Violinist Pekka Kuusisto, left, with Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony in the world premiere of Jesper Nordin’s “Convergence.” Photo by Stefan Cohen.
In Wednesday’s (11/15) San Francisco Chronicle, Joshua Kosman writes, “When the San Francisco Symphony performed Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition under guest conductor Ludovic Morlot earlier this month, the music was accompanied by newly commissioned artworks intended to match the visual aspects of the score. That made a lot of sense. After all, ‘Pictures’ is right there in the title. A few weeks before that, though, during the world premiere of the Swedish composer Jesper Nordin’s violin concerto ‘Convergence,’ visual imagery was also splashed onto a screen behind the performers. It consisted of abstract plays of color and light, and added little to the experience of what was already a fairly elusive musical composition…. Orchestral music in Davies Symphony Hall is now more likely than ever to arrive with a visual track…. Phillippa Cole, the orchestra’s chief artistic planning officer told me, ‘It’s something we’re interested in exploring more.’… The decision to add visuals to concerts represents a welcome willingness to experiment with longstanding formats…. But there’s a good argument to be made that not every artistic discipline needs to tickle every sensory channel at once…. The best way to chart a path toward a workable fusion is through experiment.”
