BERLINERS ON AN UPSWING
With a
Liverpudlian on the Podium
By Paul Hertelendy
artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music
and dance
Week of Nov. 22-29, 2009
Vol. 12, No. 41
The vaunted
Berlin Philharmonic made two rare appearances in San Francisco under Principal
Conductor Simon
Rattle, earning standing ovations from the full houses at Davies Hall.
The
ensemble was in exemplary form, living up to its ne plus
ultra reputation, performing an all-German program of
Schoenberg, Brahms and Wagner.
Long
accused of sexism in hiring, the Philharmonic has come a long, long way
since
the 1982 controversy on whether to have a woman clarinetist, Sabine
Meyer, who
was supported by Herbert von Karajan. However, the players voted 73-4
to eject her.
The result
proved beneficial for
both parties. Meyer, a superb artist, has
been a signal creative force, making a
stunning solo career touring the
world. And in the Philharmonic cooler heads prevailed. In the Nov. 21
concert, for
instance, out of some 80 musicians on stage, 13 were women, permeating
not just
strings and woodwinds, but even the brass section. And you were tempted
to
conclude that quite possibly women were here to stay in this modern
world, even
in the heart of Germany’s
capital.
The Schoenberg
Chamber Symphony No.
1 (1906) is one of the early works in which the composer had achieved
his
distinctive style, most of it reveling in atonality. Much to Rattle’s
credit,
he made a lush concoction out of this piece too often treated with
clinical
sterility, and in the process underlined simultaneously Schoenberg’s
modernity
along with his ties to the older romantic era and Richard Wagner. This
large-orchestra version is to these ears far more effective than the
earlier
more intimate true-chamber publication and allows more latitude, of
which
Rattle took full advantage. He did extensive dynamic
shaping, from a full storm down to barely
audible strings. And he launched into the 22-minute piece with such
gusto that
the patrons were drawn in right behind him.
This work,
recognizably in the
harmonic style of Schoenberg’s one-act opera “Erwartung,” was in the
second of
his three phases, from tonality to atonality to 12-tone structure.
Schoenberg
was a natural for performance here, as his life was divided between Germany and California.
Simon Rattle,
a product of Liverpool turning 50 in
two months, is a splashy,
ebullient leader with a poetic flow of gestures on the podium. He led
the
entire program from memory, without even a music stand before him. His beginnings as a percussionist were fleshed
out in the very loud finale of the Brahms Second Symphony dominated by
timpani
and brass, enough to set even the most dormant seismographs shaking.
You were
tempted to say that they were Rattle-ing the chandeliers, were there
any of them hanging
in the hall. The Brahms showed
this crack orchestra
at its best, both responsive and eloquent. The French horn solos were
to write
home about, and the double basses made trenchant pedalpoints.
The concert
opened with the Act One
Prelude to Wagner’s opera “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,” a
poster child for
successful overtures. And if you’re not swept away by its infectious
melodies,
there’s the adroit superposition of all four themes at once toward the
end---Wagner’s way of refuting critics who claimed he couldn’t do
counterpoint.
Berlin Philharmonic under
Principal
Conductor Simon Rattle, presented by the San Francisco Symphony Nov.
20-21 at Davies Hall, S.F. For info on the SFS: (415) 864-6000, or go online.
©Paul Hertelendy 2009
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Paul Hertelendy has been
covering
the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with
relish
-- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never
weakly)
will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with
forays
into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local
artists as well.
#
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