Anthony Cheung, who gave up on conventional tonality when he was 13,
received applause approaching ovation today in Davies Hall at the premiere
of his "Portrait of the Artist as a Tormented Young Madman." He wrote the
brief work for an orchestra of Mahlerian proportions two years ago, at age
16.  By then, he passed beyond the stage of "beyond tonality": he was
writing good, exciting music, "new" and yet instantly accessible to the
"family audience" in the hall today.

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, conducted by Alasdair Neale,
outdid its brilliant self in performing the work by one of its own.  The
densely-structured, rhythmically challenging work came across without a
hint of the blood, sweat and tears that its preparation must have cost.
(First reading of "Portrait" was six months ago, in the Berkeley Symphony's
"Under Construction" series, with George Thomson conducting, Kent Nagano
hosting the event.)

Cheung, born in San Francisco on Jan. 17, 1982 (the day of SFYO's
inaugural concert), has been composing since age 7.  He has completed
two string quartets (influenced by Schoenberg), a piano quintet, "Elegy
for the Victims of Nanjing" for solo viola, a large-scale cello concerto,
incidental music for Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," and most recently, a
sonata for violin and piano, which is a realization of Proust's fictitious
Vinteuil sonata as described in "Swann's Way." Cheung is now graduating
from the San Francisco University High School, planning to attend Harvard
in the fall.

"Portrait" opens with a trumpet call (again reminding the listener to
Mahler), followed by the violas' lyrical response.  The first violin
(Yixing Xu) and principal flute (Irina Alexeev, shining brightly through
the concert) are among instruments introducing new themes, until a
ferocious (and Straussian) tutti builds to what the composer correctly
describes as a "large mass of sound." (Leading perfectly to the concert's
last piece, Stravinsky's "Firebird.")

However young the composer is, "Portrait" is a superbly mature piece in
that has its say and stops, instead of "filling."

The Youth Orchestra once again demonstrated its uncanny ability to
play rhythmically difficult, exposed, large-scale works -- from Bizet's
"L'Arlesienne" suite today to Stravinsky -- on a sustained level of
intensity that's rare among orchestras, regardless of age.  With 95 degrees
outside and the teenagers in their dark suits on the stage, here was
preparation for life in the arts.

The concert's only disappointment came with Sarah Chang's appearance in
the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 -- the whole work performed under par,
in fact.  Chang is fast becoming a mystery: after getting bad reviews here
on Wednesday, I heard her superb performance of the Prokofiev Concerto No.
1 on Friday in Davies, and now a rough and rocky Bruch, too measured, not
nearly romantic and committed enough, with occasional slurred and missed
notes...  the same artist!  She must have known that things are going badly
because in the middle of the first movement, while not having music of her
own to play, she suddenly joined the first violin section, playing their
part, almost as if to build up to the next solo passage.  When that came,
she was her "old self" for a minute, but then she settled for playing
through, adequate but not very interesting, and a far cry from her many
outstanding performances around here.

But then here's a dumb-sounding but necessary reminder: both Chang and
Cheung are 18, with a whole life and career still ahead of them.  True, to
a violin virtuoso of 9 and a composer of 7, their current selves must be
ancient.

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