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Robert Commanday, Senior Editor
Adventures in Young Music, Thrifty and Personal By Janos Gereben It's May, darn it. What is one to do? The Symphony is touring in Europe. The Ballet season just ended. The Opera is waiting for June to bust out all over. How to get a fix in this month-after-the-cruelest-one? How about lots of fascinating concerts . . . for free? May, you see, is also graduation time. And that means dozens of recitals at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. "Yes, but they are only students," you say. True, but within these close quarters at 19th Avenue and Ortega, you could have heard such students as Isaac Stern, Jeffrey Kahane, Robin Sutherland, John del Carlo, Aaron Jay Kernis, Hai-Ye Ni, Krista Bennion Feeney, and countless others who have become members of symphony and opera orchestras around the world. What famous artist of the future will you come across today? Spending time at the Conservatory over the last weekend provided some memorable moments of experiencing music at a "time of becoming." Instead of the physical separation of a large concert hall or the emotional distance between Artists and the Audience, you're up close and personal here. Wending your way through narrow corridors, between lockers and studios, you literally rub shoulders with those you're about to see perform, experience directly their anticipation, anxiety, delight in reaching this point. Music at close quarters At the concert, you sit close to the performer, and instead of thinking "Show me!," chances are you'll be rooting for the young violinist or pianist to succeed. The two main venues, Hellman Hall and Agnes Albert Hall, do not allow for much separation or distance. Attitudes are deeply different in matters large and small. I am merciless in face of distracting stage manners at professional concerts, but Friday night, when Elizabeth Lee played the Beethoven F Major Sonata with passion and fire, I just smiled at her occasional foot-tapping. The rhythm just became too overwhelming for her to sit still and prim. At the same concert, featuring members of the accompanying classes, Lee's partner, Jennifer Ward, dazzled with her mastery of the Beethoven, playing the keyboard part from memory. Called a cello sonata, the work actually features the piano, with a great deal of complex music, not at all as a "proper accompanist." The last pianist I heard perform the F Major Sonata from memory was Wu Han ("ably supported" by David Finckel), and that's a pretty good association for a graduate recital. Steely Shostakovich Another cello sonata, Shostakovich's D Minor, paired Cora Mae Phillips, an intense cellist, with Lo Sha Yip, a precise, exacting pianist, with steely but well-balanced phrases, a sound I have heard from some of the finer Shostakovich performers. Student concerts, besides the possibility of exciting discovery, also offer a sound different from what you hear usually heard from established professionals: a fresh, honest, hit-and-miss approach to music. There is much more risk-taking you can witness here, simply because young musicians don't have a career or reputation to protect, and one result is that the choice of music is often daring. Leif Woodward's graduate cello recital, for example, featured sonatas by György Ligeti (fiercely difficult and modern) and Joseph Wölfl (not likely to have been performed around here for many decades). Also, making a (sort of) concession to tradition, they played C.P.E. Bach's Sonata No. 3. Soprano Raiña Simons ventured into Andre Previn's challenging "Honey and Rue," her accompanist, Chen-I Lee, tossing off the dense dissonances of "First I'll Try Love," "The Town Is Lit" and "Take My Mother Home." Contributing your presence In addition to all the selfish reasons that may lead you to attend these interesting, promising, free concerts, consider that your presence may be very helpful. The vast majority of student recitals are poorly attended. Usually, there are only a few family members and fellow students. By being there, you become a vital part of a young musician's education. In case of an excellent concert Saturday night, for example, the Conservatory Orchestra significantly outnumbered the audience in Hellman Hall. Led by Alasdair Neale, a conductor with special affinity for young musicians, the orchestra played well in Thomas Conroy's compact, idea-filled "Essay" and Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, but hit a remarkable high point at the conclusion of Ravel's Mother Goose suite. There was promise in the performance, from the beginning, with concertmaster Daniel Brandt's sensitive solos, inspiring leadership by such first-chair players as Ryan Mooney (viola), Adelle-Akiko Kearns (cello), and Alden F. Cohen (double bass). Later, the winds impressed: Rebecca Metheny and Daria Terleck (flute), Meave Cox, Jinhee Kim and Grace Wu (oboe), Cox doubling on English horn, Shozo Kuzuhara (clarinet), and Matthew Arnold (bassoon). Jieyin Wu (harp) and May Fang (piano and celeste) made special contributions. Responding to Neale's baton, the student orchestra peaked at an impressively post-graduate level, in the majestic "Empress of the Pagodas" and the enchanting "Enchanted Garden." Many more to come There is plenty of time to participate in Conservatory activities before the May 23 commencement at which Bonnie Hampton will deliver the address, and retiring faculty members Hermann le Roux and Dorothy Steinmetz will receive honorary degrees. Here are just a few of the upcoming recitals, graduate, senior or otherwise (all at 8:00 p.m. except as noted): May 13 - Jonathan Smucker (tenor) May 14 - Santiago Gutierrez (guitar); Hiyas Hila (piano) May 15 - Ryan Mooney (viola); Raiña Simons (soprano) May 16 - Cora Phillips (cello); Joshua Brown (baritone) May 17 - Eun Bin Im (piano) [5:00 p.m.]; Hang Li (piano) [8:00 p.m.] May 18 - Meave Cox (oboe) [11 a.m.]; Eri Nakamura (piano) [11 a.m.]; Honglac Hathuc (guitar) [2:00 p.m.]; Andrew Cox (baritone) [2:00 p.m.]; Lynette Harui (violin) [5:00 p.m.] May 18 - Mathew Croft (French horn) May 19 - Alan Cochran (tenor); Joshua Brown (baritone) May 20 - Megan Deppa (violin); Kelly Miller (mezzo) May 21 - Krista Wigle (soprano) May 22 - Daniel Brandt (violin); Ayelet Cohen (soprano) For further information, see www.sfcm.edu/calendar/index.html Don’t just sit at home, get out there, enjoy and root. They need it. You need it. (Janos Gereben, a regular contributor to www.sfcv.org, is arts editor of the Post Newspaper Group. His e-mail address is janos451@earthlink.net.) ©2003 Janos Gereben, all rights reserved ___________________________________ SFCV is a not-for-profit enterprise supported by
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(From September 1, 1998 to May 6, 2003, we have published, in addition
to the Music News, feature pieces and weekly editorials 1485 reviews of
Bay Area performances by: 46 symphony orchestras (320 reviews), 72 chamber
groups (160), 33 new music ensembles and programs (168), 32 opera
companies (200), 26 choral groups (92), 13 music festivals (57), 31 early
music ensembles (100), 21 chamber orchestras (70), 5 musical theater
groups (13), world music (13), recitals (274), youth music (9), Other (9).
) _________________________ Robert Commanday, Senior Editor; Michelle Dulak, Editor; Richard Thomas, Associate Editor______________________________________ We welcome commentary, suggestions and reactions to the articles. Simply click on editor@sfcv.org and send your response by e-mail. Please do not send anything in attachments. Because of the persistent traffic in virus-bearing attachments, most messages with attachments are deleted unopened.Also — all previous reviews and articles are available. For last week's issue and articles, click on "Last Week." To retrieve earlier pieces, click on "archives" at the bottom of the page, enter the category and/or specifics of the search query, then click "Submit." If an article fails to appear, please notify us by e-mail (editor@sfcv.org).
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