The musical month of February ended for this listener with concerts presented by Mainly Mozart and La Jolla Music Society (LJMS). Each program concentrated on one composer, that of Mainly Mozart on Robert Schumann and that of LJMS on Antonin Dvorak.
With their Saturday, Feb. 23, concert chitchat, Mainly Mozart artists Ida Kavafian (violin), Andrew Schulman (cello) and Anne Marie McDermott (piano) made the Neurosciences Institute seem even more intimate than usual. It wasn’t until she got back stage to “babysit the dog” (presumably McDermott’s) during the next piece that Kavafian realized she and McDermott had played a different violin sonata. When she next took the stage it was a pop quiz, something like: “How many noticed we played in A Minor rather than D Minor? And did you think we’d gone crazy playing only three movements instead of four?” Well, yes, we did wonder, but the music making was so magnificent we thought we’d merely lost count.
A fine cellist and a handsome collaborator, Schulman played Fantasiestucke, Opus 73, with McDermott, who in all respects was the heart and soul of the program. Fantasiestucke was surely the evening’s melodic and rhapsodic highlight. Then all three wondrous artists played an impassioned, aching rendition of Piano Trio in D Minor, Opus 63.
LJMS presented the Czech Philharmonic and maestro Leos Svarovsky in an all-Dvorak program Sunday, Feb. 24, at Copley Symphony Hall. Works performed were “Carnival” Overture, Opus 92; “Czech Suite” in D Major, Opus 39; and Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”), Opus 95. The concert exemplified the virtue of authenticity. One was impressed with the near-ecstatic involvement evidenced on the faces of individual players; for instance, the first bassist’s rapturous, eyes-closed pizzicato during a muted melody played by the orchestra’s principal cellos. The other virtue lay in hearing the fine, nuanced playing of Dvorak’s inspired writing for all sections. There is no substitute for the live experience.
More opportunities await:
La Jolla Music Society continues its season at 8 p.m. Friday, March 7, at Sherwood Auditorium, with the Piano Series recital of the 2000 Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition winner, Yundi Li, who plays works by Chopin, Franz Liszt, Alban Berg, Maurice Ravel, and Alberto Ginastera plus Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Go to www.ljms.org or (858) 459-3728.
Mainly Mozart continues The Masters Spotlight Series at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 15-16, at the Neurosciences Institute. Young Concert Artists International Auditions winner and Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient Jeremy Denk plays an all-Chopin recital that includes mazurkas, etudes, ballades and the Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Opus 58. Go to www.mainlymozart.org or call (619) 239-0100.
And more”¦
San Diego Symphony continues the Jacobs’ Masterworks Series at 8 p.m. Friday, February 29 and 2 p.m. March 2, at Copley Symphony Hall with solo violinist Martin Chalifour and the San Diego Master Chorale under the baton of Jahja Ling in performance of Samuel Barber’s Adagio of Strings, John Corigliano’s Chaconne from “The Red Violin,” John Williams’ incidental music from “Schindler’s List” and Sergei Prokofiev’s “Alexander Nevsky.” At 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, March 7-8, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 9, Jahja and San Diego Symphony Orchestra welcome Toby Oft in performance of Danish composer Launy Grondahl’s Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra. Also programmed are Jennifer Higdon’s “blue cathedral,” and Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2. At 8 p.m. Saturday, March 29, guest conductor Edward Cumming and the orchestra welcome pianist William Wolfram in performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”). Also programmed are Richard Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra” and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Festive Overture. Call (619) 235-0804 or go to www.sandiegosymphony.com.
San Diego Chamber Orchestra continues its season at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 10, at Sherwood Auditorium and 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 14, at St. Paul’s Cathedral (Fifth and Nutmeg, San Diego) with “Surprise, Surprise,” a program conducted by Jung Ho Pak that includes the world premiere of Linda Kernohan’s Concerto for Theremin with Scott Paulson and Franz Josef Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 (“Surprise”). Other surprises abound. Go to www.sdco.org or call (858) 350-0290.
La Jolla Symphony & Chorus continues its season at 8 p.m. March 15 and 3 p.m. March 16 at Mandeville Auditorium with Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, Schubert’s Symphony No. 6 and Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Andante for Strings, and Chinary Ung’s “Inner Voices.” Go to www.lajollasymphony.com or call (858) 534-4637.
The inaugural season of the restored Balboa Theatre continues at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 16, with the Vienna Boys Choir. The group should sound marvelous in the theater. If you haven’t checked out the acoustics, it is high time. The Balboa Theatre is located at 858 Fourth Ave. at Horton Plaza. Go to www.sdbalboa.org or call (619/858) 570-1100.
San Diego Opera assembles two stunning companies for its productions of the verismo twins, “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “l Pagliacci,” starring respectively, in the tenor department, Richard Leech as Turiddu and Jose Cura as Canio, and in the soprano category, Carter Scott as Santuzza and Elizabeth Futral as Nedda. Baritone Bruno Caproni sings Alfio and Tonio. Edoardo Muller conducts; Lotfi Mansouri directs. Performances at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 22, Tuesday, March 25, 8 p.m. Friday, March 28, 2 p.m. Sunday, March 30, and 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 2. Go to www.sdopera.com or call (619) 533-7000.
