Often when Sutherland plays, his place on the stage makes it hard to watch him at work. The chamber music concert of SF Symphony musicians was a great opportunity to see him make his magic. Sutherland studied with Rosina Lhevinne at Juilliard and Paul Hersh at the SF Conservatory. While still an undergraduate, Maestro Seiji Ozawa appointed him Principal Pianist of the SFS. Yukiko Kurakata studied with Jascha Heifetz at USC and taught as his assistant. She has given solo performances with the Japan Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Seattle Symphony. Sebastien Gingras, now in his first season with SFS, was previously with the New World Symphony and the St. Louis Symphony. The performance by these three artists was memorable, beautiful to watch and to hear. There is majesty and goodness in this great work. This trio made it new and most satisfying.

   The program opened with Concertino for Flute, Viola, and Bass by Ervin Schulhoff. This Hedgehog had never heard of Schulhoff or his music before and so welcomed the interesting and articulate introduction spoken by Catherine Payne, flute and piccolo. She was joined by Nanci Serverance, viola, and Scott Pringel, bass. It was a wonderful piece which combined the modernism of 1925 with Schulhoff’s versions of Czech folk music. This was an eye-opening, fascinating gift of music from an artist killed by Nazis.

   Borodin’s Quartet No. 2 in D major for Strings--the exact title did not alert me to remember that the tunes taken for the songs, “Baubles, Bangles, and Beads,” and “And This is My Beloved” are in the Scherzo and Nocturne movements. Burdened or blessed with the indelible memory of show tunes, this Hedgehog could not get the words loose from the music when it first appeared, but the music is truly gorgeous anyway. Performed by David Chernyavsky, violin; Florin Parvulescu, violin; Yun Jie Liu, viola; Barbara Bogatin, cello, this quartet is beautiful.