At the end of this month, Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen will return to Davies Symphony Hall to lead the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in three weeks of subscription concerts. Each of the programs will feature one or more guest artists. The overall repertoire will span a period from the very beginning of the nineteenth century to the “immediate present” of a world-premiere performance. Specifics are as follows:
The first program will be devoted entirely to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 43 ballet score, composed in 1801 for a two-act libretto prepared by Salvatore Viganò entitled The Creatures of Prometheus. The score consists of an overture (which is the only portion that is frequently performed), fifteen numbered scenes, and a finale. These performances will mark the first time that SFS has performed the score in its entirety. Rather than incorporating dancers, the narrative of the libretto will unfold through animated projections created by Hillary Leben, along with narration by the actor Keith David.
For those who like to pick nits, Opus 43 is not Beethoven’s only ballet score. In 1791 he completed his WoO 1, entitled “Musik zu einem Ritterballett” (music for a ballet on horseback). This consists of eight short movements, the second of which, a “Deutscher Gesang” (German song), serves as a da capo “separator” between the remaining movements. The only conductor I know of that has recorded this music is Herbert von Karajan!
The Creatures of Prometheus will be given three performances, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 24, and Saturday, February 26, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 27. A single Web page has been created with hyperlinks for purchasing tickets for each of those dates. Ticket prices range from $35 to $165 and may also be purchased by calling the SFS Box Office at 415-864-6000. The pre-concert talk, free to all ticket holders, will be given by James Keller one hour prior to the beginning of the performance. Doors open fifteen minutes before the talk begins.
The second program will present two markedly different soloists. Wu Weng will make his subscription series debut as the soloist in the world premiere performance of “Song of the Flaming Phoenix,” composed for sheng and orchestra by Fang Man. The more familiar soloist with be Jean-Yves Thibaudet, who will join Salonen for a performance of Franz Liszt’s second piano concerto in A major. (Readers may recall that Yuja Wang played the first of the two concertos, in the key of E-flat major, at the end of this past January under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas.) Liszt will also provide the “overture” for the program, reflecting on the previous week with the performance of “Prometheus,” the fifth of the thirteen orchestral compositions that the composer called “symphonic poems.” The program will conclude with another symphonic poem, Alexander Scriabin’s Opus 54 entitled “The Poem of Ecstasy.”
This offering will also be given three performances. For this week they will all be at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 3, Friday, March 4, and Saturday, March 5. A single Web page has been created with hyperlinks for purchasing tickets for each of those dates. Ticket prices range from $35 to $180 and may also be purchased by calling the SFS Box Office at 415-864-6000. The free pre-concert talk will be given by Peter Grunberg one hour prior to the beginning of the performance. Doors open fifteen minutes before the talk begins.
The concerto soloist for the third program will be violinist Leila Josefowicz. In 2020 Josefowicz was one of those visiting artists that came in “under the wire” before the shutdown of public performances at the War Memorial & Performing Arts Center. She came to Davies at the end of February when then Music Director Designate Salonen conducted SFS in a performance of his violin concerto. For her return to Davies and Salonen, she will play Igor Stravinsky’s violin concerto. The program will begin with the SFS premiere of Elizabeth Ogonek’s “Sleep & Unremembrance.” The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to the Stravinsky’s ballet score for “The Rite of Spring.”
The three performances of this program will take place at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 10, and at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 11, and Saturday, March 12. A single Web page has been created with hyperlinks for purchasing tickets for each of those dates. Ticket prices range from $20 to $164 and may also be purchased by calling the SFS Box Office at 415-864-6000. The free pre-concert talk will be given by Elizabeth Seitz one hour prior to the beginning of the performance. Doors open fifteen minutes before the talk begins.
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