San Francisco Performances presents Celtic Universe featuring Jordi Savall with Carlos Núñez and friends
Herbst Theatre
Veterans' Building, San Francisco War Memorial Performing Arts Center, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102-4522 USA
7:30 PM, Thursday, May 3, 2018

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

• [4:30 PM, entrance to an empty house with about 30 or 40 other patrons;
  I wedge into C3FlrR3 – the first row open to us, and sit directly in front of the maestro's position onstage]
• [4:33 PM announcements from Melanie Smith,
  band out after a few minutes, entering by ones and twos, getting themselves and their instruments set up]
• [4:40 PM long bit of tuning, first AL, then JS, then AL again.
• JS takes a few minutes to back-announce the tunes of the first set that they practiced, but I'm far too slow: I've guessed things below by comparison via the program, but there's no guarantee I'm right!

And the “set list” for this section, such as I recall:

1. [4:59 PM] Practising the Irish Landscapes set
   [discussion and practice of one of the intertune transitions]
2. [5:13 PM] One or more dance tunes from the Basque set
3. [5:18 PM] unidentified set featuring the psaltery
4. [5:27 PM] unidentified set featuring the pipes
5. [5:34 PM] Possible repeat of the Irish Landscapes set? (not introduced)
   [set ends 5:48 PM]

[7:36 PM lights down, announcements, band out]

1. [7:40 PM] Air for the Bagpipes
   
   The Caledonia Set
2. [7:45 PM] Archibald MacDonald of Keppoch
3. [7:m PM] The Musical Priest/Scotch Mary
4. [7:m PM] Caledonia's Wail for Niel Gow
5. [7:m PM] Sackow's Jig
   [7:56 PM comments from CN]
   
   Celtic Universe in Galicia
6. [7:58 PM] Alalá
7. [7:m PM] En Querer
8. [8:m PM] Maruxiña
9. [8:m PM] Diferencias sobre la Gayta
   
   The Lord Moira Set
10. [8:06 PM] Abergeldie Castle Stratspey
11. [8:m PM] Regents Rant—Lord Moira
12. [8:m PM] Lord Moira's Hornpipe (featuring Lyra-viol, the bag-pipes tuning & Bodhrán)
    
    Flowers of Edinburgh Set
13. [8:14 PM] The Hills of Lorne
14. [8:m PM] The Flowers of Edinburg
15. [8:19 PM] Lament for the Death of his Second Wife
16. [8:m PM] Fisher's Hornpipe
17. [8:m PM] Peter's Peerie Boat
    [set ends 8:30 PM]

[8:51 PM lights down, band out]

The Donegal Set

1. [8:53 PM] Tuttle's Reel
2. [8:m PM] Lady Mary Hay's Scots Measure
3. [8:58 PM] Carolan's Farewell
4. [9:m PM] Gusty's Frolics
5. [9:m PM] Jimmy Holme's Favorite
   
   Carolan's Harp Set
6. [9:09 PM] Ane Groundel
7. [9:m PM] Dumbarton's Drums Beat Bonny
8. [9:m PM] The Reel of Tullochgorum (Irish harp & psaltery)
   
   Celtic Universe from Brittany to Basque Country Set
9. [9:21 PM] O Soñjal
10. [9:m PM] Kunplitzekoa
11. [9:m PM] Aurtxo txikia negarrez
12. [9:m PM] Biribilketa
    
    Irish Landscapes Set
13. [9:39 PM] The Lamentation of Owen Roe O'Neill
14. [9:m PM] The Hills of Ireland
15. [9:m PM] The Morning Dew
16. [9:m PM] Apples in the Winter
17. [9:m PM] The Rocky Road to Dublin
18. [9:m PM] The Kid on the Mountain
19. [9:m PM] Morrison's Jig
    [set ends 9:49 PM]
    
    1st Encore
20. [9:53 PM] Planxty Irwin
21. [9:55 PM] Carolan's Concerto
    [all done 9:57 PM; bows, then all off]
    2nd Encore
22. [9:58 PM] Peter's Peerie Boat
    [show ends 10:00 PM]

• Pancho Álvarez: viola caipira, soprano viol;
• Andrew Lawrence-King: harp, psaltery;
• Frank McGuire: bodhrán;
• Carlos Núñez: gaita, ocarina, irish whistle, whistle, low whistle;
• Xurxo Núñez: Galician pandiero, tambourin, percussion.
• Jordi Savall: treble viol, lyra viola.

First off, it was a real treat to be invited to the open rehearsal this afternoon, and to watch the bandwork things out: as commented by JS: because the ancient manuscripts that they work from seldom offer more than a chord structure or single melody line, their performances involve a huge amount of inspired improvisation, thus the flavor of the pieces can change on a daily basis.

Secondly, it's a good thing that Ting texted me, asking if I wanted a ride home, because otherwise I wouldn't have realized that the show started at 7:30 PM instead of a more typical 8. Good catch, sweetie!

At the end of the rehearsal (answering a question), AL mentioned that the transition from the humidity of Europe to the dry air conditioned air of the USA always plays havoc with his harps.

Each of the sets above was performed more-or-less without interruption, though at times the band paused a moment or two to acknowledge particularly boisterous applause from the audience.

While Frank stuck to the bodhran for the whole show, Xurxo played a really wide array of percussion instruments: several different drums, rattles, bells, bones, and so on. I was especially impressed with Xurxo's use of large scallop shells as castanets: I think I'll try bring a pair of shells to add to the mix at the next acoustic house party!

Steven Winn posted a review of the show for SFCV.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!