Let me start these comments on Gautier Capuçon's Gaïa concert, held on Sunday, November 18, with a quizz: how many times do my notes for the program, which included 17 works (16 programmed, one encore), say "too many arpeggios" or "hmmm, scales", or something like that? *
The concert was more varied than the question might imply, and of course, if you've got a string instrument to compose for, with those four tempting strings, it's an obvious strategy. The concert was not like being stuck in phone booth with Philip Glass and a cello, but a surprising number of the composers took advantage of this particular strategy.
Would I have liked more variety? Yes. Not only were there too many arpeggios in total, but every one of the works was in a kind of anodyne tonality, with only a couple of composers pushing the harmonic envelope in any way. Reader, what I really longed for was something by Carter or someone like him: spikey, angular, atonal, to break the sense that the programming looked at just one part of a vast harmonic universe.
With this recital, Capuçon launched the publication of his eponymous new recital CD, which consists of commissioned works inspired by nature and humanity's relationship with the planet. The program started with a slightly terrifying video of the cellist playing in various hazardous locations in the French alps. I mean....I wonder about the size of the crew it took to get him and his cello and the belaying equipment and cameras up there, even though you see him hiking through snow with his cello case strapped to his back. I'm also wondering which instrument he took up there with him. I kinda hope it was a carbon-fiber cello, not one of his precious wooden instruments.
The video accompanied the first work on the recital, Max Richter's Sequence for Gaïa. You can see it here. (Be sure to read Joshua Kosman's take on the program, which is um shorter than this.)
One other thing I would have liked to be different: the program started at 7 and had no intermission. I figured it would last 90 minutes, tops. But Capuçon introduced each group of two or three works from the stage. The intros were remarkably similar! [Composer] is my great friend and s/he cares so much about nature and the planet! I estimate that this added 20 to 25 minutes to the program, and nope. Just don't do this. Thank everyone at the start and leave it at that.
A few of the pieces stood out: composer/pianist Gabriella Montero's Sur le lac du Bourget sounded like a jazzy 20s song. Olivia Belli's Tàmâr Méthüshelä had a lovely piano part (let me here praise pianist Jérôme Ducros, whose quiet virtuosity made him a superb recital partner). I liked works by Abel Selaocoe and Ayanna Witter-Johnson, who came on stage to play a cello duet with Capuçon and wrote him a beautiful cello line. The young cellist Quenton Blache had a standout work as well.
Kudos to the group of cellist from the SFS Youth Orchestra and especially principal Melissa Lam, who also played a duet with Capuçon. But this recital was too much of a muchness.
- Joshua Kosman, On a Pacific Aisle
- Colin Ziegler, SFCV and SF Chronicle
- Jeff Kaliss, SFCV (artist spotlight)
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