The Opera Tattler

* Notes * 
San Francisco Symphony just finished 4 performances a program that included a world premiere of Kissine's Post-scriptum and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff. The musicians seemed quite focused during the Kissine, they were clearly paying a good deal of attention to Michael Tilson Thomas on the podium. The result was a diaphanous sound, the music itself wavered icily, and at times achieving an atmospheric, otherworldly beauty. In contrast, Christian Tetzlaff almost seemed possessed during the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. His playing could be savage and fervid, never mawkish, but not without tenderness when necessary.

The second half of the program gave us Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales and Lizst's Tasso: Lamento e Trionfol. The playing was facile, and the brass was particularly clear in the Lizst.

* Tattling * 
Somehow I found myself in the first row of the orchestra, in the middle section, just slightly to the left. Everyone around me was well-behaved, though there was some minor talking aloud.