Recital

In a recital that was almost a house concert, the music was well-served.

Powerful American tenor Matthew Polenzani knocked a delightfully eccentric program out of the (First Congregational) Church in Berkeley Saturday night.

Anne Sofie von Otter is a great performer you root for. But her recital with pianist Angela Hewitt was not all gold, despite that.

Warm and fuzzy it wasn't, but Gidon Kremer's traversal of two pieces by Soviet composer Mieczysław Weinberg were worth the price of admission.

Amid all the fabulous concerts that are part of the Music@Menlo 2013 festival, “Through Bach”, don’t overlook this one, in which Soovin Kim will cut a swath through four centuries of violin repertoire in one astonishing program.

The latest concert of the young, well-received duo ZOFO features music from several space-age composers and, of course, excursions to Gustav Holst’s The Planets. 

Mattias Goerne, one of the great baritone lieder specialists of this or any age, partners with pianist/conductor Christoph Eschenbach in a performance of Schubert’s Winterreise.

I wouldn’t miss this concert for the world.

Meng Su and Yameng Wang are rapidly becoming California celebrities. Their repertoire has an exciting world-music flavor featuring such composers as Brazil’s Sergio Assad and China’s Tan Dun, as well as sensitive interpretations of Spanish classics and the music of J.S. Bach. 

For a famous violinist, Midori cuts an intentionally low profile, so you can be forgiven for not noticing that she will be performing a Bay Area recital soon, for San Francisco Performances.