Saturday Matinee

Champagne, Hell, and the Loveliness of Regret with a French twist
7/24/08 Performance with the San Francisco Symphony with pianist Inon Barnatan

Last Thursday, the San Francisco Symphony presented a prix fixe menu of pieces by French composers. Associate conductor James Gaffigan has previously explained in the post performance Q&A’s that they only have one rehearsal on average per program for the Summer in the City series, and so these programs, as expected, aren’t filled with complex esoteric pieces but light classical fare that especially newer audiences might relate more to, which also is perfect for summer. Conducted by James Gaffigan, this program was as effervescent as sparkling champagne.

The soloist of the evening was a young pianist Inon Barnatan playing the richly hued Saint Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2. In the first movement, Barnatan established the right balance of solidarity and drama, but the technical aspects got the better of him, preventing the music to sing fully. There were some technical cover ups and wildly fluctuating uneasy tempos especially when the melancholy melody first appears. However, he played with increasing confidence as the piece progressed. The highlight of his performance was his featherlight runs, perfect for the soft pastel colors of this piece, especially in the second movement where his fingers skimmed across the keyboard evenly, barely touching the keys. He dug into the high energy of the third movement with a bold sense of humor and sudden contrasts. In the third movement, there is a hailstorm of octaves that sweep down the entire keyboard; Barnatan let loose and played it loud not because it was best musically but because it looked like a lot of fun to play it that way, and it was equally fun to watch. In addition to his display of subtle musicality, his collaborative interaction with Gaffigan brought a cohesive unity between the soloist and the symphony.

Inon Barnatan

Although the program was of French composers, the evening began in Spain with Bizet’s Carmen Suite No. 1. Gaffigan led the symphony out of its usual interpretation as the epitome of the melodramatic, and instead produced a lighter, cleaner, and more flirty rendition of this piece which added an unexpected shot of energy to the piece. The second half of the program was filled with familiar selections by Offenbach, including his Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld and the Intermezzo and Barcarolle from the Tales of Hoffman. Offenbach’s selections were bathed in a shimmery wash of color, and playfully endearing in its familiarity. And in what version of hell/the underworld includes the “can can”, except in the world of the French?

The program ended with Ravel’s La Valse, or as conductor Gaffigan introduced it as, the waltz from hell. It was a regal grand waltz with a darkness that builds, stemming from its oddly pleasing tension that arose from a gentle dissonance that initially sneaks in. The dissonance is never jarring nor attention grabbing, but calmly sculpts the phrases and deepens it. The tension grows to a furiously discordant climax, with the theme reappearing in an eery whisper. This is how I picture the perfect accompaniment to the roomful of waltzing ghosts in Disneyland’s Haunted House. Spinning and glorious with a life lived in the moment with nothing to lose, a last dance of your life. Body parts fly, bones clink.

SF Symphony