The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: San Francisco Symphony
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* Notes * The American Mavericks Festival at San Francisco Symphony had one last performance yesterday before heading on tour. The chamber music program included pieces by Steve Reich, Meredith Monk (pictured left), Lukas Foss, and David Del Tredici. The afternoon began with Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood (1973), which was played by Jack Van…
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September 5-8 2012: Bychkov conducts Wagner, Bruch, Tchaikovsky; Pinchas Zuckerman, violin September 12-15 2012: Bychkov conducts Shostakovich's 7th September 19 2012: Opening Gala: MTT conducts Berlioz, Chausson, Saint-Saëns, Ravel; Joshua Bell, violin September 20-23 2012: MTT conducts Berlioz, Chausson, Saint-Saëns, Ravel; Alina Pogostkina, violin September 27-30 2012: MTT conducts Samuel Carl Adams, Mahler October 4-6…
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* Notes * Michael Tilson Thomas is conducting San Francisco Symphony in a program of Wagner and Brahms this week. Yesterday's performance began with the Prelude to Act II of Lohengrin. For some reason, without the rest of the opera, this music struck me as being a bit more absurd than it usually does. The brass…
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* Notes * This week James Conlon conducts San Francisco Symphony in Verdi’s Requiem. Fabio Luisi was originally scheduled to take the podium, but took over most of James Levine’s fall engagements at the Met. Perhaps it is just as well, Maestro Conlon did a fine job with the work, the phrasing was lucid and taut.…
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* Notes * This weekend James Conlon (pictured left, photograph courtesy of the Ravinia Festival) conducts San Francisco Symphony in Shostokovich's Symphony No. 14 and the Ravel orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Before the soprano and baritone took the stage on Friday evening, Conlon spoke about the two pieces in turn, noting that the…
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* Notes * This week San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas performs a program of Mozart, Adès (pictured left, photograph by Maurice Foxall), and Stravinsky. Saturday's performance began with Mozart's Symphony No. 35 in D major, K.385, Haffner, which was played with much volume and heft. The tempi were not particularly distinctive, and the Menuetto…
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* Notes * This week San Francisco Symphony and Chorus have been performing Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas kept the musicians synchronized. The orchestra was often rather loud, but the playing was clean. Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik’s the violin solo in the Sanctus was beautiful. The brass was warm and pretty. The chorus was impressive,…
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* Notes * This week Osmo Vänskä conducts San Francisco Symphony in a program of Larcher, Mendelssohn, and Vaughan Williams. Thomas Larcher's eerie, cinematic Red and Green required a large number of instruments, yet was played with tasteful restraint. The sound was never overpowering, even when two of the trombone players hit their instruments with sticks.…
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* Notes * This week San Francisco Symphony performs a lovely program of Hindemith, Stenhammer, Nielsen, Sibelius, Grieg, and Brahms. Before Michael Tilson Thomas conducted Hindemith’s Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass on Thursday night, he addressed the audience, saying the program notes, while good, did not convey how much joy there was in playing…
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September 7 2011: Gala with Lang Lang, piano and Itzhak Perlman, violin September 14-17 2011: MTT conducts Beethoven, Hindemith, Brahms; Yo-Yo Ma, cello September 21-25 2011: MTT conducts Mahler’s 3rd September 29- October 1 2011: Mozart, Adès, Stravinsky October 5-9 2011: Shostakovich, Glazunov, Tchaikovsky, Elgar; Joshua Bell, violin October 13-16 2011: Conlon conducts Shostakovich, Mussorgsky/RavelOctober…
The Opera Tattler 