Reviews

No Double Whammy

Jeff Dunn - December 16, 2008
Even in opera, where plots deal with the structure of destiny, it’s music, not words, that provides power. — Marcel Marceau, 1987
A composer may write fabulous music, but a weak libretto can kill it as an opera. — Jake Heggie, 2008
Every composer dreams of writing fabulous music to the perfect, dramatic libretto.
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Review

Viva la Revolution

Be'eri Moalem - December 16, 2008
"Music didn't always use to be so [bleepin'] pretentious," whispered one of the "concert" goers as he stood on the sidewalk, rolling a cigarette while listening to the Brahms G-minor Piano Quartet. As the performers started to play the Alla Zingara "Gypsy" movement, listeners whistled, whooped, and yelled "Yeah!
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Review

Holiday Cheer

David Bratman - December 16, 2008

Christmas time is here, by golly. Time to mix a punch of Baroque orchestral music, sacred vocal music of various periods, and a medley of Christmas carols and Hanukkah songs. That's what the New Century Chamber Orchestra served up for its December concerts last weekend. I heard Friday's performance at First United Methodist Church, the "concrete tent," in downtown Palo Alto.

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Review

Double Impact

Heuwell Tircuit - December 16, 2008

Cello recitals have rarely created the kind of audience reactions witnessed Thursday evening at Herbst Theatre, under the auspices of San Francisco Performances. There, cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan blew the crowd away with several performances of a lifetime — all the while largely avoiding repertoire that is frequently performed. That's doing it the hard way.

Singing for the Joy of It

Jason Victor Serinus - December 16, 2008
What would Bay Area choral groups do without Christmas? Even if our amateur choruses can’t compete with the professionals, the warmth and good cheer they generate among audience members, plus the delicious postconcert receptions, go a long way toward justifying the price of admission. A good example is Voices of Musica Sacra, a chamber chorus of some 40 volunteer members.

Labor of Love

Jeff Dunn - December 9, 2008
Many times people have asked me, shaking their heads: “How can anyone like that [dissonant, earsplitting, academic, boring, pointless, random — pick your adjective] modern music?” But the fact is, incredible as it may seem to some traditional classical music fans, many people do, as evidenced by the crowd filling the risers to near capacity in the Yerba Center for the Arts Forum Monday evening. Th

Thunder and Lightning

Rebekah Ahrendt - December 9, 2008
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra appeared in a different guise Saturday at Berkeley's First Congregational Church.
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Review

To Honor a Giant

Michelle Dulak Thomson - December 9, 2008
It's not often that anyone gets to salute a major composer's centenary while he's still there to appreciate it. That Elliott Carter's 100th birthday this week didn't get so much as a nod from any of the Bay Area's many orchestras is understandable, if disappointing.

Celluloid Soundscapes

Jessica Balik - December 9, 2008
Initially, it might seem unimaginable that a silent film from the late 1920s could occasion a West Coast premiere of a musical score. But when the score is one composed for the film, then the situation becomes feasible, indeed. The film is Metropolis, a Weimar Republic work directed by Fritz Lang in 1927.
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Review

Titanic Pianist, With Icebergs Lurking

Janos Gereben - December 9, 2008
My first encounter with the piano came from a Tom and Jerry cartoon, where Tom plays Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. I had no idea what it was, but it made me want to play the piano.
Lang Lang was 2 years old when that historic event occurred. A few months later, he started playing the piano, at age 5 he won his first contest ...