French-Accented Orchestral Feast and Fantasy
As reliably popular symphonic warhorses go, Berlioz’s fever-dreamy Symphonie Fantastique counts as one of the more hallucinogenic, on a list including Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and Ravel’s delectably tipsy La Valse. These opuses do not behave or heed the usual rules of conduct, and that’s why we love them. Again and again. And here it comes again, with Berlioz’s wild ride as the marquee-highlighted centerpiece of the next Santa Barbara Symphony program, on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon (Nov. 14-15) at The Granada Theatre.
On this all-French program, which also includes Debussy’s “Syrinx” and Prelude to “Afternoon of a Faun,” the real secret treasure may be Poulenc’s Gloria, an ambitious and quirky work for orchestra, soprano (here, Devon Guthrie) and chorus — a ripe chance for the still-young Santa Barbara Symphony Chorus to get a workout. And it is reportedly a workout, given Poulenc’s witty mix of sacred and irreverent character plotting in the piece, which the Boston Symphony premiered in 1961 and has enjoyed a mixed response since, due to its satirical take on things liturgical, but woven with Poulenc’s unique musical touch.
The composer, coming off of his church-related opera The Dialogue of the Carmelites, reportedly was inspired by Gozzoli frescoes with monks sticking out their tongues and a sighting of Benedictine monks, mid-soccer game.
Come for the Fantasique, savor the Gloria. Info here.
Scottish Muse Lands in the County
At least in the concert life in the Americas, it is rare, indeed, to hear that the first sound heard was that unmistakable sonic presence of a bagpipe, coming up from the rear. It’s not so surprising when dealing with the Folk Orchestra of Santa Barbara (FOSB), and especially when the group dives into one of its regular Scottish music themes, as it did last weekend. There, in Los Olivos’s St. Mark’s-in-the-Valley Episcopal Church on Saturday, was FOSB founder-director and bagpipe-wielder (among other instruments) Adam Phillips, making a slow procession up the aisle, and joining the nearly 30-piece orchestra in the opening medley of “Sky Boat Song” and “Scotland the Brave.”
By the time the concert was finished, Phillips informed us that he had taken us on a tour of five different styles of pipes, to suit each piece. The orchestra is put to good use through Phillips’s generous arrangements, from the contemporary business of “The Believer,” by Galen Fraser (son of famed fiddler Alasdair Fraser, who has performed with the group twice, so far) to the slowly expanding ensemble forces of “Wedding to the West” and the energizer 6/8 rush of “Muineras de Galicia,” with Sherylle Englander on the requinto.
Dimensions scaled down for “Song of the Kelpie,” with Phillips joined by harpist Laurie Rasmussen, and the 17th-century tune “Turn Ye in Me,” a lovely waltz sung by Phillips in snug harmony with Devynn Quarles.
Speaking of things Scottish in the Americas, one of the interesting side trips in the program was a small group breakout — Josh Jenkins, violinist Quarles, and violist Liam Burrows — serving up a three-pack of tunes from Cape Breton. Scottish settlers in that corner of the continent, in Nova Scotia (translating to “New Scotland”), created an indigenous musical variant spun off of the musical motherlode of Scottish folk tradition, with its own particular Cape Breton–ian flair.
In FOSB tradition, each set closed with a mandatory (says Phillips) singalong moment, first on the familiar Scottish tune “Loch Lomond” and finally the veritable nightcap closer of every FOSB program, “The Parting Glass.” The last sentiment heard in the Los Olivos church: “I’ll gently rise and I’ll softly call / Good night and joy be with you all.”
We rejoin the FOSB season, already in progress, come January, when Phillips et al venture from the British Isles to the more exotic zone that is Nordic music, with its “bent notes” and northern mysteries.
Meditation in Musical Motion
Truth in advertising greets visitors/participants in the series called Music & Meditation. The series, launched by pianist Antonio Artese and meditation guide Jessica Kolbe last year has proven to have tapped a successful concept, filling the Music Academy of the West’s Weinman Hall with eager listeners and meditators.
