San Francisco Performances presents Echoes of Schubert: Schubert and Sorey featuring Jonathan Biss
Herbst Theatre
Veterans' Building, San Francisco War Memorial Performing Arts Center, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102-4522 USA
7:30 PM, Thursday, May 2, 2024

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[7:31 PM] {lights down, pre-recorded house announcements, JB out}

1. [7:33 PM] Franz Schubert (1797–1828): Impromptu in B flat Major, D. 935, No. 3
   [7:45 PM] {work ends; applause; JB offstage very briefly}

[7:46 PM] {JB back onstage; comments about Anthony Braxton, Tyshawn Sorey, and this new work}

1. [7:50 PM] [Tyshawn Sorey](http://www.tyshawnsorey.net/) (b. 1980): For Anthony Braxton (2024; West Coast premiere)
   [8:07 PM] {set ends}

[8:30 PM] {lights down, JB out}

Franz Schubert (1797–1828): Sonata No. 21 in B flat Major, D. 960 (1828)

1. [8:31 PM] Molto moderato
2. [8:52 PM] Andante sostenuto
3. [9:03 PM] Scherzo. Allegro vivace con delicatezza — Trio
4. [9:07 PM] Allegro ma non troppo
   [9:15 PM] {set ends; applause & standing ovation; two curtain calls; no encore}
   [9:17 PM] {show ends}

• Jonathan Biss: piano.

Today was pretty busy, what with work meetings and follow-up tasks, but all that got wrapped up early in order to fit in a late afternoon appointment at Tune Up Community Acupuncture near Oakland City Center. Getting poked on a regular basis is good for keeping that chi circulating the way it should, right?

After that it was time zoom over to SF for a quick chore and a pre-show dinner. The chore was a stop at Black Hammer Brewing Company on Bryant where I picked up a four-pack of Puck Futin! Ukrainian anti-Imperial Stout to thank my buddy Jeff for ski-trip driving over the just-concluded season. We didn't get as many days in as I'd hoped for, but we had lots of fun!

Dinner at Om Sabor was an interesting experience. The kitchen is embedded in Phonobar, a small dark space on Grove St in front of the SFMTA Performing Arts Garage. My mom, who'd arrived first, elected to sit in the dark dance-room rather than at an outdoor table. Fortunately, we were meeting well before the Phonobar DJ showed up, so while the music was a distraction to conversation, it wasn't an overwhelming impediment. The menu is fully vegan, but I kept getting tripped up on use of meat & dairy words as adjectives: Carne Asada tacos? Ceviche tostadas? Truffle Mac-n-cheese? So confusing! Fortunately, the food was delightful. I thought everything I tried was delicious, especially the tacos, but the Channa Masala Empanadas were also really tasty (and super helpful for moderating the spicy fire of the tostadas!). I wish we'd had time to stay for dessert – Ginger Nectarine Cheesecake sounded irresistible – but we didn't schedule enough time for that tonight: maybe next time!

A short walk took us to Herbst Theatre for tonight's main event, the conclusion of Jonathan Biss' three-show program, Echoes of Schubert. I'd settled on this particular event because I was intrigued by the echo piece: For Anthony Braxton, a newly commissioned work by Tyshawn Sorey, presented here in it's second live performance ever. As noted by Biss in his prefatory remarks, the piece has a limpid feel that fits right in with the languid Andante sostenuto of Schubert's piano Sonata No. 21.

There were many divine moments in Biss' performance of the latter piece, but overall, my impression last night was that it was another overstuffed masterwork: sometimes three ideas can be more powerful than six or eight! I think the short third movement is a perfect example of that: it's dazzling without becoming tiresome (Schubert saves the kitchen sink for the fourth movement).

The opening work on tonight's program, Schubert's Impromptu No. 3, is another good example: it's relatively short, but very catchy. Read this essay posted in 2019 by the Classical Girl for a much better account than I could put together! And if you really want to nerd out, here's a half-hour presentation why this 10-minute piece is so great. Mi gusta!

Program Notes or program notes

Stephen Smoliar posted a pretty thorough review of the show on his blog. I don't always agree with his rambling, but tonight he hit the nail on the head!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2024 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2024 event list! ☸ On to the next event!