San Francisco Chronicle Datebook: Anne Akiko Meyers at California Theatre
San Francisco Chronicle
Joshua Kosman
Anne Akiko Meyers joins the Symphony Silicon Valley
March 2-3, 2019
California Theatre, San Jose, CA
Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto is one of those artistic creations for which the backstory is almost as interesting as the music itself. It’s a tangled tale of disputes among the composer, the intended soloist and the soap magnate who commissioned it, in which charges and countercharges flew.
If the truth behind the dispute is murky, the results are clear enough. This is a concerto in which the first two movements hew close to Barber’s familiar style – a blend of ingratiating lyricism and formal sturdiness – before a virtuoso finale comes on with an entirely different musical demeanor.
If anyone can make the parts cohere, it’s the brilliant and resourceful violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, who joins conductor Tito Muñoz and the Symphony Silicon Valley as soloist. Also on the program is a new work by the young American composer Adam Schoenberg, along with Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony.
More details here.