David Bratman

The final program in this year’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music seemed designed to prove that modernism is not only alive and well, it’s kicking and bawling lustily. 

A rarely heard The Art of the Fugue in its entirety at Music@Menlo offered a delightful, exciting, artistically moving, and enlightening performance.

Kronos Quartet chugs along with a number of inviting new works at the Cabrillo Festival.

The title of a Music@Menlo program, “French Connections,” raises the question: May Bach be held a father of French music as he is of trios and of preludes and fugues?

The Danish String Quartet, Tallis Quartet, Koret Young Performers and Gilles Vonsattel all shine in Music@Menlo’s Sunday serving.

Having spent a Bach-oriented day at the Carmel Bach Festival on Monday, I stayed over on Tuesday for a day with music almost entirely French.

The first day of the Carmel Bach Festival offers plenty of attractions, including an insightful master class, imitation-gut strings, and chats with some of the performers.

Music of genius and imagination illuminates the second Silicon Valley Music Festival program.

Guest conductor Juraj Valčuha led the San Francisco Symphony burnished performances, with several standout solo performances serving as highlights.

This satisfying recording of Beethoven's Ninth is a masterwork of music, and a pleasing memento of what today’s San Francisco Symphony sounds like in concert.