LA JOLLA -- What Thomas Mann said of art in general, applies well (if
partially) to summer summer festivals:  life intensified, Mann said in
"Death in Venice," with higher highs and lower lows.

Except for lack of anything profoundly detrimental (not counting *two*
parking tickets, for a total of $70, in *three* hours of my downtown
crime wave), summer festivals provide the intense...  and the best.

And yet, after years and years of festivals, big and small, I have not
experienced anything like what happened tonight at SummerFest '99 in
Sherwood Auditorium.

The featured attraction was the celebration of Janos Starker's 75th
birthday, an orchestra of 14 well-known cellist (most of them ex-students)
surrounding the great performer and teacher, in moving performances of
Couperin's "Pieces en concert" and Frescobaldi's Toccata, concluded
riotously with Wu Han's "Happy Birthday Variations" -- a la Victor Borge,
but much, much better.

Festival director's David Finckel's imaginative and daring programming
coupled the two 17th century works from France and Italy with two
little-known, seldom-performed 20th century works from East Europe.
And it was this "warmup act" that brought Mann and hyperboles to mind.

Either of the two works would have "made" a concert.  Any one of the four
artists involved could have provided a great headliner for any concert
anywhere.  To have all this together, and in a crafty, overwhelming
crescendo was...  well, *intense*.

Starker and Cleveland Orchestra concertmaster William Preucil played the
Kodaly Duo for Violin and Cello, Opus 7, an intricate, complex, rich work;
the unusual combination of the two instruments almost instantly became
familiar and satisfying.  I haven't had the pleasure of hearing Preucil
live before -- he is rock solid, fabulous, holding his own with Starker,
the two bringing the work to a glorious conclusion.

And then, taking off from that high point, Robert McDuffie and Christopher
O'Riley had the time of their super-talented lives with a red-hot
performance of Enesco's Violin Sonata No.  3, a work that should be played
much more often, even if it's not likely to sizzle like this.  The Romanian
rhapsody on top of the Hungarian brooding brought the first half of the
concert to a celebratory conclusion, the audience to its feet, bravos
filling the hall.

And so, on to the "main attraction." It was that kind of an evening.
Higher and higher highs.

Janos Gereben/SF
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