SF Symphony’s Tchaikovsky No. 5

San Francisco Symphony’s performance on Sunday, September 20th aimed for variety through the centuries. From J.S. Bach’s 1721 Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, to Henry Brandt’s wild and weird 21st century Ice Field: Spatial Narratives for Large and Small Orchestral Groups, culminating with one of the earliest symphonies I remember hearing and falling in love with, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. … Read more

Alban Berg’s palindrome genius

Palindrome: noun, Greek origin. A word or sentence that reads the same forward as it does backward. One of the things I’ve come to appreciate about my subscription to the San Francisco Symphony is the opportunity it provides me to sit and thoughtfully consider music I might never have chosen to listen to on my … Read more

Eating Greens at the San Francisco Symphony

So, I went to San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall on Sunday afternoon, a warm, sunny, Indian-summer-that-just-won’t-go-away kind of day that we here in Northern California seem to be experiencing without end. No coat, at least, to have to stow under my seat or by my feet during the concert. Which, by the way, nice weather … Read more

Haunted by St. Saens’ Organ Symphony

Being haunted by music sounds like something I should be blogging about in late October, but with the sunlight growing autumnal, here in September, and nights growing longer, cooler, I think it will still work. And there’s no better way to describe the hold that Saint-Saens’ Symphony no. 3 has on me right now. Perhaps … Read more

Augustin Hadelich: A Fiery Artistry

Call me sentimental, but when I hear a story about a talented performer in the arts world who suffers adversity and triumphs against tremendous odds, well, it steals my heart. It gets me rallying around that person. That I should be won over by the performer’s talent, musicality, peerless technique, before learning his backstory, well, … Read more