The Royal Philharmonic has fine credentials championing contemporary
music...  at home.  Then they come all the way to San Francisco with a
program of the Brahms First Symphony and "Variations on a Theme by Haydn,"
and the Mozart Piano Concerto No.  23.  And that's all she wrote.

One might have understood caution, playing safe music in the colonies, in
the distant past (or during the recent Blomstedt regime).  But the British
cousins presented Brahms and Mozart (and "easy works" from them at that)
tonight in Davies Hall where Michael Tilson Thomas has these programs in
January:

  Aaron Jay Kernis, "Musica celestis"
  Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto (with Tamaki Kawakubo)
  Vaughan Williams, "A London Symphony"

  Mahler, Ninth Symphony

  Gluck, Music from "Orph‚e et Eurydice"
  Philip Glass, "Facades"
  Ravel, "Noble and Sentimental Waltzes"
  Piazzolla (arr. Adams), "Tango la mufa"
  John Adams, Violin Concerto (with Vadim Repin)

  Prokofiev, Quintet in G minor
  Martinu, Duo for Violin and Cello
  Schulhoff, Concertino
  Tchaikovsky, "Souvenir de Florence" (with Repin)

  Elgar, "The Dream Of Gerontius"

At the very least, wouldn't it make sense for a London orchestra to play
some English music?

Well, perhaps the performance was so exceptional that it made attendance a
must? No, not really.  Although not a single musician in the orchestra ever
looks at him, Daniele Gatti gets a decent enough sound out of the RPO, but
nothing like other conductors I heard with these musicians both at their
home and on the road.

The Haydn Variations featured gorgeous string performances, deeply troubled
brass, and an *episodic* approach way beyond what "variations" would
explain:  stopping and starting again broke up the work's unity.

The Mozart was dry and lifeless.  Ignat Solzhenitsyn -- adequate,
bland, playing notes more than music -- should not be presented as an
international star at premium prices; the Moscow Conservatory must have
a dozen recent graduates who are more interesting or worthwhile pianists.
After the first half, I had no hope for a performance that would bring the
Brahms First to life; if it happened, I missed out on it.

There was some fun to be had though:  the principal bassist, Mary Scully,
may well be the most attention-commanding orchestra musician I've ever
seen.  She attacks every note with fervor that overflows from the stage,
a cross between Leonard Bernstein and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.  Her
three-inch heels are of no use as the RPO bass players *sit*, and somehow
her height and the position of her instrument combine in making her reach
up above her head -- the strangest way I've seen the instrument played.
She may be an excellent musician, but she sure comes across as a one-woman
band in the middle of the orchestra.  So, after all, the RPO did bring
something new and different...:)

Oh, and concertmaster Jonathan Carney has it easy.  The orchestra is tuned
by an associate, Gaby Lester, allowing the "leader" to enter to applause
and take his seat without doing any "work."

Janos Gereben/SF
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