ArtsSF

PALO ALTO—The visiting English violinist Daniel Hope is not only a stylish leader, but he brings along a palpable magnetic personality and a stimulating program spanning three centuries that puts competing groups to shame. His week as guest leader of the New Century Chamber Orchestra brought on four moderns, offset against the usual Bach-Vivaldi standards. And at the midpoint, he played that OTHER Mendelssohn Violin Concerto you haven’t heard, and he made a very strong case for it. In sum,…

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Farallon Quintet with a New Cannon Aviary The unusual Farallon Quintet reminds us there are more than 600 compositions for clarinet and string quartet—precisely Farallon’s personnel. Not too caught up in the past, the SF-based Faralloners like to feast on new music. And to launch the new year in style, while musicians elsewhere seemed to be left gnawing on turkey leftovers ad infinitum, letting halls go dark, these players tightened their belts carried off two world premieres at the Old…

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Dali Quartet Linked with Virtuoso Ricardo Morales SAN JOSE—Most orchestras have a No. Two conductor/consultant. Chamber groups have no such luck. The orchestra can send the #2 around during rehearsals, hear from the audience side, and judge whether all the balances between sections are good. The Dalí String Quartet from Philadelphia could use a similar sonic consultant to get optimum outcomes. They played a novel program here Oct. 25, pairing up with a stellar clarinetist, Ricardo Morales, principal in the…

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Overwhelming Voice at the NCCO Opener BERKELEY—-The grand operatic approach can be heavenly with a diva like soprano Ailyn Pérez, who is just back from a starring role at LaScala. But in an intimate church setting as soloist with a small string orchestra, it can misfire. She tackled an ambitious almost-all-Russian program opening the New Century Chamber Orchestra season Sept. 17. The rest of the program of snippets and transcriptions was much more promising, though given the huge repertoire for…

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Late Quartets, & ‘Transplant,’ in Intimate Berkeley Hall BERKELEY—The perfect trifecta to report: an unfamiliar ensemble, a new hall, and Beethoven music that was (once considered) very modern. To fill the August vacuum in classical music, the New Esterházy (String) Quartet tackled the formidable last five quartets, Op. 127-135, written by Beethoven in his last couple of years, when he was in failing health and pain. These works were so far ahead of their time, they raised hackles among critics,…

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MacMillan Thwarts the Jinxes at Cabrillo MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, CA—I was sure that San Andreas, whose great earthquake fault lay just 50 yards away, had jinxed the grand-finale concert at the Mission. But lo, a rousing James MacMillan trumpet concerto called “Epiclesis,” powerful enough to wake the dead and maybe nudge open the Pearly Gates, saved the day. Quoting ageless Gregorian chants calling to God, the veteran Scottish composer helped the cause of concert salvation Aug. 16. The fitting…

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With Cabrillo’s Contemporary Orchestral Sounds SANTA CRUZ, CA—The final weekend of the Cabrillo Festival is inevitably invigorating, with one new orchestral piece almost atop the other, sometimes with the ink barely dry. This is Music Director Marin Alsop’s baby, now in her 24th season on the summer podium here. Here she and the devotees can feast on contem porary sounds, created by figures either well-known (like Philip Glass) or otherwise. The esprit de corps in her festival orchestra is remarkable,…

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Trial by Fire in Santa Fe SANTA FE, NM—On your high shelf labeled “significant ensembles I’ve never heard of,” save a good spot for the Flux Quartet, which has introduced more than 100 new works to our string-quartet repertory. They played the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, a humming summer-long enterprise with dozens of concerts, each with its own character, manned by diverse quality players from all over. Your yen for contemporary sounds would have drawn you Aug. 7 to…

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With Heavy Other-Coast Representation ATHERTON, CA—In one of the most attractive S.F. Peninsula communities, Music@Menlo has found its niche, selling out chamber concerts offered in intimate venues. The current 13th annual incarnation of M@M is devoted mostly to Schubert, the ultimate romantic master of lyricism, with Schubert’s greatest hits and songs spread out over four weekends. You might call it Lincoln Chamber West. The co-directors also run the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (NYC), drawing heavily from their colleagues…

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And Schubert’s Morbid Romanticism The New Century Chamber Orchestra is an elite string ensemble having an unabashedly emotional approach to music. Such is the guiding philosophy of Nadja Salerno-Sonnenburg, its music director as well as lead violinist. And she never shies away from arrangements that permit borrowing from a broader repertoire. The keystone of the season finale was the effusive “Death and the Maiden” opus by Schubert as arranged by Gustav Mahler. This is an extraordinary passionate work of depth…

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