music

Dawn to twilight—The journey begins The Viennese school and the second Viennese school celebrated orchestral lushness with a lighthearted approach reminiscent of their rich and airy pastries. And there the resemblance ends. Franz Schubert and Alban Berg, the beginning and end of this 100-year trajectory, are explored in four programs by the San Francisco Symphony led by Michael Tilson Thomas, their “Dawn to Twilight” festival....

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Understated yet charming Countertenor Andreas Scholl, lauded on world stages for purity of sound and expressive core, came to UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Auditorium April 26, backed by the 22-member Australian Chamber Orchestra. It was a mutual alliance between a group that brings modernity and energy to period works and a present-day countertenor who has been likened to Senesino, the castrato Händel wrote for. The Australians were led with verve by violinist Richard...

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Powerful work done justice Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, one of the pinnacles of the choral world, is rarely heard due to the huge cast and attendant costs. The Bay Area has been fortunate to have it produced twice recently. Last summer Robert Geary...

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A stellar concert Music often finds itself in a curious double role: it can stand alone or it can support the other arts. The Oakland East Bay Symphony held its spring concert Friday, April 17, and three of the four pieces referenced another form. Led by...

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Two very different programs showed Josef Haydn in different lights last week. And then turned around and delivered stunning modern works. At an April 4 program featuring Thomas Adès’ 2005 Violin Concerto (Concentric Paths), Leila Josefowicz wowed a packed...

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Great black-and-white photographs have an integrity of texture that color would only obscure. In a program titled “Moving pictures, picture music,” the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players subsumed orchestral color for contrast, exploring a wealth of shades from ephemeral to nitty-gritty. Alessandro Solbiati’s 2006 Sestetto à Gérard (Sextet for Gerard) played gossamer phantasms—ghost tones and muted strings—against the solidity of bass clarinet warmed by flute....

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