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Chamber
UNIQUE TRIO FOR THE ROMANTIC ERA IN SONG
by Pamela Hicks Gailey
Saturday, November 16, 2024
Chamber
JASPER'S LUSH PERFORMANCES OF STILL, DVORAK AND FUNG QUARTETS
by Abby Wasserman
Sunday, November 10, 2024
Symphony
A SHOUT AND SONIC WARHORSES AT NOVEMBER'S SRS CONCERT
by Peter Lert
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Choral and Vocal
ECLECTIC WORKS IN CANTIAMO SONOMA'S SEASON OPENING CONCERT
by Pamela Hicks Gailey
Sunday, October 27, 2024
Symphony
FRANKENSTEIN THRILLS IN UNIQUE SO CO PHIL CONCERT IN JACKSON THEATER
by Peter Lert
Saturday, October 26, 2024
Choral and Vocal
BAROQUE EXTRAVAGANZA AT AMERICAN BACH MARIN CONCERT
by Abby Wasserman
Friday, October 25, 2024
Recital
LARGE AUDIENCE HEARS AX IN WEILL PIANO RECITAL
by Terry McNeill
Thursday, October 24, 2024
Symphony
SRS' NEW SEASON OPENS WITH BEETHOVEN AND COPLAND IN WEILL
by Terry McNeill
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Chamber
TWO CHAMBER MUSIC WORKS AT MARIN'S MT. TAM CHURCH
by Abby Wasserman
Sunday, October 13, 2024
CALLISTO'S ELEGANCE IN UPBEAT 222 GALLERY CONCERT
by Terry McNeill
Friday, October 11, 2024
REVIEW
Julia Den Boer / Friday, August 27, 2021
Julia Den Boer, piano

Julia Den Boer August 27

SPARE DUO PRECEDES MYSTEROUS DUO AT DEN BOER RECITAL

by Terry McNeill
Friday, August 27, 2021

In a departure from usual summer festival fare Julia Den Boer played an August 27 virtual recital in the San Francisco Piano Festival’s 4.5 season with four works, all mostly quiet but all in separate ways insistently demanding of artist and listener.

Throughout the 40 minutes there was nary a powerful forte or flying scale passage to be heard, most music being built on small clusters of notes with often wide separation between. Rebecca Saunders’ “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall” (1994) was played in a pointillistic character, the short beginning leading into a long section of sharply jabbed notes, extended pauses and slow repeated phrases. Ms. Den Boer’s right-hand leaps to the top keyboard notes were accurate, and low bass notes were played almost inaudibly. There was mystery in this piece, but I quickly wondered where the musical thread was going.

Anthony Braxton’s “Composition No. 5” was remarkedly similar in scope and style, only occasionally leavened by lyrical passages and tonal shimmer. The wide distance between top end and bottom end notes provided interest, and Ms. Den Boer, playing from score, mastered the tricky time signatures and hesitations.

“Oiseaux tristes” from Ravel’s 1905 set Miroirs was a welcome respite as the melancholy nature of “Sad Birds” was an antidote to the equally dilatory works preceding it. It was played with a light touch and less than usual damper pedal, as was the concluding work, Janácek’s impressionistic set “In the Mist.” Ms. Den Boer gave the work from 1912 an ardent reading, never needing to push the tempo through the 15 minutes of luxurious yet flexible music. Her playing underscored the ambiguity of the whole tone scale composition and displayed the most refined pianistic tone colors of the recital.