if you ever have to go to kanbar hall in the new sf jcc, be sure to pull out your marmot 800-fill goose down jacket and your polartec hat with the earflaps first because, man, that place is freeeeezing! at the eighth blackbird concert earlier this month, i saw people getting their hands warmed by neighbors and couples huddled close together with their hats and gloves on, shivering. they may actually have had the air conditioning on: that would at least explain all the disastrous air vent noise during the performance. it wouldn't explain the house lights randomly coming all the way up in the middle of a piece, though. hmm. or why the entire audience was seated on the left side of the house. btw, if you're looking for the box office, it's behind the stairwell, in that back corner that looks like a hallway to the bathroom. (oh sorry, that is also the hallway to the bathroom.)
so, kanbar: not so good.* which makes eighth blackbird's performance that much more astonishing. i have no idea how they kept their instruments in tune. plus the ladies looked all glam with their sleeveless tops, but my fingertips were turning blue and i was wrapped up in a fleece cocoon!
have i mentioned how much i like these guys? it's almost on the edge of irrational. we can start with their virtuosity. they're really good players, all of them. and by virtuosity, i'm not just talking about the razzle-dazzle; when it came time to play with tenderness and intimacy, they were just as engaging. not to mention the fact that they all employed extended techniques on their instruments, and made it sound natural. this really is no small feat: they get to the point where the extended techniques—when the musicians are asked to play their instruments in ways sometimes radically different from how they're accustomed—come across as not just experimental, but expressive. i have to assume that anyone who heard molly barth play and sing the vocalise at the beginning of crumb's vox balaenae (voice of the whale) knows what i mean. and they have a crazy good sense of ensemble: rhythm, balance, color... i can't imagine anyone with any interest in ensemble playing not being bowled over by these folks.
but that's just the tech-y part. the most wonderful aspect of their performance is that these folks clearly love playing together. you can see it. this has nothing to do with lang lang-style mugging or affected swaying or that exaggerated reverie look. rather, you know simply from watching them that they are completely and jointly committed to playing at the top of their game, and are pushing each other do the same. they memorize most of their programs, for god's sake! and i don't mean the beethoven quartets they've been working on since interlochen, either; they're playing 15 minutes of george perle and 25 minutes of george crumb from memory (and fearlessly, as far as I can tell) back to back. just think about how much time and conviction that represents. and despite how hard they're working, if you watch (for example) matt duvall move around his battery of percussion instruments, you can just tell that he's having fun up there. all focus, all expression; no bullshit, no laziness. how fucking exciting is that?!? now that's music-making, as far as i'm concerned.
plus they seem like cool people.
for those who need some background, eighth blackbird is six musicians who met at oberlin and formed the group in 1996. they play flutes, clarinets, violin, cello, piano and percussion. their name comes from wallace stevens's poem thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird (the eighth stanza's the relevant one). they seem to lack a shift key. here's an npr story and a saint paul sunday program. here's a buttload of press.
for those who are interested, the repertoire that night was jennifer higdon's zaka, perle's critical moments 2, the crumb, rzewski's les moutons des panurge (pdf score), saariaho's cendres, and the us premiere of derek bermel's tied shifts. the crumb got an particularly wonderful performance: haunting, otherworldly, evocative. i like their recording of vox balaenae all right, but this was something else. marcus, i think you'll be in good hands.
please go see them if they come your way. kanbar was only a 450-seat hall and... well, let's just say they need you to go. bring a couple friends too.
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* ... except for the parking! i've been to kanbar twice now, once with m. & mme h-, and both times i've had no trouble at all finding street parking within two blocks. who knew such a neighborhood existed in sf?
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