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Tonight's San Francisco Contemporary Music Players concert at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco was a complete success, even tho it seemed everything was working against it.
First, the scheduled baritone in David Sheinfeld's Dear Theo came down with the flu, as did his replacement. So at the last minute two solo pieces were substituted.
And then the composer of the world premiere on the program commits suicide (apparently) on his way to a rehearsal the day before. (See previous postings.)
Still, the concert went on, and we were glad.
It sold out.
The SFCMP music director, David Milnes, began by talking from the stage about the difficulties they faced with a rampant flu, and the last minute decision to substitute two solo works from their performer's repertory .
But then he also expressed the shock they all felt when they got the word Sunday, while waiting for Jorge Liderman to arrive at the final rehearsal, that he wouldn't be coming. They had all be working very closely with him for weeks, with no indication that this would end so tragically. Milnes added that even his piece, Furthermore..., is lively and optimistic, with no hint of melancholy. It all left everyone wondering how this could have happened.
But, the concert would go on:
And it was one of the most engaging and exciting SFCMP concerts I've been to in years!
Mackey's piece was lively and fun. He intended it as "vernacular music from a culture that doesn't actually exist", a thought-experiment gone wild.
And altho I don't really like a lot of Ferneyhough's music, this Ciaconna, played impressively by Graeme Jennings (ex Arditti Quartet, now living in San Francisco), was a real tour de force. Quite spectacular.
As was Manoury's vibraphone solo. (What is it about French composers and vibraphones and xylophones?) The prominent technique here was to sound many notes in a chord or run across the bars and then dampen them one by one. Vibrant it was.
I hadn't heard the Feldman piece before, altho it has been recorded a few times, most recently on Mode 119. It was beautifully played, even tho the stillness was betrayed by coughs from the audience and the occasional ambulance siren outside.
But it was the Liderman piece that I think everyone was waiting for. And it was spectacular. Sort of a chamber violin concerto, it reminded me alot of Milhaud's jazzy Pan-American chamber pieces. Sunny, lyrical, and full of surprises. Carla Kihlstedt nailed it with a full and sensuous tone. And it even had a cadenza! It was great and I hope they record it! The ensemble began with a moment of silence.
But of course the tragedy was that now Liderman's work is closed, done. There won't be any new pieces. How can this be?
Still, congratulations to the SFCMP!
Here's Kosman's review in the SF Chron.
