Heuwell Tircuit

Heuwell Tircuit is a composer, performer, and writer who was chief writer for Gramophone Japan and for 21 years a music reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle. He wrote previously for Chicago American and the Asahi Evening News.

Articles By This Author

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Review

Music With Two Faces

Heuwell Tircuit - November 25, 2008
The program at Old First Church on Sunday afternoon was titled "Alla Zingarese," but the program of the Laurel Ensemble actually covered the two principal aspects underlying traditional Hungarian music: the native folk music and the better-known Romany traditions.
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Review

Messiaen in Context

Heuwell Tircuit - November 18, 2008

Jumping the gun a bit, ChamberBridge presented three programs of music by Olivier Messiaen, his associates, and major family members Saturday in Old First Church. The programs were set up to honor Messiaen's centennial — which actually occurs on the 10th of next month. The survey was most unusual, as festivals go, since relatively little of the composer's actual works appeared amid the programs, set forward under the rubric of "Messiaen Illuminated."

Musician Impossible

Heuwell Tircuit - November 11, 2008
Every so often I come across a musical event that defies all logic. That was the case Sunday afternoon as Benjamin Shwartz conducted the San Francisco Symphony's Youth Orchestra and a 13-year-old boy soloist through a performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto that would be the envy of any leading virtuoso.
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Review

The Sound of Idealism

Heuwell Tircuit - November 4, 2008
High-minded Herbert Blomstedt is in town for his annual two weeks with the San Francisco Symphony, fulfilling his obligations as its conductor emeritus. In his first program, he created a sensation Wednesday evening in Davies Symphony Hall with only two pieces — but what two pieces they were!
Review

Youthful Voices Rise

Heuwell Tircuit - October 28, 2008

The 30th anniversary season of the esteemed San Francisco Girls Chorus opened on Friday in Calvary Presbyterian Church. As usual, the chorus offered a terrific display of fine musicianship that traversed a complicated variety of musical styles. What else is new with this group? Even so, it was sometimes hard to fathom the precision and intonation with which these high school kids sang.

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Review

Master and Commander

Heuwell Tircuit - October 21, 2008
Pianist Leon Fleisher returned to his native San Francisco for a celebration of his 80th year, with both hands working beautifully after a nearly 40-year layoff, due to his right hand, which partly died on him. The cause was a focal dystopia that brought on the dysfunction of two of his fingers.
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Review

A Thrilling Find

Heuwell Tircuit - October 14, 2008

One of the great experiences in music listening comes when you attend an "interesting" program by a musician you hadn't known at all, only to find yourself blown away by his flawless musicianship. That was the case Sunday afternoon at Old First Church, as visiting pianist Emanuele Arciuli presented a textbook example of just how well the instrument can be made to sound.

Curious and Curiouser

Heuwell Tircuit - October 7, 2008
A listener could easily have ended up feeling a bit like Alice wandering through Wonderland, Monday evening at a program titled "Struck, Plucked, Scraped & Shaken," which San Francisco Contemporary Music Players presented in the Arts Forum in Yerba Buena Center. A large crowd greeted the event with loud cheers for a semiritualistic program exhaling new music for percussion instruments.
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Review

Bernstein on Parade

Heuwell Tircuit - September 23, 2008

On paper, last week's San Francisco Symphony program honoring Leonard Bernstein looked like a hopeless mishmash. But no, it turned out to be a triumphal success that had been brilliantly planned. Of course, that it was honoring "Bernstein I" and conducted by what amounts to "Bernstein II," Michael Tilson Thomas, didn't hurt. But who knew the man could sing and conduct at the same time?

Teach Your Children Well

Heuwell Tircuit - September 9, 2008
A large, enthusiastic crowd greeted the season opener of the Conservatory Orchestra in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Saturday evening in the school's concert hall. Conductor Andrew Mogrelia built his program around new or relatively new music by two of the Conservatory's resident composer-teachers, Elinor Armer and Conrad Susa.