In the main, the music portion of the program has been rooted in classical music, with the pianist joined by special guests. This fall’s schedule opened with Robert deMaine, L.A. Phil principal cellist, and continued last month with clarinetist Nancy Mathison. On that afternoon’s menu, Kolbe introduced the new element of sound — vocally and otherwise — into the audience-participatory meditation portion of the program.
Music-wise, the fare included Mathison on different clarinets and the different stylistic flavors of Mozart, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Artese’s original “Nepenth” (from The Odyssey, not the Big Sur landmark spot), and “Central Park,” the lyrical jazz gem by John Coltrane, presently celebrated for his centennial. Of the jazz choice, Artese joked, “classical musicians need to be corrupted.”’ And yes, meditative airs duly hovered around the Weinman.
This Friday, November 13, the series wraps up its fall segment with a visit from Lina Bahn, professor at USC School of Music. Artese alerted us that the January program will shift its attention Eastward to Indian music, a music and culture in which meditation is more than a sideline phenomenon.
Motets for Lunch
Ranking highly on the list of free-to-the-public classical music events, the “Noon Concerts @ Trinity” series, directed by bassoonist Bill Woods in the music-friendly environs of the Trinity Episcopal Church on Fridays at lunchtime, delivered the goods last week. This was one of those special and site-specific occasions when Trinity’s fine organist, Thomas Joyce — blessed with a fine organ at his disposal — came out to play, and to organize a program of Renaissance and beyond music with solid singers, sopranos Becky and Holly Hoffman and alto Jennifer Johnson.
For the program he called Sacred Motets from Ancient to Modern, Joyce, manning piano and the in-house organ of note, curated a tasteful array of pieces, starting with the most vintage, “Duo Seraphim” by Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) to very living composers Michael McGlynn (“Mariam Matrem Viginem,” modern yet medieval in spirit) and Will Todd’s jazz-spiced “Ave Verum.” It all added up to a serious, and seriously savory, musical lunchtime repast.
On Grand on State
Tonight, November 12, at The Grand on State, the namesake “grand” piano in question will get the night off (barring any sitters-in), when Los Angeles–based singer-violinist Leah Zeger and guitarist Ira Gonzalez (her husband) take the stage of the lovably intimate and buzzed-about space. As a seasoned studio and classical musician, Zeger’s résumé includes work with Hans Zimmer, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Stevie Wonder, and the winky smart, fun-loving Postmodern Jukebox. In keeping with the nature of the room, jazz is on the menu with this duo, along with a sampler plate of other genres.
TO-DOINGS:
Jazz fans in the know and in the need-to-know category should be aware that tonight is the night that world-famed jazz tenor saxist Charles Lloyd is making one of his regular stops (November 12) in a favored hometown venue, the Lobero Theatre — as he has for decades. It’s been a big year of travel and concertizing for Lloyd, including a stop at the Monterey Jazz Festival in September, and he will be joined by the able abetment of guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Kweku Sumbry. (See John Zant’s story here.)
Baroque fans in the know and in the need-to-know should be showing up to the Lobero on Sunday for the UCSB Arts & Lectures–hosted appearance by noted Baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants, bringing us a programfocused solely on the music of Baroque master Claudio Monteverdi. A first for Santa Barbara? Quite possibly. (See story here.)
Last and certainly not least, go-to chamber music source Camerata Pacifica is back at Hahn Hall, on Friday, November 13, with a contemporary music-fortified adventure in store. We’ll hear music from Michael Daugherty, Sarah Gibson (who sadly died, aged 38, in 2024, and taught at UCSB for a short spell), a world premiere from Niloufar Nourbakhsh and music by Missy Mazzoli.
Incidental note: Mazzoli is hot on the lips of locals and the classical world; she was a guest composer at the Music Academy of the West last summer, and her opera version of Lincoln in the Bardo is currently in a world premiere run at the Metropolitan Opera. We heard her here first, and on an ongoing basis.
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