Blomstedt to Return with Two-Symphony Program

Conductor Herbert Blomstedt (photograph by Martin Lengemann, courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony)

San Francisco Symphony Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt last visited Davies Symphony Hall almost exactly two years ago. At that time there was no thought that concert programming as we knew it would be disrupted. Always stimulated by the conductor’s imaginative inventiveness, I described that performance as an “alternative ‘Three Bs’” concert. The familiar “B composer” was Johannes Brahms, represented by his Opus 90 (third) symphony in F major. That symphony was complemented by the first symphony in G minor composed by the “Swedish B,” Franz Berwald. The “third B” was Blomstedt himself!

At the beginning of next month, Blomstedt will make his first visit to the Davies podium since the onset of the pandemic. Once again he will present a two-symphony program, but only the second of the two will involve a “B” composer. The program will conclude with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 67 (fifth) symphony in C minor. The first half of the program will be devoted to Carl Nielsen’s Opus 29 (fourth) symphony. This symphony was not assigned a key. However, it was given a name: “The Inextinguishable.” Composed during World War I, Nielsen chose the name as a reference to (in his words) “the elemental will to live.”

This concert will be given three performances, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 3, and Friday, February 4, and at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 6. A single Web page has been created with hyperlinks for purchasing tickets for each of those dates. Tickets are priced between $20 and $165. There will be an Inside Music talk, free to all concert ticket holders, given by Alexandria Amati one hour prior to each concert. Doors will open fifteen minutes before the talk begins.

These performances will be preceded by the next Katherine Hanrahan Open Rehearsal. This special behind-the-scenes experience begins at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 3, with coffee and complimentary doughnuts, followed by a half-hour introductory talk by Amati 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 Premier Orchestra section, Rear Boxes and Side Boxes, and the Loge. Tickets may be purchased online through a separate event page.