Saturday, March 24, 2018

SFS Announces Conductors for April

Next month there will be three subscription programs presented by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), none of which will be conducted by Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas. The original plan was that the first of these would be led by Daniel Harding, making his SFS debut; and the other two were scheduled for Charles Dutoit’s annual visit to the podium in Davies Symphony Hall. However, because SFS severed all ties with Dutoit at the end of last year, the two programs planned by Dutoit will be led by two different conductors with only one minor alteration.

While Harding will be new to SFS, this will not be his first appearance in Davies. He led the Staatskapelle Dresden when they gave a Great Performers Series concert in October of 2010; and, at that time, I was impressed with not only his conducting but also with the appearance of pianist Rudolf Buchbinder as his concerto soloist in a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 54 (fourth) piano concerto in G major. At next month’s concerts, Harding’s debut will be complemented by the SFS debut of his concerto soloist, pianist Paul Lewis. Once again the concerto will be by Beethoven, this time Opus 37 (the third) in C minor. That concerto will fill the first half of the program.

The second half will be devoted entirely to Richard Strauss’ Opus 64 tone poem “An Alpine Symphony.” In spite of the title, there is nothing in this piece’s 22 continuous sections that even vaguely suggests symphonic structure. Nevertheless, this is an extended (on the order of one hour) work for a massive ensemble (about 125 players). It is also Strauss’ last tone poem before he shifted his focus to opera.

This concert will be given three performances, at 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, and at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 13, and Saturday, April 14. Ticket prices range from $15 to $159. They may be purchased online through the event page for this program on the SFS Web site, by calling 415-864-6000, or by visiting the Box Office in Davies Symphony Hall, whose entrance is on the south side of Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. In addition, there is a free podcast about “An Alpine Symphony,” hosted by KDFC’s Rik Malone, which can be played on that event page. In order to listen to SFS audio files, Flash must be enabled. Finally, the Inside Music talk will be given by Scott Foglesong, one hour prior to the beginning of the performance. Doors will open fifteen minutes earlier. The Box Office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday.

The following week Yan Pascal Tortelier will return to the SFS podium as the first replacement for Dutoit. The program will be devoted entirely to Maurice Ravel, but not in a way that one might anticipate. Tortelier will begin with two of Ravel’s orchestrations of piano compositions by Claude Debussy. The first of these will be the sarabande movement from the suite entitled (ironically enough) Pour le Piano. The second is the 1890 composition published under the title “Danse” but also known as “Tarantelle styrienne.” These selections will be followed by Ravel’s best known song cycle with orchestral accompaniment, Shéhérazade. The vocalist will be mezzo Susan Graham. The second half of the program will present Tortelier’s own concert arrangement of the music that Ravel composed for the one-act ballet “Daphnis et Chloé.”

This concert will be given three performances, all at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 19, Friday, April 20, and Saturday, April 21. Ticket prices range from $39 to $159. They may be purchased online through the event page for this program on the SFS Web site, by calling 415-864-6000, or by visiting the Box Office in Davies Symphony Hall, whose entrance is on the south side of Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. In addition, there is a sound clip of previous SFS performances of the “Daphnis and Chloé” music, which can be played on that event page; and Rik Malone’s podcast about that music is currently available from the Program Note Podcasts Web page. In order to listen to these audio files, Flash must be enabled. Finally, the Inside Music talk will be given by James Keller, one hour prior to the beginning of the performance. Doors will open fifteen minutes earlier. The Box Office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday.

The second replacement for Dutoit will be SFS Resident Conductor Christian Reif. The program will put an intriguing dramatic twist on the usual overture-concerto-symphony format. The opening selection will be “Siegfried’s Rhine Journey,” an orchestral excerpt from Richard Wagner’s opera Götterdämmerung (twilight of the gods), the last of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen. (Fun fact for denizens of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Götterdämmerung is the German translation of the Old Norse noun “Ragnarök.”) The “Rhine Journey” is not, strictly speaking, an overture; but it is played during the transition between the prologue and the first act, which sort of makes it the overture in the three-act frame of reference! (This is the one departure from Dutoit’s original plan, which was to begin with a “real” opera overture.)

The remainder of the program will follow up on the Wagner spirit of the opening. The concerto will be by Wagner’s friend (as well as the conductor of the premiere of Lohengrin), Franz Liszt, his second piano concerto in A major. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet will return to the Davies stage to serve as concerto soloist. The “symphony” on the program will be Gustav Holst’s best-known venture into working with Wagnerian orchestral resources, his Opus 32 suite entitled The Planets. The women of the SFS Chorus (Ragnar Bohlin, Director) will provide the haunting voices as the final movement (“Neptune, the Mystic”) fades into the ether.

This concert will be given three performances, at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 26, and Friday, April 27, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 29. Ticket prices range from $39 to $159. They may be purchased online through the event page for this program on the SFS Web site, by calling 415-864-6000, or by visiting the Box Office in Davies Symphony Hall, whose entrance is on the south side of Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. In addition, there are sound clips of previous SFS performances of both the Liszt and Holst selections, which can be played on that event page. Rik Malone’s podcast about The Planets will be added to the Program Note Podcasts Web page prior to the first performance of this program. In order to listen to these audio files, Flash must be enabled. Finally, the Inside Music talk will be given by Foglesong, one hour prior to the beginning of the performance. Doors will open fifteen minutes earlier. The Box Office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday.

In addition, these performances will be preceded by a Katherine Hanrahan Open Rehearsal. This special behind-the-scenes experience begins at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 26, with coffee and complimentary doughnuts, followed by a half-hour introductory talk by Foglesong at 9 a.m. The rehearsal itself begins at 10 a.m.; and, of course, the pieces rehearsed are at the conductor’s discretion. General admission is $30 with $40 for reserved seats in the Premiere Orchestra section, the Side and Rear Boxes, and the Loge. Tickets may be purchased online through a separate event page.

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