Reviews

(...) Nevertheless, unimpeachable talent can often transcend dubious circumstances. In these surroundings, Frederica von Stade, one of the revivals few voices of international stature, dominated the stage in her first Countess Geschwilz. And, then, conductor Stefan Lano, making his debut in San Francisco, revealed a sure command of Berg's complex and intense score.

Lano, an American-born conductor who works mostly abroad, found the score's internal forms, reveled in Berg's obeisance to jazz and lent stature and clarity to the interludes. One felt him holding back to accommodate his singers' limitations. With a first-rate cast, Lano would have been dynamite.

Berg's music is nothing short of electrifying-romantic and opulent, stark and urgent- and all of his jagged rhythms and voluptuous melodies, his startling bursts of brass and his jazz writing for orchestra, saxophone and piano - all sounds grand and inspired under Stefan Lano's baton.