THE SAN FRANCISCO Symphony isn’t the only Bay Area ensemble paying tribute to Beethoven this month. Even as Michael Tilson Thomas finished the first weekend of his orchestra’s three-week Beethoven festival, Barry Jekowsky and the California Symphony offered a dynamic performance of the composer’s Symphony No. 9, “Choral,” Sunday evening at the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts.

The Beethoven performance, which repeats tonight as the orchestra’s 2003–04 season finale, was the highlight of a program that also included Mozart’s Overture to “The Magic Flute” and the world premiere of “Songs From the Discovery” by California Symphony composer-in-residence Kevin Beavers.

Each piece on the program received a committed reading by Jekowsky and the orchestra. But it was Beethoven’s evergreen score that lent the evening its greatest luster.

Leading Beethoven’s Ninth is a daunting task for any conductor; Jekowsky approached it with both a clear view of its overall architecture and a keen sense of the details that make it a work of genius. With only the occasional lapse in coordination, the conductor marshaled his forces well, and the orchestra responded to his direction with warmth and fervor.

The requisite power was apparent from the first measures of the opening Allegro. Jekowsky elicited lovely, transparent sound from the violins (led by Cal Symphony’s new concertmaster, Roy Malan). The second movement brought a decided drop-off in precision; the performance certainly could have benefited from crisper attacks, but for the most part, the playing was very fine. The Adagio, however, was perfectly sublime.

The California Symphony doesn’t have its own chorus, but Jekowsky recruited one of the Bay Area’s best for these performances. Under the direction of Sanford Dole, the Baroque Choral Guild contributed thrillingly large, focused sound in the finale’s “Ode to Joy.” The vocal soloists—soprano Courtenay Budd, mezzo-soprano Wendy Hillhouse, tenor Kevin Gibbs and baritone Anton Belov—sang attractively.

Gibbs, Belov and the chorus also figured prominently in Beavers’ “Songs From the Discovery,” which incorporates texts by Nobel Prize-winning poet Wislawa Szymborska. Each offers an alternate view of man’s accomplishments: The first, “The Acrobat,” celebrates a performer’s ability to become airborne; the darker second text, “Discovery,” deals with the kind of scientific developments that can lead to annihilation.

Composed in two movements, the score corresponds to the emotional tone of the texts. The first half, written for tenor and orchestra, is sparse, light and economical. In the second half, the baritone and chorus join the orchestra in writing that is denser, more heavily textured. Jekowsky and the ensemble made the 22-minute performance an intriguing study in contrasts.

Mozart’s Overture to “The Magic Flute” got the evening off to a brisk, shapely start.

By Georgia Rowe
Times Correspondent
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Contra Costa Times
www.contracostatimes.com

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