United States Various: Hélène Grimaud (piano), San Francisco Symphony / James Gaffigan (conductor). Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 18.9.2025. (HS)
Carlos Simon – ‘The Block’
Gershwin – Piano Concerto in F; An American in Paris
Encore: Brahms – Intermezzo in B-flat minor, Op.117 No.2
Duke Ellington – Harlem
Jazz and classical genres have a long history of overlapping. Around 1920, classical composers – among them Ravel, Milhaud and Stravinsky – became fascinated with jazz tropes and wrote music that incorporated them. On this side of the Atlantic, George Gershwin, a star composer of Tin Pan Alley and Broadway, infused classical formats with jazz elements, most famously in Rhapsody in Blue around the same time and, later, with Porgy and Bess. The success of Rhapsody led New York Philharmonic conductor Walter Damrosch to commission Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F which anchored this San Francisco Symphony program which offered a menu of jazz-infused symphonic music by American composers.
With the excellent French pianist Hélène Grimaud at the keyboard, the concerto performance was one of the best I have experienced of this piece. And yet, the most excitement came in the rest of the program. Under the colorfully idiomatic leadership of conductor James Gaffigan, the musicians showed their affinity for jazz idioms, and it just kept getting better as the program progressed.
Contrasts among the pieces made fascinating examples of how composers embraced the structures of classical music and their own ease with jazz rhythms, harmonies and melodic idiosyncrasies. The best came after intermission, with two pieces that took us on musical tours of cities – Gershwin’s An American in Paris and Duke Ellington’s Harlem. As a long-time jazz aficionado, I can attest that the musicians dug into the rhythmic and sonic possibilities in both works with exhilarating vigor and joy.
The differences between the two pieces, though, were telling. An American in Paris is often cited as the composer’s greatest symphonic work. It creates a wide range of sonorities from solos by the orchestra’s personnel, the sound effects of taxi horns and walking and dancing rhythms that borrow freely from jazz. It coalesces into vibrant climaxes, including a final peroration that outdoes Rhapsody in Blue in grandeur. The orchestra’s principals clearly enjoyed their individual moments in the spotlight, especially Mark Inouye whose trumpet gleamed and glowered as needed through the entire evening. In this piece, he poked through the contrapuntal textures of the opening foray and got funky with various mutes. Clarinetist Carey Bell, oboist Eugene Izotov, guest principal trombone Gracie Potter and concertmaster Alexander Barantschik were especially fine. For his part, Gaffigan favored brisk tempos that may have sacrificed some of the swagger but created plenty of excitement.
Even more impressive, though, was the Ellington tone poem, commissioned by Arturo Toscanini for his NBC orchestra in 1950 but premiered at an NAACP benefit in the old Metropolitan Opera House. Ellington himself wrote of it as ‘a concerto grosso for jazz band and symphony orchestra’. The hard work of delivering the jazz beats rests with an expanded brass section (four trumpets, four trombones and a tuba) plus saxophones and a lead percussionist on drum set, all of which were stunning.
The ‘jazz band’ emulated Ellington’s own band’s swing and sound with amazing precision, In his solos, Inouye evoked ‘Cootie’ Williams (Ellington’s longtime lead trumpet) with uncanny perfection. The score makes elegant use of orchestral timbres, accompanying a saxophone solo with pizzicato strings strummed like guitars and, in quieter sections, doubling the walking bass (played with solid rhythm by principal Scott Pingel) with the whole cello section.
The musical tour of Harlem captures the energy of uptown Manhattan in the 1940s and 1950s. We hear the soulfulness of African-American church music in a ‘Sunday’ chapter and the Latin beats of Spanish Harlem with a raucous extended percussion sequence, climaxing with a final march that made me glance up to the Davies Hall roof to make sure it was still there. High marks go to the entire percussion section, especially principal Jacob Nissly on drum set and timpanist Edward Stephan who caught the rhythms with idiomatic precision.
In different ways, jazz elements are at the center of both of these works. Gershwin’s piece leans toward the symphonic tradition, enlivened by the sway and swagger of syncopation and trombone glissandos. Ellington’s expands upon his jazz foundations with extra sonorities and virtuosity from classical players. There was a time when symphony musicians were unable to get into such a groove, but today’s musicians can handle it with aplomb. At least this ensemble did.
In the Concerto in F, Gaffigan’s conducting and Grimaud’s playing found a happy balance between jazz rhythms and harmonies and the pianistic virtuosity required to execute the many flourishes expected in something called a concerto. As well done as the outer movements were, the real treasure here was the Adagio, in which Inouye’s trumpet, Bell’s clarinet and Grimaud’s soft touch made the bluesy theme sing around Grimaud’s gentle touch. For an encore Grimaud stepped away from American music to play a charming (if un-jazzy) Brahms Intermezzo in B-flat minor.
The opener, the short tone poem ‘Block’ by Carlos Simon, had its own energy in a compilation of jazz styles that offered a tour of a single block in Harlem inspired by a series of 1971 paintings by Romare Bearden.
Gaffigan’s energetic conducting style, often swinging his whole body in rhythm, pulled all this variety into a coherent musical flow.
Harvey Steiman
Featured Image: James Gaffigan conducts the San Francisco Symphony © Stephan Cohen