Bartok and Ravel at the SF Symphony

It is a joy to hear a major work by a favorite composer performed live for the first time. Last weekend with the SF Symphony was my initial encounter with Béla Bartók's 1938 Violin Concerto No. 2, a thorny, 40-minute masterwork that plays like a dissonant traversal of Hungarian folk tunes. The conductor was the debuting 66-year-old German conductor Jun Märkl who did a fine job with the orchestra all evening.

Since the piece is complex, I listened to a number of YouTube versions featuring different violinists, ranging from old masters like Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern to more contemporary artists such as Patricia Kopatchinskaja who was my favorite (click here). Unfortunately, last weekend's soloist in Davies Hall was the famous Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos, who was note-perfect but didn't capture the Romani spirit of the music at all, flattening out much of the strangeness and excitement.

The best part was actually the encore, a Bartók violin duet entitled Melancholy where Kavakos was joined by SF Symphony concertmaster Alexander Barantschik.

The second half of the concert was the full, hour-long ballet score of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, which he wrote for Diaghlev's Ballet Russe in 1912. Ravel got pissed off at the Russian impresario when, at the ballet's London premiere, Diaghlev cut the wordless chorus that sings "oohs" and "aahhs." It's understandable why that happened because Ravel was already requiring huge orchestral forces for the simple story of boy loves girl, girl is kidnapped by pirates, and girl is saved by the god Pan for a happy ending bacchanale. What was irritating in this performance is that the SF Symphony cheaped out like Diaghalev and also omitted the chorus, which is a vital part of the over-the-top lushness of the musical score.

The orchestra under Märkl sounded superb, except for the horn section which featured a few off-pitch bloopers. This music is probably best heard in one of its two concert suite versions, because at an hour's length it becomes repetitive and a bit dull without beautiful ballet dancers and scenery to focus one's attention. Still, it was an enjoyable, stimulating program.