Bach, Mozart, Shostakovich, Britten, Piazzola: San Francisco Symphony, Alexander Barantschik, violin and conductor, Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 14.02.2007 (HS)
 

If it weren't for Shostakovich, you might have thought you were at a pops concert. Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik led a pared-down ensemble drawn from the ranks of the San Francisco Symphony in a hodgepodge program of mostly lightweight fare. It neither challenged its audience nor made up for easy listening by lifting performance quality to a level anywhere close to dazzling.

 

In the end, I came away with a greater appreciation of Orpheus and those other conductor-less ensembles, which manage to pack in a lot more interpretation and verve than these musicians did with the violinist leading from his post.

 

The lone exceptions were a brief glimpse of young Shostakovich, the 1924 Two Pieces for String Octet, and the soulful bandoneon work of Seth Asarnow on new arrangements of two pieces by Astor Piazzola, which ended the concert.

 

Written about the same time as his Symphony No. 1, the Shostakovich octet originally was meant to be a five-movement suite, but the composer gave up after finishing the Scherzo. The Prelude finds him in an expansive and optimistic mood, but the Scherzo goes into darker territory, with clashing dissonances and flashes of the sardonic wit that plays such a big role in his later music. It is challenging music for the players, and the audience, and the string ensemble dug in with commendable valor.

 

Jeremy Cohen, who teaches at the Jazzschool in Berkeley, across the bay from San Francisco, arranged Piazzola's Melodia (from 1992) and the more famous Libertango (1973) for string orchestra, featuring Barantschik on solo violin. Even with an extended cadenza, written for the violinist to link the two works, the most riveting music making came from Asarnow. He used every aspect of the accordion-like bandoneon, its distinctive sound, its flexibility in rapid passages, and its range of attack from percussive to smooth legato, to get more soul and musical meat into his lines than anything else in the entire concert.

 

Cohen's arrangements have a clarity and faith in the Argentinian composer's original vision of a new tango, more harmonically complex and definitely influenced by jazz. The violin cadenza cleverly incorporates gestures familiar to Romantic era concertos with others evocative of Piazzola's own lines. These Barantschik executed beautifully. What he didn't get was the down-and-dirty, raw decadence of the tango. He played too nice, as did the ensemble. He also set a breakneck tempo for Libertango, which robbed the piece of some of its savor. (Piazzola himself often varied the tempo, bridging a solidly rhythmic opening section with a bandoneon cadenza to a slow-starting, fast-finishing finale. This one kept the same tempo.)

 

In between the octet and tangos came a pleasant traversal of Britten's Simple Symphony, enjoyable mainly as an example of just how much command this composer had of his work even at the tender age of 20.

 

The first half included pedestrian accounts of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F and Mozart's Divertimento in F. These are virtuosic musicians, but they seemed to be feeling their way carefully in the music rather that letting it fly. They also had serious balance problems in the Brandenburg. The oboe could not be heard for long stretches. At times it seemed like a concerto for trumpet.

 

They did better in Bach's Concerto in D minor for Oboe and Violin, where principal oboe William Bennett's innate musical sense kicked in and seemed to juice up Barantschik as well. The violinist delivered his best playing on this piece, and the ensemble finally came to life.

 

The house was full for this concert, proving perhaps that familiarity sells even in a venue as adventurous as Michael Tilson Thomas' home base. Or perhaps it was a Valentine's Day crowd, out for a pleasant evening of classical music, no challenges required.

 

Harvey Steiman