San Francisco Performances presents the Brentano String Quartet with special guests, Jonathan Biss and Hsin-Yun Huang
2016-10-19
Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102-4522 USA
7:30 PM, Wednesday, October 19, 2016

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• Bach: Selections from Art of the Fugue
• Elgar: Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84
• Gesualdo: Selected Madrigals
• Mozart: String Quintet in E flat Major, K. 614

[7:30 PM lights down, announcements, band out]

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1782): Selections from the Art of the Fugue, BWV 1080 (ca. 1740)

1. [7:31 PM] Contrapunctus I
2. [7:35 PM] Contrapunctus VII, a 4, per Augmentationem et Diminutionem
3. [7:37 PM] Contrapunctus IV
4. [7:42 PM] Contrapunctus IX, a 4
   [selection ends 7:48 PM; applause & bows, then all off for a moment or two]

[7:51 PM; the performers return, joined by Jonathan Biss]

Edward Elgar (1857-1934): Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84, (1918) with special guest, Jonathan Biss

1. [7:52 PM] Moderato
2. [8:06 PM] Adagio
3. [8:17 PM] Andante; Allegro
   [set ends 8:27 PM; applause and bows, all off by 8:30 PM]

[8:46 PM lights down, waiting]

Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613): Five Madrigals from Book 6, (1611), arranged by Bruce Adolphe, and extracted from his work, Oh Gesualdo, Divine Tormentor (2004)

1. [8:47 PM] No. 9: Deh, come invan sospiro (Ah, how I sigh for you in vain)
2. [8:50 PM] No. 2: Beltà, poi che t'assenti (Beauty, since you depart)
3. [8:53 PM] No. 4: Resta di darmi noia (Cease to give me annoyance)
4. [8:56 PM] No. 22: Già piansi nel dolore (Formerly I wept in my grief)
5. [8:58 PM] No. 17: Moro, lasso, al mio duolo (I die, alas, in my suffering)
   [selections ends 9:01 PM; applause and bows, then all off for a moment]

[9:04 PM; the performers return, joined by Hsin-Yun Huang]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): String Quintet in E flat Major, K. 614 (1791), with special guest, Hsin-Yun Huang

1. [9:05 PM] Allegro di molto
2. [9:13 PM] Andante
3. [9:20 PM] Menuetto: Allegretto
4. [9:25 PM] Allegro
   [show ends 9:30 PM]

Brentano Quartet

• Misha Amory: viola;
• Serena Canin: violin;
• Nina Lee: cello;
• Mark Steinberg: violin.

• Jonathan Biss: piano;
• Hsin-Yun Huang: viola.

The best thing about tonight's concert was having a seat in the center of the third row … exactly right for great sound and a good view of the communication between the musicians. And it didn't hurt that the program opened with Bach and ended with Mozart!

I love the spare precision which Bach spins forward to fill his compositions, and I would have been perfectly happy to hear the Brentano Quartet run through the entire Art of the Fugue collection if they'd announced that as the program. More Bach = more better by me! As the program notes for this portion of the show were written by Mark Steinberg, I'm going to hazard a guess that the arrangement of the four pieces we heard was his work too.

The following piece by Elgar was quite a change. Lush, romantic, stormy, whimsical … it allowed Jonathan Biss and the quartet to exhibit many moods and emotions. I suppose I should take time to study it a bit later on, so as to become more familiar with the piece – to my recollection, this is the first time I've heard it performed.

Set break was followed by a leap backwards to the Renaissance madrigals of Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa, Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, as filtered through the modern arrangements of Bruce Adolphe, who revised five of Gesualdo's original five-part vocal works into a string-quartet-sized package, then tucked in a final “commentary” piece of his own and published it in 2004 as Oh Gesualdo, Divine Tormentor. The program included fine notes by Adolphe about the work, but made no explanation for the omission of that last section from tonight's performance.

Closing a show with Mozart is generally a sure-fire way to please the crowd, and K.614 is up there at the top of Mozart's chamber works. I was surprised then to hear at least two “blips” during the performance where I thought one or more of the players had drifted out of sync with the rest of the unit. Perhaps they didn't put quite as much rehearsal time into this piece? Or maybe someone was extra tired after a long day? My friend Monique said she didn't hear anything amiss, so it could be that I simply misheard things … I dunno. In any event, I was slightly let down here – another case where I would have been better to begin listening without such high expectations!

Program Notes

Steven Winn posted a nice review of this past Saturday evening's gig, including some promo comments about the program for SFCV.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2016 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2016 event list! ☸ On to the next event!