Next month Davies Symphony Hall will see three Orchestral Series programs presented by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), each of which will be given three performances. In addition, the Great Performers Series will begin with a solo piano recital by Mark-André Hamelin; and there will be a “Special Event” in which SFS will share the stage with The Decemberists. In other words, while those that visit Davies tend to sustain surprises, next month may will be more surprising than usual!
Here is the chronological ordering of the October events. As usual, each of the dates will be provided with a hyperlink to facilitate ticket purchases. Tickets may also be purchased at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office, which is at the entrance on the south side of Grove Street, between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street.
Friday, October 3, and Saturday, October 4, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 5, 2 p.m.: The program will begin with a world premiere performance. Principal Trombone Timothy Higgins composed “Market Street, 1920s” on an SFS commission; and, presumably, there will be a fair amount of low brass sonorities. The premiere will be followed by two traditional favorites. Pianist Javier Perianes will be the soloist in Edvard Grieg’s piano concerto, and the program will conclude with Pyotr Ilyich’s Tchaikovsky’s Opus 64 (fifth) symphony, composed in the key of E minor. The conductor will be Gustavo Gimeno.
Friday, October 10, 7:30 p.m.: This is likely to be the most distinctive evening of the season, since it will involve a visit to Davies by The Decemberists. For those (like myself) not aware of this group, it is an indie rock band, which was formed in Portland, Oregon, in 2000. The program will survey the band’s expansive catalog, giving each selection its own lush (if I am to believe the Web page cited above) symphonic arrangement. Tickets purchased through the above hyperlink will be limited to eight due to the likelihood of demand (by those that know more about the group than I do). Edwin Outwater will conduct.
Thursday, October 16, 2 p.m., and Friday, October 17, and Saturday, October 18, 7:30 p.m.: The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to the full score for the one-act ballet in three parts, “Daphnis et Chloé,” composed by Maurice Ravel. Michel Fokine created the choreography for the Ballets Russes created and managed by Sergei Diaghilev. The program will begin with Béla Bartók’s second violin concerto, Sz. 112 in the catalog compiled by Zoltán Székely. The conductor will be Jun Märkl.
Sunday, October 19, 2 p.m.: The Chamber Music at Davies Symphony Hall series will begin with an impressively diverse program. The program will begin with “21” by Andy Akiho, a virtuoso percussionist who specializes in performing with steel pans. Percussion will continue into the following composition by Bohuslav Martinů, a quartet which brings a snare drum together with clarinet, horn, and cello. The second half of the program will begin with a deconstruction of Richard Strauss' Op. 28 tone poem “Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks,” created by Franz Hasenöhrl. The concert will conclude with Leoš Janáček’s second string quartet, given the title “Intimate Letters.”
Sunday, October 19, 7:30 p.m.: The only solo recital of the month will be by pianist Marc-André Hamelin. Those familiar with him know that he does not shy away from ambitious undertakings. The program he has prepared will make a bold entrance with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 106 piano sonata in B-flat major, known best by the title “Hammerklavier.” At the other end, the program will conclude with more finger-busting demands in the performance of Maurice Ravel’s suite Gaspard de la nuit. These two works will be separated by the somewhat calmer rhetoric of Robert Schumann’s Opus 82 suite, Waldszenen.
Conductor David Afkham, who will be making his SFS debut (from the Web page for the program he has prepared)
Friday, October 24, and Saturday, October 25, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday October 26, 2 p.m.: German conductor David Afkham will present a program of Russian music from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Tchaikovsky will serve as the “other bookend” for the month with a performance of his only violin concerto. The soloist will be Sergey Khachatryan. The intermission will be followed by Dmitri Shostakovich’s Opus 65 (eighth) symphony in C minor, sometimes referred to as the “Stalingrad Symphony,” since it was composed shortly after the conclusion of the Battle of Stalingrad, which was a significant the turning point in the European theatre of World War II.
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