A DEPRESSING
PREMIERE, A ROUSING FINALE
By Paul Hertelendy
artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music
and dance
Week of March 26-April 3, 2009
Vol. 11, No. 83
Imagine a
descendant of
Giuseppe Verdi on speed and you have a grasp of “Belshazzar’s Feast,”
one of
the truly gripping, rafter-rattling oratorios of the 20th
century.
Credit the
emergence from
the shell by the genteel British composer William Walton, who wrote
mostly pleasant,
inoffensive pieces and ballet music in his long career. But in this
work from
1931, he transformed himself into the
incredible
hulk. The San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, which curiously never
bothered
with it for the first half-century or so, brought it out in all its
8.0-Richter-scale grandeur March 25, its exuberance probably still
sending
tremors around the Pacific as you read this.
The 55-minute
dramatic
outpouring is based on the Bible’s Book of Daniel and the “handwriting
on the
wall” episode of the Babylonian King Belshazzar, appending to it a
fictional sudden
death of the king, seemingly by order of God. If it’s not 100% Bible,
it is at
least 100% theater, musically more dramatic than most operas from that
time.
Walton
unabashedly reached
back to the romantic era for his style here, with the chorus raging
from fury
to a hallowed hush, often punctuated by drums, cymbal and incisive
xylophone.
Walton also recalls Babylon
with the suggestion of ancient eastern modes of music. The result is
such a potent
cocktail that you hesitate to drink it before driving.
The text is
one of the very
best, crafted by the poet Osbert Sitwell, retaining the stylistic feel
of the
King James Bible in scenes of rich imagery (“We wept and hanged our
harps upon
the willows”). Ragnar Bohlin’s electrifying chorus here becomes the
major
protagonist, sharing space with a resonant soloist---here, the
home-grown bass-baritone
John Relyea, with a cannon of a voice and a well of a deep register
which has
since graced all the major European opera houses.
It was a
riveting
performance that resuscitated a program in real difficulty after a very
troubling world premiere. “Music in Dark Times” by Steve Gerber, 60,
was a clichéd
six-movement opus considerably influenced by long-departed romantics
like Liszt,
Sibelius, Holst, Respighi and Tippett. You wonder why the SFS chose it
for its
public forum; the melodramatic score, 17 minutes long, would be
infinitely better
suited as a film score, perhaps to a good horror movie. At the
conclusion the
composer, a Washingtonian who lives in New York City, was prevailed upon to
come on stage and
take bows.
In the middle,
the Russian
Yevgeny Sudbin gave a thoughtful, attractive rendition of Beethoven’s
sterling
opus from the romantically inclined middle period, the Piano Concerto
No. 4. He
weathered the ultimate distraction---this time, not a cell phone
ringing, but
rather a telephone backstage, during the quietest part of the Andante.
(Note to
Davies Hall: Improve the sonic isolation of the auditorium!)
Never evaluate
conductors strictly
with your eyes. If you did so, you would never hire the Russian-born
Vladimir
Ashkenazy, whose crazy gesticulation, exaggeration and baton-stabbing
thrusts
drive me up that handwritten wall. But he enjoys an excellent rapport
with the players,
who make
sure that he is invited back almost every year. I say, overlook his
ill-chosen
premiere; on the strength of his Beethoven and Walton here, invite him
back for
a future podium go-round to illuminate some of the 19th-century
works of which he is so enamored. And one of these days perhaps he’d
double at the
keyboard, recalling his great prowess there before the baton ever
beckoned. He is not among the tallest
freelance
conductors around---in fact, he does not even reach up to the shoulders
of
soloist Relyea. Nonetheless he is a musician of admirable stature.
MUSIC
NOTES---There's a natural chorus-and-orchestra concert pairing of
ancient tales that I do
not believe any one has put together yet---"Belshazzar's Feast,"
followed by Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex." Though both were written around
the same time, they contrast markedly: one neo-romantic, the other
neo-classical. And the double bill could be done either by the
SFS&C in concert, or else in an opera company staging (though
neither work was conceived originally for the stage).
Accidents of
scheduling produced the last two Beethoven piano concerti a mere nine
days apart at Davies Hall, thanks to the visiting London Symphony's
tour program.
DANIEL LITE IN
THE 20TH CENTURY---True story: A 12-year-old misbehaving student was
called up for the 99th time to the school principal, who admonished him
sternly, "It's time you saw the handwriting on the wall!" No Biblical scholar, the flustered youngster countered on the verge of tears, protesting his innocence, "But I didn't
put it there, sir!" It was one of the few disciplinary sessions about
which the principal could chuckle many times over.
These
San Francisco Symphony & Chorus concerts continue through March 28
at 8 p.m. For
info: (415) 864-6000, or go online.
Davies Symphony Hall, S.F. Broadcasts on KDFC-FM (102.1) at 8 p.m. on
the second Tuesday following.
©Paul Hertelendy 2009
#
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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