La Jolla SummerFest’s California Dreamin’ Survey of 20th-Century Music in the Golden State
When La Jolla Music Society President and CEO Todd Schultz gave the welcome to Saturday’s California Dreamin’ program, he assured The Conrad audience that it would not be a retrospective of The Momas & the Papas. It turned out to be a combination of pianist Conrad Tao’s Rachmaninoff Songbook, a juxtaposition of certain Sergei Rachmaninoff works with American popular music of the time, followed by a sampler of contrasting works by classical composers with various California connections: Miklós Rózsa, John Williams, John Adams, and Renee Esmail.
Abeo Quartet (Rebecca Benjamin, Njioma Grevious, Macintyre Taback & James Kang) with Reena Esmail [Photo (c.) Madi Nguyen]
Tao opened with Irving Berlin’s “All by Myself,” a rambunctious, high-spirited piano solo that sounded more musically adventurous than the typical piano-vocal sheet music version of a popular song, and he followed the Berlin with his own cataclysmic improvisation of Rachmaninoff’s 15th Variation from Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, itself a cornucopia of virtuoso feats. Tao’s fortissimo climaxes shook the rafters, and I do not mean that figuratively.
Tao supplied Art Tatum’s jazzy, athletic take on Howard Arlen’s signature “Over the Rainbow” as a prelude to Rachmaninoff’s Variation No. 18, the most frequently excerpted section of Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. A pair of Billy Strayhorn songs easily warmed the hearts of Great American Songbook aficionados, although Tao’s vocal account of “Lush Life” lacked the polish of his keyboard interpretation of the piece. Violinist Simone Porter offered a suave account of the melody in “Day Dream,” one of the composer’s signature tunes from his early years with Duke Ellington. In Rachmaninoff’s Étude-tableau in C Minor, Op. 33, No. 3, Tao deftly evoked its reflective nostalgia as a prelude to its unexpected shattering climax.
The great success of Miklós Rózsa’s work as a film composer has overshadowed his oeuvre of classical compositions, so it was refreshing to hear Blake Pouliot and Simone Porter give such an arresting account of his Sonata for Two Violins, Op. 15a. Their first movement “Allegro risoluto” suggested a sophisticated conversation carried out with vigorous melodic slashes and forays. The muted, probing counterpoint of the “Lento assai” evoked a mood of stoic melancholy, and the dashing finale –“Vivo e giocoso”–brimming with bright pizzicatos could not have been more satisfying.
In his film score, John Williams brilliantly fused the tragedy and heroism of Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, which violinist Simone Porter so ably captured in her performance of the score’s main theme. Assisted by six SummerFest strings, her understated solo account and subsequent repetition of the main theme in the gleaming upper register of her instrument proved transcendent.
The Abeo Quartet, violinists Njioma Grevious and Rebecca Benjamin; violist James Kang, and Macintyre Taback, crafted a warm, sleekly defined sonority for Indian-American composer Reena Esmail’s exotic Fantasia from String Quartet “Ragamala.” From the work’s sustained, diaphanous texture, short instrumental cadenzas emerged until the composer entered with a delicate vocal incantation that floated over the strings.
Since Terry Riley wrote G Song for the noted Kronos Quartet, it is no surprise that this single movement work is a complex yet highly rewarding offering. If the title suggests a tension between the keys of G major and G minor, tension also exists between the work’s muscular counterpoint and its many decisive solos. Violinists Simone Porter and Blake Pouliot; violist Matthew Lipman, and cellist Paul Wiancko gave an authoritative, rewarding account of G Song.
John Adams’ John’s Book of Alleged Dances was also written for the Kronos Quartet, and another quartet of SummerFest resident musicians played five of Adams’ ten movements. Movement titles such as “Dogjam” and “Alligator Escalator” indicate the composer’s sense of humor, and he has stated that his choice of the term “alleged” in his title signifies that the steps for his dances have yet to be invented. Some movements such as “Habanera” include recorded digital components, so when Adams finished these compositions in 1993, they were definitely state of the art. First Violinist Blake Pouliot gave us a mesmerizing cantilena in “Habanera,” and cellist Paul Wiancko’s blazing ostinato in “Toot Nipple” proved an amazing feat. Violinist Simone Porter and violist Masumi Per Rostad completed this admirable ensemble.
This concert was presented by the La Jolla Music Society as part of La Jolla SummerFest 2024 on Saturday, August 17, in the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center.
Ken Herman, a classically trained pianist and organist, has covered music for the San Diego Union, the Los Angeles Times’ San Diego Edition, and for sandiego.com. He has won numerous awards, including first place for Live Performance and Opera Reviews in the 2017, the 2018, and the 2019 Excellence in Journalism Awards competition held by the San Diego Press Club. A Chicago native, he came to San Diego to pursue a graduate degree and stayed.Read more…