Reviews | San Francisco Classical Voice

Stunner From Leipzig

Steven Winn - February 22, 2010

Even in a standard-repertoire program, there was something cheeky about the world’s oldest civic orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (est. 1743), putting Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony on Sunday’s opening bill of a two-night stand at Davies Symphony Hall. But by then, after a transportingly good performance of the Chopin Piano Concerto No.

Review

Shooting Freely, and Mostly Hitting the Mark

Jeff Kaliss - February 22, 2010

An infrequently mounted masterpiece, bounteous with beautiful and dramatic passages, and delivered by a cast headed by fine principal voices, forms a strong foundation for edifying opera.

Review

Striking Music From the Convent

Joseph Sargent - February 22, 2010

Being a nun in 17th-century Italy had its fair share of challenges. While life in the convent offered an existence of some comfort and stability for the pious, nuns were governed by strict codes regulating their mobility, their visibility to the outside world, and visits from their families.

Review

Braved by Bell

Georgia Rowe - February 22, 2010

Some guys have all the luck — or at least it seems that way with Joshua Bell. In the last decade, the American violinist has become one of the most successful artists in classical music history, selling millions of CDs and stacking up awards like so many Legos. With his boyish good looks, it would be easy to dismiss him as the industry’s most marketable commodity.

Review

Unexpected Delights

Jason Victor Serinus - February 22, 2010

If you’re looking for music to restore your faith in what’s good in life, look no farther. Florilegium’s pioneering Bolivian Baroque series — three superbly recorded volumes by that period instrument ensemble — contains some of the most delightful music I’ve heard in many a year.

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Music and Movement Converge

Jessica Balik - February 22, 2010

Shadows are necessarily murky entities. They create spaces in which edges soften and distinctions blur. The program title “Flowing Shadows,” therefore, suited a concert emphasizing convergence between multiple artistic disciplines.

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Ranking French Mastery

John Karl Hirten - February 22, 2010

The Parisian titular organist holds a special — some would say even exalted — place in the hearts and minds of organ fans.

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Bewitching Singing From Across the Pond

David Bratman - February 20, 2010

There wasn’t any doubt which piece on their San Francisco Performances program that the King’s Singers had really come to Herbst Theatre to perform on Wednesday.

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Brahms, in Style

Michelle Dulak Thomson - February 16, 2010

The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra hasn't been just a Baroque orchestra for a very long time; Haydn, Mozart, and the early Romantics are bread and butter to its seasons now. Still ... Brahms? From a self-described Baroque orchestra?

Music Center at Sonoma State Still A-Greening

Robert P. Commanday - February 16, 2010

While California and its constituent parts sit in a blue mood, Sonoma County on Friday night was celebrating the future and its hopes. At least, 350 of its movers and shakers were doing that, the donors who had raised much of the $96 million toward building the Green Music Center on the Rohnert Park campus of Sonoma State University.