with more intensity. But the musicians’ approach suited the slow movement, to which they applied a notable amount of stylistically appropriate portamento, or sliding between notes. Like the first movement, the third, a scherzo marked Molto vivace, would have benefitted from punchier, more extroverted playing. The final movement did, at last, zip along more propulsively.
McGill’s arrival for High Sierra brought a new energy to the concert. The principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic since 2014, McGill combines tonal splendor with flawless technique. He and the Pacifica have been playing High Sierra for a couple years now, and they recorded it on American Stories, their 2024 Grammy Award-nominated CD. It’s a lovely, moving piece and should easily earn a place in the clarinet quintet repertory.
High Sierra fit so neatly into the program because it’s an unabashedly tonal work, drawing on older musical traditions even though it’s clearly a product of the present day. In three connected movements, the piece draws on Shirley’s experiences of nature while visiting a friend in the Eastern Sierra whom he had met some years before, when they were both living in a homeless shelter and in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.
High Sierra is like a theme and variations in three movements, giving it a formal connection to the Brahms at the end of the program.
The first movement, “Buttermilk Morning,” opens with taps and rustlings in the strings — perhaps tree branches in the wind. The clarinet enters with a sinuous slow theme, repeated in a higher register as the strings weave a filigreed web. Then the movement explodes in a joyous, songlike section, followed by a ruminative interlude reminiscent of a hymn and the return of the opening clarinet melody, now extended.
That melody returns again and again in “Angry Secrets” and “Reflections on a Day,” the second and third movements — whether against bristling minor-key counterpoint, barely audible high strings, or warm lower strings.
In the finale, everyone takes up a playful tune and tosses it around, followed by a brief contrapuntal section that eventually leads yet again to that wistful melody, which spreads across the ensemble before High Sierra closes with the clarinet all alone.
The concluding Brahms Clarinet Quintet brought forth marvelous playing from everyone. The opening Allegro was perhaps a bit slow, but it built to a gorgeous end. In the Adagio, McGill gloried in the highly ornamented clarinet line, and first violinist Simin Ganatra played a breathtakingly tender duet with him. The quintet played the last movement’s theme and variations with a level of energy and concentration that would certainly have pleased the composer.
This story was first published in Datebook in partnership with the San Francisco Chronicle.
