At the Diamond Head end of the Waikiki, on the corner of Kapahulu, there
is a large contraption, called "The Wave." It is a walk-in cylinder with
a crudely painted wave in the background, and a camera in front.  For $20,
you get your photo with the wave in the background.  A coupon, which gives
you a $2 discount, describes the Thing as "a huge, actual piece of
artwork."

Or, you walk across Kalakaua to the beach, and have the real waves for
free.  The huge, actual ocean.

Tonight, further up on Kapahulu, in Waikiki Shell, Sergiu Comissiona
conducted a concert that was very much like "The Wave" -- thick, crude
layers of dayglo paint instead of the real thing.

Never a particularly insightful conductor, Comissiona tonight skimmed the
surface with mechanical, bumpy performances of the Bach-Stokowski Toccata
and Fugue in D minor, and the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto in G minor, with
Jon Nakamatsu as the soloist and partner-in-crime.

For the second half -- of Holst's "The Planets" and John Williams' "Star
Wars Theme" (that's what it says here), I walked by the nearby culinary
delights of Cheesburgers of Paradise...  and kept walking.

Admittedly, the Shell is not an easy place for classical music.  I have
seen Leonard Bernstein here hold an audience in the palm of his hand,
but that's the exception (and mentioning Comissiona in the same breath
is downright sacreligious).  The point is that the rustling of palm and
monkeypod trees in the liquid night, the sound of helicopters, the serving
of beer on the side, etc., *can* be overcome.  But not tonight.  Not by a
conductor who not all there, not by a pianist who plays Mendelssohn as if
thinking of Tchaikovsky (while kicking the pedals as if trying to stay
ahead of the other cars in the race).

But no big deal so far, just a sub-par performance by two mediocre
musicians.  Now comes the tough part:  to speak of the orchestra.

Youth orchestras can be wonderful, but they are not always, of course.  The
late Denis de Coteau's Oakland Youth Symphony, Alasdair Neale's SFS Youth
Orchestra, numerous others have met the highest standards of music-making,
regardless of age.  And, seeing the San Francisco youngsters playing with
passion, dedication, joy has provided some of the most memorable high
points in my concert experience.

But tonight, hearing the Asian Youth Orchestra, and watching 106 young
people take a curtain call with uniformly blank, unsmiling, almost scared
expressions was downright painful.

They looked and played as if they were a different orchestra from the one
that gave that fine performance with Yo Yo Ma not long ago.  I don't know
what happened -- perhaps they are just tired on this extended 10th
anniversary tour,

An additional heartbreak was that this concert honored the presence of
one of the AYO mentors, Dr.  Jess Shenson, who -- with his late brother,
Dr.  Ben Shenson -- has given so much of himself (and hard cash) to this
and many other musical causes in San Francisco and all around Asia.  I so
much wish better things for Dr.  Jess than a small audience responding
lukewarmly to a poorly performed concert, with young musicians who may well
be individually among the best of the continent but who do not perform as
a cohesive body -- or, at least, did not do so tonight.

An interesting diplomatic finesse in the program:  listing the
participating countries in the AYO -- China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan,
Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and
"Chinese Taipei." Could that be Taiwan? Maybe not if you're headquartered
in Chinese Hong Kong.

Janos Gereben/SF
(Hilo/Volcano thru 8/29)
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