PBS Great Performances

[Drunk Monk]

S49 e9 SF symphony reopening night. 
Salonen conducting. He’s no MTT. They opened with a bombastic and chaotic John Adams piece which just sounded cacaphonic by the end. They had so many cameras on the orchestra and the close ups were cool and all, but our measly tv speakers flattened out that lush rich symphonic sound. Nothing beats live orchestra. Nothing at all.

Then they did some pieces with Alonso King’s dance company - some worked well, some not as much. I met Alonso when he worked with some Shaolin monks. It was cool - I felt like such a hip SF dude, even though I haven’t lived there since the 90s. 

The piece de resistance was esperanza spaulding (all lower case) - a jazz vocalist and standing bass played who was simply extraordinary. Her vocal range was incredible. She had a jazz 4 piece with her, piano, sax & drums - and they were too cool for school in that way that jazz musicians can be. The orchestra fell to the background. I would have preferred to just hear esperanza play solo. She’s a powerhouse and totally stole the show.

Nice to see so many dramatic angles of Davies and the opening drone shot buzzing over city hall to the concert hall during sunset was gorgeous. 

Very enjoyable. It was all about esperanza.

[King Bob]

Just noticed this. I have to say that Adams' orchestral music doesn't really work for me. (In general I prefer chamber music.) But Kronos Quartet did his "John's Book of Alleged Dances" and it's good. DM - you might want to check it out. Our library had it.

To be fair to Salonen, he is a well-regarded conductor, and he hasn't had much time to make the orchestra his own - MTT has made a very protracted leave taking.

[Drunk Monk]

fair. MTT is a tough act to follow.

I gave up on Kronos after Joan left. I know, I know, that was a long time ago. But I remember seeing them play at the Oaks courtyard back when they were just beginning and that performance was my ultimate experience of them. And it was all about Joan.

I see that they’re playing this week at Cal.

[King Bob]

Joan has done several solo albums. Strange Toys is very good, and is all her compositions. She uses some loops and electronics, so it has a bit of a Philip Glass flavor. All my Kronos albums are from when she was in the group. I haven't heard any of the later ones, except their music in Requiem for a Dream. They did appear in the recent Zappa documentary performing one of his pieces.

I saw Kronos at Stanford in the late 80s. It was a free rehearsal for their performance that night. They did Steve Reich's Different Trains and I was stunned. They had many speakers for the sampled bits (maybe tape?) so the voices and train sounds moved all around the room.

[thatguy]

One of my favorite KQ pieces is from True Story:




Linda, Larry, there's no concept of weekends anymore!




--tg

[King Bob]

That's a nice piece. David Byrne also has a great piece on an album by the Balanescu Quartet:


Spalding Gray was great. Sorry he's gone. Glad I got to see him live. Sadly most of his stuff is not available streaming.

[thatguy]

Agreed...saw Swimming to Cambodia live in SF at ACT (IIRC). That was amazing.

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

Well this took a turn. A Spalding hijack no less. He'd be proud. 

Never saw Spalding live. And I should check out Joan's solo stuff. Not sure why I never did. Maybe I did and I just forgot. But I don't think so...

I'm not sure if I have any Kronos in my collection. I did at one time, but it might not have survived a sell back purge. I haven't really thought about them in a very long time...