Saturday Matinee

Pianist Lang Lang

Last night at the opening night gala for the San Francisco Symphony, the Davies Symphony Hall sparkled with the usual glamor and glitz of concertgoers dressed in their finest to celebrate the opening of the season. Despite the glittering decadence and the appropriate celebratory atmosphere, I sensed an undercurrent of respect acknowledging the current economic situation that has been especially hardhitting for the arts. This sensitivity seemed to be reflected in the programming as well, with a rather cautious program geared towards appealing to the familiar.

Led with stylish charm by Michael Tilson Thomas, the program opened with three waltzes – Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1, Ravel’s La Valse, and Richard Rodgers’ Carousel Waltz. These waltzes were not your mother’s normal antediluvian tame tunes. Playful rhythms and a pulsing momentum shaped the Mephisto Waltz, setting the stage with brisk anticipation. Ravel’s haunting La Valse built to a rollicking climax, fraught with suspense and regret the entire way. Rodgers’ Carousel Waltz opened with gentle, atonal chords that quickly morphed into a Broadway-esque chick flick of a high school romance blossoming on a hot summer night at the fairgrounds. The effect was lushly romantic.

Even though the three waltzes were different, nostalgia was the common thread. Waltzes conjure up images of tradition and days gone by, and there’s a comfort in experiencing up the good old days. Who doesn’t love a waltz? I grew up listening to Strauss waltzes and the Waltz of the Flowers in the Nutcracker, and my date and I spent intermission humming familiar waltzes that we knew.

Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 yanked the audience to the 20th century featuring the celebrity pianist Lang Lang. Famous for performing at the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics as well as making People Magazine’s 2008 Sexiest Men Alive list, he is well-known for his infamous ostentatious style. Technically beyond belief, Lang Lang perfectly captured the brashness of the Prokofiev concerto. There were moments of heartstopping beauty in the quieter sections, played with sensitivity and tenderness. But overall, I thought his playing lacked clarity and direction. His playing was very in-the-moment, with no sense of the overall structure of the piece. Each moment alone was beautiful, but I felt a bit like being jerked from one measure to the next. The second movement also began to sound tediously unvaried in volume and style, where I craved more contrast and character. But there’s no denying that Lang Lang has passion to spare spilling through every pore, and he’s really fun to watch. (I was admittedly disappointed he wasn’t wearing his self-designed gold-emblazoned Adidas kicks however.)

Put together a series of familiar (yet slightly edgy – it’s still San Francisco, after all) waltzes and a celebrity pianist that everyone knows, and you’re guaranteed an evening of content customers. It’s nothing revolutionary, yet a solid showcase for the San Francisco Symphony nonetheless. In this economic climate, people seem to prefer comfort over risky innovation. It’s also guaranteed to satisfy the audiences who rarely attend classical music performances, yet still continue to support the arts. And that alone is cause to celebrate.

Other links:

• sfmike’s take
• Kosman’s review
• Photos from the SF Chronicle’s take on the fashion. A brief note: dress was generally black tie, although despite what this article suggests, there was a broad range of dress. (Click on sfmike’s take to see more photos of attendees.) I witnessed everything from “church” casual formal (or even more casual) to formal ballgowns to the ever-popular Scottish kilt. My date didn’t even wear a suit, and I wore a $25 dress from a bargain store. I only say this because I feel like articles like this promote the inaccessibility of classical music to general audiences, yet it’s not a completely fair accusation especially during the year when there are great seats for $15. Maybe the Chronicle should run a fashion photo essay on what people normally wear during the SF Symphony season on a non-gala night. It wouldn’t make for awe-inspiring photos, but it would be more realistic.
• Serious Music, Played Seriously